Graduation Day

Close, but not quite...

A guy in our department just got a phone call from someone asking if this was the Special Ed. Department. He had to think about it about it for a minute before he decided that it was a wrong number.

More on new Blogger features

I just tried enabling Blogger's new built-in comment feature. I then disabled it and went back to YACCS.

The new commenting interface seems to be headed toward the livejournal model, where commenters are either members of Blogger and post under their username, or must post as "Anonymous." I have never liked this, since I don't think it's fair that blog-less friends, Movable Type users, etc. should have to suffer the indignity of being known as "anonymous." The YACCS model allows anyone to enter contact info in on the fly, which is more democratic.

On another note, I also turned on the new "post by e-mail" feature, which sounds pretty cool. If this works, it means I should be able to blast out blog entries from my SmartPhone. (I've tried to do this before in other ways, but it's never been very reliable.) I'll give it a try in a bit.

I don't blog for a day...

... and they change everything! Not sure how I feel about this freaky new version of blogger, but it does seem to have some interesting features.

gak

Since I'm just about done with classes, I was totally looking forward to a weekend of freedom. I had been thinking all about what to do with it. For example, finally going to see that Frist Center exhibit that will be disappearing in a few days. Or maybe trying to watch some horses. Or maybe just running some errands around town.

Instead I spent today in orbit between the bed and the futon, feeling like crud warmed over. I seem to have picked up some sort of nasty head cold that is sapping my will to live. Hopefully with a lot of sleep it will blow over soon.

On the good side of the scale, the brother who was laid off back around Thanksgiving, finally found another job -- and it sounds like it's a pretty good one. Yay.

The Song

Ok, you've suffered long enough. The lyrics below were from "The Cranes," sung by Patty Larkin on the album "Red = Luck."

Name that tune...

Inspired by Danielle, who was, in turn, inspired by someone else, we will now play a fun game.

1. Grab the nearest CD.
2. Put it in your CD-Player (or start your mp3-player, I-tunes, etc.).
3. Skip to Song 3 (or load the 3rd song in your 3rd playlist)
4. Post the first verse in your journal along with these instructions. Don't name the band, nor the album-title.

On their wings they are returning.
On their wings they fly.
Shadows fade; the sun is burning... high.

Every day the light stays longer.
Every day you sigh.
Shadows fade; you start to wave goodbye.

If you're thinking of leaving, you're leaving at a very bad time.

No Googling Allowed. Which performer performed this song on which album?

On the brighter side of life...

We just handed in our group paper for the biotech class, which was the last major assignment left before graduation. I have a few more little weekly position papers, but by and large I am done. Yay.

Why else would they put the stage in the middle of a river?

From today's paper:

''I'm drinking alcohol,'' explained Julian Casablancas, lead singer of red-hot rock band The Strokes, to the packed River Stages audience Sunday night.

''I'm not drinking water, I'm not drinking juice. I'm drinking liquid cocaine.''

Casablancas' explanation seemed somewhat necessary, and not entirely unexpected, given that he and guitarist Nick Valensi had urinated minutes before into the Cumberland River.

Charming... Now pardon me while I go and refill my Brita with premium grade Cumberland River tap water.

But it's non-GMO cirrhosis...

Came across this while working on my paper:

Emulating the food industries, Japanese breweries have also joined the competition to offer GM-free products. In 1998, Paarlberg said, the Kirin Brewing Company announced that starting in the year 2001 it would use only GM-free corn starch in its beer. Only one day after Kirin’s announcement, its competitor, Sapporo Breweries made similar promises that its beer would be as GM-free as its competitors. Recognizing this commendable display of health consciousness among beer drinkers, Paarlberg pointed out that even Japanese smokers made the decision some years ago to consume only non-GM tobacco leaves.

-- Robert Paarlberg, "Asia’s Response to Genetically Modified Food

Mexico in old school 35mm

Here are a few of the photos I snapped on my first day in Mexico city using my trusty Pentax K-1000. These are inside the Mexico City Cathedral, and then outside where they were rehearsing the passion play for later in the week. (They may be a bit distorted by the scaling, but I don't feel like messing with Photoshop right now.)

  

Or not...

When you roll out of bed midmorning on a Saturday, walk into the kitchen in your boxers, look out the window, and see people jogging past the 20 mile mark of a marathon, it sort of makes you feel a bit lazy.

Hoofin' It

This morning I decided to walk to work. I've done this a few times before, but never on a regular basis. I'm thinking about trying to start doing it more often. The (relatively) new Shelby pedestrian bridge makes it a much nicer walk.

It's about two miles from there to here, and there's some nice scenery along the way. The only drawback is having to allow enough time to get here, and having to do it again at the end of the day whether I feel like it or not. (There's always cabs and buses in a pinch, I guess.)

I figure the walking is an easy way to help make up for the computer screen I stare at much of the rest of the day. We'll have to see if this idea survives once the mercury tops 90, though.

I'm making a valiant effort on my section of this biotech paper. But it just seems like a crime against nature to be sitting in front of a computer when it's this nice outside.

I'm back. Spent 12+ hours yesterday trying to dig out at work. And to make matters worse, after perfect weather in Mexico, I came back to snow showers in Nashville!

The trip was fantastic. I'll try to write more about the trip the first chance I get. But I also have a group paper to work on for class, and a visit from my cousin. So no promises.

teaser

No time to blog, but here are a few photos to whet your apetite...

Buenas Tardes

In Mexico City. My feet hurt, but it´s great. More later!

Getting ready to leave for Mexico tomorrow: Packing bags. Mowing lawn. Trying to recall my two years of middle school Spanish. Figuring out how the heck a night owl can catch a 6:50 AM flight without staying up all night.

Your tax dollars at work...

With all the pressing issues facing society in today's complex and dangerous world, it's good to know that the Tennessee legislature is on top of the growing drive-by porn epidemic.

Root Canals, Group Projects, and other fun activities

I just got off the phone with a member of my project group for my "Social Issues in Biotechnology" class. During the conversation, she mentioned that she just finished a graduate writing workshop recommended by her advisor. After I got off the phone, it occurred to me that no one had ever suggested that I take a writing workshop in grad school. With a sinking feeling, I went and looked at her midterm paper on our class website. Let's just say it didn't fill me with confidence in her writing ability.

Now to be fair, I don't think she is a native English speaker. And I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who knows enough of a foreign language to attend graduate school in it. But on the other hand, when your grade is on the line, you can't help but think that it would be nice to be in a group with a few gifted wordsmiths with a remarkable command of the English language.

I should point out that I've worked with plenty of native-born Americans who were lousy writers, and I'm sure there are plenty of non-native speakers who can write circles around me. But unfortunately they aren't in my BIOT640 project group.

Oh, yeah. On top of that, I have once again summarily been elected group leader. We were playing a game of chicken. The first person to panic and suggest that maybe we should actually meet was tagged as the sucker, and henceforth appointed ruler. That was me. So it's my job to guide the group into coming up with a coherent paper in the next month. It's going to be a long month.