and one fine morning…
lol
something like a silhouette
Jul 28th
never forget
Jul 24th
Well. The Beard of Numerics +3 is coming along nicely. I haven’t shaved since I started studying. Starting tomorrow (already?) Calc III will be done for the summer, so I’ll have another 3 days per week that I can use. Sweet. DK has been a dream to work with this term, but what else should I have expected?
Meanwhile, thanks to Ronnie for this one: Cardboard Halo 3 Replicas
oh they don’t have a soul like a Vincent ’52
Jul 15th
Ok, time to test myself against some more physical exertion. I signed up for the Copper Triangle and the Buffalo Bicycle Classic. The Copper ride is going to be hard, and the Buffalo one is going to be long, but I think I can do them. Frankly, it will come down to IT band issues, if they come up. Either way though, I have a pretty solid VGA these days. Plus, I can rep the throwback USPS Jersey.
Dustin pointed me to the hot new summer fashion, the couch dress. It’s a pretty fancy number. I want to commission a team of grandmas to make one.
My friend Jay was in Denver, and today, we went out to eat Indian food, lunch Buffet. I haven’t seen Jay since 2005, and so it was really awesome to catch up. We’ve been in touch, but not regularly. He is a pretty badass guy, in so many ways. I think we forged a bond during freshman year of college when we realized that we were both skinny dudes, and liked hilarious stuff. Today, we still like hilarious stuff, but we are less skinny—hard to believe, I know.
We talked for a long time, then went to see Wall-E, which was really sweet. I loved it, and even felt pretty emotional for the little guy. The animation was fantastic, and I think the eco-commentary was well-timed too. We finished the afternoon by driving to Casa Bonita, so Jay could see it IRL and in person. We asked a man if he could take a picture of us there, and he said “Oh…No Thanks,” and walked off…as if we were offering him drugs or something. Like we are two shady characters and we dupe fat old white dudes by first asking them to hold our expensive electronics and take pictures of us. Weird. Anyway. Life is good. Jay is the man. Here is a picture of Wall-E because he is so damned cute.
festival
Jul 8th
Here’s a funny one, thank to SF, regarding Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film: Bruno Pranks it Up
Also, another thing that I’ve been talking about, but finally got a link for: Inventor Trains Crows to Find Money
Jesus. The lols keep coming. Here’s an interesting one from EB: Dave Eggers Interviews High School Interns About Beck’s Odelay
Meanwhile, Barry and Helen were in town just overnight, and it was awesome to hang out with them. Their arrival coincided with my convalescence from some sort of stomach flu, so I had two good reasons to ask Kaslovsky to take my classes for me today. As a result, I will have a ton of grading to do, but that’s fine with me. I feel much better today than yesterday.
ALSO. Please note that new RATATAT, Beck, and Sigur Ros are all sweet.
just relaxed and paying attention
Feb 18th
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/ Thanks to Barry for this one. Hilarious. Ronnie, get a load of #69. I am pretty sure it was made specifically for you.
I have been thinking more and more about “Mathematics is its own barrier to entry.” I think it’s funny, but I also think that it’s pretty true.
I rejoined facebook. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. More or less, my opinion on it has changed. My feeling now is similar to my feelings about fraternities as an undergrad: if it’s an element of your life, that’s fine, but if it is your life, that’s not fine. In other words, use facebook or other online junk, e.g. this blog, for a purpose, but don’t attempt to define much about yourself through it. This is not to say that I felt like I was doing so in the past.
I don’t remember who it was that turned me on to the idea… but the basic concept is that you should get to know people through interacting with them because then you have a context for your knowledge. For example, if I learn that Carlin practices yoga meditation, I’ll learn it in conversation where it has a context, or through a friend, where it also has a context. If I read it on a blog or facebook, then it feels a little bit less contextualized, as if I am doing research on him or something. I feel that meaning is lost in that process.
School is going well. I’m loving it. I feel that I’m at the peak of my productivity, concentration, and organization right now, and continuing to improve.
I finished The Journey to the East which was very interesting. I have comments on it, but this is not the place. Now, a study of Being Peace on DC’s recommendation. Reading before bed is really nice.
