Saturday Night's Alright For Quizzing

Ok, I know it's been awhile, but let's not talk about whose fault it is, let's not bring up the past and just make up, okay?

Last time you guys tanked the lyrics :) but did pretty well on the questions. I'll leave the lyrics to your own googling prowess, but here are the answers for the questions:

He’s not strange, he just wants to live his life that way. Who is he?
He's a vicar in a tutu

He was in a jam. Where was he?
He's in a GIANT CLAM! (screams in the background)

Motherly advice: Who should you not mess with?
You can mess with your brother, but don't mess with a missionary man.

Now, let's get on to the new. Allez Cuisine!

1.

Write my letter
Feel much better
use my fancy patter on the telephone

2.

I'm shy but I'm friendly baby
I'm sad but I'm laughing
I'm brave but I'm chicken shit
I'm sick but I'm pretty baby

3.

As shadows fall, I pass a small cafe where we would dance at night
And I can't help recalling how it how it felt to kiss and hold you tight

4.

When I'm with you are you somewhere else?
Am I gettin' through or do you please yourself?
When you wake up will you walk out?
It can't be love if you throw it about

5.

And so it goes
Till the day you die
This thing they call love
It's gonna make you cry

6.

I come to you, so silent in the night
So stealthy, so animal quiet
I'll be your savior, steadfast and true

7.

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven

8.

The music is weaving
Haunting notes, pizzicato strings, the rhythm is calling
Alone in the night as the daylight brings, a cool empty silence
The warmth of your hand and a cold grey sky, it fades to the distance

9.

She gets mad
Starts to cry
She takes a swing but
She cant hit
She don't mean no harm
She just don't know
What else to do about it

10.

When you wake up tomorrow
You'll be all alone
Oh the love that we had
I have quickly outgrown

And a few questions:

11. What is the internet for?
12. If the high school head is giving you the blues, who should you go to and how expensive would it be to fix things?
13. Where is the loose talk, and where are the strong words?
14. What did Rocky find in the room at the local saloon?
15. When you're out of touch and you need a little give and take, what should you read?

[Edited to add a punny title]

Fallen Off the Wagon Again

and on to the running track.

3.18mi (5-ish km) 21'45"

Since I was on the track I did a recalibration before the run, and I think it helped a bit. Every lap was a smidge shorter than the previous one, but the end of the 5km was only about 100 meters short of where it should have been on the track (just the last two turns), so I think it's better anyway.

I wanted to get a clean 5k time, but alas, I was huffing and puffing so much at the end, that I clicked 'Menu' on the ol' Nano, figuring that it would pause, and it did, but unless you confirm that your run is over, It'll unpause. Hmm... Convenient or bad design? Since there is no such thing as bad design at Apple (only exploding batteries), it must be the former.

Anywhoo, my ankle felt fine, even after the run there wasn't any tweakiness, so I guess that's the end of my no running excuses.

On the plus side, since I'm running again, I feel perfectly allowed to buy those new chocolate covered mint oreos. Seriously yummy. They are ambrosia. Or crack cocaine. Maybe both.

Whooooooo Are You? Who Who - Who Who?

Sheepish mentioned this, and as long as I'm ranting, I'd like to add my voice to the clamor. I have a few Google accounts. I've got one for blogging, one for classwork and dealing with student-types, and then one for personal use. It's important to me that they each stay separate.

This wasn't a big problem with old blogger, but with New and Improved Blogger eXtreme 2.0 Plus Executive Edition, it seems to choose the login that it wants to use all by itself. I've already accidentally posted from the wrong login once, and almost done it again two or three times.

Blogger, I love you folks, but could you get on that for me? Thanks.

Open Letter to CNN

Dear CNN,

For a very long time, I've watched and enjoyed you. I've been with you since the days when Bernie Shaw was Bernard. I used to keep the TV on in the background, tuned to CNN, so that I could keep track of what you were reporting.

I have to say, I can't do that anymore. I've tried. I would say that 'it's not you, it's me,' but let's be honest, it's you. You've steadily gotten worse and worse in your reporting and choice of stories to air, so that now it seems that I can tell what isn't newsworthy simply by flipping to CNN and seeing what you are talking about.

I've tried different ways of telling you what I feel has gone wrong, but you haven't changed your ways, you continue to deteriorate. However, I will try one more time to help out. I do this not out of a generous nature, not out of compassion or high minded ideals, but because I want a news channel, and I'm just not getting it.

Therefore, I present a few (by no means comprehensive) bullet points that might help you out.

• Popularity does not equal news.
  
• If you absolutely must, make a 15 or 30 minute side show about all the actors and their freakshow lives, but there is no reason whatsoever to announce what award they've won or who they're sleeping with as news. It's not. It's gossip and other channels do it already, better.
  
• Lay off the criminal cases
• Fire Nancy Grace. Do not hire a replacement
  
• 99% of all criminal cases are not news. The only real news-worthy cases are the ones that reinterpreting laws in ways that are important to understand
• If you must, announce verdicts in high-profile cases, but there is no need whatsoever to send out a team of reporters to find out what the man of the street thinks about Martha Stewart or Kobe Bryant and his wife. It's not news. It's barely even gossip.
• Stop chasing FOX
• Fire Glen Beck. Do not hire a replacement.
• You can't beat them at their game. They've got way more flag graphics and over-inflated blowhard egomaniacs.
• Start doing investigative reporting
• Follow the money. Remember that? It's not just from a good movie.
• Cover international news besides wars
• By all means cover wars - but if you are going to cover wars, cover the ones involving brown people, too.
• Let Americans know about the world around them. News is also education.
• An argument doesn't have two sides.
  
• sometimes there is no argument.
  
• When a person presents a specious argument call them on it. Ask hard questions. When someone starts spouting talking points, call them on it. Don't allow people to use your shows simply as a venue to publish their daily hot phrases. Don't worry about not getting invited to the next press conference
• Sometimes the argument has more than two sides. If everything is dumbed down to a right-wing and left-wing position, the original issue gets mangled beyond recognition.
• Don't be afraid of trying to explain complex things.
  
• Take your time and explain them as best as you can. Then do it again in a different way. There are important yet complex ideas that are worth the time.
  

Thank you for your time and attention, CNN. I will drop in occasionally to see how things are going, but I've got great hopes for my next big move. See, I'm moving somewhere where there's a bigger market, and if there are other options out there, you don't stand a chance.

Overread

'Nother Meme

Zerodoll has the coolest memes. I may have done this before, but maybe not...

4 things thing

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
1. actor
2. burger-flipper
3. Soldier
3. English Teacher in a Far-Away Land

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
I generally don't watch movies more than once, but...
1. Grosse Point Blank (I love Minnie Driver)
2. Cabaret (I'll sing the songs, too!)
3. Most James Bond movies (aren't they all pretty much the same anyway?)
4. Princess Bride (I'll keep this one - Zerodoll's right on.)

FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN:
1. NYC (yea!)
2. Houston (boo!)
3. Small place on Oahu (yea!)
4. San Fransisco (very briefly, but yea!)

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH*:
1. CSI (a very recent and demanding addiction)
2. The Simpsons (I know, I know, I actually still think they're funny though)
3. Mythbusters
4. Sportscenter (Problem is that I don't watch all of it. I watch for the top ten plays and then move on. I mean, I couldn't really care less about T.O.'s current hissy fit, but I'm all over wanting to see the guy jump out of his shoes trying to catch a line drive. Oh, and injuries.)

Adding to the VH1 love, I love 'I Love The [insert decade here]' shows, but I can't watch them a lot, 'cause I've seen 'em already.

*addendum: I don't love any shows really. I get way too bored of most shows, so I'll watch them a lot and then get sick of them and move on once I've seen both dimensions of their characters.

FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. London, England
2. Moscow, Russia
3. Taibei, Taiwan
4. Harbin, China

FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY:
1. Fark.com (all the news that's not fit to print)
2. Boingboing.com (err... .net?)
3. Cute Overload (CUTE!)
4. Scary-Go-Round (very funny and clever cartoon)

FOUR OF YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE RESTAURANTS:
1. The Phoenix (when I was growing up, this was the best restaurant, ever.)
2. That funny little burrito place in Hawaii that had the best mango salsa on the planet.
3. Hole in the wall Chinese place that I never remember the name of
4. The Ethiopian place my brother takes me to when I'm up in his neck o' the woods

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1. pizza (It's everything a food can be)
2. tacos. (Crunchy and meaty and veggie and just flat out yum.)
3. Hummus (I know, I'm just weird)
4. Tortilla Chips w/ salsa (looking at these four, it's a wonder I'm actually alive.)

FOUR SCHOOLS YOU'VE ATTENDED:
1. Where I grew up
2. Where I moved for the second two years of high school
3. That other university
4. This university

FOUR THINGS YOU FIND YOURSELF SAYING A LOT:
1. 'Massive'
2. 'Crack-smoker' (this is what I call people who say something I don't believe. Example: A: "Tom Cruise sure is a together guy. He really knows where his towel is." B: "Crack-smoker."
3. 'Not so much'
4. 'Woohoo' (you have to say it in a sarcastic slow kinda way)

FOUR PLACES YOU'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. Vegas (I'll keep this one from Zerodoll too)
2. Under the sea, in an Octopus' garden, in the shade.
3. somewhere chilly (I know, I'm a freak.)
4. At the office for the lottery picking up my big oversize check for 50 million dollars.

Riding the Gift Horse

So, I did a favor for a lecturer-friend o' mine. It really wasn't anything big. She is running off to somewhere fun with her significant otter (I actually misspelled that, but I'm keeping it that way because I love the idea of having a significant otter.), and I helped her format some business cards and loaned her my thumbdrive so she could go get them printed out somewhere.

When I went to check my mailbox in the office today, I found a very sweet thank you note and two and a half pounds of coffee. So nice! So kind!

So sad that I don't drink coffee. :(

Meme O' Five Quotes

Frankly, I forgot where I saw this first, but it's been everywhere. Pick five quotes from here that reflect yourself. Odd, but 'kay.

In every age 'the good old days' were a myth. No one ever thought they were good at the time. For every age has consisted of crises that seemed intolerable to the people who lived through them.

Brooks Atkinson (1894 - 1984), Once Around the Sun (1951)

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.

Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said I don't know.

Mark Twain

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.

Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD), Lives

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.

Andre Gide (1869 - 1951)

Antsy and Anxious

Smell that? I think it's my impending doom. See, karma's like that (even when she's a chameleon). When you call doom down upon others, more likely than not, doom shall fall upon you. And that's a good enough saying to stitch on a pillow.

So, I think I've set my bright young scholars up for failure with a rather weak paper prompt. I basically let them choose their own topic, but I gave them suggestions if they wanted, because heaven knows that some folks simply demand to be told what to write.

The thing is that the ideas that people seem to be wanting to write about are, well... bad. This isn't a world where 'there are no know answers.' There are bad paper theses, and I'm seeing a bit too many. The paper is due on Friday and I think I'm in for a looong weekend of grading.

Also, I retwisted my ankle last weekend, so I'm not running until it's absolutely happy with me. If felt fine this morning, but I'm demanding a full day's worth of tweaklessness before I start running again. So I'm antsy. And I have no energy. And I want to eat a lot and do nothing but watch CSI reruns - and that's no way to meet and frolic with the runners-up from the Brilliant and Beautiful competition*. I'm pretty sure that's all connected to my ankle.

* I should note that the vast majority of blogs I read are written by bloggers, both brilliant and beautiful (and I bet they all appreciate alliteration as well), at least as near as I can tell :)

Update:
Zerodoll's right, NC's no good as a pseudonym. I would hate for someone to think I lived in North Carolina (eh, John?)
I figure I'll have to wait until I get there before picking a good name. It's just like you should always wait until your child is 3 or 4 years old before giving them a permanent name - how do you know whether or not they'll end up to be a good fit for the name 'Brandon' until you see if they look good in a polo shirt and feathered hair?

Also noted: 'runs' is a perfectly good label, but perhaps not for what I meant it to be. 'Running' will suit a bit better, I think.

Mission Complete

Because I have soooo much time on my hands, last spring, I agreed to help out a professor who needed some data work done. It honestly wasn't a lot of work, but it was very... umm... of a specific type that I don't know a lot about. Anywhoo, I finally got it wrapped up and emailed the results to said professor. Praise was heaped upon me for being finished early. Yea me!

It's not publishable material, and I'm it's still problematic in several areas, but the fact that it's done and appreciated makes me happy - And it'll get me a little cash, too!

Now I can put all my free time back to use where it belongs... sadly not frolicking with a bevy of runners-up in the 'I'm a brilliant and beautiful woman' contest (not the winners - they'd be stuck up), but alas, in class prep and trying to organize myself for the upcoming move to New Collegeland.

By the way, I still need a pseudonym for New Collegeland...

Possibilities:

1. New Collegeland (NC)
   
2. Holy Crap It's Huge University (HCIHU or HCHU)
3. Our Teams Can Beat Yours University (OTCBYU)
4. Urban Blight University (UBU)
5. Calcutta College, Black Hole (CCBH)
6. Great Big University (GBU)
7. PhDU

Those seem a bit evil... Anything better out there? Most of you guys know where I'm going already, right?

Doom Be Upon You

If:

• You leave five copies of a huge file in the print queue and then let the paper run out so that when I refill the paper, I have to wait for all your crap to print out before I can get to mine.
• You walk in the bike path. This is a seasonal pronouncement, as last year's recipients have either learned where the sidewalk is or have been since run over. It's the new arrivals that need doom brought upon them. Either than or an 18-speed to the shin. That'll learn 'em
• You insist that writing a paper on 'Irrelevant Topic A.' Yes, I did say that writing on a topic that interests you will generally lead to a better paper, but we are not studying 'Irrelevant Topic A.' Nothing remotely related, in fact. Try again.

Blogger Beta

Just go the ok to migrate to the new Blogger Beta. It does look nicer, but there aren't that many changes. I do like the tags... er... they call them 'labels' here. I guess we've got to be different, don't we?

I'm still neck deep in work (isn't this a weekend?) and a bit bummed, so the posting's have been light in quantity and quality, and probably will be for a bit yet.

On the plus side, I did get a chance to go out yesterday and shoot a couple of events. I haven't done that in months. It felt really good to be back there snapping photos, even if it seems that I've forgotten how to take pictures of this kind of event. Ah, well, I got some decent ones anyway :)

Ok, enough dilly dallying, back to work.

The Majesty of Centuries in a Few Hours

So, I was screening films and such for class, and I decided to make Angkor Wat while I watched. It’s a pretty wretched little thing, but I think it’s cute. You can make it too to you like! Just go here and print it out

Sluggy

I know this is getting repetitive, but I'm just so very very drained. Maybe my body is just now catching up to the idea that I'm not getting any break at all moving from going full throttle from MA to teaching to PhD.

Ugh. So tired. So not going to be productive tonight. So very going to watch a movie and eat tortilla chips.

My world gets more and more thrilling every single day.

Oh, yeah. I Forgot.

You need to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show as performed in 30 seconds by cartoon bunnies.

When?

I was so convinced that it was Wednesday.

It's not, is it? My watch and computer say that it isn't.  There was Monday Night football on last night, so that's another argument that today isn't in fact, Wednesday. 

