 Lake CalhounDate: 07/20/2008 |
Have you heard this one yet?
A student comes to a young professor’s office hours. She glances down the hall, closes his door, kneels pleadingly.
“I would do *anything* to pass this exam.” She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, gazes meaningfully
into his eyes.“I mean…” she whispers, “…I would do…*anything*.”
He returns her gaze. “Anything?”
“*Anything*.”
His voice softens. “*Anything*??”
“*Anything*.” read more »
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Who wants to go rollerblading this weekend?
I’ll bring the hat and rope. ;)
I do think knee and elbow pads might help a bit, though, don’t you think?
Ha — I love it, who comes up with these things. :)
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I’m sure we all know that pugs snort, grunt, and snore. But Sid is actually pretty quiet in comparison to his mates. You see he had a little nip and tuck operation when he lost his boys. Thus opening his airways a bit and helping him breathe better.
But sometimes he’s loud as hell anyway. Last night certainly qualified — maybe it was the heat. I must’ve woke up at least 4 times to the sound of “snorRRRRRR… snorrrrRRRRR…” In which case it was a sharp smack on the wall to wake the poor little guy up and then hope I fell back asleep first. But of course, that plan never works. The snorer always manages to nod off before the victim.
While Sid snored away straight through to morning, I captured a bit of it with the voice recorder in my phone. Just so you can enjoy it to. :) Listen below…
The countdown is on for the much anticipated study abroad to Australia. Kevin leaves this Friday and won’t be back until Dec. 9th. It is a challenge trying to cram 6 months worth of living into one suitcase and keep it under 50 lbs—thanks to the wonderful new rules/regulations the happy little airlines have created in the last few months.
Kevin had all of his heart, lung, and cancer scans/tests on July 3rd, and everything was clear!!! He has been in remission now for 1 year—he will be tested again when he comes back in Dec. He just received more immunizations and had more teeth fixed, so should be good to go. He will be posting some blogs from Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji Islands throughout the next months so everyone can keep up with his adventures.
Kevin’s friend, Heidi, whose brain cancer has returned for the 3rd time, is facing surgery on the l6th. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She has more then put in her time battling the beasties and deserves some good vibes coming her way. Enjoy the rest of the summer—don’t waste a moment!
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It’s already old news that the Phoenix Mars Lander landed on Mars back on May 28th. But did you know it’s communicating via Twitter?
How incredibly clever! I love how it “talks” in first person. :)
A few of my favs:
- MarsPhoenix Here’s a great picture of my deployed arm with the scoop on the end: http://tinyurl.com/3s354p I can’t wait to dig in the dirt next week. 10:14 PM May 29, 2008
- MarsPhoenix Looking forward to an exciting day on Mars; My first dig in the dirt! Team calls this a “dig and dump” test of my robotic arm and scoop. 09:05 AM June 01, 2008
- MarsPhoenix @charmcitygavin TEGA “cooks” soil samples until they emit gasses that I can “sniff” to learn what they are. I just hope they smell good :) 04:12 PM June 03, 2008
- MarsPhoenix I’m learning new tricks! Sprinkle practice went great, see www.nasa.gov/phoenix Used small motor on back of scoop to shake and break soil. 10:37 AM June 10, 2008
Okay - the influx of today’s traffic peeking at the goober-pics from this last weekend need no introduction. But the rest of you might. A “Con” is the term attached to various conventions or gatherings where likeminded people “converge” in one area and geek out to their particular fetish. Dragoncon and Comic-con are a couple of popular examples.
I’ve somehow remained blissfully ignorant of all this and since high-school have more or less abandoned my nerdlike demeanor, (although that might be hard to argue). Regardless, having no other plans for Independence Day, I followed my friend, Geoff’s, advice and attended CONvergence. This year was special because it was the 10 year anniversary of said Con and an extra day was added. So four days of geeking out and swilling alcohol — sounded like a fine time to me! :)
A few friends joined me and our posse hung out for most of the time. I was dually impressed with the level of effort that went behind the various party suites and costumes. It was like a four day Halloween party with the “trick-or-treats” being colorful shots of god knows what. :) :) Here are a few highlights that I enjoyed: read more »
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See the little fucker to the right? That’s my neighbor’s dog. The little shit is a Jack Russell Terrier that has no volume control or off switch. Whenever the damn thing is in the yard, it’s, “bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark…” until it goes back in. No exaggeration at all, it’s fucking constant.
So tonight…
That little beast has been yipping and yapping since 10:00. NON-STOP! It’s now 12:30 in the morning. Yay. And it’s still going strong. It’s probably a really good thing I don’t have my .22 handy.
