I present: an on-line internet-based album of digital photographs of our trip to India last month.

This set is a mix of photos from Greg’s Nikon D90 and my (hand-me-down from Greg) Nikon D60. Photographers varied.

Pictures of the new house

Click the picture to the left to see a new gallery of photos that Nancy (Christie’s mom) took this week during her visit. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but never got around to it. Thanks, N!

Tomorrow is the brewing. I felt nostalgic for my days in college, when brewing beer was at once a bonding activity and end-run around the Law. Neither of those things is really the point these days, but in order to recapture that youthful feeling I “invested” in the Deluxe Beer Making Kit from the local homebrew supply shop. Really, you can consider it an investment – a full batch of beer yields about five gallons, or about 50-odd 12-ounce bottles. A pre-constructed set of ingredients costs between $30 and $35. At worst, that’s about $4 per six-pack, give or take. Add in the sense of pride, and the fact that people are utterly amazed at its homemade origin and generally want to see what all the fuss is about, and the Price Per Util is substantially smaller than with store-bought brews.

The start-up cost (equipment, books) is approximately $130. If we say that I pay an average of $8 for a util-equivalent six-pack bought at the store, and that I pay an average of $32 for each batch of ingredients, and that a batch contains 8 six-packs (a conservative estimate), then I’ll break even after about four batches ($130 + $32 * x = $64 * x –> x = 4.06). Supposing I consume 3 six-packs per month, that’s about a year’s worth of beer.

Anyway, if I’m successful, it’s another reason to visit.

Waiting to board my flight home, I listened to the local news anchor note that the BEA had revised their US GDP growth figure or the fourth quarter of 2008 from negative 6.1% to negative 6.2% (or thereabouts). What they failed to mention was that the US GDP did not decline by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, but rather it declined by the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of 6.2%.

The difference is material: an annualized rate means the amount of decline if the economy kept the same trajectory for an entire year. Since we’re talking about a quarter of a year, we’re talking about a 1.55% decline, not a full 6.2%. 1.55% of the US GDP is nothing to scoff at, but certainly less alarming, numerically.

Furthermore, seasonal adjustment mean they subtract the average amount of growth due to seasonal fluctuation. In the case of the fourth quarter, this means they spread out the Christmas shopping spree across the rest of the year. So the nominal fall in GDP is likely less than 1.55%.

This is still a remarkable decline in such a short period of time, and something to be taken seriously. But we should understand exactly what these numbers are that talking heads throw at us.

I’ll do my best to get things posted on this here blog, especially pictures. I can’t promise it will be timely, though – you might see a flurry of posts after I get back from each trip.

My renewed passport made it to me with time to spare, but the photograph is so horrifying that I can’t believe any customs officer would really believe it belongs to me.

I was excited to get my beta invitation to daytum last week – see my first attempts here: daytum.com/nate_c.

Life is now a series of meetings interrupted by weekends and vacations.

I missed the inauguration, but made up for that with some quality time with Philippe and Dylan (some old college buddies). Philippe and I went to see Waltz with Bashir – an utterly amazing film, an animated pseudo-documentary about a man trying to remember his experiences (specifically, a genocidal attack against Muslims in a refugee camp in Lebanon) as an Israeli soldier during their war with Lebanon in the 1980s. Totally unexplainable – be ready for some rather brutal emotions.

My favorite take on the flubbed inaugural oath is Steven Pinker’s Oaf of Office.

Also, I saw Janeane Garofalo at my gate in JFK, but she disappeared before I could get a picture with her.