So while putting together today's lecture, I kinda sorta sped up a bit.  Because I thought it was Wednesday, you see. 

There's really no grief, because it's not like there isn't a bottomless pit of cool stuff to lecture about.  It's not like I put my only good material - two days worth - into one day.  It's just...

I thought it was Wednesday.

The First Step

is admitting you have a problem, right?

Hi, I'm Overread, and I'm a Powerpoint Addict.

This summer I've been getting the cooolest images to back up my lectures. I don't put up outlines or anything like that - I'm not that bad. I've been haunting all the museum websites and amassing a boatload of old photographs and paintings and other, umm... objects of relevance.

I realized that it may have gone a bit too far when I was fretting over font choices this morning. I know, I know, the students, they don't care, but I...I do care.

I went with Californian FB, which looked nice to me.

Which step is admitting I have no control over myself?

Synapses Melted

It is the summer heat? the summer workload? general malaise and ennui?

there's no telling, but posting is becoming rarer and rarer. I'll try to get back on track. Until I can, here are some fun photos

I know I can never be as good as Ianqui, but I do enjoy me some graffiti:


As if I had time to go to a concert:

Grrr... ading

So, grades are due today, and yes, yes, I have been procrastinating more than a little bit.

So, I decided to grab the remaining papers and head out to the cafe near my apartment to finish up

All good, right?

What are the odds that I would have forgotten a crucial list of grades that need to be averaged in? Pretty good.

How excited am I about the prospect of a ride all the way back to campus to pick them up? Not so much.

How much do I want to pick numbers out of the all-embracing ether to plug into those hungry little spreadsheet cells? A heap.

Sigh... At least it's a nice night. It will be a pretty ride.

Bonus tips for café-guy trying to hit on café-chick: These two lines may not have been your best efforts:

“Yeah, its illegal, but I’ll never get caught”
“I don’t think you like men.”

9.11mi - 1:06'00"

ugg... lost the WEP key to the wireless network at home so I'm using some unknowing neighbor's interweb tube. Thanks neighbor!

Tired tired tired, grading, grading, grading...

6.97mi - 49'32"

Yesterday actually... and I'm still not convinced about the accuracy...but take a look at this! The rat....

+3 Vorpal Quiz of Ogre Slaying

You folks did quite nicely last week. Let’s do a little mopping up here.

Second time around, I'm still believing
The words that you said
You said you'd always be here
And love forever still repeats in my head

That’s “Promises, Promises” by Naked Eyes.

Yes, Zerodoll, it was Lita Ford with “Kiss Me Deadly.” You may now be proud of your shame :)
Camera, I did mean the wrestler in Ms Lauper’s video – bonus points if you remember his name (I do, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why)

Glad you liked the pre-quiz quizzies. I think I’ll do some more of those! Maybe today will be half and half… we’ll see… I’m pretty sure that we’ve got at least one repeat this time around, but there’s a good reason, and I think I chose different lyrics this time.

1.

I won't change the sheets for you
I won't put on cologne
I won't sit by the phone for you

2.

So, it may be too soon, I know
The feeling takes so long to grow
If I tell you today will you turn me away
And let me go?

3.

Danger in the game when the stakes are high
Branded, my heart was branded while my senses stood by
I’ll never find another girl like you, for happy endings it takes two
We’re fire and ice, the dream won’t come true

4.

If everybody wants you
Why isn't anybody callin'
You don't have to answer
Leave them hangin' on the line

5.

On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name out loud again

6.

There’s no one here to blame
There’s no one left to talk to, honey
And there ain’t no one to buy our innocence

7.

When lights goes down, I see no reason
For you to cry. We’ve been through this before
In every time, in every season,
God knows I’ve tried
So please don’t ask for more.

8. He’s not strange, he just wants to live his life that way. Who is he?
9. Who is said to have a supple wrist?
10. Where would Ms. Benatar put her next notch?
11. What should one barbeque south of the border?
12. On what kind of horse does Bon Jovi ride?
13. Where do I get my kicks, sunshine?
14. Why is Rockwell afraid to wash his hair?
15. Where did Janis let him slip away?
16. Why does she need a chaperone?
17. He was in a jam. Where was he?
18. Motherly advice: Who should you not mess with?

Ok, jeeze… I’ve got to stop or I won’t have anything for next week. Enjoy folks!

Multimedia message

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Overread.

Where Are We Going? What Am I Doing In This Hand-basket?

Two links from Boingboing to get my depression on today.

It shouldn't be a surprise at all that the head of the Girls Gone Wild franchise is sickening beyond words, but anyone who reads this LA Times article about him and doesn't feel the bile rising in their throat has to be dead to the world. I have to admit that I'm not completely convinced that there isn't enough blame and shame to spread around to many people involved in those productions.
The thing is though, even if the moral line in the sand is very different for people who have grown up being photographed and presented as images their entire lives, even if the MySpace generation takes voyeurism as a right and exposure as agency, in my opinion, that still doesn't make his any less despicable.
I don't think that technology has fundamentally altered the moral nature of people. I do think that perhaps in the past, someone who looses their mind and wants to take it out on the world would have less impact with a sword or knife than might be possible today with a handgun or anthrax canister. In the same way, a man like this guy is able to leverage a personal baseness into something with much more impact thanks to technology.
I'm no luddite. I think technology brings benefits that easily outweigh the dangers of exponential spread of things I don't like. I'm not even opposed to most pornography, but this guy... This guy makes me sick.

The second link was to David Byrne's reaction to a screening of a new move called Jesus Camp. I think the lock-quote is this one:

I kept saying to myself, “O.K., these are the Christian version of the Madrassas (those Islamic religious instructional schools in Pakistan and elsewhere, often financed by Saudi oil money)...so both sides are pretty much equally sick, there’s a balance." (Although it must be said the Madrassas provide some regular education and literacy where no other option is available, they do community work that is non-religious...and they take in aimless troubled youth.)

I can't comment in too much depth, because I don't know the details of the situation, but the idea of creating Christian Madrassas fits very snugly with what I remember of many of the people I knew growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt.
In so many ways, we become as intolerant as the Saudi princes, under the banners of not just Christianity, but Capitalism, Democracy, Free Trade and perhaps the worst battle cry, because, being so vague, it can mean anything to anyone: 'freedom.'
We're bringing those other people 'freedom.' Freedom to choose to be Christian. And now, it seems that in North Dakota, we're training the soldiers in the war to bring that freedom into the government of the United States.

Cellphone Joy 2.0

I'm so glad that my cell phone has a camera. I just cleaned out some photos that I've collected over the past couple of weeks. The vomiting lips - I had to take out a real camera, 'cause that just called for more quality :)

The lewd and the academic, all rolled into one = University graffiti.


Thank goodness for fort James. This informative piece of graffiti explains our debt.


Must have been a great night. Either that or a sloppy laundry day, but hey, I need my illusions

Cellphone Joy

grrr... Perfomancing is evil....

One More Thing

The students got hammered with a very expensive textbook (my fault, I know, but its a good book they can use for two classes) and an expensive reading packet.  So for the next class I'm going to take a huge leap of faith and have the library put the readings online.  I bring them the books and they scan in the sections I ask for, lickity split (or so they say).  I've warned the students that they are still required to not only read the frickin' readings, but also bring copies to discussions. 

Am I delusional in thinking that they will do this?  Probably.
Am I doing this to save the students money?  Partially.  It's cheaper for them to print the copies out, even if they pay to print per page.
Am I doing this so I can put off arranging some of the readings for the last couple of weeks?  Partially, but I'm ok with that.

I fear that I am becoming overly enamored of italics.  Is this dangerous? 
Does running too much cause rambling?
Does teaching summer classes cause jello-ification of the brain?

