Thursday, January 5th, 2006

Welcome all to 2006!

The masses have been asking - nay, clamoring!- for an update here and I will be all but too happy to provide. Firstly, I will talk briefly about Funk's visit. Yes, Andrew David Shepherd drove all the way from the Ohio border to come to Madison and hang out with me. Two conclusions can be drawn from this factoid. Firstly, yes, I really am that cool that you should drive long distances to come and hang out with me. Secondly, if you live less than the nearly 400 miles that Funk drove from me and haven't come to visit, then you are a really bad friend. {Evil eye}. It was around 12:30 or 1 am that Funk arrived, and the first thing he talked about was the shortcut through turtle village that mapquest had him take.

It turns out that Mapquest told him to get off on US-12 a bit prematurely. To get here, you take 90, pass 4 tolls, and get on US-12 once youre in Madison. "You know those tolls you were talking about?" Andy said. "Yeah, I didn't have to worry about those." He ended up going through all of the southern and western areas of Chicago as he got off of 90 near Chicago and amazingly, US-12 can get you to Madison- it's the same highway! More amazingly, US-12 is La Grange road!! When he passed by Westchester, he thought, "I wonder if I could visit becker at Blockbuster." Amusingly enough, ANdy did pass by the Borders I took him to the first time he went to Chicago with me and met Becker.

Nevertheless, he was able to make it up here in one piece ... if a bit late. Not much occurred during his visit. We played some video games, and watched tv and went out. So, I'll just talk a bit about our awesome time.

Funk brought along his X-Box 180 and NBA live game. I tried to remake the same character I had on Jeff's system when I went to visit Funk and his best friend roommate this last May. Unfortunately, the unusual inability to give my guy a headband made him far less stylish. Even his "bombing three's like Hero-shima" abilities suffered due to no headband tied around his hair. We played as the magic and schooled everyone that came into our dome. Among other things, we learned that Steve Francis is the best damned NBA palyer on earth! He can dunk on people like no-one's business! And the grace and finness with which he performs said dunks is awe-inspiring.  As I write this, I'm listening to Charles Barkley's in-depth analysis of the situation in Seattle: "they ain't a good team." Now Kenney is trying to say the same thing but in a more inteligent manner, although I'm not really sure that I should expect much from the man who introduced us to the "eating soup with a spoon" analogy.

Also, Funk and I discovered what many people already knew: the Dunk contest in the NBA All-star weekend is fixed! So, there we were, supporting the only guy on our team who made it to the final round- steve francis, who had an amazing, in-yo-face!-dunk. Then, Jason Richardson comes up and is about to try to school our dude. After missing his first two attempts, he somehow gets the chance to redo it again. J-Rich runs up to the basket, does some weird thng and then the ball slips from his hands as he does a backwards dunk. Funk and I were about to celebrate the Franchises' winning the contest when we hear EJ and Kenny Smith go on and on about how AMAZING that dunk was! OH MY GOODNESS! DID YOU SEE THAT! ANd surely, all the judges gave him a 10. Argh! Luckily, Stevie won the next year's contest.

But all that was after we attempted to play the Civ 4 game that Chua gave me. And I say "attempted" for a good reason. I just don't have the capacity to run it on my system. I have like 800 MHZ and 256 RAM. well, sure enough, when I installed it on my system, and boy, did it laaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. Funk was able to play it regardless. Probably because it was pretty darn fun. The addition of the Civics makes the game a little more interesting than just changing governments. But because the slowness of my system got me all frustrtated, I decided to go find some extra memory the next morning. Once Funk woke up, I opened up my system to find out what type of memory I had in there. I know what you're thinking. And you're right. This didn't end well. We went to the near-West Mall area and I got the right stick of memory thanks to pretty helpful guys there. Unfortunately, my computer did not want to restart up when I was done insalling the memory. I was a bit traumatized as the previous time that I had attempted to do anything with memory, my computer just flat out broke. I thought I might have caused a short somewhere in there, since I produce an extraordinary amount of electro-magnetic energy. THen, i figured out how to make the computer start again. But then it wouldn't boot up. I looked up the significance of the long and short beeps I heard the computer make and all I could come up with was that the video card, which I had pulled out to reach the memory circuits, was still not in properly. despite my best efforst, I failed. Having no other recourse, i took the damned thing in for service, hoping that I hadn't destroyed my work on there. it took about two days to get my computer back. I'd like to apologize once again to Funk for leavng him on his own for all those hours as I vainly struggled to figure out what was wrong with my computer.

The bad news is that even after the upgrade, I still can't play Civ4 that well. The beginning of the game is less harsh than the later portions. This is mostly because when you start out, all you have to worry about is maybe two or three cities and a few buildings in each. By the end, you may have three continents worth of cities, each with a plethora of unique structures built inside. So, scrolling is stop and go. Maybe one day I'll be able to play it and enjoy it fully, but it's still a ways away.

Now, onward. While funk was here, I happened upon one of the greatest tv game shows of all time. THe 100,000 pyramid. Never before have I been witness to a show that requires very little intelligence and yet can be pretty damned hard. The concept is to try to get your partner to say a particular word based on a series of clues that you come up with. So if the category is "things you find in your bedroom" and the word is "hammer", the one person would describe this object that you use to get a nail in the wall. If the person guesses correctly, you move on to the next word. Once you get into the winner's circle, it's reversed. the contestant sits with his or her back to the wall. the wall is comprised of a pyramid of boxes. the bottom holds three. Those three hold two and then there's one at the top. Here, the person (usually a celebrity) that the contestant has been paired up with must get the contestant to figure out what a series of clues have in common. So, the first box on the bottom of the pyramid turns around and it's "things that fly", so the celebrity would say, "a dove, a bird, a bee" until the contestant guessed correctly.

But this week was not all about cathode ray tubes. By New Year's Eve, we were kinda tired of that, so instead, we went out and I showed Funk all the hot spots around MadTown... all three of them. I parked my car around the university and then we walked on by. We proceeded towards the capital and then down to the Terrace! That's right, Funk got a taste of the best thing in town. Of course, it was locked, so he and I had to employ some pretty sneaky stealth tactics. We strafed through the building and climbed up the locked door mechanism... or in Funk's case, "stepped over." He's tall. On the way back to the car, the clock struck midnight and all the people were out celebrating. I really don't know why Funk would want to hang out with me. I mean, he's so chipper and cheerful all the time, and I'm... well... not. As we passed by everyone, he smiled and said "Happy New Year" to everyone he saw. That's just weird. Where I come from - the mean streets of Chicago- that kinda stuff gets you killed. Or a friend. Either way, it's foreign to me.

Anyway, when we got back, Funk and I started to reminisce about the good old days back at the Bash. The topic turned towards the transformers and we watched "Dinobot Island" with the all-time classic line: "That's a barbarian riding a wooly mammoth! But that hasn't existed in  50,000 years!"  

From there, we pondered heavily as to which autobots best embody the character traits of all the BBX-ers. We came up collaboratively with the following list. I have provided my reasoning behind each of my choices.

