I fly back to SJ tomorrow. About 2.5 hours of flying and 3.5 hours of sitting in LAX international with nothing at all to do. Sigh..
At least it will be good to be home and see Tiffany and my family.
Take a guess at what common household cleaning tool my bike seat is most similar to. Yes, that's right: a sponge. Seriously, I mean, it's pouring cats and dogs out here and my bike seat is soaked all the way through. So much for a measly paper towel making a dent...
I just found out that Mark Knopfler did the music for The Princess Bride. That's cool!
Somebody set the thermostat in the Dome (where I work) to 77 degrees F! So hot... so stuffy... Can hardly work...
On a different note, a professor from UC Santa Cruz visited Steward today to give a talk for our weekly colloquium. Afterwards, a few of us grad students took him out to dinner as a way of thanking him. On the way there, I had the opportunity to interrogate him about this little peculiarity in the history of my weblog. Not surprisingly, he was surprised. I didn't expect him to have much to add, since I emailed the professor on the graduate admission committee at UCSC, and that person didn't know anything about it. I suppose it will remain a mystery for quite some time.
The Niners jumped over a huge hurdle last weekend, overcoming a 17-3 advantage at halftime to lose handily to the Carolina Panthers 37-27. I mean, you gotta hand it to them; giving up 34 points after halftime to one of the worst teams in the league is... truly incredible. That helps to make up for the blunder in week 5, when they defeated the Arizona Cardinals in a close game, 31-28. That time, it was simply the Cardinals that wanted to put an L in the column more than the 49ers. But this time, the Niners really held their composure at halftime and ensured that they got the loss. Congrats go out to them. The only potential roadblock in the future is their home game against Miami, another one of the worst teams in the league, in Week 12. But the past weekend's performance has me convinced that this 49ers team has what it takes to get the job done. Especially if Tim Rattay gets injured and Ken Dorsey gets to handle the reins once more.
The strongest evidence for God is existence.
The strongest evidence against God is humanity.
Yesterday was a holiday for the UofA in deference to Veteran's Day. This allowed me to spend the morning doing laundry and fixing the flat tire on my bike, as well as install a headlight and backlight on it. I spent about $70 more on bike stuff yesterday, but I think it was well worth it. There's also a possibility now that I can resurrect a bike that's been sitting dead in our garage with flat tires and a previously unknown type of valve that I now know to be aPresta valve. I'm really excited about this because this other bike has the handlebars farther away from the seat, so I think I'll be able to bike faster on it. In fact, you might even say I'm pumped up about the whole thing!
I'm sure we all remember this historic post regarding the evolution of one man's sandwich eating habits. Well, there is a new update!
First and foremost is the use of roast beef as the primary ingredient instead of turkey. This is truly a remarkable turn of events as turkey is well known to be the staple of the lunch diet for the past bajillion years. But beyond that, on a slightly more subtle but certainly no less important note, is the re-ordering of the layers of the sandwich. Clearly, the meat product (be it turkey or roast beef) goes on the slice of bread with mustard. Next, comes avocado if available. Now comes the revolutionary change: previously, the lettuce was placed on the avocados, and then the tomatos on top of the lettuce and directly underneath the second slice of bread. Now, however, the incredible, breathtaking revelation is to interchange the ordering of the tomatos and the lettuce. This has the extreme benefit of insulating the liquid-spilling tomatos from the bread. Before, the slice of bread next to the tomatos always got soggy by lunchtime. But no longer!! This is truly an historic occasion.
I posted a few recent picture galleries, including from the weekend Tiffany visited me in Tucson and the 14 mile hike yesterday up Mt. Wrightson (where it snowed at the top).
Also, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention Eric Furst's completion of the NYC marathon today. It took him all of 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 32 seconds. Hot shit.
I recently bought some music online from BMG Music, going for their '12 CDs for the price of 1' deal. This will mark the third time in my life I have taken advantage of it. The way it works if you pick 7 first, then pick the last 5 later. Here are the seven I chose:
1) Jurassic 5 - Power In Numbers
2) Blink 182 - Blink 182
3) Black Sheep - A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
4) Gang Starr - Daily Operation
5) The Roots - Things Fall Apart
And a couple of others I can't remember now. Doh.
The Infernal Symposium is finally over. Two full days of 15 minute talks. It came to a total of 45 of those talks and was punctuated at the end today by the usual Thursday colloquium, just for good measure. I took notes on all of the 15 minute talks, and then sort of passed out during the colloquium. I feel like I learned a lot, particularly about the research being done at Steward, but it was a very draining experience.
We're staring down the barrel of four more years. I think Ohio is a done deal, and so is the race.
Friday: run around trying to find advisors to get proposal sent off to use the SMT on Mt. Graham (about 3 hours away from Tucson) in January-February. Finally succeed around 5pm, then go play ultimate frisbee like every other week.
Friday night: buy overly expensive halloween costum consisting of basic black cloak and black pointy hat. Go to halloween party and be called Harry Potter by everyone, even though I was really only planning on being a 'generic black wizard.'
Saturday: Buy a lot of food at Albertsons. I now have really a lot of food at home, which makes me happy.
Saturday night: Anime night goes on extra long for about four hours, thanks in large part to viewings of A Bit o' Fry and Laurie.
Sunday: Do laundry and watch football. Play basketball in the afternoon and receive the nickname 'Bush-man', apparently for my 'wild' and 'aggressive' style of play. I never know what to say when people come up with nicknames for me. I think the main reason is that when kids did that to me in middle school they were always making fun of me, and I just naturally assume that the same thing is happening today.
To sum it up: a nice, relaxing weekend following a hectic week.