For the answers, tune in for the next episode, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

6.84mi - 48'17"

It's still not entirely copasetic if I compare it to the gmaps pedometer, but it's closer than it was, and hey, who knows, maybe it really doesn't matter after all :)

This comes as a complete surprise to me:  I am exhausted.  I want to go home and sleep. One quick trip to the library and I will do that.

Money Changes Everything

• I had a dream last night where my brother won exactly $108,491 playing some kind of lottery.  I was quite jealous.  Why did I remember the exact amount he won?
• I discovered that because of the way the paychecks are being put out in the summer, my monthly salary is actually less than what I was making as a TA.  Were I a guy who gets angry, that might do the trick.  Luckily, an entirely different department handles all the summer stuff, so I can happily get angry at them while keeping my good opinion of the folks in my department.  Still, grrr...

Confucius Was A Bright Man

子曰知之为知之不知为不知是知也。

The Master said, "to see knowledge as knowledge and ignorance as ignorance - this is knowledge."

I shoulda listened to Confucius.

The one thing I'm confident in as a strength in my teaching style is that I usually know when to say, "I don't know that. Let me get back to you on that."

It's always good to do this when you don't know something.

Because when you don't, you may be tempted to suggest that a certain person holds a certain opinion.

And then you may find out that one of your students went to high school with said person.

And said person holds the opposite view.

I shall meditate on the wisdom of ignorance.

6.78mi - 47'41"

Ok, it's clear I obsess, right? So I was still very skeptical of the results for the iSweat Nike+ thingie. Maybe it was because I installed it a bit wonky. Possible. Nike's version of the shoe puts it under the padding in the arch of the shoe. Well, dang nabbit, so will I!



Marked out a place to cut...



Box cutter of doooooooom goes to work - choppity chop



And thar she is, snug as a bug in a rug.

I actually did this before the Saturday run. I can't even feel it when I run, so I guess that's good. I could actually feel it a bit when it was outside under my shoelaces. I recalibrated on Saturday too. I think the distance is closer to what I think it ought to be, but I'm still not completely convinced. I'll have to go to an officially marked off 10k or something and check against that. We'll see. It's not that important... really...

It's just that I obsess, you know.

Hip, Hip, Hippopotamus!

A trip to the library to pick up a couple of books that for some reason aren't already on my shelf and a wild and hot evening with the photocopier, and I'll be done with the nastiest tasks!  I've still got 'Make a final exam' on the list of things to do, but that's not too bad, I pretty much know what's going to be on it, and if I don't write it out, then the students can't pry any info out of me! Bwahaha.

Whew.  I got pretty much all that I hoped to get done tonight and it's only 8!  I think I need to stop by the store on the way home and pick up some celebratory chocolate.  OOOO  ICE CREAM.   I know it's too late to be eating a calorie bomb like that, but hey, I'll run a lot next week.  You guys hold me to it, ok? 

Zerodoll said that I needed ice cream, and, by gum, she's a smart gal. 

Double Plus Unquiz With an Increased Chocolate Ration

I missed a week – sorry ‘bout that, I’ll make it up with a couple extras here

let’s get right down to the quiiiiiz!

Pre-quiz questions!
1. What does the microphone smell like?
2. What was odd about Cyndi Lauper’s Dad’s beard?
3. What are the two (out of three) that aren’t bad?
4. Who was looking for Lee Ho Fook's? And how was his hair?
5. In ’84, which guys did she think were ‘OK?’
6. What do the papers want to know about Bowie’s spaceman?
7. He’s just a man, with a man’s courage. Who is he?
8. What kind of music just soothes the soul?
9. Why would Stan make a new plan?
10. Who worked for Mr McGee at the Five and Dime? And why didn't Mr McGee like him?
10.5. Janet's fiancée didn't know know to do their dance. What dance did he ask if anyone knew how to do?

Ok, ok, quiz questions!
11.

You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it

12.

But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it’s about forgiveness
Forgiveness

13.

Second time around, I'm still believing
The words that you said
You said you'd always be here
And love forever still repeats in my head

14.

There once was a time and there once was a way
We had something going and to my dismay
Attention to me seemed to drift though I don't know where

15.

Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees

16.

You remain
My power, my pleasure, my pain.

17.

So I wake in the morning and I step
Outside I take deep breath
I get real high
Then I scream from the top of my lungs

18.

Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change

19.

I went to a party last Saturday night
I didn't get laid, I got in a fight,
Uh, huh
It ain't no big thing

20.

She said I'm sorry baby I'm leaving you tonight
I found someone new he's waitin' in the car outside

Freshness, Charm - The Enticement of a Skin More Precious Than Personality or Cleverness - Do You Seek It?

The library at Duke (I guess) put up something called Ad*Access - some wonderful ads from early this century online for our enjoyment.  Well, I'm sure that was the reason they did it.  Go take a look!  There are racial ones and ones that explain to the girls what men really want. 

Ok, seriously, I'm going back to work.

This Time I Mean It

Allrighty.  All the labors that needed to be done at home have been done (seriously, no quarter was given - laundry was folded and socks were matched)
Now I am ensconced in my office with a pizza on the way.  I vow here and now to not leave until:

• Labor the First (grading) is completely finished
• Labor the Second (next class syllabus) is completely finished
• Labor the Third (next class reading list) is completely finalized and at least mainly compiled and ready for the print shop

Labor the Fourth (writing the final exam for this class) is going to be postponed, I think.  I may fiddle with some ideas if I need a break from earlier tasks, but it's not going to be a requirement for me going home.

There may be enough break time to put together a quiz in there somewhere :)

Why?

I've got 3 specific grand tasks that I must get done this weekend.  Why is it that I can't seem to start any of them?  #1 is easy but frustrating and time consuming.  #2 should be fairly easy but involves making decisions that I don't want to make yet, and #3 should be kinda fun, if a little frantic.  None of them are particularly catastrophic, I think I just want a weekend for once.  I want a couple of days in a row where I don't have anything that needs to be done.  Feh.  This whole being a responsible adult thing is so overrated.

Ugh.  I just remembered a fourth and a fifth thing I need to do this weekend.  bleh bleh bleh. 

4.24mi - 30'16"

Maybe - I'm still fiddling with the calibration - more on that later

7.45mi - 48'10"

More musing about the iSweat Nike+ system: 
I set the iPod for a 10k run so I could record a 10k time.  I knew I was going to be running more than 10k, but I figured it would at least get the time logged.  So I go on the run and the iPod says my fastest 10k time is 40'33", which is nice, but it doesn't show up on the online page.  I'm just whiny because that speed would have put me on the leaderboard for my age group :(

I'm such a vain little twit, ain't I?

Noted:  Ankle feels a little tight, but otherwise ok.

No Kiddie Trailer Yet

Camera Obscura mentioned that I need a kiddie trailer for my bike. Let me tell you I would so very easily use that. It would be jam-packed full of books and goodies in a day or two. This is why it's a good thing that I don't have a car. Too much space...

Anyway, I thought I would present to you a photo of my wonderful wheels:

It's a Bridgestone XO-3, which I'm told they don't even make anymore. I've ridden the poor thing for about 14 years now, and only the standard wear-out-ables have been replaced, what a loverly bike, eh?

Got the cool monster-bright led lights fore and aft. On the frame there's an air pump that doubles as a lock, but I forgot the combination (Hey I bought the pump in like, '97 or something, gimme a break), so I can't take it off or use the air pump. I need to get it cut off. The upside is that the velcro attachments can be used to attach an umbrella to the frame joust-style - very intimidating, I'm sure.