BBX-er/Transformer	Why?
Chua - Wheeljack	Much like Wheeljack, Chua is also great at building stuff. However, Chua's creations tend to work a little bit better the 'Jack-man's.
Becker - Hound	What I like about Hound is that he's a friendly guy who is also pretty smart. Although he does not posess the braniac status that becker holds, Hound is a pretty good guy who can be there at your side. Hound can also make you laugh every once in a while. I found a site that described Hound as a super happy fun guy that everyone likes to be around, and while becker has his brooding side, I have never heard anyone say "Becker? He's boring and not fun." Alternate: Chip.
Nando - Huffer	Well, I'm definitely a lot like Huffer. I don't really stand out as being the funnest guy, but I can say pretty hillarious things every once in a while. I'm also kinda smaller than most guys, although Huffer has the advantage of being pretty strong. Most importantly, Huffer's pessimism about ... well, everything puts him up on the "most like Nando" list. "This will never work. Big waste of time." Alternate: Optimus Prime... mostly because I always wanted to be Prime when I was growing up by being a good leader.
Funk - Jazz	Both Jazz and Funk are responsible young robotic men who. What's that? Funk's not robotic? Bah! There goes my greatest argument. No, but seriously, Jazz and Funk are both upbeat and have a positive attitude about stuff. When fighting against the decepticons, he is not afraid to employ rather unusual weaponry such as his really loud music to damage the 'audio sensors'. "Now let's hear number one on the bottom forty!" Apparently, he also reads books about ninjas. Alternate: Blurr
Tony - Roller	Tony is a crazy, go-get em kind a guy who is impetuous and quite hot-headed. Roller is a box on wheels that comes out of Optmus Primes' trailer and makes R2D2 noises. I'm not saying it fits. I'm just saying we need a Roller. Alternate: Cliffjumper - a hotheaded loose canon who acts before he thinks. But we still need a Roller.
Borm - Sunstreaker	Like Borm, Sunstreaker can find reasons to complain about things that pertain to his abilities and enjoyment. "Hey careful! You'll ruin my finish!" Good thing he has never been to Seattle, or the Autobots would never hear the end of it.
Melanie - BeachComber	Now, I know that it would have been easy to just pick the only regular female autobot on the show to describe the only regular female BBX-er on the site. HOwever, Arcee is pretty empty and I was looking for more depth. BeachComber is the obvious choice here. They both care about the environment and are interested in researching stuff they care about. Alternate: NOT Warpath.  Melanie hates the military so I don't think that she'd make a good tank.
Scott - Grimlock	"Me, Grimlock, rated #1 by the New York Times! A must see! Freaking Awesome dudes!" "How can me, Grimlock be mad while watching Music videos?" "Me, Grimlock, been Thursday all day!"

Not much has gone on since Funk left really. I went to my prac site today and started talking about the new group that I will be facilitating. I won't get into that though.  What I will get into though, is the NEW BBX-REMOTE website that I have launched. This week is about testing the site. Be prepared to contribute next week if all goes well. Untill then, go in and post something here or there and let me know if you encounter any problems.

GO NOW! and don't forget to register.

Saturday, January 7th, 2006

I'm still working hard to remember to end every date with '06

This has been a rather difficult two weeks for me in terms of understanding what to do with my life for the next few years. I mean, lord knows I don't want to stay here, but there are so many benefits to doing so. Comparatively speaking, of course. There's a tremendous amount of security and I think I've explained it before in bits and pieces. Firstly, it's highly concievable that I could actually finish the program in 4 years instead of 5. Why? It has to do with the 2nd and 3rd benefits to being here. As I've mentioned before, I get two semesters free here plus a nice stipend if I stay. This means that I could load up on courses without having to worry about a TA-ship. That would be a huge bonus for me when having to do practicum again, cuz let me tell you, it ain't working that well. Another aspect is the fact that I already know how things work around here. I know how to go about getting away with stuff and whom to talk to to get things done.

That said, I don't really think I would be that happy here. If I had the same opportunity to go elsewhere, I would jump on it in a split second. But I'm not sure if I would. I might even have to stay an extra year if things don't work out the way I would want in order to finish up. But then I ask myself, why I would want to finish so quickly. I mean, all that means is that I would have to start working somewhere, but somehow the mundane life of 9 - 5 really doesn't apeal to me.

Basically, I need more information and now that I'm starting to hear back from all these places, I guess it's okay to start asking some tough questions regarding what they have to offer. At the end of the day, though, I still haven't heard back from Madison, so all this wondering could all just be for nothing. Well, not nothing since I have experienced a few headaches. Man, now I know how Scott felt when he was searching for the perfect state.

This week's power rankings are in. Expect many changes in rankings for the next eight weeks as more information comes in.

Week Two, Rank:	How Come?
No 1.	Minneapolis, MN - well, as of right now, Minneapolis is the only place that has officially accepted me. So, it's pretty obvious that if everything remains the same as it is at this moment, I would most likely end up here. However, looking at their program, it just seems like a lot of work. Then again, all of them are. Week One: 1 Week Two: 2
No 2.	Tempe, AZ - If I'm going to spend five or six years of my life trapped somewhere, at least it will be sunny.
No 3.	Madison, WI - as soon as I'm accepted, this is gonna be a huge head-twister.  See above for reasoning.
No 4.	Columbia, MO - I have an interview with them around the 20th. I still have to send them a note saying that I can't make it to the interview, but that I look forward to a phone interview around that time.  We'll see how that goes.
No 5.	Bloomington, IN - there is a slight drop here. But only because I haven't heard much from Bloomington besides the fact that they have recieved my stuff.
No 6.	Penn State - huge leap for this one, mostly because I heard back from them today and they want to grant me an interview. I'll have to take a gander at their program and see if it's wort it for me. Notice how I do things backwards?
No 7.	Athens, GA - I had a nice conversation over the phone from a prof there.  It was a very odd convo. Turns out that they still want an interview. But the guy said that there wasn't a guaranee but that I shouldn't be surprised if I get called for it. Uhm... so then why even bother calling me if I wouldn't be considered for an interview? whatever. I don't think I want to go down there because it sounds like that there is an agenda to get me to do a lot of work with the latino population.  While I have done some work in that field before, I think I want to work a bit more closely on other areas.
No 8.	Eugene, OR - Still waiting for a peep.
No 9.	Gainesvillle, FL - 8 and 9 are on opposite corners of the states. given a choice, I would rather be closer to Seattle - God's gift to humanity.
No 10.	Austin, TX - why bother going all the way down there if I get accepted here. It's the same thing realy.
No 11.	Boston, MA - Eh, screw this, I'll finish it later.
No 12.
No 13.

Monday January 9th, 2006

Still on "college-time" after two years...

I guess it's no surprise to anyone when I admit that I have issues with sleeping. Not that I take offense to sleeping, but that I find it difficult to fall asleep. This is sort of well documented in the entries I wrote during my first and second semesters here. During the summer it wasn't that big a deal. And if it was, I can't remember it impacting anything negatively. Third semester (last semester) I had very little difficulty falling asleep and this lies mostly in the fact that I was so dead tired by the end of each day that I couldn't help but collapse by midnight.

