R.I.P Evel... thanks for the memories
(I think I actually owned this t-shirt too)
Friday, November 30
the grinch will NOT steal xmas after all...
I was starting to get worried that we would not be able to find one despite the fact that we had already kinda promised it, but I swung by Target this morning at 9:00 and they had 12 bright and shiny Nintendo Wii's that had just been put on the shelf.
I'm very excited... or, um... I mean... the KIDS will be very excited!
I was starting to get worried that we would not be able to find one despite the fact that we had already kinda promised it, but I swung by Target this morning at 9:00 and they had 12 bright and shiny Nintendo Wii's that had just been put on the shelf.
I'm very excited... or, um... I mean... the KIDS will be very excited!
Thursday, November 29
Wednesday, November 28
Monday, November 26
bleak...
That's the word my wife used to describe Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's. I guess I don't disagree. My dad is sick, he's lost maybe 20 pounds. My grandmother is taking care of him with my brother's help, and at 86 she is finally showing signs of slowing down. She's too old for this. My brother barely spoke to me the whole time we were there. I don't know if he's pissed at me because the burden of taking care of Dad is falling on him or what, but... anyway. Bleak.
Meanwhile, we stayed at my Mom's instead of a hotel, which we never do, but we're broke. My Mom shares a house with another woman whose life is like a ticket to the fucking Jerry Springer show. Her daughter must be about 26. She has 2 kids around the same ages as mine (9 and 4 - you do the math.) I'm not sure if they have the same father or not, but her ex-husband is currently in Florida hiding out from a warrant for a failure to appeal to a child support hearing. (His claim was that he went to Florida to "get away from the drugs" in Baltimore. Yeah. Because there are no drugs in FLORIDA!!) Now it turns out that her brother (also 26) has just had two kids. Two months apart. BY DIFFERENT MOTHERS!! I mean, fuck... it's not a CONTEST, kids... keep it in your fucking pants. And to top it all off, while we were there, my Mom's housemate had to drive to Annapolis at midnight to bail him out of jail on domestic abuse charges.
My wife is morbidly fascinated by these people. I try to pretend they don't exist. I think my wife is most appalled by the fact that they make no attempt to sweep any of this under a rug. They post court summons on their refrigerator like they are straight-A report cards.
Anyway, we try to keep our kids away from this household. The way they raise their children is just frightening. The 9 year-old boy's favorite movie when he was 4 was "Signs". By the time he was 7 it was "Saw II". He was a bloody machete-wielding slasher-movie killer for Halloween this year. Anyone see anything but prison in this kid's future? And the tradition continues. For a while on Friday Baby Mama #1 was over at the house with the new baby and her 3 year-old son (Yes, from a different father. My Mom says she's an ex-pole dancer. I'm not sure if she's joking, but god, I hope that's true.) The three year-old boy spent the whole time we were there in the other room playing "X-men" on the Xbox. It's rated "T" for Teen. We made our NINE-YEAR-OLD leave the room.
The point is, not only did I have to endure all of this, but I had to endure my wife TALKING about all of this to ME, and then again to HER relatives on Friday night. I find it endlessly tiresome as a topic of conversation. It pains me to even post about it.
It took us 7 hours each way to get from NY to Baltimore, which is insane. (We've made it in 4.5 hours before on non-Holiday weekends.) We did some Black Friday shopping at 5:30 AM, which is MORE insane. Black Friday was cute when it was something that only the truly dedicated crazies did, but now that you are EXPECTED to go to Circuit City at 6:00 in the fucking morning... it's just stupid. There is nothing in the world I want badly enough to stand in those lines. We had better luck at the smaller places like Office Depot and Old Navy, although we didn't really buy any GIFTS. My wife got a $29 printer/scanner/copier for herself... I got 2 new sweaters... who the fuck cares about XMAS SHOPPING??
We took the kids to see "Enchanted" later in the afternoon. It was cute enough. There are enough adult-targeted gags to elicit a chuckle. (Not to mention Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey to hold the attention of the moms in the audience... and maybe no small number of the dads.) I won't give away the funniest bits. I'll just mention 2 things. Taking 2 kids to the bathroom THREE TIMES during a 1h40m movie? What the hell? I'm glad they weren't old enough to go see Lord of the Rings in the theatres. Second of all... there were NINE movie trailers before the film started. The one that caught our attention the most was for a horrible looking, formulaic Chick Flick called "PS, I Love You" starring Hillary Swank. Her husband dies and he leaves her all these letters telling her to go certain places at certain times... it looks really bad. So why did it catch our attention? Because it CO-stars, in what look like teeny-tiny roles, both Gina Gershon (Bound! Showgirls!!) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny - the "Patient McHeartTransplant" dead guy from Grey's Anatomy, also the dead husband-on-videotape from Weeds. I'm surprised he's not playing the dead husband in THIS movie too!) So the wife and I are both GASP!-ing out loud at the trailer, at the appropriate moments. We can probably wait until video, though. That way we can rush upstairs and have sex right after.