Looking out the front window, I see the neighbor’s car isn’t there. (His absent status confirmed with no lights on in the house either). Well that’s just fucking wonderful. How thoughtful of you, neighbor, to leave the terrier terror out in the yard while you’re gone all night. read more »
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The last two weeks of Spain were amazing! The second-to-last Wednesday me and seven other friends headed solo to the city of Valencia (a coastal city on the Mediterranean). Getting there was fun, seeing as though we didn’t have an advanced Spanish speaker with us, so we had to make-do with what little Spanish we knew. We took a 2 hour and 15 minute bus to Madrid then a 3 hour train ride to Valencia.
That Wednesday night, me and a friend stayed in one Hostel while the 6 others stayed in another (ours was cheaper). The next day, we all took an hour bus trip to Gandia. Gandia is claimed to be the “Orange County, California” part of Spain. It’s constantly humid, warm, and have incredible white sandy beaches. We all stayed at an oceanfront hotel. I got a room with a sea-side view and balcony. read more »
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See this little guy with his skin coming off in sheets? It’s pretty much how my head looks right now. Just replace green with red. Tell you what — sunburn isn’t much fun when you’re bald.
I got a little too much sun this last week. Not intentionally, it’s just how it worked out. Today I’m sitting in my office at work and scratch my noggin. I get a handful of dead skin. That’s nice, I think. I make my way to the men’s room to survey the damage. It looks like someone lathered my head in Elmer’s glue and it’s starting to peel away now. Pretty picture I’ve formed for you I’m sure.
So home I go to use a mixture of razoring, loofah, and sand-soap to rub my head raw. That oughta be fun… Damn German/Scottish heritage, turns into a lobster in the sun skin.
Yesterday’s Pearls before Swine seems a little too relevant…
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From Pearls before Swine
Okay — first and foremost, if you are not using Firefox yet, please evolve from your neanderthal tendencies and claim your modern heritage. There simply is no excuse to use the god-awful Internet Explorer anymore. None. None at all. The only exception to using Firefox should be Safari if you’re a Mac user.
The fact that Firefox is lightyears ahead of Explorer in security, it’s also the only browser that allows so much customization. In the form of extensions, Firefox can do almost anything online. There’re so many time-saving and useful add-ons that there is no substitute.
So, now that the rant is out of the way… read more »
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A couple of years ago, my good friend Henry’s son, Cameron, was diagnosed with a large cancerous tumor in his head. Dubbed “the peach”, Henry and Cameron survived one hell of an ordeal that involved extensive surgery to remove 95% of the tumor and months of chemotherapy to battle the remainder.
Cameron, who recently turned 13, has been quite the trooper. After his surgery, the recovery was a very steep hill that he surmounted and surpassed. Despite his amazing journey, however, Cameron’s tumor has grown back. This time the growth is too extensive for surgery to be an option. Regardless of his diagnosis, Cameron maintains a positive outlook and continues against odds to battle his head’s intruder. He is really a remarkable young man. read more »
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It has been quite and eventful week! For once, the sun finally came out. We spent almost all of Tuesday on the beach. On Wednesday, it was my 21st birthday. For class, we all made smores (which was a first for our professor). After class, we spent the afternoon on the beach (it was sunny!) until lunch. At lunch, Carmen (my host mom) made an excellent meal. Complete with some bubbly (champagne) and a giant Hoho (those Little Debbie snacks) for my cake. Later in the day, we watched Pan’s Labyrinth and afterwards went out to the bar. At the bar, they surprised me with song and more cake then later went dancing. In essence, it was a pretty good birthday.
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I think unless you are completely ignorant and/or a masochist, we’re all ready for “the change” in America. The end of monkey/president comparisons and ridiculous military campaigning has more than run it’s course (by more than 4 years). Personally, I’ve ridden the fence between Hillary and Barack thinking that they’re both excellent candidates with strong qualities to each. But mostly I’m eager to see a liberal approach open the White House windows and air the damn place out.
From Barack Obama tonight:
…tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.
It certainly will be interesting to find out how the next few weeks will compare. My hope is that Obama does indeed select Clinton as his running mate and we get the best of both worlds.
Now — who else is gonna plaster their car with Obama support stickers for the Republican Convention this fall?
I enjoy many webcomics, but this is my new favorite. Surreal, disturbing, and brilliant. Right in my vein. :) Consider:
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From Virus Comix
On Saturday at about 4:45pm, a major power transformer in the one of the Houston data centers exploded knocking down three walls and causing a large fire. Power was disrupted and technicians were unable to do anything until approval from the fire marshal was granted. It took over 24 hours for this approval.
The good news was that none of the hardware (servers, routers, etc) were harmed. No one lost any data, but since backup power was not allowed, the network went down and many of Hostgator’s dedicated servers went offline. Mine included. This is a fluke event and unpredictable by anyone. No one to blame except fate.
Early this morning the folks at both The Planet and Hostgator have managed to get 90% of everyone back online. Sorry for the downtime. I’ve still been noticing some lag and issues with my email. Obviously the support staff is swamped with irate customers and trying to get things back online. Hopefully everything will return to a normal plateau shortly. Thanks for your patience.
