bitter pill: it's like no cheese I've ever tasted?: "'Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.' - Wolfgang von Goethe "

I am grading today. I hate grading. Every semester I tell myself, "This will be the semester that I put all grading online, and refuse to accept late assignments, and fail everyone who misses class more than five times." Sigh.

Date: today

Subject: Miss Chick-fil-A Pickle Picker



Dear Miss Chick-fil-A:



The last three times that I have ordered a Chick-fil-A sandwich without a pickle, you went to the back and removed the pickle from an existing sandwich. How do I know this? Because, upon biting into the sandwich I could discern the distinct taste of what I like to call "pickle urine."



It's people like you that create customers like me.

The Automobile Theft Prevention Authority

50 tips for preventing car theft. Most of them are behavioral.

The Automobile Theft Prevention Authority

WebCT Login Page: "This server has been locked for maintenance by the WebCT administrator.

The server will be available at 10:00 pm on 12/07/03. Thank you for your patience and understanding."



It is now 12/8, 11:45pm. This is not unusual.

style.org > Mapping Votes by County



A fascination look at infographics

List of things increasing the level of my stomach acid:



1. End of semester grading

2. department politics

3. college politics

4. dissertation

5. committee politics

6. a general, low-level of smoldering anger about so many things that can't be fixed.

7. Control plays masked as benign paternalism.

I have found my cell phone (old coat pocket) and bought another grinder attachment to sharpen the shovel, then found the original.





Current favorite form of relaxation: shooting the pellet pistol in the basement at 10m targets. I've been reading pellet gun web pages, and there is a really weird, interesting little subculture out there. I swap match scores with some guy I've never met in England. I find this pellet pistol thing to contain a weird confluence of Southern white guys on fixed incomes discussing zen-like strategies for keeping the pistol still. Followed by spirited defenses of killing squirrels.

I really feel sorry for academics whose identity is so wrapped up in their job that they can't watch a good, stupid video and enjoy it. I feel like I am playing David Lodge's "Shame," but I really liked The Fast and the Furious. It was a great video rental, and connected with about 300 different adolescent fantasies that are still floating about in my psyche. I wanted to go play hot wheels with my kids afterwards.