Sick and Befuddled

For those of you playing at home, it seems that it was a flu/cold thing. Last night was yucky. Body ache, sore throat yuck, yuck yuck. I ended up just going home early (out of the office before 5pm! Scandal!) and going to sleep early too. Seems to have worked ok though. I feel better this morning, just a little sinus ick and throat pain. bleh. Not bad enough to keep me home though.

On a completely unrelated note, I got an email from one of the two remaining PhD departments.

[drumroll]

Waitlist?!?!?! I didn't even know they did that for grad school. Problem is that it was one of the schools I have to really consider if I get accepted (great school, great profs, huge reputation, very unfortunate location).

So, one school remaining. I'm still batting .500, but only because I don't know how to call this one. Balk? Hit by pitch?

What Could It Be?

I woke up this morning with mucho sniffly nose, stuffy head and scratchy throat.

So here's the fun game - Is it just the annual return of allergies here in pollen-land? Or is it the more insidious cold/flu that has been wracking the campus of late?

Pro-allergies:

• It's about that time.
• I did go running outside yesterday amongst all native flora
  
• I'm usually fairly cold/flu resistant

Pro-cold/flu:

• Almost everyone has had this but me
• I usually don't get a scratchy throat with allergies (but it could be the nasal drainage - that happens sometime. I sure you were all dying to know that)
• This is the worst possible time to get the cold/flu.

The suspense is palpable.

Here They Come

Students have papers due tomorrow, so what do I find in my inbox tonight at a little after 9pm?

An email saying that Stu can't write the paper:

Help help. The text that we're writing on is completely unrelated to the prompt. Plz can u giv me hints or ideas!?!?!!?!!1111oneoneone.

Ok, so it's not a direct quote exactly...

as a bonus, here are the google ads on the sidebar:

Custom Term Papers $14

Non-Plagiarized papers

100,000 Term Papers

Custom Essay Writing

My favorite is the 'Non-Plagiarized papers' one. Now that's clever.

Round and Round I Go

I am so swamped. Barely time to run. Feeling blah. Papers to grade coming in tomorrow. Ugh.

But I did run today :)

8.29km - 38'30" Personal Best :)

Cat Fight

I know just about everyone has seen this before, but I saw it again on Cute Overload and just had to put it up here.

Cat Fight

Email Meme Thing

1. What time did you get up this morning? ~7:30am. I've got an early schedule at school now, so I wake up early every day :( I did get my 8 hours though :)

2. Diamonds or pearls? Um... Neither, really.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Oh, jeeze... I'd have to look at my sidebar, I guess, but it's screwed up right now...

4. What is your favorite TV show? Not my fave, but I'm a sucker for any VH-1 "I love..." show. Can't believe that the Hoola Hoop won the best toy ever. Feh! Legos beaten by Barbie? Give me a break.

5. What did you have for breakfast? Special K crunchy bar thing - Peaches and Cream (only 90 calories! aren't I becoming pathetic?)

6. What is your favorite cuisine? I love good Chinese food

7. What foods do you dislike? I'll keep Jayfish's answer here: "meat on the bone, offal, giblets"

8. Your favorite Potato chip? Plain tortilla chips with tons of salsa

9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Um, CDs? How very last decade. I listen to Yahoo Unlimited mostly now. Last one I bought was Alone in IZ World by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Trust me - it's cool!

10. What kind of car do you drive? No car. My bike is a Bridgestone XO-3 (mine's a better color though) though :)

11. Favorite sandwich? Turkey and Bacon with heaps of veggies

12. What characteristics do you despise? despise is pretty hash, isn't it? Let's turn it around - I value honesty very highly.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? There's no one place that I really feel I have to go to, but I would like to see Turkey

14. What color is your bathroom? grungy white

15. Favorite brand of clothing? In my quest for blandness and convenience, I've started getting some stuff at Land's End - embarrassing, I know.

16. Where would you want to retire to? Retire? No chance!

17. Favorite time of day? I'll stick with Jayfish's answer here too, "the golden hour"

18. Where were you born? A hospital

19. Favorite sport to watch? a toss-up football or basketball. I've been watching soccer too, but there's no time anymore :(

20. What laundry detergent do you use? I have no idea. It's in a blue bottle

21. Coke or Pepsi? I couldn't tell you why, but I've always been a Coke guy

22. Are you a morning person or night owl? I'm not really big on eating mice, so I guess I'd have to say morning person.

23. What size shoe do you wear? 7-7.5 Yes, yes, I have little girlie feet.

24. Do you have pets? Not right now

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? c'mon, I've got a blog! All the new news is already up there! :)

26. Favorite Candy Bar? I've always liked Twix, but a nice plain dark chocolate bar is also a winner in my book.

27. What is your best childhood memory? just one?

28. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Actor, secretary, electrical techie, soldier, door-watcher, teacher, etc, etc...

29. What color underwear are you wearing? grey, I think...

30. Nicknames? 'Hey you'

31. Piercing? nope

32. Ever been to Africa? not yet - I'd love to go though

33. Ever been toilet papering? once, a long long time ago

34. Love someone so much it made you cry? Oh yeah.

35. Been in a car accident? yuppers

36. Fruit or Vegetables? I need both!

37. Croutons or bacon bits? If I had to choose, I'd go with croutons

38. Favorite day of the week? I've always been a fan of Thursday - no idea why

39. Favorite restaurant? umm... One I can afford?

40. Favorite ice cream? Cherry Garcia!

41. Disney or Warner Brothers? Pixar (no Disney about it!)

42. Favorite fast food restaurant? Taco Bell (sad, but true...)

43. What color is your bedroom carpet? white-ish?

44. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Honestly, I can't remember. I think I got it the first time...

45. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Any computer-geeky kind of store

46. What do you do most often when you are bored? sometimes video games, but mostly read

47. Bedtime? I try to get to sleep before 11, but I don't have a set time

48. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? everyone!

49. Last person you went to dinner with? a group of folks from the department

50. What are you listening to right now? Starbucks vague and inoffensive piped tunes

51. What is your favorite color? green

52. Lake, Ocean or river? hmmm... I've never lived next to a river, but I like the idea of it

53. How many tattoos do you have? 0

54. Who sent this to you and what is something you didn't know about him/her? Jayfish. Arby's? I had no idea he where he was born :)

55. Time you finished this email? Just check the timestamp! :)

Yeesh

Bibleman is now oogling the coeds.

Hep Cats in Faith

Yelling out that you found verses in Duteronomy that prove there is no such thing as gluttony, and that you'll be happy to prove that skinny chick wrong isn't a great way to impress the Starbuck's crowd. One of the hep cats does have a really cool bible though.

NO!

STOP.

I'm not going running tonight.
I'm not going to even check my school email.
I'm not going to revise or reedit.
The last panicked 'I tanked the last paper and I have to get an A in this class or else I'll never get into med school and I'll end up eating cat food in a garbage can in New Jersey so tell me how to write a paper' student has left.
I held extra office hours.
I will read their emails tomorrow, but today I'm closing up shop.
I'm locking the door.
I'm getting on my bike.
I'm going by a restaurant to get 'not allowed on my diet' food and I'm going home.

I will sleep eight hours tonight, come hell or high water.

The really pathetic thing is that I can't even hold a funk well. I was just thinking about how to blog the most excellent information that almost everyone in the department is going to the massive conference and it looks like it's going to be heaps of fun. I'm really excited! But for the sake of the topic of this blog entry I'll try to look stern and much-put-upon.

Another Fine Mess I've Gotten Me Into

What am I doing at the office at 8:20pm on a Thursday? Blogging! Err... Well, I'm also putting together a response paper that I kinda forgot about. Yeah, it's due tomorrow. Yeah, I suck.

I also have two sections to run tomorrow. Have I planned them yet? Why, no! Thank you for asking!

Luckily the papers that were due today were all postponed to next Tuesday, so I won't be in grading hell this weekend, but it's all coming to a head in a perfect storm of crapitude. Blech.

Oh, and Nutrax - that cool calorie counting website I've been using seems to have gone kaput. I'm not surprised really. I couldn't see how they could make money, but still, it's sad-inducing.

When is spring break again?

Cable What Network?

I'm here to help.

I don't watch nearly as much TV as I used to, but seeing CNN for the past couple of days, I realize that they need my help. It seems that they're forgotten about the whole 'news' part of their name, so I figured that they may be unclear about what is 'news' and what isn't. The biggest problem I realize is to fill all 24 of those hours every day, but the answer is not to batter a non-news (but cheap) story for hours or days beyond it's expiration date.

• First off, the easiest way to find out if something is or isn't news is to watch Larry King Live (I don't actually recommend that anyone actually watch Larry King Live, it's just as good to check his guest list). The key is that if something or someone is a topic on Larry King Live, then it is not news. This would clean up a huge swath of CNN programming.
  
• CNN is not a local newscast and should not try to be one. So this means that a car chase in LA is not news. On the other hand, an Amber Alert in Virginia is news, because it could impact many people, and broad dissemination is helpful in finding the people. See how that works, CNN?
  
• On a related note, Nancy Grace needs to be shuttled off to Court TV. CNN does not need to deal with every salacious court case in the US. If the case has national implications, sure, cover it briefly and give updates, but for crying out loud can we ditch the angry adversarial lawyers yelling at each other about whether or not the public defender should have worn the red tie instead of the blue?
  
• Celebrity news: Axe it. We do not need to know if Jennifer is all broken up about her ex's new love. That's the job of E! television. Oscars, or other more meaningful entertainment news - sure cover it briefly and move on.
• McDonald's new coffee? c'mon now.

They just announced a special investigative report on bedbugs. I kid you not.

8.27km - 39'19"

Batting .500

The letters come rolling in. One small envelope and one large. So that's 6 responses and three acceptances, but really only two good options - you'll see why in a paragraph or two.

The small envelope was from NotAChanceInHell University, which didn't really surprise me. I mean with a name like that, would you even want to get in?

The large envelope is a little more vexing. It was from MonsterTheoretical University, which I honestly didn't think I could get in, but they did admit me. Here's the kicker - no funding. Nada. Zilch. They helpfully advised that I could get a part time job on campus. Now this is a huge, extraordinarily strong and important university, and while I realize that things are very difficult in the funding department, to not offer any aid at all seems a bit sad. There is very little chance that I could find a situation in which fronting ~$40k/year would work out. What do newly minted profs earn again?

