Saturday, January 14, 2006



Originally uploaded by Overread.

Um, not the blog though. Everyone is welcome here. Well, almost everyone. I'll let you know if you are trespassing. :)


Originally uploaded by Overread.

A Quiz For All Seasons

Ooo. The last quiz was a good one! Lots of songs for the birds out there, and a couple of near-misses! The thrills of it all!

So, I'm sure you've done your dutiful googling, but here are the missed ones anyway:

3, 11, and 13, which were Just Once (you were right, Liz!) by Quincy Jones, The Sweetest Taboo by Sade and Desire by Gene Loves Jezebel (ya know, desi-i-i-i-i-yure!) respectively.

Alrighty then, none of these are very hard - I kinda feel bad, because I haven't been quizing as often as I used to. I'm trying to make it more of a weekly thing now.

Anywhoo:

QUIZ!

1.
I know you
Expected a one-night-stand
When I refused
I knew you wouldn't understand
2.
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied

3.
I get frightened in all the darkness
I get nightmares I hate to sleep alone
I need some company of an angel
To keep me warm when the cold winds blow
4.
Open fire on my burning heart
I've never been lucky in love

5.
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air you’ll never find me
I will turn your flesh to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

6.
Most times you can’t hear em talk, other times you can.
Oh the same old cliche, is that a woman or a man?

7.
I'll give you black sensations up and down your spine
If you're into evil you're a friend of mine
See the white light flashing as I split the night
Cause if good's on the left then I'm sticking to the right

8.
Now, I’m gonna love you, till the heavens stop the rain
I’m gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky for you and I

9.
Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge

10.
Neon lights and the pretty pretty girls
All dressed so scantily

11.
Just like a boxer in a title fight
You got to walk in that ring all alone

12.
I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
And I howled at my ma in the driving rain,

13.
Here I am
Just like I said I would be
I'm your friend
Just like you think it should be

14.
Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside
It’s bound to be a better ride
Than what you’ve got planned

15.
When I was a little boy,
And the devil would call my name
I’d say now who do, who do you think you’re fooling?

And lastly, but certainly not leastly, 16.
Yo ho, it’s hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on earth there’d be no life
Without the light it gives

Prepare To Be Disturbed

Lindsay Lohan doesn't change her facial expressions. (beware of music)

via Zerodoll

Friday, January 13, 2006

Ah, Google, How Did We Live Before You?

There's Something in the Air

No hot water this morning.

Jeeze I do not like where I live.

Anyway, classes went well (two sections then a sprint across campus, a quick lunch and then another class - They call this Friday?). The students were pretty zombie-fied, hopefully because of the hour, and not my delivery (I am loud, after all). They were very unhappy that I expected them to have read the readings though. How dare I? Needless to say, many hadn't even bought the books yet. Ah, well.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Like School on Sunday

Prepping for class tomorrow:

I feel slightly guilty that I'm prepping a handout that I've used before even though I know there is a better version of the thing in a text that's just been published. I even had it in my hands not just a week ago, but I let the monsters of ILL demand their book back before I was able to put it on a copier. Sigh. Ah, well. The original handout will work fine.

I don't have energy for this right now. My teaching style relies on lots and lots of energy, lest the students notice that I'm a fraud. (Give 'em lot's of razzle dazzle, and they'll never catch wise - anyone want to sing with me?) I hope I have energy at 8am tomorrow.

I'm hoping that there will be lots of interesting and interested folk in class. I'm very excited because this is a big sprawling survey course, and it gives a lot of opportunity for the students to get 'OH! I get it!' moments. I really like being nearby when that happens.

The class is packed to the gills. There's no way we're going to have enough chairs. I can feel it in my bones. Plenty of students wanting into a class is wonderful. It's great to have a popular class. A classroom that is small is... less wonderful. On the other hand, I'm glad we're not in a lecture hall...

Ok, that's all I've got tonight. I've got to get back to my prepping. Don't worry, I know you're dying of curiosity, I'll let you know how it goes :)

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

PhD is Chuckle-worthy

Comic in 3...2...1

Lost and...

