Ricola!

Right now I'm in the middle of an Apline stack of grading. It's interesting because the class that I'm TAing right now is so different from what I've generally taught in the past in content and methods too. As an example, I used to grade fairly long papers every few weeks and maybe a blue book test at the end. Now I'm grading homework assignments and quizzes and tests and all sorts of things every single frickin' day it seems, including some assignments that are incredibly subjective.

The subjective assignments are very difficult for me. If it's a paper or an exam, I can generally get a good grasp on whether or not the student understands the material or not, but with these, well, I'm going more on how I feel that they did. They're group projects too, so there are students who I know are good and competant but got dragged down by a less-than-stellar partner or two. There are also a couple students that I'm pretty suspicious of, but they didn't really do much, so I'm not sure how to evaluate them. As a student I really dislike those kind of assignments, and I have to say that I like them even less as a grader.

I will say that there are a couple of students who are really making me feel very good about this class. It's been like this every class I guess, but it's just because I'm looking at the gradebook right now, it comes to mind. I can see the grades of one particular student slowly, steadily move up and up. She was convinced that this class was just too complicated for her. Not so, I said, not so. A little while ago, she said she may just change her major.

Vile Vile Flickr

Time was up so I had to switch over to the Yahoo! login. I haven't used a Yahoo! account for anything but their damnable music player in years. Of course that ID wasn't an anonymous one, so I have to get another one (the price I pay for being famous beyond my means in real life). "Overread" wasn't available, naturally. So I went for 'cordialhermit.' I wanted 'socaiablehermit' which was how my old landlord used to describe me. It fits pretty well, too.

So, anyway, I'm now a cordial hermit. at Yahoo! Feh. I think I'm developing an online multiple personality syndrome. I think this'll make my 4th or 5th idenity online. That can't be healthy. On a related note, the university wants me to remember a new password for another vital online entity. I'm seriously beyond the overload point for passwords. I've got so many I'm at the point where I'll need to write the less commonly used ones down. And that defeats the purpose of passwords! Well, kinda.

Anyway. I hope you ate pie yesterday.

Happy Pi Day!

I just wanted to wish you all a very happy pi day! Everyone should eat some pie today! Unfortunately, I haven't eaten any pie. I did eat an apple however. And... you can put apples in pies... Alternately, you can spend a few minutes reciting pi. I guess that'll work, too. Not nearly as tasty though. And I ain't doing that.

I'm happy to note that one of my students actually wore a pi shirt today. How cool is that?

By the way, if you don't know why today is pi day, just look at the date :)

It's also White Day - which is the day that all guys get their gal some chocolate. Valentine's the other way around, dontcha know?

Crosstown Traffic

Part of getting myself out of the funk I'm in is going to be a new push to start blogging more. So, here we go.

This may take a bit before I remember how to do all this, but I'll try.

First a note to the bus driver who tried to run me off the road and then opened his passenger door in the middle of the road (and a stop light) to tell me off:

Sir, while I respectfully admit that it is recommended that a bicycle not be ridden in the middle of the road when there is a lane open to the left, the lane to my left was a right turn only lane, and I didn't want to get in the way of people turning right. While you might have had a solid argument, when I said that I believed bicycles had the same right to the road as cars (and perhaps buses as well), I think that there was probably a better answer than to shout out, "well not in front of me they don't!" and keep as tight to the right side of the lane while passing me.

Feh. I actually feel a bit chastised because I went to check the law when I got back home only to find out that I wasn't entirely in the right. As near as I can tell, I was legally in the clear (and riding safely, I might add), but the law recommends that bikes only stray from the curb when making left turns and when avoiding unsafe road conditions. So I guess keeping out of the way of right turn only traffic isn't on their list.

Still. He could have been more polite.

Wow, that was a longish post on nearly nothing at all. fun.

Also, apropos of nothing, it will be very clear to those that survived my lyrics quizzes of many moons ago that my music taste changes only glacially, and I am loathe to admit the value of any music that is new to me. That being said, I have started listening to some Decemberists on the recommendation of the good Dr. Scrivner. For some reason I have also stumbled on the wacky joy of the Ditty Bops (Wishful thinking and Sister Kate are particularly fun). The Fratellis' Chelsea Dagger and Flathead were quite fun until I realized that one of them turned up on an Apple ad. They have been since downgraded to merely fun (but I still listen to them heaps).

Wow. Long post. Maybe I can still do this.

Hmm, Oh! You're Still Here?

Warning: Whining and self-absorbed blather ahead.

It's kinda funny that now the the photo365 blog is going gangbusters, my normal blog dries up.

Actually there's a little more to it than that. I've said this before, but I guess I still haven't gotten into a healthy pattern here at Urban Sprawl U. I'm still struggling with my motivation, and I guess I'm trying to figure out what in the world I'm doing here. The people around me all seem to have really nice conctrete plans about where they're going and how they're going to get there. There're all over writing grant proposals and sending off papers to journals and conferances, and well... I'm not.

I know that these are common anxieties to face after moving and for people looking into a long slog through the PhD process, but that doesn't really make it easier. And if I'm honest, I can see a little bit of it in the other gradfolk around me too.

The other problem is that I had to cut back on my running becauase of the tweaked knee so I wasn't able to run the marathon, so now I feel like a big slug with no energy at all.

This week I'm going to be turning in a paper to turn an incomplete into a complete from the fall, and frankly it's nowhere near my best work. I had an interesting topic, but let the professor lead me on to one of the professor's pet ideas and it really didn't work that well. Rather than tossing out the bad and workign on the good I've spent too much time trying to keep it all in there to please the prof. All that extra time is just going to end up as a couple of paragraphs in the intro talking about how the pet ideas might frame the argument. Ugh. It'll be good to just get that paper out of my head.

Spring break is going to be a very needed thing. But why am I more excited about maybe being able to get out and take fun pictures than being able to put together some good research time?

As a side note - one of my good friends from Old U called and told me that not only is her day job going super well, but she's also just hooked a super-sweet internship at the Smithsonian! Rock on! She has a social life and is dating, and she's got a career working. I really am very happy for her, but jeeze... Maybe I should have taken the MA and gone to DC too - seems to have worked well for her.

Things I Don't Care To See

And yet I saw and heard them today:

• Going to get a bit o' caffeine this morning, what to my wandering (wondering?) eyes should appear, but a man kneeling and bent over on the ground as if in prayer. With his pants around his ankles. full moon. And lets say charitably that he hadn't... washed... much recently. By the time I got out of the store, there was a man talking to him, telling him that the cops were on the way and he might think is wise to skedaddle. The pious gentleman screeched, "I can pray here! I've got every right to pray here!" As I left, the gentleman was prostrating himself again and pulling his pants down further. It was also pretty cold.
• I grabbed lunch on the way to class, and had a few minutes, so I sat down to eat near a couple of young men talking to an much older woman. My first thought was that it was probably a prof talking to a couple of undergrads - cool. I love that. That wasn't it. the woman became very agitated and started in on the men, making it quite clear to them that being Jewish wasn't going to do them a lick of good when they were in hell, because that's absolutely where they were going and only by accepting Jesus as their personal saviour... I have to admit I tuned out after that. By the time I finished my lunch and headed off to class, she had accosted a few other students in the area. She avoided me. It's not that I'm not grateful, but I wonder why?
  

Now I'm home and it's not late at all, but I just feel so exhausted. Everyone I know is sick or getting sick out just getting better. I don't feel sick at all just very very tired. Perhaps this is my body's warning to take it easy. So I'm going to curl up with a book and some tea, and rest. Maybe sleep. Who knows.

No Fair

Newspapers should not be allowed to reprint the crossword puzzle from yesterday, accidentally or no.

Hooray for a Mental Health Day!

Today was very fun. This weekend, I'm only 125% behind schedule instead of the standard 200%, so, rather than catch up on Saturday and Sunday, I took a mental health break today. It was a bit of a journey, but I headed out to a Major Metro Museum! yea for museums!

I generally go to museums alone so that I can hover over things that I like and not worry about other folks getting too bored. It was a good thing today, too. The main big touring exhibit they had there was very underwhelming to me. I wont go into details, lest I blow what's left of my cover, but it was a fairly big to do about a name most of you recognize - and aside from a few interesting pieces, it felt pretty flat. Eh.