To be completely honest, I am very flattered that they would consider me (if I were independently wealthy), and I'm very happy that they put the funding decision in the acceptance letter. Otherwise I would have put it high on my 'seriously consider' list. Now I can put it very low on the 'if all else fails' list.

I wonder, though... The two other acceptances I got only mentioned that they were still organizing the funding distribution. Is this just another way of getting students to commit and then tell them later that they don't have funding for them?

On a side note, one of my profs said, "Can they do that? I thought they had to fund everyone!" Hehe... He's one of those god-like creatures who universities fought over as a student and as a prof, so I doubt he had to worry about this particular trouble.

Another prof said, "Don't go anywhere that doesn't fund you fully." I hope that option is available to me.

Sweaty!

9.14km - 40'

treadmill - ugh

did the army situp and pushup thing again. I think I'm going to regret it though. Ouch ouch ouch

On that note - check out the Army APFT standards chart for pushups, situps (measured by how many you can do in 2 minutes) and the two mile run. When I was in, I maxed the pushups once and almost maxed the run once. I never came that close on the situps.

I'm very far from those scores now except maybe the run. I haven't run two miles in a long time. I might be able to get close...

Overread's Rules For Using the Self-Checkout At The Supermarket

1. You must be literate. The computer will ask you questions and you will need to respond. You should not just stand there yelling at the computer until the employee comes and does everything for you.
   
2. Don't bring scads of fruits and veggies unless you know the codes, or at least the name of the item. No one will be pleased if you stop halfway through the checkout several times to run back to find out what kind of kumquat you picked up
   
1. addendum: People will be even more unhappy if you argue with the employee that no, these are not hurricane peaches, because these peaches were on sale for about 3 cents per pound less than the hurricane peaches
3. You must not be dumber than a box of rocks
4. You must understand the concept behind scanning UPC codes
5. Seriously. Just go through the regular lines if you have an entire cart full of crap. Where do you think you're going to put it all? Are you going to scan it and then put it back in your cart? On top of the other stuff you haven't scanned? And then dig through all that stuff to get to the stuff to get to the stuff you still need to scan? Oh crap. Yes, that's exactly what you are going to do...

Note: Girl Scout cookies are today being sold be very surly-looking middle-aged women. No Sale.

Techie-riffic

I know I'm behind on this one, but hey, I'm just fashionably late. Also, these answers may be eerily similar to two other bloggers out there :)

1. Do you remember when you saw your first computer? When did you actually use one? What about having your own? Do you own a laptop? (PC or Mac?) Have you gone wireless at home yet?

The first one I ever saw was a dumb terminal that a neighbor's dad had. He was a prof at a local college. The neighbor kids got something soon after. I remember watching the older neighbor kid play lunar lander. Very impressive. We got out Vic-20 later, and were changed forever. I remember my brother painstakingly building a picture of an uzi, pixel by pixel with a art pad that we had. It was unreal that a computer could display something that detailed.

Later on, we had a C64 and eventually we got a dedicated phone line and I ran a little BBS called the Sewer System (My moniker - Smelly Rat. Well, I think I actually spelled it -= Rat]} I remember I got very excited to get my first upload. I was sure that it was kool warez, as the kids say now, but in fact, it deleted my BBS software. Oh, I was crushed.

Also memory-worthy on the C64 was when my brother and I downloaded an audio file of the first couple seconds of the song Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting." It was stunningly good. I had never even heard the song before, but we sung that first piece of it forever. The file also took about a day or so to download.

Now I've got a desktop that's packed up because I don't have room to unpack it, and a HP laptop that's serving heavy-duty for me. It's a good 'un, but I always fall to the lure of the upgrade - such a geek.

I have a lot of respect for the Macs, but as far as I'm concerned, they simply don't run all the software I want to run. I wouldn't be able to run all the experimental download stuff that I do on a Mac without an emulator, and on top of that, I do some stuff at school that can't easily be done on a Mac - some of it can't be done at all on a Mac. I would love to have all the buttery-smooth Mac goodness and a little bit of actual design in my computer, but frankly, Macs can't do what I want to do yet. :(

2. When did you first go online and/or use email? Who did you email back then? How did the internet change your life? When did you discover blogging? What about your home internet connection - is it dial-up, DSL, cable?

I honestly don't remember when I first used email, even though I had been using BBS forums forever. I was a huge fan when Prodigy came out, because it was so much more graphical than Compuserve. I discovered blogging early, but didn't really get interested until I saw Profgrrrl's site. I had started a couple dairy-style blogs before then, but after I saw her's, I tried to start one in earnest. Right now the place where I live (I dare not use the word 'home,' that would make it sound like I like it there) is wired for cable. I've never really cared about the cable/DSL wars - either one's fine to me.

3. Do you remember your first VCR? What about a video camera (there were some bulky ones back in the 80s and 90s) and home videos?

VCR - very vaguely. Top loader? Oddly, I love photography, but never been a big fan of video.

4. When did you switch from VCR to DVD? How did it change your video viewing experience? Do you use TiVo or any such "contraption" to tape TV shows? Do you use Netflix or some other internet-based DVD "renting" service?

I'd love to get a TiVo, but I'm not sure I've got the time to watch all the stuff I'd want to watch :( Netflix might be a possibility...