(I'm not sure I mentioned this last week, but I'd like to thank the producers of the [crappy] Grey's Anatomy spinoff "Private Practice" for casting Taye Diggs as one of the doctors on the show. Yay for Wednesday Night Sex! After 10 years, whatever gets things going... one doesn't argue.)
There was also a trailer for the sequel to that fucking AWFUL Nick Cage movie "National Treasure". You know... that movie where they had to steal the Constitution out of the Smithsonian's vault, because it had a secret first draft of The DaVinci Code written on the back? Or something like that. Well the sequel looks even WORSE. The wife leaned over and said - "That looks like such a trainwreak that we HAVE to go see it." It's the same as the White Trash Family with her! No matter how bad it is, she has to watch.
Anyway, the holiday is OVER now, and I have craploads of work and grading to catch up on. I took my grading with me on the trip, which was just the worst kind of self-deception. It's time to take a deep breath and dive into the pile now.
One Month Until Xmas...
That's the word my wife used to describe Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's. I guess I don't disagree. My dad is sick, he's lost maybe 20 pounds. My grandmother is taking care of him with my brother's help, and at 86 she is finally showing signs of slowing down. She's too old for this. My brother barely spoke to me the whole time we were there. I don't know if he's pissed at me because the burden of taking care of Dad is falling on him or what, but... anyway. Bleak.
Meanwhile, we stayed at my Mom's instead of a hotel, which we never do, but we're broke. My Mom shares a house with another woman whose life is like a ticket to the fucking Jerry Springer show. Her daughter must be about 26. She has 2 kids around the same ages as mine (9 and 4 - you do the math.) I'm not sure if they have the same father or not, but her ex-husband is currently in Florida hiding out from a warrant for a failure to appeal to a child support hearing. (His claim was that he went to Florida to "get away from the drugs" in Baltimore. Yeah. Because there are no drugs in FLORIDA!!) Now it turns out that her brother (also 26) has just had two kids. Two months apart. BY DIFFERENT MOTHERS!! I mean, fuck... it's not a CONTEST, kids... keep it in your fucking pants. And to top it all off, while we were there, my Mom's housemate had to drive to Annapolis at midnight to bail him out of jail on domestic abuse charges.
My wife is morbidly fascinated by these people. I try to pretend they don't exist. I think my wife is most appalled by the fact that they make no attempt to sweep any of this under a rug. They post court summons on their refrigerator like they are straight-A report cards.
Anyway, we try to keep our kids away from this household. The way they raise their children is just frightening. The 9 year-old boy's favorite movie when he was 4 was "Signs". By the time he was 7 it was "Saw II". He was a bloody machete-wielding slasher-movie killer for Halloween this year. Anyone see anything but prison in this kid's future? And the tradition continues. For a while on Friday Baby Mama #1 was over at the house with the new baby and her 3 year-old son (Yes, from a different father. My Mom says she's an ex-pole dancer. I'm not sure if she's joking, but god, I hope that's true.) The three year-old boy spent the whole time we were there in the other room playing "X-men" on the Xbox. It's rated "T" for Teen. We made our NINE-YEAR-OLD leave the room.
The point is, not only did I have to endure all of this, but I had to endure my wife TALKING about all of this to ME, and then again to HER relatives on Friday night. I find it endlessly tiresome as a topic of conversation. It pains me to even post about it.
It took us 7 hours each way to get from NY to Baltimore, which is insane. (We've made it in 4.5 hours before on non-Holiday weekends.) We did some Black Friday shopping at 5:30 AM, which is MORE insane. Black Friday was cute when it was something that only the truly dedicated crazies did, but now that you are EXPECTED to go to Circuit City at 6:00 in the fucking morning... it's just stupid. There is nothing in the world I want badly enough to stand in those lines. We had better luck at the smaller places like Office Depot and Old Navy, although we didn't really buy any GIFTS. My wife got a $29 printer/scanner/copier for herself... I got 2 new sweaters... who the fuck cares about XMAS SHOPPING??