Now, that I have been on break, I find that my sleep troubles are resurfacing. I've spent days "Apon" days trying to figure out what's going on with me. And I've come up with a few interesting tidbits about my hard times. Firstly, I only have trouble sleeping on days that require me to do stuff. I sleep like a baby on Fridays and Saturdays, mostly cuz I determine when I will fall asleep and wake up the next day without having to worry about scheduling of any kind. Come sunday however, I'll be lucky to get a good 2 hours.

Secondly, I think that the main reason I have such trouble falling asleep is that I have anxiety issues. I look at the clock and think "oh crap! I only have 5 hours of sleep left." In vain I try to doze off and before I know it, I hit the 2-hour mark which completely discourages me, cuz I start thinking, even if I got two hours now, I'd be so tired and I might not even wake up. Crap what if I don't wake up?"

Another big event that causes anxiety for me is the fear of not being able to fall asleep before dawn. For some reason, I get really anxious and feel this need to beat the sun from rising. Of course, when I think that way, I end up staying up till about 7 o'clock and if there is time afterwards to sleep in, it really doesn't seem like a big deal, which pisses me off because that means that all of that anxiety was for nothing!

I've tried so many things to fall asleep and nothing seems to work. I've tried reading, eating something heavy, watching TV (I'll get back to this one), and even paradoxical consequences. I tell myself, "all right, I'm not going to fall asleep tonight then" and then I get really bored because there is nothing to do. Then, I feel like falling asleep, and just before I get comfortable enough possibly doze off, I think either "oh, FINALLY this is going to happen" or "Crap, this won't work" and I'm up again.

Finally, the one thing that drives me bonkers more than anything else is watching television late at night. I'm not sure why. The tendency on a lot of channels is to show the same 3-hours of night-programming over and over again until the new prorgramming schedule begins again in the "maw-nin." So, if I was watching Cartoon Network and caught Futurama or something at tennish, and then have problems sleeping the rest of the night so I decide to catch something on TV (and there is very little worth my time on at that time) I end up watching Cartoon Network, showing (yep you guessed it) Futurama. And it really angers me. Even if it's not something I already saw earlier bugs me. I can't explain it.

You know I'm turning into an old fogie when I start pining for "the good old days" back when I was at Wabash. Things didn't matter then. I could stay up as late as I wanted and experience very few reprocussions but now I have to worry about all five people that breathe down my neck if I don't do something.

Well, this has gone on long enough. It's dawn now and my head is pounding. I have to go to my no good Mother F*(&#$* pracsite later on today so that I can help people who don't want my help. I hate being there so much. I hate being here so much.

Maybe I can watch a movie or get some rest before I take off. God, I hate my prac site.

Tuesday, January 10th, 2006

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Good Lord! I've been thinking so much these last few days about my future - the topic of which pertaining to coming up with a decision on what to do. ANd yes, I know that my worry is incredibly annoying since I really don't have to come up with any real decision until April. But still, I keep thinking about it. Without even wanting to no less. The whole thing is ludicrous when I really think about it. I mean, I haven't heard anything from Madison yet, but I might and if I do, I wonder if I should stay. I hate it here, but I might have to stay. So maybe the trick is not to hate it. But then I'd miss out on the chance to go to Minnesota. But it will always be there, I suppose. But later I might not have a chance to enjoy it as much. And it jus keeps on going.

I have only had two instances of peace from this issue. One was last night during the group I had to do for my pracsite, which, by the way, went rather well despite my lack of sleep and nutrition. THe other, was while I was playing Civ. Other than that, it's swimming in my head non-stop. So I decided to turn on the television and see if maybe I could catch some NBA action to distract myself. I flip to ESPN and of all the rotten stinking luck. It's Wisconsin vs. Minnesota basketball. Bah! I let it go on as I log on to yahoosports to see which games are on and of course, Bucks vs Wolves, which -though not as strong of a connection- still involves Wisconsin vs Minnesota.

At that point I just laughed, lifted my arms in frustration and said "there is no peace for me!"

Other than that, there really isn't much going on. I awoke to an email alerting me to the fact that I would not get paid for my new TA-ship because I never went to see the Payroll office before the 9th of January. After going through my records I discovered that no such notice had ever been made to me. I recieved a note that stated that I should contact the office in question if I had queeries about such matters and particularly in order to get my medical benefits stuff taken care of. Of course, since I was a TA last semester, that stuff doesn't matter. No where on there did it say "you must fill out paperwork before January 9th in order to get paid." So whatever, I took the bus to campus, something which I had not done since the semster ended. It was just as boring as I had remembered it. And I took care of the matter. Unfortunately, I won't be getting paid till the 12th of February for my first paycheck. Oh well, this will at least teach me to be good with the little money I have.

Right now a song from Fey's "Tierna la Noche" album is playing in the background and I thought to myself "that was a really good album". In fact, that's probably one of the most perfect albums I've heard. Every song is good, has it's own distinct sound and to this day, I can't get tired of each.

So, I'm going to veer off here and see if I can list the most perfect albums I've heard in my short time on this planet. Qualifications:
1. at least 10 songs on the album in question
2. each song has a unique sound to it
3. at least 9 songs in the album (regardless of total tracks) must be pleasant to listen to
4. When I orginally came across the album, it should have been played a huge number of times
5. Can I listen to at least 8 of the total number of tracks today and not get bored/annoyed by the songs?
6. Must have at least 5 "tracks of note" - Songs that I'd recommend others to listen to

In no particular order:

Garbage: Version 2.0
tracks of note:
    Temptation waits
    I think I'm paranoid
    Special
    Push It
    The Trick is to Keep Breathing
    Dumb
    You Look So Fine
   
Fey - Tierna la Noche
    Muevelo
    Tierna la Noche
    Las lagrimas de mi almohada
    te pertenezco
    azucar amargo
    desmargaritando el corazon

Hole -Celebrity Skin
     Boys on the Radio
     Hit so Hard
     Dying
     Malibu
     Awful

John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy
     The Drop
     Funeral Pyre
     Gathering Data
     Natch Deutshcland
     Moscow Wind Up
     Bim Bam Smash
     Extreme Ways (Moby)

David Arnold - The world is not enough
     The world is not enough (garbage)
     Show me the Money/ Come in 007, your time is up
     Going down/ the Bunker
     Submarine
     Access Denied
     M's confession
     Body Double

Paul Oakenfold - Tranceport
       Time
       Greece 2000
       Rendezvous
       Someone like you
       1998
       Words

Ministry of Sound ATB and George Acosta
      Too many to list

Well, there you have it. The fact that I couldn't name more says a few things about me. 1) I'm too cheap to buy more music albums. 2) I haven't listened to much after 1999 or 2b) nothing good has come out since then. 3) I need to buy more types of music besides pop, techno and film scores. 

Well, since Funk wants to read this entry before he goes to work, I'm gonna finish here and wish you all a good rest of the night. It's really good to be back writing in this thing.

Wednesday, January 11th, 2006

I swear this is a stupid state...

I'm not kidding you. I turned on channel 15 news and heard the following: "Good Evening everyone. Police get two reports of pipe bombs downtown and respond to the scenes.... more on that in a bit but first we have some breaking news: The Packers have hired a new head coach."

To their credit, they did spend a good amount of time covering the bomb scares. This ought to add on to this "city's" already inflated sense of importance.

