stop, in the name of all that which does not suck...
I don't flip channels much now that I have Tivo, but I came across a video on MTV2 and just had to watch the whole thing to see what exactly it could be that sucks THIS BAD. It was like they thought they were metal, but they weren't... and there was some really bad white-guy rapping. It was "Somewhere I Belong" By Linkin Park.
I'd heard a lot about them, but never really paid much attention. I had no idea they sucked that bad. I mean... really.
Now there is another song on by them that sounds like something out of Trent Reznor's wastebasket.
Bleah.
I'm getting old.
D.
Saturday, August 30
too popular...
I think I mentioned before that my classes this term had fairly respectable enrollment... something like 8 or 9 for the physics class and 13 or 14 for the astronomy class. Well, now that the freshmen and the transfer students and the lazy students have registered, my totals are now SIXTEEN in the physics class and NINETEEN in the astro. That's too damned many. Like I don't hate grading enough. Being such an awesome prof has its disadvantages!
Dr. Popular
I think I mentioned before that my classes this term had fairly respectable enrollment... something like 8 or 9 for the physics class and 13 or 14 for the astronomy class. Well, now that the freshmen and the transfer students and the lazy students have registered, my totals are now SIXTEEN in the physics class and NINETEEN in the astro. That's too damned many. Like I don't hate grading enough. Being such an awesome prof has its disadvantages!
Dr. Popular
Thursday, August 28
all that jazz...
We rented “Chicago” a few nites ago. It’s taken about three days to get that song out of my head. I’m usually not one for musicals, but Catherine Zeta Jones is worth quite a few points to offset that... and it goes without saying that she is just fucking inhumanly sexy in this film. And I’m always impressed with Renee Zellweger... she can really act. I mean, there are a lot of actresses who just always play the same role and always look like they’re just playing a version of themselves... Julia Roberts... Jennifer Aniston.... But I’ve seen Renee Zellweger on talk shows and stuff and her real personality is... well... she doesn’t really seem to have much of a personality to speak of. So I never really expect much from her, then it turns out she can ACT and I’m always surprised.
Anyway... it wasn’t much of a “movie”, but the musical numbers were pretty spectacularly filmed, so it was fun to watch anyway. Lots of fishnet doesn’t hurt either.
*** *** ***
I sat around in my office today and watched about an hour of “The Two Towers”, then watched the rest on the train on the way home, and the fucking thing locked up my computer like 10 minutes from the ending. FUCK. Then it did it in the same place again, which usually means the disc is scratched or something, but I’ll be damned if I can see any scratches. Hell... I got it on the day it was released... I’m probably the first person to rent this copy! It could just be a defective DVD, I guess. I’ll check it out at home, but if it still doesn’t work, I’m gonna go to Blockbuster and demand a free re-rental. The last 10 minutes! God dammit.
*** *** ***
I got my syllabi finished and printed out today. Woo-hoo! So that means, no fighting over the copier with all the other slacker faculty at 8:55 Tuesday morning. But the best news is that I got the room I requested for BOTH my classes this semester. Wipeboard, not blackboard and an integrated video and computer projection system, which means no more calling the AV department EVERY WEEK to request a fucking LCD projector. So I’m a happy professor.
Well... I’m only a few stops from home. I may not post this until Friday. If so... pretend all the “todays” are “yesterdays”. You’re all smart readers – you’ll figure it out.
D.
We rented “Chicago” a few nites ago. It’s taken about three days to get that song out of my head. I’m usually not one for musicals, but Catherine Zeta Jones is worth quite a few points to offset that... and it goes without saying that she is just fucking inhumanly sexy in this film. And I’m always impressed with Renee Zellweger... she can really act. I mean, there are a lot of actresses who just always play the same role and always look like they’re just playing a version of themselves... Julia Roberts... Jennifer Aniston.... But I’ve seen Renee Zellweger on talk shows and stuff and her real personality is... well... she doesn’t really seem to have much of a personality to speak of. So I never really expect much from her, then it turns out she can ACT and I’m always surprised.