We took the kids to see "Enchanted" later in the afternoon. It was cute enough. There are enough adult-targeted gags to elicit a chuckle. (Not to mention Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey to hold the attention of the moms in the audience... and maybe no small number of the dads.) I won't give away the funniest bits. I'll just mention 2 things. Taking 2 kids to the bathroom THREE TIMES during a 1h40m movie? What the hell? I'm glad they weren't old enough to go see Lord of the Rings in the theatres. Second of all... there were NINE movie trailers before the film started. The one that caught our attention the most was for a horrible looking, formulaic Chick Flick called "PS, I Love You" starring Hillary Swank. Her husband dies and he leaves her all these letters telling her to go certain places at certain times... it looks really bad. So why did it catch our attention? Because it CO-stars, in what look like teeny-tiny roles, both Gina Gershon (Bound! Showgirls!!) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny - the "Patient McHeartTransplant" dead guy from Grey's Anatomy, also the dead husband-on-videotape from Weeds. I'm surprised he's not playing the dead husband in THIS movie too!) So the wife and I are both GASP!-ing out loud at the trailer, at the appropriate moments. We can probably wait until video, though. That way we can rush upstairs and have sex right after.
(I'm not sure I mentioned this last week, but I'd like to thank the producers of the [crappy] Grey's Anatomy spinoff "Private Practice" for casting Taye Diggs as one of the doctors on the show. Yay for Wednesday Night Sex! After 10 years, whatever gets things going... one doesn't argue.)
There was also a trailer for the sequel to that fucking AWFUL Nick Cage movie "National Treasure". You know... that movie where they had to steal the Constitution out of the Smithsonian's vault, because it had a secret first draft of The DaVinci Code written on the back? Or something like that. Well the sequel looks even WORSE. The wife leaned over and said - "That looks like such a trainwreak that we HAVE to go see it." It's the same as the White Trash Family with her! No matter how bad it is, she has to watch.
Anyway, the holiday is OVER now, and I have craploads of work and grading to catch up on. I took my grading with me on the trip, which was just the worst kind of self-deception. It's time to take a deep breath and dive into the pile now.
One Month Until Xmas...
Tuesday, November 20
ancient history...
I caught the early train home today, and instead of doing all the important pre-vacation things I was planning on doing, I'm reading my own online journal entries from 2001. Jeez. I was so full of shit 5 or 6 years ago. And yet... it's so much more interesting than THIS crap.
This question about the future made me chuckle...
Answer? None. Maybe NEXT year...
I caught the early train home today, and instead of doing all the important pre-vacation things I was planning on doing, I'm reading my own online journal entries from 2001. Jeez. I was so full of shit 5 or 6 years ago. And yet... it's so much more interesting than THIS crap.
This question about the future made me chuckle...
"My wife wants to start doing chores and housework on a fixed weekly schedule. Funny thing is, I’ve been advocating that approach ever since we started living together, and she’s always flat-out refused. So apparently, I CAN win an argument with my wife, but only after 6 years of doing things her way unsuccessfully. I wonder what argument I’ll win in 2007?"
Answer? None. Maybe NEXT year...
Monday, November 19
Saturday, November 17
back from the Hamptons...
Gave my talk at the Old School yesterday. The lecture went over well with the students and there were lots of questions. (Turns out that one of the most questiony students was the son of Roy Scheider. "You're gonna need a bigger boat!" "Smile, you sonofabitch!" Chief Fucking Brody, Jr!!) Got to see a bunch of my old co-workers, many of whom greeted me with a "you look great", which I'll take to mean "you don't look too old, fat, or bald yet."
I was faced with an etiquette conundrum though. What do you think the proper course of action is when you run into someone who was only a casual acquaintence, whom you haven't seen in a year or two, and who has had DRASTIC plastic surgery? Do you ignore it? Do you say "you look great"? Or does that imply "you look great, now that you got your face fixed!"? But why would you get it and not want people to notice that you looked better? Or tell you that you looked better. The thing is, she was perfectly attractive before, and now she has crazy model-cheekbones and a pointy Michael Jackson nose that I couldn't stop staring at. It's odd to hear someone's voice you know coming out of a weird different face. I found the whole experience vaguely creepy.