On the up side, their permanent exhibit was very yummy. One of the areas that I would have loved to see was closed for remodeling, but there was a nice European Renaissance and Medieval section as well as some really kick-ass South and Southeast Asia stuff.

Most entertainingly, the permanent exhibits allow photography. Joy!

So, if you are inclined, take a browse of my flickr stream, and if you recognize the place, don't out me. Just reply smugly in the comments - You could also help out tagging :) I always forget to take notes, so, I get confused and forget who folks are. For those who know me, I put up full size versions of the photos on the other cooler-than-flickr website, so you can go there too if you like.

Oh, Taft. Taft, Taft...

I installed a 'How'd you get here?' thingamajig over on the side there and it says that someone found this place by searching for 'Taft.'

Oh, yeah. I think I'm going to turn this into an all Taft all the time channel. I think Clearchannel can get me the music for that, right?

Several With My Pseudonym on Them

Random bullets o' joy

• >2 grad students in any gathering outside campus = juicy gossip. Seriously, I mean, he did what? I can kind of see why she might be like that, but that person over there has no excuse. Oh, yeah, how did he get accepted? Lastly, it is a bit disillusional that she thinks we all agree with her. I don't think anyone does. Catty, catty, catty.
  
• This three day weekend is brought to you by the letter 'G.' G as in grading until my eyes pop out because I haven't been grading in daily steady chunks like I should have been.
• I took an incomplete on a paper in the fall, and I need to get it in in the next few weeks. It's not anywhere closer than it was at the beginning of winter break. Also, whatever enthusiasm I had for the topic is completely gone. That's a job for tomorrow-me.
  
• The marathon may be off. I tweaked my leg a little bit and am not able to put in the mileage I need to. I feel a bit disappointed, since I did buy the 'In Training' T-shirt, but I guess that's not a lie really. I am in training. I just might not run it.

Feh - that's all for now. Time to make the donuts. er.. Time to get back to grading.

Boar-ing

Just a quick note to wish one and all a happy year o' the pig. It's a golden pig, so it's supposed to be a great year for having babies, making money, just about anything. I know, I know, they say that for every year, but I'm sure this time they really mean it.

Just remember to change the year on your checks (does anyone use checks anymore?) - it's the year 4705, in case you hadn't been keeping track.

I've checked, and we oxen are supposed to have a great year - fortune, love and happiness and all that, and all I can say is that it's about time.

Check out your upcoming year here or here, I have no doubt that either site upholds the highest credibility that can be given to any astrology website.

It's also worthwhile to go and see a chubby new-year space baby handing flowers to the moon-rabbit with a panda in the background. He's here about halfway down the page.

Make Money At Home!

You guys know I'm always trying to help out, right? So I've got an invention that will make you billions of dollars. Because I'm a little busy at the moment, I'm giving it to you to develop and make your fortune. In return, I ask only for a ten percent from the gross.

Here's the idea:

So, if we can get a V-chip in the TV that is supposed to block out violence in tv shows, the next obvious step is to implant tags in programming - violence, sex, adult language, breaking news, information that may upset your worldview of the US at the center of the universe, etc... This way, your TV or TV or whatever could check these tags against a master list of user-defined no-fly list. For example, if I like the old new Star Trek, but dislike Wesley Crusher, even though my Tivo or Media Center knows to record it, I can tell my tv not to allow him on my screen.

The reason I think this would be a good idea, and the reason I would buy it, IS TO GET BRITTANY SPEARS AND ANNA NICOLE-SMITH OFF MY F(*&^ING NEWS. There is nothing even remotely newsworthy about the legal struggles of her newly shorn newly tattooed corpse.

Until this invention is put into wide practice, ummm... if Ted Turner, or the someone in charge of programming from CNN is watching this. Please, for the love of all that is good in this world, repeat you yourself, "it's a news channel, it's a news channel , it's a news channel."

At Least the Taft Coin Should Be Bigger

Ok, I really love the idea of a dollar coin. Heck, I'd even be for a two dollar coin, but I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the way that the new dollars are being produced.

They're the exact same size, weight and shape of the Sacajawea dollars for a few years back. Wasn't the main problem with the blasted things that they felt too close to a quarter? So won't the new coins have the same trouble? Yes, yes, I know it'll make using old mechanisms in vending machines a little easier, but I don't see that as a viable reason if the thing dies out ina couple years anyway.

Why not change it up a little bit? ridges? larger size? thicker? The one pound note has a wonderful heft to it. Heck even the old half dollar coin felt very different. Where did those go, anyway?

Also, I think probably the only way they'd really catch on is if dollar bills were drastically reduced (or taken out of) circulation.

I still hope they work out ok, but yeesh.

(by the way - if you even become a comedian, Taft jokes always kill.)

To Err is Vista

No, this isn't the full rant, because I haven't gotten my head around all of the issues with Vista yet. Short version - just like everyone else is saying, don't upgrade until the first service pack. Unless you're buying a new computer, then go ahead and get the whole shebang all together.

I just wanted to provide you with my favorite of all the errors I've gotten go far:



I want to give it out to students.

Alphabet Meme

From The Scrivnitical Scrivener:

Memetical Alphabetical Meme.

As a side note, I'm listening to the God Delusion on audiobook, and he's pronouncing the word meem. I guess that makes sense phonetically, but I always thought it was mem. Sounds weird. meeeem. meeeeem.

A- Available or Single? Not only available and single, but also desperate!
B- Best Friend? I always thought it was kind of cruel to have one best friend (read: none)
C- Cake or Pie? Piecake
D- Drink of Choice? I go through all varieties of diet sodas in embarrassing quantities.
E- Essential Item? The internet tubes
F- Favorite Color? I like nice deep colors - usually greens
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Gummi Bears - they're easier to stick on your forehead
H- Hometown? Yes.
I- Indulgence? Huh?
J- January or February? Not much difference really... I like where there is no weather, mind you.
K- Kids and names? Nope
L- Life is incomplete without...? Self-replicating DNA? Oh, personally? Let's be cliche and say growth.
M- Marriage Date? The future, I hope
N- Number of Siblings? One of each flavor.
O- Oranges or Apples? Both and more
P- Phobias/Fears? Just the standard ones, I guess. A little bit of heights and such...
Q- Favorite Quote? - "Why not?"
R - Reason to Smile? - I smile all the time. Nervous habit I guess. I also just happens that I'm generally a happy guy.
S- Season? I favor fall
T- Tag 3 people? You, you and you.
U- Unknown Fact About Me? Hmmm... I guess I'd need to know what you already know about me first...
V- Vegetable You Hate? I don't think there are any vegetables I hate really. I've never rushed to eat mushrooms, but they're not evil or anything. Pretty good on a pizza anyway.
W-Worst Habit? Procrastinating (blog-related?)
X- Xrays You've Had? dental ones a few times
Y- Your Favorite Foods? I'm a southern boy at heart I guess - fried foods, Mexican food, pizza - add in a dash of mild funkiness- Ethiopian, most Asian foods... hmm... Let's go ahead and say I like food.
Z- Zodiac? I get frustrated by people who buy into this for more than amusement's sake, but I find it funny. I'm a Leo Ox - said to be boring and stolid and reliable.

edited to fix a missing Q and R

I'm Sorry Dave. I Can't Do That.

Now, I was going to write a lot about the troubles of Vista, however I found a new toy that I want to play with first. Vista comes prepackaged with a voice recognition software, and naturally that’s geeky enough that I would want to play with it. So I’m writing this blog post solely using my voice. It’s actually a lot of fun especially telling my computer to open and close windows, to open and close programs, etc. I have to say I like being able to command my poor little desktop, ‘open firefox’ and have firefox open with a whoosh. Parenthetically, I had to teach my computer how to write firefox as one word and how to spell whoosh just now.

Granted, it still isn’t entirely natural. The corrections take quite a bit of time, and punctuation is a bitch, (it also didn’t want to understand “bitch”) but the documentation says that the software will slowly get to know my voice better and better. For example, when I taught the computer to say firefox as one word, it suggested that if firefox was a proper noun that the software would learn to work better if it had a recording of life away saying quote firefox quote. I’m leaving that quote firefox quote in there just because I’m having a hard time convincing it to print out a quotation mark.

So all in all the system is certainly not good enough yet to be used on a day to day basis. That is unless it learns very quickly. Anyway it’s fun to play I guess.

