Better Than a Sharp Quiz in the Eye

See? I haven't abandoned them altogether! :)
(There's some odd ones down there - Be careful)

#1

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?

#2

Thunder only happens when it’s raining
Players only love you when they’re playing

#3

Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died
And the General sat, as the lines on the map
moved from side to side

#4

Should have taken warning
It's just, people mourning, running, hiding, lost
You can't find, find a place to go

#5

We’ve got Richard Pryor on the video
We got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
But the only time that seems too short
Is the time that we get to play

#6

you can brush my hair,
undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

#7

They shook and lurched all over the church floor
He couldn't quite explain it

#8

It’s savage and it’s cruel
And it shines like destruction
Comes in like the flood
And it seems like religion

#9

Sometimes if I shout,
it's not what's intended.
These words just come out,
with no cross to bear.

#10

Now with a holy host of others standing round me
still I'm on the dark side of the moon

No Bugs Were Harmed In The Making Of This Post

8.27km - 40'06"

Very nearly under 40 minutes for my favorite run!

Average pace time down to 4'51/km and heart rate at a acceptable 179.

Yea me!

Perhaps I'll Die

I very nearly swallowed a bug while bicycling to school today. I was able to hack and cough it out though. Otherwise I would have to send in a spider to get it, and I've herd that they wriggle and wiggle and tickle. I wouldn't want that.

Just thought you guys would want to know.

Liftoff!

I'm done! No more papers to grade! Now... I've only got ~40 exams to grade. Well crap. That's not nearly as exciting as I had hoped. There's got to be time in here somewhere for my stuff, right? Thesis? Readings? Class Prep? Well, maybe not today...

Countdown

Five more papers to grade... Eyes... Bleeding... The horror... the horror.

Cheney - Not Only Dangerous To Iraqis and Civil Liberties

Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter - Yahoo! News

Everything Is Clear Now

Reading from dude's notebook:

"I will start a pharmaceutical company specializing in brain drugs."

Brain drugs. Yes, indeed. Ok, I think it's time for me to go before dude stands up and does his stretching routine again. I'm sure you all will thank me for stopping the clogging of your feed readers :)

Sequel!

Note to guy who scared off the cute girl:

Repeatedly grunting and stabbing at the book you're reading with your finger while manically nodding your head is also a good way to freak me out.

Focus Wavering - 20+ Papers To Go

ok, dude sitting across for me: spending 10 minutes breaking the binding on your paperback (Think and Get Rich) is really starting to wig me out. Turning each page and flattening down the spine is just a little spooky.

See? I'm not the only one. You scared off the cute girl who was sitting next to you.

Pining for Prongs

I know you guys are thrilled with tales from grading, so here's another nugget:

I really dislike the old 'three-pronged' essay. I think most people do. I thought that everyone had to learn how to write them in high school. I guess not anymore. At this point, I'd love to see some. Even a two-prong. One well-developed prong would be an improvement.

A Well-Lighted Place to Grade

It's become nearly impossible to get a space at any of the cafe/coffeeshops around where I live anymore. The big bookstore one is crowded with well, paying customers - the nerve of them all. The funky cafe with free wireless is always jam packed unless you get there at 8am. Oh, and no one ever leaves, either. I think they've installed feeding tubes. There's a Starbucks, but it's usually a tight squeeze too, but they have done a very cool thing. They put in computer tables. They're six to a table with a power-strip in the center. Very nice. Even better is that my wonderful sister gave me a Starkbucks gift card, so my frapaccino is free-to-me! (don't worry - it's a light frapaccino hehe)

So, all that said, I've got about 30 papers to grade and yesterday I got a stack of 45-ish blue-book exams on top of that. Nice timing, eh? So it makes perfect sense that I'm blogging instead of grading, right? Oh, maybe not so right. Ah, well, if I'm not back in a day, call the EMTs.

What Am I?

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||| 43% Stability |||||||||||||||| 70% Orderliness |||||||||||| 46% Accommodation |||||||||||||| 56% Interdependence |||||||||||||||||| 76% Intellectual |||||||||||||||| 63% Mystical || 10% Artistic |||||||||||||| 56% Religious |||||||||||| 43% Hedonism |||| 16% Materialism |||||||||||||| 56% Narcissism |||||||||||||| 56% Adventurousness |||||||||| 36% Work ethic |||||||||||| 50% Self absorbed |||||||||||| 43% Conflict seeking |||||| 30% Need to dominate |||| 16% Romantic |||||||||||||||| 63% Avoidant |||||||||||| 50% Anti-authority |||||| 30% Wealth || 10% Dependency |||||||||||| 43% Change averse |||||||||||||||| 63% Cautiousness |||||||||||| 43% Individuality |||||| 30% Sexuality |||||||||||||| 56% Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||| 63% Physical security |||||||||||||||||| 76% Physical Fitness |||||||||||||||| 64% Histrionic |||| 16% Paranoia |||||||||| 36% Vanity |||||||||||||||| 70% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 63% Female cliche |||||| 30%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com


Seen at Zerodoll's

Hrmph... This is almost illegible on the template. Be happy you're reading this in a feed reader. If you are.

If you aren't... Um... sorry.

