Action 10 has a story about snow and a (red) truck accident in east tennessee on tonight. You bet I'm watching the news. it's strange to hear about your hometown on the news when you're 8 hours away.
The story: It was about a multi-vehicle crash in JC this morning, because of the snow. The Press will probably have an article tomorrow about it, with names. I called mom (who had no idea about it, since she watched a movie instead of the news tonight), and we triangulated the location to the section of intersnake right outside the CBS station in JC, near the Nelson Fine Art Gallery and Munsey.
Today is a non-errand, watch the snow day due to fever. At least, I think I have a fever: my non-trusty thermometer which always reads a few dregrees lower than it should, is putting me in the "above normal" range, and I'm burning up with the fan on and a window open. I'll make rice pudding, drink water, and read my new books and old commercial art books.
What actually happened this weekend: I went to a wedding; the bride was radient, the ceremony was lovely, and nobody objected. The reception was fun, I had too much champagne, and took a flying leap out of somebody's too-tall jeep (while it was stationery). I talked to a lot of people, wandered outside without a coat (after asking at the front desk how to get back to my hotel), and woke up in the correct bed without much of a hangover and with more beer than I'd brought.
What happened this weekend, in my head: During the reception, pirates came and took over the dollar dance, making sure that they got lots of booty and gold, then carried them off. Pirates would have made really good dj's. The at the hotel, beer goblins got into my cooler, multiplying with the beer fairies, which produced the Bud Light. It was cold outside and my chin hurt.
How this story would have been better: More pirates
DETROIT - Robert Kearns, the inventor of intermittent windshield wipers, has died of cancer, according to family members. He was 77. Kearns died Feb. 9 at his home in suburban Baltimore and was buried in Michigan on a misty Valentine's Day. "It was going just enough to have the wipers going on intermittent. I thought, `How appropriate,'" Kearns' daughter, Maureen Kearns, told the Detroit Free Press for a story published Friday. [more of the article]
As a bonus: ez-bake pc mod. Really. It comes with cake mix and 'Special office friendly recipes including "Duck Sauce Packet Tart", "Vending Machine Casserole", and "Non-Dairy Creamer Creme Brulee".'
I'd like to build a site where I can alienate my friends, because they suck, and I, obviously, am way super-cool. I could just post about how cool I am and how all viewpoints that aren't exactly mine are wrong, and those people are stupid and must hate America, bunnies and babies. It would be a land of bad grammar, bad spelling, and poor punctuation. It'd be called hateme.com
To compliment it, I'd also make loveyou.com, and talk about the cuteness of bunnies and babies, how much I love America. It too would use poor punctuation and grammar.
M, one of the DDD advisors, got me to stay and watch the finale of Project Runway last night after an advisor meeting. I was stunned: it was great. We cheered at the tv like it was a football game- yelling when the show looked like it might be going the wrong way, incredulous when players tried to pull crap (Kara Saun and the shoes), and laughed when players were dumb (Kara Saun and her inability to listen to reality.) M's husband, coming home halfway through, stayed on the porch to watch tv. Already, we can't wait for the second season to come out and I'm hoping, by then, I'll have Bravo.
Today, I could tell that the seasons were changing. Not just from the tuplis and daffodils starting to creep up in flower gardens, but also from the boys who play in front of a house down the street. While I was running, instead of asking if I wanted to play catch with a football, they asked if I wanted to play basketball.
Howl! Yesterday was a full Wolf Moon or Hunger Moon. It is a turning point in the year's abundance. This time of emptiness and barren tables will grow voluptuously from now on. Every life ebbs and flows with the universe. Dance in the moonlight and unite with the cycle of life. (I know naked dancing is a little difficult this time of year but do your best.)
I say, everyday should include naked dancing, especially when you just got out of the shower.
Gizoogle I especially like the end of the post about cadavers: Hopefully, straight trippin' out will be a reaction limited ta see'n Dad wizzay at tha hospital, not Cynthia n Uncle G wizzork in tha morgue . Ya fuck with us, we gots to fuck you up.