Gave my talk at the Old School yesterday. The lecture went over well with the students and there were lots of questions. (Turns out that one of the most questiony students was the son of Roy Scheider. "You're gonna need a bigger boat!" "Smile, you sonofabitch!" Chief Fucking Brody, Jr!!) Got to see a bunch of my old co-workers, many of whom greeted me with a "you look great", which I'll take to mean "you don't look too old, fat, or bald yet."
I was faced with an etiquette conundrum though. What do you think the proper course of action is when you run into someone who was only a casual acquaintence, whom you haven't seen in a year or two, and who has had DRASTIC plastic surgery? Do you ignore it? Do you say "you look great"? Or does that imply "you look great, now that you got your face fixed!"? But why would you get it and not want people to notice that you looked better? Or tell you that you looked better. The thing is, she was perfectly attractive before, and now she has crazy model-cheekbones and a pointy Michael Jackson nose that I couldn't stop staring at. It's odd to hear someone's voice you know coming out of a weird different face. I found the whole experience vaguely creepy.
Tuesday, November 13
HeNoBlogNoMo...
Poor neglected blog. It's not like I haven't been "writing". I write almost non-stop. Just none of it is HERE. I write book proposals and outlines and assignments and new course syllabi... When all you do all day is WRITE shit, it's hard to see the blog as "recreational" anymore.
Anyway, there isn't a whole lot of blog-worthy stuff going on. At least nothing I feel like going into detail about. My dad was in the hospital. My wife informs me that we are financially destitute. We may be pulling the Boy out of his school after Xmas. These are all things I would like to AVOID thinking about.
Classes are running smoothly. I'm a little behind on my grading. Nothing to see here...
I'm driving out to the Hamptons this week to give a lecture at the Old School. I really don't feel like it, but when you have a connection to a place run by an eccentric bazillionaire, you feel obliged to occasionally remind them that you exist. The puny speaking fee I'm being payed will barely cover my gas money, but you never know when someone there will want you to be involved in some crazy "project".
My wife hasn't had a job in weeks. All she does is KNIT all day, despite the fact that we are living in squalor. I mean serious, 11 o'clock news, take the kids, TLC-channel these-people-need-professional-help show SQUALOR. Every day I dread opening the door to see what new pile of crap will impede my entry into the foyer. I'm about to fucking lose it.
Let's see... what else? My play proposal is nearly done. I made the mistake of mentioning it in front of some colleagues at work, and one of the women from our theatre department cornered me in the hallway and basically demanded to co-write it with me. She scares me just a little. But she's a real playwright and will make my proposal look more compelling, so... why not. See, my secret is... I don't care about the actual plays. I just care about the IDEA of the play. I don't care who writes it, as long I get credit for coming up with the idea to have it written in the first place.
I'm doing a lab/activity thing with my relativity class today. It involves balloons and string and globes and protractors and 6-foot hyperboloids made of duct tape. I'll take pictures.
Poor neglected blog. It's not like I haven't been "writing". I write almost non-stop. Just none of it is HERE. I write book proposals and outlines and assignments and new course syllabi... When all you do all day is WRITE shit, it's hard to see the blog as "recreational" anymore.
Anyway, there isn't a whole lot of blog-worthy stuff going on. At least nothing I feel like going into detail about. My dad was in the hospital. My wife informs me that we are financially destitute. We may be pulling the Boy out of his school after Xmas. These are all things I would like to AVOID thinking about.
Classes are running smoothly. I'm a little behind on my grading. Nothing to see here...
I'm driving out to the Hamptons this week to give a lecture at the Old School. I really don't feel like it, but when you have a connection to a place run by an eccentric bazillionaire, you feel obliged to occasionally remind them that you exist. The puny speaking fee I'm being payed will barely cover my gas money, but you never know when someone there will want you to be involved in some crazy "project".
My wife hasn't had a job in weeks. All she does is KNIT all day, despite the fact that we are living in squalor. I mean serious, 11 o'clock news, take the kids, TLC-channel these-people-need-professional-help show SQUALOR. Every day I dread opening the door to see what new pile of crap will impede my entry into the foyer. I'm about to fucking lose it.
Let's see... what else? My play proposal is nearly done. I made the mistake of mentioning it in front of some colleagues at work, and one of the women from our theatre department cornered me in the hallway and basically demanded to co-write it with me. She scares me just a little. But she's a real playwright and will make my proposal look more compelling, so... why not. See, my secret is... I don't care about the actual plays. I just care about the IDEA of the play. I don't care who writes it, as long I get credit for coming up with the idea to have it written in the first place.
