For Sale: upholstered desk chair (some wear--cat-claw shaped holes) and 3 cats

Now that Thanksgiving is over, nothing particularly noteworthy (or, worthy of note, as some might say) has been happening here in Drearytown, USA. I say Drearytown because its been gray outside for all of about 12 hours, and I expect things to stay that way for about, hmmm, the rest of winter. But that's another post.

Tomorrow, I'm giving a group presentation in front of one of my classes. I'm not a big fan of group projects. This one has been okay. Let's just leave it at that. This weekend, I plan on reading. Let's just leave it at that. Soon, I will have to do some writing. But not before I do a whole bunch of reading. Let's just leave it at that. Later, it will be Christmas break. But not for a long time.

Let's just leave it at that.

"Dispense with the wit forthwith!", said you.
"Why worry when wit will oneday come whence?", said I.

"Always asking ardently in advance for amusement.", said you.
"Almost-amusing alliteration is all for to-day.", said I.

So buzz off.
See what I did there?

A funny thing happened today. Only I wasn't around to see it, and I didn't hear about it. Let me know if you find out what it was.

See what I did there?

Okay, so I haven't written in a while. A couple of things happened. First, there was Cleveland. Then, Lexington. Finally, Lapeer. I should also mention basketball, Thanksgiving, reading, alien invasion, and pineapple. You caught me. There wasn't any pineapple. I might tell you the truth about the last week and illustrate it with pictures. I also might forget/not do it.

In either case, I have to teach a class in the morning, so I'm going to have to go ahead and go to bed. Until later.

An annual report ranks U.S. cities by crime. This year, Detroit clawed it's way to the top (as in, most crime-ridden city in the United States), and Flint was number three (edged out only by St. Louis). In contrast, Mission Viejo (Orange County, CA) was labeled America's safest city).

I find it interesting that Sarah and I just moved from close to the safest area of the entire United States (we were about 20 minutes from Mission Viejo) to close to the most dangerous area. At least we're 20 minutes away...

Well, I made it through my test. No big surprise there--contrary to popular opinion, most test-takers don't die during their exams... Heading into the weekend, I've got lots of work to do (as usual), and I'm nearly heading into the home stretch of this semester. Then a new semester begins. After that, more semesters. After that, work. After that, more work. After that, death.

It's always something, I guess.

Big exam tomorrow.
Study tonight.
Later.

The last time I had hay fever was about six months ago (late May). I posted this:

The interesting thing about my case of hay fever is that it has nothing to with "hay" or "fever". The symptoms include itchy skin, complaints, distemper, and swollen butt.

Yep, still hilarious.

P.S. For sale: 3 cats

I've got a big test on Wednesday, so no interesting posts unless I start procrastinating. Hopefully that's not going to happen. Also, the hay fever isn't going away, but do you know what is going away? Nothing. That's what.

Hay fever.

When I was 17, my high school sent me to Michigan State for a leadership week called Boys' State. It's a nationwide program that's been around since the 1930s. Apparently, at the time, confidence in democracy was waning, and the American Legion decided it needed a way to boost morale and get new recruits for the cause of freedom: Boys' State was born. [When the Nazi's did this, it was called propaganda (among other things), but whatever.]

The premise is this: get a group of 1000 gifted (and, looking back, incredibly nerdy and uptight) teenagers together and have them create their own nation. They elect officials, pass laws, pretend to be real politicians, etc. etc. Like I said, propaganda.

Anywho, some heavy hitters have attended Boys' State (Bill Clinton, JFK, Neil Armstrong, my dad, etc.), and a lot of guys take it really seriously (something about wanting to get into good colleges, whatever). Most people wore suits and ties all week and didn't take kindly to any fooling around. I found this picture on the internet (click it for an enlargement) while I was procrastinating.

I'm pretty sure my expression says, "I know what you're doing, and I reject your propaganda." It was this during this week that I began a campaign of not combing my hair that lasted for TWO YEARS. Everyone was being so serious (and I'd forgotten a comb anyway) that I just revolted. True story. Notice I was still elected to the house of representatives and the transportation committee. I think it's obvious who the real leader was.

P.S. Be sure to see my Pat Robertson rant (written earlier tonight), below.

I am not a republican or a democrat. Ultimately, I vote for the politician who I believe will do the least harm.

As I understand the interaction between Christianity and politics, most Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians vote republican. And, in my (apparently) limited understanding, most of these Christians vote this way because they view republicans as 'pro family' (i.e., anti-abortion, anti-homosexual rights).

Today, Pat Robertson, a major influence in the Evangelical, Fundamentalist Christian community, announced that Rudy Giuliani was his pick for the next president of the United States.

Interesting.

Last time I checked, Giuliani is the only twice-divorced, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual rights, 'pro-family' republican candidate. I'm not here to make an judgments about Giuliani's life, views, or canidacy. I am here to make judgments about Pat Robertson's hypocrisy.

If you're going to be a major religious leader, a person in whom others place their trust and look to for guidance, you must pick your story and stick to it. Claim to place importance on family? Then how about you make choices that don't make you look like an hypocritical idiot to non-Christians. Want to vote republican because someone is your friend or because you like their fiscal policy (so that you can stay rich) even though they represent somewhat of an antithesis of your purported views? Then go ahead and explain what you're doing outright.

Like I said, I don't give a rip one way or the other about Giuliani's views: you can be anti-family (whatever that means) and still do enormous good for a lot of hurting people. I do give a rip about those who have been appointed as representatives of my faith to the unbelieving world.

I move to recall Pat Robertson's seat as witness to the world of what Christians are like. Second the motion. All in favor? The ayes have it.

Done and done.

In the classes that I teach, one class period is devoted to a procedure called Q-sorting. I won't bore you with the details. What's important here is that you know that students fill out a questionnaire and enter data into a computer program. The program then tells them how compatible they are (in terms of likes, dislikes, and interests) with everyone else in the class. It's a lot like what dating websites do.

Anywho, one of the activities during this period is for each student to find the classmate with whom the computer says he/she is most compatible, talk to that person, and decide whether the computer made an accurate assessment. Two of my students told me after class today that the computer had matched them as highly compatible. After talking, they realized that they had previously met on the internet (6 years ago), HAD BEEN 'FRIENDS' FOR YEARS but had never previously talked outside of a computer chat room (they had never even seen each other), and they DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE IN THE SAME CLASS UNTIL THE COMPUTER TOLD THEM SO.

What are the chances of that?

It seems that I've eaten some undercooked chicken. I'll let you know how that turns out. Emphasis on out.

It's probably harder to put stitches in by yourself. Hopefully we won't have to find out. Hopefully.

As it turns out, stitches aren't that hard to remove yourself.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

(hot outside, yet so cool...)