It's less than two hours until May.
This one looks like one for the record books. I'm finishing four semester classes, writing up my Independent Study, volunteering at the adult confirmation class, teaching two classes at CTU, going to RI at least twice by mid-month, keeping my house ready to be shown to prospective buyers, getting the cats vet visits taken care of, and trying to spend time with friends here. And moving at some point.
It will take cunning. And planning.
But I like the pressure. Bring it!
4.30.2007
4.29.2007
Bonus!
Despite having planned it weeks ago, and with some intentionality, it hit me only yesterday that I have a few days off. This is my last week of teaching at CLC and OCC before finals next week. But my students are all doing that take-home final assignment on Virginia Tech, so I don't have any class meetings to conduct next week.
Basically, I'm free from Friday May 4 to Wednesday May 9, with the exception of the confirmation class which I would miss. I need to be back for the Killers concert on Thursday night or I could stay longer. But that will work --- i'll get back to town for the weekend.
So I checked in with the family and started making some plans. It'll be good to get things started, start setting things up, etc. I'm going to think it over and make sure I can make it work before booking the flight tonight. Part of the problem is that I have so many options: RI, Maine, DC, stay here, etc.
And today's forecast calls for "abundant sunshine". Today's weather is nothing short of divine. Jennifer and I are heading to Neiman Marcus so she can try on a wedding dress, and to Macy's so I can return some things and maybe find a new pair of jeans. And yes, I know the weather is too good for the mall, but it IS an outdoor mall after all. So I gotta hit the showers. Jen's on her way.
Basically, I'm free from Friday May 4 to Wednesday May 9, with the exception of the confirmation class which I would miss. I need to be back for the Killers concert on Thursday night or I could stay longer. But that will work --- i'll get back to town for the weekend.
So I checked in with the family and started making some plans. It'll be good to get things started, start setting things up, etc. I'm going to think it over and make sure I can make it work before booking the flight tonight. Part of the problem is that I have so many options: RI, Maine, DC, stay here, etc.
And today's forecast calls for "abundant sunshine". Today's weather is nothing short of divine. Jennifer and I are heading to Neiman Marcus so she can try on a wedding dress, and to Macy's so I can return some things and maybe find a new pair of jeans. And yes, I know the weather is too good for the mall, but it IS an outdoor mall after all. So I gotta hit the showers. Jen's on her way.
4.26.2007
Fabulous on All Counts
Dinner at Maza on Lincoln Avenue with Jennifer, Pats, and Zibby tonight. Falafel, lebneh, lubieh, and hommus for appetizers, followed by the salmon and the famous orgasmic lamb specials. Lebanese coffee (finjal, same as Ethiopian. Strong and spiced in demi-tasse cups) and baklava and some creamy mango and honey custard for dessert. The best thing though? I got to have dinner with THREE of my favorite human beings all at once. Love you guys!
4.25.2007
I Could Not Be More Proud
Than if this were my own article. Here is my dear friend Graham being interviewed for a UK website about the literary magazine Transmission which he co-founded. I had the honor of having some of my photographs included in the first edition, before the editorial decision to limit the contributions to those from the Manchester area. Anyway, Graham has interviewed literati from Chuck Palahniuk to Douglas Coupland to Dave Eggers to Doris Lessing for Transmission and now gets his own turn. Check it out!
Follow the Rabbit Down the Hole
And you will go from a discussion about Adsense to clubbed feet. While chatting with Mr Bojangles online today, he suggested I should use Adsense on this blog. I told him I did, and he said that he hadn't noticed, so that might be a problem. But there is also the issue of WHAT Adsense is putting on my blog, which was in this case "A Guide to Hammertoe Deformity" by Chicago Podiatric Surgeons.
So the conversation inevitably turned from there to a Google search about clubbed feet, which led to Celebrities with Clubbed Feet. Check out this site. You might be surprised to find who was born with a clubbed foot, especially the athletes.
We were about to google "Hotties with Clubbed Feet" but Mr. Bojangles had to go. I'll let you know what we find.
So the conversation inevitably turned from there to a Google search about clubbed feet, which led to Celebrities with Clubbed Feet. Check out this site. You might be surprised to find who was born with a clubbed foot, especially the athletes.