So I finally got in touch with Penn State, and let me tell you , they are a bunch of presumptuous little fellas. I get word that they want to interiew with me and have set up a an appointment for me on the 27th of this month. THat's it. They just expected me to drop everything and go. "well, what if that's not a possibility" I asked.

"You mean if you don't come?"
"I mean if certain obligations prevent me from going."
"Uhm... I guess in that case I would uhm... refer you to a faculty member and they could work something out."

She was so confused and unsure of any contingency plan. I don't know how you can call someone up and just expect them to say "yes I'll be there when they don't even know what the day they have to be there is until that very phone call. With classes, prac and my TA position, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it. And that's not really a good first impression vibe I got from them. Other places have faculty give me a call. This program had a student, who I'm sure is extremely busy, talk to me about this stuff. I didn't even want to ask about funding for a trip there.

Well, I told her that I would see if I could clear my schedule but I might not be able to make it. I mean seriously. These trips are so expensive. At least Missouri would have taken care of lodging and food. Here, I'd have to take the initiative for everything on my own. Ugh. Whatever.

I find these Ronald McDonald "get active, kids" commercials incredibly annoying. Luckily, the Japanese have the McHottie to get them active.

This has been a relatively slow day so there's not much to report besides the fact that I caught the third installment of "I love the 80s" THis one is called 3-D and I really think that they are running out of ideas since I remember fewer and fewer of the referenced videos, songs, and movies from the 80's with every installment. All right. I'm gonna do something else now. Take it easy.

Sunday, January 15th, 2006

Why do my sports teams all keep breaking my ever-so-delicate heart?

It's no secret that all my squadrons in the realm of basketball are sucking royally. Between Garnett having absolutely no help in Minnesota, Ron Artest forcing a huge shakeup in the pacer lineup in Indiana, and the Bulls yearning for the good old days before everyone expected a lot out of them, this year has been a mess. And now, after a whole season of slowly getting into football, mainly because of the great games played by two teams that I can sorta claim - Indy and Chicago- they both lose to the lower seeds.  I could have seen Chicago losing, but Indy? Well, I guess it wasn't a fair fight considering that Pittsburgh has the Second Coming on their side in one Big Ben "Ruthless Burger."  The funny thing is that all season, I've been so annoyed with commentators refusing to give Indy a fair amount of hype and always defending the league's pet Patriots, so when they lost yesterday,  couldn't help but gloat a lot. I mean, this was it. Now everyone would have to cut Indianapolis a slice of that hype-pie... but no. It is not meant to be.

It's been a relatively somber evening here today due to the horrid football developments of the day. But Yesterday was an all right day. Melanie dragged me out to go to a cohort get-together. I was only "sorta interested at first" but after I won the door prize of "a year supply of Moist Towelettes", I knew that God wanted me there and he had brought me to that place through His vessel, Melanie. Later, she and I teamed up and kicked MAJOR ass in a nice little game of Pictionary. I think we know how to get into each other's head - considering that we even beat out Misty and her boyfriend of two years, who should really know each other well enough to understand a concept that one is trying to communicate non-verbally to the other by this point. My favorite part was when Melanie drew an owl and the moon. "Owl?" I said. she shook her head vigorously. "night?" I proposed. "Again, no" she filled in the background.

Stars
Moon
dark
branch
Owl
Night

nothing.

It was NightOwl.

bah!

I feel that I should mention that Melanie's door prize was a pair of fruity looking gloves that felt like paws.

What else? uhm. Oh yeah, and then she took me back to her place and actually got excited about the Bucks/Nuggets game on TV. I think my super-awesome commentating skills were mostly responsible for this deep interest in a game that otherwise wouldn't matter at all. If I remember correctly, she liked my impressions of what each of the players would most likely say in a situation. ANd because I couldn't resist, I had to borrow Funk's impression of Earl Boykins, which is just a high pitched voice saying such things as "hey guys, I wanna help too. I'm gonna shoot a basket.Oh no! someone blocked the ball!"

We got a little bit into the Pacer/Bulls match up , but I didn't really care about that game that much because either way , one of my favorite teams would lose that one. I rooted for the bulls because I feel that they need a win more desperately than the Pacers do at this point, and as luck would have it, the Bulls lost.

Oh yeah, and flipped back and forth to that Denver/New England game yesterday but just for the score, as Melanie would not stand for the football, going as far as to shield her face from it. Then, I was forced to sit down and watch a figure skating thing on tv because in my irresponsible search for the game I accidentally landed on the program, and Melanie, being one to enjoy girly things like that, commanded me to watch at least one "program" as they all it in the business.

See, now, I'm not saying that figure skating doesn't require a lot of training and conditioning, but I need more competition from something if I'm going to consider it a sport.  I mean, yeah they do twirls and stuff, but how am I supposed to know if that's kicking the crap out of the previous contestant? So I pondered to Melanie:

Nando: "Do they ever have skate offs, where one contestant skates on one half of the rink and the other contestant skates on the other and they just skate until their bodies just collapse and whoever is left standing is crowned the winner?"

Melanie: "... No. They don't have those."

Useless!  From there, we ended up at Basketball- on ice! as a sport, which got me thinking about On Her Majesty's secret Service, because Funk and I always refer to the villain of the piece as "Blofeld- on ice!"

James Bond is awesome.

Okay, what's the deal, dudes? why have you not checked out the remote? Do it now!

I suppose that's really all I haveto report this weekend. I get a day off tomorrow before classes start because of DMLKJ day, so I'll probably spend it indoors relaxing before a new semester of hell starts up for me.  However, just before I wrote this thing, I caught a commercial for a fresh new video product on the market, creatively titled "guys gone wild." That's right, gentlemen, you no longer have to worry that vapid morons aren't representing you in the "take off your clothes and say something stupid" department. 

Is it true what they say about the fellows at Local University? Are they as untamed as everyone doth proclaim?

Well, I went to the website (which by the way takes forever to load) to do some... uhm... research, and I can safely say that,

Nay, I should think it is a falsehood! They are fare much more foolhardy than that!

Well, being one who likes to think a lot, I immediately started pondering, "who the hell would buy this?", "who is it even geared to?" I mean, when you have a product like "Girls gone wild" you know what your market is - stupid straight men. Maybe a few lesbians will bite due to the "hot girl on girl action" that doesn't promise to dissapoint.  But, what about this thing? I mean, maybe I just have more respect for women since I've not hung out with too many in my lifetime and don't know if a variation of the"dumb jock" type exists but I can't see a chick shelling out cash to see drunken naked dudes saying moronic things.  And I'm not sure if there's any "guy and guy action" in this collector's set, since I'm guessing most of the dudes are straight based on the fact that the "director" is a chick - or two (lofty thinking, perhaps, but still) - and do you know how impossible it is to get straight dudes to perform "hot guy on guy action" for you? It takes at least eight beers and a shady game of poker!  er.. I mean, not that I would... know. ANd even if there was, is that even something chicks dig? If so, then that, coupled with my undying love for Star Trek makes me the ultimate chick magnet! Man, I'm so confused.

