My Eyes Are Green

A guy I went to church with as a kid--that long ago--is getting to go to Italy for a semester for his architecture degree.

One day I'll get to go...

Types of Cheesecake

This being a holiday weekend, I had nothing better to do than lounge around watching TV in the evenings after everyone else has gone to bed. However, I now have an answer to one of life's great question: what's the difference between New York Cheesecake and any other type?

Answer: New York Cheesecake uses cream cheese. Pennsylvania cheesecake uses cottage cheese. Dutch cheesecake uses Brie.

Of course, we all know that I prefer Texas cheesecake with strawberry topping...

Edit: Okay, so in the context where I've never actually even flirted with a red-head, that last joke makes no sense...I blame posting late at night...

Graduation

My brother graduated last night. Much to his surprise, he had a large crowd of people there--both grandmothers, the uncle who's not in rehab, and dad made the 7000 mile journey from Iraq.

The graduation affair itself was a much less...solemn affair than most I have been to, although someone needs to explain to that cheerleader that shaking your booty in a graduation gown just doesn't have the same effect. Of course, I'm sure she was doing it as a poltical protest against the new state bill regulating cheerleader dancing.

During the singing of the class song (White Snake's Here I Go Again), there was a slide presentation of baby photos from each graduate. My brother also masterminded the smuggling of lighters into the gymnasium, so that each student had a lighter to hold up and wave around during the song.

And then everyone but me stayed up until 5AM for Graduation Celebration. The family is just now beginning to stir...

Driving South

I'm headed down to my little brother's graduation today.

For the record, his class song is "Here I Go Again on My Own". My brother, however, attempted to filibuster the meeting where they decided this because he was holding out for "Highway to Hell".

This is better than my graduation year, when we were polarized by racial tensions--the white kids wanted a pop song, the black kids wanted a rap song. We ended up with "I Will Remember You". Either one of us came out ahead of the group of high schoolers I overheard at Blockbuster the other day who ended up with "Lean Back" as their class song--I am only familiar with it through its presence in the ads for one of the local radio stations. If you have mercifully escaped hearing this song, take my word that it would justify a violent overthrow of the student council.

Warning Signs

Today a new semester started.

This will be my ultimate classroom experience. And by this I mean not only the literal meaning of "last", but also "most extreme". The professor actually told us to send assignments electronically so that we would have a paper trail when he lost the printouts...

Words fail me at this point...I, the one who was unafraid of Gail Herman and who did not tremble before Darth Vadim, am in shock.

Too Much Drama?

I think I'm formally too sappy now for my own good. I am watching the first season of Scrubs (which is thankfully not canceled, just demote to mid-season replacement--a little angel told me so the other day) right now and the romantic tension between J.D. and Elliot is making my heart sink.

I think there's something wrong with me, I just don't know what...

Free the Captives!

I am a member of an oppressed minority: under-25 year old males.

Apparantly, we are stereotyped as reckless psychos on the road. I have the lowest possible insurance rate I can get, and it is still almost as high as my car payment (admittedly, my car payment isn't very much...).

But I see hope on the horizon in the form of cellular telephones. Every time I get on the road, I see a female with a cell phone. I see far fewer men with cell phones. I suspect that the insurance rates for young women will rise quite a bit in a few years.

But what do I know?

Injustice

One of the great enigmas of life is how some of the most beautiful women I know don't hear enough compliments.

One, in particular, finally accepted a compliment without argument after 5 years of knowing me. I don't know that she really believed me, but I think that she believed that I believed me, and that is worth something.

You do what you can, until you can do no more.

No, I Didn't Choose Because of the Name...

I am the proud owner of a new-to-me 2003 Saturn Ion. Even though the name is fitting for a medical physics student, I did not pick a car based solely on that one fact.

I picked a car based on the fact that it has all of its mirrors, the internal lighting is firmly affixed to the body, and the fact that the air conditioning worked.

My only problem is that it's silver. I just don't think I'm a silver-car sort of person.

Coming this Fall

Well, it's that time of the year, when a young man's fancy turns to what he's going to be doing in the evenings this fall. By this I mean that I am wondering what TV shows will be on.

