Thursday, September 28, 2006
rock on!
ben and me bowled 5 games tonight. this isn't my all time best score, and frame 3 should be completely ignored, but CHECK OUT FRAME TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay lara!!! ;)
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
still reading....
it's funny how finishing one book can alter what you want to read next. as planned, i just plowed through The History of Eastern Europe for Beginners in 2 days (started it last night around midnight, finished it 15 minutes ago).
criticisms online said that it contains historical inaccuracies such as "tito was a serb", when indeed his dad was slovene and his mom was croat, and several complained that it had a very pro-socialist slant.
i don't get how this:
or this:
is pro-socialist though.
i thought the book gave an idea of how people originally would have thought it was a good idea/why socialism got such a strong hold in eastern europe to start, but then was honest about pros and cons (and the fact that there were much more cons). for me, it was entertaining to read. you take it as tongue in cheek, but you still leave with a real sense (at least in general) of the landmark events/situations that have put eastern europe into it's current setup. it's worth a glance at least.
about amazon reviewers, i loved horby's passage (yes, still harping on the polysyllabic spree) where he says:
"In an online interview, Haddon quotes one of his Amazon reviewers, someone who hated his novel, saying, "the most worrying thing about the book is that Christopher says he dislikes fiction, and yet the whole book is fiction." And that, says the author, "puts at least part of the problem in a nutshell." It doesn't, I don't think, because the Amazon reviewer is too dim to put anything in a nutshell. I suspect, in fact, that the Amazon reviewer couldn't put anything in the boot of his car, let alone a nutshell. (Presumably you couldn't write a book about someone who couldn't read, either, or someone who didn't like paper, beacuse the whole book is paper. Oh, man, I hate Amazon reviewers. Even the nice ones, who say nice things. They're bastards too.)"
That passage mostly made me laugh. And I copied it, not just for a laugh here, but also because really.... Although I glace at the average Amazon rating, some people's comments drive me nuts. By and large on non-book products, the people who bother to write bought the product, waited for it to break (all things do eventually) and then wrote an essay to complain. For books, I get annoyed with people who can't spell. I take slightly into account the average rating (out of 5 stars), but actual comments little into account. there are a lot of strange people out there, and i don't trust their opinions until they've set a good precedent for why i should...
anyhow, this past weekend, after buying 2 more books on friday, and before finishing hornby and starting in on the eastern europe history comic book, i arranged my "to be read" stack of a dozen or so books into the order i planned to read them. next up after the comic book was supposed to be the bridge an andau, and that's still near the top, but the comic book motivated me to move something else to the top first:
next in line is one minute stories by istván örkény. it's classic hungarian literature but the only publisher is corvina in budapest. i read it 4 years ago, but it got back into my reading stack because a month ago in budapest, i purchased örkény's more one minute stories, same publisher, more recent collection of his stuff. they're both short (often less than one page) stories about the absurdities of life in socialist eastern europe (örkény died in 1979).
quote from the back:
"supremely deft, witty and poignant, örkény's stories sparkle with the absurd and the inexplicable which he discovers gliding beneath the surface of the rituals, gossip, cafés and intrigues of contemporary budapest. a newspaper misprint, an accident in the street, a funeral, even the instructions pinned to the wall beside a fire extinguisher become the occasion for a meditation on existence. örkény is a master of irony and the arts of survival practiced close to the stuff of ordinary experience."
fact: eastern european culture seems to have a unique dry sense of humor cultivated by the absurdly crazy past history they've survived.
hypothesis: after reading a comic book about said crazy past history, apparently i'm trying to better cultivate my own personal appreciation for said dry humor.
we shall see.
(glances back through what i've just written.... dude, i type up a lot of rubbish, who out there still reads this blog? ;P)
criticisms online said that it contains historical inaccuracies such as "tito was a serb", when indeed his dad was slovene and his mom was croat, and several complained that it had a very pro-socialist slant.
i don't get how this:
or this:
is pro-socialist though.
i thought the book gave an idea of how people originally would have thought it was a good idea/why socialism got such a strong hold in eastern europe to start, but then was honest about pros and cons (and the fact that there were much more cons). for me, it was entertaining to read. you take it as tongue in cheek, but you still leave with a real sense (at least in general) of the landmark events/situations that have put eastern europe into it's current setup. it's worth a glance at least.
about amazon reviewers, i loved horby's passage (yes, still harping on the polysyllabic spree) where he says:
"In an online interview, Haddon quotes one of his Amazon reviewers, someone who hated his novel, saying, "the most worrying thing about the book is that Christopher says he dislikes fiction, and yet the whole book is fiction." And that, says the author, "puts at least part of the problem in a nutshell." It doesn't, I don't think, because the Amazon reviewer is too dim to put anything in a nutshell. I suspect, in fact, that the Amazon reviewer couldn't put anything in the boot of his car, let alone a nutshell. (Presumably you couldn't write a book about someone who couldn't read, either, or someone who didn't like paper, beacuse the whole book is paper. Oh, man, I hate Amazon reviewers. Even the nice ones, who say nice things. They're bastards too.)"
That passage mostly made me laugh. And I copied it, not just for a laugh here, but also because really.... Although I glace at the average Amazon rating, some people's comments drive me nuts. By and large on non-book products, the people who bother to write bought the product, waited for it to break (all things do eventually) and then wrote an essay to complain. For books, I get annoyed with people who can't spell. I take slightly into account the average rating (out of 5 stars), but actual comments little into account. there are a lot of strange people out there, and i don't trust their opinions until they've set a good precedent for why i should...
anyhow, this past weekend, after buying 2 more books on friday, and before finishing hornby and starting in on the eastern europe history comic book, i arranged my "to be read" stack of a dozen or so books into the order i planned to read them. next up after the comic book was supposed to be the bridge an andau, and that's still near the top, but the comic book motivated me to move something else to the top first:
next in line is one minute stories by istván örkény. it's classic hungarian literature but the only publisher is corvina in budapest. i read it 4 years ago, but it got back into my reading stack because a month ago in budapest, i purchased örkény's more one minute stories, same publisher, more recent collection of his stuff. they're both short (often less than one page) stories about the absurdities of life in socialist eastern europe (örkény died in 1979).
quote from the back:
"supremely deft, witty and poignant, örkény's stories sparkle with the absurd and the inexplicable which he discovers gliding beneath the surface of the rituals, gossip, cafés and intrigues of contemporary budapest. a newspaper misprint, an accident in the street, a funeral, even the instructions pinned to the wall beside a fire extinguisher become the occasion for a meditation on existence. örkény is a master of irony and the arts of survival practiced close to the stuff of ordinary experience."
fact: eastern european culture seems to have a unique dry sense of humor cultivated by the absurdly crazy past history they've survived.
hypothesis: after reading a comic book about said crazy past history, apparently i'm trying to better cultivate my own personal appreciation for said dry humor.
we shall see.
(glances back through what i've just written.... dude, i type up a lot of rubbish, who out there still reads this blog? ;P)
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
it's just like riding a bike...
...once you learn, you never forget.
or so they say.
i am 25 years old. the last time i'd ridden a bike was when i was 13. that's seriously HALF my life ago.
colleen and leigh both have bikes now. i asked leigh if i could try to ride hers around the block tonight to see if i still could.
problem 1. i got on the bike and got going no problem... when i saw an oncoming car and wanted to stop, my gut reaction was to back-pedal. turns out that doesn't do a thing on adult bikes which apparently all have hand brakes... so instead i outpedaled the car to the next block then turned quickly. i figured out handbrakes, but it's counterintuitive to me and not my gut reaction at all.
problem 2. i've never ridden a more-than-single-speed bike before either. apparently all adult bikes have gears. it's a good thing i didn't know this while riding leigh's bike in the dark or i would have flipped out. if i ever convince myself to buy a bike, i think i'd have to leave it in the same gear all the time. that's just too much for me to take in at once in addition to hand brakes.
just like riding a bike, my foot. apparently, graduating from a middle schooler bike to an adult bike is a bit more complicated than it looks.
the end.
or so they say.
i am 25 years old. the last time i'd ridden a bike was when i was 13. that's seriously HALF my life ago.
colleen and leigh both have bikes now. i asked leigh if i could try to ride hers around the block tonight to see if i still could.
problem 1. i got on the bike and got going no problem... when i saw an oncoming car and wanted to stop, my gut reaction was to back-pedal. turns out that doesn't do a thing on adult bikes which apparently all have hand brakes... so instead i outpedaled the car to the next block then turned quickly. i figured out handbrakes, but it's counterintuitive to me and not my gut reaction at all.
