September 19, 2007
1. Dork ::
2. Refurbished ::
3. Basket ::
4. Mousse ::
5. Studio ::
6. 8 ball ::
7. Masking tape ::
8. Love ::
9. Wilder ::
10. Lindsey ::
You know the game.
more...
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roject
8. Love::Monkey
9. Wilder::Van
10. Lindsey::TrainwreckSeptember 18, 2007
But Good Lord I need to sleep. I'm not sleepy or anything, but I can feel a headache building and I don't have a hell of a lot of pep in my step.
BTW, the termite symbionts were a BIG hit in class, even if the lab did run over. That's ok. We'll finish up on Thursday. Yay. Less stuff for me to plan/ set up/ worry about it working then.
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Seriously. It's 2:30. I need to be out the door by 6:45 or I'll never get to class on time. Last night I was out at 12. Maybe because I slept in and then I napped during football. Which was not intentional. Although the sleeping in was planned.
So I'm doing exactly what they tell you NOT to do to sleep. Watching TV and using the computer. See, I need to distract myself. Otherwise I'll just toss and turn and listen to night noises and freak out.
I think I'm worried about work. I made a major change in a group project of my own volition and I suppose I'm apprehensive about the feedback..... Plus I have an important meeting after class for a symposium I got nominated to attend. And said group project, a grant, is due tomorrow. Not to mention I am teaching from 8 to 12 (lecture, then lab). Although the lab ought to be fun. It's the first time they get to play with microscopes and living organisms. Including spearing some termites to look at the symbionts living in their guts. Yummy. And I signed up to run this show.
Oh, and if you have a minute, do pop over and give the lovely Helen some love. Poor girl is having pretty difficult false labor and feeling positively enormous (although she looks amazing!) and exhausted as she faces the end of her pregnancy and a possibly stressful week with family visiting. She could use a good cheer-up.
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September 17, 2007
A married couple are divorcing after they chatted each other up on the Internet using fake names.Lyrics below the jump for those of you not super familiar with the song.Sana Klaric and husband Adnan poured their hearts out to each other over their marriage troubles.
Using the names 'Sweetie' and 'Prince of Joy' in a online chatroom, the pair thought they had found a soulmate with whom to spend the rest of their lives.
[...]
Sana, 27, said: 'I was suddenly in love. It was amazing, we seemed to be stuck in the same kind of miserable marriages. How right that turned out to be.'
But when it dawned on her what had happened, she said: 'I felt so betrayed.'
Adnan, 32, said: 'I still find it hard to believe that Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years.'
h/t The Pirate via IM more...
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09:42 PM
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September 16, 2007
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September 14, 2007
Tired of those same old 55 questions about me surveys? Well here are 55 I guarantee you've never answered.
1. Is your second toe longer than your first?
both of them
2. Do you have a favorite type of pen?
FREE!
3. Look at your planner for March 14, what are you doing?
eating Pi. DUUUUUH
4. What color are your toenails usually?
Red. Always red. For Rob. He said I had nice feet.
5. What was the last thing you highlighted?
text. Oh you mean with a pen? Hmmm... probably transcripts during application season
6. What color are your bedroom curtains?
Actually, we don't have any right now. We took down the crappy ones that were there when we moved in, but our room is in the back, so we don't need curtains and haven't replaced them
7. What color are the seats in your car?
Gray leather covered with brown fuzzy seatcovers with paw prints
8. Have you ever had a black and white cat?
Nope. Can't live with a cat. But I'm sure DH has.
9. What is the last thing you put a stamp on?
My mortgage payment. Only thing I don't pay electronically, since those assholes at Wells Fargo would charge me FREAKING $10 for the convenience. Kiss MY ass.
10. Do you know anyone who lives in Wyoming?
Yes
11. Why did you withdraw cash from the ATM the last time?
What is this ATM of which you speak? I usually use Target or Trader Joes as an ATM.
12. Whose is the last baby that you held?
Hmmmm... Probably this guy that goes to my parents' church
13. Unlucky #?
not really. I like 13.
14. Do you like Cinnamon toothpaste?
Blecccccch. The Vanilla and Orange are rotten too.