I found a wallet on the sidewalk today. It was big and fat and had a whole bunch of money nearly hanging out of it. There were credit cards and a driver's license. I sent it on its way to the campus police. I hope it gets back to its home safely. I can't imagine losing all that stuff...

The Kurosawa Classic: Ran

8.02km - 46'57"

Well, I still couldn't get a treadmill, but I was able to run out on the trail while it was kinda light out.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Dagnabit

The reason I didn't really push to run this morning and did work-stuff instead was that I was going to run on the treadmill tonight. Little did I know that the 'busy but not packed' style gym Sunday would be completely transformed today. It was packed. completely. There are two main buildings with gym junk in them and they were both jammed full. Each treadmill had a line. Strange choice that the place has 30 or forty stair monsters, but only 8 treadmills. Ah well, I was able to get about 15 minutes on a stair monster. Didn't care for it much.

Note to self: go to the gym in the morning when the collegiate hordes are still napping or just run during the daylight so you can hit the trails.

Bleh.



Like a Chicken With Its Head Cut Off



(Shouldn't that saying be 'Like a chicken without its head - cut off?')

I haven't stopped running around in circles (and unfortunately not anywhere else, either. There's hope for a run tonight though) for almost two days straight now. Classes are all gearing up and I'm trying to get a grip on how much of a grip the classes are going to have on
me. I think it's going to be a tight grip though.

Can anyone find out who thought it would be a good idea for me to teach two classes on Friday? At 8 and 9 in the morning? Yeah, get back to me on that one, ok? On the plus side, it should cull out the folks who really don't want to be there. I mean, at least it takes motivation to get up that
early, right? Yeah. For me too.

I'm trying to be a little more healthy in what I eat (partially spurred by my mom, who is becoming quite the epicure of healthy bites from what I hear). So, because I'm a geek, I needed a toy to help.

I'm trying out this place called Nutrax right now. It's a place to log everything you eat, and how much you exercise and all that. Then it harangues you about how bad you're doing. You can also email pictures of what you eat to the site to remind you what you ate when you are logging everything in, although I'm not to sure that's really worth much. There are still a lot of things that aren't in its database, too. So you end up having to type in the nutritional information for the big bag of Skittles that you wolfed down yesterday. Oh, that wasn’t you? Must have been me.

Anyway, it's interesting, but not earth shattering. Although I honestly didn't know that I was regularly eating so much salt. I never add salt into anything pre-made that I eat, but there it is. Oh, and is it bad that I'm getting 1012% of my daily recommended allowance of Vitamin B-12 today? Hope not.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Well, It Ain't Seven

Alas, the running streak will die today. I had a window of an hour or so before I came into the office and I shouldn't taken it. Once I got here, it's been all work work work.

I'm trying to do too much again this time around. I'm auditing a class, taking a class, taking a seminar and TAing, plus writing my thesis. How do you guys do this?

In the class I'm auditing there's a loud laugh-er. Seriously. She laughed so loudly and at odd times everyone was a bit scared. Woke up the nappers though, so maybe it's not all bad.

Off to a photo gig!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Six

7.83km - ~45'

The battery in my pedometer died. Luckily, since it was getting dark, I was on the treadmill, so I kinda know how far I was going.

Oh, my but, oh my, oh my. The students are back. Walking into the gym I could feel the testosterone and estrogen boiling. The scent of dozens of after shaves assailed my nosehairs. The gaudy workout tights had returned and the strutting, grunting, steel-pumping gonzos were circling. On a side note, I know it's because they're doing sets of weights and all, but it always looks like they aren't working at all. They're just standing around admiring themselves in the mirrors and ogling the skimpy gals. Then again, maybe I'm just jealous because the treadmills are aimed out and away from the ogle-worthies.

On a very happy note, my heart-rate strap, which I thought dropped out of my bag somewhere, turned up thoughtfully placed on the changing room bench. Thank you, unknown samaritan!

