Monday, September 02, 2002
September 2002
I Got That Montreal Feeling
We got back Monday night, and we had a FABULOUS time in Montreal.
There are some interesting things I learned:
- I always thought English was the main language in Quebec and French was just an amusing little anachronism they hung onto. Nope. French is the default language, though salespeople will generally start by saying "bonsoir, hello" and see which one you respond with.
- Speaking of salespeople, they obviously work on commission there, because they absolutely would not leave us alone, even when we beat them.
- People tend to stick pretty closely to their ethnic groups there. Not just in dating, but in who they hang out with. We got some strange looks because we were a white guy and an asian guy, and that was pretty rare. Or maybe we just looked strange. Anyway, Scott has reported similar experiences.
- There are "restaurants that serve French food" (and are usually very fancy) and then there are "French restaurants." We had Adrian's birthday dinner at the latter (though we first tried to get into the former) and I'm glad it worked out like it did because the place was very reminiscient of what I saw during my nearly 48 hours of experience in Paris last year.
- People working in ethnic restaurants have to be at least tri-linguil: French, English, and their native language. I'm impressed.
- They have some fun gay clubs there, but more on that another time. All in all, a very fun trip, and just what we needed. We wanted to go somewhere different, somewhere that they don't speak English, and given that we only had three days, that left Mississippi or Montreal. I'm glad we picked the second one.
And on a non-Montreal note, my class played its first softball game today and I managed to score a run and also get an RBI. Which would be a very big deal if my self-esteem was based on my performance on an athletic field. Which it hasn't been since I was, oh, I dunno, nine years old.
4 Sep 2002
I Could But I Won't
Yeah, I could write all about this club in Montreal called Sky, but I won't. Not tonight. Later.
You see, Billy spent about 6 hours today reading his dissertation. Now that I've made changes to each chapter, I needed to go through the whole thing and make sure it still makes sense. Fortunately, it does, or at least, about as much sense as it's going to make. There are some touch up changes to make, but they shouldn't take more than a half hour.
Yawn
Exams and Sleep
Questions and Answers
12 Sep 2002
Rub Me All Over
Table for Three
16 Sep 2002
Here's What's Wrong With Alabama
18 Sep 2002
Today's the Day
Today was many things:
- it was the day of the local "Broadway Under the Stars" concert, in which we discovered that Broadway stopped producing new musicals around the end of the 1960s, to judge by the concert playlist
- it was the 55th anniversary of the founding of the United States Air Force, who's newest adverstisement slogan is "The US Air Force -- Don't Make Us Come Down There" (no joke)
- it was the day of the season premiere of Enterprise, which should have taken the opportunity to get rid of its totally weak theme song in favor of the alternate opening sequence that we downloaded through BearShare a few months ago, but which didn't (though the show was pretty good, and next week's looks like fun)
- it was the day that Adrian's check for the phone bill got returned to him because he forgot to put a stamp on it
- it was the day I ate sushi from the local Winn Dixie (and the eel was pretty good -- in fact, it was rEELy good)
But mostly, it was the day I got an e-mail from my Dissertation Committee chair, in which she told me that my Dissertation Defense is scheduled for October 16th, 4 weeks from today.
Can I get an "Amen"???
19 Sep 2002
Zzzzzz (Snort) Huh?
I've rediscovered something recently. One of the huge joys that comes from being in an educational program that isn't all that demanding.
Naps.
Yes, naps. I'd forgotten what these things were. But imagine a world in which, when you're tired, even if it's the middle of the afternoon, you can just roll over on the couch and fall asleep. Or even better, go crawl into bed. No alarm. Nothing. Just pure, simple sleeping.That's my world right now, and I like it. Sure, I didn't do the 100 pages of reading for Friday. But you know what -- I don't care. Frankly, I think it's time for me to keep quiet and let some of my seminar mates pick up the slack. And as for the exams, well, the next one is a one-week take home, so the fact that I haven't read the president's strategy for homeland security yet probably isn't going to be too much of a problem. I'll read it if I need it. I needed sleep more than anything. Let's face it, the 5 1/2 hours I got last night just wasn't enough. I'm a growing boy, I need my beauty rest.
