A Matching Set of Parking Tickets

That's what cowdude and I got while we were on our date today, courtesy of the friendly university parking folks. "A memento," he said.
Anyway, it went well, but in keeping with my general philosophy I'm not blogging much about it. Give me a call or keep an eye out for my email if you want the juicy details.

Lions in Winter

My cats think it is the bitter depths of winter now. This is not surprising since the weather is now similar to mid-winter in Sunnyvale. They do not want to stay outside for more than a few minutes. My dad wants pictures of them the first time they experience snow, but I am beginning to think that it may be impossible to get them outside then.
Luna is old and mellow and does not act very different than usual. Rugrat still has a lot of pent-up energy which she used to get rid of when she was outside. Now she is restless and high maintenance. I had tabled my plans to get another cat, because they seemed so happy during the summer and early fall, but now I think Rugrat does need someone to tire her out.

Grad student feeding experiment, part 2

My boss bought the grad students an air popcorn popper for the conference room. However, being graduate students, one of them brought in some popcorn, everyone ate it, and then no one replaced it. They are actually quite generous about bringing in food for birthdays, etc, but popcorn is not one of those things you think about at the grocery store.
As a joke, I told them I would buy them a big bag of popcorn at Sam's Club. However, it turns out that the bag is 50 lbs. I didn't think they could go through that much popcorn, but then they went through a 2 lb container in about a week. So when I was at Sam's Club this weekend I bought them the 50 lb bag. It was $18. I'm starting a pool about how long it take for it to get all eaten.
1 big bag = 630 servings
19 students and postdocs

I am guessing March 31.

Match.com upate: Very superstitious

As you may've figured out from the fact that I'm not blogging much, emailing much or playing Bejeweled Blitz very often, things are still progressing entertainingly with cowdude. I'm still superstitious so that is all I'm going to write on the matter.
I'm not superstitious enough to keep from using him as an excuse to stop emailing pinball wizard and Mr Player, however. In the end, I just didn't feel like meeting up with either of them, and took the easy way out.
I did sort of cyberstalk T on Match. I verified that he has a profile, and seems to be logging in often, but due to the non-anonymity of it, I didn't look at his profile. I don't really want to see what's in there, anyway.

Halloween 2010

In pagan lore, it is said that the veil between the worlds is thinnest on Samhain/ Halloween. I spent it in the air, flying back to Ithaca on the red-eye. I can’t say it was a mystical experience, but at least it was an uneventful flight. Now I’m in the Newark airport, which is probably as far as one can possibly get from a mystical experience.
In my own personal own biddy lore, in the last week the veil between my worlds was thinner than it’s been in a while. It was great to be back and see everyone, but at the same time I felt like it is no longer 100% my world. I’ve gotten used to my world in Ithaca and am glad to be going home.

Most annoying paper, continued

I’ve gotten the most annoying paper to the point at which it’s ready to be submitted. This entailed pretty much a complete rewrite. I should’ve just rewritten it at the outset. Instead I kept finding new things to change every time I went back to it. It took me a lot longer than writing a paper of similar length on my own research. Note to self – always start from scratch.
In return for my efforts, my name is now on the paper. I did not ask to be it, but given that it would never make it out the door without me, I didn’t say no. I am sure this is going to set off a shitstorm with the Annoying Postdoc (AP). He likes to stir up trouble. In the past this was manifested as subtle sniping about my boss. Now he’s turned his malice on his labmates, disguised as concern. Some of what he says is valid, but he is the cause of much of the problem. I suspect he knows that he is on the shitlist and is trying to deflect attention from himself, or perhaps he’s just in a pissier mood than usual. I am glad that I will be out of town if and when the shit hits the fan.

Big Red

I got the lowdown on the neighborhood bear. People think there’s just one, and it makes the rounds every fall. I have heard more noise on the patio/in the yard recently, but it could be coincidental. He’ll be hibernating in about a month, hopefully not in my yard. Someone took a picture and took it to a taxidermist, who estimated the bear is about 400 lbs. He is partial to taking out bird feeders and barbeques. The neighbors were surprised he didn’t go after my smoker. I think he was too busy messing with my sewer vent cap* to pay attention to my smoker and grill, but hopefully he won’t mess with anything when I am gone.
I am calling the bear ‘Big Red’, in honor of Cornell’s mascot. I’m bringing a Cornell T-shirt for Missy’s son Kadin. It has a bear on it, of course. I am going to tell Kadin that it’s the bear that lives in my neighborhood.
I haven’t actually seen Big Red. I am kind of disappointed about this.

* Bears are interested in stinky and chemical smells. They would frequently overturn the pit toilets at T’s gold panning claim, and one time a bear chewed a hole in a gasoline can. So popping the cap off my sewer cap and going after a Weber grill are pretty much par for the course for a bear.