Grrr... ading

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

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

All good, right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

9.11mi - 1:06'00"

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

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

6.97mi - 49'32"

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

+3 Vorpal Quiz of Ogre Slaying

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

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

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

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

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

1.

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

2.

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

3.

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

4.

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

5.

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

6.

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

7.

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

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

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

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Originally uploaded by Overread.

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

Two links from Boingboing to get my depression on today.

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

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

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

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

Cellphone Joy 2.0

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

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


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


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

Cellphone Joy

grrr... Perfomancing is evil....

One More Thing

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

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

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

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

6.84mi - 48'17"

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

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

Money Changes Everything

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

Confucius Was A Bright Man

子曰知之为知之不知为不知是知也。

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

I shoulda listened to Confucius.

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

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

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

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

And said person holds the opposite view.

I shall meditate on the wisdom of ignorance.

6.78mi - 47'41"

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



Marked out a place to cut...



Box cutter of doooooooom goes to work - choppity chop



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

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

It's just that I obsess, you know.

Hip, Hip, Hippopotamus!

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

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

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

Double Plus Unquiz With an Increased Chocolate Ration

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

let’s get right down to the quiiiiiz!

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

Ok, ok, quiz questions!
11.

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

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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

15.

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

16.

You remain
My power, my pleasure, my pain.

17.

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

18.

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

19.

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

20.

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

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

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

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

This Time I Mean It

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

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

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

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

Why?

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

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

4.24mi - 30'16"

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

7.45mi - 48'10"

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

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

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