AF: Giant bee swarm apparently making a hive outside my 14th story window.

This cannot possibly end well.

A Handmaid's Tale is a good book, such is all I have to say on the subject.


Also it has been some time since I read it.

Don't be so sure. I've had a lot of good changes happen in the past couple of years; wishing the same to you.

Real life is easy, guys. Just remember to tip 15%

Anyway, with that tomfoolery aside... Will, the problem is that I just don't know how I would go about changing. Or what could happen to make things change. But I'm keeping an open mind. I frequently make good changes in my life but certain things are just not changing.

So, between various items of politics, that Steven Seagal thing, and now all the secrets coming out about the Fiesta Bowl people partying it like it's 1998 and they're the world's most powerful CEOs, I propose we create an OCM face to signify WHAT THE HELL, ARIZONA.

We're like Chicago, but with more (legal) guns.

UC: Why am I still smurfing mopey?

PS: DDT is back.

This
I was worried for a bit there.

ps: i am a good person, and i have good reason to think so.

You need to learn how to harness your handsomeness for the forces of good.

lol I'll keep that in mind.

Also,
UC: Sucker Punch, you (could have) had a decent premise, why must you suck so badly?

Some girl in the nineteen fifties has a fever-dream about trench warfare and feudal Japan and mech warriors and Middle Earth and none of it looks like this, this, or this?

No, there is nothing decent about that.

Sucker Punch was basically Inception for stupid people.

I have been awake since 3 PM.

HR: Since then, I have consumed 628 mg of caffeine.

UC: Eleven more proofs to write by 9.

AF: Class 9-12.

UC: Then class 3-6.

UC: Then quizbowl 7-9.

UC: We have to meet three smurfing hours before our flight for my class trip to Atlanta. Whyyy do I have to get up this early?

hr: 4 hours of sleep. i cannot get back to sleep.

uc: combined with my inability to eat, my body is trying really hard to literally shut down.

Yep, I understand, and I didn't know those things either, but somehow they happened anyway. Makes it hard for me to give you advice, but at least I can tell you not to give up hope.

diagnosis: acute trauma triggering fight-or-flight response resulting in inability to eat, and inability to sleep for more than a few hours. it'll go away in a week or so. also, suggestions of a new med that is way way better for my actual symptoms, and frankly, if my doctor hadn't ditched our last 5 appointments, something that i probably would already have switched to and something that would have prevented this awful breakup in the first place. sigh.

Wait...what? Isn't that like...unethical?

i would argue yes. our last appt was feb 20. we had one later that week since she was about to be away for two weeks, but she missed that one because she called in sick. we rescheduled for the 14th, after break, so we could touch base and i could discuss problems with meds. she didn't show. rescheduled for the 18th. no show. last week we were scheduled for wednesday but her office called on tuesday saying it wasn't going to work. and when i came in the other day asking for an emergency appointment they put me on her calendar for wednesday. and she did not show up that time either. frankly, i am pretty uncomfortable with my doctor. and i am glad that i've finally gotten switched to a new one. but even on feb 20th i had concerns about my current medication. which she said were legitimate but not ones to worry about until they'd persisted for longer. well, they persisted through the 14th, and now i've gone over two weeks with nobody to see about it since she keeps cancelling. so a lot of this could probably have been avoided.

i'm mad.

When a doctor starts NO-SHOWING...I think that's a major problem.

Ugh...someone sue her or something.

"I've got a few dollars and I can fight the case..."

Yeah. That's what I hear roff saying in my head.

This UC turned so much more U. Our flight at 12:15 got canceled, so our professor hopped on one leaving at 11 AM, while the rest of us tried to get on a different one. Then about half the class managed to get on one that was leaving at 1:30, while the rest of us were left waiting around. Finally at around 2-2:30 someone from the airline offered us a flight-- but it was leaving from Fayetteville, not RDU. So we take an hour long shuttle ride into the middle of nowhere to get on a flight leaving at 6 PM.