So, the tour was somewhat anti-climactic. I saw the stuff, which was cool, and I saw the neat programs, which was also cool. But the person who called me and the guy I met at Sonka's were both not there. The CS and GA guys I met were nice, they showed me things, seemed really interested, but the guy in charge that day had a very different idea of what a CS from Rose should be doing, should be interested in, and what I'd bring to the table. Plus, they weren't actually looking for someone to fill a job, since they don't have any open right now, more scouting out what "resources are available in town."
They did give me some good direction on 3D packages to play with, and tools and skills that the industry's looking for in graphics people, so I'm going to start getting some of those demos and playing.
Remember that guy I met at Sonka's who noticed my Rose-Hulman shirt? So, in half an hour, I have a plant tour with his company, which can also turn into an interview for a CS/Graphic Art jorb. I'm meeting with one of the CS guys and the resident Graphic Artist, the CS guy being someone I went to school with, but only know of him because he dated one of the DDDs.
Because I'm getting so nervous when I check the admission status page at GA Tech, I'm limiting myself to one check per week. Let's see how long my self-restraint can hold out.
Also, It's after noon, and I haven't seen or smelled Stan.
I recently read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It's entertaining without being disrespectful. Cadavers really do lead interesting lives, from human anatomy labs to surgery and embalming practice; participating in decay experiments in the Body Farm at UT to being part of impacttesting in labs to providing infomation about a crash. I thought it was most interesting to find out what they're not used for: ballistics testing. They use a gelatin material that doesn't spring back like human matter does. Plus, it's much easier to clean up the simulant. For the end, I agree with the author: The deceased may have indicated their wishes for their post-mortem adventures, but it really depends on what the living are comfortable with. So, friends and future partner, if you outlive me, give me back to nature ready for compsting in a cornstarch coffin. Should I outlive you all- to science I go, to teach others about medicine, since I can't stand much about the practice now without the threat of losing consciousness. Or my lunch. Reading this book did, however, spark an interest in going to see the business that goes on in morgue at the Funeral Home. Hopefully, passing out will be a reaction limited to seeing Dad work at the hospital, not Cynthia and Uncle G work in the morgue.
Remember that huge crack in my living room ceiling that I complained about over a month ago? Yeah, when Stan came to check on the leak (which turned out to be a different upstairs neighbor's shower) and I asked about what was happening to the crack, he said, "Oh, right, Wendy said I should check that out." By the time he comes back Monday with a ladder, Wendy will have gotten an earful from me about all of this, especially now that I have two ceiling spots that need fixing.
Since I'm still up with three pots collecting water and calling the landlord every half hour, I talked to Aunt (Uncle) M this morning. I told him about the leaking hallway and the ginormous crack in the living room and he introduced me to a new legal term:Constructive Eviction. According to him:
"That is when a place becomes so uninhabitable that the court regards it as if the landlord had evicted you. That is, it is a breach of contract by the landlord, not the tenant. Therefore, if you feel the conditions are so bad that you want to bag it...you can without being forced to pay the remainder of the lease or other penalty for what would be YOUR breach of the lease. Other aspects of it are that you can choose to not pay rent for the time that the apt. is a hellhole. Of course, you need to provide reasonable notice to the landlord, give him/her an opportunity to ameliorate the breach and so on...but the law is (generally) with you."
So, I'm hoping to, at the minimum, get my carpet cleaned because of this or, at the maximum, be able to move out if she does her usual "fix the symptoms but not the cause" job.
The leak in the hallway. There's no light in the hallway, so I also had to take a picture to see what was going on. I had a flashback of last time I was in a leaky-ceilinged apartment...
Post-WineFest, I was hoping to tell some tale of drunkeness, blah blah blah. But I came home, slept for a few hours, and woke to my ceiling leaking. Taking a trip upstairs, it sounds like it's coming from the apartment above me. Now, if only the power would go out...