problem 2. i've never ridden a more-than-single-speed bike before either. apparently all adult bikes have gears. it's a good thing i didn't know this while riding leigh's bike in the dark or i would have flipped out. if i ever convince myself to buy a bike, i think i'd have to leave it in the same gear all the time. that's just too much for me to take in at once in addition to hand brakes.
just like riding a bike, my foot. apparently, graduating from a middle schooler bike to an adult bike is a bit more complicated than it looks.
the end.
definition, please?
yesterday as i was out walking around my neighborhood, i passed several identical signs in a row reading:
"STOP BUSH! VOTE NOVEMBER 7TH"
that's fine. as i walked past though, i noticed the following small print at the bottom. "sign paid for by 'Our Community Votes', a non-partisan organization"
my post is completely apolitical... and all about vocabulary.
if non-partisan really means "free from party affiliation, bias, or designation" (from merriam-webster online), how can a non-partisan organization be anti-one party and still really non-partisan? sure, they can be free from affiliation or designation, but last i checked, isn't bias against, still biased?... and if they have a party bias (even biased against), aren't they by definition partisan?
give me "MAKE YOURSELF HEARD! VOTE NOVEMBER 7th" or "TAKE A STAND! VOTE NOVEMBER 7th" and I'll call you non-partisan. Say "STOP (fill in blank of any partisan leader)" and i think by definition, you're not.
maybe my fault lies in taking merriam-webster as my standard for vocab definitions... who knows. but contradictions get to me....
the end.
"STOP BUSH! VOTE NOVEMBER 7TH"
that's fine. as i walked past though, i noticed the following small print at the bottom. "sign paid for by 'Our Community Votes', a non-partisan organization"
my post is completely apolitical... and all about vocabulary.
if non-partisan really means "free from party affiliation, bias, or designation" (from merriam-webster online), how can a non-partisan organization be anti-one party and still really non-partisan? sure, they can be free from affiliation or designation, but last i checked, isn't bias against, still biased?... and if they have a party bias (even biased against), aren't they by definition partisan?
give me "MAKE YOURSELF HEARD! VOTE NOVEMBER 7th" or "TAKE A STAND! VOTE NOVEMBER 7th" and I'll call you non-partisan. Say "STOP (fill in blank of any partisan leader)" and i think by definition, you're not.
maybe my fault lies in taking merriam-webster as my standard for vocab definitions... who knows. but contradictions get to me....
the end.
revolve
last week, the new "coordinator of christian education" at my NJ church was plugging the revolve tour. it's in philly the first weekend in november. according to the website: " It’s a weekend of awesome music, amazing stories, faith and fun! It’s an event designed specifically for teen girls (6th – 12th grades) with stuff they need (and want) to know. And according to the girls who’ve been there . . . it’s a life-changing faith-building totally sweet beautiful real honest intense experience!".
ok, 6th-12th grade and "totally sweet", sounds like a target audience a little below my age level, right? and yeah it is.
but just now, i got a call from said "coordinator of christian education". she's like early 30s and really energetic, usually sits near me on sunday mornings and is always way friendly. she said she was brainstorming this week for chaperones for the trip who are young enough to not just be the participants' moms and for the kids to consider "cool", but old enough to actually be entrusted with driving 3-4 other bodies to philly, be responsible for a hotel room full of them, etc.... basically 20/30 somethings who could be good role models for the high schoolers in our church for the weekend and beyond.... she said i came to mind and she had no idea if i'd be interested, and if i wanted a few days to think, or if i just wanted to say "no, that's not my thing" that was fine, but she wanted to throw the idea out there....
are you kidding? i grew up in the same church from age 5 until grad school. when in high school i worked with grade school kids and was a senior high youth group officer/leader... when in college, i still went to conferences and retreats as a "junior chaperone", etc. i miss that stuff. since moving to NJ, (1) i didn't grow up in this church, so i don't know all the families in ways that i'd be comfortable just jumping in and working with the HS youth on my own, (2) i've been super busy studying non stop. but not asking for a permanent "hey help run youth group every week" deal, just being a fun responsible person to get to know the HS girls for a weekend, and actually getting to know some of them instead of just recognizing them on sunday mornings... how cool is that?
i gave an enthusiastic yes, so now i'm way excited about nov 3 and 4. getting more involved in my church in a way i'm excited about is a fantastic happy thing. :)
the end.
ok, 6th-12th grade and "totally sweet", sounds like a target audience a little below my age level, right? and yeah it is.
but just now, i got a call from said "coordinator of christian education". she's like early 30s and really energetic, usually sits near me on sunday mornings and is always way friendly. she said she was brainstorming this week for chaperones for the trip who are young enough to not just be the participants' moms and for the kids to consider "cool", but old enough to actually be entrusted with driving 3-4 other bodies to philly, be responsible for a hotel room full of them, etc.... basically 20/30 somethings who could be good role models for the high schoolers in our church for the weekend and beyond.... she said i came to mind and she had no idea if i'd be interested, and if i wanted a few days to think, or if i just wanted to say "no, that's not my thing" that was fine, but she wanted to throw the idea out there....
are you kidding? i grew up in the same church from age 5 until grad school. when in high school i worked with grade school kids and was a senior high youth group officer/leader... when in college, i still went to conferences and retreats as a "junior chaperone", etc. i miss that stuff. since moving to NJ, (1) i didn't grow up in this church, so i don't know all the families in ways that i'd be comfortable just jumping in and working with the HS youth on my own, (2) i've been super busy studying non stop. but not asking for a permanent "hey help run youth group every week" deal, just being a fun responsible person to get to know the HS girls for a weekend, and actually getting to know some of them instead of just recognizing them on sunday mornings... how cool is that?
i gave an enthusiastic yes, so now i'm way excited about nov 3 and 4. getting more involved in my church in a way i'm excited about is a fantastic happy thing. :)
the end.
ode to books
last night, i finally finished the polysyllabic spree (nick horby). it's a collection of magazine columns he wrote over the course of a little over a year about what he's been reading. considering the intersection between what he read in that span and what i read is almost nothing, i found it amazingly entertaining. sure, he gives reviews of the books, but in process, he tells lots of entertaining stories, and makes fantastic points. it's a worthwhile read if you enjoy reading even a little bit.
next on the list are The History of Eastern Europe for Beginners which is supposed to have a pro-socialist slant and several historical errors, but it's a comic book, and i own it, so it'll be done in a few days anyhow. after that, the bridge at andau by james michener. by all accounts, it's absolutely brilliant. it's a true story of the 1956 revolution against russia in hungary. since that happened in october, i figure the 50th anniversary is perfect timing to read it. (what does my reading list say about me?)
(btw, if you're interested. the hungarians are still protesting. local elections are up in less than a week though. even though the PM (who they're protesting) isn't for election this year, things have calmed and focused on campaigning/voting to deal with frustration... we'll see how it goes next week!)
anywho, while finishing up the hornby book about books last night, i came across this passage that i loved. enjoy:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zaid's finest moment, however, comes in his second paragraph, when he says that "the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more."
That's me! And, you probably! That's us! "Thousands of unread books"! "Truly cultured"! Look at this month's list: Chekhov's letters, Amis's letters, Dylan Thomas's letters... What are the chances of getting through that lot? I've started on the Chekhov, but the Amis and DYlan Thomas have been put straight into their permanent home on the shelves, rather than onto any sort of temporary pending pile. The Dylan Thomas I saw remaindered for fifteen quid (down from fifty) just after I'd read a terrific review of a new Thomas biography in the New Yorker, the Amis letters were a fiver. But as I was finding a home for them in the Arts and Literature non-fiction section (I personally find that for domestic purposes, the Trivial Pursuit system works better than Dewey), I suddenly had a little epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. My music is me, too, of course -- but as I only really like rock and roll and its imitations, huge chunks of me -- my rarely examined operatic streak, for example -- are unrepresented in my CD collection. And I don't have the wall space or the money for all the art I would want, and my house is a shabby mess, ruined by children... But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not. Maybe that's not worth the thirty odd quid I blew on those collections of letters, admittedly, but it's got to be worth something, right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
next on the list are The History of Eastern Europe for Beginners which is supposed to have a pro-socialist slant and several historical errors, but it's a comic book, and i own it, so it'll be done in a few days anyhow. after that, the bridge at andau by james michener. by all accounts, it's absolutely brilliant. it's a true story of the 1956 revolution against russia in hungary. since that happened in october, i figure the 50th anniversary is perfect timing to read it. (what does my reading list say about me?)