15. What kind of car were you driving 2 years ago?
Ford Escape
16. Pick one: Miami Hurricanes or Florida Gators?
Florida teams are seriously overrated, USC TROJANS, bay-bee
17. Last time you went to Six Flags?
1997
18. Do you have any wallpaper in your house?
hell no
19. Closest thing to you that is yellow?
Winnie the Pooh on my mouse pad
20. Last person to give you a business card?
our business development guy
21. Who is the last person you wrote a check to?
the mortgage company.
22. Closest framed picture to you?
The Princess in the snow.
23. Last time you had someone cook for you?
two nights ago
24. Have you ever applied for welfare?
um, no
25. How many emails do you have?
more than a dozen
26. Last time you received flowers?
flowers?
27. Do you think the sanctity of marriage is meant for only a man & woman?
no
28. Do you play air guitar?
yes
29. Has anyone ever proposed to you?
yes. I suppose. We did get married, after all.
30. Do you take anything in your coffee?
lots of cream, lots of Sweet and Low
31. Do you have any Willow Tree figurines?
Huh?
32. What is/was your high school's rival mascot?
Depends on which school you think of as a rival.... The Fresno High Warriors or the Roosevelt Roughriders or the Hoover Patriots or the Bullard Knights (Yankees)
33. Last person you spoke to from high school?
my husband
34. Last time you used hand sanitizer?
I don't use hand sanitizer. It creates super bugs.
35. Would you like to learn to play the drums?
Hell Yeah
36. What color are the blinds in your living room?
no blinds. The blinds in the kitchen are wood.
38. Last thing you read in the newspaper?
you mean the LA Dog Trainer?
39. What was the last pageant you attended?
you mean a beauty pageant or a school pageant? I've been to school pageants.
40. What is the last place you bought pizza from?
Sadly enough, Pizza Hut.
41. Have you ever worn a crown?
Love my Tiara.
42. What is the last thing you stapled?
Packing slips and order confirmation
43. Did you ever drink clear Pepsi?
yeah, it was ok.
44. Are you ticklish?
in the extreme
45. Last time you saw fireworks?
4th of July
46. Last time you had a Krispy Kreme doughnut?
When I was still living in NC
47. Who is the last person that left you a message & you actually returned it?
a student
48. Last time you parked under a carport?
our college apartment
49. Do you have a black dog?
Black and white, actually.
50 . Have you had your mid life crisis yet?
I hope not.
51. Are you an aunt or uncle?
yes. To three
52. Who has the prettiest eyes that you know of?
my honey
53. What kind of soap or body wash do you use?
Aveeno sensitive skin with Oatmeal
54. Do you remember Ugly Kid Joe?
yes
55. Do you have a little black dress?
yes, but considering it little is a bit of a stretch.
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September 12, 2007
One reporter, rather than asking "what did you think of the speech?" asked: "Don't you think he is missing his opportunities by not having more red meat in his speech?"One at a time, Fred. One at a time!The man the reporter was talking to, an actual voter from New Hampshire, said that he thought the speech was just fine and, further, while he hadn't made up his mind, he was now leaning toward Fred.
Unable to stop myself, I dove into the conversation.
"First," I said to the reporter, "you are requiring Thomson[sic] to reach a standard which (a) you, not this man, set and (b) doesn't make any sense in the first place."
"Look at all the people who waited through the storm to see him," I said waiting until he actually turned around to look. "And they're STILL here," I said noting how many were swarming around Fred.
"You guys complain (I didn't actually say "complain" but this is a family blog) about candidates who speak in sound bites and bumper strips. Then when a candidate comes and gives you 20 minutes of substance you tell me you're looking for someone wearing a red nose and clown hair."
"You can't have it both ways."
I doubt that I made that reporter throw away his "Hillary for President" card, but he agreed with me.
I was hoping for a headline in the Sunday Portsmouth paper which read: "Thompson Takes NH by Storm" but while the story was a fair representation, the headline didn't reach my standard.
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September 11, 2007
September 11, 2001 was supposed to be the same way. We were living in Chapel Hill, and a friend was visiting. I had planned to take her to the airport in Raleigh before making my way to school to teach my lab section. I didn't make that trip for almost three weeks.
I've told my story of that horrible day before. That day that broke all of us inside. That day that so many people are eager to forget, to push away the pain that makes it real, to scapegoat because that's easier than seeing the truth.