Jeeves Is A Smartass

SatireWire | Feature: Interview with the Search Engine

Oh, Great, Like I Need Any More Geek Cred

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick. You're always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going. "15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

Blogthings - The Muppet Personality Test

8.32km - 40'30"

Woot!

Well, I broke under a big number this morning on the weight scale. I haven’t been this light since I was in the army. Of course, I was a lot more muscular then, but I think I’m getting fitter now, and that’s the whole goal. Well, the other goal is to shrink my belly, but that’s happening slowly as well. Yeah me.

The problem is that I want to reward myself, and in the past, I’ve always rewarded myself with big honking tubs of food and candy. Hmm… Counter-productive, no? I’ve certainly earned a bag of skittles or something, but that seems pretty boring.

Why Does TCM Taunt Me?

I come home to do a bit of reading and go to sleep, but they're showing another Audrey Hepburn movie. I mean, c'mon! I'm only human!

Random Reading Reme... Er... Meme...

Bold the books you have read. Italicize the books you might read.
Cross out the books you probably won't read.
Underline the books you have on your shelf to read or have started reading.
Pass it on. (I found this over at Aspiring Academic's thru Do Thy Research)

I would like to add, if you want to do this, you should also add five books to the list yourself - because it’s a very eclectic list and should become more so.

1984 - George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Aesop’s Fables
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
Dune - Frank Herbert
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Neuromancer - William Gibson
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
The Analects – Confucius
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The Bible (Old and New Test)
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Koran
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Why?

There's voodoo in the air in the Land o' Overread. We're a very small department. Almost a subsection of another department. As of right now we've only got a MA program, and this year we're graduating only a handful of folks. Here's the thing that's got me flummoxed. I think I'm the only one who is really aiming for a career in academia. One officemate is running away from university altogether. She's got a couple of 'real' jobs lined up. She'll probably be pulling a hefty paycheck down from a giant megaconglomocorp within a couple months of graduation. Another officemate half-heartedly applied to PhD programs, but has now all but decided that she really would prefer to drop off the face of the earth and go play somewhere else. I'm kind of jealous. Another officemate (did I mention I've got about a sitcom's worth of officemates?) has decided that she really wants to go be with her husband and spot living on opposite sides of the country. She's applied places too, but I don't think she'll accept.

The crux of my current pondering is that I really respect these people and each of their choices. They are very gifted and capable people. I'm jealous of each one in different ways. Although I should be happy that there are less people in the field for me to butt heads with when job-hunting comes around :), I find myself a bit pensive. Why in the world am I doing this? Why am I wanting to be a horribly over-educated, underpaid, overworked, and possibly chronically unemployed academic? Even the title can be dismissive. It's all academic, right?

I'm not having a crisis of purpose or anything, and I know that this job is definitely not for everyone, but I wonder what little electrical impulses are firing in my brain that are firing differently in their brains. Lemmings all think they're right until they hit the water, right?

(This post might have been brought on by the fact that one of the big unis I applied to said that their decisions would be made in about 2 weeks)

Later Run

8.21km - 40'34"

Felt a touch slower, and guess what? I was! :)

Ohm...

I've reached a Zen-like state of understanding. I know I cannot finish all that I have to finish, and so I won't.

This is the sound of one hand clapping. In this spirit, I present to you the first installment of

Overread Open-mic!
where all poetry must be haiku, and all poetry must be awful! Feel free to join in - it's a 5-7-5 syllable form, and it's best to have a twist of some sort on the last line.

My plate, heaping tall,
Jealous tasks, stealing my time.
I sit, unperturb'd.

Papers, by students sent,
befoul my innocent drive.
Someone, call a priest.

Overheard

Teenybopper #1: Did you know that to be a sociology person, you've got to take a drug test?

Teenybopper #2: Ohmygod! No!


-

A sociology person, eh? Is that an official job title, now?

Mon Run

8.23km - 40'15"

Superbowl Commentary

I'm biased, but the first winner for commercials is the Pixar Cars commercial. I really don't get the NASCAR fad, but I love Pixar :)


Additions:

Escalade Oil sucker/model commercial = pathetic. What are we supposed to think? The SUV is too thin, overpaid and addicted to drugs? Oh, well check that too thin, and it's not too bad. kudos, Caddy for admitting that you're selling a piece of crap.

Noooooo Kermit!! Don't shill for Ford - even if it is for a hybrid... My childhood memories.... destroyed...

Let's give Godaddy.com a pass too - Their commercials have always been horrible. Think of all the money they pay so that we get to see them... sad...

Gillette's razor of doom commercial is very interesting though. They're obviously selling so much more than a razor now - it's more like beer selling sex. Gillette's selling tech and geekdom.

Halftime:

Wow, Mick sounds awful. Is there something wrong with his mic?

Et tu, Yosemite Sam? A shill for Honda? sigh...

Final Seattle 10 Pittsburgh 21:

Well, I'm a little disappointed. I wanted Seattle to win, but more disappointing was that the game really never seemed that exciting. It just seemed like another game. Nice for the Bus to win, but overall: eh...

Grading

I know I say this every time I grade papers, but it seems absolutely impossible that these students have ever taken an English Comp class. Either that or everyone is stoned out of their freaking gourds when they're writing these things.

