Friday, October 22, 2010

The Dilemma

Driving back from Springfield, MO yesterday. Stopped at Taco Bell. I've never had my packet of salsa propose marriage before. If you know how much I love salsa, you can appreciate the dilemma this posed.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Worth Noting

Using one of my favorite turns of phrase in quite some time, the Telegraph pays tribute to "the almost freakishly benign gift to the civilised world that is Jon Hamm’s handsomeness."

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Multi-Function

So I have this tricked out calculator. One that performs trig functions, solves for multivariables, creates graphs and, by shear super-power strength, limps me along through my calculus homework.

Naomi picked up my calculator the other day as it was buried under crumpled up papers and textbooks. What's this? She wondered.

Me: It's my calculator, honey.
Naomi: What do these buttons do? She touched the top row lightly.
Me: Higher forms of math. Like trigonometry.
Naomi: More like magic, right?
Me: Mmm-hmmm, more like magic.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Window Display


I'm thinking they should have been more specific about what ~type~ of pie. The squids might have responded differently.

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Currently Reading: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
Dinner Line Up: Spinach/Garlic/Cheesy Potato thing I baked up in my brain with Fresh Tomatoes
Currently Listening To: All Sorts of Rickie Lee Jones

Friday, October 1, 2010

Exam Schedule


At about 3 o’clock today I finished the last in my first series of exams for this fall semester. Achy and tired, I felt as if I were crawling out from under a heavy pile of textbooks and slogging through the dregs from my coffee-pot.

I walked out of the test proctor’s office sat down in the campus’ grassy quad, closed eyes and turned my face toward late afternoon sun.
During exams a younger rendering of myself used to meet my friend, Mac, every day on the CSU Oval. We’d quiz each other on our shared courses: Dendrology, Geology, Rangeland Ecology…lots of ologies.

One year, during spring finals, we met up for lunch and a Hydrology cram session in our usual spot. And, like an off-on switch I fell fast asleep. Never realized I was tired, went from talking (ka-plunk) to sleeping, then woke up in a puddle of drool in the grass. My books and note-cards were zipped up in my backpack. The sandwich wrappers, paper bags, spent napkins from lunch already landed in their proper trash receptacle. Mac was nowhere to be found. I wondered how long I had been sleeping there? Wondered what the proper amount of embarrassment would be for a 22 year old caught sleeping in a public space?

With my eyes closed today on the campus quad I realized I wouldn’t be at all embarrassed, now, to sleep. Wouldn’t particularly care who might find me napping on the quad. It was other things that kept me from it: the large pile of neglected laundry in my basement, the curry concoction I wanted to doctor up for dinner, Naomi needing me to pick her up in 45 minutes. Disorienting as it had once been to wake up on the campus oval it was a memory I was glad I could revisit if not recreate.