On a different note, a couple e-mails I've received convinced me I need to clarify something from yesterday's entry about my dissertation. So here's the deal: once I've written and submitted my dissertation, my committee has to accept it, and then schedule a Dissertation Defense. The defense is where I come in and give a 30-minute presentation of my research and results and then give them (and fellow students, and faculty, and anyone else who wants to attend) the chance to ask questions, make comments, and offer suggestions. After that, my committee signs my dissertation, I submit it to the library, and I am done. Finished. Finito. End of story. fade to black. Annnnnnnnnnnnd...scene.
Unless...
Unless, of course, my committee insists on some changes before I submit the final version. This is always a possibility, and even though I've made the changes they requested, and even though they've accepted it, and even though I'm spending hundreds of dollars to fly up there for the defense, two members of my committee are such wenches that I wouldn't put it past them to say "I'll sign this once you've made these changes." It would be extremely unprofessional of them to do that, but then, they are extremely unprofessional, so we wait and see.
My plan is to fly to DC Tuesday, present the defense Wednesday afternoon, collect whatever signatures I can that day (there are a couple senior people in the department who have to sign off on it as well), submit it to the library on Thursday and ensure all my graduation paperwork is turned in, and fly back Thursday evening. And in the process, see a few DC friends, too. Yay!!!
20 Sep 2002
Like Chorus Line Gone Bad
Grab Twist Grab Pivot Turn Turn
Grab Twist Down Steady Turn Turn
Block Break Push Kick Place Twist Turn Grab Sweep
Got ItGoing On, And...
Step Block Break Hook
Over Twist Pivot Turn
Throw Stomp Grab Pull Twist Grab Turn
Right Step Left Step
Break Turn Twist Grab Step Sweep Stomp
And...Five, Six, Seven, Eight.
Can you tell I'm digging my Friday afternoon unarmed combat class?
21 Sep 2002
Would you A) Start a War B) Blow Your Nose on the Prime Minister C) Have a Drink D) All of the Above
Five of my hours today were spent taking the US Department of State's Foreign Service Written Examination. It was actually a bizarre little test. Unlike other standardized tests like the GRE and LSAT (both of which I've had the joy of taking) this one actually tests knowledge you'd need on the job. There were lots of questions about national security strategy, American government, economics, history, and so forth. I felt fortunate to have a degree in econ and (almost) my doctorate in national security policy. Some of the concepts on the exam actually dealt with stuff I've studied in just the last three weeks, and there was even a question about an operation that we're using as a case study in class Monday. I'm sure some of the huckleberries around me were having trouble with it, but I reallt felt like I nailed the test, thanks to a pretty good education.
Another component of the test was an essay. We had to do one for the LSAT, but I don't recall it actually having anything to do with law. This one, however, presented a number of policy questions and we had to pick one, take a position, and defend it. I picked something that related to my studies (naturally!) and managed to weave in a lot of stuff from my classes. Not too much, though -- I don't want to look like a suck up.
The rest of the exam also went pretty well. I'd be really excited if I was actually planning on a career in the State Department. However, I have the next few years pretty much mapped out. I only took the exam because one of my college roommates who's now in the State Department has been after me for years to join them. Getting me to take the exam added something to my general fund of knowledge about government agencies, but that's about it. Of course, going into the Foreign Service is an option I might consider in a few years, after I teach for a while. And who knows, just in case something happens and my current plans are derailed, it would be nice to know that joining the Foreign Service might be an option. So even though I don't plan on acting on the results of this written exam (if I passed this test, there's an oral exam later -- no, not the fun kind -- and I won't waste the Department's time by going in for that, but instead would simply bow out), I'm still looking forward to the results. Can't you just see me negotiating with the Iraqis? "Listen, girlfriend, that beard is just NOT doing it for you!"
23 Sep 2002
Boning Some Chicken
This was going to be an entry about the really good General Tso's chicken I made for dinner, and the importance of buying boneless chicken thighs. But you know, I'm just going to put that title there and let the imagination run where it will.