I'm doing a lab/activity thing with my relativity class today. It involves balloons and string and globes and protractors and 6-foot hyperboloids made of duct tape. I'll take pictures.
Friday, November 9
Tuesday, November 6
gettin' it done... or not...
Once again, I rocked the "guest lecture", to the point of having students asking afterwards what courses I'm teaching in the spring. Advertising! Gotta fill the seats.
The Slovenians never showed up. The Slovakians either. There were no Slavs or Sloves to be found.
The same cute chick is sitting across from me on the train this afternoon as was sitting across from me this morning. A less socially incompetent guy would find an opportunity to talk to a woman in such a scenario. "Hello again..." something like that... y'know?
Once again, I rocked the "guest lecture", to the point of having students asking afterwards what courses I'm teaching in the spring. Advertising! Gotta fill the seats.
The Slovenians never showed up. The Slovakians either. There were no Slavs or Sloves to be found.
The same cute chick is sitting across from me on the train this afternoon as was sitting across from me this morning. A less socially incompetent guy would find an opportunity to talk to a woman in such a scenario. "Hello again..." something like that... y'know?
as popular as ever...
This morning, I am told, there will be Slovenians visiting my class. I'm not sure why. In fact, it may have been Slovakians. But I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it was Slovenians.
This afternoon, I will be visiting a theatre class that is discussing Brecht's "Life of Galileo". I'm not sure what they want me to say about Galileo, so I guess I will just tell them what *I* think is important about Galileo. I assume that's what they want, right? Or they wouldn't have asked me.
This morning, I am told, there will be Slovenians visiting my class. I'm not sure why. In fact, it may have been Slovakians. But I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it was Slovenians.
This afternoon, I will be visiting a theatre class that is discussing Brecht's "Life of Galileo". I'm not sure what they want me to say about Galileo, so I guess I will just tell them what *I* think is important about Galileo. I assume that's what they want, right? Or they wouldn't have asked me.
Monday, November 5
physics ups and downs...
Two times in the past week, I've come across what I regard as confusing statements about the precise definition of the word "heat". Probably nothing that would interest any of you readers, but given that I'm about to start my thermodynamics unit, it was bothering me that these precise definitions conflicted slightly with what I tell my liberal art students. Well, a little research later, and it turns out that I've been telling a tiny bit of a lie to my students for several years. It's nothing major, but it's really fucking with my head. How can I have taken four semesters of undergraduate and graduate thermodynamics and still be carrying around misapprehensions about such a fundamental definition? Totally fucked up.
In other news, I made a two-minute long movie today about Einstein's Equivalence Principle. It required me to film footage inside of the elevator at school. Standing in an elevator with a video camera and a tripod violates all sorts of social contracts, and people feel the need to ask you what you are doing in order to alleviate their discomfort. The problem is, while I can explain the equivalence principle in a 2-minute movie, I can't do it in a 4-story elevator ride. I eventually settled on the mysterious sounding "Physics experiment..." non-explanation. The word "physics" generally shuts people right up.
Anyway, I need to finish editing it, then I'll post it to the YouTubes.
Two times in the past week, I've come across what I regard as confusing statements about the precise definition of the word "heat". Probably nothing that would interest any of you readers, but given that I'm about to start my thermodynamics unit, it was bothering me that these precise definitions conflicted slightly with what I tell my liberal art students. Well, a little research later, and it turns out that I've been telling a tiny bit of a lie to my students for several years. It's nothing major, but it's really fucking with my head. How can I have taken four semesters of undergraduate and graduate thermodynamics and still be carrying around misapprehensions about such a fundamental definition? Totally fucked up.
In other news, I made a two-minute long movie today about Einstein's Equivalence Principle. It required me to film footage inside of the elevator at school. Standing in an elevator with a video camera and a tripod violates all sorts of social contracts, and people feel the need to ask you what you are doing in order to alleviate their discomfort. The problem is, while I can explain the equivalence principle in a 2-minute movie, I can't do it in a 4-story elevator ride. I eventually settled on the mysterious sounding "Physics experiment..." non-explanation. The word "physics" generally shuts people right up.
Anyway, I need to finish editing it, then I'll post it to the YouTubes.
i've got your "advising" right here...
Registration is coming up, which means it's time for "advising". Let's see how many clueless students show up not having even GLANCED at a course catalog this semester. I have only one message for these students... take whatever you want, just stay out of MY class. I'm guessing that if the idea of a course catalog is over your head, Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica" is probably going to give you a little trouble as well.