5. What about music? Did you enjoy listening favorite music in Long Plays or did you prefer cassette tapes? When did you buy your fist CD player and switched to CDs? Did you abandon them (and turned to downloaded music) for MP3 players or Ipods or do you still buy CDs? (I'm not going to ask or comment about "illegal" music activities in the internet, even though it was an exciting innovation, lest one of us gets arrested for it :)

Ah, I remember having a very small red white and blue record player. I also had a record... Candy Girl? It was mine all mine, and when my brother wanted to hear it he had to ask me! Bwahahaa.

I'm almost entirely digital now, I've got a box of CDs around here somewhere, but I don't use them anymore. I do kind of miss mix tapes though.

6. Do you own and use a cell phone? Do you think it's useful or just annoying?(Did you always have a telephone in your house growing up? Did you have a phone in your own room?)

I fought the cell phone thing forever, and now I've got one. I think it's a horrible nasty evil, but needed thing.

7. When did you first buy a digital camera? What kind was it (3.2, 4.0, 5.0 mega-pixels or better)? Did you start taking more pictures or were you a photo aficionado before then? What about a digital video camera?

ugh. First digital? Canon D60? I got it so that I could use my SLR lenses. It was wonderful to move off of film. Film was such a hassle. I've got crates of negatives and prints that I still need to digitize. ugh. I usually take many many many pictures - especially on vacation, but lately I haven't been doing my job well.

8. What about televisions? Have you already embraced the new technologies, such as HDTV, plasma, and flat screen? (On the other hand, you wouldn't remember black white TVs, would you?)
TV? I've got one, but it isn't very special. I would love to get a big honkin' monster screen, but alas, not for many years, I'm afraid...


Looking back at that, I think I should have broken this up into many smaller blog posts and given each question more time, but then again, who would read all that?

Best Late Email Ever

Dear Overread,

blah blah blah overslept, blah blah blah, I know you have a very strict attendance policy, blah blah blah, I've done well on the essays and tests, blah blah blah, please don't fail me for blatantly failing to abide by class policy, blah blah blah...

But here's the gold:

Student included a photo of student's alarm clock.

I guess this is to prove that... what? Student did indeed wake up late? Does this help student's case? I'm pretty sure that I was very willing to take the sleeping in as truth without any proof.

Student does have a nice clock though.

Get Behind Me

Point one: There is no way I can possibly get Girl Scout cookies, because I am physically incapable of not eating thin mints in a box-at-a-time fashion.

Point two: I appreciate that parents are important in the Girl Scout organization, but I have yet to actually see any Girl Scouts selling cookies - I've only seen parents. That is, unless it's become Middle Age Man and Woman Scouts.

Unngh?

Holy poop.

Is it the weekend yet? I am completely wiped out. No blogging, no blog reading - nuttin'

I'm finally done with my day (at 6pm on a Friday, mind you), and I'm not going running. I'm going home and I'm going to collapse.

I'm not even going to really enjoy the weekend either because I've got to get ahead on my work because papers to grade are going to start pouring in again next week. Oh, fun thing about loosing weight - I need to buy new pants. It's another weekend task! It's a good thing I get paid the big bucks.

Speaking of big bucks, let's hear it for the department! They've come up with cash to help all of up grad-folk get up to MonsterConference in a few weeks.

Ok. That's about all I've got. I leave you with things that Overread might call someone:

Rockstar (or alternately 'Hero) ex - "He's the rockstar of Gruub Studies - everyone wants to work with him."
Freakshow ex - "Her new boyfriend is a real freakshow. He calls every hour to see where she is."
Timesink ex. - "I can't go into the office, the timesink is in there. If I go in there, I won't get out for hours."

8.36km - 39'49"

The Best Choose Your Own Adventure Ever.

I loved Choose You Own Adventure books - Something Awful has more of these right here - warning that some things there are, um... a bit tasteless.

Dream

drunk guy comes out of bar, gets in fight, gets knocked out. eventually gets up and staggers off to the parking lot. which is suddenly in the countryside somewhere. As he stumbles over a small fence, my friend (who I don't recognize) says to me, "He'll be on the highway in a couple of minutes." We both shake out heads ruefully. Then he's attacked by squirrels. viciously attacked by squirrels. All the folks from the bar are laughing. Then some TV animal show guy comes over with his wife to announce his retirement. He kind of tries to save the guy being attacked by squirrels, but mainly just starts tossing dead (frozen but unplucked?) turkeys over the fence.

Guilt Within Pleasure Volume II

I just got word that a second university - (Gorgeous, Good and Specialty University - GGSU) is offering me admission. I'm really so excited, but. It's a very good school with some great people that I would love to work with, but. It's in a drop-dead gorgeous area, but. It would be slightly closer to some of my family than the other school that has accepted me, but. They even sound a little more apt to fund me, but.

but.

Another grad here also applied to GGSU. I think she applied to the same department as I did. She would fit in very well with the faculty specialty there, and she didn't apply to many schools - GGSU was her best shot. She's said that if she doesn't get in anywhere, she may just going to drop out with her MA and run off and do 'whatever.'

So, if I got in, it would be very very implausible that she got in too.

I'm left with the most fortunate of problems. I've already got two very good options (and four more schools to hear from), but barring very big funding questions, I'm leaning toward not going to GGSU.

