What better way to get your Monday off to a great start than by…? …feeling like a fashion guru because, if nothing else, you know that your pockets should probably not be longer than your shorts. …chuckling with the triumph of waking up before the alarm clock can have the last word. …getting Trogdor theContinue reading “Starting Monday Off Right”
Category Archives: Quirky Afternoon Thoughts
Re(ally)(im)port(ant)s(tuff)
The fun (term used loosely) part of going on research trips is writing the reports afterward. Friday being my deadline, today is the day of writing. It’s amazing how quickly the first excited rush of ideas and inspiration gets buried under the quotidian workload. Time to unearth it, dust it off, and redact three weeksContinue reading “Re(ally)(im)port(ant)s(tuff)”
Sorry Feet
Lesson of the day: Asphalt absorbs sunlight. When asphalt absorbs sunlight, it converts it to heat. Apparently, asphalt can reach 140 degrees on a hot summer day. Even if maximum heat is not reached, it’s fairly safe to say asphalt gets hot. Bare feet do not appreciate those levels of heat. Even very cooperative feetContinue reading “Sorry Feet”
Words, words, words
I love words. So just for a moment, I want to exercise my geekiness rights and point out something fascinating. Reading an article for my NZ research today, I stumbled across a new word I didn’t know: pleonasm. It refers to an excess of words used to express a sentiment, sometimes as a rhetorical device,Continue reading “Words, words, words”
It’s the Little Things
Sometimes all it takes is the successful prevention of a ginormous black snake from eating an adorable tiny bunny. Allow me to illustrate. 1. (bunny) [BUSH] (snake) (Jen) 2.(bunny)[BUSH](snake) o-pebble(Jen)3.(bunny) <——- [B0USH] ->(snake)||v(Jen) (Also known as the expansion and transformation of an isosceles triangle into a scalene triangle.) (Better known as) Not on my watch,Continue reading “It’s the Little Things”
Use Your Words, New England
Although the precise moment at which one leaves “the south” and enters “the north” is far from definitive, one thing is certain: it’s a long drive getting there. Road trips are always an adventure, and spending more than 10 hours in the car in a single day is bound to add humor to otherwise mundaneContinue reading “Use Your Words, New England”
Be a Woman
Ever since I watched Nine a few weeks ago (and aided and abetted by the fact that I’ve been periodically listening to the soundtrack since then), several of the songs have taken turns getting stuck in my head: Fergie’s ‘Be Italian’ and Nicole Kidman’s ‘A Very Unusual Way’ are vying for top pick. And inContinue reading “Be a Woman”
It’s Raining Pollen
Welcome weird spring/summer weather. Please stop raining pollen on everything. I need to be able to see to write papers, and Kleenex is pricey stuff. The drug companies that make allergy medicines can’t be paying you that big of a bribe, can they? I’m sure I could match them if I took up a collection.Continue reading “It’s Raining Pollen”
McDonalds March
I think (?) every graduate student has a “McDonalds month” now and then. March was mine. (Substitute your favorite stress-antidote, if you like.) In a very sneaky, very perceptive advertising strategy, our favorite golden arches sent out a book of really good coupons in January … starting off with a no-strings-attached free frappe and goingContinue reading “McDonalds March”
I Wonder…
Sometimes I wonder what would happen if Jacques Derrida ever met William Strunk and E.B. White? I don’t know, but I imagine it would involve a lot of commas. Angry commas, with French words in italics and long, tangential commentaries on etymology. And parentheses. Livid parentheses, with honest, energetic, colorful words inside. (And perhaps aContinue reading “I Wonder…”
Snark on the Side 