If you want to read more visit: read more »
A few guys that I met down here are keeping a video blog of the trip. If you want to see what its like so far (since I don’t take pictures) feel free to check it out.
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A lot has happened since my last entry! I’ve been pretty busy. Last Thursday we took a train to Medina del Campo. There’s not much there except a really big castle. The had a huge tower in the middle and a moat around the it (although it doesn’t have water in anymore). They were saying that in the summer, they bring bands into the castle and they have a concert in the moat, that would be cool to see! The train system here is very independent. It makes it difficult for people who don’t speak Spanish to catch the right train. Some from our group ended up getting on the wrong train and went 40 minutes away in the opposite direction.
Last Saturday we went to Salamanca. Salamanca is an extremely old city and actually has the oldest university in Europe (I think even in the world). Like everything here, it’s beautifully decorated and hosts a myth with a frog. It’s said that if you are able to find a frog in the immensely decorated front, you will return to Salamanca in a year and if you don’t you will fail your exams. After a while of searching, I found it (supposedly) but it doesn’t look like much a frog anymore. read more »
Who else woke this morning looked at the thermometer and promptly said, “What the Hell?!?”
Two days ago it was above 80°. This morning it’s 40°. When I get out of work, I refuse to acknowledge the elements if I see white shit falling from the sky.
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When I go to the office in the morning, Sid goes to his “office”. And in the office, he has his collection of toys (or chompables) that normally keep him busy. It’s hard work chomping all those things beyond recognition. Obviously this time he had a different agenda. Apparently the Ikea Pug Bed (PAX THUBLÅD in Ikea speak) needed a few alterations.
Damn it.
Now Sid needs a new bed and certainly has his daily intake of fiber. Fiberfill that is.
Goobertech is on a new server (and all the other goober-sites, too). Now there’s twice as much space and twice as much speed. There shouldn’t be anymore lags in load time and no more damn MySQL timeout errors. Woohoo.
Hello Everyone! I safely arrived in Spain after traveling for almost 18 hours. The flights and everything were fine and they showed movies on the plane. I watched American Gangster then took an Ambien and when I woke up we were there.
In Spain its about 20-25 degrees Celsius (about 75F). It rains nearly every day so we always need to have a our rain coat with us. I live about 15 minutes away from the school. I have three other friends which live nearby so we walk to school together. Our apartment is really small. My bed is especially small and is not firm at all! I cannot sleep well at night, good thing we have siesta everyday and are required to take a 3 hour nap.
The first day we arrived (on Friday) was very hectic. We were all tired from the trip and arrived in Valladolid to meet our families at noon. Our host mom is Carmen and is very nice! She owns her own carniceria (butcher shop) and is an incredible cook. Each day she cooks us lunch at 2:30 and feeds us way to much. I’m going to gain at least 20 lbs this trip I think. After lunch, it’s pretty much required to have a nap because every store in Spain closes and there is nothing to do. After the nap on Friday, me and Mike (my roommate) explored the city and got lost for about an hour (we weren’t given maps yet!). We finally returned and ate supper (supper is served at 9-10). Afterwards we met up with other people and went to the bar. read more »
And he is off!! By now Kevin should be somewhere over the Atlantic on the way to Madrid, Spain. 30 SJU and CSB students along with Kevin will be staying with host families in Valladolid (northwestern part of Spain) and attending the University there for May-term. They will also be touring and doing some fun stuff on w/e’s and throughout the month until returning on 6-20.
Kevin had a whirlwind last month with end of semester finals, term papers, projects, meetings for Spain and for fall study abroad in Australia. Even though his time was limited, he still managed to attend all the parties and social activities that were a necessity (according to him) for end of year bonding. Amidst all of that, he had numerous medical and dental apts since everything had to be completed before he left today. read more »
I probably get five of these a day, but this one was particularly clever. Not only did the sender do enough research to bypass my gmail filter, but he also sent it to my work email address. No “bot” could do that, you’d have to google search my name and find the various contact info. Kudos to the Nigerian scammer for being tenacious.
I was not aware of any Fuchs’s in Nigeria, but you never know right? My chances of that are probably better than winning the lottery with tickets I never buy. Anyway, here’s what Mr. Aroma sent: (love the name, no?) read more »
I found this while stumbling around the internet one day. Besides for the author being a girl, and #5 didn’t happen to me, it amazing how accurate it is in regards to my personal thoughts and experiences. In light of everyone getting cancer now-a-days, I think it’s just something people should keep in mind. read more »
My camera is fancy and takes cool pics of you and all kinds of stuff. Look for your captured likeness in my gallery and peek at other victims of the camera’s flash.
I pray thee cease thy counsel, Which falls into mine ears as profitless as water in a sieve.