Thesis:
Throughout the history of the world, people have always been like this. A is like B but also like C. (the most common and hated thesis)
Body:
According to text Z, A was a really wild guy. He did M, N, and O. (completely unrelated to so-called thesis)
Conclusion:
A is like B but also like C. This impacts my life because I got drunk last week and the guy who held my hair while I puked had a beard and so did A.

***Sorry for writing so short a paper! My computer is dying and the printer at school didn't work and my roommate has the bird flu and I think I may be going to Mexico***

Also: I'm sick so I won't be going to class, can you tell me what we will talk about?

Thanks! :) :)!!

And Now You Know

This seems to be the worst-selling book on Amazon. Silly Canadians...

Legos are deadly.

100 best opening lines for novels. (faves: Pride Prejudice, 1984 Waiting - Alas, so many unread)
l

inks mostly from Kottke

QUIZ XL

So, rather than work, I'll present to you a long-overdue QUIZ! Yes, yes, you thought that they were gone, and they certainly are endangered, but I did collect a couple of names of tunes, so hey! Why not!

I warn you - these may be all over the place, and I've collected more than the usual clump, so rather than save them all up and dole them out sensibly in small chunks, I'll blow them all today. :)

1

My mind's such a sweet thing
I wanna do everything
What a beautiful feeling

2

Like a king without a castle
Like a queen without a throne
I’m an early morning lover
And I must be moving on

3

Don't let your aim ever stray
And if all your hopes survive
Your destiny will arrive
I'll bring all your dreams alive
For you

4

I
I was standing
You were there
Two worlds collided

5

What's your name?
Who's your daddy?
Is he rich like me?

6

It was a night like this forty million years ago
I lit a cigarette picked up a monkey start to go.
The sun was spitting fire
the sky was blue as ice
I felt a little tired so I watched "Miami Vice."

7

New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about...

8

I’ve given up, stop. I ’ve given up, stop.
I’ve given up, stop. on waiting any longer
I’ve given up, on this love getting stronger

9

And you're feelin' like a part of you is dying
And you're looking for the answer in her eyes
You think you're gonna break up
Then she says she wants to make up

10

Suzy was in pig tails,
I know I loved her even then.
You know my papa disapproved it,
My mama boohooed it

11

There is freedom within, there is freedom without
Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup

12

Well I've been afraid of changin'
because I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder, even children get older
And I'm getting older too

13

If you decide someday to stop this little game that you are playin',
I'm gonna tell you all what my heart's been a-dyin' to be sayin'.
Just like a ghost, you've been a-hauntin' my dreams,
So I'll propose... on Halloween.

14

I understand just a little
No comprende, it's a riddle

15

Close your eyes and try to sleep now
Close your eyes and try to dream
Clear your mind and do your best
To try and wash the palette clean

It Begins Again

Sometimes after a run, I feel completely invigorated and ready to take on the world. This is not one of those times. I think it's because I know what awaits me, siting uneasily in my inbox and on my hard drive.

The first batch of papers.

Running Through My Mind

8.20km - 40'47"

Another sub 5'/km average run! (well, one second under, but still!)

Perhaps I'm running faster because I'm carrying less of me around lately...

:)

Acting like a Groundhog

Five more weeks of winter.

Huh? Wha?

Topic: Overread works better when he is doing many many many things at once. Moreover, having classes all frickin' day on Thursday and an 8 9am Friday morning combo to TA (with prof coming to sit in this week) makes one healthy, wealthy and wise.

Discuss.

Bloody Vikings...

The link on top of my Gmail spam folder:

Spam Hashbrown Bake - Serves 8

hehe

Run-a-dub-dub

8.22km - 40'57"

New pace record @ 4'59" per km average!

I'm not sure about the 8.22 km though. It usually comes out as 8.14km. Not much difference, but still...

Yea me!

Told You I Live On The Edge

So the result of my not giving the 'How To Write A Paper' speech is an unending stream of emailed questions.

Yes, you have to cite.

This thesis is ok, but try this.

Try this.

Try this.

Yes, you have to follow the requirements on the prompt.

Sigh...

Also, unrelated to academic joys, there is something in the office that smells wonderfully cinnamon-y. I don't know what it is. Now that we've got five people in the same small office, there are all sorts of fun mysteries...

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I Live On The Edge

Papers are due in on Thursday (not the one I have to write - that's due on Friday - joy.) The danger is in the fact that I didn't spend my standard 30-minutes in class going over how to write a paper. We're covering a huge amount of material, so I used the time to cover content. I don't have first-years in the class (although it is a first year course - joy.), so I'm going on the idea that they've written for university classes in the past.

See how I tempt fate?

The Horror, The Horror

The problem about starting to try to count calories is learning how horribly unhealthy some of the stuff I love is.

For example - the nacho plate from a big chain restaurant is 2120 calories. Damn. I mean... damn. That's more than I need to eat for an entire f'ing day. I was eating that pretty regularly. I've also discovered that the sandwiches from Quizno's are seemingly marinated in salt, then rolled around in salt, then buttered and covered in a salt glaze. Then they still a big ol' honkin' salt lick in the middle.