The pannier on the side is the Jandd Commuter, which I just started using recently and really like a lot - roomy enough for my giant laptop with all the cables plus some books and other random goodies. I really should have gotten one for each side, but instead I tried to go for something more stylish - the Cannondale CyPod (with a name like that I should have known better). It's pretty and all, but the construction just isn't that great. The zipper is balky and the attachment system is very nice on the top, but quite wonky on the bottom. It works well enough for smaller loads, I guess.

So that's my bike and bag - ain't they cool?

Ah yes, I didn't r.i.c.e. the ankle, but I did r.e. and it feels better, so maybe there's a Friday run in store for me :)

Whoops

I forgot the cardinal rule of grocery shopping.  I went hungry.

In my defense, the tortilla chips were on sale.

the chocolate bar - not so much.

I should also remember that I am riding a bicycle and not a huge SUV with capacity

I also tweaked my ankle, so no run today.

Yes, yes, this in my thrilling life...

Slooooooow

Why is my internet so sloooooow at home tonight?  I feel like I'm surfing through molasses. 

Also, baseball highlights make baseball look thrilling at all times, but it's not. 
Home runs bore me - good defense looks much cooler.
Is it bad that I hope that they find a way to expose everyone who is juicing and that the entire sport collapses on itself?
Maybe they could pare the league down to a more manageable dozen or two teams.  What do they have now?  50-something?  I think Stockbrigde, MA just got a major league team...(with a multi-billion taxpayer funded field, no doubt)

5km - 18'18"

I calibrated on the track, but I think it is still a little bit fast.  I'll do a longer run later and see how close it gets. 
kinda cool - if I were in the pool last week, this time would have gotten me in the top 10 fastest 5ks in the Nike+ universe (4th place overall, 2nd in my age group).  I'm sure that's just because there aren't that many runners online yet, but it's still kinda cool

That Wall

Yesterday I said that the students seem to have hit the wall.  I think I may have too, I'm just too dense to realize that my head is pounding into it over and over again.  I'm grading and preparing a prompt for the next paper and thinking of final exam possibilities and I thought - Wow.  I'm going to be doing all of this over again.  We've got two summer sessions here and I'm doing them both.  Yep.  It's all for the good, you see - experience, resume fodder, etc... etc... but it is sucking the life out of me.  And it probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does, but I'm being paid pretty badly - just a little more than I was as a TA.  Needless to say, once I get all of this done, I get about a week to move to NewU and get ready for PhD studies (including TAing the right up front in the fall)

I am really having fun teaching, but I do worry a bit about burning out.  I've seen that happen and it ain't pretty.  If I could only squeeze an extra week or two into that last little break to decompress.

I Can Sneak You In In My Trunk

I think the class is starting to hit the wall.  Absentees are rising and sleepy eyes are drooping.  And that's just on my side of the podium - har har har.  Thank you, thank you.  I'll be here all week - make sure to tip the roast beef and try your waitresses.

Luckily, we're getting into some areas where there are some intriguing and useful audio-visual aides.  I just went to the library to pick up a video and discovered they've got a very very eclectic selection of films.  A very extensive and brand-new-looking Richard Pryor collection was the centerpiece in my opinion.  I think I need to spend more time over there.  I did end up checking out with more movies than strictly might be useful for this class - all in the interests of education, mind you.  So now I've got Netflix and a stack of library videos - VHS though, mainly.  That means I can only watch then in my office projected on the wall.  Good and bad.  Anyone want to pick up some beer and pizza and watch Rashomon with me?

That is, of course, after the grading is done. :(

6.41mi - 45'42"

Still uncalibrated - sassenfrassen track team wanted to use their track this afternoon.  The gall.

Whoops

I'm doing some work for a professor who's on sabbatical right now.  I was really stoked because I got through everything and sent it off to her today. 

Then I got her email.

Basically, the upshot is that I thought I had, lets say, 20 units of hard work and 2 units of pretty easy stuff.  I now realize that I had 20 units of hard stuff and 45 units of pretty easy stuff.

ugh.  And of course, I look like a big idiot because I can't even find the email that had the other units (and I use gmail!), but I have a vague memory of seeing them somewhere.

Feh.  So that gets in the way of my grading this weekend and I didn't end up with the time I thought I would have so the students don't get their papers back on Monday.  I can live with that.  Can they?

iSweat 6.89mi? - 48'41"

So I did get it to work out, and it looks very nice. I'm interested to see what the 'community' aspects will be when they come out. The little iDot thingie stayed in place just fine, and that's even with me running through the briar and bramble, Oodi-lolly oodi-lolly, golly what a day.
That's why my shoes look so sad, Jayfish, it's all the wilderness out there -the foxes in green suits and the bears with quarterstaves and no pants.

Anyway, I'm using miles now. I'm not sure that I'll keep doing that, but it seems easy to change, so I'll try it out.

I will need to calibrate it though - either that or it doesn't like the way I've set it on the shoe. The route I ran today was 10.20km last week with the Triax system, 6.29mi (10.12km) on the Google Pedometer but 6.89mi (11.08km) with the iSweat. Should be fun though. I haven't run on a track for years. Regardless, the pace was pretty good, maybe the pretty color makes me go faster.

Oh, yes. There needs to be more avatar icons to chose from. The ones they have are good, but there are only 6 or so.

I set up a couple of goals on their goal system, which looks interesting. We'll see how that goes. It looks like you get different medals for how difficult the goal is, but honesty, the higher level goals don't look as nice as the lower level ones.

All in all, I'm pretty happy. See I am basically easy to please :)

iSweat install

So before the little papoose arrived, I knew I would have to update the iPod and iTunes - so I did that a couple of days ago. No worries, right? No. :(

I got the little nubbin and its buddy in the mail, plugged him in, but got the standard error message:



But but but! I did update everything! So I boot up iTunes and ask it to update itself. I plug in the iPod and ask it to update itself. Both said that they were fully updated and thanked me for being such a thoughtful updater. I tried to plug the transmitter again and it still didn't work.

Sadness. I hunted around until I found that I needed at least version 1.2 software on the iPod. That shouldn't be the problem though because I just... wha?! I've only got 1.1. But didn't I just...? No. I guess I didn't. I guess you can't count on the iTunes software to update your iPod - sad. Anywhoo, I found the manual update download, and it's not an update, but an new install. Ok, no real worries there, I guess. Odd, but should still work ok.

Part of the joy of a new install is a wipe of everything off of your iPod. Thanks. After a mandatory reboot, and a lockup of iTunes and the iPod updater, I finally got the software updated. Or so I thought – more on that later.

Now it’s all about getting the shoe and the dot thing (iDot?) happily in my shoe. I’ve long been an evangelist for the old Nike Triax system, but wow.



Look at the size difference.



Maybe now I’ll run faster :) The other bonus is that maybe I can wear a regular watch, too. The Triax system uses its own digital watch. One downside is that the iSweat doesn’t support the heartrate monitor that the Triax system uses – maybe in a later incarnation.

Now I didn’t buy the special iSweat shoes, but I’ve seen a lot of people use Velcro or tape to get the iDot stable, so I didn’t think I needed to. I liked the idea of Velcro, so I went that way.

A little trim to fit and voila!






I decided to sew the Velcro strip to the shoe just in case – I really should have gotten two kinds of Velcro – the sticky kind for the iDot and non-sticky for the shoe, because sewing through the sticky led to much grief and sadness.

But, the attaching seemed to work out in the end.

The software and the iPod itself – not so much. I wrote this about 6 or 7 hours after I started to get all of this together. I think I’ve finally figured out what happened. The original update didn’t go through somehow. Maybe it was part of the whole wiped iPod effect. Anyway, it seemed that the iPod thought it was all scrubby-cleany, but wasn’t. All the music and such were gone from the iPod, and it showed the new update, so I thought it was good too. The problem must be with the computer, right?