Yawn And Stretch and Try To Come To Life

I'm trying to get up early and take care of things so I'm not rushing out of door at the last minute with the toothbrush still in my mouth.

Today's my first real trial - so far so good. I got up early (~5:30), went through all my emails and rss stuff and finished a bit of reading I needed to get done before heading out for a 8 mile run (1:07'16").

I'm back from the run now and all I need to do is go over my class preps and I'll be off! And I've got about 3 hours to do that - plenty o' time. (knock wood)

The fun thing is that I'm covering another TA's section today as well as my two sections. I'm a bit nervous to have to deal with another teacher's class. It feels adulterous somehow.

Anywhoo- off to wash the sweat off and get ready for the day!

(on a much less chipper note, look for an upcoming rant about Vista issues - short story: I like Vista, but it wasn't completely ready, and I'm not sure it could have been)

El Corazón

The Countdown Meme That Never Ends.

From the Luckiest of Buzzes

10 Firsts

1. First best friend: Chris. He lived right over the fence from us. Well, that is, you had to go into our back yard and over the fence to get to his house. He, his brother, and me and mine pretty much grew up together. Oh, the stories of wounds and wonder. He's a respectable member of society now with a wife and child (one? maybe more). Ah, and I'm... I'm still in school. sigh...
2. First car: For about $500, I was the proud owner of a '78 or '79 Chevette. Ah, she was a beautiful thing. Just the right car for a first car. Great to learn standard gears on because it wasn't too much of a tragedy if the transmission fell out. Dings and dents didn't matter much. It had the hatchback where I could put just about anything. And later on I even got some nice speakers and a good radio to listen to my Rocky Horror Picture Show Tape - and Billy Joel. I think those were the two that got the most play. I was truly sad when it finally had to be put down, even though I was far away at the time.
3. First love: Let's go waaaaay back and not fret about the word 'love,' shall we? Maybe 1st or second grade? What was her name? Tracy something? I remember letting someone cut in line at the water fountain with the sole price being that he had to say that we made a good couple. She even kicked me under the lunch table. Ah, to be kicked...
4. First vacation: Absolutely no idea. I know we went to Washington state once. And one of the Disneys, but I don't remember any of it. The first one I remember vaguely was a trip into the woods where a relative had a cabin. There was motorcycle riding that I don't think I was a part of. There is also a picture of my brother who had fallen asleep in his scrambled eggs. Excellent.
5. First job: First real job was working at a non-big name pizza place. I was in high school, but everyone else there was was much older and with only a couple of exceptions, very down and out. Most were pretty bad potheads and worse. I didn't know how to deal with that whole scene. I still don't, really. Oh! I forgot! There was one before that at Sonic. Wow. Can't forget that one... yikes... Sonic... Great drinks and tater tots though.
6. First piercing: Still don't have #1. It'll probably stay that way barring some accident.
7. First concert: This horrible Christian rock band that came to school (no need for that pesky constitutional seperation where I grew up). It was horrible. To be honest, I don't think I've been to a rock concert since. Maybe I was horribly scarred.
8. First record/cd bought: hmmm... I don't know about the first one I purchased by myself. My dad had all kinds of music when we were growing up (we being my brother and sister and I, not my dad - he was pretty much grown up by then. Although that might be debatable). It's funny though I remember having a record player (red white and blue plastic) that my brother would play his records on - Candy Girl was the best. Maybe I didn't have any records of my own.
9. First real love: Ok, I tried to dodge this 'love' word in #3, but I guess I'm not getting away that easily. It was Vanessa. She was a gorgeous goddess in tight sweaters. She also strung me along like a master.
10. First screen name: Smelly Rat. Oh god, was it Stinky Rat? I forget. Hey, back in the single line dial up BBS world, it was cool I tells ya!

9 Latest

1. Latest alcoholic beverage: The snakebite - half cider and half lager. Yum, but dangerous
2. Latest car ride: Taxi ride back from the airport after the holidays.
3. Latest movie watched: My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Ok, ok, ok... Jayfish and Zerodoll already give me enough grief about my taste in movies, but I hope you understand that I thought this one was really awful. The sad truth is that I really thought I might like it. (geeeeeeeeek!)
4. Latest phone call made: Call to the pizza place last weekend. - Yeah, yeah, I have no friends.
5. Latest jacuzzi bath: Back at my old place at old university town with the ex-girlfriend. Many moons ago.
6. Latest played cd: I don't really play CDs anymore. ummm... I guess I had to re-rip a Best of Sinatra CD a few months ago- does that count?
7. Latest time you cried: breakup with ex-girlfriend.
8. Latest meal: I made some soft beef tacos tonight - ok, but not thrilling (I'm glad this didn't say "Last meal")
9. Latest curse: Curse like hex or curse like damn? Either way, it's been a while. Well, I don't think I've ever really hexed anyone. Unless you could D&D. Which you probably shouldn't. I say mild curses sometimes, but I don't usually go off on things like that.

8 Things You Wear

1. Jeans - way too often
2. Dr Martins - but only when it's cold enough (sorry wintry blogfriends, but it's too hot here for me to wear them now)
3. A whole slew of solid-colored button-up shirts
4. Nike something-or-other+ shoes with the cute iSweat hidey hole
5. not boxers, nor briefs, but boxer-briefs.
6. very rarely a Old University sweatshirt
7. even more rarely an Even Older University ballcap
8. Helmet (only when riding the bike though)

7 Have You Ever
1. Dated one of your best friends: Well, yeah
2. Been arrested: Nope - dragged into the police station for busting christmas lights from the tree in the park, but never arrested (curse you Nathan! - ooo there! I cursed someone!)
3. Fallen in love at first sight: No, not really
4. Been in a TV program: no, I am in the background of Powder though - even met Jeff Goldbloom too. He looks a lot like Jeff Goldbloom.
5. Had your heart broken: yuppers
6. Said you love someone without meaning it: I don't think so.
7. Made a prank phone call: Nah, I don't even like listening to others do it. They're usually pretty cruel, really.

6 Things You’ve Done Today
1. laundry (see my 365)
2. attended a lecture that I didn't need to, but am really glad I did
3. handled an hour-long office hour visit (which is cool - I don't like it when no one comes to office hours - this student was a good one, too. Looking for help but not helpless, more than willing to work, and just wanted some extra time with the material)
4. played video games for a little bit
5. cleaned out my email inbox - well almost entirely. I got it down to 6, which is a huge thing for me.
6. Made taco-stuff while watching TV (dirty jobs - not appetizing, but funny)

5 Favorite Things (good lord, does this meme end?)
1. My family
2. Gruub Studies
3. geek toys
4. hunting for new photos to take
5. When I say something that makes my advisor excited (yes I'm that emotionally needy)

4 People I Can Tell Anything
1. This will be exactly 3 people - sis, bro and mom. So to make 4, I'll add myself.

3 Choices
1. Black or white? Grey
2. Summer or winter? Winter
3. Chocolate or chips? Same thing - stupid question.

2 things to do Before You Die
1. GET MY FREAKING PHD! (and a job...) (kept verbatim from Luckybuzz)
2. find someone to live my life and have a family with

1 Thing You Regret
1. I'm never sure about regrets. I think things have worked out well the way they have, and even painful parts of my life have been incredibly useful and fruitful.

And luckybuzz's addition:
Something you could happily do an infinite number of times:
Well, keeping clear of the obvious mind-in-the-gutter answers, I'm not sure where I could go with this. I generally don't reread books or see movies more than once. Hmm... Let's say post strange blog-memes and leave it there.

Runs, iPods, and Bears - Oh My!

Full disclosure - there are no bears mentioned in this post. Except that one.

Well, first off, I haven't been publishing my runs recently because it got a little when there were more run posts than other kinds, but I am still running. The marathon is coming up, so I'm increasing my mileage a little bit. Today I made a big move and ran about 14 miles. I didn't even really think about it until I got home. That's more than a half marathon. Yea me!

See, the thing is that I should be working off of one of those charts that tell you how many miles you should be doing to hit you goal time when you do the marathon, but frankly, I'm just aiming at finishing safely. If I can do that, I'll be just fine, thanks. I am looking at the charts though, just to see by what kinds of increments it's safe to increase mileage, but that's about it.

Anyway, my legs hurt.

Beware - Here begins a huge rant and venting of steam.