(btw, if you're interested. the hungarians are still protesting. local elections are up in less than a week though. even though the PM (who they're protesting) isn't for election this year, things have calmed and focused on campaigning/voting to deal with frustration... we'll see how it goes next week!)
anywho, while finishing up the hornby book about books last night, i came across this passage that i loved. enjoy:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zaid's finest moment, however, comes in his second paragraph, when he says that "the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more."
That's me! And, you probably! That's us! "Thousands of unread books"! "Truly cultured"! Look at this month's list: Chekhov's letters, Amis's letters, Dylan Thomas's letters... What are the chances of getting through that lot? I've started on the Chekhov, but the Amis and DYlan Thomas have been put straight into their permanent home on the shelves, rather than onto any sort of temporary pending pile. The Dylan Thomas I saw remaindered for fifteen quid (down from fifty) just after I'd read a terrific review of a new Thomas biography in the New Yorker, the Amis letters were a fiver. But as I was finding a home for them in the Arts and Literature non-fiction section (I personally find that for domestic purposes, the Trivial Pursuit system works better than Dewey), I suddenly had a little epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. My music is me, too, of course -- but as I only really like rock and roll and its imitations, huge chunks of me -- my rarely examined operatic streak, for example -- are unrepresented in my CD collection. And I don't have the wall space or the money for all the art I would want, and my house is a shabby mess, ruined by children... But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not. Maybe that's not worth the thirty odd quid I blew on those collections of letters, admittedly, but it's got to be worth something, right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday, September 23, 2006
students are funny
yesterday, i assigned a computer lab where each student should have gotten an email with individualized data to work with. in response, one of my students wrote me:
"I believe that my points have vanished into the deep, dark, bit ridden,
depth of Internet. They are probably very scared, a bunch of poor points
all alone, so could you please send me them again so they can be warm, and
cozy in my SSH."
undergrads are fun. :)
the end.
"I believe that my points have vanished into the deep, dark, bit ridden,
depth of Internet. They are probably very scared, a bunch of poor points
all alone, so could you please send me them again so they can be warm, and
cozy in my SSH."
undergrads are fun. :)
the end.
Friday, September 22, 2006
feeding the addiction...
i seriously can't stop buying books.
tonight, i was too tired to make dinner (this after teaching from 8:40-1:20, seminar from 1:40-3, colloquium from 4-5, and meeting with a prof from 5-6, all with almost having no voice), so i suggested to leigh that we go out for dinner... we went to chilis and split an appetizer, a huge entree, and a piece of pie... and both got a really reasonable priced meal with still way too much food.
chili's is in the same parking lot as barnes and noble, and despite the fact that i have one non-math book in progress and eight on my floor waiting to be read, despite the fact that i have 2 lectures and a research poster to prepare in the next week and a half on top of my usual responsibilities... i still came home with two more:
* flatterland by ian stewart
* shopaholic takes manhattan by sophie kinsella
tonight reading and tea (i seriously have NO voice after today)... tomorrow grading, programming, and other such math fun... seriously, be jealous.
the end.
p.s. isn't this pretty?
it's what Maple drew when I called up the help/demo code for how to use one of its cooler graphing functions. i thought it was spiffy.
now, really. the end.
tonight, i was too tired to make dinner (this after teaching from 8:40-1:20, seminar from 1:40-3, colloquium from 4-5, and meeting with a prof from 5-6, all with almost having no voice), so i suggested to leigh that we go out for dinner... we went to chilis and split an appetizer, a huge entree, and a piece of pie... and both got a really reasonable priced meal with still way too much food.
chili's is in the same parking lot as barnes and noble, and despite the fact that i have one non-math book in progress and eight on my floor waiting to be read, despite the fact that i have 2 lectures and a research poster to prepare in the next week and a half on top of my usual responsibilities... i still came home with two more:
* flatterland by ian stewart
* shopaholic takes manhattan by sophie kinsella
tonight reading and tea (i seriously have NO voice after today)... tomorrow grading, programming, and other such math fun... seriously, be jealous.
the end.
p.s. isn't this pretty?
it's what Maple drew when I called up the help/demo code for how to use one of its cooler graphing functions. i thought it was spiffy.
now, really. the end.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
likes/dislikes
on my good list
* the ellen show -- now that NBC moved it to 4pm, but NY channel 55 still plays it at 10am, there's twice the opportunity to catch it and often i have it in the background TWICE a day. ellen makes me laugh... plus, when tony left (her DJ), i didn't think anyone else could possibly be as cool, but johnny's growing on me...
* Tylenol sinus -- it's making my week bearable, and without it i'd be running completely on empty right now
* Confessions of a Shopaholic -- just finished it last night. i expected it to be a cute story, but it impressed me more than i expected. i plan to read the others in the shopaholic series now... as soon as i finish off the stack of books on my floor
* the Polysyllabic Spree -- since i finished shopaholic last night, i started this. i was a little worried because it's a series of magazine columns by nick hornby about what he's been reading and the list doesn't overlap tons with what i read, but hey, i figured the subtitle "a hilarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read" is right up my alley, and i haven't read anything by nick hornby that i didn't enjoy,... anywho, started last night, and it's quite good. it'll only take me a couple days to polish off.
things i don't like
* being sick (as i am at present)
* grading (which i'll have tons of tomorrow)
* having 3 talks to prepare for in the next 2 weeks while sick (welcome to my upcoming weekend)
the end.
* the ellen show -- now that NBC moved it to 4pm, but NY channel 55 still plays it at 10am, there's twice the opportunity to catch it and often i have it in the background TWICE a day. ellen makes me laugh... plus, when tony left (her DJ), i didn't think anyone else could possibly be as cool, but johnny's growing on me...
* Tylenol sinus -- it's making my week bearable, and without it i'd be running completely on empty right now
* Confessions of a Shopaholic -- just finished it last night. i expected it to be a cute story, but it impressed me more than i expected. i plan to read the others in the shopaholic series now... as soon as i finish off the stack of books on my floor
* the Polysyllabic Spree -- since i finished shopaholic last night, i started this. i was a little worried because it's a series of magazine columns by nick hornby about what he's been reading and the list doesn't overlap tons with what i read, but hey, i figured the subtitle "a hilarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read" is right up my alley, and i haven't read anything by nick hornby that i didn't enjoy,... anywho, started last night, and it's quite good. it'll only take me a couple days to polish off.
things i don't like
* being sick (as i am at present)
* grading (which i'll have tons of tomorrow)
* having 3 talks to prepare for in the next 2 weeks while sick (welcome to my upcoming weekend)
the end.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
dude, what gives?
for the past week, i've been getting calls once a day from verizon customer service. most of the time, they've called while i'm out/busy and i see i missed a call later. i got calls like this at the start of summer, but the time they caught me, they inadvertently hung up on me part way through and never called back.
from my point of view, here's the scoop:
(1) in september 2003, i started a verizon account. i got a 2 year contract that guaranteed me a new free phone when i started my next 2 year contract.
(2) in september 2005, i went to the verizon wireless website and chose said free phone. my understanding was that i was only getting it free because i was renewing my contract.
(3) for the past year, i have happily used my new phone without problem and wanted to keep it for at least another year
from verizon's point of view
(1) #1 above is true
(2) #2 above is half true. they gave me a new free phone without charge through the website, but they didn't renew my contract, so for the past year, i've been paying month to month while i *thought* i was in the middle of a 2 year contract.
(3) apparently you only have 6 months to just "extend" an old contract, and since it's more than 6 months since my 9/03-9/05 contract, either (a) i start a new 2 year contract now 9/06-9/08 and get a new free phone NOW, (b) i start a new 1 year contract and loose the new free phone every 2 years clause, or (c) i keep paying month to month and get begged periodically to start a new contract.
after some discussion and realizing that verizon basically let my contract lapse and me go from month to month without sending me something that says "HEY! your contract is expired, renew before such and such date", i decided (a) was the best option. farewell to my motorola E815 (i love that thing), but instead they're sending me a free razr phone... hopefully i'll get to be friends with that too.
i just wish i had known about points (2) and (3) sooner than a year after my last contract expired.
p.s. i hate being sick.
the end.
from my point of view, here's the scoop:
(1) in september 2003, i started a verizon account. i got a 2 year contract that guaranteed me a new free phone when i started my next 2 year contract.
