21 June 2006
growth spurt
This was Louie the first weekend we had him (7 weeks old):
This is Louie one week later. It looks like he increased about 10% in size in one week.
This is Louie one week later. It looks like he increased about 10% in size in one week.
15 June 2006
asian theme
I'm not quite sure why the Asian proletariat soldier image is figuring prominently in local paste ups.
11 June 2006
the pup
It took us longer than expected to settle on a name, and we tried out several. In the end, his personality just didn't fit Iggy or Raoul or Gale or Winston. We named him Louis (pronounced Louie, not Lewis).
09 June 2006
unexpected new addition
We weren't even considering it, but on the day that our neighbors were giving away their puppies and had one left, he was just too cute to pass over. The two medium sized dogs we already have are a bit overexcited right now, but they don't seem overly freaked out. We ran out and bought a crate (with a divider insert), some food, and some little toys. The poor thing went from a home of two adult pugs and four male puppies to two adult female 60-pounders without any warning.
We don't even have a name for him yet. People have made many suggestions: Winston Churchill, Ignatius J. Reilly (Iggy), Eddie, Claude, Frankie, Vincent, Horatio, Jacques, Woody, Anselm, Etienne, Paddy, O'Malley, Paddy O'Malley, Holden, Eadwyn, Tad, Sammy, and Gale.
We don't even have a name for him yet. People have made many suggestions: Winston Churchill, Ignatius J. Reilly (Iggy), Eddie, Claude, Frankie, Vincent, Horatio, Jacques, Woody, Anselm, Etienne, Paddy, O'Malley, Paddy O'Malley, Holden, Eadwyn, Tad, Sammy, and Gale.
06 June 2006
29 May 2006
14 May 2006
title creep
When talking to my mother today on Mother's Day, she taught me some new vocabulary from the world of business. The two that stuck most were these:
1. title creep: this phenomenon is analogous to grade inflation. It refers to the way that people entering the workforce are demanding early and sooner to have various titles in their jobs, as well as quick and continuous advancement (with changing titles). Pretty soon the entry level position will be named "manager." It's just like the situation in colleges where every student feels they have a right to be "above average."
2. matrix management: this is basically a distributed network of accountability articulated within a globalizaed chain of command. It refers to the increasingly confusing set of network relations in which a worker's direct supervisor may be stationed in another country while they are laterally accountable to others in their same location. There is multi-accountablity, but the direction of accountability is dispersed into a distributed network.
1. title creep: this phenomenon is analogous to grade inflation. It refers to the way that people entering the workforce are demanding early and sooner to have various titles in their jobs, as well as quick and continuous advancement (with changing titles). Pretty soon the entry level position will be named "manager." It's just like the situation in colleges where every student feels they have a right to be "above average."
2. matrix management: this is basically a distributed network of accountability articulated within a globalizaed chain of command. It refers to the increasingly confusing set of network relations in which a worker's direct supervisor may be stationed in another country while they are laterally accountable to others in their same location. There is multi-accountablity, but the direction of accountability is dispersed into a distributed network.
12 May 2006
09 May 2006
emails like this make me very uncomfortable
On the one hand there is me and my empathy and my strong desire for everyone to acheive. On the other seems to be the integrity of education and fairness and the belief that people need to learn to meet the challenges that face them. On the one hand is the feeling that everything I do is really just futile anyway. On the other is the thought that the future of society is at stake.