On a related note, iTunes and iPod are getting on my last nerves. The only reason I caved and picked up the iPod was so I could use the Nike+ system (which is actually getting better - they just added route mapping - yea!). I immediately was unhappy with the way that iTunes wanted to control my library and not let me listen to my music like I actually owned it. I bought a couple of tracks from iTunes, but then realized how restricted the usage rules were. I mean, yeah, I could strip the DRM if I wanted to, but I'd like to be at least mostly legal. The iTunes selections were ok, as long as you only listen to music in English or Spanish. And so long as you don't want to listen to the Beatles (although that too is changing I hear). Oh, yeah - and the playlist system seems to be completely broken - I tried to put a couple of podcasts together on a playlist for today's long run. Cool, until it just repeated the first podcast and wouldn't let me skip forward. And of course you can't actually choose your music during a run - only playlists or shuffle all. And don't even get me started on how every month or so I have to reset to factory settings because the silly thing just decides to not turn off any more, or the fact that I have to politely ask iTunes to eject it before unplugging it, lest the poor little iPod brain completely frazzles (in fairness, these last too problems may be related). And finally, it seems a little disingenuous for them to say that iTunes doesn't work well with Vista. They had plenty of time to work out the bugs - heck I was using Vista months ago. It just seems like they don't care. They know you're hooked in. It's like they want you to believe that it's Vista's problem - just another example of how Vista doesn't work. And while I'll admit that Vista has plenty of problems (including the DRM system in question), the fact that iTunes doesn't play iTunes purchased music looks to be mainly the fault of iTunes.

On the other hand, I really liked the podcast support in general, which I hadn't used with my last MP3 player. And it is a really gorgeous piece of hardware, too. I look back at that last paragraph and perhaps I've been a bit too venomous. It has actually done mostly what I wanted it to, and with a little research, I probably could have found out about all the problems before I bought it. I just really wanted it to be as wonderful as everyone else seemed to think it was.

As a side note, I'd been using the Yahoo Unlimited Service to stream music based on my tastes, but because of iPod's moats and battlements, I couldn't move the subscription music to it and listen to new music on the road. Now Yahoo is falling apart too, so I guess I'm heading over to Pandora until I can find something better.

Wow. That turned into a lot more of a rant than I thought it would. I guess I was repressing all of that. Or maybe it's the testosterone rush post-run and pre-Super Bowl. Hm.

Huge long boring post, but here's the upshot - The rumor mill says that Nike is going to push out a new watch that'll let you bypass the iPod altogether. I'll buy that. Then I'll get a MP3 player that doesn't shackle me to a player. Heck, even the Microsoft Plays For Sure would be better than this because they license it out. That way you get options in hardware and in software. There are no options with the iPod. Except color.

Don't worry though, I'm not buying a Zune. I may be frustrated, but I'm not crazy.

A Great Loss

I hadn't read her articles is a long while. They always seems hard to get to online, but she was one of the funniest and bravest political writers there was. Never could someone be so angry and yet so full of happiness at the fact.

She will be missed.

Molly Ivins
Her latest columns

Her old home, the Texas Observer
Her Syndicate's Obit
NY Times obit
Best of from the Texas Observer

January in Photos

From my Photo365 blog:



Billie did this over at the Parts-n-Pieces' Project 365 blog and I really liked the idea, so I stole it.

I'm afraid my analysis will be less clear and insightful though. I have found it difficult to keep shooting, even when, or especially when, I'm not feeling inspired. I think it has helped me though. I am looking with photographer's eyes more often during the day and I like that a lot (and I promise I'll give them back eventually).

The thing is, I was never sure if this was going to be a photo journal of my daily meanderings, or a photo project to push myself to look for new pictures in familiar places. I think it's becoming both, even though I think it might be more rewarding if I focused on one or the other.

As for the photos themselves, it seems clear that I like patterns and graffiti. I'm trying to find new angles and perspectives, but many fall short. In particular, I'm disappointed in the candle shot. I really thought it would me more interesting. I'm a sucker for a cheap laugh and use food as comfort.

hmm... Maybe that should be my personal ad.

Little Boy Blue

Funny, I haven't taken a bluebook exam in a really long time. Those bluebooks are a lot more expensive than I remember. I'm not that old am I? Seriously, I thought they were about a dime or something. Shows what I know.

The text was particularly nerve-wracking. It was an undergrad course outside of my department, so it was kind of strange - like I was an undergrad all over again. Except I'm old. And there are a handful students that are in the class and the class I'm TAing. Awkward.

Like all tests however, it passed. As generally is the case, it was neither as fearsome as expected, nor was I as prepared as I should have been, but such is the human condition.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

And He Prepared Hecatombs...

Thank Ye oh, generous spirits of the interwebs. The dongle is returned once again to its rightful place and all is well.

'cept it's too late to run now. Thanks anyway 'tubes.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs

I call forth the powers that flow through the tubes that serve as the foundation of these, our internets.

Where'd my iSweat dongle go?

Hot Quiz on Quiz Action

Alrighty - Photos are done and trashcan fried rice has been eaten, so now back to work here!

Nearly half a moon ago, I taunted you with a puzzling puzzle or quirky quiz, and you all did well - however, there were gaps. :)

4 - Revenge by the Eurthmics! Oh, hang your heads in shame!
5 - Chiquitita by ABBA. Oh, you can be happy you didn't get that one.
8 - Right Here Waiting For You by Bryan Adams. I'm not sure how to feel about that one.

But the past is the past! Here we move into the [reverb and echo] FUTURE! [/reverb and echo]

1.

Am I hard enough
Am I rough enough
Am I rich enough
I'm not too blind to see

2.

If I listen close I can hear them singers
Voices in your body coming through on the radio

3.

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath

4.

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me

5.

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now,
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see

6.

I spot a little thing and I followed her all night
In a funky pair of levis and her sweater's kind of tight
She had a west coast strut that was as sweet as molases

7.

The place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned
My beacon's been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go, now that I've gone too far
Soon you will come to know when the bullet hits the bone

8.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no-one and no-one touches me

9.

Time can bring you down,
Time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart,
Have you begging please, begging please.

10.

never knew there'd come a day
When I'd be sayin' to you
"Don't let this good love slip away
Now that we know that it's true."

We Need To Talk...

Now, I know in the past I've said that I love you. I guess, I would have to admit that I still do, but I really think that our relationship is going in a new direction, and I'm not comfortable with it. I know that it may seem that I am dependent on you and the... things that you do for me, but I never claimed that I would be exclusive to you. And let's be honest, we both know that you have many others.

I guess I should just say it. I really don't want you calling my honey. It kinda freaks me out.

In A World...

This post is built off of a comment over at Ianqui's wherein she suggested that there should be a

TV show called "Ph.D, The Series". The students were going to be in the fictional field of Mathematical Forestry. There was going to be all manner of hijinks and drama. Sabotaged experiments. Sticky TA-undergrad romances. Imperious liberal elite professors. You know how it is.

I've always loved the idea of a PhD TV show. I've put way too much thought into it, too. It's perfect! Here's my cast breakdown:

You could get rotating hot young things cast to play the undergrads (think pop star de jour). This would be great to draw in the younger audiences. Maybe the next Backstreet Boy comes out of the closet to his gruff and closeted English Comp prof in a paper. Maybe tomorrow's Britney gets caught plagiarizing her World History final and shows up in tears at her prof's office hours.

Grad students could be another great source of drama - think drugs, sex and rock and roll (all the drudgework can be shown in CSI-style montages - rotating camera angles over TAs hunched over massive tomes with hard-pounding music playing over it all). The bad-boy slacker who has a savant-like ability with obscure formulas or Latin or something (done before, but it's a rich vein - it'll hold). The deeply troubled and troubling rising star character actors could be your source for actors. Maybe throw in a lost idealist in there too. Fewer pretty folks, but more troubled - it balances out. This would also be a great source for farewell episodes. We get to know the grad students and then they leave in a couple of years. That's drama.

The key would be the profs though. Bardiac's (one of the commenters over at Ianqui's) right - The Lilith-From-Cheers sexy Shakespeare specialist would be perfect. She/he gets all the smitten undergrads to take her/his class and they struggle and actually learn! She/He is brilliant and frustrated that all anyone wants to do is oggle. This is very marketable. You get a beautiful actor and you get to deal with image and gender issues too! And she/he is an alcoholic.