A guys who, with his duffel bag, took up the entire sidewalk
A cute old lady, dressed all in pink*
Sig Pi's smashing a guitar while standing on the roof of their house
*She said something to me, but I was listening to running music, so I didn't quite hear what she said. I think it was something about committing suicide, that I had big thighs, or that I have pretty eyes.
An indignant Israeli is suing a pet shop that he says sold him a dying parrot, reports the Ma'ariv newspaper. Itzik Simowitz of the southern city of Beersheba contends the shop cheated him because the Galerita-type cockatoo not only failed to utter a word when he got it home, but was also extremely ill. Mr. Simowitz adds that the shop owner assured him the parrot was not ill but merely needed time to adjust to its new environment.
Not quite nailed to the perch or exhausted after a prolonged squawk, but perhaps it could still be replaced with a slug.
In Victorian times, two women who lived together instead of marrying were said to be in a "Boston Marriage," where their devotion to each other (in a time when women were thought to have no sex drive and homosexuals were definitely evil) was socially acceptable. The relationship was was marriage-like, but the women were independent, single, and self-supporting, and most of these "Boston Marriages" were not lesbian. So I guess the question would be, "Eva and Rachel, will you Boston Marry me?"
The lovely people in the GA Tech program to which I am applying sent me an email today saying that my transcripts are missing. The transcripts that I sent at the same time as my (recieved on time) portfolio. At least I know that they're looking.
As a pre-Valentine thing (also known as "it's Sunday, it's raining, and we're both bored out of our skulls",) TCB and I took a trip up in the mountians to Georgia's Wine Highway and stopped in for tastings at Frogtown and Three Sisters. It was getting late, about 4pm, but both were open: Frogtown for their 2004 release party (postponed from last week because of ice.) Both places were nice, but I liked Three Sisters better: their wines, while I didn't like some of them really at all, at least all tasted different from each other. I especially liked their Dahlonega Gold, an ice wine that's done by cryogenically freezing the grapes instead of leaving them on the vine, like they do in Canada. But since they froze them artificially, they can't call it an ice wine, just a dessert wine. We ended up with a bottle of that, some of Three Sister's Vidal Blanc (made with the same grapes as the Gold), and Frogtown's Vineaux Blanc and Roussanne. Last night, with dinner we had some of the Frogtown wines, and I just wasn't too thrilled with them with food.
Like Modest Needs: 2-1-1.org, but provides more connections instead of money. Saw it on late-night tv. Wish I'd known about Modest Needs earlier, I might have applied. Damn! If only I read the magazines in which they were mentioned!
While running today, on running-in-shoes mile 26 of the year, I slightly twisted my ankle. Fortunately, it was the ankle I hadn't twisted during football, so, through awesome reflexes and jumping over my foot, I was able to keep going through mile 27.
Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Today is not only Chinese New Year (thanks, George), it's 4703, the year of the Rooster, I'm a Rooster, so it's my year! As a bonus, it's also my half birthday today. Who's up for some celebration?!
I spent Mardi Gras working the bar, which was very full. My *favorite* customer of the night was a guy, when I was running around, arms full of glasses (even with the new shipment, we ran out of glass glasses), having just taken three orders, wanted to just give me his food order, and then got pissy when I flat out told him, "I'll come to your table when I'm finished filling the orders I've already taken, and I'm going to forget your order if you give it to me now."
Always gets me, when people think that their order is the most important, that all bartenders should stop taking the orders of people waiting longer, and get to their order now. Kenny, the jaded bartender, was shocked the first time I told someone "Wait your turn, we'll get to you."
I disappeared this weekend in a haze of beer and smoke. Friday, after work, I went and drank at DSP, followed by a hike to Denny's and bed at 6 am. Then I was up at 10:30 to go back to Sonka's for Polar Ice and had my first beer at 11:30. I took a little break for some of the DDD's last swim meet ever, and to get cigars withtheboys (and ashamaley.)
