First Day of School

This is me, around '79(?)

Car Fire in the Parking Lot

New pics! Autumn!

These are all also from my office window on the seventh floor of the Jacobsen Faculty Tower.

I haven't posted in forever, and I'm going to try to do better. It's just . . . busy.

The View from my office window

KITCHEN SCENE OF COCK FIGHTS

The Hasbrouck House is located a short walk down my street, and this never fails to make me laugh when I walk past it. Those crazy Huguenots! They arrived here, happy to be free from religious persecution, and promptly set about betting on whose rooster was going to kick whose ass.

The Ecstasy of Saint James

Mal took this-- I await canonization.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs.

See also: Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den.

And also: Linguistic example sentences.

OBVIOUS DEP'T.

Thanks for the caveat, Ellio's.

Ergodic Literature

Ergodic literature is literature that requires a "non-trivial effort" to traverse the text.

More here.

OK, it's getting exciting.














Really.

the past few weeks

It's been a rough month or two. (outrageously bad asthma attack, tendonitis from building the house, rushing home 'cause dad had an another angioplasty, etc)

Still not smoking, it's been four weeks.

I need to put together a syllabus for the Fall, and right quick, at that. (been sidetracked by watching "Six Feet Under")

I suppose I need to come up with some good content for this blog, as opposed to just posting this boring shit.

Poker night at the condo

We are stone cold.














Seriously.
















The Flop.

resources for students

software and websites of interest. via

memorization

This seems as though it would work as well as anything. Anyone have any tips or tricks for memorization/ memory retention and recall?

Kathy Griffin

LET'S HAVE A CHILI COOKOFF MOTH3RF()CKERS!

I'm no fanboy, but Kathy is awesome, in a metadiscursive, PoMo sort of way. She's also outrageous and fabulous, and anyone who gets disinvited to as many shows as she does is doing something right.

My Life on the "D" List

other stuff.

In order: Us, creepy neighbor window, nice window, my garden plot (still with nothing in it).
p.s. Blogger and Picasa are being a**holes right now, and nothing is working. It took me a half an hour to get this post up correctly. wtf.

CatWalk

Ricky and "Gutter". Ricky is our cat-by-proxy. (He's the one facing right, belongs to our next door neighbor)










They would appear to be friends.











But they like to tussle.














Here's another unknown cat, hamming it up.

I have been a smoker for eighteen years...

and today, June 23rd, is my official quit day. Encouragement and moral support gladly accepted.

WHO KNEW SOFT DRINKS COULD BE HYDRATING?

file under "ridiculous"

this is some copy from a Coca-Cola^® 12-pack carton:

Who knew soft drinks could be hydrating?
It's true. All beverages hydrate, including soft drinks. So if you are looking for hydration, but want the delicious and refreshing taste you get from Coca-Cola, don't compromise - go for it! You'll be hydrating your body with each and every sip.

They then provide this link, which leads here, which is a corporate site about hydration, and how Coca-Cola^® and its assorted products might meet your hydrating needs, going so far as to suggest that if you had a yen for coffee or tea, that's fine too.

Of course, it is okay to drink those things, but let's be reasonable here-- caffeine acts as a diuretic, which ends up dehydrating you.

I just find this sort of spin very interesting. The idea that all liquids hydrate, while not off the mark, is a bit misleading. Following this logic, one might reach for heavy cream or buttermilk in order to replace one's lost moisture--which might be a godsend if one was in, oh I don't know, DEATH VALLEY or the GOBI DESERT, but when one has other choices, like good old H₂O, or an electrolyte-balanced sports drink, fizzy caffeinated drinks just seem to pale a bit in comparison.

Reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live "Cookie Dough Sport" commercial wherein people are chugging cookie-dough ice cream on hot summer days whilst performing strenuous activities.

Rail Trail Ride

So I (foolishly) went on a bike ride today, despite having a fairly severe asthma attack that came on last week; I'm on prednisone for it, and I thought I was okay. I was, at least for the first 3 or 4 miles. This is a shot of the Plattekill Creek Gorge, a few miles South of my condo.














The weather was semi-threatening-- here are some Thunderheads drifting South over the ridge.



Hot day-- cows seeking some shade. They were mooing a bit, and the calves came bounding over to the moms and dads.



Overall, it was nice, and I ended up heading back north and then further by a few miles, which proved to be a mistake... I spent the greater part of today trying to recuperate. Hopefully I will be smarter tomorrow, and take it easier. Still, it was a nice ride.