Let's see...

Then there's the comic relief clueless chair who screws everything up.

You'd also need more second-tier pretty but backstabbing folks, too.

Your main love interest couple would be a prof with a trailing spouse going through marital and career troubles while trying to settle in at the new campus. They'd be in separate departments so the plots don't get to heavy in one specialization, but you get good crossover in the characters. You'd have to specify the departments though, and they'd have to be fairly mainstream, but with very technical upper echelons. I'd say maybe English and Chemistry. Everyone can approach both subjects on a basic level, but you could show the incomprehensibility of the elite levels of each - and as a bonus, if the series goes downhill, the entire campus could be wiped out in a chemical explosion brought on by a spurned TA. Or a umm... Wordsworth virus? hmmm... That needs work. English department folks need to be more dangerous.

Finally, there's the dottering old emeritus who actually knows and understands everything secretly keeps everything from falling apart. He'll show up every now and then and dispense wisdom and yoda-like confusing sayings that prove true only in sad tear-stained hindsight.

It's perfect I tells ya!

Hollywood! Give me a call!

(Last post of the night - I promise)

Your Friendly Neighborhood Curmudgeon

Kids these days, I tell ya...

• Item #1: From a shirt on a mere slip of a girl weighted down with half her body weight in mascara: You want me - you just don't know it yet.
• Um, yeah, I am very much not aware of wanting you. This is true.
• Item the Second: Now, I know very well that there are many reasons for wearing a monstrously huge parka, mittens and what looked like Wookie chaps (those would be chaps made from the hide and fur of a Wookie). For instance, it may be cold somewhere where you happen to be. I can say, however, that if the temperature wavers around the mid-70s, then you do not need the parka. If you feel you do, then head down to the clinic, because your body isn't working. Also, your parka is ugly.
• Item 3 in a series of 3: You know that old saying about everything being funnier with monkeys? It's very true. Oh, so true. I shall submit further possible rules.
  
• Other things that make stories funnier:
  
• Being somewhere where you don't understand other people and they don't understand you.
• The Russian Mafia
• alcohol
  
• falling down stairs (related to previous bullet point)
• Pumas (see Smothers' Brothers)
• All of these things rolled up in one story told by a man with a great accent
• Things that make a story less funny
• Being somewhere where you don't understand other people and they don't understand you.
• The Russian Mafia
• Alcoholism
• Falling down stairs (related to previous bullet point or not)
• Pumas (The shoes. They just aren't funny.)
• The more recent movie remake of King Kong

As far as I'm concerned, I may be better off making item three into my dissertation.

Monkeys. Hehehe

P.S. I hope I get another opportunity to tag another post 'Wookie Chaps' sometime in the future

A Lifted Pseudo-Meme!

Because I enjoyed it as Casa RV a little while ago, I'll bring you my version of:

An Activity: Draft a Response!

[Cheering!]

Info needed to craft a response to this email:

• we just finished class number nine for this session
• this is the first I heard that this guy was in my class
• This is a very technical class where every lesson builds critically on previous lessons. I can see no conceivable way even to talk about this lesson without a deep knowledge of the past nine classes.
• I came very close to splitting an infinitive in the previous bullet point. Can you guess where? Now that I look at it again, I hope you can.
  

From: 987452348756@0934785.com
To: Overread
Subject: Hey there!

Hey there! I'm G. Nius who barely hacked his way through your last class. How are things goin'? I just wanted to tell you not to drop me from this class. I haven't been to class yet because I just got back in town. Oh, and I'm not going to be in class tomorrow because I got stuck in City-Very-Much-Within-Driving-Distance. So I guess I'll make up all the quizzes when I get back?

G.

Sigh, He's actually a hard working guy and I'll try to help him out. Feh. I'm a pushover.

Enough about me! How would you answer?

I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore, ABBA

Well, things are just whirling around like a tornado around a drug addled gay icon. One of the most exciting things is that since I didn't take any grades last semester, I don't have a GPA, and since I don't have a GPA, I guess all the little forms are defaulting to a 0.00 GPA. Nice. That means I'm on the Important Academic Endangered Species List. Now, normally, it would be hard for me to care about that very much, except one cannot be on said list and still be a TA. Neat, eh? We'll see how this turns out. Here's hoping there's a petition of some kind.

Also, while not particularly worthy of note, my journey for lunch today was paradoxically noteworthy. There was a magical coupon that claimed to give $3 off a burger, fries and drink at a local sorta-campus place in an area of campus I had not seen yet. Now, I'm not as thrifty as I should be (more on that later), but I saw this as a challenge. Woohoo! Road Trip! Except it's on a bike. And just me. And there wasn't any singing. Well, I take that last one back. I did sing quite a bit of ABBA. Not well, but there it is.

Anyway, the trauma was that this little, umm... for lack of a better word, restaurant, was completely hidden. Not only was it deep in the bowels of the land of Scary Other Departments, but it was nearly surrounded by impassable construction barriers. Guess how many I hit before getting inside? If you guessed three, you'd be right.

On the plus side, I got my cheap burger, which wasn't so bad, fries, which were so-so, but came with a fun peppery powder, and soda, which was, as is standard for most fountain service, really crappy. On top of that, I got today's 365 photo, which was posted on the wall outside. The sign raises more questions than it answers. Truly perplexing.

Maybe I'll leave the story of my lack of thriftiness for another post. It should get here next week, anyway. :)

Bullets With Your Name On Them

Ok, well, most of my recent posts have been over at the 365 blog. No real, ya know, words lately. So. Here are some words.

• Note to self. Read all the emails from the prof whose class you are TAing immediately. One might mention that she's going to drop in to your section and observe on a upcoming Monday. So after you start class, she may just slip in to your class and make you freak out just a little bit.
  
• as a side note, the class went ok, mainly. The thing is that I have a different (very) teaching style than she does, and if I knew she was coming I probably would have prepared something a little less like my own class. So, from that point of view, it's probably for the best that I didn't know she was coming. I ended up just doing my thing. Students seem to like it.
• In the section she didn't observe, I did something really stupid. I won't say what it is, but jeeze, I've been kicking myself all day long. Grrr.
• I have a giant stack of papers to grade and I didn't look at them at all tonight.
  
• I am now grading with a green pen.
  
• I ran yesterday and didn't blog it. Here you go: 8.35mi - 1:02'46"
• Ever since I said I'm going to run the marathon coming up soonish, people have been worried about my knees. I think I got a psychosomatic knee-tweak yesterday. It feels fine now though.
  

Bush's Speech

Taunt Not The Fates

For they are wrathful. Despite living in a place where it is meteorologically impossible, despite temperatures reaching 90 not 2 days before, do not, do not, mention how wonderful it is to ride a bike, because the fates will call down a hail storm on your ass while you bike home from campus.

Seriously.

Hail storm.

When I took off my helmet, a whole Icee full of slush poured off.

Those of you who know where I live can share in my stupification, but not my sodden blue jeans.

I need hot chocolate.

Easy Pedaler

My photo for today on the Photo365 blog is of my bike. It got me thinking.

It's funny, I live in a city where you really need to have a car. I don't. Some of the time, it's a big hassle - well, ok a lot of the time, it's a big hassle, but I take a lot of pleasure in being stubbornly different. It's not easy. You have to work to be a bike rider. In all honesty, I'm a pretty sanctimonious twit with a martyrdom complex about riding my bike. I try to hide it, but I think I'm better than all those car drivers. I suffer with my hair shirt of greased pant-legs and mud-spattered bags. I wear them proudly.

No one anywhere in the US really designs with bike in mind. Even on most campuses, bike lanes are nowhere to be found and bike racks are an afterthought at best, placed not where most useful, but where there seems to be room. The racks in my apartment complex are bolted to the ground in such a way that you can't actually park with your wheel through the bars. Bike lanes anywhere are few and far between.

Most days I'm on the bike to and from campus, which is about 15 minutes one way. That's really not far or time-consuming, but it does a lot for me. It's a physical tuneup for the mental workout on campus. I've never been able to feel really comfortable driving, even when I did it every day. I've never really been a car person. But on a bike? Yeah, much better.