Back at my house, we watched Shaolin Soccer. Well, they watched it, I fell asleep through the part I'd already seen. Joel stayed to watch some Buffy season 7 and sleep on a couch instead of the floor, I promised to bring him back to Indy the next day (his birthday!), and the other three left.
Sunday, I woke with a terrible, drums-in-the-back-of-the-head headache. Joel and I watched some more Buffy, and then it was off to Indy, where we all sat around waiting for slow people (who never ended up being ready) to go to lunch. Eventually we ditched them and ate anyway. Instead of driving back to teh Haute then, I stuck around to watch the Super Bowl. Don't ask who I was for, I was kinda rooting for a nap and a boring, blowout game. But we did go to Ritters at halftime.
I intended to leave, again, after watching The Simpsons, but when I went to say goodbye to everyone at the other of the two apartments, I realised I was either just too tired to drive home, or knew subconciously that I had nothing to do Monday, and wanted to stay, talk about Buffy, and do some more laughing with the restoftheguys.
So I stayed, we watched Bubba Ho-Tep. I froze on the floor, curled up in a ball with a borrowed pair of scrub pants from Nagi, size XXL, and all the clothes in my car. I swear, the one week I clean out the clothes in my car... Anyway, I wouldn't have traded freezing for my comfy quilt (But I'm really glad Joel let me borrow his when he left for a jorb interview.)
In all, I had an awesome weekend, I was sad that I had to leave to come back for chapter tonight and work tomorrow night. But what other group can I, when they start talking about things I don't care about or don't know about, can tell them that I'm zoning out and thinking about sex, and nobody gets offended?
It's going to be over 50 today. Somehow, it doesn't seem like ideal Polar Ice Party weather, where you've traditionally had to drink your beer sorta fast, so it didn't freeze.
Stan Stan the Maintenance Man has a distinctive smell. I can always tell if he's been in my apartment, in the building, or near the building from the smell of stale smoke that always follows him. While I was running today, I learned that the smell also wafts behind his truck.
Last night, Sonka's was busy enough to use all of the chairs. It was like old times. And I found another reason to wear Rose-Hulman shirts when I work- sometimes it gets me an interview for a graphic art/CS job. I met the CEO of the company last night.
Last night, I invited some of the DDD girls over for a movie, around 10:30. We watched Sliding Doors, good for an intellectual romantic comedy night with a low vodka quotient. And then, as sorority girls do, we started talking. Until 4 am.
My AirPort card arrived today and it was in my computer within 10 minutes, following the easy-to-install instructions. So now, I'm posting from my own computer inside my own apartment. It's so lovely!
Tonight, I'm making coconut chicken curry and mango lassi from recipes I didn't even bother to write down while I was at work.
To celebrate Dear Seester's birthday, I've posted some pictures over at Palila Vision. I posted them instead of using them for blackmail. You can thank me later.
So the post office finally confirmed delivery of my transcripts, they arrived yesterday, and I'm having fun with Admission's automated reply system to email. It's more fun than a barrel full of monkeys.
In other news, I made a grilled PB & banana sandwich for breakfast. It was very tasty, though I did wake up to three cold radiators instead of two warm radiators. In half an hour, they were warming up again, but my apartment was quite chilly. With my blanket fixed and a new down throw blanket from Mom, I really wanted to celebrate today like NonSequitur's Danae: snuggled under the blankets.
So, my transcripts haven't really arrived in GA yet- USPS isn't confirming them to have arrived, and GA Tech doesn't confirm having them. Do I call and ask what happens, or do I just sit and sweat it out? On a brighter note- the lone recommender that hadn't, has.
My life's been pretty boring the last few days- I stayed home and sewed patches on my quit Saturday, then went to a toga party and got accosted by the hug police, and didn't do much Sunday. It's elections time in DDD, and I have been finishing up a recommendation for a large DDD award for one of our members. This rec. form is amazing: they ask the same question 6 different ways. And then, when I emailed the girl in charge at 11 am yesterday, asking if I needed to mail it immediately or could it arrive by Friday, she emailed me back at 4:50, saying if I could overnight it, that'd be great.