She may not get in anywhere. What if she doesn't get in, and I turn down a chance to go to the school where she wanted to go? Guilt. My friend who was in the office when I got the email said I really should be Jewish or Catholic. I can find guilt anywhere. Then again, she thinks I should be gay too, and that ain't happening. Actually I think it's more the whole Puritan 'It's not moral to enjoy good things' idea.

but.

I still squealed like a little girl when I got the email. They like me! They really like me!

After Me, The Deluge

When it rains and I bike, something always gets wet. I could wrap my entire body and everything in my backpack with cling wrap, and I swear something would still get wet. I've learned to deal with acceptable dampness. For example, I long ago gave up trying to keep my pants dry (let's see how many googlers that phrase brings in).

Last night's casualty was part of a book. Note, my backpack is pretty well lined with plastic bags for protection. Nothing else in the backpack was wet - not even the other book that was right next to doomed one.

It's not a total loss, it's just a little wiggly on the edges, but still enough to make me sad.

Oh, and my pants - drenched. Shoes, socks, pants, underwear - drenched. Aren't I glad I just did laundry?

I Love a Rainy Run

8.87km - 39'34"

I haven't been on the treadmill in a while, but the horizontal train that's whirring about suggested that running around in the mud and muck might not be the best idea, so there I went. I know remember the bonus of treadmill running - I can set the pace at 8mph (later 8.5mph) and just zone out and listen to my audiobook while my body just trundles along. Trundle trundle. I don't think I could keep that pace in the wild (treadmills are also nice and flat unless you get them all riled up), but it's nice to get a decently long run in in a decently quick pace. Yea!

I also did one third of the army pushup and situp routine. It's inconceivable that I used to be able to do all that. Inconceivable - and I'm not even Sicilian.

Returned to the Cafe

I'm very jealous. I'm working on real work-stuff and the guy next to me is conquering Europe on his laptop. He was having some trouble in Russia I think. Then again, doesn't everyone?

The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Quiz Game (Not) In New York

Edited to add:
For added joy, Now instituted is the Pilgrim/Heretic Rule: To be considered truly a quiz-master or quiz-mistress, you must also now supply the line that follows the given line. Bwahahaa!
Thanks Pilgrim/Heretic!


I think it's high time for a new lyrics quiz, what do you guys think?

1

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street

2

As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know

3

I never know, I never know, I never know why
You make me wanna cry

4

Do the pony puts us in a trance
do the watusi just give us a chance
That's when we fall in line

5

The mist is lifting slowly
I can see the way ahead
And I've left behind the empty streets
That once inspired my life

6

Don't you look at my girlfriend
She's the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend

7

well, Cleopatra died for Egypt,
what a waste of time
white ones and red ones
and some you can't disguise

8

I’m counting on you, Lord, please don’t let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,

9

Long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall

10

Gunter glieben glauchen globen

Bonus for figuring out where the title came from :)

Cool!

Google Video got ahold of some very cool newsreel stuff from the National Archive!

Who needs the History Channel?

Edit - Better to go here for better options :)

Answer Me These Questions Three

One of the biggest problems that I have in class is getting students to read the assigned reading. So, usually I have a weekly quiz that covers pieces of the reading. It gives a decent idea of how well folks are digging through. The problem is that while I think it's really helpful to have the quiz and go over the correct answers - sometimes it can even lead to a nice discussion or argument - it eats up a lot of time. I feel like I'm taking up a lot of the class with what I want them to get out of the readings rather than finding out what they're getting out of them.

So. This week I asked them to send me five specific questions that came from the readings, email them to me before class and we'd dig through some of them during class. A lot of the questions were kind of what I expected - simple identification or basic definition stuff, but some were just wonderful. I got some truly thoughtful ideas. I got some questions the untangled problems that I hadn't even seen. I got questions that dealt with overarching concepts from other classes. I hate to admit that I didn't expect such good stuff, but I was really happily blown away.

Then I realized I had no way of distilling all of the good questions into a class period. I ended up copying some of the best ones into a file and giving everyone a copy. We dealt with some big issues in class, but there were so many good questions that we didn't get to. I told them that they could come to office hours to talk about any of the questions, but I'm not sure if anyone will come. I don't want to leave them hanging after some of them went to so much work to put the questions together.

Now I don't know whether I should ask them to build questions for next week or not. One class preferred quizzes and the other preferred making questions themselves. I think that writing the questions really led them to approach the readings more carefully, but I'm not sure how much I can ask of them before they mutiny.

I do really love it when students surprise me like that though - so cool.

Run

8.31km - 40'23"

Stuffed

Like a good boy, I followed my sister's advice and got a huge honkin' burrito that destroys any trace of my diet for today. Oh, it was good though. They add the grilled onions in there and well, just yum, ok?

With this in mind, it's important to know that in China, Pizza Hut is a very upscale place. They have a salad bar, but it's a one trip affair, so one has to get as much into one bowl as possible. You don't think the folks who built the great wall would be up to this task?

Via Boingboing

Pheh!

Plus the soda machine is out of Diet Coke, and it wouldn't return my money.

I don't want a Sprite. Obey your thirst, my ass...

On Finding A Way To Feel Guilty About Success

Everyone here is very happy about me getting acceptance #1, but I'm trying to find out how happy I should be. First off, funding is not settled yet, so there's no guarantee that I can even accept yet, but that's something I don't worry about worrying about because it only involves me. What worries me is that two other folks put in applications this season too. The other two folks applied to some of the same places I did.