Oddly enough, pizza isn't as horrible calorie-wise as I had expected. And the Subway sandwiches are quite good.

I've been tempted not to post this because I figured I'd ruin my luck, but I've lost 10 pounds since a high tide of Christmas. I'm still a bit away from a good weight for my height, but that's okay, I'm built big and I've got some muscle, so I'm not aiming for skeletal.

And I'm going to get a couple of slices of pizza.

Originally uploaded by Overread.

年年有餘

The New Year's Party was a grand success and much joy was had. We're a relatively small department, and a good percentage of us turned up at the hostess's tiny little apartment. We ended up cramming about 14 people in a room that should comfortably fit 10 - tops. The hostess was a whirlwind. She had been cooking since dawn. Two friends dropped by at about 3pm to help, so by the time everyone started arriving around 6-7ish, there were literally mounds of Chinese food. Everything from eggplant dumplings to bitter melon and the most delectable veggie delights (we've got several veggie folks in the department, including the hostess - She did make some kick-ass pork dumplings and a couple of other meat dishes though too).

Various adult beverages flowed, and soon, T was telling about his exploits as a reporter cum actor abroad. H was explaining how close she came to settling down as a vineyard caretaker before she came back to school. G, the most kindly man in the room, was explaining his long history of fistfights as a younger man. B, naturally, was trying to get all the dirt on the new and previously unknown date that R had brought.

I guess I'm not emotionally able to enjoy things completely, because I kept thinking, in the midst of all this wonderful warm friendliness, that it won't last. A good percentage of the group will be moving on after the spring, myself included. I'm a hermit by nature, and it's taken a while to get comfortable with these people - my friends. I'll have to start all over again soon.

Things eventually started to break up, of course. I was riding back with a friend who was carting home the car-less. On the ride back I built up a little more self-pity. I always feel envious when I see all the couples pair up and head home. Since I'm moving on to who knows where so soon, I feel that it would be futile to be dating right now, but maybe that's just a rationalization so I don't have to take any chances. I really don't have the time for a girlfriend right now, but wouldn't it be nice...

All in all, a great time, and a wonderful start to the year of the dog! Now, to solidify my good day, after the run, I'm diving back into my thesis goodness.

Dog Day Dash

8.15km - 41'17"

Oh, I Forgot This.

Aren't you hungry? Just look at that excitement! Look at the way the noodles are hanging to the side - he's bringing that fork to his mouth with some speed! There are more terrifying illustrations here.

More good ones:

Satanic Huckleberry Finn
Cherry-Stem Knot-Tying Kid
Gollum-Girl. "My Precious!"

Flutter Flutter

Yesterday was one of the most full Fridays I've had in a long time. I was working in the office until about 11:30pm Thursday night. Then Friday stared with a three-in-a-row class block (2 teaching, one attending) I got two hours for lunch, which naturally meant I had to eat in 20 minutes while trying to finish some classwork. Then there was lecture number two for the day and a one-on-one with advisor the second. That got postponed, so I had time to help out a postdoc with some problems she was having. Then I had another couple hours free, so I bicycled home to get a shower (did I mention I hadn't showered yet?), and got in a few minutes reading before hopping back on the bike to zoom over to advisor the first's home for a dinner with visiting scholar-whose-book-we're-using-in-class (I'm also thinking of using his book for my summer class). I got home at about 11pm.

Yowza.

The dinner was actually very nice. I'm very much a hermit, so I don't get out much (although I've got another dinner tonight - aren't I the social butterfly all of a sudden?). The most flattering part about it was that I think it's the first time I felt like I was comfortable dealing with a fairly big name in the field who wasn't from my department. Uber kudos to my advisor who brought everyone together and made me feel like I fit in. Oh, also, I was the only grad student invited. Just me and a bunch of real living breathing big-wigs. Cool.

Tonight's a Chinese New Year party, so in case I forget, I hope everyone has a great year of the dog!

Hello! Mr. Blogger!

Is anyone else still having to type the 'I'm not a robot spammer' code in the comment window twice? because I still am and it makes me sad.

I'm It!

I've been tagged! (thanks ZeroDoll!)

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.
1) shelly
2) zydeco fish
3) doris
4) zerodoll
5) Overread

Next select five people to tag (Sorry!):
1) Jayfish
2) BrightStar
3) Russian Violets
4) Luckybuzz
5) Sheepish

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Aaaaaaaaaarmy training, Sir! (That's the fact Jack!)

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Very much the same thing I'm doing now.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) Tortilla Chips
2) Chocolate
3) Mandarin oranges (or any nibble-sized fruit)
4) Pita (or bagel chips) and hummus
5) all manner of candy (except for a few abhorations of nature like Circus Peanuts)

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1) Almost every song in Rocky Horror
2) Most songs in Grease
3) I used to know all of American Pie
4) I used to be able to sing all of Piano Man by Billy Joel
5) If I've go the music, I can sing Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
(I agree with ZeroDoll - it's gotta be a multi-millionaire; these days, a million bucks buys a shack in some parts of the world)
1) Pay off my debts and the debts of my immediate family (no luck distant cousins!)
2) Buy land, losta land under starry skies above
3) Set up my own foundation so I wouldn't have to worry about funding :)
4) Travel everywhere
5) Have a home

Five bad habits:
1) Lazy
2) I always find excuses to not be social
3) I abuse my electronics
4) I don't know when to say 'this is good enough' and move on
5) I often don't finish what I start (nice paradox, no?)