We were about to google "Hotties with Clubbed Feet" but Mr. Bojangles had to go. I'll let you know what we find.
Shatner!
Many thanks to Brian at Priceline who found my blog posting on Robert Goulet and William Shatner yesterday and shared with me the "Falcon of Truth" website and a password so I could see some pix and video clips, like the one above.
Here's the email:
Subject: Some funny William Shatner stuff
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:05:29 -0400
From: brian@priceline.com
To: jbeagan78@hotmail.com
Hello Jessica,
I saw your recent blog entry on Robert Goulet and William Shatner. There is a new William Shatner web site you might be interested in. It was created for bloggers and Shatner fans (don’t know if you’re one). In any event, the stuff is pretty funny.
Web site: www.falconoftruth.com
Password: FRT6YH0039
The site, which is dedicated to Bill’s current work on the Priceline Negotiator campaign features:
All of his Negotiator spots, including his brand-new Falcon of Truth spot which begins airing this week
Behind the scenes interviews with Bill – all exclusive and unscripted
An assortment of new cell phone ring tones
Wallpaper and screen savers featuring Bill
Any and all of this stuff can be downloaded to your blog so you can share it with your friends and readers. No copyright concerns – feel free to use it if you like.
Regards,
Brian
You heard the man. Use the password above and have fun!
Goulet!
It's been out for a couple months, but I so love that Emerald Nuts commercial with Robert Goulet. It's the one with the legend that in the afternoon when your energy is low at work, Robert Goulet shows up and messes with your stuff. But if you eat Emerald Nuts, the story goes, you will keep Robert Goulet at bay. For a little while anyway.
It is perfect that Robert Goulet would, as a much-older man than the Grecian formula belies, be in such a delightfully fun and totally brilliant commercial. It connects his schlocky lounge singer persona with roles in goofy comedy classics from my youth, like Beetlejuice and The Naked Gun.
Emerald Nuts is a coda on a decades-long career the silliness of which is tolerable only because of the self-consciousness of Goulet of his Goulet-ness. It's just like William Shatner, I'd say. And even he has a Priceline commercial which is nothing short of Shat-tastic.
Goulet and Shatner are pop culture standards, culturally significant, and clearly still relevant on some level. Their success is based on their silliness, which must always be played straight-faced, as that's the heart of the humor. For these guys, serious doesn't work quite the way that silly through the serious does.
And maybe that's what sticks with my generation. It's the little tension between them, like when your normally sober grandfather is sudden funny. And there are some really funny and creative people in advertising right now who get it. They're the same bastards who seduced me with Citibank and Mac. But beyond that, I love being a part of a generation with a sense of humor and wide, deep, and broad love and curiosity and respect not only for other cultures, but for our own history and culture as well. That's what it is. Goulet and Shatner are part of our common experience as Americans in this generation, so we get it.
And of course, it worked because now I know the product too. Ah, how the wheels continue to spin.
It is perfect that Robert Goulet would, as a much-older man than the Grecian formula belies, be in such a delightfully fun and totally brilliant commercial. It connects his schlocky lounge singer persona with roles in goofy comedy classics from my youth, like Beetlejuice and The Naked Gun.
Emerald Nuts is a coda on a decades-long career the silliness of which is tolerable only because of the self-consciousness of Goulet of his Goulet-ness. It's just like William Shatner, I'd say. And even he has a Priceline commercial which is nothing short of Shat-tastic.
Goulet and Shatner are pop culture standards, culturally significant, and clearly still relevant on some level. Their success is based on their silliness, which must always be played straight-faced, as that's the heart of the humor. For these guys, serious doesn't work quite the way that silly through the serious does.
And maybe that's what sticks with my generation. It's the little tension between them, like when your normally sober grandfather is sudden funny. And there are some really funny and creative people in advertising right now who get it. They're the same bastards who seduced me with Citibank and Mac. But beyond that, I love being a part of a generation with a sense of humor and wide, deep, and broad love and curiosity and respect not only for other cultures, but for our own history and culture as well. That's what it is. Goulet and Shatner are part of our common experience as Americans in this generation, so we get it.
And of course, it worked because now I know the product too. Ah, how the wheels continue to spin.
April is Pedicure and Blisters Month!
