Tuesday - May 26, 2009
The twittering astronaut
So...I doubt many (any?) of you noticed that one of the astronauts (should that be capitalized?) was twittering away on the latest Shuttle mission. I don't twitter but follow a few folks that do. My very favorite tweet from Astro_Mike to date:
Getting re-adjusted to gravity, let go of a small bag of groceries and must have expected it to float, luckily no damage
Heh heh. I'd never thought about that sort of thing before...about the little things you get used to in space that would totally suck to lose upon re-entry.
Friday - May 15, 2009
Sad conversation
At work, yesterday. Me and a student.
Me: "I'm just not used to working in this room. It hasn't been an office for the last 15 or 20 years."
Him: "How long have you worked here anyway?"
Me: "Since shortly after they opened the building in 1986."
Him: "Wow. That's 20 years. No! 23 years!"
Me: "Yep...it's true."
Him: "That's as long as I've been alive!"
Dagger through the heart. I guess the good thing is that these kids never really think of me as being old enough to be their mother. Even though, clearly, I am. Sigh...
Wednesday - April 22, 2009
Sispicious?
'Got a message at work today from the mail services folks offering some training. The subject line read:
Training on Sispicious Mail
I dunno. I'm a little suspicious about this whole thing. I'm thinking maybe the mail's not really from the mail services folks. Should I open it? I'm thinking a glaring spelling mistake is one of the big harbingers of mail messages you should just avoid. Right? I wonder if that's one of the things they'll talk about in their 1-hour class. Heh.
Sunday - April 19, 2009
Good music
'Got a recommendation for you. Head over to the Austin Connection and listen to the Jenny Reynolds podcast. Great songs, a beautiful voice, and some fine guitar pickin'...who could ask for more? Once you're done with that, make sure you listen to the Gurf Morlix podcast and then, what the heck, go to town on the rest of 'em.
And, no...I haven't updated in quite some time. 'Been busy with my baseball and photo blogs. And, when I say busy, I mean it. Check 'em out. You'll see what I'm talking about.
By the way (added on Monday): if you go to Jenny's page, you can stream her new album in its entirety. Go do that. You won't be sorry.
Tuesday - February 17, 2009
Campus Watch #54
I haven't posted much lately, eh? Nothing this year. That changes now! From today's Campus Watch crime report:
Ernest Cockrell Hall (301 East Dean Keeton)
Criminal Mischief: A UT staff member heard the sound of breaking glass and discovered the glass door leading into the library was broken and saw a UT student standing outside the locked door. During the investigation, the UT student informed the officer that he had become frustrated when he discovered the library was closed. After becoming frustrated, he took his closed fist and struck the glass pane, breaking it. The student was taken into custody. Loss value: $250.00. Occurred on: 2-16-09, at 9:56 PM.
He was frustrated. And, then he was in jail. Tsk tsk tsk.
Wednesday - December 31, 2008
Happy New Year!
At about 10:30 or so this morning, my phone rang. Here's how the conversation went:
- Me [in a friendly voice]: "Happy New Year!"
- Her [hesitatingly]: "Happy New Year. "
- [a couple of seconds of silence]
- Her: "Um. I guess I have the wrong number."
- Me [chuckling a wee bit]: "Sorry about that."
Heh. Happy New Year to the rest of you as well!
Tuesday - December 9, 2008
Overheard at the post office
I stopped by the post office this evening on my way home. A young woman was at one of the counters in the lobby. She was talking to someone via cell phone. I didn't pay any attention to the conversation at all but heard this snippet as I was getting ready to leave:
"It's spelled S-M-I-R-E-T-T. One R. Two Ts. No space between the S and the M."
"No space between the S and the M." Got that? I have no idea if she was spelling someone's name or what. But, the no space comment amused me way more than it should've. The whole thing reminded me of one of my previous encounters at the same post office.
Monday - December 1, 2008
Campus Watch #53
From today's Campus Watch crime report:
DKR Memorial Stadium (2200 Robert Dedman)
Robbery: Several UT staff members, faculty, students, and Texas Ex's discovered a fraction of a percentage point had been taken and was transported across state lines. The percentage point was discovered north of the Red River at the campus of another Big 12 South University.
Heh. So, didja hear Mike Leach's proposed tie-breaker? He thinks the team with the highest graduation percentage should go. Hmmm...I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that Tech's graduation rate is quite a bit higher than the rates reported by Texas and OU. Right?
PS: In honor of my old high school buddy Lolly: Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!