First of all, I am shocked and appalled that Scrubs is on hiatus, but Will and Grace is still sucking up airtime. One show is clever and amusing, the other has exactly 3 plots--the episodes vary solely by who is the token guest star. I guess this means I'll only be watching NBC for The Apprentice.

I haven't watched ABC in a few years. This year will continue the trend.

Fox renewed Arrested Development--but no news on whether or not American Dad will continue its horrific existence. I guess one for two isn't that bad.

And I anxiously await word on CBS and UPN...oddly enough, I actually care about one show on UPN...

Back From Miami

Well, I survived my trip to Miami, although the phrase "by the skin of my teeth" seems to apply. I am at present exhausted and behind in about 30,000 things, so the lengthy narrative about my trip shall have to wait.

I shall however, leave you with a quote that those of you who are familiar with Barbara's Summation of Dustin's Life will appreciate. It is a quote by one Aziz Poonawalla: "Dustin, I know that you told me that you have some sort of probability-distorting field, but I don't think I full appreciated that until this trip."

Big Dusty Style

Don't get me wrong, H-town got it going on
And Fort Worth is the city that we know don't sleep
And we all know that S.A. and Dally stay jiggy
But on the sneak, Miami bringing heat for real

So tomorrow I take my weeklong trip to Miami for the ISMRM conference. Needless to see, blogging will be light to nonexistant while I'm gone. But when I return, I promise answers to the following questions:

1. Will Dustin make it through airport security with two days of stubble and a silk Hawaiian shirt?
2. Will he make his 8:30 weekend class?
3. What happens when a bunch of geeks are in an enclosed space for a week and have nothing to do but talk about magnets?
4. Will there by any trouble with ninjas along the way?
5. Does anyone who reads my blog get the frivolity in the title?

The Struggle for My Soul

Today I almost succumbed to a dreadful siren song--that of Powerpoint animations. I almost persuaded myself that have a picture wipe onto the screen was a good idea.

But I regained my senses, and used two slides, thus saving my committee and me the irritation of watching the wipe 37 times as people asked questions on opposite sides of the animated divide.

Of course, I reserve the right to use transitions between slides. They serve a very useful purpose: they keep people from noticing when you have to "fudge" the image a little to make things fit. It's so easy to conceal a change in borders, or when you've moved a background image ever so slightly...

Perhaps I am already doomed and am deluding myself into thinking myself safe from the price of my sins? Only time will tell...

*evil, cackling laughter is heard in the background*

Some tiny part of my soul longs for the purity of LaTeX and the transparent virtue of transparencies...mayhaps one day I shall find redemption...

Infidelity and Hair

One of the great quandries of life is that one's relationship with one's barber has a certain sanctity to it that almost approaches that of marriage. I had considered going to get my haircut this week, but my usual barber is on vacation until next week. Given that it would just feel wrong to go to another barber shop, I have decided that in my upcoming trip to Miami I will be the "Bad Boy" physicist.

Expect hilarity to ensue.

Toons!

I have a committee meeting the Tuesday after I get back from Miami. This is one of the big ones--I'm going to do my best to lay out my proposal to my committee.

Which means that I have been spending the evening working on cheezy illustrations for my presentation.

What will my illustration for "fat" be? You'll have to wait and see...mwahahaha!

Ninja Turtles and Journalistic Ethics

For those of you who are less geeky than I, the second season of the original Ninja Turtles cartoon series came out last week. I found myself surprised--the plots, thin though they might be, actually carried through across multiple episodes, which is more sophisticated than most of today's Saturday morning entertainment (Power Rangers, I'm looking at you).

One thing I noticed was that given that amount of disdain certain other blogs have for journalism, it was refreshing to see the high ethical standards that the TMNT reporters had. April was their steadfast ally through thick and thin, of course. The truly impressive part was when the J. Jonah Jameson figure of the series approved a report that was pro-turtle even though it cost him his liasons with a blonde bimbo.

Honestly, who would expect that from CNN's head?