Friend #1 only applied to very very elite ivy and then some schools. She is now coming around to the idea that she may not get in any of these places. She just got a rejection from what was arguably one of her best chance schools. I applied to that school too and haven't heard back from them. She thinks this means that I'll get in. She's being very sweet to me and trying to be cheerful, but it's a smile with puffy red rimmed eyes.

Friend #2 is really not entirely sold on the whole getting a PhD thing, but I'm not sure if that's a front she's putting up because she's really worried or not. She applied to the place where I got in, but hasn't heard back from them yet. In fact, she hasn't gotten any mail for the past two weeks. Not even junk mail. Not even the care package her mom sent about two weeks ago. She went to the post office, but they said there shouldn't be any trouble.

I'm very excited, but I don't want to be a giddy amplifier of their anxiety. Ah, and five places yet to be heard from.

It's Gotta Be The Socks

8.31km - 39'50"

New specialty running socks feel oh-so-good. Boing boing boing all the way down the trail.

Also,

Note to self:

Feeling good about your run does not make your body able to do the old army 'abs and pushup' workout you hazily remember. Doing only one quarter of said workout will make your arms feel like overcooked spaghetti and make your abs feel like more of a crushed shot glass than a six-pack.

Hey Mr. Postman!

I came home to see two envelopes - one small, one big.

The small one was rejection #2. A Very Important Midwestern University. I thought I might have had an slim outside shot to get in, but this one doesn't hurt as much as rejection #1 because I don't really have any academic or personal connection to the VIMU.

The large envelope was acceptance #1!!! Woohoo!! It's a... Let's say a highly ranked non-ivy in a gorgeous area. Yes. Let's say that. Let us say that many times. (it's even ranked higher then VIMU on a little university ranking list - and we know those are infallible, right?) Funding is still unsettled, so I can't get too excited, but I have to admit squealing like a little girl when I opened the envelope. Well, squealing like a little girl on the inside maybe.

Frankly it's more like relief. I now really believe I can do this. There are still a billion hurdles to clear, but this is one of the big ones, to be sure.

How shall I celebrate?

Freedom!

Main stack of grading is done! There's still a little matter of the bonus questions to figure out. Frankly, I've never been a fan of bonus questions, but there it is. I'm happy though because I can actually go home now and maybe get some more reading done! Woot!

Also, I don't usually deal in petitions, especially web-petitions, but I think this one that I found at Shrinkykitten's is worthwhile, so please take a look and reply in the comments if you support it. Also, you are encouraged to reply in the comments regarding any horrible costume that you were made to wear in any theatrical production - especially if it involved bra-stuffing. Thank you for your support.

Please to sign this petition if you would like:

1. Sheepy to find his "Flowers in the attic" diorama that he made as a kid (allegedly FOR SCHOOL!);

2. Post really good pictures of said diorama;

3. Failing that (that is, if he cannot find it) he ought reread the book and make a new diorama.

If you agree with the above, do please sign this petition!

edited to add: if you missed or don't remember the original discussion and SheepClaims, go here

All I Get Is Slobbery Fingers

How to whistle loudly

I was once told that the key to journalism is the headline :)

Truly Miserable

Is there actually ice dancing to Les Miz in the Olympics, or was my sandwich laced with hallucinogens? Including the portion with gunfire? And are the skaters wearing blood-stained costumes?

Both commentators liked the music. Quote from the guy "It's what ice-dancing means to me." What is this? a high school paper?

Open Mic Night

The second installment of the Open Mic Night will have a new rule!

We're still using Haiku of 5-7-5 syllables, but now, since this is a poetry gathering of the finest and most sensitive natures, there is an added requirement. The opening line of your haiku must contain one idea that was used in the previous haiku (best if from the last line).

I'll start with...

A black satin vest,
Sleeves - fishnet, his eyes - bloodshot
Goth out in daylight

My President's Day:
Gym-less run, endless reading
What is this 'Day Off?'

Remember, good poetry is not allowed! :)

Further But Slower

9.9km - 48'49"

So the gym was closed for President's Day. Grrrr... I came in to campus on my day off to take advantage of the coolie-o gym we've got here and now I can't. Poop. So, I decided just to change in my office and run from our building to my trail. It's actually a little closer to the trail so I did three loops instead of two. Almost a 10k today. That feels pretty good. If my pedometer is accurate, I could probably do a 10k in under 50 minutes. Cool.

Anyway, Here I sit all sweaty in my office on my day off. Which means I'm going to get to work. 'Day off' - it's a funny term.

Wifely Expectations

I had heard about this a while ago, but didn't get a chance to read it until today. Here's a part of the blurb from The Smoking Gun:

FEBRUARY 17--This country, as you know, is filled with the deranged. And then there's Travis Frey, a 33-year-old Iowa man who is facing charges that he tried to kidnap his own wife (not to mention a separate child pornography rap). Frey, prosecutors contend, apparently is a rather demanding guy. In fact, he actually drew up a bizarre four-page marriage document--a "Contract of Wifely Expectations"--that sought to establish guidelines for his spouse in terms of hygiene, clothing, and sexual activities.

It's pretty pathetic, but here's a scan of the contract. Nice font, too. Fair warning - it's not explicit really, but will probably make you feel unclean.

