The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
I Hate Group Projects
I was telling my brother about my group project for school. It was Easter Sunday and we were sitting down to brunch. He said, “I hate group projects.” My nephew, Alex, age 4, said:
“I hate snow.”
Then my brother remembered that we are not to use the word “hate” in front of Alex. Because it is bad to hate things. Wait. I’m pretty sure we aren’t supposed to use the word “bad” either.
I hate group projects.
I have been online and in the chat room every night. I left the Refuge early last night to get home and into the chat room. I am right now at the library for my regular Thursday night gig and I am still logged in to that chat room. People are not showing up. I have already done what I consider to be more than my fair share of this thing, we are not near done and people are still not showing up.
So I minimized the chat room and go to read this week’s lecture. The lecture is on diverse and virtual teams. Really. It actually says that graduate students hate group projects. It says that the products from the group projects of graduate students suck. It suggests that it is ok that the products suck, because in the real world there will be a supervisor supervising and it won’t be all scholarly-whatever.
I remember the last time, it was goofy trying to coordinate. There were 15 of us in that group. But the workload wasn’t that bad. For me, anyway. The programmers had it harder. But at the end, I thought the result wasn’t half-bad. With this one, there are only five of us and….eh. It’s just bad.
I should go back to taking pictures of my dog.
This Was Interesting
I am doing a project for school on Diversity. We read in class about the Implicit Association Test, part of Project Implicit. Project Implicit is a “Virtual Laboratory for the social and behavioral sciences designed to facilitate the research of implicit social cognition: cognitions, feelings, and evaluations that are not necessarily available to conscious awareness, conscious control, conscious intention, or self-reflection” .
So I looked it up and took the first one listed. If I understand correctly, you can take the test, it is confidential, but they get to use the results in their research. Anyway, it was trying to gauge my “preference” for gay people or straight people. The test is a word association thing, timed to peg your automatic reactions. It was even fun in a nerdy-video game way. My result:
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Gay People compared to Straight People.
Huh. OK. Only 7% of the population falls into this category. I didn’t delve too deeply into what it “means”, but if you are interested in the research, or would like to try it yourself, you can read more about it here.
What is in My Wallet
MSN Money has an article entitled, “What Your Wallet Says About You”. It basically says that if your wallet is a mess, your finances are probably a mess, too. It particularly notes the terrible, tragic problem of having change lying around on the floor of your car.
Under the heading “Chaotic Cash”:
“The bills in your wallet are crumpled and in no particular order. There’s change in the bottom of your pocketbook or even the floor of your car.
Someone who treats money cavalierly often does not respect money or may not even care about finances, Thakor says. If you leave money around, you’re basically saying it’s not important enough to put it in a safe and protected place.”
Or. We treat cash cavalierly because we don’t use it so much as the credit cards that record each transaction down to the penny, sorted by date or category and posted in a secure account online.
Under the heading “Unruly Receipts”:
“Your wallet is stuffed with receipts, but there’s no sense of order to them, and you never really do anything with them. This is a person who is trying, says Thakor.”
Or. My wallet is stuffed with receipts because people give them to me and I haven’t thrown them out yet. I clean out my bag when the messiness starts to make me mad. Maybe twice a month. I actually decline receipts at nearly every opportunity. I don’t take them at the gas station – which shocked my grandfather.
The idea that “a disorganized desk is the sign of a disorganized mind” is not true. And I can absolutely confirm that the state of my wallet, and my bag and the change on the floor of my car are absolutely no reflection of the state of my finances.
She’s Making Me Crazy
I took her back to the Refuge for the week I was in Savannah. I left very detailed instructions on how I get her to eat. A lot. Because she is still on the long-term meds for the fungal infection and has trouble keeping her weight up. When I went to pick her up, I got the report:
She did the exact opposite of everything I said she would do. She chowed down on the Instant Ounces, when I said she was about done with it. She did not eat a single piece of real food – almond butter sandwiches, apples, grapes, pasta, grapes, etc. – that I said she had been eating. And she picked all of the feathers off her chest.
So I brought her back home and gave her an almond butter sandwich. She stuffed herself like a Thanksgiving turkey. Everything was back to normal.
Yesterday morning, I found that she had been picking at the skin of her feet. Raw to bleeding, sorry to be graphic. Back to the Refuge to treat the wounds. She looked good last night, and fine again this morning. When I got home tonight, she ate every crumb that I gave her. Then I gave her the anti-fungal medicine. Then I put the medicine on her foot. Then she jumped out of the towel, landed in the sink, broke a feather and started bleeding again . Back to the Refuge.
I am exhausted. And 24 isn’t helping. Go Tony.
Back From Savannah
I felt stupid about not taking the picture of the fountain, so I went back on my last day in town. On the approach:
And from behind:
I just can’t get into it. I prefer the pictures from Fort Jackson.
Joy and I went there on Sunday, on the way back from Tybee Island. Where I almost got my rental car ticketed because Georgia is not a friendly parking state.
Anyway. I am now exhausted and have to get to the homework. I didn’t slack while I was away, but we only have two weeks left in the semester.
I Don’t Know How I Feel About This
“Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes will play warring gods in Clash of the Titans, a Greek epic directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk). The “reimagining” of the 1981 classic is scheduled for March 26, 2010.”
Clash of the Titans is one of the all-time great cheesy movies of the “if you didn’t see it when it came out, you will never get it” variety.
You can find the entire article here. With a goofy Voldemort/Quigon Jin picture.
Product Shout Out – Strawberry Body Butter
I really like it. It actually smells like strawberries. I think my problem with strawberry scents is that they are generally the artificial Strawberry Quik smell that I can’t stand. This is the real thing.
Now if they would only come out with a straight up vanilla.
Still Here
Here’s something worse. Joy and I walked over to Forsythe Park before dinner. I am not much impressed by fountains, but the sun was just breaking through the clouds as we were walking up the path and it was all framed with the trees and the Spanish moss and I pulled out my camera but there were too many people and I was too far away and by the time we were close enough the sun was gone and the moment had passed and I was all disappointed and didn’t bother to take a picture of it.
It seems I went all artiste for five seconds. I am rather disgusted with myself.
Tourist Pictures
Monday night Must See TV has messed me up so that I couldn’t even pretend to do homework. But I managed to talk the Blackberry into coughing up the pictures I took at St Bonaventure yesterday:
I actually like these because they catch the contrast with the foliage. It messes with your head. I don’t remember it messing with my head before. Maybe because the other couple of times I visited were in the summer?
Cyberdriveillinois
I received a letter from Ernie Dannenberger, Director, Vehicle Services, Ilinois Secretary of State.
Dear Illinois Motorist:
Your license plates have been identified by the manufacturer as being in a batch that has the potential to wear prematurely. IN order to remain in compliance with Illinois law, it may be necessary to replace your license plates if it develops bubbles or rust around the letters causing it to be difficult to read.
To have your license plates replaced under the manufacturer’s warranty and at no cost to you, please call 800-252-8980 or 217-785-3000 or visit http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com . Failure to do so could result in a citation.
Thank you,
I had noticed such wear on my plates. Don’t tell my mother, but I asked my car what fresh hell I drove her through to manage such a thing. She didn’t say. But then, she isn’t a complainer. Except about the potholes.
Here is what I want to know:
If they know that my plates are going to “wear prematurely”, and the swap is going to be at no cost to me, why did they not just send them? It would have saved the postage on the first letter, and avoided the offense I take at being told “Failure to do so could result in a citation”.
I went online and entered my information. Apparently, the plates are ordered. It was that easy. And the couldn’t have done that in the first place?
Does someone know the story here?
The Next Dark Age 