I think back a lot to how it used to be, how I used to be. I was so different. But something inside broke that day, sitting in my chair that I used to love, my big orange 1970's wing chair rocker, and watching people fall from the sky.
When I think back to 9/11/01, that's what I remember. Not the buildings collapsing in a heap of ash, or the bright flash of a 747 hitting the side of the towers. Just brave men and women choosing their own destiny, rather than waiting for the suffocating horror of flame and falling debris. What a beautiful last gift to their loved ones: to know they didn't suffer, and that at the end, they were truly free.
Six years later, those images still haunt me.
But life goes on they say, and so must we. And here I am again. Tuesday Morning. September 11. Only it's 2007 this time and I made it to school. I taught my class and the lab that goes with it. Had a meeting with my dean. When I finish this, I'll make a cup of tea.
And yet, there's a part of me still sitting in that chair, unable to turn away from the news for weeks. I left parts of me behind that day, and came away with something new. Tougher maybe, sadder, more vigilant, and definitely PISSED OFF. So pissed off I'm still mad today.
What makes me more angry though, are the ones who don't know, those who forgot, and the ones who seek to tarnish the truth through conspiracy theory and supposition.
The truth, my friends is this: Evil exists. We saw its hand on September 11, 2001, and still we feel its icy grip.
Forgetting this cheapens the memory of the ones we lost, the innocent, the heroes, and those left behind.
Yes, it's hard. Staring evil in the face is the most difficult thing we can do in life. Remembering who we've lost and what we've lost is just as hard. But that doesn't excuse us from remembering, from hurting, from pausing every once in a while to think about what happened that day and vowing to never let it happen again.
There have been thousands of tributes, but I'll share with you MY favorite because it's message, in the end, is hope.
If the video won't work, click here.
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September 10, 2007
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Dr Keith Seffen set out to test mathematically whether this chain reaction really could explain what happened in Lower Manhattan six years ago. The findings are published in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics.Previous studies have tended to focus on the initial stages of collapse, showing that there was an initial, localised failure around the aircraft impact zones, and that this probably led to the progressive collapse of both structures.
Once the collapse began, it was destined to be "rapid and total."
In other words, the damaged parts of the tower were bound to fall down, but it was not clear why the undamaged building should have offered little resistance to these falling parts.
"The initiation part has been quantified by many people; but no one had put numbers on the progressive collapse," Dr Seffen told the BBC News website.
Dr Seffen was able to calculate the "residual capacity" of the undamaged building: that is, simply speaking, the ability of the undamaged structure to resist or comply with collapse.
His calculations suggest the residual capacity of the north and south towers was limited, and that once the collapse was set in motion, it would take only nine seconds for the building to go down.
This is just a little longer than a free-falling coin, dropped from the top of either tower, would take to reach the ground.
[...]
He added that his calculations showed this was a "very ordinary thing to happen" and that no other intervention, such as explosive charges laid inside the building, was needed to explain the behaviour of the buildings.
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09:55 PM
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September 08, 2007
1. Scrabble ::
2. NyQuil ::
3. Roadtrip ::
4. Idiot ::
5. Bandages ::
6. Series ::
7. Summer ::
8. Prompt ::
9. September ::
10. Chicken ::
more...
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03:27 PM
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September 07, 2007
No, really. 7am-7pm. I'm going to have to move my office and share with someone else, and some dickhole in another program is using his status as faculty to piss on his students and make their lives miserable and it's my job to defend them.
It's a good damn thing my bartender doesn't drink. They're stronger that way.
*Swear To Allah
UPDATE: Actually I left AFTER 7:30pm..... I ended up going home, eating, and crashing. Alky tonight :-)
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04:43 PM
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September 06, 2007
(if the video won't load, here's a transcript of the segment)
And here's the "official" announcement, from Fred08.com:
Run Fred Run!
Win Fred Win!