Oh, and a note to the woman who was staring at her butt in the mirror for seemingly the entire time I was there: You look fine. Move on. Ok, maybe I did ogle a little bit.

High in the Mid 40s With a Moderate Chance of Afternoon Quizing

I'm so happy that you guys got Same Auld Lang Syne. That and Chapin's Taxi are two of a kind (the good kind). I'm a little frightened that almost everyone got Elvira, even if the artist wasn't clear. Although 'artist' may be a bit generous for that song :) (It was the Oak Ridge Boys, if anyone had a side bet going)

So mainly 13, 14 and th artist of 15 gave a bit of trouble. So here we go:
#13 was The Boy From New York City - Manhattan Transfer
#14 was Stroke - Billy Squier
#15 was Winning, which New Kid knew, by Santana, which New Kid didn't know :)

Alrightly, It's getting harder to gather goo songs, so I've hoarded for a couple of days with this as my loot (making offering to the HTML spirits):

#1 -
And she's watching him with those eyes
And she's lovin' him with that body,
I just know it

#2 -
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

#3 -
Make the magic last for more than just one night
If we could just get to it
I know we could break through it

#4 -
Lay down your money and you play your part

#5 -
I was born to love her, and I'll never be free
You'll always be a part of me.

#6 -
Voices from nowhere
And voices from the larger towns
Filled our head full of dreams
Turned the world upside down

#7 -
I hear you’re lonely - don’t monkey with my business
You pay the profits to justify the reasons
I heard your promise but I don’t believe it -
That’s why I’ll do it again

#8
What you gonna do when things go wrong?
What you gonna do when it all cracks up?
What you gonna do when the love burns down?
What you gonna do when the flames go up?

#9
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg

#10
I tell myself
Hey only fools rush in and only time will tell
If we stand the test of time

#11
You've got the biggest heart
Sometimes I think you're just too good for me
Every day is christmas, and every night is new year's Eve

#12
Now the promoter don’t mind
And the union don’t mind
If we take a little time

#13
And I've been wondering, where it is you're hiding.
I've had my ears to the ground, to the ground.
I'm just trying to find out what you're hiding.
What is the mystery?

#14
I won't believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.

#15
Gonna use my arms, gonna use my legs
Gonna use my style, gonna use my sidestep
Gonna use my fingers, gonna use my my my imagination

Meme-ries, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Meme-ries

Brightstar tagged me! Yea! So now that I'm it, I'm going to chase all of you folks around the playground. Oh, it's not like that? Oh, I see. I'll probably chase you anyway.

5 Weird Things About Me. (I agree with B*, I'm not sure I can narrow it down to 5)
  • I can't eat seafood. Well, I can, but I hate that fishy taste. That means I can eat some sushi and rolls, and some less fishy fish. Also, if I don't know there is seafood in a dish and I can't taste it, I'm ok, but as soon as I taste or smell that fishiness, my tummy goes a-rumbling. Same thing goes double for shrimp. Bottom-feeders. Ick.
  • I have a lot of trouble eating food off the bone, especially chicken. I think it's because when I was growing up, we raised chickens, so if it looks too animal-y, I start thinking too much.
  • I live in a pile of filth. I'm not happy about this. Because I have a miniature room, there are many boxes of stuff that I used to have room for where I used to live, making it smaller. Because I don't think about it much except when I come home and think, "Wow, this is a pit." Then I go to sleep and wake up and leave and I don't think about it until I get back. Rinse, repeat. Well, it's just a mess.
  • I'm not a math person by any stretch of the imagination, but I always try to do math-stuff in my head. I'm inordinately proud of being able to figure a tip in my head. (but then, I try to tip 20% unless there's a reason to do otherwise, so it's easier :) ) I'm not really good at it, but I keep trying.
  • I have almost no fashion sense at all. For most of my life, I've been a t-shirt and jeans guy. I've been trying recently to dress better (with varying degrees of success). I haven't worn cologne in maybe 10 or 12 years.
  • I can't count to 5.