Five things you like doing:
1) eating
2) reading
3) watching old movies
4) Going somewhere I've never been
5) ZeroDoll was trying to be all coy by saying 'getting intimate,' I'm blunt. I'll just say 'sex.'

Five things you would never wear again:
1) Frank-n-Furter costume
2) High Heels
3) Full body makeup
4) Cross-gartered tights (ah, my days in the theatre world...)
5) Military uniform

Five favorite toys:
1) Laptop
2) Zen Micro
3) Canon 20D w/ assorted lenses
4) Nike Triax Running system
5) My blog! (that's a toy, right?)

Conundrum

Why don't they just kill James Bond when they capture him?

Temptation

Ooo... I got this nice projector for this silly little presentation tonight. Is it wrong that I want to just stay in my office and project movies onto my wall all night? I'm supposed to give it back tomorrow, but it's too cool! I want I want I want!

Not Fed After Midnight

The gremlins in the wireless network have had sunlight shone upon them. Hoo-ray for modern technology!

I know I haven't been posting much lately, and I'm afraid it may be getting worse as the the weeks pass. The thesis work is piling up on top of the already decently size pile of classwork and TAing work.

And yet I found time to watch the NOVA special on building a trebuchet. Because... Umm.... it's trebuchet... And that's cool. And I have no ability to stay on task.

It was a trebuchet though. I mean - just say it. Cool isn't it?

Sneaky Morning Run

8.14km - 41'31"

Well, the gym is still crowded in the morning, btu the trail was great. I even got to run a little bit with what looked like the women's track team. :)

It was sneaky because I should have been prepping for a one on one after today's lecture with a very meticulous prof. I don't think I'm going to be as prepared as she would like me to be.

Not Exactly Pret-a-Porter

Oh for crying out loud.

I’ve never understood fashion.  I don’t think I ever will.

Slow On The Uptake

More proof (as if needed) of my geekiness: I love the OED. My campus has it set up where we get automatic access from our browsers. Clickity click click and whoosh I can tell you all that the first entry for ‘numinous’ is:

1647 N. WARD Simple Cobler Aggawam 66 The Will of a King is very numinous; it hath a kinde of vast universality in it. 1864 R. S. HAWKER Quest Sangraal 17 An Orient Cruse, Fulfill'd, and running o'er, with Numynous Light. 1941 G. G. SCHOLEM Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism 59 The key-word of the numinous, the Kedushah, the trishagion from Isaiah VI, 3, in which the ecstasy of the mystic culminates: holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. 1951 J. L. ADAMS tr. P. Tillich Protestant Era p. xxxix, Protestants..often are unaware of the numinous power inherent in genuine symbols. 1993 Atlantic Oct. 113/1 Calle de la Luna shows a smiling crescent moon, Calle del Cristo a numinous Christ on the cross.

The power of the OED is very numinous; it hath a kinde of vast universality in it.

Most Distressing!

The internets are not accesible from my home! The wireless gremlin says that he is connected, but he won't allow me to see webpages... Evil little gremlin...

It's Gotta Be The Shoes

8.13km - 41'53"

Originally uploaded by Overread.

A Quiz in a Poke

Yowza!

The only missed one was number one! - Robert Palmer - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On. Well, it's actually a lie. I kinda tired to turn you on, but only a little bit. EDIT - Zerodoll actually did get this one. I'm sorry about that! I'm getting rusty on these quizzes, maybe I need to do them more often :)

Ah, but camera obscura brings out a oh, so difficult problem. Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon and Garfunkel or the Bangles. I first heard the Bangles version, and loved it, but there's nothing that S&G have done that I don't love. Ah, troubles (and not of the doggie kind).

In any case - here's a new quiz!

1

But my dreams
They aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be

2

You see it all around you
Good lovin' gone bad
And usually it's too late when you realize what you had

3

So you think you’re lonely
Well my friend I’m lonely too

4

The first time that I got it
I was just ten years old
I got it from some kitty next door

5

Johnny died one night, died in his bed,
Bottle of whiskey, sleeping tablets by his head.

6

He's got such a supple wrist

7

I can walk down the street there's no one there
Though, the pavements are one huge crowd

8

In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don’t know when that road turned onto the road I’m on

9

It’s all wrong, but it’s all right.
The way that you treat me baby.
Once I was strong but I lost the fight.
You won’t find a better loser.

10

You've got everything, but nothing's cool
They've just found your father in the swimming pool

11

You see the world through your cynical eyes
You're a troubled young man I can tell
You've got it all in the palm of your hand
But your hand's wet with sweat

12

And when I awoke and felt you warm and near,
I kissed your honey hair with my grateful tears.
Oh I love you, girl.
Oh, I love you.

13

We have to shout above the din of our Rice Crispies

14

I could barely walk when I milked a cow
When I was three I pushed a plow
While chopping wood I moved my legs
And they saw me dancing when I gathered eggs

15

Once I never could hope to win
You starting down the road leaving me again
The threats you made were meant to cut me down
And if our love was just a circus you'd be a clown by now

Two Bits

From the land of the Cheeky Prof:

25 Questions that no one would ever think to ask:

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
"Ugh. I don't need to shave today, do I?"

