I.
Cold as … well, just plain cold today. The daily low was further below 0 than the daily high was above; it gets worse in the coming days (tomorrow and Monday our “highs” are supposed to be below zero).
I went shopping a bit this afternoon, and picked up a mop at the local hardware store. I considered getting some more metal shelving, but to put those things together I’ll need a screwdriver and a wrench to hold the bolts, and that means, basically, borrowing things from the department or buying my own. I figured I’d hold off on buying my own, which means I can also hold off on buying the shelves.
See: self-restraint.
II.
A female acquaintance recently commented, “the online dating thing isn’t working so far. No one has been even close to impressing me.”
I think the proper answer to this is Duh!
Then again, she also said, “I have been uninspired with online dating, other than to put a profile up, get responses from too old or too grammatically impaired or too damaged and then think to myself ‘he isn’t at all like the most recent former bf’.”
No surprises here. Men outnumber women dramatically on such sites, I suspect. This particular acquaintance has rather high standards for how her men look (let’s say: Marine fetish and be done with it) — does anyone seriously believe she’s going to find such guys via online dating sites?
Hello?!
It’s social dynamics and evolution at work here. The “hawties” she wants won’t be found online; they’ve been snagged already. What’s she’s left with are “plain” guys at best, and perhaps the “diamond in the rough” who is perhaps a bit socially awkward or shy. Thing is, though, as is always the case, she gets lots and lots of responses. The ones she’ll notice are the loud ones. There is not necessarily a correlation between loudness/obnoxiousness and suitability, and the internet substitutes boldness and willingness to blurt things out with few consequences for actual confidence.
Add to that the fact that she has unrealistically high expectations. In any case, I rest my case.
III.
I prepared an awesome weekly plan for my students and sent it out as a PDF. I really should use the “Learn@UW” web-app, but I can’t be bothered. Email works well enough.
The irony, if one will call it that, is that I was a fucking early adopter and leader in the whole technology-in-the-classroom and web-integration crap. Hell, back in fucking 1996 I TAed a class and did a class website. In 2000 or 2001 I established and used a class CMS (content management system), with student essays online, etc. When the online stuff provides a revolutionary advantage or something really new I’ll be happy to use it, but it’s still just replacing older means of doing things, and as the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I still do my grades by hand, but that’s because I’m lazy. I send the weekly plans by email for two reasons: 1) cuts down on paper and 2) because I’m lazy — I can send things after class rather than prepare them for class.
IV.
The 7 Deadly Zins? F**king tasty, I tell you. Is a $15 wine twice as good as $7.50 wine? Three times as good as a $5 wine? That’s a hard sell. Is a $100 wine 10 times better than a $10 wine? Clearly not. I do not get 6 times as much pleasure from a $30 bottle of wine as I do from a $5 bottle, but, given the chance, I’ll down that expensive wine without question.
It’s just fermented grape juice, people!
But I like … no, I love … the good stuff.
7 Deadly Zins is pretty good stuff. Not expensive, but not cheap either. For me it’s a bit of a splurge; for people with steady jobs and moderate incomes it’s a no-brainer. It has a sharp bite to start, but mellows quickly. It is smooth when swallowed. There is a mild fruitiness to it, and it feels good on all parts of the tongue, just swishing around the mouth.
Would drink again.
V.
I am mostly through “E” but have quite a bit to go. I am currently on Enya, which means that I made it through too many f**king hours of Elton John. The early stuff? It’s as if there is a relationship in the 70s between EJ and, say, the Rolling Stones. It’s less EJ than it is early 70s rock. And the lyrics? None of his recent Adult Contemporary and Disney crap … while not overly socially critical there is bite.
You have no idea how many versions/recordings of “Candle in the Wind” I had to suffer through. I really liked that song … back ing Nineteen-f**king-Eighty-Eight or so. Less so now. And it’s on every album. “Love Songs”? Check. “Greatest Hits”? Check? “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”? Check.
But then there was Enigma and now Enya … so “E” is also the eclectic letter (there was Eminem, too, and Elvis).