(2) in september 2005, i went to the verizon wireless website and chose said free phone. my understanding was that i was only getting it free because i was renewing my contract.
(3) for the past year, i have happily used my new phone without problem and wanted to keep it for at least another year
from verizon's point of view
(1) #1 above is true
(2) #2 above is half true. they gave me a new free phone without charge through the website, but they didn't renew my contract, so for the past year, i've been paying month to month while i *thought* i was in the middle of a 2 year contract.
(3) apparently you only have 6 months to just "extend" an old contract, and since it's more than 6 months since my 9/03-9/05 contract, either (a) i start a new 2 year contract now 9/06-9/08 and get a new free phone NOW, (b) i start a new 1 year contract and loose the new free phone every 2 years clause, or (c) i keep paying month to month and get begged periodically to start a new contract.
after some discussion and realizing that verizon basically let my contract lapse and me go from month to month without sending me something that says "HEY! your contract is expired, renew before such and such date", i decided (a) was the best option. farewell to my motorola E815 (i love that thing), but instead they're sending me a free razr phone... hopefully i'll get to be friends with that too.
i just wish i had known about points (2) and (3) sooner than a year after my last contract expired.
p.s. i hate being sick.
the end.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
we shall see how this goes...
the news version:
Rioters, police clash again on Budapest streets
the one of lara's budapest friends version:
"Dear Lara!
I have sent you an sms last night when the people started to seige the Hungarian television, I am sorry if you did not receive it.
Yes, we are safe and beside yesterday's clashes - which were mainly provoked by football hulligans - the city is quiet and the protestors are calm. This government must go and I am very very happy that the nation has risen her voice.
Do not worry, everything is ok!"
Rioters, police clash again on Budapest streets
the one of lara's budapest friends version:
"Dear Lara!
I have sent you an sms last night when the people started to seige the Hungarian television, I am sorry if you did not receive it.
Yes, we are safe and beside yesterday's clashes - which were mainly provoked by football hulligans - the city is quiet and the protestors are calm. This government must go and I am very very happy that the nation has risen her voice.
Do not worry, everything is ok!"
oi
apparently my brother doesn't like my parents' oldest cat anymore. check out the picture message he just sent me:
oh hungary....
last month, while chatting with some of my hungarian friends, a couple of them remarked that the current government was not that great for the country and that they felt like hungary was ready for a revolution. that the country needed a change before it deteriorated even further. the current prime minister (from the socialist party) has been less than impressive from what i've read in the past few years. now, today, here's the headlines out of budapest (it's not often they make TV news, but when they do, it's big)
Pray for my REU students who are there, pray for my Hungarian friends who are there, pray that Hungary finds leadership that can do an honest job rather than make a mockery out of government by being a socialist country that calls itself a democracy. In name, they threw the chains of communism over 16 years ago, but in reality old ways die hard, and/or ressurect themselves under new guises and people are just "ok" with it. Pray that while people continue to take a stand against the way the government's been screwing them over that violence stays at a minimum (or for no violence at all).
oi....
pray for the Hungarians.
the end.
- 'Lies' admission fuels fire (Budapest Sun)
- Protesters storm Hungarian state TV (Yahoo news)
- Defiant Hungary PM urges calm after riots (Yahoo news)
- Anti-PM protest in Hungary turns violent (MSNBC)
- Hungarian PM refuses to resign (CNN... with video)
Pray for my REU students who are there, pray for my Hungarian friends who are there, pray that Hungary finds leadership that can do an honest job rather than make a mockery out of government by being a socialist country that calls itself a democracy. In name, they threw the chains of communism over 16 years ago, but in reality old ways die hard, and/or ressurect themselves under new guises and people are just "ok" with it. Pray that while people continue to take a stand against the way the government's been screwing them over that violence stays at a minimum (or for no violence at all).
oi....
pray for the Hungarians.
the end.
Monday, September 18, 2006
a TEA party?!
long day of math after waking up majorly stuffed up... yuck.
i spent early afternoon working with scott at panera, mid afternoon in my advisor's office getting disheartened about what i spent several hopeless hours chipping away at yesterday, and late afernoon in my room preparing for the lecture i have to give tomorrow. when eric stopped by my office mid afternoon just before i left campus i asked
me: "hey, do you like quiznos?"
eric: "um sure"
me: hey, do you like quiznos today?"
eric: "um, sure, what time?"
me: "after your meeting with z?"
eric: "4pm? i don't think so. how about 6 oclock?"
me: "ok, let's do it."
we ate at quiznos and sat outside, and quickly realized why we don't usually. although it was perfect weather for outside, the quiznos tables are on a slanted sidewalk. they don't look crooked, but when you sit, your tray slides down the table towards the street unless you hang on to it the whole time. oops. since most of our dinner discussion was about how we both felt alright all weekend and both woke up congested today the following was especially entertaining:
me: "hey, do you like a cookie?"
eric: "i don't know, do i?"
me: "i think you do."
eric: "maybe, i think my throat likes tea better."
me: "ooooh!"
eric: "um, yeeeeeees?"
me: "what about a TEA party!... tea AND cookie!" (tea party onward pronounced in my best fake british accent possible)
eric: "ooh! i think i would quite fancy a tea party" (also in his best fake british accent)
we then decided that since eric had never had scones (how is that possible?!) we should go to the grocery store to get scones and cookies. then, "tea party" is loosely defined as eric and me with a plate of scones and cookies, and funky flavored tea, reading "go dog go" and discussing math in our most fake british accents possible. it was fun. we decided we need "tea parties" more often, especially when we both have sore throats. photos:
eric's first scones EVER, plus ENTERTAINING cookies (they seriously did a jig in the box in the store to convince us to buy them ;)... plus, as the box says 42 delicious cookies in 9 delectable varities... you can't say no to 42)
fuzzy tea party picture
this face says it all
non-tea party. i found this book this weekend in baltimore. the author of a whole calc book where EVERY problem is about making pizza? my HERO
wish me luck for having a voice tomorrow... nothing all day except that i substitute lecture for the calc 3 honors section at 5.
later dudes. the end.
i spent early afternoon working with scott at panera, mid afternoon in my advisor's office getting disheartened about what i spent several hopeless hours chipping away at yesterday, and late afernoon in my room preparing for the lecture i have to give tomorrow. when eric stopped by my office mid afternoon just before i left campus i asked
me: "hey, do you like quiznos?"
eric: "um sure"
me: hey, do you like quiznos today?"
eric: "um, sure, what time?"
me: "after your meeting with z?"
eric: "4pm? i don't think so. how about 6 oclock?"
me: "ok, let's do it."
we ate at quiznos and sat outside, and quickly realized why we don't usually. although it was perfect weather for outside, the quiznos tables are on a slanted sidewalk. they don't look crooked, but when you sit, your tray slides down the table towards the street unless you hang on to it the whole time. oops. since most of our dinner discussion was about how we both felt alright all weekend and both woke up congested today the following was especially entertaining:
me: "hey, do you like a cookie?"
eric: "i don't know, do i?"
me: "i think you do."
eric: "maybe, i think my throat likes tea better."
me: "ooooh!"
eric: "um, yeeeeeees?"
me: "what about a TEA party!... tea AND cookie!" (tea party onward pronounced in my best fake british accent possible)
eric: "ooh! i think i would quite fancy a tea party" (also in his best fake british accent)
we then decided that since eric had never had scones (how is that possible?!) we should go to the grocery store to get scones and cookies. then, "tea party" is loosely defined as eric and me with a plate of scones and cookies, and funky flavored tea, reading "go dog go" and discussing math in our most fake british accents possible. it was fun. we decided we need "tea parties" more often, especially when we both have sore throats. photos:
eric's first scones EVER, plus ENTERTAINING cookies (they seriously did a jig in the box in the store to convince us to buy them ;)... plus, as the box says 42 delicious cookies in 9 delectable varities... you can't say no to 42)
fuzzy tea party picture
this face says it all
non-tea party. i found this book this weekend in baltimore. the author of a whole calc book where EVERY problem is about making pizza? my HERO
wish me luck for having a voice tomorrow... nothing all day except that i substitute lecture for the calc 3 honors section at 5.
later dudes. the end.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
12000 words (i.e. 12 pictures)
11 from baltimore yesterday, 1 from this afternoon:
this is a great sign.
little bird
crazy people
take 2
roommate, heather, me, and baltimore
cool flag picture
the building... has a hand?
i love how you can just say "hey heather, go get in the tree", and she does it... even if there's freaky things inside the tree with her. :)
funky sculpture
... with a rainbow
if you look close enough, it's actually a double rainbow!
end of baltimore.
finally... happiness is: going to kohls during a HUGE sale and having the first pair of jeans you try on be a *perfect* fit. here's most of what i came home with this afternoon (plus one more shirt, and 3 pairs of earrings... all for under $150.)
the end.
this is a great sign.
little bird
crazy people
take 2
roommate, heather, me, and baltimore
cool flag picture
the building... has a hand?
i love how you can just say "hey heather, go get in the tree", and she does it... even if there's freaky things inside the tree with her. :)
funky sculpture
... with a rainbow
if you look close enough, it's actually a double rainbow!
end of baltimore.
finally... happiness is: going to kohls during a HUGE sale and having the first pair of jeans you try on be a *perfect* fit. here's most of what i came home with this afternoon (plus one more shirt, and 3 pairs of earrings... all for under $150.)
the end.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
doht
the facts:
(1) roommate had the most crazy stressful week ever
(2) roommate is taking the weekend off to recoup and build up energy for next week
(3) roommate decided to spend said weekend off in baltimore visiting heather m.