2. How much cash do you have on you?
~$30, which is odd, because I usually hate carrying much cash

3. What's a word that rhymes with TEST?
Best

4. planet?
Forbidden

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list?
Hmmm... I don't know. It's not a number I recognize.

6. What is your favorite ring on your phone?
Marriage of Figaro

7. What shirt are you wearing?
Black polo (without the little polo guy though - it's Land's End, I think... I can't see the tag from here :)

8. What do you label yourself?
$3.99

9. Name the brand of your shoes you're recently wearing?
Nike running shoes (Air somethingorother, but then again, aren't they all?) I'm hoping that I can find a bit of time to go run today

10. Bright or Dark Room?
Right now, I'm in my office, which is very bright thanks to our friend the sun.

11. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping - I live a thrilling life, it's true. Actually I had to go to sleep early because I had a 9am shoot this morning.

12. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
Words to the effect of: "This costs too much money. Why don't I just call you?"

13. Where is your nearest 7-11?
Oh, wow... maybe... 3 miles? maybe?

14. What's a saying that you say a lot?
"jeeze"

15.Who told you they loved you last?
My Sis-tah

16. Last furry thing you touched?
Briar, the 9 billion pound monster dog who lives in the house where I am staying. He needed a good petting and patting this morning before I left

17. How Many Drugs Have You Done In The Past three Days?
I really hate drugs of all kinds - even when I need to take them. I get very unhappy when I'm living somewhere where my allergies kick up, because then I have to take antihistamines, and I always feel that that's cheating somehow. I know, I know, not a healthy attitude. So, no drugs. I did take a multivitamin, does that count?

18. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
Film! Ha! actually, I do have a roll of Tmax that I should get developed one day. I'm a completely digital shutter-monkey now.

19. Favorite age you have been so far?
Today

20. your worst enemy?
The sloth that lives inside my brain and makes me want to be laaaaazy

21. What is your current desktop picture?
A picture of the card my brother sent me for Christmas (here it is)

22. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"Kick ass this afternoon!" When I biked by one of our basketball players this morning. They've got a game today.

23. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly, which would you choose?
Ya know, I've never been a big fan of the flying superpower. I'd go for other powers long before flying. But this one's tough, because I bet I could make a lot of money flying. Of course, I'd probably be shot down by some duck hunter or declared an threat to homeland security because I wouldn't screen myself before flight. I guess I'd take the money...

24. Do you like someone?
Almost everyone, actually... Almost...

25. The last song you listened to?
25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago

Friday Poetry Meme

Great Idea Jo(e)!

Here's an old fave from Li Bo (Elling Eide, Trans):

Beneath the blossoms with a pot of wine,
No friends at hand, so I poured alone;
I raised my cup to invite the moon,
Turned to my shadow, and we became three.

Now the moon has never learned about my drinking,
And my shadow had merely followed my form,
But I quickly made friends with the moon and my shadow;
To find pleasure in life, make the most of the spring.

Whenever I sang, the moon swayed with me;
Whenever I danced, my shadow went wild.
Drinking, we shared our enjoyment together;
Drunk, then each went off on his own.
But forever agreed on dispassionate revels,
We promised to meet in the far Milky Way.

Ah, Friday

I should give up trying to get anything done on a Friday. I've got two sections and two lectures all with very minimal time in-between. Several other officemates have the same problem, so in-between classes we all pile into the office (there's 5 of us total in here now. 3 desks, five people. Don't even get me started about shelf space), and we end up chatting all day long. Nothing gets done but we have a grand old time.

Today there was the furniture drama:
Where did the X go? Several admin people are frantically wondering. Frantic why? No one knows. No one has ever cared much about X, and it's been gone for over a year.

Admin #1 pops head into the office: Anyone seen the X?
All office folk: Nope, it's been gone for a long time
Admin #1: Ah.
(five munites pass)
Admin #2 pops head into the office: Anyone seen the X?
All office folk: Nope, it's been gone for a long time
(five minutes pass)
Random McStudent pops head in the door: Anyone seen...
All office folk break into wild hysterical laughter
R McS: (Head cocked to the side like a puppy) Professor Y?
All office staff still giggling: Um, We thought you wanted the X!
R McS: (quizzical look)

We finally straightened him out, but ah, it was funny. I know, I know. You had to be there. Trust me, it was funny.

Class

Like you want another post about how crazy-busy I've become. Well, unfortunately that's what this is. Enjoy :)

Actually I'm not whining. The only downside is that I'm way behind on my running and blog reading (and my thesis, but I'm beginning to understand that's the norm).

Best class o' the moment:

I've got a seminar that is taught by my advisor, so it's great already, but it's gathering interest from other quarters. From the beginning, another big-name faculty sat in, and now we hear murmurs that a up-and-comer faculty is interested in sitting in too. Normally this might be troublesome, especially if my advisor weren't truly expert in the field, but he is, and the whole class has turned into an incredible round table discussion of the topic. Advisor prompts the discussion, but it's free-wheeling and hitting topics that we couldn't cover as completely without big-name. Adding the up-and-comer, who is an expert in a subfield of what we're dealing with, but in a different way, should be even my interesting.