Dear Dr. M(mmm),
I know probably by now many students have emailed you or talked with you about their grades. Yes I am here to do the same, sorry to bother you but I am really concerned about my grade. Its to the point where if I dont get a C in your class my whole summer and fall is ruined. I based all of my class and school year plans for the summer and the next school year thinking I was going to be able to pass your class. Unfortunately I checked my grade and it wasnt what I thought is was going to be. I began to really study for this test on last saturday staying up until 3 and 4 o' clock in the morning. I had alot of confidence in this test and I thought I would have done pretty good, but I guess not. I am telling you this to let you know I am not a lazy student and I am desperate and will do anything to get that 8 extra points [actually, percentage points] I need to get a C in your class. I had already registered for my summer and fall classes. I now have to reschedule everything including my jobs because I now have to see if I can get into your class for the summer. Please do not think I am trying to blame anything on you because I'm not I just want you to know that I tried and studied my hardest for your test and at this point its out of my hands. Well I am basically writing you to ask for your consideration and sympathy. I will do anything just to raise my grade to a C. Please DR. M(mmm) I'm on my hands and knees begging you. I am a student athlete. In their system they dont consider a D as passing. If I dont receive a C in your class that means that I wont have the 12 credits to be able to compete. If there is any way or if there is anything you can do or I can do, can you please tell me how I can make it happen? I would most gladly appreciate it Dr. M(mmm) if you could possibly find a way to fix my grade. Thank you for your time. Hopefully its not to late.
Dear Dr. M(mmm),
I know probably by now many students have emailed you or talked with you about their grades. Yes I am here to do the same, sorry to bother you but I am really concerned about my grade. Its to the point where if I dont get a C in your class my whole summer and fall is ruined. I based all of my class and school year plans for the summer and the next school year thinking I was going to be able to pass your class. Unfortunately I checked my grade and it wasnt what I thought is was going to be. I began to really study for this test on last saturday staying up until 3 and 4 o' clock in the morning. I had alot of confidence in this test and I thought I would have done pretty good, but I guess not. I am telling you this to let you know I am not a lazy student and I am desperate and will do anything to get that 8 extra points [actually, percentage points] I need to get a C in your class. I had already registered for my summer and fall classes. I now have to reschedule everything including my jobs because I now have to see if I can get into your class for the summer. Please do not think I am trying to blame anything on you because I'm not I just want you to know that I tried and studied my hardest for your test and at this point its out of my hands. Well I am basically writing you to ask for your consideration and sympathy. I will do anything just to raise my grade to a C. Please DR. M(mmm) I'm on my hands and knees begging you. I am a student athlete. In their system they dont consider a D as passing. If I dont receive a C in your class that means that I wont have the 12 credits to be able to compete. If there is any way or if there is anything you can do or I can do, can you please tell me how I can make it happen? I would most gladly appreciate it Dr. M(mmm) if you could possibly find a way to fix my grade. Thank you for your time. Hopefully its not to late.
28 April 2006
16 April 2006
word of the day
Versicle: a little verse.
For poetry month, I'm looking for a little verse. Or maybe a partial verse.
The Midnight Club by Mark Strand
The gifted have told us for years that they want to be loved
For what they are, that they, in whatever fullness is theirs,
Are perishable in twilight, just like us. So they work all night
In rooms that are cold and webbed with the moon's light;
Sometimes, during the day, they lean on cars,
And stare into the blistering valley, glassy and golden,
But mainly they sit, hunched in the dark, feet on the floor,
Hands on the table, shirts with a bloodstain over the heart.
For poetry month, I'm looking for a little verse. Or maybe a partial verse.
The Midnight Club by Mark Strand
The gifted have told us for years that they want to be loved
For what they are, that they, in whatever fullness is theirs,
Are perishable in twilight, just like us. So they work all night
In rooms that are cold and webbed with the moon's light;
Sometimes, during the day, they lean on cars,
And stare into the blistering valley, glassy and golden,
But mainly they sit, hunched in the dark, feet on the floor,
Hands on the table, shirts with a bloodstain over the heart.
28 March 2006
guns don't kill blogs, bullets kill blogs
Random sortie of lame bullets:
• Over the weekend I was riding my bike through the city and ended up right in the middle of an attack by a large hawk on a cat. It was very strange to see this in the middle of a city. The cat got away without harm, escaping to a drain tunnel. I think my sudden appearance disrupted the attack. The person I was riding with said that we just saved the cat's life. I replied that maybe we just starved a big bird.
