I went out last night for drinks at an insanely upscale place in Tribeca where I tried seven different types of bourbon and rye, not counting sampling the "Creole-Fashioned" of the person I was with. It was decadent and awesome. And tonight I'm sitting here thinking about the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black in the cabinet...
Oh hey look, I can see Alcoholism from here!!
(I made myself some tea.)
Thursday, July 22
dear quality auto service...
The free wi-fi is nice, but...
Three fucking chairs? In a room this big? Are you fucking kidding me?
Three fucking chairs? In a room this big? Are you fucking kidding me?
Wednesday, July 21
One would think that...
... by the time one is 40, one would stop having experiences that make one feel like the same stupid person you were when you were 20.
One would be WRONG....
One would be WRONG....
Saturday, July 10
backseat music critics: 80's pop supergroup edition...
GIRL: "Get it on? Bang a GONG?"
BOY: That doesn't even make any sense
GIRL: This song is stupid. I think they were just looking for a rhyme.
BOY: And it doesn't even actually rhyme
GIRL: Yeah, they couldn't think of a rhyme for "on"
BOY: "Mow your lawn".
GIRL AND BOY (singing): "Get it on! Mow your lawn!!"
BOY: That doesn't even make any sense
GIRL: This song is stupid. I think they were just looking for a rhyme.
BOY: And it doesn't even actually rhyme
GIRL: Yeah, they couldn't think of a rhyme for "on"
BOY: "Mow your lawn".
GIRL AND BOY (singing): "Get it on! Mow your lawn!!"
Thursday, July 1
let's do the math, shall we...?
Let's see how much the visit by my wife's sister is going to cost me...
One amusement park trip that we wouldn't be going on otherwise - 4x$50 = $200
Two nights in a hotel at fucking Niagara Falls - 2x $100 = $200
Four nights of dog boarding - 4x$25 = $100
... so that's $500 already. Toss in $100 for gas and probably twice that for meals. And I'm going to predict another $200 for the ticket we'll get on the NY State Thruway for having a brake-light out on the van that we just noticed yesterday but won't have time to fix before Monday because we have to spend the next three days cleaning the fucking house. Let's round it up to an even $1000.
Did I mention we'll be doing it all with their three week old baby?
Fuck. Me.
One amusement park trip that we wouldn't be going on otherwise - 4x$50 = $200
Two nights in a hotel at fucking Niagara Falls - 2x $100 = $200
Four nights of dog boarding - 4x$25 = $100
... so that's $500 already. Toss in $100 for gas and probably twice that for meals. And I'm going to predict another $200 for the ticket we'll get on the NY State Thruway for having a brake-light out on the van that we just noticed yesterday but won't have time to fix before Monday because we have to spend the next three days cleaning the fucking house. Let's round it up to an even $1000.
Did I mention we'll be doing it all with their three week old baby?
Fuck. Me.
Wednesday, June 16
parallel universes forum...
http://philoctetes.org/Calendar/Parallel_Universes_The_History_of_an_Idea/
I didn't get to talk about Lost until 92:00, but I got to field a completely off the wall Kubrick question at 100:00!
I didn't get to talk about Lost until 92:00, but I got to field a completely off the wall Kubrick question at 100:00!
Thursday, June 10
it has happened...
At 227 pages and 55,000 words, I am finally so sick of this book that I'm making random work for myself. Here is a list of the projects I need to deal with all of a sudden.
Oh… also… I'm writing in my blog! Things must be bad if I've resorted to THAT to avoid writing the book!
- I have agreed to speak on a panel discussion about the history of the idea of "parallel universes" in Manhattan this weekend.
- I have agreed to turn a rough outline developed during a science faculty retreat into an 8 page universal rubric for science writing across the program, filling out all three performance columns with criteria.
- I have agreed to serve on a new University committee that is meeting three times in JUNE!
- I have agreed to another week of consulting work, writing a new unit for high school science.
- I have agreed to help write one, perhaps two conference abstracts for a meeting in Miami. The meeting is in March 2011, but the proposals are due in August.
- I have agreed to travel to Washington DC in July to serve on a peer review panel for the National Science Foundation
Oh… also… I'm writing in my blog! Things must be bad if I've resorted to THAT to avoid writing the book!
Sunday, May 30
Thursday, May 6
knots...