This s*** is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S

My favorite part of the site is actually, the warning at the top stating: "THe direct to consumer Guys Gone Wild titles sold on this website are MUCH MORE EXPLICIT than the GGW DVDs sold in most major retail stores! These contain nudity and sexual situations. Parental discretion is srongly advised."

Really? Is it that relevant to have the same warning that Rap Artists have on their CD's?

Erica - "Hmm, I want to spend twenty bucks to see idiots strip. But I'm only 17. Better ask mom and dad."
Mom and Dad - "Well, honey. We'll have to watch it first to make sure there's nothing too hardcore in there for you."

Okay, I'm done. but know that this idea for "Guys gone Wild"  was a hell of a lot funnier when I was just making it up...shudder.

Tuesday, January 17th, 2006

Eh, what's the use, I can't win this war

I knew that my insomnia woul be a problem - I knew it! But despite my best efforts to control it, I just made things worse. Typically what occurs on nights before a big or long day, i tha I can't sleep, so in order to cut Mr. Insomnia at the pass, I took a couple of sleeping pills. This was met wth highly mixed results mostly due to the fact that I woke up at 3 am wanting to pee out the liquid that I had swallowed to take the pill in the firt place. Then, it was all I could do to fall asleep. My head was swimming, but I just couldn't do it, so I restled in bed for a while and before I knew it I was out like a light. This must have occurred around 5:30 or 6:00. At one point I awoke from my slumber to hear the television go off (I have my TV as my alarm clock). And even though I had the best intenions - the noise was so loud I would HAVE to get up to turn off the tv - I just stayed in bed and didn't wake up until 10 minutes after my bus passed. sigh. I had to use some creative thinking to get to campus on time for the lecture of the course I TA.  Luckily I made it with 1 minue to spare, even though this was still considered late since the instructor wanted us to get there a good quarter of an hour before the class started. Oh well. From there, I had two other classes to get there, and now that I am home, I feel like passing out. If you're at all curious, this is my schedule, which probably won't load.

I decided to devote this week's Power Rankings to "Events and Festivities" around the town in which the schools that are still officially in the running are located. I hope you find them as educational as I did.  And because I'm lazy, I did not shift the rankings at all fom last time.

Week Four
No 1.	"Around December, the local bar takes the place ofmost people's front rooms by providing a place for people to gather to play Trivial Pursuit, watch TV and buy tikets to win the traditional 'meat raffle' which usually consists of some lucky customer winnint 10 pounds of bologna or olive loaf" ---Insiders' Guide to the Twin Cities, 4th Edition, Berger, Day, Wick (2003)
No 2.	Pretty dry in Arizona in terms of events. Hiyo! Mostly sporting events find themselves on the ist of any Arizonianite in Tempe. However, one thing that stood out is the Dragon Boat Festival. " The two day dragon boat festival includes 500 meter boat races, vendors and entertainment. The festival is intended to promote the sport of dragon boating while raising money for charities including the Valley YMCA and the Asian/Island Pacific Americans for Advancement." Nothing raises my awarness of Asians/Pacific Islanders quite like Dragons.
No 3.	TERRACE!!!
No 4.	A quick search informed me that the three most popular things to do for recreation in Columbia are 1) bowling 2) dancing and 3) golfing. 1) I have bowled before and actually do enjoy it enough to consider it a form of recreation. 2) Increasingly, I have been wanting to learn how to shake my money-maker since it would be a heinous crime to let my obvious grace and gyrating skills go to waste.  3) As we all found ut in my consultation course with Pat, you pretty much have to learn to play golf in order to be accepted as a faculty member at any respectable university.
No 5.	Did you know that Bloomington has a Bubble Festival? How Freaking awesome is that? According to their site,  "Adults and kids of all ages are invited to explore the fascinating science of bubbles at the annual BubbleFest, sponsored by Bloomington Parks and Recreation and WonderLab Museum.  You'll find activities that are old favorites like bubble walls, frozen bubbles and painting with bubbles." However, before I get too gun-ho about going down there, I must say that I feel rather unwelcome by their Chocolate Festival. My kind isn't respected enough apparently.
No 6.	F-U, Penn State! I got notice that "oftentimes those students that do phone interviews don't get accepted when compared to the ones that actually go and visit the campus." I find this form of descrimination to be grossly unfair! So I have no money. Is that any reason to not accept me? Bunch of racetards! You wanna know what there is to do in Penn State? College Republican KKK parites. There, I said it!
No 7.	"Festival of the Trees?" what the crap is this? The trees better be symbolic of anything BUT trees! What the hell is so special about trees anyway that they need their own festival? The ony way I'm going is if there's a picnic involved where people eat on paper plates, wipe themselves with paper towels, carry everything in paper bags and litter everyhere! I hate trees!
No 8.	It rains. a lot.
No 9.	Holy crap! There's a Medieval Fair in Gainesville every January!  "For two weekends, step back in time to the middle ages with over 120 artisans, entertainment, food, jousting, living chess match and much more."  By the Hilt of Zerbiak! This doth sound like a grand venture. I need to contact Dr. Campbell so he can teach me Ye Olde English.
No 10.	Adding more credence to Funk's declaration that Austin is Madison, I just realized that Austin is the state capital of Texas! Information from Rough Guides:  "AUSTIN was only a tiny community on the verdant banks of the (Texas) Colorado River when Mirabeau B. Lamar, president of the Republic, suggested in 1839 that it would make a better capital than swampy and disease-ridden Houston."  But it is rather unique from Mad-Town in that they have a barbeque cook off and rodeo show every march! Sign me up!
No 11.	No soup for you!

Wednesday, January 18th, 2006

"Not Even Close..."

The words I uttered after the first day of discussion sections when I had wondered how meaningful this was in comparison to last semester. I ran into one of my former spanish students during the day, which I'm sure means something symbollic but I can't really bring myself to come up with any meaning short of "lord, I miss teaching spanish"

I leave you all with a question... has Borm posted anything on the Forums yet?

Thursday, January 19th, 2006

I hate to admit this... but they really might all look alike to me

I have made an intriguing discovery this week. Although, I'm not sure if I've hypothesized on this before. Either way, I've at the very least rediscovered it. That being, that I have an easier time remembering men than women - both in appearance and in monikers.  I know what youre thinking. "Well OBVIOUSLY! I mean you like dudes!" However, as I think about it, A guy doesn't have to be good looking for me to remember his name and what he looks like. Of the 80 students I have, I am certain that I can remember what their names are and picture them. I guess you could make the argument that this is mostly because there are fewer men. However, in terms of numbers, remembering the girls' info is much more difficult and I don't think I can remember half as many of their stff.

That's not to say that  don't remember any of them. As I think back I tend to remember chicks that are more vocal in class. Or who aren't white. Weird no? I think white girls might just all look alike to me unless they say a tremendous amount of stuff in class. is this true for men? Well, it makes it kinda hard to answer the question if it is true - how can I think of examples of guys I don't remember (because theyre quiet) if I don't remember them?  So there you have it. I'm male-biased. So why is this?