I guess I get what motorcycle freaks talk about when the say it's all about the wind in your hair and the bugs in your teeth. Except with the bike, it's all me. There's a nasty hill on the way to school. Every day, I push myself to get up it, panting, getting the heart rate up. When I get to the top, there's a stop sign and every time I stop there, I look at the cars around me. They didn't do anything to get up that hill.

C'mon folks, go for a ride. It's good for you.

Gonna Wash That Quiz Right Out Of My Hair

Alrighty, I think we're getting back on the quizzing track, so I'll hit'cha with another one. As a sidenote, giving up any pretense to try to not repeat songs I've already quizzed is very freeing, but I still feel a little bad, because I know there are some dupes in this one - hopefully different parts of the songs quoted though.

Here goes:

1.

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too

2.

There is a yellow one that won't
Accept the black one
That won't accept the red one
That won't accept the white one

3.

If I only had a dollar, for every song I've sung.
And every time I've had to play while people sat there drunk.
You know, I'd catch the next train back to where I live.

4.

I should have known better
But I trusted you at first.
I should have known better
But I got what I deserved...

5.

How the heartaches come and they go
and the scars they're leaving
You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end
You will have no time for grieving

6.

I used to have a lover with a Midas touch
I turned to gold but he turned to dust
Left me for another, I turned to stone

7.

Cast in this unlikely role
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact.

8.

I took for granted,all the times
That I thought would last somehow
I hear the laughter,I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now

9.

My head is full of magic, baby
And I can share this with you
The feel I'm on top again, baby
That's got everything to do with you

10.

everything you do is irresistible
everything you do is simply kissable

11. And an extra one waaay out of my standard genres :)

It was a cold night
And the snow lay 'round
I pulled my coat tight
Against it falling down

4.48mi - 31'12"

I hope that was enough to stave off some of the pizza that I ate yesterday. Oh, man, it was incredible. Soooooo fattening and delicious. I think today calls for a little more respectable stir-fry. Maybe fried rice with all the rest of the veggies in the fridge tossed in for good measure...

Also, Lance Armstrong came on after my run and told my I set a new personal best for the mile (5'47" - yea!), but I'm like Zerodoll. I'm pretty skeptical of how accurate this whole Nike+ thing is. Here's a list of the recorded distance from the same one loop run that I do most often:

4.54
4.52
4.49
4.49
4.48
4.48
4.47
4.46
4.46
4.44
4.44
4.42
4.42
4.4
4.4
4.39
4.39
4.34
4.33
4.32
4.28

Ok, ok, enough procrastinating. I'll go to work now...

8.68mi - 1:05'07"

Fun memories from today's run:

1. It's so windy, I actually had a competitive race with a plastic bag for about 25 meters. I won.
2. I was a little short on podcasts today, so I went back to Audible.com. I have to embarrassedly admit that I think Bob Newhart is funny.

A little more on the runners out there:

Most of the folks I see out there running are very young women. Early in the day, they usually run alone, serious, focused. After classes and in the evening, there are the pairs and small gaggles. They look like the most fun. They're running, but chatting and laughing all at once. They sometimes tick me off because they won't make room when we meet.

There actually aren't usually that many guys out there, or maybe I'm running at times when they aren't. The ones I do see are the athletes, or at least they want people to think they are. I should say that I see the women power runners too, but the guys seem to be showing off more. They run with strides that no one could mistake for a casual runner. Is it an alpha-male thing? Are they puffing up because they see another male on their running route? Who knows. They never smile, even when running in groups.

The most interesting runners are the couples. I always think it's sweet when I see couples running. They'll chat and look happy. Even if they aren't romantically together, it always seems that they're kind of like they're simply a pair. It just so happens that they're running right now. They could just as easily been watching TV or anything else. Very cozy and friendly-like. They almost always smile as we pass.

I still see a lot of what I'm guessing are New Year's Resolution runners out there. It's really cool to see them. They usually have brand new running gear - iPods and shiny workout gear. They're also usually having a bit of trouble.

Today, I passed one really big guy who was doing the standard thing you do when you haven't run in a long time. He was jogging for a little while and then walking for a little while. I glanced at his face as I passed him. He looked determined, but maybe a little embarrassed to be passed by short little stumpy me. I created a whole world around him as I finished off my last loop.

In my mind, he was a football player in high school. Good, but not good enough to get a scholarship. He got into USU, but just barely. He was actually a little surprised himself. His first year was a whirlwind of parties and craziness, and he just barely held onto passing grades, except for that one bio class.

He's picking it all up now though. He swore he was going to get serious and get back to his playing weight and bring his grades back up. He had all of his old workout gear, but right now, he's wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt to hide the extra weight. He's embarrassed, but at least he's back moving again. So now he's up early on a Saturday morning running the long trail while his buddies are sleeping it off. It's probably better that way anyway.

He didn't smile at me, but maybe he will in a few weeks.

Pennies From Heaven

There are actually things that I can do well and that I enjoy doing.

Then there are those that I can't and don't.

Among the latter is the writing of funding requests.

Not only do I have little experience doing that, I'm really bad about selling myself. It's very hard for me to present a image of myself and my research that looks good without laughing a little bit. I mean, c'mon! I can think of a billion better uses for money than giving it to me. Fix potholes, put working tech in the classrooms, teach undergrads how to write, whatever, the idea that I deserve money seems just flat out ludicrous. Now, I know that there is money set aside specifically for people like me, and that if I don't get it, someone similar to me will get it, so it might as well be me. Since, like, you know, there's no way it'll actually get disbursed to fill potholes anyway.

What this all means practically is that I am always procrastinating about putting these things together. And then I end up feeling guilty for writing recommendation requests with RUSH stamped on the top.

Sigh... Well, here goes nothing.

I Put My Quiz In A Box

Well, let's just say that you and I are all a little rusty on the quiz business :)

Let's put that last quiz behind us and we'll move on. Your grades will not count against your final quiz grade and instead will simply be folded into your participation score.

Let's try this again :)

1.

You don't have to be beautiful
to turn me on
I just need your body baby
From dusk till dawn

2.

Truth is I love you
More than I wanted to
There's no point in trying to pretend

3.

So lift your eyes if you feel you can
Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan

4.

One step further and my back will break,
If my best isn't good enough
Than how can it be good enough for two?

5.

It's kind of a special feeling
When you're out on the sea alone
Staring at the full moon like a lover

Memories...

Ah, yes. It's kind of funny. I had a fit this summer when the reader I created for the class I taught ended up costing so much money (~$50). The copy folk said that the reason was that the reader was so expensive was that it was a small print run and a fairly beefy selection of texts.

Well, I guess the monster lecture class I'm taking now is... different somehow. There are I think 60 or so students, and the reader is pretty hefty, so anyone want to take a guess on the price?

$80! That's not Canadian dollars folks. Ye gods...

4.42mi - 32'55"

Wow. First day of classes taken care of and it looks like it's going to be another doozey of a time. I've got two sections of my class with several returnees from before the break - mostly good folks, so that's all for the good, although tomorrow should be interesting. The lecture has three sections of ~100 students each and it's scheduled to take place in a 60 person maximum room - ah, fun.

I think I've finally settled on classes for myself, too, which is nice to know. I'm taking my first lecture class here at USU, and it looks very interesting. It's slightly out of my field, but in a way that I find very interesting. The prof is very confrontational and in your face (well, not yours really, unless you were there too, in which case, email me, we'll get together for a beer) , which ain't easy in a lecture. He actually pulled out some of his 'Rate Your Prof' comments - the ones that talked about how hard of a class it was and that all his lectures were boring. This man will merit close watching I'll wager.

The seminar o' the day is the first class I've got with my lead advisor, and the first meeting went pretty well. Actually, after class, I went to his office and talked for a couple of hours. That went really well. The one-on-one reminded me why I came here. After feeling very out of sorts in the fall seminar, I really felt like I could communicate with him. We talked about possible research tacks and then ended up just chatting. I really like this guy. I hope that this good vibe continues - I've got the feeling I'm going to need someone like that through this mess that is a PhD trek.

Oh, and what the hell's up with Ohio State?

Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink' Indeed

Oh, I almost forgot to link this. Since we were all um... excited about mannequin boobs and nipples and such, note that we aren't the only ones (link perhaps not safe for work).

winning quotes from the article:

The realistic-looking mannequins ... can have realistic silicone nipples added.

Instead of being designed for naturally big breasted women the mannequins' breasts are abnormally high up for their size suggesting they are modelled on women with implants.