This is what I had hoped university would be. Experts dealing with vital topics and pulling from each other, while students follow and learn how to enter the discussion. Each of us will present a very brief review of material and try to add to the discussion. This may sound like a typical seminar, but with the two (3?) faculty coming at the problem from different angles, it's better than any other I've had. Today the class went on about an hour longer than it should have and no one wanted to leave.

How am I going to leave this place?

Alright, this was more gush than while, but oh, well.

What Else Has The Media Hidden From Us?

I'm sure everyone has seen this, but I just did and I literally laughed out loud. Make sure and read to the end.



From Alas, a blog
info at educe me

Don't You Understand? I NEED This Class!

Yes. You are graduating (so you think) in the Spring and you just found out that you need this class to graduate (I'm not even sure I could be that oblivious). And you want in. And it's full. And you want in. Bursting at the seems full. And you want in. No you didn't come to any of the lectures or discussions held so far. And you want in.

Ah...yes, and also this:

You're a senior and you need this class. You'll just die if you aren't able to get this class and graduate on time (on whose time?). You'll do anything to get in. Anything. Oh, I'm the TA that has the early morning sections? Where's the other TA?

Ah...

My Run

Fair warning: Enormous post of dubious value. May cause drowsiness. Do not read and operate heavy machinery. Read at your own risk.



It's odd that after not running for only a little less than a week how much my body seemed to enjoy getting back into it. The thing is that I'm really lazy, and I do not like doing things, of which running is one. I had time to run this weekend and I didn't, and I can't really fathom why I didn't, especially with my newfound attempt to be healthy - well more healthy,
anyway.

I got to the gym at a decent time (earlier than the hordes it seemed). I got a decent locker (note to guy on the other side of the bench: If you must sing, I think you need to go into a lower register. The falsetto ain't your bag, baby). There was even a treadmill available amongst a bevy of quite aesthetically pleasing joggers (and one walker. I hope she was doing a cool-down. I've seen folks walk for 10+ minutes on a treadmill. Um. We live in a gorgeous outdoor-friendly area. GO OUTSIDE).

I didn't take the treadmill though. Despite the come-hither glances of the angelic underdressed wonders (that was most likely my imagination), I strode off to do my outdoor trail run.

I usually have a bit of over-enthusiasm when I start a run. I'll end up running a bit faster than my pace will allow. Today, once I passed through the gaggle of gogglers (we can't be having campus tour this early, can we?), I hit a flat stretch and it was like my legs grew like the heart of the Grinch. I zoomed through the populated part of the run, dodging the dodgy and passing the pedestrian to come up on the best part of the run.

There's a trail that climbs and drops as in winds a loop around a pond surrounded by all manner of strange birds and stranger birders. Before I can get to the trail proper, I have to hit the stairs of doom. They're maybe twenty to twenty-five feet high and they always break up my stride.
It's a good place to catch my breath going down, but I can't help but remind myself that after the trail, I'm going to have to go back up the stairs to get back to the gym. It's with this thought in mind I hit the first part of the trail. It's a long slow curve and perfectly flat with only a couple
of puddles to navigate. I run. My legs like it. I run faster.

There's a lot of ego involved in this trail for me. I'm competitive enough that I feel the need to at least make a good show when I come up against another runner. Usually they're running the other direction, so I don't worry too much (will I meet them on the other side of the loop? I'd
better speed up so that I put more distance down than they do before we meet). When they are running the same direction as I am, I have to try to pass them - It must be my reptilian brain. I usually can't though because I take all the little side trails that no one else does. Today I passed
one woman twice. She probably thought I was a stalker.

About halfway through the loop, there's a huge dip. It's probably about as high as the stairs of doom and it goes down at a pretty good slope. It's another place to gauge the run. If I stretch my strides out, I can really get going and get about half-way up the incline on the other side before I know it. Other days, my breath isn't with me and I have to take it slow, but with the knowledge that the incline on the other side will tear me up if I don't have the momentum. Today that's where I passed the other runner the first time. Full stride. Wonderful.

I usually do two laps around the trail and then start back to the gym. The stairs are the gateway to the trail back. Today, they blur. Two at a time, I float up. Back to a flat run. Back to the crowds on campus. Back to the noises and the bikes. Back to the world. My feet are still feeling good, my legs, strong. My breathing has come back to me after the stairs tried to take it away, but I can't stretch out my stride because of the crowds.

Right before I get back to the gym, there's a straight path that is usually empty. It's my landing strip. The rule is that I have to sprint at the end of every run. Sprinting at the end is very telling. It's amazing how much energy you find at the end of a run. After nearly an
hour of panting, blinking the sweat out of your eyes, with the goal far off but visible at the horizon, if you push a little, you find you've got a lot more left. So I push hard. Usually, I've only got enough left to stretch out my stride as far as I can, and maybe put a little kick in. Today I
was able to really push. I flew down the path, pulling up only at the end of my runway, the courtyard of the gym. Who knew I still had that much left in me?