The computer could only see that there was a kind of a hard drive there, but nothing else. I tried reinstalling just about everything several times and rebooted until my foot was sore. I ran into the ‘Service cannot be deleted’ error (I still don’t know what that means). I ran into the ‘iPod cannot be mounted error’ (which at least makes sense), and much more amusment. So it came down to me finally figuring out that everything on the computer was fine. It was something about the iPod. Thing was that the updater would lock up the computer when it tried to talk to the iPod and Windows couldn’t even open up the hard drive that it thought it saw. The trick was that windows did give the drive a letter. So, back to the dark ages with you! I opened up a dos prompt (they aren’t actually still called that, are they?) and did a ‘Format E:’ it took a really long time, but eventually did format the whole thing. One more crash out of the updater and the second try, it worked! Unfortunately, it’s too late now to go running.

Overall, the install was not smooth. I know this was supposed to be designed to work well with Windows, but it just didn’t (for me anyway). Maybe this is my reward for saying nasty things about Macs. Frankly, I think it confirms my point. Mac software is luscious when it works, but when it breaks, it never seems flexible enough to pull together. It’s a good thing that I’m easy to please in the end. If the thing will work eventually, I’ll be happy. I really want to love this thing.

Cartography

This is the best and most accurate map ever.

10.20km 49'11"

I went to a funky little greasy spoon for breakfast this morning - I had a giant every-veggie omelet with spicy Louisiana sausage. drooool.  I'm proud of myself for not being able to eat the whole thing though.  Seriously, it was big enough for two people.

Anyway, big yummy breaky = 'nother long run.  I've got to keep my girlish figure, dontcha know?

Oh yeah.  One downside of the breakfast.  It seems that on weekdays, they don't get enough traffic to have fresh biscuits ready, so they microwaved mine!  Blasphemy against the biscuit gods! 

One Of These Things Ain't Like The Others

Ok, so the Post Office wants to put out stamps of DC comics super heroes.  Fine and good.  I'm a fan of funky stamps and I'm not opposed to super heroes, so all is well and good.  Or so you would think.

Take a look at the selections...
Superman - sure, you've go to have Superman - he's the icon.
Wonder Woman - naturally
Batman - absolutely
Green Lantern - Ok, I can see that
Aquaman - Well, alright.  No one likes him, but he was big at the time, so ok...
Supergirl - not that crucial, but it wouldn't do to only have one super-heroine
Flash, Green Arrow, Hawkman - eh, but ok

PLASTIC MAN?!!  No!!  What the?!  Would you...  Where did the...  Who was in charge of....

sigh...

Good thing I haven't actually sent a letter in forever...

Company

I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one that hates those Hummer ads

And, yeah, Jayfish, you're right - turning off the TV is the best option I'm doing that more and more often because every time I turn on CNN, it's that god-awful shrill example-of-the-worst-in-all-lawyers Mary whatserface or that new monstrosity who-said-we-need-another-'personality'-instead-of-news Glenn Beck. Sometimes its even worse - Larry King

Also from adweek's blog - did you know that Bush was such a singer? How about Blair?

Tony and George lipsync "Open Arms"


And of course, Bush sings "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"


edited: Blasted performancing formatting :(

10.22km - 48'59"

Added a little extension on the run and came up with a 10k!  woohoo

Funniest moment of the day - I just finished showering after the run and was drying off when a woman walks into the men's locker room.  She took a look around and spun around.  Muttering ohmygodimsorryijustwalkedintothemensohmygod, she headed back out the door she came in.  Perhaps having a door that leads right into the shower room might be good for the swimmers, but not so good for the absent-minded.

8.2km - 39'08"

completely unrelated, but if I were a woman, I think I would be an angry angry woman.  If I see the 'Get your girl on' commercial for the Hummer monstrosity one more time... and high heels, I mean, c'mon, who's running this place, anyway?

iPod Apolegia

    I've been a geek pretty much all of my life, and I'm fine with that.  My first computer was a Vic 20 (Thanks Santa!), and I've had a computer ever since then (except for a brief period of time when I was off living the off-off-off-off Broadway life in NYC).  So, I've given a lot of thought to the whole PC/Mac tension.  See, the thing is that I really love the stylings of the Mac.  I love the idea that it doesn't crash as much and that it's elegant in so many ways, software and hardware.  The Mac designers really seem to care about the way that the computer is used and the way that it looks as well as its performance (We'll say nothing of stories of laps being singed by overheated Macs).
    But, here's the thing - The Macs don't do all that I want them to do, or at least not as easily as the PCs. 
    A Mac is probably the best choice for digital image and video editing, of which I do a fair amount, but that's not all I do.  I have grown very accustomed to being able to try out all the new software right when it comes out.  Betas and alphas, shareware and demos - I love 'em all, even when they don't love me back.  Windows does crash for me on occasion, but it's a wonder it doesn't crash more often, with all the crazy stuff I've installed and uninstalled over and over.  Windows has to be flexible enough to handle any little garage startup software company's devilish designs as well as the vast majority of the black hat bad boys trying with all their might to bring down Aunt Bessie's 486. 
    I love options.  I love being able to choose between many many options when picking out word processors and music players and funky field-specific mashups, some of which I can't find even one option for on a Mac.  I also play video games (or used to anyway, when there was time), and the outlook for Mac gaming is fairly gloomy, despite some noble attempts. For Macs, the recent victory here is that Civilization IV just came out for the Mac.  It came out for the PC last October.

    So the end result is that the reason I don't think I could ever buy an Apple is the exact reason I bought an iPod.
    I'd used and loved the Creative Zen Micro MP3 player for quite awhile, but I was always frustrated by the fact that I couldn't get accessories for it.  If I wanted an arm-strap to use when I run, there were only a couple of options - mostly style-deprived ones.  Because of the rather sickening rush to be a cool kid with an iPod, all of the accessories companies went crazy putting together all the toys that I wanted, just not for my MP3 player.
    So popularity bred coveting, if not of the product itself, than of the options that the product presented, and I hate that.  I do not want to be one of the cool kids.
    I still hate the fact that you can't change the battery easily on the iPod, that it seems to be designed to be thrown away eventually, you can't get radio reception with it,  and that it's not easily separated from iTunes - it's not that I dislike iTunes that much, although I'm not really a fan - it's just that I don't like being told what software I should be using. 
    The last straw that crushed my resistance was the Nike/Apple pedometer system (although it needs a better name.  They call it the 'Nike + iPod.' Isn't that more of a description than a name?  What about iRun?  iSweat?  iNike?)  I use the old Nike system.  The software and support was never that good to begin with, and it looks like they're just never going to update that anymore, and the new Nike online system looks useful and stylish, so there I go. 
    I got the 4GB Nano and a nice armband for running and a little prophylactic sleeve thingie to keep it umm... safe.  It certainly does look nice, doesn't it? 
    The pedometer is rumbling its way toward me thanks to the fine ladies and gentlemen at Amazon.com, but I ain't buying any of those 'designed for the pedometer' shoes from Nike.  I'll either cut a little hole into my innersole or velcro it onto the tongue of the shoe.  Feh.  I already feel bad enough for caving in on the iPod thing...
   
   

Neck Bone Connected to the Quiz Bone

Double points for sheepish for getting what I thought was a sure ringer. Who could remember Haircut 100? Certainly not I, but I, as my ex-girlfriend once said, am no sheepish.

Slightly less than double points for Jayfish – Greg Kihn? Who is Greg Kihn?

No love for Missing Persons? I will admit that Bob Seger’s “Shakedown” does sound like it oughta be “Smuggler’s Blues” or Miami Vice or “Axel F” or something…

1

Why do you come here
When you know it makes things hard for me ?
When you know, oh
Why do you come ?