• What the iPod shuffled as a playlist while I just washed the dishes a few minutes ago:
1. Fruit Bats, The Wind that Blew my Heart Away
2. Rolling Stones, Wild Horses
3. Hank Williams, Long Gone Lonesome Blues
4. Wilco, I Must Be High
5. Old 97's, St. Ignatius
6. Destroyer, Beggars Might Ride
7. Lyle Lovett, This Old Porch
8. LCD Soundsystem, Disco Infiltrator
9. David Cross, a comedy routine about The Simple Life, Terrorism, and Freedom
10. Johnny Cash, I'm So Lonesome I could Cry
• Why do we have to always turn in all of those annual reports and self-reflective apologies about our student evals and publishing records right in the heart of the Spring semester?
• My chair did not seem amused when I pointed out that I taught more students this school year than all five full professors combined. I was just trying to make the case that I'm worth a couple thousand extra dollars. Collectively, those professors make about 12 times my salary. Throw me a bone.
• I almost never go shopping, but I needed new shoes. I went to the shoe store and came back with four pairs: one for exercise, one for hiking, one for hanging out, and one pair of sandals.
• Even though many of my students aren't doing well in my classes, they don't seem to be blaming me for their bad marks.
• Over the weekend I was riding my bike through the city and ended up right in the middle of an attack by a large hawk on a cat. It was very strange to see this in the middle of a city. The cat got away without harm, escaping to a drain tunnel. I think my sudden appearance disrupted the attack. The person I was riding with said that we just saved the cat's life. I replied that maybe we just starved a big bird.
• What the iPod shuffled as a playlist while I just washed the dishes a few minutes ago:
1. Fruit Bats, The Wind that Blew my Heart Away
2. Rolling Stones, Wild Horses
3. Hank Williams, Long Gone Lonesome Blues
4. Wilco, I Must Be High
5. Old 97's, St. Ignatius
6. Destroyer, Beggars Might Ride
7. Lyle Lovett, This Old Porch
8. LCD Soundsystem, Disco Infiltrator
9. David Cross, a comedy routine about The Simple Life, Terrorism, and Freedom
10. Johnny Cash, I'm So Lonesome I could Cry
• Why do we have to always turn in all of those annual reports and self-reflective apologies about our student evals and publishing records right in the heart of the Spring semester?
• My chair did not seem amused when I pointed out that I taught more students this school year than all five full professors combined. I was just trying to make the case that I'm worth a couple thousand extra dollars. Collectively, those professors make about 12 times my salary. Throw me a bone.
• I almost never go shopping, but I needed new shoes. I went to the shoe store and came back with four pairs: one for exercise, one for hiking, one for hanging out, and one pair of sandals.
• Even though many of my students aren't doing well in my classes, they don't seem to be blaming me for their bad marks.
23 March 2006
23 February 2006
on the gravity of perception
Don't you hate it when the first time you see or hear something, you misperceive it. I hate it necause there is an almost automatic sedimentation of the wrong perception, so it haunts you forever and always immediately as a misperception. It's just like all those funny stories of misheard song lyrics (I want to wrap you up in nylons; cheadle eye cheadle eye cheadle eye see you cryin', etc.).
Here's the blogging related one for me. It's luckybuzz's photo ID:
I know now that this is a cut-open pomegranate. But the first time I saw this picture on someone's comments, here's what I saw: a grotesque, festering corpse face. I know, ewww. But that's what I saw. See if you can do it, too. The little stem thing; that looks like a tuft of hair. That dark patch behind the fruit: more hair. The skin of the fruit looks like a discolored forehead. The rest of the fruit? Well that looked like a bloody missing part of a face. I mean, ewww, what the hell is wrong with me?
Here's the blogging related one for me. It's luckybuzz's photo ID:
I know now that this is a cut-open pomegranate. But the first time I saw this picture on someone's comments, here's what I saw: a grotesque, festering corpse face. I know, ewww. But that's what I saw. See if you can do it, too. The little stem thing; that looks like a tuft of hair. That dark patch behind the fruit: more hair. The skin of the fruit looks like a discolored forehead. The rest of the fruit? Well that looked like a bloody missing part of a face. I mean, ewww, what the hell is wrong with me?
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