Christmas v. Chanukah: Holidays are for Suckers
Dec 6th
“I am constantly hearing people complain about Christmas trees but no menorahs, mashed potatoes but no potato latkes, ‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas’ but no ‘I have a little dreidel’. I can understand that after thousands of years of suffering they may be entitled to some bitching here and there but why is it that they insist on bashing Christmas? First of all, everyone should recognize that Christmas is nothing but a materialistic holiday driven by greed and stress with very little Christmas cheer. We no longer think of it as the day that Christ was born, but rather the day when we have to sit down with the in-laws we despise or worse yet, our own family. We have Secret Santa and White Elephant gift parties at work yet we’re not allowed to voice our opinion regarding religion, let alone our love for Christ. In reality, this blog isn’t about Jews dissing my lord and savior or the day of his birth, but much more importantly, it’s about the sanctity of holidays in general. I imagine myself in Israel around this time peering into shop windows, smelling donuts and other goods consumed during Chanukah. I imagine every window sill graced by small shining lights strategically placed as a reminder of that everlasting oil. But I wonder… Is everything as I imagine it to be? Is it possible that perhaps these Jews, the very ones who think they’re so much better than Christians, have also become consumer whores? Have they abandoned this month long celebration for promises of gifts or raises? How many people have conformed to Christmas just because it’s easier? And if it were so easy, then why don’t more people do it? The fact of the matter is that no holiday, regardless of what it is, holds any importance. Jews and Christians alike have succumb to the pitiful state of over- consuming consumer goods. And what for? I went to Catholic school with a Jewish boy who wasn’t supposed to tell anyone he was Jewish. What a world to live in, where one moment we’re proud of our religion because it gets us somewhere and the next, we’re shunning it and the rest who believe in it because it’s just easier. There is no pride, no personal satisfaction in knowing why we spin dreidels or bundle up to sing carols, no it seems that the only satisfaction we’re getting is when the holidays are long behind us and we can relax again.”
An open letter to my Slalom Skis
Nov 13th
Dear Slalom Skis, I know this may seem sudden since we’ve only known each other for 10 days, but this feeling is bubbling up inside me and I need to let it out before I burst: I love you. I almost can’t describe how good I feel when I’m on top of you. It’s exhilarating. When I lay you down on the ground, part of me says “It’s all downhill from here,” but that’s not the part of me that loves you… With your smooth race-matte topcoat and sheer sidewalls I even like just looking at you, not to mention the way you feel when I give you some forward pressure into the turn. I can feel you get so stiff when I push hard and hold you down until your edge gives out…but it never gives out. It rides so tight, so fast, from each transition to the next. From the very first moment, our relationship has gone so fast! And through all the twists and turns, we’ve never slowed down, babe. Sure, someday, obstacles may arise, but know now that I will be there for you, hands forward, square to the fall line, cross-blocking everything that gets in our way. Look, I know it’s sudden, but I want us to be something, to go somewhere. Let’s climb the highest mountain, you and me, girl. Being with you gets my heart and mind racing. Also, it gets my body racing. I can’t wait to ski you again soon! Love, Dan PS: I am going to drip hot wax all over your underside tomorrow night when I get you home!
高く空 朱に染めし日の 燃えるごときの雲模様
Oct 25th
dance (ノ゜o゜)ノ dance (ノ゜o゜)ノ Two weeks of mega-intensity are over. We were only up until 1:30 last night grading Calc III. Though it’s probably luck of the draw, the high score from this exam was in my second recitation again. Teaching has been particularly fun recently. I gave a review session for the exam that I think went pretty well. It was exhilarating though, because I was lecturing to nearly 100 students in a room that was big enough for 400. So the kid closest to me was still 15 feet away. There were 6 huge blackboards, three of which you could slide up and down, so it was a seriously huge lecture hall. Awesome. The prof for Calc III told me he’d be out of town this coming Monday, and offered his 10 o’clock lecture to me. Since I’ll be in Chicago and will have no time to prep, I declined, but teaching the regular Calc III lecture to 120 kids for an hour would be awesome, and I’m still pretty pumped that he offered to begin with. Meanwhile, all my homework(s) that were due this week went off without a hitch, and I think I actually did quite well on them. What a relief! Friday I’ll leave for Chicago, which will be, without a doubt, awesome. Going over to my mother’s this afternoon, and then Tyra’s tonight to watch The Office and the Rockies game. That should be nice, since I saw her last like…a week ago. Halloween Costume