2

But if you see me walking by,
And the tears are in my eyes

3

Sometimes I feel
Like my only friend
Is the city I live in
The City of Angels

4

And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I’ll take your breath away

5

First I'm gonna make it
Then I'm gonna break it
Till it falls apart
Hating all the faking

6

I said, "This isn't Sha Na Na, come on Mom, I'm not Bowzer
Mom, please put back the bell-bottom Brady Bunch trousers”

7

It's not the way that you caress me
Toy with my affection
It's not my sense of emptiness
You fill with your desire

8

No more presidents
And all the
wars will end
One united world under god

9

A week without you
Thought I'd forget
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet

10

Boys come along a dime by the dozen
That ain't nothing but ten cent lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle

8.19km 38'21"

5 seconds off my personal best on this trail!  Woot!  Now for junk food and chocolate!

I Am So Good

I have no desire to go on a run right now.  But I will.

I just finished teaching the last class of the week.  The first paper is coming in and grading must be begun (finished?) this weekend.  I want nothing more than to go and pick up some dinner - horribly calorie-ridden, covered in cheese, deep fried or greasy, or better yet all of three, and go home, pop in a movie and collapse into a vegetative slothform and finish off the bar of chocolate that I started last night (see how good I am?)  It's a good thing I don't usually drink alone, 'cause I could use a drink.  Or many many drinks.  Ugh.

I have no desire to go on a run right now.  But I am going.

TMI Theatre

I very very often wake up with a song in my head.  How it gets there and why, I couldn't tell you.  Very often, I haven't even listened to the song in a long time.  Most times I forget it quickly, but it will sometimes last all the way to teeth brushing.  Today, it took me so long to figure out what the song was (I had the melody, but not the lyrics), that I focused on it so that I could figure it out.  The song was "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show."  Honestly, I haven't heard this song in ages.  Probably since I used it in a quiz a long time ago. 

Anyway, the other thing that's odd is that I'm not a music kind of guy.  I don't need music really.  I can't play any instruments, and I only sing along with showtunes (including Rocky Horror - with that one I actually have to sing along. No choice in the matter) and some bad 80s pop stuff.  I don't have favorite bands, and I know next to nothing about any of them - why do you think I quiz others - I don't know the answers myself.

No point to all this, but odd anyway.

Coolest Way to Start the Day

So, I'm biking in to campus today, bike-ity bike bike
There are billions upon billions of tykes here for summer sports programs, bounce pop weee!
As I swing through campus on the bike path, whoosh whoosh whoosh
Crowds of said kids line the bike path cheering and demanding high-fives, Whoohoo slap slap slap!

Seriously, made my day. How cool is that?

Couch Potato(e)

Via the most lucky of buzzes

Bolded ones that I've watched and italicized ones I've never heard of - this should be disturbing...

The quick answer is that I like the Beeb and cartoons, old shows and in general I've watched way too much TV in my time.

24
4400, The
7th Heaven

Absolutely Fabulous
Adam-12
Addams Family, The
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
All Creatures Great And Small
All in the Family
America's Next Top Model
American Dad
Andy Griffith Show, The
Angel
Arrested Development
A-Team, The
Avengers, The

Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Batman
Batman:the Animated Series
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Ben 10
Beverly Hillbillies, The
Brady Bunch, The
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Blackadder
Blossom
Bonanza
Boondocks, The
Bosom Buddies
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice

Carnivale
Carol Burnett Show, The
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
CHiPS
Closer, The
Code Lyoko
Cold Case Files
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Cosby Show, The
Coupling [BBC]
Coupling [the NBC series that got cancelled]
Courtship of Eddie's Father, The
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Cybll

Daily Show, The
Danny Kaye Show, The
Danny Phantom
Daria
Dark Angel
Dark Shadows
Dark Skies
Darkwing Duck
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Dead Zone, The
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Diagnosis Murder
Dick Van Dyke Show, The
Different Strokes
Dinosaurs
Doctor Who
Dragnet
DuckTales
Due South

Ellen
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond

Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Flintstones, The
Flying Nun, The
Frasier
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The
Friends
Fury
Futurama

Gargoyles
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Golden Girls, The
Goodies, The
Green Acres
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke

Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hell's Kitchen
Henry Rollins Show, The
Hercules
Honeymooners, The
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House

I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Incredible Hulk, The
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion

JAG
Jackass
Jeffersons, The
Jetsons, The
Joey
Johnny Bravo
Jonny Quest
Junniper Lee
Justice League, The

Kingdom Hospital
Knight Rider

L Word, The
Land of the Lost
Laugh-In
Law & Order
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: CI
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
Love Boat, The

M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married… With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Millennium
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Monkees, The
Mork & Mindy
Mr. Ed
Muppets Tonight
Murder She Wrote
My Favorite Martian
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Magician, The
Man From U.N.C.L.E., The
Munsters, The
Muppet Show, The
My So-Called Life
My World and Welcome To It

NCIS
Night Gallery
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
O.C., The
Office (UK), The
Office (US), The
Outer Limits, The
Outlaw Star

Penn & Teller's Bullshit!
Perry Mason
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Pretender, The
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
Quincy ME
Real World, The

Red Dwarf
ReGenesis
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Rose of Versailles, The
Roswell

Sailor Moon
Saved by the Bell
Scrap Heap Challenge
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Shield, The
Simpsons, The
Six Million Dollar Man, The
Smallville
Smothers Brother’s Comedy Hour, The
Sopranos, The
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor

Third Watch
Three's Company
Top Chef
Top Gear
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
Transformers, The
Twilight Zone, The
Twin Peaks

Veronica Mars
Venture Brothers, The

Waking the Dead
Waltons, The
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK and US)
Will and Grace
Wings
Without A Trace
West Wing, The
Wild, Wild West, The
Wonder Years, The

X-Files, The
Xena
Xiaolin Showdown
Young Ones, The
Zorro

Yikes!

I don't off the face of the blogging world for a few days and when I come back there are 150 blog posts to read! 

No real news here - I'm still getting hammered by the summer class teaching schedule.  I did get several pieces of departmental gossip, but then I can't very well tell all of you guys about that, now can I?  You'd be blabbing it to everyone and the next thing I know, I'd be on CNN trying to explain myself. 

It is pretty juicy though.

I Need That Like a Quiz in the Head

So no one will openly admit to liking “Don’t Worry, Be Happy?” (Don’t worry Camera Obscura, your secret is safe with me :) )

Ah, and the last title was from the opening line of the Dao De Jing - 'The Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way.' Quizzical philosophy for the day.

1.
This is a town where everyone is reachin' for the top
This is a place where second best will never do
It's ok to want to shine
But once you step across that line
No matter where you hide I'm comin' after you

2.
Should've known better than to cheat a friend,
and waste the chance that I've been given.
3.
Well you can take it as a warning
Or take it anyway you like
It's the lightning, not the thunder
You never know where it's gonna strike
4.
People call me on the phone, I'm trying to avoid.
Well, can the people on TV see me or am I just paranoid?
5.
If I ever catch up with you
I’m gonna love you for the rest of your life
6.
But it's gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
It's gonna take plenty of money
To do it right child
7.
My lips are moving and the sound's coming out
The words are audible but I have my doubts
That you realize what has been said
8.
And found myself alone alone
Alone above a raging sea
That stole the only girl I loved
And drowned her deep inside of me
9.
When I call love
Give love some soul
If I may be quite so bold
Where does it go from here?
Is it down to the lake I fear?
10.
So we journeyed to her house one thing led to another
I keyed the door we cold hit the floor looked up and it was her mother

Edited: very wonky formatting :(

Multimedia message

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Overread.

