The View From Kalamazoo

So I thought I couldn’t be more amazed when Madonna decided to be a Kabbalist. (not amazed that Britney is, apparently, following suit. that’s just pathetic)

No, now she’s decided to be God an Academic.

Give me strength.

So I’m driving down to visit Notre Dame tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow seems to be the worst weather of the week – should be interesting.

In other news, this is the coolest wall decor ever! Too bad we live in an old house with plaster walls with a slight texture!

And for everyone else who thinks Jack Chick is the funniest man in America, this parody is da bomb. Seriously. 😉

Been a while. Been busy, stressed … freaking out, actually.

Three fat packets sent off (due Dec. 1), did as much online as I could and then put writing sample, SoP, CV, transcripts, etc..in the mail to U of M, U VA, and Notre Dame. I hadn’t slept a good night in the two weeks before, I edited and fretted over my SoP til the very last minute, didn’t settle on what chapters I sent from my thesis til the last minute (more fretting, of course), and since I was waiting to hear back from a couple of my committee members on confirmation on that decision waiting til I heard from them (last minute) was nerve-wracking. Two more for the end of Dec. (Northwestern and Indiana), two more in Jan. (SLU and U KY) but it’s all downhill, financially, since I ordered all 10 transcripts I’d need and all GRE scores at once. So I’m so very, very broke…very, very, very. *sigh* There aren’t enough Tums in the world to manage this process.

And finally, I can’t be more amazed, disgusted, and glad I usually don’t go anywhere *near* Wal-mart. I was crazy enough to hit Kohl’s at 5 to 6 Friday (so I could shop whilst the kidlets were sleeping and my Dad was still bustling about getting ready for work) and that was a nightmare – I spent well over twice as long standing in line to check out was I did picking up the few things I had money was there for. The women there were largely NUTS – one stole the buggy out from another woman, and there was a report of someone actually grabbing a toy out from under a woman’s arm and making off with it. Insane. I’m glad I got a couple of good deals since money’s tight this year, but I’m still not sure that anything is worth *that* sort of behavior. Anyway, see story below:

Woman knocked unconscious by trampling shoppers Saturday, November 29, 2003 Posted: 10:45 AM EST (1545 GMT) ORANGE CITY, Florida (AP) —

A mob of shoppers rushing for a sale on DVD players trampled the first woman in line and knocked her unconscious as they scrambled for the shelves at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Patricia VanLester had her eye on a $29 DVD player, but when the siren blared at 6 a.m. Friday announcing the start to the post-Thanksgiving sale, the 41-year-old was knocked to the ground by the frenzy of shoppers behind her. “She got pushed down, and they walked over her like a herd of elephants,” said VanLester’s sister, Linda Ellzey. “I told them, ‘Stop stepping on my sister! She’s on the ground!”‘

Ellzey said some shoppers tried to help VanLester, and one employee helped Ellzey reach her sister, but most people just continued their rush for deals. “All they cared about was a stupid DVD player,” she said Saturday.

Paramedics called to the store found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player, surrounded by shoppers seemingly oblivious to her, said Mark O’Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance. She was flown to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where doctors told the family VanLester had a seizure after she was knocked down and would likely remain hospitalized through the weekend, Ellzey said.

Hospital officials said Saturday they did not have any information on her condition. “She’s all black and blue,” Ellzey said. “Patty doesn’t remember anything. She still can’t believe it all happened.”

Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later Friday to ask about her sister, and the store apologized and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her.

Wal-Mart Stores spokeswoman Karen Burk said she had never heard of a such a melee during a sale. “We are very disappointed this happened,” Burk said. “We want her to come back as a shopper.”

I go on regular (Metamucil for the soul!) rants about our OIT here at WMU.

This is even better. Even [names removed to protext the incompetent innocent] couldn’t manage something this stupid! Ha!

D&D, Latin, and thou: Roman gaming dice (and my Shadowrun days are LONG, long past!)

It’s something that sould go with the Latin for Gamers site, eh?

From Boing Boing: “…One such recent example included the manufacturer’s labeling of equipment where the words ”Master/Slave” appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label. We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department.”

We have two computers, Slave 2 and Slave 3 in my department….considering that we’re medieval we should call them Serf 2 and Serf 3…or move to Lord/Vassal…or since we have a system named after Bede we should really call them oblates…

Trip to Lexington completed. The Dodge Neon Thrifty gave me was really pretty nifty for a small car – not bad git-up-n-go for something with a lawnmower engine and the savings in gas was enough so that I only once in traffic missed my V-6.

(speaking of the v-6, it’s out of the shop and runs like a million bucks…or at least…a grand. *cough sputter* aaaaaaack)

Interestingly enough the trip both down and back consisted in crappy weather in Michigan and (especially) Indiana that suddenly changed for the better once beyond the Ohio border. Curious, yes. Surprising, no. It may be a good time to mention that the highway system in Indiana is wacked – you can’t effectively get anywhere from anywhere. Bizarre. Wacked, I tell you. Wacked.

Anyway…the folks at U KY are very nice. I met with what seem at the time was the whole damn campus – 2 in the morning (after a large coffee on my own whilst I perused the student paper), a lunchtime colloquium, grad students (with coffee), 4 more meetings (1 with more coffee – I was just about humming), and 2 more faculty at dinner (decaf *twitch*). Lovely, lovely people. I think I would be really happy there, and moving a family and managing to live whilst in school not totally impossible. Lexington reminds me a lot of Kalamazoo in some ways, and the surrounding area really very pretty. Fewer strange looks at my yankee accent than in Nashville, where they’re outright hostile, but since KY was on both sides, er herm, I suppose there are less…historial issues. Got some honestly valuable gossip/warnings about other programs to which I’m applying off the record (and with caveat that they know they’re biased. heh) that I plan to follow up on so that I have all the information I need once letters begin to arrive in a few months.

I’m glad I went. I need to pop in on more places, but that was a Very Good Trip, indeed.

Deplorable comments from composer Mikis Theodorakis of “Zorba the Greek” fame calling Jews the “root of evil.”

Why not call the far left Nazi-esque anti-Semites and just be done with it?

Today’s breastfeeding apologize, you idgits. Sheesh. State law is state law. Frankly, considering some of the disgusting ways I’ve seen people wolf down a Whopper in the dining room of BK I’d rather watch a woman breastfeed…and who the heck is tasteless enough to stare at a breastfeeding child, anyway?!? Didn’t their Mommas teach them nothin’?

Odd. Now, if my cups had overfloweth’d like that I would have sought to donate to a milk bank, myself. Heart in the right place, head clearly tad off…but CHOCOLATE?

So disturbing. Very.