PS: Fayetteville airport has good wifi? This is the definition of a PS, in that it is exceedingly pleasant (makes the wait much nicer), and exceedingly surprising, in that who the hell would ever expect Fayetteville airport to have any wifi, let alone good wifi?
PS: Also got a $100 flight voucher from Delta for the inconvenience, which is especially cool since I didn't pay for the flight in the first place, Duke did.

PS: Won a game of hearts against my computer with just 4 points.

Nice. I've done that a couple times; I've also won super-close games with like 97 points, which is also badass.

In AD one time, I shot the moon twice in a row from 99 to win.

I'm like the Michael Jordan of hearts or something.

so, guys. i have a big PS.

click on this link. look for a name you recognize.

ps x20: my thesis was accepted. i am officially presenting at the JSM 2011 conference in miami.

HR: When one action of reconciliation is taken, another of division is created. Why do I need to step so gingerly in my own bloody life?

HOLY smurf ERIC HOWINGTON MADE IT

didja know him? :-0

I think congratulations are in order for one Mr. Richard E. Auer.

PS: Happy trees

things i've done today:

1. paid my credit card bill.
2. deposited my last paycheck into my bank account.
3. paid my domain hosting bill for my website.
4. requested a statement from my bank.
5. completed and sent in the form to receive my signing bonus and literally quadruple the amount of money in my account.

if april fools day applies to financial transactions I AM COMPLETELY DOOMED

Look at this guy, trying to improve his roof and car with his job.

PS: Sunny weather!

Snow Has Melted!

I am no longer an rude, angry person when it comes to Ohio and weather!

What.cd's April Fools has been flippin' amazing.

First the mods maintain radio silence for a week, and release an automated script on to the forums called Drone. It begins trashing dozens of threads, and handing out warnings, ramping up as the week goes on. Then mods begin to get warned and such, Drone's influence ever increasing.

I want a warning, I've been such a curmudgeon.

PS: Had chicken and waffles for the first time today. Surprisingly awesome, and went way better together than I expected.

dude yes, chicken and waffles rule

AF: In my ripping through Doctor Who at the speed of light to the neglect of everything else I have to do, like sleep, I'm not sure how I feel about not having Rose around. The beginning of Season 3's been interesting, sure, but I don't know yet.

This is really incredible, Aaron. Congratulations, and have an awesome time in Miami!

ps: all thesis data is compiled and literally perfect -- the script is automated and data spidering takes one minute of initialization and 20 hours of sifting, but it's done and i can compile data quite a lot easier. just need to run the MCMC now, and i can start writing the true meat of the paper rather than just the intro/methodology sections (which i have done essentially).

uc: um, well, i've also been here (my office) almost 24 hours (alone for all 24) and slept on a work couch for 5 barely restful hours, which is probably a horrible idea given the general state of my body after that really really bad week.

ps: things still coming together rather nicely. sort of.

uc: i see a potential hangup here and hope to smurf this doesn't explode on me.

af: i feel like a grad student.

...you have an office???

I think he's moving past job/car/roof.

PS: It's a beautiful sunny day outside
UC: Brown-bottle flu

Job should include office.

The major concern here is apparently his roof doesn't provide bed.

PS: No classes Friday
PS: One class Monday
UC: Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday are rather harrowing.
UC: A sizable chunk of the weekend has already been dedicated to attempting to keep the lawn to somewhere below "urban rain forest" levels. The push mower is not a good tool for fighting the freakishly huge insects and arachnids that have taken up residence in the lawn.

guy orders random $130 book.

said guy sends me email saying i sent him the wrong book.

i rush to my bookshelves and note that i kinda still have book he was supposed to receive.

...and that the book i did send him (which he is not legally obligated to return) was listed for $90.

wonderful.

i write an exceedingly nice email and offer a nice refund for the return of the incorrect book.

and i wait.

said guy responds 20 minutes later with a counter-proposal.

i brace for the worst.

he wants the $90 book, too.

drinks are on me!