25 Sep 2002
More Guests
We finally had some gay-boy guests over. My friend Sean from Colorado, who's in school with me, and Daniel, the guy he's seeing, came over for pizza and Enterprise. We've been wanting to have guests over and we finally feel like we have the time, and the house is looking in pretty good shape, so it's time to be more social. Next time, we'll fix a real meal, probably one of Adrian's over-the-top dinners. In other news, I think I might have a snakebite on my hand. More on that as the situation develops.
26 Sep 2002
Snakes and Bugs and Storms and Stuff
OK, so, NOT a snakebite on my hand. That's good news.
Monday morning, when I was clearing all the leaves and twigs and acorns and whatever-else out of the swimming pool filter I felt something sting my hand all of a sudden. It hurt like hell, but I didn't see anything, nor did I see any blood, so I figured I just caught a thorn or something. By Tuesday, though, there were two very prominent welts on my hand right where it had stung. I thought it might have been a pair of fire ants, but the two marks were pretty close together, and looked almost like a single bite. Adrian looked at it Wednesday night and said he thought it looked like a bite from a baby snake, though not necessarily a venomous one, since I wasn't dead or anything. So despite KarlTM's smarmy comments in my journal yesterday, there was a chance that something might be kinda wrong.
However, a quick visit to the doctor this morning confirmed that it was merely some fire ants, and the swelling should go down, oh, I dunno, sometime. Apparently, the fire ant situation here is so bad that you aren't allowed to take plants out of the state. I can just see border guards up at the Tennessee state line shooting someone for carrying a begonia concealed in their gas tank. Strip searches for everyone!
And then later today a hurricane came through. Well, okay, it was down to just a tropical storm, and the worst of it passed to the west of us. But it was wet and wild all day long. I'm sure Paul had a far worse time of it in New Orleans.I've decided that between the bugs and the snakes and the tropical storms and the inability to get draft beer in the local restaurants that this place really isn't for me. Oh, and the fat guys who look like Boss Hogg who sit in the restaurant with their short-sleeved button-down shirts and tuck their clip-on, rayon ties into their shirt pockets so they don't drag it through the sauce as they suck down a plate of barbecue...yeah, that ain't doing it for me, either. On the other hand, Tim Burton's filming a movie here this winter, and he's casting for extras in a couple months, so maybe it's not entirely a waste.
27 Sep 2002
Time Warp
Driving home today, I was at a stop sign around the corner from our house when I saw two boys playing in a driveway. One had a pogo stick. The other had a hula hoop. I immediately looked around for Scott Bakula, figuring I'd stumbled into an episode of Quantum Leap, then remembered that Mr Bakula now stars on Enterprise, and seeing him would suggest I'd gone 150 years into the future, rather than 50 years into the past. I mean, I know we're in Alabama, but c'mon!!! (and for those of you who have no idea what the terms "pogo stick" and "hula hoop" mean, well, screw you for making me feel old)
30 Sep 2002
These Are the Days of Our Months
Thirty days hath Septober,
April, June, and Nowonder,
All the rest eat peanut butter
Except for Grandma, and she drives a Ford.
That's how I remember which months have 30 days, which have 31, and so on. And that's how I knew today was the last day of the month when I awoke today, which was good, because I needed to drop off our rent check. I learned that little ditty from Mr Johnson, my 6th grade teacher. Being that I was in 6th grade during the 1977-1978 time frame, I'm betting that Mr Johnson had wavy, light brown hair, lots of wide-lapel jackets, bell bottoms, and was c-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-l. I don't remember him being particularly cool, though. In fact, I don't really remember what he looked like, other than a vague image of a profile and some really big glasses. I don't remember much about ol' Mr Johnson, except for that little poem about the days, which pops into my head once or twice a month. Oh, and I remember that the dirty rat bastard yelled at me and accused me of plotting to steal something off of his desk when all I was doing was looking for a pencil. He hated me. Yeah, I remember that, too.
But I have no idea what his first name was. Or, for that matter, what exactly he taught us that year.
Memory's a funny thing.