Anyway... it wasn’t much of a “movie”, but the musical numbers were pretty spectacularly filmed, so it was fun to watch anyway. Lots of fishnet doesn’t hurt either.
I sat around in my office today and watched about an hour of “The Two Towers”, then watched the rest on the train on the way home, and the fucking thing locked up my computer like 10 minutes from the ending. FUCK. Then it did it in the same place again, which usually means the disc is scratched or something, but I’ll be damned if I can see any scratches. Hell... I got it on the day it was released... I’m probably the first person to rent this copy! It could just be a defective DVD, I guess. I’ll check it out at home, but if it still doesn’t work, I’m gonna go to Blockbuster and demand a free re-rental. The last 10 minutes! God dammit.
I got my syllabi finished and printed out today. Woo-hoo! So that means, no fighting over the copier with all the other slacker faculty at 8:55 Tuesday morning. But the best news is that I got the room I requested for BOTH my classes this semester. Wipeboard, not blackboard and an integrated video and computer projection system, which means no more calling the AV department EVERY WEEK to request a fucking LCD projector. So I’m a happy professor.
Well... I’m only a few stops from home. I may not post this until Friday. If so... pretend all the “todays” are “yesterdays”. You’re all smart readers – you’ll figure it out.
D.
Wednesday, August 27
this is it...
The moment you’ve all been waiting for... Dr. Dave’s return to the train commute and the simultaneous return of his long-winded, boredom-fueled ramblings in his weblog. Yippee!
Actually I had plans to watch “Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers” this morning on the train, but I don’t have a power outlet here, and playing a DVD would absolutely KILL my battery in no time, so... I’ll write for a big chunk of the ride... maybe answer a few emails... finish my astronomy syllabus. Aaaaaahhhhhh.... relaxation!
It’s nice to get out of the house... I feel only a little guilty. The baby is being a little fucking nightmare... he has a cold, so he’s even more miserable and unpleasant than usual. (I’m coming down with it now too... thanks little guy.) So for the time being, I’m gonna be one of those Dads who goes to work and stays there all day and comes home at 6:00 and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with only seeing the kids for 2 hours a day.
Speaking of work... I’m starting to get pretty full on that front. I was looking forward to having a three day work week this semester, since I’m only teaching 2 college courses at my real job, but after meeting with the Science Dean at the Old School it looks like my Mondays and Fridays are full as well. Seems they haven’t been able to hire a replacement for the guy who replaced ME, so they are left without a 12th grade teacher to start the year. Which means that every Monday morning I’ll be driving out there to deliver a lecture to the seniors. PLUS he wants me to teach one of the lab sections – one on Monday afternoon, and one on Friday morning. Which is ok, I guess... Friday will only be a half-day, so I can have the afternoon off. Mondays I should get home by 2:00 or so also... maybe stay a little later to pick up the kid from preschool. The only part that sucks is that I think they are gonna want me to do GRADES and evaluations for my lab section. Aaaarghh! Grading. Even for $100/hour, grading fucking sucks.
People are giving me a lot of shit around there too... fucking with me for still being around. The Head of School (who was the Assistant Head last year) walked by me in the hall and said - ”So let me get this straight... you quit working here two years ago??” Hey – fuck you buddy... if you could hire somebody else to work in this fucking asylum, you would need to call me up every year and beg me to teach here part time for absurd sums of money.
That reminds me – something kinda funny happened yesterday. We had a breakfast for new transfer students at my college and one of the kids transferring in was a student I had when I was teaching HS at the old school. (Before I “quit”) We talked for quite a while. He’s a good kid. It’ll be interesting to see if he registers for one of my courses.
Good news about my courses... extremely popular! My astro course is beyond full... what they call “over-tallied”... the official limit on students is 15, but the professors can opt to allow up to 18 in a class. According to the current registration list, there are 18 students signed up. My physics course has 9... and should pick up a few more over the next couple of days. Good numbers for science lasses at this college, so I’m pretty psyched.