Registration is coming up, which means it's time for "advising". Let's see how many clueless students show up not having even GLANCED at a course catalog this semester. I have only one message for these students... take whatever you want, just stay out of MY class. I'm guessing that if the idea of a course catalog is over your head, Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica" is probably going to give you a little trouble as well.
rhapsody..
TiVo has teamed up with music subscription service Rhapsody to let you stream music to your TV. I'm checking out the free trial now, and I have to say... it's kinda cool. I can't see a subscription service replacing OWNING music, but if I bought a little more music nowadays than I do, I'd consider the $12.99 a month worth it just for "crappy CD insurance". The opportunity to listen to a CD a couple of times from beginning to end before I bought it would save me from buying the occasional dud. And while I'll usually just p2p albums that I'm not sure about instead of buying them, this would be faster and more legal.
If you've got a TiVo, you should mess with it. You don't have to sign anything and they don't bill you when the trial is up.
(I just realized this sounds like a "paid promotional announcement". It's really not!)
TiVo has teamed up with music subscription service Rhapsody to let you stream music to your TV. I'm checking out the free trial now, and I have to say... it's kinda cool. I can't see a subscription service replacing OWNING music, but if I bought a little more music nowadays than I do, I'd consider the $12.99 a month worth it just for "crappy CD insurance". The opportunity to listen to a CD a couple of times from beginning to end before I bought it would save me from buying the occasional dud. And while I'll usually just p2p albums that I'm not sure about instead of buying them, this would be faster and more legal.
If you've got a TiVo, you should mess with it. You don't have to sign anything and they don't bill you when the trial is up.
(I just realized this sounds like a "paid promotional announcement". It's really not!)
Thursday, November 1
LoShoWriPro...
I've decided that November is "Long Shot Writing Proposal" month. I found out yesterday while browsing Oxford University Press's website for their Very Short Introductions series of books (which are awesome, btw) that they DO NOT have a title devoted to the Theory of Relativity. I find this fact fairly perplexing, given that they have volumes on Galileo, Newton, Quantum Theory, and Particle Physics... as well as Cosmology. But even on their "upcoming titles" list - nothing on Relativity. So, I took a couple of hours, wrote a quick synopsis, attached a bio, and submitted a 2 page proposal to the address on the website. I can't believe they don't want someone to write a Relativity book for their series, so... why the hell not me?
Meanwhile, my proposal for the new play grant has been sitting untouched for a week or so. I need to finish plowing through these biographies for details and get the proposal in the mail by the end of next week. The end of November is just too crazy, so I don't want to still be working on it too close to the deadline.
Given that I'm up for "review" next summer - getting one of these gigs would go a long way towards making it look like I actually DO SOMETHING when I'm not teaching.
In other news, I've never succeeded in the NaNoWriMo endeavor, but I think this month I'll set a more modest goal of writing SOMETHING in my new collection of physics essays every day. (OK, maybe every weekday.) Maybe I'll even post some of the output here. Because WHO DOESN'T LOVE TO READ ESSAYS ABOUT PHYSICS?!?!
I've decided that November is "Long Shot Writing Proposal" month. I found out yesterday while browsing Oxford University Press's website for their Very Short Introductions series of books (which are awesome, btw) that they DO NOT have a title devoted to the Theory of Relativity. I find this fact fairly perplexing, given that they have volumes on Galileo, Newton, Quantum Theory, and Particle Physics... as well as Cosmology. But even on their "upcoming titles" list - nothing on Relativity. So, I took a couple of hours, wrote a quick synopsis, attached a bio, and submitted a 2 page proposal to the address on the website. I can't believe they don't want someone to write a Relativity book for their series, so... why the hell not me?
Meanwhile, my proposal for the new play grant has been sitting untouched for a week or so. I need to finish plowing through these biographies for details and get the proposal in the mail by the end of next week. The end of November is just too crazy, so I don't want to still be working on it too close to the deadline.
Given that I'm up for "review" next summer - getting one of these gigs would go a long way towards making it look like I actually DO SOMETHING when I'm not teaching.
In other news, I've never succeeded in the NaNoWriMo endeavor, but I think this month I'll set a more modest goal of writing SOMETHING in my new collection of physics essays every day. (OK, maybe every weekday.) Maybe I'll even post some of the output here. Because WHO DOESN'T LOVE TO READ ESSAYS ABOUT PHYSICS?!?!
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