Multimedia message

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Overread.

Exhausted

I don't know why, but I've been insanely tired lately. I mean, I've been working hard, but not much different than before. Maybe it's the heat sucking my energy out. In any case, I went home early yesterday and slept for about 10 hours. Let's see if that helps any.

Luckily, I'm still a happy guy. Some of my happiness comes from my good friend the internet. Since I don't have a quality blog post ready (wait until I see Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend - the reviews look really bad!), I'll give you some more fruits of my internet habit (and yes, they almost all come from Boingboing, what of it?):

#1 Quality sarcastic comments from the Sarcasm Society: (is there anything that Jane Austin cannot do?)

» Sometimes I need what only you can provide: your absence.
- Ashleigh Brilliant

» It's always darkest before it turns absolutely pitch black.
- Paul Newman

» It's a catastrophic success.

» I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here.
- Stephen Bishop

» History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
- Abba Eban

» No, Groucho is not my real name. I am breaking it in for a friend.
» I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.
» I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
» I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.
» I didn't like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions - the curtain was up.
- Groucho Marx

» The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
- Frank Zappa

» The 100% American is 99% idiot.
» The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
- George Bernard Shaw

» He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.
- Oscar Wilde

» He was happily married - but his wife wasn't.
- Victor Borge

I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
- Mark Twain

» I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.
- Clarence Darrow

» If you ever become a mother, can I have one of the puppies?
- Charles Pierce

» You have delighted us long enough.
- Jane Austen

#2 Streaming Classical Persian Music. Cool! I don't even know Persian music, but this is nice.

#3 David Hasselhoff's Music Video "Get Into My Car" Fair Warning - it hurts

Best Google Query That Led Here

Most of the queries are for lyrics and such, then there's a whole lot asking for Quizno's calorie information ('cuz Quizno's won't tell anyone)  There's still someone trying to find the blueprints for Wayne Manor - good luck to you, sir! and of course the classic, "Women are like McDonalds"

That I could amuse myself for hours looking at this stuff has nothing to do with the fact that I should be prepping a class right now

So far this is the best one I've gotten:

"my friend swears that you can't be prosecuted for stealing a dead body because it has no intr [insic value?]"

Other gems:

"I'm a failure"

Rabbi+Priest+Bar

Psychadelic [sic]+folgers

squash+hippopotamus

prejudice,+blue+eyes,+hats,+experiment

mrs. beauregarde farted

"didn't+do+the+reading"+"grad+school"+en

Movie Posters

Funky Polish Movie Posters (Benji: The Hunted is...eerie, somehow)

Imagined Russian(?) movie illustrations - I'm still not sure I know what each of them are for.  Umm... Accordion playing alligator?  Did I mis that one?  Can you guess them all?

8.23km - 38'34"

Same as Monday - heh

Proof

Netflix tells you what is popular in your area (zip code, I guess).  I present to you evidence that my area is particularly tasteless:

The number one most popular film in my are is....wait for it...

The Pink Panther - the new one.  Let that sink in.  #1 is the Pink Panther.  Wow.

Back to Space

Happy Fourth everyone!

Yea Shuttle!

So, Germany or Italy?  I'm no big fan of either one, though.  I think I'll root for lotsa goals (how Amurikun is that?)

The coin flip says I'll go for Germany

My, Aren't I Fickle

I've fallen back into infatuation with Minnie Driver thanks to An Ideal Husband.  This netflix beast is a dangerous thing.

The Quiz That Can Be Quizzed Is Not The Eternal Quiz

(bonus points for what the title is riffing on)

 

A dangerous turn toward the 80’s looms ahead. Well, mostly the 80s…

 

You know, reading all these lyrics makes me realize that all musicians are psychos. Stalkers and freaks, every last one. Good to know, I guess…

 

1    Stalker!

I tried to call you before

But I lost my nerve

I tried my imagination

But I was disturbed

 

2    Don’t break up with me, I’ll change! I need you!

Baby, I think tonight

We can take what is wrong and make it right

Baby, it's all I know

That you're half of the flesh and blood that makes me whole

 

3    Was that your ex on the phone? I don’t want you talking to him.

Wanna have you near me

I wanna have you hear me sayin'

No one needs you more than I need you

 

4    umm… psycho much?

I will have you

Yes I will have you

I will find a way and I will have you

Like a butterfly

A wild butterfly

I will collect you and capture you

 

5    Perhaps if you can’t write the next line, you should wait until you can before you write the next line.

I bought a ticket to the world

But now I’ve come back again

Why do I find it hard to write the next line

When I want the truth to be said

 

6    This precedes one of the best lines in music history. Ouch!

The tears I cry aren’t tears of pain

They’re only to hide my guilt and shame

I forgive you now I ask the same of you

 

7    Just. Wow. Funny, but wow.

Like Kurasawa I make mad films

Okay, I don't make films

But if I did they'd have a samurai

 

8    One of my favorite lyrics ever. I picture all these animals stop motioned in a weird game of red light green light

Animals strike curious poses

 

9    What?! What am I supposed to do?!

Just remember to always think twice.

Don’t think twice!

Don’t think twice!

 

10    My apologies for this one – I still like it.

The landlord say your rent is late,

He may have to litigate

 

11    Um… instead of holding her down, maybe she needs someone to take her to the hospital?

Who's gonna hold you down

When you shake

Who's gonna come around

When you break

 

12    Stalker!

I’ve been meaning to tell you

I’ve got this feeling that won’t subside

I look at you and I fantasize

You are mine tonight

Now I’ve got you in my sights

And This Doesn't Even Start To Counter The Ice Cream

8.26km - 38'34"

hehe - last month's total? 137.8km

And Now For Something Completely Different

based on a discussion over at RussianViolets:

Be it resolved that Keanu Reaves is known to the world as dumb as a box of rocks.

For the guy in class who showed up with his bike:

No, you can't park it in the very small classroom because you forgot to bring your bike lock.  The thing is that I'm pretty sympathetic, and if we were in a giant lecture hall, I wouldn't have any problem with it, but yeesh, we're squeezed in already.

Also, is it possible to get the classroom a little hotter?  Because I'd like to see if I can get the pit stains to meet on the back on my shirt if that's possible.  It's kinda like a goal of mine.  Also, it's important for an afternoon class to have as much 'post-lunch nappism' as possible, and excessive heat really helps out with that. 

Finally, I think it's safe to say that the woman in the back was not taking notes on her Nintendo DS.  At least with a laptop, I can delude myself into thinking that they're working.  Feh, I know her though.  That she showed up is a huge success already.

Oh, Sheepish - it was Curse of Monkey Island :)

Multimedia message

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Overread.

Mama Told Me

There'd be days like this.

Nothing really bad happened, but nothing else is happening either.  I wanted to finish off this side project I'm doing today, and I probably could have, but I just can't get moving on it.  I feel so tired.  It's not physical tired, just tired.  I came into the office and set up some stuff, and couldn't get started.  I tried a couple of other things I could be doing but just couldn't get on top of them. 

I think the mentally healthy thing to do is to take a step back.  I'm ok on my deadlines, so I can afford to just go home - maybe pick up something to eat on the way home - maybe even ice cream.  That way I can positively reward my sloth. 

I've got a couple of Netflix offerings at home.  I'll do a little cleaning so that I feel like I got something done and watch a movie or two.

Yes, folks.  This is about as thrilling as my life gets.  feh.

Hang Ten

Very bizarre surfing gets done late late at night when you're doing laundry (cause it's too bloomin' hot to do laundry during the day).

So, excuse me if I'm a little too amused at these links. Well, a link and a video. They're just sooooo hypnotic:

Stan sells lots of stuff (noisy) (bonus points for folk who know what the image comes from)