Ok... enough talk about school. More about other stuff later, perhaps. I’m gonna try to watch a bit of movie, I think.
D
The moment you’ve all been waiting for... Dr. Dave’s return to the train commute and the simultaneous return of his long-winded, boredom-fueled ramblings in his weblog. Yippee!
Actually I had plans to watch “Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers” this morning on the train, but I don’t have a power outlet here, and playing a DVD would absolutely KILL my battery in no time, so... I’ll write for a big chunk of the ride... maybe answer a few emails... finish my astronomy syllabus. Aaaaaahhhhhh.... relaxation!
It’s nice to get out of the house... I feel only a little guilty. The baby is being a little fucking nightmare... he has a cold, so he’s even more miserable and unpleasant than usual. (I’m coming down with it now too... thanks little guy.) So for the time being, I’m gonna be one of those Dads who goes to work and stays there all day and comes home at 6:00 and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with only seeing the kids for 2 hours a day.
Speaking of work... I’m starting to get pretty full on that front. I was looking forward to having a three day work week this semester, since I’m only teaching 2 college courses at my real job, but after meeting with the Science Dean at the Old School it looks like my Mondays and Fridays are full as well. Seems they haven’t been able to hire a replacement for the guy who replaced ME, so they are left without a 12th grade teacher to start the year. Which means that every Monday morning I’ll be driving out there to deliver a lecture to the seniors. PLUS he wants me to teach one of the lab sections – one on Monday afternoon, and one on Friday morning. Which is ok, I guess... Friday will only be a half-day, so I can have the afternoon off. Mondays I should get home by 2:00 or so also... maybe stay a little later to pick up the kid from preschool. The only part that sucks is that I think they are gonna want me to do GRADES and evaluations for my lab section. Aaaarghh! Grading. Even for $100/hour, grading fucking sucks.
People are giving me a lot of shit around there too... fucking with me for still being around. The Head of School (who was the Assistant Head last year) walked by me in the hall and said - ”So let me get this straight... you quit working here two years ago??” Hey – fuck you buddy... if you could hire somebody else to work in this fucking asylum, you would need to call me up every year and beg me to teach here part time for absurd sums of money.
That reminds me – something kinda funny happened yesterday. We had a breakfast for new transfer students at my college and one of the kids transferring in was a student I had when I was teaching HS at the old school. (Before I “quit”) We talked for quite a while. He’s a good kid. It’ll be interesting to see if he registers for one of my courses.
Good news about my courses... extremely popular! My astro course is beyond full... what they call “over-tallied”... the official limit on students is 15, but the professors can opt to allow up to 18 in a class. According to the current registration list, there are 18 students signed up. My physics course has 9... and should pick up a few more over the next couple of days. Good numbers for science lasses at this college, so I’m pretty psyched.
Ok... enough talk about school. More about other stuff later, perhaps. I’m gonna try to watch a bit of movie, I think.
D
Tuesday, August 26
Saturday, August 23
Friday, August 22
gone and back again....
Just spent 3 days on a kind of mini-vacation in Manhattan... museums and stuff. Fun at times, but mostly tiring getting around town with the two kids.
I know I haven't been writing for shit here lately. Soon I'll be back to work and have more time to write. Ironic, that... isn't it?? Anyway... I'mm meeting with the new Dean of Science at the Old School on Monday. Seems they haven't hired a replacement for the guy who replaced ME, so it looks llike they'll still be wanting me to come give weekly guest lectures for a while. Ch-ching!! Then Tuesday and Wednesday I have to go to the Real School for various things. So maybe on Wednesday you can look for a real, long, thoughtful post.
Or, maybe I'll just sit on a train for an hour and enjoy the ABSOLUTE SILENCE!!
D.
Just spent 3 days on a kind of mini-vacation in Manhattan... museums and stuff. Fun at times, but mostly tiring getting around town with the two kids.