The only thing I can think of is that regardless of orientation, my life has revolved around men. Thus,  have mental schema patterns already in place. As a result, it is easier for me to remember names and faces because the men I encounter only have to contribute a small amount to make a huge impression on me due to the fact that they could remind me of someone or fit some pattern of someone's appearance tat I've already encountered. With women, there are no such patterns in place, and each one's features kinda blur with the rest. That's not saying that I always think of women as being the same. Just that it takes more to make a lasting impression on me than men. Does that kinda make sense? Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass.  Regardless, I do find it fascinating.

Something else I find fascinating is the fact that for the second day in a row, I have come across a different former Spanish student of mine. This time, I was in the Ed Sciences building and she was late to her class so i helped her find it. It;s such a huge campus. What are the chances? I wonder who I will bump into tomorrow.

All right. I;m done. Later.

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

I think  may have slept a total of 30 hours this last week

For only the third time in my life I have gone a full night without any sleep. As you can imagine  - things have not improved as far as my sleeping goes. So brace yourselves because this entry may sound a bit weird at times. No, I'm not drunk, but it's as close as I'll ever get to sounding like an intoxicated  lunatic I suppose. Despite my best efforts, I just can't seem to get any sleep. Obviously this is something psychological since last semester I slept pretty well and could have slept more, as opposed to now where I wake up after four hours and can't seem to go back to sleep. On sunday, I decided to correct my schedule once and for all, waking up at 6 after receiving four hours of and attempting to stay up until two in the morning. THis was an almost impossible task which required me to expend as little energy as possible. As a result I stayed in bed and watched tv most of the day. My thoughts were all focused on the simplest objects imaginable. No pondering big questions that came up during the day (like why the Timberwolves suck so damn much). IN the end I managed to succeed. I went to bed at 1:00 and then woke up later. Fortunately I was able to fall back asleep that time. But somehow that all came undone on Monday where I made up for it by not sleeping a wink. This used to really frustrate me and stress me out at night, when I would bang my head and wish for oblivion.

Now, however, I just find it annoying. Mostly because it detracts so much time from me. After using paradoxical strategies, where you invite sleep by telling yourself that you are , in fact, going to stay up all night, I realized that I actually could stay up all night. So, after that I began resting in bed - not so much expecting sleep but if it came that would be a great thing. Of course that left me feeling rather annoyed by the end because I realized that I could have used that time to study or do more work before my head started to feel like it was going to pop due to the lack of sleep I had recieved that night.  Well, whatever the case may be, I made an appointment this morni... this nigt... oh whatever the hell 4:00 am would be considered - with my doctor for Wednesday. This has to end. Although I really wish I knew what it was that has me so anxious this semester that wasn't there before. Maybe it's extended clients at my prac site? More responsibilities? I don't know. ALl I know is that it's not fun to feel a vocalo has ass-ploded in your mind.

Let's turn our attention now to more pleasant things. Firstly. Go here now and read the review FUnk and I posted for the ROLLERBALL movie. As you may or may not be aware, there is a new series on A&E called Rollergirls, which, by the way, I do not hail to be as "arts" nor "entertainment." I got the chance to watch half of an episode. Let's see how much I can remember. In Austin, TX (my native soil according to Dr. Rosenberg) the last place HellCats (and protagonists of the show) prepare for a showdown with the vicious Holy ROllers, who only lost one game last season, that are coming to invade their turf. Right away we see the difference in mentality for these two teams. The HellCat;s coach wants to inspire them off the bat. All she keeps saying throughout the first half is how the Rollers are going to get their buts wooped, without any real evidence to support this claim. In fact, my money would be on the Rollers at this point. The Holy Rollers dress in Catholic School Garb - only it's really tight, torn and painted over with all sorts ofdark colors. We know as soon as we see them that we should not mess with these girls.

As The HellCat Punky Bruiser states in her interview on Austin Radio, she and her compatriot Catalac, who is also in the booth with her, "are Rollergirls. We kick butt." That's really all I can remember, save for the Holy Rollers pissing off Austin Motorists as they land in the city of... hmm, does Austin have  nick name? Let's find out. Well, fittingly enough, Austin has more of a slogan than a description, which is a declaration to "Keep Austin Weird" With this fresh brand vixens,  someone submitted to the demands. Damn you Hollywood, that's not right!

Good News: Bloomington wants to interview me! Bad News: Bloomington wants to interview me. Sigh. I hate how pretentious Bloomington and Penn State are where they just think I'll drop everything and pay for my own ticket and lodging somehow down there for TWO friggin days of interviews! Sure, I have nothing to worry about over here, I can be there anytime you want. That's the ironic part too, which I'm sure s lost on them. If it weren't for all of my undertakings and responsibilities, my application would not have been considered to this point. And now, I'm being penalized because the implication is that if I don't go down there and just drop every one of my responsibilities, I probably won't get in.

Though it looks improbabl, I'm going to see if I can make up an exam, get a replacement for that week's group, cancel my other sessions for that week, and see if someone can cover for me in my TA sections.

Let's get to the rankings: Population edition.

Week Five
No 1.	Population of 51,194 - second largest in US. The Mascot are the Golden Golphers.
No 2.	Largest university in the US with 51612 students. The Mascot is ... Sparky the Sun Devil? what the hell? I find that offensive for Worshippers of Christ, Satan and Rah.
No 3.	Population of 42, 000 students. Mascot is the Bucky Badger. I'm a badger, badger badger....
No 4.	Enrollment of 27,000 students. The BengalTiger is their Mascot.
No 5.	Population of 35,694 students.  Their mascot is the... what the crap? No mascot? Hmm... you know, I hate to say this but Indiana is beginning to sound less and less appealing... short of the Bubble Festival.
No 6.	Enrollment  of 41,289 students. Their Mascot is the Littany Lion.
No 7.	Ever notice how the Georgia G can mistrun into the Green Bay Packers G? Why is that? Enrollent of 32,000 (approx) students. Mascot - a bullog of some sort.
No 8.	Population of 20,339 students. Their sports team is known as the Ducks. What could inspire more terror in the hearts of man, than an expensive and  delicious dinner plate?
No 9.	Population of approximately 41, 094 stuents. THe Mascot is a Gator. But not just any gator, oh no. This one is specially named the ALbert E. Gator.
No 10.	50, 377 students. the mascot- the Rollergirl... er I mean the Long horn.
No 11.	Whoa, coming in at the smallest number of students on the list is BC with 13,341 students. The Mascot- Don Hennley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner.

Wednesday, January 25th, 2004

Four More Years? Four More Years? Four More Years?

Quite a number of events have occured within the last 40 hours or so. Firstly, I got that interview with Missouri out of the way. It went rather well, all things considered. To quote Homer Simpson. "Now we play the waiting game.... eh the waiting game sucks; let's play Hungry, Hungry Hippos." You know how I have been unable to make it to all of those interviews to Universities all over the country. Well the one place where I could actually make it to the interview - Madison (since I live right here)- prohibits face-to-face interviews because it could bias the interviewer so they HAVE to be over the phone. This lead to quite a ridiculous- and therefore amusing- few minutes today. When I got word yesterday that I had an interview coming up, I scheduled it for 15 minutes after I was done with my TA sections - 1:15.