(4) roommate IMed me yesterday asking "you wouldn't just happen to be free tomorrow and want to drive to baltimore, would you?"
(4') (the answer to the previous question is, "i have a sh*tload of stuff to do, but if you really really want/need me there i can drop it and be there")
(5) although the response to (4') was, "i don't *need* you there, but it would be really nice to see you", i decided to work like crazy last night, and i'll work like crazy sunday and monday so that today is as follows:
drive to south of baltimore, catching lunch on the way south
hang out with roommate and heather til 8-9pmish
drive right on back to jersey and crash around midnight/1am (shortly after returning)
exciting right?
wish me good roads!
later dudes.
(1) roommate had the most crazy stressful week ever
(2) roommate is taking the weekend off to recoup and build up energy for next week
(3) roommate decided to spend said weekend off in baltimore visiting heather m.
(4) roommate IMed me yesterday asking "you wouldn't just happen to be free tomorrow and want to drive to baltimore, would you?"
(4') (the answer to the previous question is, "i have a sh*tload of stuff to do, but if you really really want/need me there i can drop it and be there")
(5) although the response to (4') was, "i don't *need* you there, but it would be really nice to see you", i decided to work like crazy last night, and i'll work like crazy sunday and monday so that today is as follows:
drive to south of baltimore, catching lunch on the way south
hang out with roommate and heather til 8-9pmish
drive right on back to jersey and crash around midnight/1am (shortly after returning)
exciting right?
wish me good roads!
later dudes.
Friday, September 15, 2006
mooooooovie
scott, eric, tamar and me just saw the last kiss (new zach braff movie that came out today) i've been looking forward to it for a bit... because after all it's zach braff! it was... different than i expected. i'm glad i saw it, but i don't think i'll get the dvd for once.
the moral of the story that i told eric, scott, and tamar was "relationships suck. avoid them." of course since eric and laurie have been together for 6-7 months now and scott and tamar have been together for a bit, all of them were like "no, of course that's not it." and i know that's not what they were trying to get at in the movie, but there were so many screwed up relationships in it that i just had to say it.
really, truly, i think i just honestly don't believe in love anymore. at all. i believe in God, and truth, and really good friends, mathematical logic/rigor/proof. but i don't believe in romance at all.... and it would take a h*ll of a person/situation to change that.
lara... ever the optimist! the end.
the moral of the story that i told eric, scott, and tamar was "relationships suck. avoid them." of course since eric and laurie have been together for 6-7 months now and scott and tamar have been together for a bit, all of them were like "no, of course that's not it." and i know that's not what they were trying to get at in the movie, but there were so many screwed up relationships in it that i just had to say it.
really, truly, i think i just honestly don't believe in love anymore. at all. i believe in God, and truth, and really good friends, mathematical logic/rigor/proof. but i don't believe in romance at all.... and it would take a h*ll of a person/situation to change that.
lara... ever the optimist! the end.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
this is too cool!
i like watching the ellen show in the morning while i have breakfast. today, not only did she have zach braff (one of my heroes, so major yay for that!), but she also started a new segment called "people you should know". her first guest was this kid:
The Boy Who Sees with Sound
he's absolutely amazing. he's 14, been blind since age 2, but gets around by clicking and listening for echoes. his mom was fairly cool too. she said her philosophy with him is that "you're ben, you can do anything." and that when people criticize her philosophy of raising him with "but he can't see, so he can't (fill in the blank)", she replies "he'll learn whatever he wants. he'll figure it out. he may bump his head once, but he's not stupid, he's not going to bump it twice." more people (both who can see and who can't!) need this attitude.
read the article. it's super cool.
the end.
The Boy Who Sees with Sound
he's absolutely amazing. he's 14, been blind since age 2, but gets around by clicking and listening for echoes. his mom was fairly cool too. she said her philosophy with him is that "you're ben, you can do anything." and that when people criticize her philosophy of raising him with "but he can't see, so he can't (fill in the blank)", she replies "he'll learn whatever he wants. he'll figure it out. he may bump his head once, but he's not stupid, he's not going to bump it twice." more people (both who can see and who can't!) need this attitude.
read the article. it's super cool.
the end.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
some rest?
i thought this semester would be awesome since i'm not taking any classes... just teaching calc3, and working on my own research.
furthermore, i scheduled all the busy "other" stuff for early on, so i could get work done... i made the maple help pages for the department website before school started, i gave a pizza seminar today so that they couldn't harass me for the rest of the semester... but apparently i'm just in demand.
* dr. z. was asked to sub for another professor on sept. 19. dr. z. can't then, so he suggested me, and i agreed, figuring since it's calc 3, i know it all down pat. just got an email from the prof i'll be subbing for, and it turns out he wants me to cover 2 sections that generally get skipped in the regular calc 3 sections, but he's covering since he's teaching the honors section... study time for lara. oi...
* i'm subbing for dr. z. on october 2. i knew about this in advance, but that's still another lecture to prepare.
* i just got an email from the grad student in charge of the princeton "pizza seminar" equivalent. because (1) my talk from last fall was such a hit here, (2) the pizza seminar coordinator at rutgers from last fall and the pizza seminar coordinator at princeton last year are married (so they discuss such things), (3) apparently princeton wants some visiting grad students to give good talks to give new students an idea of what an "ideal" pizza talk is like, it was suggested that there be a speaker exchange, where speakers who did well at rutgers could talk at princeton at vice versa, plus it helps the organizers since they don't have to track down as many people. apparently i'm giving the princeton "pizza seminar" on october 3 now. this means i have to find my notes from a year ago and remember how all the material works to present it.
* aek and i are going to a conference in california october 7. we got funding to go, but the funding was contingent on submitting posters to the conference, so between now and october 7, (actually now and october 6) i need to plan a 4' by 4' poster explaining the research i presented in iceland in june... again, stuff i know/proved myself, but remembering how to do all the details and explain in a clear manner and make it visually appealing takes time.
summary: it's suddenly shaping up to be a downright CRAZY month.
in happy news, i got an email today asking me to please be the grad organizer for the REU again. i need to talk things out with a couple profs to see if (a) it's possible for me to teach my own course (as lecturer, not TA) next fall, and (b) if not, does it look bad to have not taught my own class before i graduate? (if i didn't run the REU, i would be guaranteed a summer teaching position). we shall see...
suddenly my life is surprisingly busy... this is what i get for being a findable member of the department who says yes when people ask things nicely. :P
furthermore, i scheduled all the busy "other" stuff for early on, so i could get work done... i made the maple help pages for the department website before school started, i gave a pizza seminar today so that they couldn't harass me for the rest of the semester... but apparently i'm just in demand.
* dr. z. was asked to sub for another professor on sept. 19. dr. z. can't then, so he suggested me, and i agreed, figuring since it's calc 3, i know it all down pat. just got an email from the prof i'll be subbing for, and it turns out he wants me to cover 2 sections that generally get skipped in the regular calc 3 sections, but he's covering since he's teaching the honors section... study time for lara. oi...
* i'm subbing for dr. z. on october 2. i knew about this in advance, but that's still another lecture to prepare.