Now, for me, I'm just wandering about the R&D folk who are tasked with designing the 'realistic silicone nipples.'
Late at night, sequestered in a dark mad scientist's lab deep in the Hot Topic R&D in Hoboken, they try experiment after experiment, failure upon failure, nearly giving up their noble cause - "Dammit! They still aren't realistic enough!"
Then, one night, or was it early morning? Several empty pizza boxes and three interns (of normal bust size) are sprawled around the lab having finally succumbed to exhaustion, their nipple reaction surveys scatted over the desks and floors. Suddenly, Dr. Headlamp stands up in disbelief. "Good God. It's done. They're... perfect."

And they say that the sciences are dying...

Rice Monster

So there's the photo of the day over at the photo365 blog, and maybe it requires a bit of explanation. I used a little bit of Christmas money to get it and so far I'm really really happy.

One of the things I'm trying to do more is cook at home, which oddly enough seems a lot easier when I don't have to run all over campus all day long. We'll see how much I'm cooking next week when school starts up.

Anyway, back to the rice monster. It's a Zojirushi NS-ZCC10. I did a fair amount of research before choosing this one, but lemme tell you, trying to figure out which rice cooker is like asking a room full of 14 year olds if the PS3 is going to be better than the Xbox 360. It'll only end in tears, with each side retreating to prepared fortifications of bias and loathing. It looked like most of the big brands were all reliable and honestly pretty much the same. I ended up with the Zojirushi partially because I love their little elephant icon. (that's not entirely a joke)

I've only used it a couple of times so far, both with a nice jasmine rice, and each time the rice turned out wonderful - fluffy and fragrant and just perfect. So far, the rice has been a nice part of a kung pao chicken (so-so, I used a pre-made sauce. tsk tsk.), a couple iterations of fried rice (lessons learned - eggs in a carton: not bad! ginger - very strong, I really didn't need to put so much in) and as a base for a chili. So far, all very nummy. I would have taken pictures for you all, but frankly, none of them were particularly photogenic.

I'll post a little more about it once I try some more rices and get a feel for all its extra settings.

8.67mi - 1:06'01"

Shave and a Haircut - One Freak!

I guess today's picture really should have involved what happened when I went in to get my hair cut today...

So I show up at the barber shop and there looked like there were two stylist folk working there today. They were both taking care of people so I sat down and pulled out a book to read while I waited. Then a guy came out from the back area (or at least I thought he did at the time - in any case I hadn't seen him when I came in). He walked around a bit like he worked there, so I looked up and tried to make eye contact to let him know I was next in line.

Then he sat down in one of the barber chairs. and started to cuddle with a tupperware bowl full of... something.

ok.

Maybe he's on break? It was about lunchtime, so that's not unthinkable. I'll just wait until someone calls me.

One of the stylists finished, but had an appointment come in right then, so she took her over to the chair where the odd man was sitting. She said something and the man replied, "No, man. I need this chair. I need it because my family died yesterday."

ok.

There was more mumbled conversation and the man finally is moved to another barber chair, but he didn't sit down. He stood up in the middle of the barber shop and crosses himself a few times (kinda like Sammy Sosa used to - quick, kissing his fist after each time). Then he jumped on the ground and pounded his fist on the tile a few times before jumping back up and starting into a kung-fu shadow boxing routine.

He was actually kinda good.

While he was doing this he started mumbling about all sorts of people, George Bush ("that rat - he's the rat. I ain't no rat"), John Elway ("me and Elway, there's nothing you can do about that, me and Elway), Bruce Lee ("This one's for you Bruce Lee, man Bruce Lee man") among others that I couldn't quite hear.

Partway through his routine, ignoring polite requests that he "take that outside, please," He started dancing behind the mirror of one of the stylists, looking at himself and posing behind them. So, she's there cutting hair, and this guy is jumping all around right behind her - and the poor woman who just came in to get a trim.

Oh, and now he's occasionally jumping over to the walls and pounding his fists against them too.

Finally, he calmed down a bit and moseyed over to the cashier's table and started doodling on the appointment pad (he must have taken it, or maybe he didn't actually write anything, 'cause I looked afterward and could see anything interesting.)

After awhile, he left his stuff there (hoodie and one sock) and paced out into the hallway. While he was gone, the security folks came in and asked about him. They couldn't find him.

Security left, and the man strolled back in, got his stuff and left.

I got a pretty good haircut.

Photo365 Blog

The Brightest of Stars has decided to start a Photo365 blog (hers is here) and I think the idea is just so peachy, I've gone ahead and stolen it! So here's my day #1!

Anyone what to start a pool to see how long it lasts before I give up? Everyone put in a nickel and guess the date!

4.46mi - 32'46"

Slower and slower! But hey, it was really windy today. and chilly. So there :P

Moderate Link Dump

• Funky French Animations. Honestly, I only watched Geraldine (the man who gets turned into a woman and L'Eau de Rose about a couple breaking up on a ferris wheel. Ha-ha out loud funny. Check out the illustrations on the left too. There are a couple of nipple slips that I saw, so work surfer beware.
• The dangers of asking why when you are 3 and your father is a prof.
• Of course dogs talk. Some do it better than others tho.
• Scary. 200 calories in many forms. Thank goodness they didn't include nachos or mint chocolate covered oreos.
  

Open Letter to Woman at the Grocery Store

Nonchalantly telling your child it's ok when they knock a few glass jars of olives onto the floor (where they shattered and spread glassy olives throughout aisle 9) isn't horrible really, but adding, "there are people here who'll clean that up" earns you scorn points!

And I thought I would wear out my scorn gland when you then proceeded to pick up a bottle of bacon bits, open it and stuff your festering gob. Yes, you actually poured bacon bits into your mouth. Well, most of them I imagine landed in your mouth. I know that a lot of them also were added to the glassy olive slurry on the floor.

I know it's not good to judge by appearances, but you seemed like a well-to-do lady, and your children looked healthy and nicely dressed. Maybe it was a bad day. I don' have kids, so I can't know the mental strain that it puts you under.

No, that's not an excuse.

Scorn.

4.32mi 31'15"

Memo Re: Wishes, Good. (On the Occasion of New Year (2007))

I'm confident that I am not the first to do so, but let me offer you a sincere and hearty dollop of Good Wishes for our upcoming new year. I herein disclose my hopes (A note must be made that the entirety of my hopes for you in the coming year are boundless and cannot be contained in simple blog form, or for that matter, within the conception of the human brain, my own included. The following is simply a very brief outline of the highlights):

1. May you find the love of your life, whether embodied in:
   
1. a new person you do not currently know but within the next twelve months is fated to cross your path,
   
2. a boy/girl (and by that I mean a boy or girl of any age, not a "boy/girl" amalgamation. Unless you are into that kind of thing. Which is cool by me.) you've been darting furtive glances toward in the lunch hall or other suitable gathering arena (alternatively, giving eyes and then panicking in Dr. Scott's science exam is also acceptable),
   
3. someone who you already are and have been close to
1. If you are already convinced of your love for said person, I hope that you both mutually discover that previously you did not know love and only this year discover the true depths of your devotion and happiness together
   
2. If you've been hanging out with this person but have been on the fence as to the L-word (love, not lesbians. Unless you are into that kind of thing. Which is very cool by me.), I hope that you discover within your partner a heretofore unnoticed germ of love that blossoms much like the dandelion - uncontrollable and all over your yard. Also, like dandelions, I hope that your partner turns your chin yellow when rubbed up against it, and that you try this. Often.
   
4. Yourself. Included as a legal catch all for all you do not wish to find love in others in the coming year. Which is cool by me.
2. That your friends are friendly, in all that entails
1. If you have no friends, may you get one or some. In case you feel you don't want any, I'm sorry, I still hope you get some, because, come on.
   
3. That you find success and fulfillment in your profession/studies
1. May your theses/articles/dissertations/monographs/furious densely-printed diatribes to the editors at the New York Times/ultimatums flow bounteously from the fecund well of your mind to the page and/or word processing software of your choice, and be received with respect and success, and in the case of the ultimatums, trembling fear.
   