It's not too late to enjoy the festivities. Head on over to your local neighborhood nail shop. You won't have to go far to find several in your area, but quality can vary so be prepared to shop around if you get sub-par service or treatments.
Get those feet de-funked from the winter and ready for some sexy, strappy, sky-high sandals!
Glide through the pain as your lily-white and tender feet recharge their key callouses after months in socks.
Remember, it will all be worth it soon: Columbus Day when you are running around barefoot in the fallen leaves, or breaking in some gorgeous little pair of expensive torturers: size 7, 3 inches tall, all straps. Bring it on!
But in the meantime, I recommend a variety pack of Band-Aid clear bandages. Get the various sizes for various vintages of blisters. And remember, before long your feet will have cottoned to your shoes and your shoes will have cottoned to your feet.
And until then, cotton might come in handy for padding. Or wound-cleaning.
Get those feet de-funked from the winter and ready for some sexy, strappy, sky-high sandals!
Glide through the pain as your lily-white and tender feet recharge their key callouses after months in socks.
Remember, it will all be worth it soon: Columbus Day when you are running around barefoot in the fallen leaves, or breaking in some gorgeous little pair of expensive torturers: size 7, 3 inches tall, all straps. Bring it on!
But in the meantime, I recommend a variety pack of Band-Aid clear bandages. Get the various sizes for various vintages of blisters. And remember, before long your feet will have cottoned to your shoes and your shoes will have cottoned to your feet.
And until then, cotton might come in handy for padding. Or wound-cleaning.
Her Mother's Daughter
Big blue eyes, tousled curls, and a book in hand. Maybe I'm just biased, but dang these kids are cute. My cousin Gracie, petite ange.
4.24.2007
And Choirs of Angels Sang from on High
Ah-ah-AH!
I figured out my independent study tonight. Mille grazie to Amity for letting me keep her up until she could only get five hours of sleep so I could work this out. I gave four classes the same final exam: a five-page analytical paper related to one of the cultural themes emerging from the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007.
The themes we have identified to date are: issues of campus security, gun control, freedom versus security, mental illness and privacy, warning signs and personal liberties, comparison and contrast to similar past events (Columbine, etc)., cultural responses: virtual communities, Korean, campus, American;, communications and campus administrators, the efficacy of email versus text messaging in notifying the campus in an emergency, the role of Facebook and MySpace in communicating amongst the victims almost instantaneously, text messaging to friends and loved ones from inside Norris Hall, etc.
I have decided to frame the study around my thesis, so that I may examine the role of popular media in the consumption of information around major cultural events. By having the students follow the themes of the event in the three weeks after they unfold, they must consume information from the culture around them and process the information. But all the while, they are conscious of the fact that they are consuming this information and must be able to analyze it.
The best part is that I told everyone to email their finals to me, so I have a data set of up to 60 papers all filed electronically. I can print working copies and save the originals. The exams will be the data I analyze qualitatively. So what I need now is a kick-ass outline and the proper amount of detail to present a case to Dr. Mbilizi by May 15.
But now I have a plan. Woo woo!
I figured out my independent study tonight. Mille grazie to Amity for letting me keep her up until she could only get five hours of sleep so I could work this out. I gave four classes the same final exam: a five-page analytical paper related to one of the cultural themes emerging from the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007.
The themes we have identified to date are: issues of campus security, gun control, freedom versus security, mental illness and privacy, warning signs and personal liberties, comparison and contrast to similar past events (Columbine, etc)., cultural responses: virtual communities, Korean, campus, American;, communications and campus administrators, the efficacy of email versus text messaging in notifying the campus in an emergency, the role of Facebook and MySpace in communicating amongst the victims almost instantaneously, text messaging to friends and loved ones from inside Norris Hall, etc.
I have decided to frame the study around my thesis, so that I may examine the role of popular media in the consumption of information around major cultural events. By having the students follow the themes of the event in the three weeks after they unfold, they must consume information from the culture around them and process the information. But all the while, they are conscious of the fact that they are consuming this information and must be able to analyze it.
The best part is that I told everyone to email their finals to me, so I have a data set of up to 60 papers all filed electronically. I can print working copies and save the originals. The exams will be the data I analyze qualitatively. So what I need now is a kick-ass outline and the proper amount of detail to present a case to Dr. Mbilizi by May 15.
But now I have a plan. Woo woo!
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