happy friday?

oi... last night i got a million and one (well more like a dozen) emails for the REU... the two people i work with most closely are out of town, one for the weekend, one for the week, so it's up to me to answer last minute questions. when i came to my email at 11pm though to discover so many, i was a bit overwhelmed... it's mostly sorted through now.... with the exception of a woman from another rutgers summer research program who wants to discuss the schedule of a student who is part of both programs simultaneously... as if i have any clue what to say... she'll probably call me tomorrow... we'll see how it goes.

today was a decent day. i was lazy for a bit of it... then i went and got a haircut.... i think i'm finding a new haircut place.

from august through march the same lady (linda) cut my hair, and she was fantastic... i went towards the end of april and didn't see her, but figured i hit an off day, so i let someone else cut... this afternoon i called
hair-dresser: hi, this is supercuts, how may i help you?
me: yeah, how late are you open today?
hair-dresses: 9pm
me: is linda working today?
hair-dresser: you mean leena?
me: no, linda... she last cut my hair like 2 months ago... is she working today?
hair-dresser: she doesn't work here anymore... i could have leena cut your hair
me: um, whoever's available,... are you busy this afternoon?
hair-dresser: we don't take walk ins anymore, can i get you an appointment? how about within the hour?
me: sure, half an hour from now? 4pm?
hair-dresser: we're busy then, how about 4:30?
me: fine, see you then.

ok from my point of view, that's a reasonable conversation -- i wanted to know hours and if i could request the hair-dresser i liked best in my experience there, but i didn't so much like the tone of the girl talking to me... whatever, i've been going there for 2 years, i can deal.

anyhow, i show up at 4:30 as do two more people -- WALK-INS... so the girl on the phone had LIED to me... not that that's a huge deal... just an observation that in person there was no problem with it... on the phone she acted like it was ridiculous.

the girl at the station closest to the phone really got on my nerves too. while i was waiting (i got there 5 minutes early), she was being loud, and obnoxious, and very much flirting with the man whose hair she was cutting even though he was talking about his girlfriend, and her boyfriend came through a couple minutes later to fix the stereo system in the back of the store... when i came in she was going on and on about how annoying "brainiac/smart" people are... strike 1

luckily, someone else ended up cutting my hair who was much more pleasant... while i was getting mine done though, the same other girl started complaining to another customer how she hates phone calls of "so how late are you open?", commenting "it's not like we're an office here"... no, you're not, and people know that, but you're a business, and if customers want to show up (a) when you're open and (b) when you have time to fit them in rather than driving 30 minutes in the rain for a long wait or a closed store, they pretty well have the right to call in and ask without being laughed at... strike 2.

finally, no one there is as good as linda. she was a little loud, but didn't say abrasive things (this other girl didn't realize she was getting on my nerves, although if she was smart (since she scheduled my 4:30 "appointment" and saw me come in about that time) SHOULD have known better about that comment regarding phone calls was out of place). the main thing was... you didn't just tell her "oh i just want a trim, and i still want to keep my hair in layers all around, she'd ask details on how long you wanted your layers to be where, and just was much more detailed, making sure she was doing exactly what YOU wanted, rather than doing some cookie-cutter style that everyone gets regardless. i appreciated that she paid attention to what she did. not that i got a bad haircut today, or that the girl who cut it did a bad job... it's just not the same or quite as well done.

at any rate, i was extremely irritated with the one employee by the time i had left, my hair's fine, but not as much as i used to like it, and i was irked that they had lied to me on the phone too. i've been going there for 2 years, and like that, they lose business. i have no need to continue driving 20 minutes to a haircut chain that's close to where i used to live if they don't show reciprocal respect for their customers... next month, i'm exploring to find a new place :-P

done with that rant... when i had finished there around 5, i called ben, who had just woken up at 3, and was hungry... with NJ rush hour traffic, we made it to "the cheesecake diner" a little before 6 and had a fantastic chat over dinner, then back to my house to watch a movie while we both worked on other things.

ben's home now, it's still raining, and i just finished reading Journey Through Genius by William Dunham... it is one of the best written popular math books i've ever seen. it's a series of 12 famous math proofs and sets them in their historical context anywhere from the squaring of the lune cerca 440 BC to cantor's proof of the existence of infinitely many transfinite numbers just over 100 years ago. to understand the proofs just requires a high school knowledge of math, but not much more, and the historical parts are written very entertainingly. if you're not a math person, the proofs of the theorems probabl y aren't your cup of tea, but the historical parts are excellent for anyone. i'd recommend it to anyone with a decent understanding of HS math who wants to know more... i was very impressed with its presentation. :-)

final random topic: leigh leaves tomorrow, and then it's just me and colleen for the summer... that's exciting, right? leigh's serving as a project advisor at an REU in ohio, same as she did last summer. she gets back the day i leave for prague, so i won't see her for the better part of 3 months now. all three of us get along well, but we each get along differently... leigh tolerates my silliness in a different way than colleen does, so her long-term absence will change the dynamic here at the house for a bit... then again i'll have the REU and colleen's teaching this summer and studies a lot elsewhere anyhow, so maybe it won't be *that* different. anyhow, i'll miss having leigh around in person to be silly with for the rest of the summer.

at any rate, i should get some sleep. dessert potluck at church tomorrow night should be lots of fun... however, i need to wake up early enough to make a dessert to bring and let it cool off before i need to go to the get-together... we'll see how well that works :-P

i'm done ranting and rambling... night y'all!