Ummmm....

Glad classes ended today. For many reasons, but this one is up there.

Swine flu confirmed at Notre Dame; student has recovered
Dennis Brown
Notre Dame Newswire,
April 28, 2009

More Pollock

I think this has morphed into clear-cut work avoidance...

"Tesla"
"Crayon Drippings"

Pollock-ing

I've been having fun with the new "Pollock" app on my iPhone. I love my iPhone (have I mentioned that before??)

I won't quit my day job...



"Burst"
"Angst"
"Dexter"

Gumby I Ain't

I started yoga today. And tho' I feel great right now, I have a feeling I may be immobile tomorrow morning... Definitely noted muscle groups I'd only seen in anatomy books, never actually felt on myself. And my flexibility was compared to that of a steel i-beam. Guess this'll be good for me, who needs an ego anyway ;-)

Easter Dinner

Fun Easter afternoon! Donna G. and I went to Max and Nancy's for dinner, featuring fun company and Randy C's exceptional leg of lamb. Culminating with the traditional lamb cake beheading. This year also featured a new addition, the lamb butter - tho' no one was willing to behead it.

Happy Easter!

And So It Begins

Today there was a protest in front of the main entrance to campus. Fortunately, it was only a small crowd holding up pictures of dead fetuses. Really made me angry - none of the protesters were ND students, this issue has been hijacked by radicals. Really a shame for the graduating seniors.

It came up today in class, I told the seniors to quit signing petitions on Facebook and get their butts out there for a counter protest. Show that the majority of folks at the University are quite excited by the prospect of President Obama's visit.

After class I headed over to do just that, but I guess they punch a time clock, 'cuz no one was there. Good. This whole boondoggle is embarrassing. Recently we made the NY Times:

Invitation to Obama Stirs Up Notre Dame
By DIRK JOHNSON
NYT.com,
April 5, 2009

Cat Bliss

Tonight I learned that cat nip is in the mint family. I let the boys run around out back this evening, and found Lemur very joyfully rolling around and rubbing his face in a patch of leaves. He seemed utterly content. At one point Wiley walked over to him and started licking his face and chewing on the leaves.

When I picked Lemur up to go inside, I noticed he smelled minty fresh. And he was purring his head off, not something he usually does when forced back into the house. I quickly looked up "cats and mint" and learned my 'something new for the day.'

Apparently in many parts of the world, cat nip is called 'cat mint.' All plants in this family produce a group of chemicals that cats apparently enjoy. Based on Lemur's response, I'd add "...quite a bit." Twenty-five years of cat companions and I never knew this. Fun little discovery, I'm going to plant more.

Whale Farmers

Yesterday, NPR's All Things Considered ran their weekly segment "Letters from Our Listeners", where people wrote in to complain about/praise an earlier story about dry-land whale farms. It reported on farmers in Illinois who raised pods of whales in order to use their body parts -- blubber for fuel, the bones for building projects like front porches, etc. One farmer was interviewed about a pod he'd taught to sing whale-song in 3-part harmony. Some viewers complained about the lack of harmony, others about the misuse of bottom land for whale pods, and another about the fact that these farmers wasted the blowholes so shouldn't be claiming complete 'recycling'.

It sounded real.

But it was April 1st.

Today's real segment of "Letters from our Listeners" was loaded with complaints about the cavalier way the story was reported, about the horrific farmers who would engage in such practices, etc.

It worked. Pretty funny.

Here's the link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102618951

Hilarious

A friend posted this on Facebook, made me laugh so hard I cried. Why? It might be THE perfect cat video. Make sure you have the volume on.

STOMP!

Went to see STOMP! today with a friend in the department (Donna G). I've wanted to see them for a very long time, got the 'inspiration' after attending the symphony several weeks back. Came home, and bought tickets so I'd have to go.

Today was an ugly, snowy day. But since the tickets were in hand, off we went. Nice lunch at Le Peep beforehand, then braved the weather to walk (in my case, hobble ;-) up to the Morris Theater.

Pretty awesome performance. Amazingly athletic, and interesting that everything they used (brushes, trashcans, plastic bags, lighters, matches, etc.) were common products. I supposed they can perform in any town with a Lowes.

Did My Part

Did my part for the economy Friday, went to the closing to refinance my house. Now I have a much lower monthly payment (went from a 15 yr adjustable rate to a 30-yr fixed) and have a nice chunk of change to make some improvements to the house. First on the list? Painting. Then the upstairs bathroom. Both projects are about 2 years overdue.