* i just got an email from the grad student in charge of the princeton "pizza seminar" equivalent. because (1) my talk from last fall was such a hit here, (2) the pizza seminar coordinator at rutgers from last fall and the pizza seminar coordinator at princeton last year are married (so they discuss such things), (3) apparently princeton wants some visiting grad students to give good talks to give new students an idea of what an "ideal" pizza talk is like, it was suggested that there be a speaker exchange, where speakers who did well at rutgers could talk at princeton at vice versa, plus it helps the organizers since they don't have to track down as many people. apparently i'm giving the princeton "pizza seminar" on october 3 now. this means i have to find my notes from a year ago and remember how all the material works to present it.
* aek and i are going to a conference in california october 7. we got funding to go, but the funding was contingent on submitting posters to the conference, so between now and october 7, (actually now and october 6) i need to plan a 4' by 4' poster explaining the research i presented in iceland in june... again, stuff i know/proved myself, but remembering how to do all the details and explain in a clear manner and make it visually appealing takes time.
summary: it's suddenly shaping up to be a downright CRAZY month.
in happy news, i got an email today asking me to please be the grad organizer for the REU again. i need to talk things out with a couple profs to see if (a) it's possible for me to teach my own course (as lecturer, not TA) next fall, and (b) if not, does it look bad to have not taught my own class before i graduate? (if i didn't run the REU, i would be guaranteed a summer teaching position). we shall see...
suddenly my life is surprisingly busy... this is what i get for being a findable member of the department who says yes when people ask things nicely. :P
remember the name
so there's that fort minor song around lately that i can't get out of my head. you've at least had it in the background if you watch TV at all lately:
This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!
it's the phrase "reason to remember the name" that doesn't get out of my head... and i've been thinking about it a bit. the song is catchy, and i like it, but it says to me, "you've gotta be the best out there and let people KNOW you're the best out there. MAKE THEM REMEMBER." that gets to me.
don't get me wrong. i'm all about working hard at what you do and doing your best and not slacking off on it. i make goals and i go after them, and i get them. i've done a LOT i'm thankful to have had the chance to do in the past 25 years, and i'm proud of many of the things i've done. but it's that last "MAKE THEM REMEMBER" part i feel like is implicit that gets to me.
"remember the name" comes back to me in other non-song-lyric ways too.
* i just got the "TA teaching excellence award" from the math department for spring semester. when i was reading over my student reviews, it wasn't just "oh lara is the best ever" (although there was some of that too). there was also a lot of "lara actually learned all of our names and remembered them. she KNEW WHO WE WERE, and it was great to be not just another number in class." in the mix too.
* on the same point, i remember a few times last semester where i called a student by name during class and complimented them on getting a hard question right, and they seriously looked stunned and were way excited, blurting out in class "she KNOWS MY NAME!"
* on the flip side, when our old pastor at my NJ church left, we got an interim pastor. the thing i most noted was different was that he didn't greet me by name on the way out of church and never once asked our names during the year he was with us. i missed that. now that we have a new pastor (since january), i know he has a lot of people to get down quickly, but the fact that he knew me by name and what i did by mid-march, made me happy. it really makes me feel good when he comments on my travel pictures or asks about school or calls me by name. it's not a matter of being big in other people's eyes, it's just a matter of being not just another number in the crowd...
* i HATE going to get my car worked on. i never found a place i liked to go in all my years in memphis, or in college, but here in jersey it's not a problem. at the goodyear i go to, they don't talk down to me. (for as many junkers as i've driven, i know quite a bit more of cars than you might expect. i don't claim to be an expert, but i'm sensitive to feeling like people are talking to me like i'm stupid.) the guys who work the front desk don't all know me, but while i'm sitting around the lobby getting the car worked on, the garage manager recognizes my car when it comes in and generally stops by with a "hey lara, how's it going? what's new in the math world?" for a bit. i like that they care enough about my business to remember me.
* yesterday, i was out and about on my nearly-daily 5 mile walk. every day i pass the place where i got my hair cut for the first time a week or two ago. last night as i went past, the girl who cut my hair was straightening signs in the front window, saw me, waved and hollered "hey lara!" out the door. she did a good job to start when she did my hair, but the added bit of her remembering and taking the time to be nice makes me WANT to remember them and give them my business.
* also on my walk yesterday, when i got about as far away from my house as i go, there was an older couple (late 60s / early 70s?) sitting on their front porch. i pass them and several other same houses almost every day, but generally people mind their own business and don't say a word, which is fine. last night though, as i passed this one couple, she hollered something at me, so i took off my headphones and stopped,
me: "sorry?"
lady: "you pass by here a lot, don't you?"
me: "most days, yes ma'am"
lady: "well, by now we recognize you, what brings you out this way so much?"
me: "i try to walk 5 miles every day it's not raining. this is about as far out from my house as i get."
man: "5 miles! wowee! (whistles)"
lady: "well, we see you so often we feel like we know you,. from now, on, at least wave at us, and we'll wave back. it'll be nice."
me: "ok, will do! see you tomorrow."
it made me smile. not that we're hard and fast friends or anything now, but they took the time to say hi, because i've become a regular part of their day, even if it's seeing me cross their front yard for about 30 seconds, and they took the time to say something friendly instead of just sit there like most people do.
in all these stories, the common theme i've come up with is this: it's not by advertising yourself and showing off that you get remembered. doing your best and working hard at what you do counts for something and helps you be remembered, but the thing that really does the trick is taking the time to remember others and show them that you care about who THEY ARE. it's not by trumpeting yourself that you get places. it's by quietly doing your best and taking the time to genuinely worry about the many not-mes in your life.
i just think it's kinda cool that to really be remembered, it helps to first take the time to remember others.
the end.
This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!
it's the phrase "reason to remember the name" that doesn't get out of my head... and i've been thinking about it a bit. the song is catchy, and i like it, but it says to me, "you've gotta be the best out there and let people KNOW you're the best out there. MAKE THEM REMEMBER." that gets to me.
don't get me wrong. i'm all about working hard at what you do and doing your best and not slacking off on it. i make goals and i go after them, and i get them. i've done a LOT i'm thankful to have had the chance to do in the past 25 years, and i'm proud of many of the things i've done. but it's that last "MAKE THEM REMEMBER" part i feel like is implicit that gets to me.
"remember the name" comes back to me in other non-song-lyric ways too.
* i just got the "TA teaching excellence award" from the math department for spring semester. when i was reading over my student reviews, it wasn't just "oh lara is the best ever" (although there was some of that too). there was also a lot of "lara actually learned all of our names and remembered them. she KNEW WHO WE WERE, and it was great to be not just another number in class." in the mix too.
* on the same point, i remember a few times last semester where i called a student by name during class and complimented them on getting a hard question right, and they seriously looked stunned and were way excited, blurting out in class "she KNOWS MY NAME!"
* on the flip side, when our old pastor at my NJ church left, we got an interim pastor. the thing i most noted was different was that he didn't greet me by name on the way out of church and never once asked our names during the year he was with us. i missed that. now that we have a new pastor (since january), i know he has a lot of people to get down quickly, but the fact that he knew me by name and what i did by mid-march, made me happy. it really makes me feel good when he comments on my travel pictures or asks about school or calls me by name. it's not a matter of being big in other people's eyes, it's just a matter of being not just another number in the crowd...
* i HATE going to get my car worked on. i never found a place i liked to go in all my years in memphis, or in college, but here in jersey it's not a problem. at the goodyear i go to, they don't talk down to me. (for as many junkers as i've driven, i know quite a bit more of cars than you might expect. i don't claim to be an expert, but i'm sensitive to feeling like people are talking to me like i'm stupid.) the guys who work the front desk don't all know me, but while i'm sitting around the lobby getting the car worked on, the garage manager recognizes my car when it comes in and generally stops by with a "hey lara, how's it going? what's new in the math world?" for a bit. i like that they care enough about my business to remember me.
* yesterday, i was out and about on my nearly-daily 5 mile walk. every day i pass the place where i got my hair cut for the first time a week or two ago. last night as i went past, the girl who cut my hair was straightening signs in the front window, saw me, waved and hollered "hey lara!" out the door. she did a good job to start when she did my hair, but the added bit of her remembering and taking the time to be nice makes me WANT to remember them and give them my business.