I know I haven't been writing for shit here lately. Soon I'll be back to work and have more time to write. Ironic, that... isn't it?? Anyway... I'mm meeting with the new Dean of Science at the Old School on Monday. Seems they haven't hired a replacement for the guy who replaced ME, so it looks llike they'll still be wanting me to come give weekly guest lectures for a while. Ch-ching!! Then Tuesday and Wednesday I have to go to the Real School for various things. So maybe on Wednesday you can look for a real, long, thoughtful post.
Or, maybe I'll just sit on a train for an hour and enjoy the ABSOLUTE SILENCE!!
D.
Saturday, August 16
the night the lights went out in...
...ummm... everywhere !!
We were in Target when it hit. Here’s a little hint for you... if you’re ever in Target and the power goes out... RUN, don’t walk to the nearest EVEN-NUMBERED checkout line. Cuz apparently, the even numbered lines have battery backups for the register. Trick is... the battery backup appears to last exactly 10 minutes. After changing lines three times, they all went down... boom, boom, boom.
Bye everybody... thanks for almost shopping at Target.
So it’s 10:30... I’ve got some battery power and a USB light for my laptop. The wife is downstairs with her Dad, who was in NY for some business... looks like he may be stuck for a while. Shit, I hope the power comes back on soon... it is HOT.
*** *** *** ***
I may be writing a play. How funny, huh? Two acts... it’s about Copernicus... kinda... I don’t wanna give it away. But if I get the grant I’m applying for I already have a collaborator. A real, published playwright guy I used to work with. Fun project, anyway.
Hey... also... I have a webcam now. I didn’t even really know it. Turns out if you hook up our video camera with a Firewire cable to my Mac, you can use it with Yahoo IM and other videochat software. Cool, huh? Anybody wanna see me??
*** *** *** ***
I never really got around to recapping the trip. The drive there was ok... good time... only one Baby Breakdown. The weekend itself was really great... it was fun seeing my old roomie as a “Dad”... he’s great, his baby is great too... happy as anything. So that was all fun to watch. The kid sleeps like crazy... that kinda pisses me off. Oh well.
It’s a little pitiful that the four of us were all ready for bed at 10:30 every night. When He and I were roommates back in grad school, our night was just about getting started then. I can recall a time when 11:00 was the perfect time to start an Advanced E&M problem set, or order a pizza, or watch Beavis and Butthead. I seem to remember us once watching a showing of The Maltese Falcon that STARTED at 2:00 AM. Things change, I guess. Mostly for the better, I suppose.... I mean... sitting around watching Bogart movies at 3:00 AM with another guy is pretty fucking sad when you really think about it.
*** *** *** ***
I started typing all this on battery power with my USB light... but it’s a few days later... we have electricity... everything is normal. We had one seriously fucking sweaty night on Thursday, though!
D.
...ummm... everywhere !!
We were in Target when it hit. Here’s a little hint for you... if you’re ever in Target and the power goes out... RUN, don’t walk to the nearest EVEN-NUMBERED checkout line. Cuz apparently, the even numbered lines have battery backups for the register. Trick is... the battery backup appears to last exactly 10 minutes. After changing lines three times, they all went down... boom, boom, boom.
Bye everybody... thanks for almost shopping at Target.
So it’s 10:30... I’ve got some battery power and a USB light for my laptop. The wife is downstairs with her Dad, who was in NY for some business... looks like he may be stuck for a while. Shit, I hope the power comes back on soon... it is HOT.
I may be writing a play. How funny, huh? Two acts... it’s about Copernicus... kinda... I don’t wanna give it away. But if I get the grant I’m applying for I already have a collaborator. A real, published playwright guy I used to work with. Fun project, anyway.
Hey... also... I have a webcam now. I didn’t even really know it. Turns out if you hook up our video camera with a Firewire cable to my Mac, you can use it with Yahoo IM and other videochat software. Cool, huh? Anybody wanna see me??
I never really got around to recapping the trip. The drive there was ok... good time... only one Baby Breakdown. The weekend itself was really great... it was fun seeing my old roomie as a “Dad”... he’s great, his baby is great too... happy as anything. So that was all fun to watch. The kid sleeps like crazy... that kinda pisses me off. Oh well.
