Seattle is Nice

Seattle is nice this time of year. The terrain actually shows changes in elevation. I kinda miss that, living in Houston as I do.

However, I cannot get past the fact that there was no rain in Seattle the entire time I was there...

As for Spartacus, he's been a little sluggish lately. He told me that he had a lot of fun with the wild ferret women of El Paseo, but that they must be some sort of mold growing on their cheese because they were hyper.

I wanna know who's been telling the little guy about mold on cheese...he's too young to know those kind of facts of life...

Meeting of the Furry Things

Last night, in prelude for my trip to Seattle, I took Sparty to meet some ferrets.

The story makes sense, trust me.

A friend volunteered to feed the little guy while I was away, but there is a catch. This guy has ferrets. Ferrets were bread for the sake of hunting rodents. I was justifiably concerned. So last night, I took my cute widdle wodent "out for a play date".

The meeting went fairly well. There was much sniffing, but no violence. I worry that a fight could break out over who gets the last raisin, however.

It was concluded that rats look much cuter than ferrets do when they are eating...

An Almost Actual Phone Conversation

Today I learned that it can be very, very hard to track down a semi-retired mathematician with a bad back. One does not expect this--they aren't known for their mobility.

In the pursuit, I had the following phone conversation; names changed to protect the guilty (plus she didn't give me her name):

Dustin: *Dials Phone*
Secretary: "This is the Department of Biostatistics."
Dustin: "Um, yeah. I'm trying to get in touch with Dr. Suchandsuch."
Secretary: "Have you called him?"
Dustin: "Yes."
Secretary: "Did you dial his number, x5-5555?"
Dustin: "Yes."
Secretary: "Do you want me to transfer you to his number so you can leave a voicemail?"
Dustin: "I've already left one."
Secretary: "Can you hold while I call his assistant?"
Dustin: "Yes."

Five minutes later I learn that it was his day off.

Liberty!

I had a committee meeting today. I have almost advanced to candidacy for my Master's.

In the way, of course, is a statistician and an innumerable number of committees.

The important part, however, is that I don't have to have another committee meeting. Everything else can be taken care of in less formal, and less stressful situations.

It's kinda a prelude to relaxation, I suppose.

Classics Spoiled

I just watched the movie "Legend".

Its a sad day when you burst out laughing when the main villain, Darkness, is trying to charm the hero's love and says "I want to offer you this rose..."; a pox on the "The Bachelor"!

That was too easy...

So this morning I bought my copy of Harry Potter without incident, thus breaking a long-standing pattern of everything I do lately being hampered in a highly improbable manner.

Five hours later, I have finished the book, with no major interruptions other than having to eat.

Yeah, something's wrong...

Sweet, but Misguided

I've spent much of the evening attempting to decipher radiation shielding calculations. I have an assignment due tomorrow, which I have wanted to put off--and my other obligations have done me the favor of giving me other, extraordinarily pressing, obligations.

Sadly, I finished all of them, leaving me with just the shielding calcs.

Spartacus, bless his soul, saw how much they were bothering me and attempting to carry the entire packet away and chew it up for me.

I appreciate the thought, but the little rodent can't solve my problems for me :-)

Hail to the King

One of my officemates dared to attempt to outpun me.

He began with an old chestnut, "Math geeks are manifold."

I swiftly repaid his audacity by writing the phrase (you must read it with the thickest drawl you can): "Can I do it? I'm a Texas ninja. Shuriken!"

How to have a successful physics lab...

You know that a class is doomed when your strategy for getting through lab involves having people sneak out of the room and page the professor so that he's distracted...

So yeah, radiation protection is kinda a disaster in any event. Maybe the real point of the class is that we know how to manage disasters?

It's genius in disguise!

No Good Deed...

Yesterday no good deed went unpunished.

I helped my mom find a book on Amazon.com, only to have the order get screwed up. I managed to kinda compensate by knowing Amazon's customer service number.

Secondly, I made a quick trip to the grocery store to get coffee. On my way out, I made a quick sprint to stop a shopping cart from going into the street, only to get yelled at by some people who called out "We're about to set up where you're leaving that cart."

In retrospect, I feel very guilty about stopping to help fix the stroller that broke down...

Dustin Quote of the Day

"Yes, you're right. I don't really want to see him* stick his tongue up against a 140 kilovolt x-ray tube and get electrocuted. I am, at heart, a decent, moral person. But I can vent, can't I?"

*Him=professor in a class. If you're in my program, you know whom I am speaking of.

Trapped in an Office

It's 6:10. I'm in my office. I'm tired. I want to go home.

The problem is that my advisor is meeting with in my office.

Let's face it: grad students don't want their advisors to know that they have apartments, let alone that we ever go to them...

Fourth of July: The Aftermath

Well, my mom has left after her Independance Day visit (she didn't want to stay in Corpus Christi any more than I wanted to go to Corpus Christi, so she came here).

As a result, I have 2/3 of a pizza, a slice of Mississippi Mud Pie (known casually and informally as "Better than Sex Pie"), fajitas, and some root beer in my fridge.

I won't have to cook for a few days at least :-)