Julius not only gets a job and good press . . .
he gets the best-dressed award, too. This article is simply hysterical. My favorite quote: "Chris Paul is too good of a ballplayer to get away with a suit this bad." Ouch.
What I learned at Chavis Wednesday night
- to hoop: slang for excellent play, as opposed to everyday play, as in "he can hoop." This is my new favorite basketball expression.
- Chicken wings do not impart wisdom upon the inebriated. They don't shut them up, either. A guy wearing the oldest "Men at Work Garage" t-shirt in Raleigh was berating the great Chuckie Brown his entire game, with the same chicken wing in his hand. Chuckie still won, and ran with Gavin Grant and Cedric Simmons the entire game, too. You have to respect that.
- To a stat geek, no game is complete without a roster containing lots of numbers on it. So that's what my husband is staring at the entire time we are at games. Chavis ball: no rosters, no stats; result: unfulfilled husband. There I was thinking I had found the perfect activity for him: free sports, Wolfpackers up close. Not even. He said he enjoyed it, but after I pestered him, he admitted he was unhappy because he didn't know who everyone was or whether they were playing the way they usually do. Jeez.
- No one gets artistry, even when it's right in their face, four feet away. Case in point: when the Europeans (the brothers Evtimov along with Engin Atsur, still my favorite player) were on the floor, the game became pick-up with finesse. When they were off the floor, it was hot-dogging and hoop-hanging. I am at a loss to explain why the uglier play is somehow better, but it must be a guy thing that I will never understand. I guess points are just everything and poetry is, well, European. But what I really don't understand is why other people who were there insisted the European play was slower and just not as good. I don't get it. I really don't. I would rather see a floating hook shot or an out-of-nowhere back-door cut then one guy hogging the ball. Perhaps I'm European. Bring on the brie.
I am loving me some Hodge
Whoever gets this guy is going to have a world of fun in life laughing their asses off. I miss him already, man! Whose going to replace this quote master next year?
Richard and I are going to blow off some stress by trying to get into the crowded Chavis League gym Wednesday night to watch some Wolfpackers duke it out. We have no idea where to park. It should be interesting, and hot, as there is no a/c. The second summer session starts in a couple of weeks. I received an email from Dr. Baumer concerning BUS 504. With homework. Already. The man is going to be an animal, I can already tell. He kindly suggested we familiarize ourselves with relevant legal topics (the subject is Technology, Law, and the Internet. Doesn't it just trip off the tongue?) by reading, oh, something like twelve Power Point documents. I'm not kidding. Plus, we already have a case to prepare for the first class. Which, did I mention, is four hours long? Humina humina. Four hours a day, two days a week, five weeks. Lord, give me strength.
I have been giving serious thought to my future in the program, strangely enough because I am now officially even more involved in school since I agreed to become Webmaster for the STC chapter at State (which is going to kick ass this year. John you have to sign up. But I digress). I've been thinking even harder about going for that PhD, and whether or not I can keep up the pace I'm currently running, which is six hours a semester. I thought I was closer to being done, but I was misreading something. I've got 33 hours to complete, not 27, and so I'm not going to be done in the fall of next year. I could maybe finish in December 06, but that would mean really breaking my neck, something that might not work considering we will be buying and then moving into a house in the fall semester, and two classes were a bit of a stretch for me during basketball season (I know, that's sad to admit, but there it is. I need basketball). I can do it by spring of 2007 taking one class per semester if I do at least one semester with two classes.
That puts the pressure off me to try to push in my 675 project when I haven't the foggiest idea what to do. No, that's wrong - I have a great idea, but it's a PhD idea (at least a year of project) not an MS idea (not three months, that is. I won't give away my cool idea, either, so don't ask me). As I was cruising around the Comms department website, I realized that I might want to switch my department, too. Maybe it's just me really trying to push the envelope, or maybe it's just taking the editorial comments for my TC article too seriously (not technical enough, missy!), but I'm wondering if what I'm really interested in is communication, regardless of media. I am interested in websites though. Really interested; I'd really like to make prettier websites without having to be a flash guru. But doing just another website seems, well, boring, unless I really push it, like build a CMS, or a training website, or a digital comic (one idea I had. Really). And pushing it seems impossible, at least next semester. Pushing out my graduation will give me more time to figure out if I want to teach, and perhaps enable me to do a TA the third year. Hmmm. Requires more thought. Also, probably, a talk with the head of the comms department too, don'tcha think?
Well, I've typed enough and I need to send my article in to Dr. Hayhoe. It should publish in November. I hope. Unless it's not technical enough.
Updated blog
I updated my blog today by changing the template to another Martijn ten Napel design and adding the posts from my previous blogging effort.
The black cloud is not just the rain
Things have been going hard for a lot of the people around me. Richard's mother fainted and fell over Memorial Day weekend, gashed her head enough to have to require staples, and spent almost a week in the hospital. Things were a bit scary for a while. Heck, they still are.
Female rant alert: squeamish guys might want to skip this next part.
My fibroids seem to be creeping back. My gynecologist recommends a hysterectomy. I'm 38 years old and facing the prospect of never having the option to have children and hey, for an extra-special youngest-customer-on-the-table bonus, early menopause! I'm scared to face those options and scared of going through the pain and terror of dealing with fibroidal symptoms. This weekend reminded me of the times prior to my abdominal myomectomy when I would give birth to clots the size of a clenched fist after hours and hours of excruciating pain. I basically curled up like a baby all weekend, wishing I was dead. Happy, happy, joy, joy.
Richard's company is laying off people. So far he is secure but having ridden the layoff merry-go-round on my previous two jobs, I'm scared for him. I don't know which is worse - having to look for another job when you are trying to be hopeful about your current one, or being the last person off the ride when the lights go out. In the job I held post-9/11, I was one of the last two people laid off after a full year of rounds of shrinkage. In the next job I had (previous to the one I have now) I worked almost a year without having anything to do. And I do mean, not having anything to do. I surfed the net and did stretching exercises for my salary, waiting for the roof to cave in and looking for a job constantly.
Despite all of the bad stuff - and there's more -- my boss' 6-week old baby has a hole in her heart, my PTSD is as active as ever, and more I don't even want to go into -- work has been pretty good. There was something of a self-destruct on my part, during which I found out I'm an overly-sensitive idiot who is doing better than she deserves to be doing, and now I'm in a new office (it's a most beautiful corner, and I love it), my creative work has been successful, and intakes from the internet are rising. Slowly, oh so slowly, but rising. Our traffic went up 24% last month. And the paper I wrote for ENG 512 last year will be published, after some edits, most likely in the November issue of TC. We are still on track to be able to start house-shopping in August or September - we are in approval with NACA - and our marriage is going great. We are almost through our first year and getting closer every day.
There are clouds, and there is silver. No doubt I would never be able to appreciate the one without the other.