* also on my walk yesterday, when i got about as far away from my house as i go, there was an older couple (late 60s / early 70s?) sitting on their front porch. i pass them and several other same houses almost every day, but generally people mind their own business and don't say a word, which is fine. last night though, as i passed this one couple, she hollered something at me, so i took off my headphones and stopped,
me: "sorry?"
lady: "you pass by here a lot, don't you?"
me: "most days, yes ma'am"
lady: "well, by now we recognize you, what brings you out this way so much?"
me: "i try to walk 5 miles every day it's not raining. this is about as far out from my house as i get."
man: "5 miles! wowee! (whistles)"
lady: "well, we see you so often we feel like we know you,. from now, on, at least wave at us, and we'll wave back. it'll be nice."
me: "ok, will do! see you tomorrow."
it made me smile. not that we're hard and fast friends or anything now, but they took the time to say hi, because i've become a regular part of their day, even if it's seeing me cross their front yard for about 30 seconds, and they took the time to say something friendly instead of just sit there like most people do.
in all these stories, the common theme i've come up with is this: it's not by advertising yourself and showing off that you get remembered. doing your best and working hard at what you do counts for something and helps you be remembered, but the thing that really does the trick is taking the time to remember others and show them that you care about who THEY ARE. it's not by trumpeting yourself that you get places. it's by quietly doing your best and taking the time to genuinely worry about the many not-mes in your life.
i just think it's kinda cool that to really be remembered, it helps to first take the time to remember others.
the end.
why can't i sleep?
tomorrow, my day is as follows:
noon-1pm: give the weekly pizza seminar
1pm-2pm: putz around the office
2pm-3pm: office hours
that's it. nothing scary. actually i rather enjoy giving talks, so i'm not nervous in the least; i'm actually looking forward to it.
why am i awake at 2am then? because i can't freakin stop laughing at stupid jokes i hope to plug into my talk tomorrow. i'm seriously not nervous, i could give the talk in my sleep, (and at this rate i might). i just can't stop cracking up.
i'm so freaking weird....
the end.
noon-1pm: give the weekly pizza seminar
1pm-2pm: putz around the office
2pm-3pm: office hours
that's it. nothing scary. actually i rather enjoy giving talks, so i'm not nervous in the least; i'm actually looking forward to it.
why am i awake at 2am then? because i can't freakin stop laughing at stupid jokes i hope to plug into my talk tomorrow. i'm seriously not nervous, i could give the talk in my sleep, (and at this rate i might). i just can't stop cracking up.
i'm so freaking weird....
the end.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
this is funny...
check out the last line (the only one not whited out)
it's spam, but it's also the name of a professor i had a couple years ago. it made me, colleen, eric, leigh,... everyone laugh quite hard this weekend. :P
it's spam, but it's also the name of a professor i had a couple years ago. it made me, colleen, eric, leigh,... everyone laugh quite hard this weekend. :P
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
this ALSO makes me laugh.
just got the following email from scott:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i just had a very traumatizing experience. i just lost all confidence in maple, in computer algebra systems, and maybe in computers generally.
the first thing i do upon installing maple on my computer is ask it to graph the equation of an ellipse.
try graphing x^2+11y^2+6xy=1 with maple. see what you get.
please explain!!! :(:(:(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
being the "helpful" friend i am, i immediately pulled up maple and typed
> with(plots):
> implicitplot(x^2+11*y^2+6*x*y=1,x=-10..10,y=-10..10);
... and then called scott to laugh my head off.
since he wasn't as amused by what maple came up with, i had to explain how maple, being a computer program, randomly chooses 50 points and just connects the dots to make a graph unless you tell it to explicitly choose more dots (the more dots, the greater accuracy, but also the more time it takes to draw).
to make him feel better, i edited the above to
> implicitplot(x^2+11*y^2+6*x*y=1,x=-3..3,y=-3..3,numpoints=5000);
both results are here:
ain't technology great?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i just had a very traumatizing experience. i just lost all confidence in maple, in computer algebra systems, and maybe in computers generally.
the first thing i do upon installing maple on my computer is ask it to graph the equation of an ellipse.
try graphing x^2+11y^2+6xy=1 with maple. see what you get.
please explain!!! :(:(:(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
being the "helpful" friend i am, i immediately pulled up maple and typed
> with(plots):
> implicitplot(x^2+11*y^2+6*x*y=1,x=-10..10,y=-10..10);
... and then called scott to laugh my head off.
since he wasn't as amused by what maple came up with, i had to explain how maple, being a computer program, randomly chooses 50 points and just connects the dots to make a graph unless you tell it to explicitly choose more dots (the more dots, the greater accuracy, but also the more time it takes to draw).
to make him feel better, i edited the above to
> implicitplot(x^2+11*y^2+6*x*y=1,x=-3..3,y=-3..3,numpoints=5000);
both results are here:
ain't technology great?
more on the reading list...
my brain is going to explode.
i realized about halfway through high school that sitting around and thinking hard all day really can be physically exhausting. the frequency of such days increases the further i get along in school.
this semester when i'm not teaching, all i'm doing is my thesis research which involves either (a) reading really hard and recent research papers by other people, or (b) trying to prove things no one else has proved before to generate my own really hard and recent research papers.
having spent the whole day today (1) planning the seminar i have to give next wednesday followed by (2) doing (a) above for 5 hours, my brain is tired.
if this is what this semester will be like (albeit i like the freedom to work at parks and miscellaneous bookstores as much as possible), i think the need for more fiction/non-math books when my brain gets tired is increasingly necessary too.
lara in a bookstore is like surrounding someone with no willpower whatsoever with every possible kind of temptation. i can't just borrow, i buy something every time without fail.
today's purchase caught my eye with the subtitle: "a hilarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read". inside the cover it read:
"Books are, let's face it, better than everything else," writes Nick Hornby in his "Stuff I've Been Reading" column in The Believer. "If we played cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go 15 rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time. Go on, try it. The Magic Flute v. Middlemarch? Middlemarch in six. The Last Supper v. Crime and Punishment? Fyodor on point And every now and again you'd get a shock, because that happens in sport, so Back to the Future III might land a lucky punch on Rabbit, Run; but I'm still backing literature 29 times out of 30."
all that said, how could i *not* buy the polysyllabic spree?
i just finished the number devil the other day. it was really cute. 20% of the way through how to be good now too... and since i start teaching again on friday i re-started div, grad, curl, and all that this afternoon... still math, but not research math. better background for how to explain the use of calc 3 to physics majors and engineers, i.e. recreational math reading. :)
seriously. books are an addiction i can't quit.
the rest of the stack on my floor demanding my attention, in no particular order:
Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral (Kris Radish)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (Julian Barnes)
Journey by Moonlight (Antal Szerb)
All the Mathematics You Missed (Thomas A. Garrity)
PAUL: A Novel (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)
more one minute stories (István Örkény (bought in Hungary, can't find link online except to the prequel))
High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
The Bridge at Andau (James Mitchner)
speaking of which (the bridge at andau) is the perfect thing to read in the next month if you're into history. it's about the Hungarian revolution of 1956 (which happened in late october, so if you want to lean your eastern europe history, 50th anniversaries are the perfect time to get going on it?), and i've heard it's amazing.
based on this hodge podge, any more recommendations to throw on the list? ;)
later dudes.
i realized about halfway through high school that sitting around and thinking hard all day really can be physically exhausting. the frequency of such days increases the further i get along in school.
this semester when i'm not teaching, all i'm doing is my thesis research which involves either (a) reading really hard and recent research papers by other people, or (b) trying to prove things no one else has proved before to generate my own really hard and recent research papers.
having spent the whole day today (1) planning the seminar i have to give next wednesday followed by (2) doing (a) above for 5 hours, my brain is tired.
if this is what this semester will be like (albeit i like the freedom to work at parks and miscellaneous bookstores as much as possible), i think the need for more fiction/non-math books when my brain gets tired is increasingly necessary too.
lara in a bookstore is like surrounding someone with no willpower whatsoever with every possible kind of temptation. i can't just borrow, i buy something every time without fail.
today's purchase caught my eye with the subtitle: "a hilarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read". inside the cover it read:
"Books are, let's face it, better than everything else," writes Nick Hornby in his "Stuff I've Been Reading" column in The Believer. "If we played cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go 15 rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time. Go on, try it. The Magic Flute v. Middlemarch? Middlemarch in six. The Last Supper v. Crime and Punishment? Fyodor on point And every now and again you'd get a shock, because that happens in sport, so Back to the Future III might land a lucky punch on Rabbit, Run; but I'm still backing literature 29 times out of 30."
all that said, how could i *not* buy the polysyllabic spree?
i just finished the number devil the other day. it was really cute. 20% of the way through how to be good now too... and since i start teaching again on friday i re-started div, grad, curl, and all that this afternoon... still math, but not research math. better background for how to explain the use of calc 3 to physics majors and engineers, i.e. recreational math reading. :)
seriously. books are an addiction i can't quit.
the rest of the stack on my floor demanding my attention, in no particular order:
Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral (Kris Radish)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (Julian Barnes)
Journey by Moonlight (Antal Szerb)
All the Mathematics You Missed (Thomas A. Garrity)
PAUL: A Novel (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)
more one minute stories (István Örkény (bought in Hungary, can't find link online except to the prequel))
High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
The Bridge at Andau (James Mitchner)
speaking of which (the bridge at andau) is the perfect thing to read in the next month if you're into history. it's about the Hungarian revolution of 1956 (which happened in late october, so if you want to lean your eastern europe history, 50th anniversaries are the perfect time to get going on it?), and i've heard it's amazing.
based on this hodge podge, any more recommendations to throw on the list? ;)
later dudes.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Monday, September 04, 2006
another smile
saw this on TV this morning and thought it was too funny: enjoy!
