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.
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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