BTW, if you want to know why I'm a Fredhead, I'll sum it up for you in two words: Testicular Fortitude. Fred has it. The others so far don't seem to. Even McCain who ought to have TF in spades, given his history, but he's just as wimpy and consensus driven as the other used car salesmen in the race. If Fred proves me wrong, then I'll be voting for ABH/O (Anyone but Hillary/Obama)
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11:36 AM
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September 05, 2007
Security-Unity-Prosperity... My kind of candidate.
fred08.com
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05:42 PM
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September 03, 2007
From the Wall Street Journal:
What kind of parents would ever allow their children to drink at home? Doesn't this put youngsters at risk?So why file this under DUH? Because it's the first principle of adolescent psychology: If you want a kid to NOT do something, take away its taboo. The driving force of childhood is to find one's place in the world. To learn the rules and decide which are important to follow, and which aren't. Teenagers in particular make this an art form, with their kid's minds in little adult bodies. Kids who occasionally share small amounts of alcohol with their parents do not see drinking as either rebellion or escape, because it's something they do in the confines of the family. It's just not "cool" if Mom and Dad do it with you, right?
The answer to the first question is simple. Most of the state laws include a specific exemption for children drinking at home during family and religious ceremonies. Observant Jews, for example, traditionally serve children small glasses of wine during Friday night Sabbath ceremonies. Other cultures also begin socializing children into drinking at an early age--including Mediterranean societies such as Italy, Greece and Turkey (and non-Mediterranean societies such as China).
As for the second, two international surveys--one conducted by the World Health Organization--revealed that these Mediterranean countries and Israel had the lowest binge drinking rates among European adolescents.
In societies where children drink with their parents, this typically means giving a kid a small amount of wine or other alcohol, often watered down on special occasions or a family dinner. Many European countries also lower the drinking age for children when they are accompanied by parents. In the United Kingdom, for example, the legal age is 18, but for a family at a restaurant it is 16. In France and Italy, where the legal age is 16, there is no age limit for children drinking with parents.
But what might all of this mean for teen drinking problems in America?
Several studies have shown that the younger kids are when they start to drink, the more likely they are to develop severe drinking problems. But the kind of drinking these studies mean--drinking in the woods to get bombed or at unattended homes--is particularly high risk.
Research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2004 found that adolescents whose parents permitted them to attend unchaperoned parties where drinking occurred had twice the average binge-drinking rate. But the study also had another, more arresting conclusion: Children whose parents introduced drinking to the children at home were one-third as likely to binge.
"It appears that parents who model responsible drinking behaviors have the potential to teach their children the same," noted Kristie Foley, the principal author of the study. While the phrasing was cautious, the implication of the study's finding needs to be highlighted: Parents who do not introduce children to alcohol in a home setting might be setting them up to become binge drinkers later on. You will not likely hear this at your school's parent drug- and alcohol-awareness nights.
This is not to say that it's ok for parents to do this with other drugs. Alcohol is the least likely of the drugs of abuse to have adverse consequences on brain development, especially in the small quantities relevant to these studies. A single dose of cough syrup is likely to have more alcohol in it that whatever a child consumes in a responsible home setting.
Nice to see common sense coming out of psychosocial research for a change.
h/t HWNNL
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September 01, 2007
USC starts in 15 minutes.
FIGHT ON TROJANS!
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07:05 PM
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August 31, 2007
Fred rulz.
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August 30, 2007
Thanks!
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07:14 PM
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I have a few of those myself. In our house they're called "Movies I can fall asleep to".
See I have this thing with movies. If they get really predictable, or really embarrassing for the main character, I skip it. Fast Forward, skip, turn off, you name it. I won't sit through it. Consequently, there are VERY FEW movies I can sit through more than once without skipping through, let alone enjoy over and over and over.
The funny thing is, those movies somehow migrate to the bedroom. I'm a slow-sleep insomniac, and (like everything else with me) contrary to the usual advice of removing distractions from the sleep zone (aka no TV in the bedroom), TV actually distracts my brain enough to let me fall asleep. Especially things I've seen before. So we have a rotating stash of movies that live in the DVD player in the bedroom and get pressed into service in conjunction with the 90 minute sleep setting on the TV just about every night.
So, without further ado, movies I can sleep to:
White Christmas
Blazing Saddles
Star Wars
Empire
Return of the Jedi
Fellowship of the Ring (either disk 1 or 2; but not Twin Towers. I always want to skip the "Sam and Frodo" parts too much)
Return of the King (Disk 2 works better... less Sam and Frodo)
Kill Bill vol 1
Kill Bill vol 2
The Blues Brothers
South Park
Team America
A Christmas Story
Fiddler on the Roof
Disney's Robin Hood
I'm certain there are more, but these are the ones currently in the DVD case in the bedroom.
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07:06 PM
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