1. I also hope that you avoid the imagery of the 'fecund well,' because it sounds kind of gross
2. May you achieve beyond the expectations of your supervisors and yourself. Especially if your supervisors have the authority to grant juicy bonuses and/or promotions.
3. May you find the work that you do is not a 'drag.'
1. Unless your work involves cross-dressing. Which is cool by me. Hey, we've all been there.
2. If you are willing and happy to trade a 'drag' job for oodles of cash/access to the corridors of power/free meals/lobbying junkets, then I wish that you work as little as possible and order the tortellini. I hear it's delicious.
4. May you find personal growth and intellectual stimulation in your work.
5. May the people you work with/for not be assholes.
   
1. This goes double for the self-employed
6. If you currently have no job:
1. May you get a good one
7. If you don't want a job:
1. I append to my wish that you find the love of your life that said love of your life be disgustingly rich and happy to let you laze around the house all day claiming that you'll finish that novel one day, you swear.
2. That you've got a bitchin' RV to live in next to the beach and a restaurant that throws out perfectly good half-eaten entrees. Oh, and that they give spaghetti dinners to lovable cartoon dogs.
   

As mentioned above, this in no ways encompasses the totality of my wishes to you, dear reader, for the upcoming year. In fact, I could probably narrow it down quite a bit. Let's try:

I hope that you will be well and not get hurt. Unless you are both into that. Which is cool by me.

8.75mi - 1:03'29"

It's Full of Stars

Ok. This requires some delicate maneuvering. Someone who shall remain nameless unless he or she chooses to respond here became a Netflix friend and thus learned all the secrets of my ratings. Now comes the ridicule.



I gave Catwoman 3 stars.

Don't start the intervention yet! See, I give three stars to movies that entertained me, even if they're god-awful pieces of crap, which, I do agree, Catwoman was (other 3 star examples - The Beastmaster, Billy Madison, Earth Girls are Easy and The Fantastic Four). I think the problem is that I rarely watch movies that I don't enjoy on some level. I can generally tell when I'm not going to like 'em. I don't think I have many one or two stars at all. A quick check reveals Anchorman, Lord of War, and Red Corner in the 2 star category, and I'll stand by those. I couldn't even really laugh at those, much less, with them. I'm sure I'll get angry huffs of indignation about Anchorman lovers though. I just couldn't take it.

Ya gotta admit, if you watched Catwoman, I bet you laughed. Maybe not where the filmmakers wanted you to, but I bet you did :)

4.35mi 31'37"

Rock Quizster

Well, here we go. I was going to wait until the new year to start this, but hey, I was folding laundry while the tunes raged and I was inspired. First off, I'd like to thank those readers who have held on and kept visiting. I'm such a needy person. I love it when you respond.

So, without further ado, back by popular demand, I bring to you, the rebirth of luke warm:

THE LYRICS QUIZ: REBORN

Ok, you remember the drill. We need the title of the song and the artist (or "artist" in some cases). Arguing over who did the best cover of an original is encouraged, but Janis kicks Kris' ass at Bobby McGee, and that can be changed by neither men nor gods.

I'm going to mix those standard questions up with some short answers - no True/False or multiple choices (so far :) ) Also, I've made no attempt whatsoever to reconcile these with the earlier billions or quizicles, so expect review questions of songs we've already covered. You have been reviewing all semester long, haven't you?

1.

She helped me with my suitcase,
She stands before my eyes
Driving me to the airport,
And to the friendly skies.

2.

Sometimes, tell me
While she's touching you
Just by mistake
Accidentally do you say my name?

3.

Old friends meet on the edge of town
Sharing conversation, hoping things will soon get better
While the children meet, got the world at their feet
Not knowing whats around the corner
Are we living for an uncertain future?

4.

Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone goes south
Every now and then
You've done it, why can't
Someone else?

5.

Out on the wiley, windy moors
We'd roll and fall in green.
You had a temper like my jealousy:
Too hot, too greedy.
How could you leave me,
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you. I loved you, too.

6.

I was living for a dream, loving for a moment
Taking on the world, that was just my style
Then I touched your hand, I could hear you whisper...

7.

I could leave but I won't go
Though my heart might tell me so
I can't feel a thing from my head down to my toes

Short Answer (Bonus points for title and artist)

8. Who might declare us "the nicest of the damned?"

9. What is it that brings out the man in me?

10. Where might you find a one-man band who'll toot his flute for you?

11. What did you swear the time before?

Digital Decadance

Well, there was a whole lot less work going on today and a whole lot more retail therapy. Oh, online shopping, how you seduce me with your reaching out to my laziness with your free shipping and random things I never knew I needed.

There were gift cards received this holiday, and I'm giddily shopping from the comfort of my home wearing much less than would be socially acceptable were I to be wandering around the brick and mortar stores, and that's a beautiful thing.

One thing that I did get out to shop for was a decent beginner's cookbook. Pretty much all I've got in my cooking toolbox are the bachelor specials, you know - omelets, chili, tacos, pasta, etc... So I did get out and hit the bookstore to find something that I hope will help. I'll blog it if anything I cook is notable in success or failure.

Also discovered while out today - Pear Cider. Oh, yum. Why is it so hard to find ciders here?

4.4mi 31'46"

Brain Dead Meme!

A Meme? Easy? A window on my dark dark soul? Sign me up!

Via the Janus-like Pilgrim/Heretic

I present to you the first line(s) for each month of the past year-o-blogging (minus run reports)!

January:

More rain - no run

February:

Bloody Vikings...

March:

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.

April:

"Making Eye Babies" Not Allowed

May:

80 random people + blue polo shirts and khakis + plans to politely hang out at the local Best Buy = Hilarious

June:

First off, an apology to what few loyal readers I've got left for the lack of posts lately. I've been doing the thesis tango with my advisors and a whole lotta caffeine.

July:

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).

August:

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.

September:

Hot:

Andre Agassi: Regardless of whether or not you've never actually seen him play or care to, that was a great match.

Not:

US Basketball Team: Further evidence that NBA players are just overpaid egomaniacal ball hogs who can't play as a team or the natural result of trying to throw together a team in too short a time? I vote both.

October:

Yesterday was mostly very cool. There was that incident - with the photocopier (I guess we're not supposed to say Xerox machine anymore, are we?). There was also the other incident with the photocopier. All I have to say is that I didn't do it. It was like that when I got there.

November:

I think part of the reason for my lack of posts lately is more than simply the fact that I don’t sit in front of the computer 7 hours out of every day like I did at Old U.

December:

There's a minor ick at USU (Urban Sprawl University - You like?).



So, the lessons learned here are as follows:

• Pretty much all I do is link - no real content to be found here
• I also whine.
• I need to learn to blog better :)

4.33mi - 31'21"

Funny thing is that I haven't run for awhile. (again. I know, I know.) I started out and it felt soooo good. I started running a little faster and my entire body felt like it was just made to glide over the sidewalk. My breathing was coming easily and my legs flitted back and forth snicker-snack.

That lasted about 100 meters.

Holy poop I got tired. Muscles tightened, breath wheezed, legs pulled forward through mobile tubs of molasses. It got a little better as I ran through the shock of it all, but still. Yeesh.

On the plus side I took a hint from Jayfish and listened to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, which now comes in handy, easy to swallow podcast form (it's on iTunes too, if you like it that way), while I ran. I'm sure the other folks on the sidewalks were wondering why I was laughing out loud as I ran by them. They probably just thought I was a cruel punk mocking their slowness. I'm sure they'll trip me next time.

Happy Holidays To All

After a wild dash across and back across the nation, I've come back from the land of wind and dry skin. Fortunately for me, it's also the land of family, lots of food, and some kick-ass presents. Old stories were told. Old songs were sung, and I was reminded how much I really like my family. I know so many people who really dislike their family, so I guess I got off lucky. Throughout multiple flight delays (I had the least troubles - one delay and one missed flight, but a first class upgrade and a free ticket on an airline that I'm not sure I would want to fly with again, so it was pretty much a wash for me), holiday cheer was retained.

The obvious stars of the entire production were naturally the nieces. To get all the cliches out of the way, They're HUGE! The youngest is walking around and talking (the best thing you can hear is a toddler squealing out "Again! Again!" after seeing a trick or funny face), and the eldest is the cleverest thing on the planet.

I'm using today as a recovery day and then I'll go back into the research and work stuff tomorrow. I really needed that break. I feel recharged. That could also be because I actually did get out and run this morning. That'll be int he next post. Err... you've probably already seen it though. It's up there above this one, I'll bet.