Writing this, I can feel the soreness creeping into the high backs of my thighs (from all the long striding, I'm guessing) and a possible mini-blister, but I feel so good right now. It's not just the run. I've felt good all day, but the run was exactly what I needed.

PS I like Performancing a lot, but sometimes the formatting goes wonky. Grrr...

Zoom-a-Zoom Zoom

8.15km - 42'13"

Pretty decent pace for me. That works out to... what? It's right at 5 miles, so that's a smuge over 8 minute miles? 8'25-ish?

cool.

By the way, why didn't we ever go to a decimal time system?

Evil but Funny

Ok, I ususally don't go in for these, but this is the best blonde joke ever.

No Sleep For Me!

So, ummm... yeah. I watched the whole movie instead of going to sleep.

Actually I haven't seen Roman Holiday is a long time, but I still love it, and Ms. Hepburn is still crush-worthy. I'm a little surprise actually, because this was a popular film, why Hollywood hasn't done a remake. The heads of the big studios have already convinced me that they refuse to even look at any film that has anything approaching novelty, and the audience has shown themselves to be equally adamantly opposed to watching anything but the same old stories with the same old characters. Even the cinemas themselves are loathe to screen anything that might sprain some brain cell out there.

I was thinking all about this while watching the movie, and wondering how they might do the remake. Gregory Peck's character was a slightly older guy, so Hollywood would have to go with a Clooney-ish actor. Hepburn was very young, and very thin (I didn't remember her being that thin - kinda spooky), so they'd go straight for a Lohan-esque 'actress.'

The story would have to change, of course. Any possibility of the sad but satisfying end of the original would have to be thrown out. Well, either that or you could have a sex scene. It's ok for the characters to not end up together so long as the guy gets to sleep with the girl at some point. Come to think of it, there would probably have to be sex in the movie regardless.

I will say, one thing that I thought was funny in the original is that when they finally do have that long steamy kiss, they don't move. I can only assume that this was a movie code regulation, but it looked a bit odd: Tension tension tension, passionate embrace! Kiss! and pause. Careful - no jaw movement, the youth in the audience may get the wrong idea. No tongue, ministers might implode... and... break! ok, you can act again...

How’s that for a rambling incoherent post?

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Overread!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Overread!

1. An average beaver can cut down Overread every year.
2. Overread can't drink - he absorbs water from his surroundings by osmosis.
3. Overreadocracy is government by Overread.
4. Influenza got its name because people believed the disease was caused by the evil "influence" of Overread.
5. Overread can pollinate up to six times more efficiently than the honeybee!
6. Some people in Malaysia bathe their babies in beer to protect them from Overread.
7. The colour of Overread is no indication of his spiciness, but size usually is!
8. Overread can usually be found in nests built in the webs of large spiders!
9. There are roughly 10,000 man-made objects the size of Overread orbiting the Earth.
10. The risk of being struck by Overread is one occurence every 9,300 years.

Seen all over, but first at Bright Star's and Scrivener's

Yikes!

Grrrr. I need to go to sleep, but the evil TV just started playing Roman Holiday! I have a serious crush on Audrey Hepburn in this movie. Will I sleep? Who knows!

Honey, Where Are My Jackboots?

Thank goodness the Pentagon thinks these things through. The US would face a long, hard-fought war against the code-named 'RED' nation:

The planners anticipated a war "of long duration" because "the RED race" is "more or less phlegmatic" but "noted for its ability to fight to a finish."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he'd never heard of the plan.
He also said he wouldn't admit to knowing about such a plan if he did..."We don't talk about any of our contingency plans," he said.

The kicker is that it's all about plans to invade... Wait for it... Canada. Yup. Ok, well, it's all about pre-WWII plans, but still, today it seems wonderfully hilarious.

The wiley Canadians were prepared as well:

His "Defence Scheme No. 1" called for Canadian soldiers to invade the
United States, charging toward Albany, Minneapolis, Seattle and Great
Falls, Mont., at the first signs of a possible U.S. invasion.

There's even a unknown (to me, anyway) history of agression between the two nations even after the War of 1812 with horriffic casualties:

In 1839, Americans from Maine confronted Canadians in a border dispute known as the Aroostook War. "There were never any shots fired," said Etzinger, the Canadian Embassy
spokesman, "but I think an American cow was injured -- and a Canadian
pig."

Don't underestimate our seemingly pacific northern neighbors:

Etzinger, the Canadian Embassy spokesman, isn't worried about an
American invasion because Canada has a secret weapon -- actually
thousands of secret weapons.

"We've got thousands of Canadians in
the U.S. right now, in place secretly," he said. "They could be on your
street. We've sent people like Celine Dion and Mike Myers to secretly
infiltrate American society."

Via no great matter and robmacdougall's History Carnival. All quotes from the WaPo article.

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

Ah, Google, How Did We Live Before You?

The Prejudice Map

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.

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 :)

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.

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.

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!

should
shouldn't
shunt
shan't
shoulder
Edit...
Revert to "shouln't"

Teaing
Ting
Taine
Tani
Tinge
Edit...
Ignore all
Add to dictionary

laughter
laugh er
laugh-er
laugh
laughed
Edit...
Revert to "laugher"

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.