It’s a little pitiful that the four of us were all ready for bed at 10:30 every night. When He and I were roommates back in grad school, our night was just about getting started then. I can recall a time when 11:00 was the perfect time to start an Advanced E&M problem set, or order a pizza, or watch Beavis and Butthead. I seem to remember us once watching a showing of The Maltese Falcon that STARTED at 2:00 AM. Things change, I guess. Mostly for the better, I suppose.... I mean... sitting around watching Bogart movies at 3:00 AM with another guy is pretty fucking sad when you really think about it.
I started typing all this on battery power with my USB light... but it’s a few days later... we have electricity... everything is normal. We had one seriously fucking sweaty night on Thursday, though!
D.
Friday, August 8
stop the insanity...
Well, I'll be out of touch for a few days. I got an email from my gradschool roommate yesterday that said - "Hey, we're spending this weekend in a cabin in Virginia... wanna come?" To which I replied... "What, you mean pile the screaming kids in the car with one day's notice and drive for EIGHT HOURS??"
SURE!! SOUNDS LIKE FUN!!
What the fuck is wrong with me?
D.
Well, I'll be out of touch for a few days. I got an email from my gradschool roommate yesterday that said - "Hey, we're spending this weekend in a cabin in Virginia... wanna come?" To which I replied... "What, you mean pile the screaming kids in the car with one day's notice and drive for EIGHT HOURS??"
SURE!! SOUNDS LIKE FUN!!
What the fuck is wrong with me?
D.
Monday, August 4
cat scratch fever...
Last night was bout the worst night’s sleep I’ve had since the night in December we went to the hospital to NOT have the baby. As if HIS nightly sleeping habits in the seven months since then aren’t bad enough, last night the cats joined in. Right after we got into bed and settled in... at almost 1:00 AM, these two get into a fight. And I don’t mean your typical session of “ThunderKitties” where they chase each other up and down the hallway... I mean a fucking ”WREEEEEEOOOWWWW.... HISSSSSSSSSS” no-fooling-around FIGHT. We try to separate them, and settle them down, but it’s no use... they are FREAKED, especially the older, smaller, AlphaCat. We have no idea what has them so worked up... unless maybe a neighborhood cat was taunting them through the patio door or something.... who knows? We have to lock them in separate rooms all night, which means we have to deal with them scratching on doors and whining all night. We let them out for a while, they go at it AGAIN... this time they wake the baby up.
FUUUUUUUCCCKKK!!
Morning comes and the older cat is still fucking freaked. If she so much sees the other cat she starts growling and hissing and pissing on the carpet. What. The. Fuck?? It took until about noon to get her calm enough for me to give her a once-over and find a 3/4” bloody gash on her right ear. Aha. As best as I can figure, they were playing “normally” and things got out of hand, and somebody got hurt and then things just escalated. It’s taken ALL DAY to get her out of the bedroom to the point where we don’t think either of them will flip out again. Meanwhile, the AlphaCat has been growling and hissing all day, and the other one is moping and squeaking and depressed.
Cats sure are complex, high-emotional-maintenance pets. Jesus. And so, I’ve been tired as FUCK all day, on about ZERO fucking hours of sleep, with my wife on a deadline, and me trying to watch the kids with about a nanogram of fucking patience.
I didn’t even get my “cool geek purchases #2 and #3” in the mail to cheer me up.
I just slept from about 8:00 – 10:00 PM, and it may have been the best nap of my fucking LIFE.
Fuck.
D.
Last night was bout the worst night’s sleep I’ve had since the night in December we went to the hospital to NOT have the baby. As if HIS nightly sleeping habits in the seven months since then aren’t bad enough, last night the cats joined in. Right after we got into bed and settled in... at almost 1:00 AM, these two get into a fight. And I don’t mean your typical session of “ThunderKitties” where they chase each other up and down the hallway... I mean a fucking ”WREEEEEEOOOWWWW.... HISSSSSSSSSS” no-fooling-around FIGHT. We try to separate them, and settle them down, but it’s no use... they are FREAKED, especially the older, smaller, AlphaCat. We have no idea what has them so worked up... unless maybe a neighborhood cat was taunting them through the patio door or something.... who knows? We have to lock them in separate rooms all night, which means we have to deal with them scratching on doors and whining all night. We let them out for a while, they go at it AGAIN... this time they wake the baby up.