However, once I heard that the interviews were over the phone, I had really no idea what i could do since I was already going to be on campus. I thought I would hang out in the lounge, located a few steps away from the prof who I had to talk to's office. However, when I got there, it was filled to capacity and I thought this would not be a very good place to do it. So I looked all over the building for a room that was unoccupied, and the only one I could find was directly across the hall from his office. I couldn't help but laugh. My fear was that I'd be in there chatting it up when someone would burst in wanting the room, leaving me to talk to Doc Wampold over the phone right outside his office. Having no other recourse, I raced to the Ed Sciences building as time was running out - but not before asking the secretary for the prof's phone number since my plan to look it up online in the lounge was obviously not going to happen due to the huge number of people in there. She looked at me so strangely. Yeah, that's the same reaction I had whn I read the letter. Anyway, when I got to the Ed Scienes builing, the lounge there was locked on account of the secretary being out all week. Fortunately, I still had my key that had been entrusted upon me to conduct my interviews for my thesis and I ran into the room and called up the dude and had a rather nice chat. Among the topics we covered:

-Though frowned upon, it sounds like it would be likely to finish the program here in four years
-Funding is not guaranteed, but the fact that I have that fellowship from the Graduate School that carries over makes it VERY likely that I will be accepted since it's one year fewer that the department has to support me on its own.
-90% of the doctoral students hate stats but have to learn to like them since that's a huge component of the program.

Again, the waiting game. But this is gonna be interestin'.

I also ran into yet ANOTHER former student of mine on the way to the student lounge, which means that I have now come across a former Spanish student of mine now in EVERY one of the buildings I have to go to on campus. I go to the Psych Building for the lecture and TA sections on Human Sexuality. I go to the Educational Sciences building for my course on Human Development, and I go to the Education building for all my courses on Counseling Psych. 

What else? oh yeah. I actually got some decent sleep last night. Over 8 hours. Lets hope I can keep it up.

Since I have no interviews for a while, let's update the standings and catch up on where the ACTUAL placement of each place is since I haven't done so in a few weeks due to my laziness.

Week 5.5 - nothing fancy Power Rankings

01) Minnesota - Accepted
02) Madison - Considered/Interviewed
03) Missouri - Considered/Interviewed
04) Arizona - No correspondence
05) University of Texas @ Austin - No Correspondence
06) Bloomington - Considered/ Interview on February 20
07) University of Oregon - No Correspondence
08) Boston College - No Correspondence
09) Florida - No Correspondencee
10) Athens - Considered/Yet to be Interviewed
11) Penn State - Considered/Yet to Interview

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

I'm up to a six-hour average of sleep these last three days!

Well, as many of you out there in BBX-dom know by now, a dark cloud has appeared over Minnesota as the Zerbman has been sent packing. Unfortunately, this will do very little for the struggling T-wolves. Catching the T-wolves on the Yahoo GameChannel last night, I noticed a few things. Yeah, Ricky Davis got 26 points, tying Garnett,  but they were playing Houston and after being up 14 (when I started following) the wolves still let the other team back in it. Even though they won, it still raises my eyebrow to know that they're letting teams score on them so easily. I caught a very informative article on the matter written by the eloquent and often times hilarious Steve Kerr, who used to shoot 3's for Chicago during the Championship years. I'll forgive the fact that he later went to San Antone. Regardless, I finally got to read about the "Joe Smith incident" as everyone refers to it. Kerr makes a frighteningly good point that the only real way to give Minnesota a chance at being a contender is to let Garnett go - as unthinkable as it may seem - due to the salary cap hell that ensued after the illegal 1999 debacle orchestrated by Kevin McHale. Geeze, he ruins the team for three years by sacrificing draft picks and then tops it off by firing Flip Saunders when the wolves were struggling last year. Good Move. Which coach has the best record in the league? More importantly, what is that record? You know, I woulda lost my cool a while back if I was Garnett - instead of givng up my pay and time for McHale. Well, it's sad, either way. I am curious to see if anything changes in Minnesota, despite Kerr's pessimistic reporting, but no matter what, it really isn't the same team I fell in love with back in 2003.

Now, as for the Artest Trade, I'm glad DJ Wally scratched the vinyll for Boston to kick the King's butts in Artest's debut. I'm not glad, however, to see that Cavs beat the Pacers that same night. It should be noted, though, that much like last year, the Pacers were undermanned, which is actually kind of humorous if you just step back and analyze the Pacers last season with the Pacers this season. Now that Peja is in town though, I expect big things from this team. Yeah, yeah, they don't have J1, but he really wasn't all that important right? Right?

Holy crap! That Bastard, Chris Andersen got dismissed from the NBA for being a Bastard! You know, you dream of this day for so very long... and then, when it finally happens, you don't know what to say.  Well, in truth, I hope the Buh-Buh-Buh Birdman The Birdman gets the help he needs so that he can come back to the NBA and be breaking the backs of attractive players all around the league again.

All right, enough of that nonsense. Let's get to the P-ranks for the week. And this time, they are fully adjusted. I think I should point out that this keeps track of where I'm most likely to go based on 1) my interest in the place (which is based on several factors) and 2) if they hve accepted me or the likelihood that I will be accepted there.

