thought for the day

you know, 'showgirls' is really a pretty bad movie.


it's that time of year again - nablopomo begins tomorrow, so expect a post a day all of november until i screw it up again. i'll be impressed if i can last through our move to MA next week.

...and my wine had gone sour

today was shitty in pretty much every way possible, except for maybe dying or killing small children accidentally.

this morning, a classmate and i had to give a presentation in biophysics. i thought we were friends and all, and we frequently talk about her discomfort and nervousness in presenting and i try to assure her about her smarts. we put together our ppt slides yesterday, and i was a little dismayed to find no titles, graphics, or anything short of misaligned text on hers. no matter; to each his own. then she said she was animating hers and has "extensive experience in powerpoint" and that she recommended doing this. i explained that i don't work well presenting that way, and when i listen to a presentation in that style, i can't pay attention; so i prefer to do it the old school (read: business world) way. she seemed cool and we agreed to leave our slides as how we each made them. so imagine my surprise this morning when, 5 minutes prior to our presentation, she mentioned that she animated all my slides too, to "avoid all that cluttered text on there." unfortunately, this did little to avoid the number of times it took me 10 arrow clicks or more to go back a single slide time and time again as people asked questions and requested that we go back to the previous figure. all it did was throw me off my game and scratch another would-be ally off my list. it's the principle that counts; i had refrained from saying that only douchebags animate their powerpoint and nobody with any professional experience actually rolls this way, but you can see how well my restraint was repaid.

backstabbing: still alive and well.

then i met with my postdoc to do some experiments. the tech who takes care of the T cells had vanished, so we had no cells. the one who makes the peptides had left, so we had no peptide. we pieced together alternatives and went ahead. then the cell irradiator broke for the first time since, well, it was purchased in 1962. with our sample stuck inside.

bad karma: still alive and well.

then i drove home hoping to make it to that well-deserved and much anticipated glass of red wine as fast as possible. a jeep cut me off going 20 mph slower than i was, so a quick left turn signal to ask "please do move over at your earliest convenience so i may proceed" turned into a 10-mile ordeal of him tailgating, brights flashing behind me, attempted passes on the shoulder, pulling even to presumably gesture or aim a gun at my head (who knows, i never look), and being followed on my own exit home. it took me 6 or 7 solid tries to ditch this guy, including slowing to 2 mph on a 45 mph ramp and having to thread myself into some tight traffic to prevent him getting behind me. i had to get back on the highway and go through town, prolonging my commute by 15 min.

middle finger as a potent driving tool: still alive and well.

i'm done with this day.

a gentle directive

go home.

seriously, all you folks with non-MA or NH license plates, just stop coming up here. i've never understood this whole weekend warrior, minivan full o'kids roadtrip thing. from your license plates i see you live in CT or RI most of the year. do you know how many people pay top dollar to stay at your overpriced B&Bs and get a lousy cup o'chowda, or drop money at your ikea, or go see some tall ships? i bet you curse at them. you live in states with some of the nicest shorelines, revered throughout the nation! fucking stay there already!

and seriously, you already live in an area of the country with deciduous trees! what makes our foliage so damn special? and must you bleating sheep all clog the roadways on the same weekend? do you always do what everyone else does when they do it? you might think it's normal because you have company, and all the local accomodations expect you each year, and you take it up the rear in columbus day weekend rate premiums. i assure you, the normal people were all heading north to go HOME after a long day of WORK. you're not normal, you're crazy; and all your brethren are crazy too.

so next time you want to leave your home in a posh new england state, a great place to live other than tourist season (do you taste the irony yet?), and head northbound on a friday evening, and maybe cause a 2-hour delay because you dropped some of your family's matched set of bicycles all over 495 because you are an incompetent yuppie, think twice about why you live where you do and why you feel the need to get away from it. maybe it's time for a change.

but a small note of thanks to the shiny hummer H2 with two brand new twin kayaks on its thule roof rack; i appreciate that you didn't take the tags off your kayaks, because it gave me something to read while i sat in traffic. kudos.

to anyone who regularly travels, north or south, on these predetermined long weekends with all your lifestyle trappings to have a 'getaway': if you have the money to afford your SUV, and all your gear, and your house in groton, but you just can't stay away from the borders of another state, MAYBE YOU SHOULD MOVE. why not live where you'd most like to be, rather than spend half your life trying to get there?

self-serving gift solicitation

let me preface my self-absorbed public service announcement (i mean, it is my blog after all - where better to be self-absorbed?). my 27th birthday is coming up, followed shortly thereafter by the birthday of baby jesus (yay baby jesus!!), so some loot is going to be coming my way eventually, i know it.

in lieu of the scented candles, nondescript picture frames, and sweaters that don't fit (ubiquitous gifts for the chick you know that doesn't do a lot of chick like stuff but seriously, has boobs and must need such accoutrements like all other chicks), i'm putting out a bulletin: if you planned on getting me anything at all, cool and thanks; i politely request gift cards to EMS or REI. my bike fernando and i have logged upwards of 150 road miles since i adopted him in july, and we need some gear. and i can't afford any of it. so fernando says, please send $$, cause he wants gloves, a bigger camelbak, some bergelene, a portable pump and tubes, a hex key set for repairs, and panniers (don't know what those are? neither did i; look them up). we always gladly accept gift cards to old navy as well; i am still a chick, it's true.

and if you're reading this going, who the hell does this broad think she is, telling the universe what she wants when she's such an old bag already...i'll tell you a) i'm the biggest child you'll ever meet and my birthday is always my favoritest holiday because it's in honor of ME and b) i don't even know why i'm posting this, since i already informed my mom; she's 50% of my gift-giving fiefdom and i'm living with the other 50%, so all involved parties are already well aware.

so what's santa going to bring you?