The floors in this cabin are knotty-pine, a style which I dislike at a gut level because it reminds me too much of the house where I grew up. The room where I would lie in bed making eyes and faces out of the wood paneling.
Faces that watched me while I slept.
Faces that watched me while I slept.
Thursday, April 8
i seem to only blog on the train…
Which means once a month. I happened to look at my archive links in the sidebar a few days ago, and if you compare the number of posts each year - it's kinda pathetic what a shadow of its former self this bog has become. Bleh.
Anyway, I'm heading into the city to meet with some students. I put in an application for a pile of student assistant money through the Provost's office, and actually GOT IT, so I have $2000 with which to bribe student minions to do my bidding. I have a project lined up for them and need to meet with them to get them started on it. Which also means I have to squeeze in about a dozen other tasks that can only be done on campus and which now pile up for a month until they can justify the $24 round-trip train ride.
Besides the usual work-related stuff, I need to get to the Apple Store to fondle an iPad, and then over to the over-priced but service-oriented running store to get a decent pair of shoes. My return to running has been marred by an ill-fitting pair of mail order shoes, and I'm just going to give up on them, as much as it pains me. I need to just get over it and accept that decent shoes cost $100.
So in order to accomplish all this in one day, I managed to drag myself out of bed by 5:30 to catch the 6:00 train, which is better than I did last time I went in to the office. It feels really unreasonably early. The sabbatical is totally spoiling me. Going back to work full time in September is going to be a serious shock. I'm not looking forward to it!
Meanwhile, the writing is moving along, if sporadically. Some of the decrease in pace is planned – I had given myself a week off for the kids' Spring Break, and then a couple of weeks off to work on "other projects". Not that much is getting done on the other projects, but I'm trying to do a little looking ahead to my fall courses. I am still planning my week-long "retreat" at some point in the next 2 months, and I got approval from my Chair and my Dean to spend the money from my research fund on a bin in the woods. I think I found the perfect place - only 90 min away and with a piano and a very airy great-room that's perfect for yoga. It's not ALL about the writing. If I can reserve the last week before Memorial Day, I plan to use the retreat to actually FINISH the book. Then come June, I can hand it over to the wife for copyediting. So, the project is still basically on schedule, which is… well, surprising, to say the least.
I think I'm going to spend the rest of the train ride dealing with some student incompletes and other nagging issues. Stay tuned for a giddy iPad mini-review on the way home.
Anyway, I'm heading into the city to meet with some students. I put in an application for a pile of student assistant money through the Provost's office, and actually GOT IT, so I have $2000 with which to bribe student minions to do my bidding. I have a project lined up for them and need to meet with them to get them started on it. Which also means I have to squeeze in about a dozen other tasks that can only be done on campus and which now pile up for a month until they can justify the $24 round-trip train ride.
Besides the usual work-related stuff, I need to get to the Apple Store to fondle an iPad, and then over to the over-priced but service-oriented running store to get a decent pair of shoes. My return to running has been marred by an ill-fitting pair of mail order shoes, and I'm just going to give up on them, as much as it pains me. I need to just get over it and accept that decent shoes cost $100.
So in order to accomplish all this in one day, I managed to drag myself out of bed by 5:30 to catch the 6:00 train, which is better than I did last time I went in to the office. It feels really unreasonably early. The sabbatical is totally spoiling me. Going back to work full time in September is going to be a serious shock. I'm not looking forward to it!
Meanwhile, the writing is moving along, if sporadically. Some of the decrease in pace is planned – I had given myself a week off for the kids' Spring Break, and then a couple of weeks off to work on "other projects". Not that much is getting done on the other projects, but I'm trying to do a little looking ahead to my fall courses. I am still planning my week-long "retreat" at some point in the next 2 months, and I got approval from my Chair and my Dean to spend the money from my research fund on a bin in the woods. I think I found the perfect place - only 90 min away and with a piano and a very airy great-room that's perfect for yoga. It's not ALL about the writing. If I can reserve the last week before Memorial Day, I plan to use the retreat to actually FINISH the book. Then come June, I can hand it over to the wife for copyediting. So, the project is still basically on schedule, which is… well, surprising, to say the least.
I think I'm going to spend the rest of the train ride dealing with some student incompletes and other nagging issues. Stay tuned for a giddy iPad mini-review on the way home.
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