Sincerely yours

I've been listening to Dan Brown's newest Robert Langdon novel The Lost Symbol these days. It's a (surprisingly long) 17-hour audio book, and right now I am at hour 11. Having read all his previous books, I am quite familiar with his formula and can predict a lot of the plots. Often times I feel very impatient as to why it takes so long to get to the point. One other thing I learned was to take a grain of salt in every FACT he introduced in his books. How naive and easily convinced I was when I read The Da Vinci Code (especially considering that I am a scientist)!

So far there hasn't been any extraordinary revelation that has grabbed my attention. But last night I learned something interesting: the origin of the word "sincere". In the old times sculptors used to use wax to cover up parts of a stone that was mistakenly chiseled away, and then spread stone dust to make it look like untouched. This was considered cheating. The word "sincere" actually means no wax (sin: no; cere: might be from Greek keros wax). So when one signs his letter 'Sincerely yours', he means he wrote the letter without wax, thus without pretense or deceit.

The other word I know where sin means no was one of the few Spanish words I learned during my Peru trip: agua sin gas (water without gas). After being served carbonated water (which I really hate) a few times, I learned agua sin gas pretty well. The other Spanish words I know are cuánto (how much -- but if they answer, I would be at a lost) and gracias (thank you). Impressive vocabulary!

It's nice listening to Susan Boyle while writing this entry. Her renditions of Madonna's You'll See and the Carpenters' The End of the World are quite good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Great Smoky Mountains, Thanksgiving 2007

One falling leaf, in a sunny but chilly November afternoon in Great Smoky Mountains on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.
This is the feel of the "smoky" mountain ranges:
Thanksgiving is past the peak for foliage in the Great Smoky. Beautiful things last for only a short time. What surprised me that cold Thanksgiving day, was another undoubtedly short-lived phenomenon, frosty trees:



Two elks staged a show:

I thought I came to the south for a little warmth!

Grand Canyon North Rim

It was just after 12 noon when we finished our tour of Antelope Canyon. Not a big water sports fan, I decided not to spend time in Page. So Grand Canyon North Rim became my next destination.

Views from Highway 89:

This was a rushed visit: 124 miles of mountainous road from Page to North Rim, and I was going back to Page that night. When I got to the Bright Angel Point, it was close to 4pm.
Then I drove for a long time to Cape Royal. Beautiful scenery along the way, but I was running against the setting sun, so I didn't stop to enjoy. Next time I should camp at Grand Canyon.

Cape Royal at sunset:

Navajo Indian Reservation is to the east of the Canyon:
Sunset on Highway 67:

It felt like a really long way driving back to Page. I stopped several times to take a nap. The first place I stopped was on Highway 89, just coming out from the mountains, where during the day vendors gather to sell souvenirs. Now they were all gone, and stars started to appear. Looking back to the west, I noticed three stars and the crescent moon form a perfect line. I carried no sky map so I was at a lost (Oh I need an iPhone and the Star App!). Days later I learned on APOD that they were Saturn, Mars, and Regulus. How wonderful!

I stopped again some 40 miles later. I took another nap. Then I figured out how to turn on high beam, which is very useful for driving in total darkness. By now all the stars are out, and the Milky Way was visible. However, it was harder to identify constellations for there were too many stars and I had no sky map! I missed a good chance for stargazing because Utah and Arizona have really dark skies. You can't plan everything for a trip, can you? So this is a big pity of my 2008 summer tour of US southwest.

By the way, don't drive like me, because I almost felt like falling asleep that night!