Dean Dad Gets an A

Silly Monkey.

If you are working in higher ed and aren't a regular reader of Dean Dad, you should be.

Here, he is inspired into writing a first-year compare and contrast paper on Curious George and Brokeback Mountian. It's genius. It's also an example of man's inhumanity toward man.

Scene From A Cafe

There's a couple at a table near the window. It looks like they're together, but they haven't talked. The guy has a couple of magazines - cars? motorcycles? something flashy. He's flipping through them faster than reading speed. Faster than would allow him to even really look at the pictures. Head down at an angle almost sharp enough to cut off his line of sight to the woman across from him.

She's mainly looking out the window at the gorgeous cloudless day. It rained this morning, so everything is freshly washed and the air is crisp and clean. She's looking out the window with slightly knitted brows. She's stylishly dressed, trendy with coordinated layers - very much in contrast to the man, t-shirt, jeans and a windbreaker. A group of girls walk through the cafe giggling a little more loudly than seems comfortable, and she glances away from the window. Her head turns back toward the window but stops at the man sitting across from her.

He looks up briefly. Then back to the magazines. Almost finished.

She curls her leg up and sits on it, looking back out the window.

He turns the back cover of the last magazine and hops up. He zigs off to the sales counter, dodging the tables.

She turns to watch him expectantly, but doesn't stand up until he turns back to look at her.

They both head out the far door.

They never said a single word to each other.

Okay, Seriously

I'm getting back to grading papers, but first,

I want this.

It's an automagical book scanner. It even turns the pages for you. Droooool.

Another Comic to Check Out

Natasha's Normal Life is quite chuckle-worthy. I wish my campus paper had comics this funny:


Can you tell I'm grading papers right now?

Again, be glad you're reading these in a feed-reader, because they look horrible in the Blogger template :)

Sheldon

Sheldon is a funny little comic about a boy billionaire and his talking duck. He's had a couple of shots recently at tenure:

I Give Up

Ok, well, I held out as long as I could, but since everyone is doing it, and I'm a lemming, here ya go:

My Johari Window

One Down, a Swing and a Miss

I got my first rejection from a PhD program today. In all honesty, it was a place I really didn't think I would get an offer from - they don't have anyone really doing what I'm doing, and it is a very elite school, but still, a rejection is a rejection, and rejections hurt.
The next couple of weeks are going to be very frantic - I should be hearing back from seven more schools all about the same time.
I'm egotistical enough to think that I will get at least one offer, but I've been thinking about what I'll do if I don't. I don't really work in a field that has a commercial track. Pretty much the only things that I am qualified to do would be overseas and probably wouldn't earn me enough to pay back my student loans.

Poop.

Who Are I?

Your #1 Match: INTP

The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can. Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge. Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat. A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor.

Your #2 Match: ISTP

The Mechanic You are calm and collected, even in the most difficult of situations. A person of action and self-direction, you love being independent. To outsiders yous eem impulsive, surprising, and unpredictable. You are good at understanding how all things work, except for people. You would make an excellent pilot, forensic pathologist, or athlete.

What's Your Personality Type?

It's important that I, "eem impulsive"

Also, I agree with Scrivener, I really wanted to chose a 'not listed' answer for most of these questions.

Fire On High

When I was growing up, we had the coolest treehouse ever. My grandfather built it (although I imagine my dad and mom helped out, but I don't remember that). Actually, I'm sure it was built more for my brother and sister because I was too young to really enjoy it at first.

The main part of it was the girlie-part which was a little house, with a furnished dining room and kitchen with stove (wooden - handmade) and all sorts of gender-stereotype goodies :) BUT! if you climbed up the ladder onto the roof of the house, you would find a gapped-plank sky-bridge over to the treehouse proper. This was the guy's part of the thing. It was bare inside where you could lay out your sleeping bags and brave a night's terrifying thunderstorm in the wild.

Also crucial was that there were all sorts of places from which you could throw things off or even jump the dizzying height all the way to the ground - So many exciting ways to sprain an ankle. Another cool thing was that the house part had a tarpaper gravel kind of roof, so it was perfect for experiment with fireworks and other combustibles (For example, you can make wonderful patterns of fire with a candy tin and the cologne you got for Christmas). My brother and I were always keen on trying to cut open as many Black Cats as we could to make a big pile of black powder. Tie together a few fuses and woohoo! It's amazing neither of us blew the other up.

Anyway - the thing that got me going about the treehouse was this link. It's amazingly cool, but it's not as cool as ours was.

Well, Crap

I just decided to go home, and monsoon season just kicked up. Biking in cold cold rain does not appeal to my at the moment. Especially without my rain gear.

Than again being warm and cozy in my bed does sound nice. hmmm... how to reconcile the two?

Whahappened?

Oh, yeah - today's schedule?

8-9 - TA class
9-10 - TA second section
10-11 - High level Gruub studies related class (w/ quiz and discussion - did you do all the readings?)
11-2 - meeting with advisor #3 to go over and completely rebuild section of thesis
1-2 - audit class given by advisor #1 on a topic that I really enjoy
2-3 - work with person from other department on unrelated stuff 'cause I'm a softy and I agree to do just about anything
2-5:30 - meeting with visiting scholar to tear apart and rebuild another part of my thesis
5:30 - ? - create from notes fair copy of thesis chunks that were rebuilt today (I should also get into the analysis too, but I don't think that's happening.