FUUUUUUUCCCKKK!!
Morning comes and the older cat is still fucking freaked. If she so much sees the other cat she starts growling and hissing and pissing on the carpet. What. The. Fuck?? It took until about noon to get her calm enough for me to give her a once-over and find a 3/4” bloody gash on her right ear. Aha. As best as I can figure, they were playing “normally” and things got out of hand, and somebody got hurt and then things just escalated. It’s taken ALL DAY to get her out of the bedroom to the point where we don’t think either of them will flip out again. Meanwhile, the AlphaCat has been growling and hissing all day, and the other one is moping and squeaking and depressed.
Cats sure are complex, high-emotional-maintenance pets. Jesus. And so, I’ve been tired as FUCK all day, on about ZERO fucking hours of sleep, with my wife on a deadline, and me trying to watch the kids with about a nanogram of fucking patience.
I didn’t even get my “cool geek purchases #2 and #3” in the mail to cheer me up.
I just slept from about 8:00 – 10:00 PM, and it may have been the best nap of my fucking LIFE.
Fuck.
D.
Sunday, August 3
selling out...
Well, the yard sale was yesterday. What that means is that we're $450 richer, sunburned and tired as all fuck. We sold a lot of big ticket stuff, but there was LOTS left. Half of that got carted to Goodwill today... the other half is still piled up in the living room. So somehow the house is messier AFTER the yard sale than it was before. And yeah, it's nice that we made money and all, but I realized afterwards, if somebody had come up to me and said - "Hey, I'll pay you $450 to carry furniture up and down stairs all day in the 99% humidity." - I would have told them...
"Ummm? Fuck YOU."
Cool news though... remember the 12 Macs I bought for $100. I sold two of them to a guy at the yard sale for $75. Which means I effectively got TEN Macs for $25!!
D.
Well, the yard sale was yesterday. What that means is that we're $450 richer, sunburned and tired as all fuck. We sold a lot of big ticket stuff, but there was LOTS left. Half of that got carted to Goodwill today... the other half is still piled up in the living room. So somehow the house is messier AFTER the yard sale than it was before. And yeah, it's nice that we made money and all, but I realized afterwards, if somebody had come up to me and said - "Hey, I'll pay you $450 to carry furniture up and down stairs all day in the 99% humidity." - I would have told them...
"Ummm? Fuck YOU."
Cool news though... remember the 12 Macs I bought for $100. I sold two of them to a guy at the yard sale for $75. Which means I effectively got TEN Macs for $25!!
D.
Friday, August 1
cool geek purchase #1...
A wireless RF "PowerPoint" remote for my laptop. You plug a little doodad into the USB port and you carry around a little remote that sends a "page up" or "page down" keystrke to your computer, allowing you to run your PowerPoint presentations via remote control. Sweet. Better yet is the "blackout" key which temporarily sets the screen to black... perfect for when you have to stop a presentation during a class, raise the screen, and write something on the board. Hit the button again to get your image back.
Last but not least... it has an integrated laser pointer.
$35 from the Gateway store online... no shipping.
Too cool.
D.
A wireless RF "PowerPoint" remote for my laptop. You plug a little doodad into the USB port and you carry around a little remote that sends a "page up" or "page down" keystrke to your computer, allowing you to run your PowerPoint presentations via remote control. Sweet. Better yet is the "blackout" key which temporarily sets the screen to black... perfect for when you have to stop a presentation during a class, raise the screen, and write something on the board. Hit the button again to get your image back.
Last but not least... it has an integrated laser pointer.
$35 from the Gateway store online... no shipping.
Too cool.
D.
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