Week Seven
No 1.	That's it! It's over! I'm going to Boston! - all right, just kidding. Let's start the real list...stupid T-wolves, grumble mumble...
No 1.	Man, I'm getting a bit restless over here. I still only know about minnesota offering me a position. I sent them an email enquiring about funding, and they referred me to someone else who still hasn't gotten back to me. Did you know that Minnesota's average for the coldest month is 22 F (january) and 83 F for it's hottest month (July)?
No 2.	I've got a feeling that this deal is pretty much sealed. As I've explained, my fellowship that carries over for a year grants me a free year of funding from the Grad School so the department won't have to worry about funding me for that year. It's all about the politics. January is the coldest month in Madison and it gets to be around 27 degrees (these are all the highs by the way). July is the hottest, 84 F.  Wait that doesn't make a lick of sense. How can Minnesota report higher highs for the coldes month if it's colder up there? And Madison is only one degree wamer? Bah! Weather.com, you suck.
No 3.	It's all quiet on the Western Front with neither Oregon or ASU or Austin getting back to me. Nothing good can come of this. Or maybe ASU is planning a suprise accetance party for me. One day, before I know it, I'll recieve a letter and ASU will pop out and scream SURPRISE! Or it will be a rejection letter. Either way. January is the coldest Month, coming in at 68F, and July is the warmest with 104F.
No 4.	University of Misouri- Columbia, or "Mizzou" as all the cool kids are calling it might take me in. The interview went well, but since I wasn't there in person, I am not sure if I'll get in. Coldest Month: January, 37F; Warmest: July, 89F.
No 5.	I yearn to go back to my native land of Texas. Oh, I realize that some of you may not be familiar with this story (particularly since I can't seem to find it on my "personal sight" [yet another obscure reference]). Well one December night in 2002, after mostly everyone had left for Winter Break, Funk and I remained and were on a quest to determine which Bond intro sequences were the coolest. At the time, I was missing a couple of films (Thunderball was one), so we jetted off to the local Family Video for cheap VHS rentals. To our surprise, we found Professor Rosenberg there. Now, for this story to work, you have to appreciate that Rosenberg is the Liberal dude in the English Department at Wabash - and that's saying something since it's chock full of hippies. He's all about being multicultural and crap like that. Anyway, so we run into him and say hello. I am not sure how much small talk we made but we come to this point where he asks me if I'm staying in C-ville or "going back to Texas? You're from Texas right?" I just kind of shrug it off and correct him. I tell him that I'm from Chicago. "oh, okay." he says. We end the convo and I procede to check out Thunderball. Like I said, I didn't think much of Rosenberg's comment. Particularly because a lot - and I mean a LOT of the Hispanics students at Wabash are... from... Texas. Then Funk points that out to me, and I realize how incredibly racist that comment could have seemed. I start cracking up. We have Liberal Hippie Multicultural Rosenberg thinking that I'm from Texas just cuz I'm Hispanic. oh mercy! I tell Jason this story and he still hasn't forgotten it. It's a good thing that Funk pointed out this whole thing to me, otherwise the next time I walked into Rosenberg's office would have been a bit awkward since he did apologize right off the bat and I wouldn't have known why exactly. "I mean, he justthought I was from somewhere I'm not. It's no big deal." But yeah. Texas. My native land. Where the coldest month is January (60F) and the warmest is August (96F).
No 6.	Why is Texas above Indiana? Why is Indiana so far down? In this case, not hearing from a place has actually helped it in comparison with hearing back from another. It is looking increasingly unlikely that I will be able to make it to the interview at Bloomington. Now, this isn't just any other interview that can be done over the phone. Much like Penn State's interview process this goes for two days and i really doubt that a phone conversation is going to cut it enough to where it's considered a worthy supplement to the actual experience of going there. Coldest Averages come in January (36F), Warmest are in July (86F).
No 7.	Now before you go ahead and think that this one is all Szczerbiak, if you will notice last week's P-ranks, you will notice that Boston College was already climbing up on the list. Despite the fact I have yet to hear anything from them. January =36, July = 82.
No 8.	To quote the great Charles Barkley: "you gotta get in the game!" Oregon's not even showing up to play. Of course the other universities are going to rank higher when the defense splits like the Red Sea. Coolest Month: December, 46F. Hottest Month: August, 82.
No 9.	I got a phone call from the state Florida the other day. I could not pick it up though as I was on the buss. There was no message for me. January: 66, July: 91
No 10.	Stil waiting on an interview. But any deal I get from Georgia has to be astronomically good. January: 51, July: 90
No 11	I may say whatever I want about the department here at Madison, but as silly as it was to have to do a phone interview with Dr. Wampold, at least the purpose of that is to account for low socio-economic status. The department is at least conscious of the fact that if they do face to face interviews, only those who can afford to travel will go. This way, it's all level. Penn State. Ridiculous. January: 32F, July 81F

Tuesday, January, 31st, 2006

Beware the Bird Flu!

Good Lord! Yesterday was an experience I would much rather not repeat for many, many moons. I woke up feeling incredibly congested. ANd I mean everywhere. My nose, my throat, even my eyes had crap stuffed up inside of them.  Nothing really hurt at first. It was just a really nasty feeling coupled with an incredible weakness. So I called into prac and told them that I was not going to be in today, which made me wonder what was going to happen with that group that I cofacilitate, and asked them to cancel all of my appts for the day. Noticing that my supply of chicken soup and placebos was runnin low, I drove to the local Copps and bought me some.  Things soon got worse though. By seven o'clock (Central), my body was burning up. Everything was so incredibly hot - my forehead, my chest, my thighs - even my Adam's Apple. I swear that I felt my head was going to burst!  I soon became delerius and started talking to myself about going back to London. Yeah, I don't get it either, but after finishing about three bowls of Chicken Noodle Soup, I took a nap, and when I awoke, my fever had broken. In its wake, were a lot of  crappy symptoms like a stuffy nose(s pervert), mild cough, and a bit of a headache.  Feeling kinda crappy this morning, I decided to take this day off too. So I let the Human Sexuality prof know that I wouldn't be at her lecture and let my own prof know I wouldnt be in class. I'm still not at 100%, but i can sorta function enough to do work, unlike yesterday.  At least I got to watch FIVE hours of star trek to help me with my fever. And I could have watched an additional two in the evening. That's smething that makes me happy - Star Trek Deep Space Nine is on twice a day followed by THREE episodes of The Next Generation - arguably the best Sci-Fi drama series of all time- on spikeTV. Then, as if that wern't enough, on G4TechTv, they have TWO more episodes of TNG starting at 7pm. So, if I play my card right, I could be watching seven hours of Trek. Not that I haven't seen every one of those episodes before.

After reading through the last part of that paragraph I felt a huge ure to delete the last few sentences on account of the fact that they make me sound like a nerd.  They're staying in though.

Anyway, so yeah, that horrible fever. I must say that I hadn't felt that bad since Junior Year of College. Now this was back when I was sleeping in the BatCave (I hope I don't have to explain to everyone what the BatCave is). One day- a Thursday, I believe- I woke up and was geared to go to Castro's British Modernism course, when something strange happened. I got up and I felt incredibly weak. THe room was spinning , and I just collapsed back on the bed. This would happen every thirty minutes or so. Finally, it was after lunch, and I heard Funk coming into the adjoining room. He started singing along with his music. At that point, realizing that I was weak and in need of nurishment, I yelled out "Funk!" "Andy!" but it was all in vain.  Not because Funk's music was too loud, but simply due to the fact that my voice was too weak to be audible. Finally, I gathered up all my strength and yelled out, "FUNK!" piercing my own sensitive hearing. He came in and I asked him to please go to the cafeteria and bring me a large cup of OJ.

Afterwards, I just fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning. The funny thing is that it came from nowhere, that weakness. Another curiuos thing is that unlike yesterday, I didn't really have any symptoms or congestion - maybe just a fever- but the next day I awoke rejuvinated with slight cough and a funny voice. THis is weird because typically if I'm sick, it takes the form of a fever and something else- stuffy nose, runny nose, soar throat, cough, etc.

Well, there you go. And it's interesting that I got sick yesterday because not two days ago I was just remembering the time Chua lost all feeling on the side of his face. "I want to close my eye, but I just... can't... do ... it" he said as he twitched. Tony was especially mean to him, impersonating one of those early 20th century announcers, advising everyone to "come one, come all and see the amazing Lip-Quiver Boy. One night only, presented to you by Wringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Step right up!" 

Hey, the "New-Look T-wolves" beat up on the Celtics last night.  YOu know, everyone always just assumed that because I had the hots for the Zerbman, that I just liked him and not the T-wolves, but this experience has taught me that I care more about the team - or KG to be more accurate- than the Zerbman. It was just fun having him on there. I don't think I could like the Celtics though. Maybe if they paid me.  So let's see what else is going on. I see Ron Artest is yet to win a game for Sacramento, which is sad considerng they lost to Toronto! The Pacers take on the Wiz tonight. That should be a good way of easing Peja into the team- with an effortless victory.

Man, when did the Hornets become a 500 team in the West? Thats bananas! All right, enough of this. I must depart and work on stuff.

Oh yeah, and Oregon is back in the race, as they let me know they want an interview with me!

FS