Get this video and more at MySpace.com
Get this video and more at MySpace.com
sometimes i crack myself up...
(phone)
me: jo reggelt!
eric: jo reggelt! what's up?
me: i have a subliminal message for you
eric: that's seriously why you called?
me: yup, did you get it?
(laughter on both ends for 5 minutes)
me: jo reggelt!
eric: jo reggelt! what's up?
me: i have a subliminal message for you
eric: that's seriously why you called?
me: yup, did you get it?
(laughter on both ends for 5 minutes)
Saturday, September 02, 2006
books, books, and... not books
it's been a crazy week. for the past week and a half it's been non-stop overcast and occasionally rainy, but for the past 24 hours it's been ridiculously windy and rainy (remnants of ernesto). that's all well and good but it doesn't motivate me to be overly productive.
don't get me wrong: i've tried to be good this week. i spent 2.5 days putting together Maple help files to go on the calc 3 course page for students to use eons into the future... they're in the editing phase right now, but i'm quite proud of them.
i also was on a TA orientation panel on thursday afternoon helping all the new 1st year science grad students get their burning questions answered... that was actually kinda fun.
yesterday, i even hung out with the new math 1st years again. starting yesterday and going through monday afternoon, they have their orientation to the department which mostly consists of a LOT of math lectures, and occasionally opportunities to get mandatory administrative errands out of the way. i was one of 4 older students invited to entertain them at dinner time... they seem like a cool class that will bond well together (there's generally an every-second-year-bonds-well-as-a-group phenomenon that's applied to our department for a decade or so, and i think they could be the first group on a predicted off-year to buck the trend.)
that's plenty of random topics though... today, (and last night) with all the ridiculous rain, i've not been motivated to get back to the maple webpages, work on my own math, or do anything useful to others whatsoever... so i've been reading.
* last night i polished off cocktail party cheat sheets by the editors of mental floss... each "section" is just 4 pages on a particular person/entity with entertaining conversation starters at the end. it kept me laughing for a few days.
* today, with no motivation to leave the house in the rain, i read Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral cover to cover. last weekend in philly, jessica lent me her copy. she was right about it: you can read it quickly in less than a day and it's a fun cute read. it's also full of lots of recipes at the end of each chapter, some of which i should copy down before i return it. ;)
* next on the list is the number devil. since it's at an age 9-12 reading level, it's mathematical but easy enough to consider leisure reading. maybe it will motivate me to get back to work tomorrow? we shall see....
p.s. all leigh's villagers survived the food crisis! now they die of old age instead and have begun telling jokes and arguing in their free time (neither of which they ever used to do before).
don't get me wrong: i've tried to be good this week. i spent 2.5 days putting together Maple help files to go on the calc 3 course page for students to use eons into the future... they're in the editing phase right now, but i'm quite proud of them.
i also was on a TA orientation panel on thursday afternoon helping all the new 1st year science grad students get their burning questions answered... that was actually kinda fun.
yesterday, i even hung out with the new math 1st years again. starting yesterday and going through monday afternoon, they have their orientation to the department which mostly consists of a LOT of math lectures, and occasionally opportunities to get mandatory administrative errands out of the way. i was one of 4 older students invited to entertain them at dinner time... they seem like a cool class that will bond well together (there's generally an every-second-year-bonds-well-as-a-group phenomenon that's applied to our department for a decade or so, and i think they could be the first group on a predicted off-year to buck the trend.)
that's plenty of random topics though... today, (and last night) with all the ridiculous rain, i've not been motivated to get back to the maple webpages, work on my own math, or do anything useful to others whatsoever... so i've been reading.
* last night i polished off cocktail party cheat sheets by the editors of mental floss... each "section" is just 4 pages on a particular person/entity with entertaining conversation starters at the end. it kept me laughing for a few days.
* today, with no motivation to leave the house in the rain, i read Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral cover to cover. last weekend in philly, jessica lent me her copy. she was right about it: you can read it quickly in less than a day and it's a fun cute read. it's also full of lots of recipes at the end of each chapter, some of which i should copy down before i return it. ;)
* next on the list is the number devil. since it's at an age 9-12 reading level, it's mathematical but easy enough to consider leisure reading. maybe it will motivate me to get back to work tomorrow? we shall see....
p.s. all leigh's villagers survived the food crisis! now they die of old age instead and have begun telling jokes and arguing in their free time (neither of which they ever used to do before).
Friday, September 01, 2006
"hey lara! congratulations! you're now 2!"
"2 what???"
that's the first thing i heard out of leigh yesterday and "2 what???" was my response.
leigh is currently hooked on a sims knock-off game called villagers or something. her population is up to 20 and she's having fun giving them names alternately from lord of the rings and from her sphere of acquaintances. 7 "years" older than me in the game is little z, who when he became an adult (age 14) got upgraded to dr. z. if you haven't figured it out, that one's named after my advisor. he's going to be an actual medical doctor if leigh can convince him, but last night he developed a strange compulsion for doing laundry and she kept picking him up from the wash hut and dropping him in bushes to try to make him work. it was funny.
lara, on the other hand is still a child so she doesn't do much but dance and explore and occasionally pick mushrooms. after leigh named the character after me, it developed several likes and dislikes. this is remarkable because in the whole village population, most characters like/dislike nothing in particular (the computer decides, not leigh), and the rest like/dislike at most one thing... so one guy likes the color red, another dislikes flies, and another dislikes the ocean. not so with lara... she happens to be the most complex of all liking rocks and jokes and disliking surprises. how awesome is that?
unfortunately leigh let her villagers multiply too quickly and apparently she's not allowed to teach them to ration, so last night's 11pm update from her was that there's a food shortage and her top researchers are going to get weak and die from hunger before they earn enough tech points for her to help them get to the next level of food technology... cross your fingers that lara and dr. z. survive the famine!
not that i'd have the attention span to maintain the game long term myself, but it's rather entertaining to live vicariously through leigh. ;)
the end.
that's the first thing i heard out of leigh yesterday and "2 what???" was my response.
leigh is currently hooked on a sims knock-off game called villagers or something. her population is up to 20 and she's having fun giving them names alternately from lord of the rings and from her sphere of acquaintances. 7 "years" older than me in the game is little z, who when he became an adult (age 14) got upgraded to dr. z. if you haven't figured it out, that one's named after my advisor. he's going to be an actual medical doctor if leigh can convince him, but last night he developed a strange compulsion for doing laundry and she kept picking him up from the wash hut and dropping him in bushes to try to make him work. it was funny.
lara, on the other hand is still a child so she doesn't do much but dance and explore and occasionally pick mushrooms. after leigh named the character after me, it developed several likes and dislikes. this is remarkable because in the whole village population, most characters like/dislike nothing in particular (the computer decides, not leigh), and the rest like/dislike at most one thing... so one guy likes the color red, another dislikes flies, and another dislikes the ocean. not so with lara... she happens to be the most complex of all liking rocks and jokes and disliking surprises. how awesome is that?
unfortunately leigh let her villagers multiply too quickly and apparently she's not allowed to teach them to ration, so last night's 11pm update from her was that there's a food shortage and her top researchers are going to get weak and die from hunger before they earn enough tech points for her to help them get to the next level of food technology... cross your fingers that lara and dr. z. survive the famine!
not that i'd have the attention span to maintain the game long term myself, but it's rather entertaining to live vicariously through leigh. ;)
the end.