Did my part for Obama (aside from working for his campaign and voting for him).

Serves Me Right

It's broken. Gotta admit, today it started to smart quite a bit. My doctor called to tell me there was a fracture, and said: just turn the toe medially, tape it to the next toe, go get a podiatric shoe, stay off of it as much as possible, and...clean your room ;-)

Yep, a messy bedroom is to blame. I tripped over a shoe while stepping over a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. My mother taught me better ;-) Two of my colleagues said I should make up a heroic story about saving a cat, people would believe it.

The good news...I have something to include on my "50 New Things" list...

Guess I have to give up the stilettos for awhile. Here's my current "fashion statement" (with Wiley for scale). Talk about "sensible shoes."

Wee Wee Wee Wee

Ouch. I hurt my little toe last night, am currently waiting on the x-rays to find out if it's broken. Clearly I should've just stayed in bed this month!

Couldn't put on a shoe today, so while still chilly here, I was hobbling around campus in Birkenstocks. Got a few comments, so I just showed 'em my bum toe.

But it was worth it, what having saved that poor old nun carrying a newborn baby and a ...umm, puppy, crossing the street while a giant 18-wheeler was bearing down on them. Pretty heroic of me I think.

That's my story, I'm stickin' with it.

Happy Day

Feeling much better today. Not great by any means, but better. I have a new found respect of food poisoning, I've never had something wipe me out for this long before.

I taught yesterday and really thought towards the end of my second lecture (ironically, about disease), that I would be sick right there in front of the students. Interesting pedagogy I 'spose, but I let 'em go a bit early rather than risk it. Came home, slept for about 12 hours.

Today has been notably better. Bolstered by three things:

1) the VERY pretty flowers Diane sent from the Department:

2) the news that President Obama is going to be our commencement speaker!! The glee amongst the students was great to see, I imagine for most of the faculty it is even greater. I went to pick up some groceries after work, ran into Gene Ulrich, shared the news, and he remarked that his day just got so much brighter. I agree, it is wonderful news!

As to groceries...talk about the most boring basket of food. All bland. When I checked out, the woman asked "you sick?" She wasn't looking at me at the time (which is admittedly telling in itself), but at the Gatorade, chicken noodle soup, plain yogurt, bananas, and potatoes going by.

3) This evening is the final Battlestar (I made the skull Viper pilot figure above to commemorate the 'event'). Bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to the episode just the same.

Very Funny

Experts Agree Giant, Razor-Clawed Bioengineered Crabs Pose No Threat

Grapes of Wrath

Boy have I been sick. I ate some big juicy sweet black grapes this weekend, ended up needing two IVs, vicoden, and antibiotics as a result. Seriously un-fun food poisoning.

Today is much better (tho' far from great), with the added 'bonus' that I've lost my voice. Apparently a not uncommon side effect of too much stomach acid in the throat. An interesting sensation, tho' the cats seem a bit confused.

Had to cancel classes today...tho' perhaps not my most unpopular decision, given that it's St. Patrick's day (kind of a big deal here at ND). Couldn't speak, and couldn't be away from the bathroom long enough to teach.

My first clue was when I put on sweats, turned up the heat, and was sleeping under two big comforters, yet was still cold. Definitely not me. What soon followed left nothing to the imagination.

Battlestar Let-Down

I hate to say this...but I'm a bit less than enamored with the past two episodes of Battlestar. And as they were 2 of the final 3, I'm disappointed. I hope the final 2 hour installment is awesome, because right now, the greatest show ever is going out with something of a whimper. They'd have been fine episodes somewhere in the middle of any given season, but not as a blockbuster ending to a blockbuster show.

(I made this fun little cylon skeleton action figure. Surprisingly, there aren't many BSG skeleton/skulls out there...)

Monkeys Flossing

Allstate Update

I posted "Allstate Woes" here last night and likewise put a comment on Facebook, and finally heard from my former Allstate agent this morning. Don't know if the two are related, probably not. But a fun coincidence just the same. He simply left a message for me to call him, no details as to why. I haven't...since I'm not a customer anymore.

It is amazing how many people have hit on yesterday's post (I can check via "details" what page people come to this site from). There must be a lot of unhappy Allstate customers out there.