Oh, and I have that huge stack of exams to grade too. It's becoming frighteningly clear that my thesis needs to be gelling very quickly. The pieces are kind of there, but a lot of the analysis isn't. Not yet.

Did you notice that there was no break in there for lunch? I ate a couple slices of pizza while trotting across campus and I was late to the meeting with advisor #3 because of it. Oh yeah, I obviously missed the audit and had to push back the meeting with the visiting scholar.

And I'm hungry again. I may have to go Subway hunting. Or I could just go home and sleep. That sounds good too...

Those Who Can't...

Last night I was here in the office way too late getting my lesson plan together for today, and the cleaning folks came by. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm here often enough late at night that they know me pretty well. Last night one of them asked me if I was a teacher. I fumbled for a bit. It seems very odd. I was going to say that I'm a graduate student, and so I'm not really a teacher, but ya know what? I am a teacher.

This morning in class, one of my students asked if I was the same Overread who is listed as the teacher who is teaching Intro to Gruub Studies in the summer. He found my name on the class schedule. I didn't even know it was out yet. It's the first real non-TA teaching gig I've ever had at a university. I am a teacher.

Maybe people who have known me a long time don't see this as surprising. I've always been a geek, so teaching should be a no-brainer for me right? The thing is that I never really thought that I would love doing this so much. I was going to be a football player. Then when I went to high school and uni the first time, I was going to be an actor, then at least a theatre techie.

Well, I won't be a teacher if I can't get this dag-blasted thesis together or get into a PhD, will I?

Monopolistic Twits

The GRE score system is just horrible. I just got another notice that a school didn't get the official scores that I ordered in December or so. So I have to order them again. On their telephone ordering system. For those of you who haven't had to do this, what you get to do is call them up and listen to unending blather before you get the pleasure of typing in the school and department codes for each of the places you want to send the scores and of course, there's a charge for each school and each phone call you make.

Now don't imagine for a moment that there's a better way to do this - say an online form or something, because there ain't. Now I'm usually very happy with automated phone services, because they're generally designed better, and it's easy to get done what you want done.

Of course, there's no need for the GRE folks to say, innovate, because there's no reason to! What are you going to do? Not take the GRE? [insert evil laughter here]

Notes to self:
1 - Short term - invest in GRE folks
2 - Long Term - become hugely powerful and discontinue use of the GRE among universities.

I guess I should be happy that the schools haven't canned my applications outright. At least they want me to prove that I'm legitimate :)

Mad as a February Hare

I really dislike getting my hair cut. It just seems such a waste, so I go to the cheapest places, end up with a bad barber and because I have a bad experience, I like getting my hair cut even less. Today, I decided it had to be done now, or else I'd never have time to get it done until some time in June. Unfortunately, the one dude there at the cheap-o-and-in-biking-distance barber shop was the freaky drug-addled gentlemen. I really don't like him much, but hey, I had hair that needed cutting and there he was, so there I went.

Odd things about the man:

He grunts and breathes heavily all the time. He would make a great spooky caller.

He reeks of cigarette smoke.

He's very twitchy and talkative, but talkative in a "are you stable?" kind of way. Today he couldn't stop talking about one dollar bills. They were short of one dollar bills and man they needed to get more because they only had a few left and I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night I mean I didn't even get to sleep until four in the morning and I've been working all day I'm going to have to take a break soon and we still don't have any ones. (or words to that effect)

He demands that I slouch way way down in the chair - and I'm not a tall man. I can't imagine what he does to tall folks.

ick... Oh, well. It's done now. I have less hair than I did. That's success, I guess.

Still Running - Against the Wind

8.36km - 40'25"

Cah-razy windy today. I was blown all over the place. My favorite running trail has a lot of sand, too, so I got a free sand-blast treatment. ick.

A Rose Is a Rose Is a What?!

I know it's been said before and better, but with all the emailing I've been doing lately, I'm learning a bit more about my students than I cared to know.

Lesson to all the kiddies out there:

People can read your email address and what may seem cute and maybe risque to your friends is just nasty to others.

Yours,
Overread

V-Day

Valentine's day was predictably a bit sad for me - It's my first in 4 years without my ex-girlfriend. It feels a bit odd to not be shopping for spa gift cards or flowers or something. On the plus side, I did get a lovely valentine from my wonderful niece-who-wants-to-be-a-monster-when-she-grows-up. Also, the office-dwellers put out a big spread of chocolates and other wonderful "If Overread eats this he'll blow his diet" type snackies. So I snacked, and it was good. Homemade brownies are a wonderful thing :)

Fly Little Papers! Be Free!

Whelp, I've just emailed all the graded papers back to their owners. Now there's nothing to do but wait for the tears. and angry emails.

I should probably dig into the pile of exams to grade now, too...

Overheard at the Counter

Customer: So, what are the meatballs made of?
Counter Intelligence: Umm.... Meat?
C: You don't know?
CI: Well, I.... [Yelling to the back room] What's in the meatballs?

Nobody could figure it out.

It's a Growl-th Industry

A certain someone I know has decided on her future employment.

I provide proof that I received negative amounts of artistic ability from the family gene pool:

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"