Fun Fact Friday III

House centipedes eat a variety of insects and spiders, and thrive in humid, warm environments, making them most active in the spring and fall in mid-latitudes associated with weather change. The conditions most conducive to these qualities are basements and bathrooms. Their rigid bodies make them very quick. Girlfriends, upon seeing a said quick moving house centipede in the spring, bolting across her boyfriend's basement floor may herself bolt up the stairs and wait for you to "do something about that thing eww eww eww", and proceed to shake out all blankets before being able to watch TV again.

The U.S. Department of Labour (via my Psych textbook) lists, among other things dope sprayer, bosom presser, cookie breaker, impregnator and impregnator helper in its Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Once again I've been shown that I am pursuing the wrong career path.

The samples from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction in the Fun Lovin Criminals song Scooby Snacks were taken without legal permission, and so Quentin Tarantino has gone on to collect writing credit and royalties for the song.

My thesis deadline is April 6th, exactly one week away. I have not written a word. April 6th is also a recognized holiday (good friday), and setting due dates or exams on said day is against school policy. I'm wondering exactly how I might work this to my favour; perhaps by waxing born-again for a few days.

Turning into a Plot: RedOx

Thanks to Steve for accurately depicting my flow model:

My final thesis presentation was yesterday, and given that I haven't started putting down my thesis on paper or on screen yet, it was a bit of a challenge to scramble everything together into a coherent, intelligent sounding presentation. Ultimately, I'm not sure that it ever did reach those goals, but its done and gone now. In theory, my undergrad will be done and gone in three and a half weeks, but I really don't see me having a fully edited copy of my thesis in by then, while still having managed to squeeze in some exam prep.

This evening the department is hosting its annual banquet for the 4th year students, and despite the fact that its a cash bar, I'm going to try to put on a happy face and see if I can't score myself at least some summer work around the school, while I decide what I want to do in terms of going on to a masters, or joining the real world.

Turning into a Plot

St. Patty's Gong Show

Actually, contrary to most expectations, St. Patty's this year wasn't much of a show at all. There was no hitting the Bomber beer tent before noon to have my recommended yearly intake of green food colouring. There was no group sabotage of otherwise drinkable beer with salt and pepper shakers. There wasn't even a noon 'til midnight binge, barely removing myself from the same chair at the BarleyWorks this year. Instead, some 'retro' EA Sports game on PS2, some Belgian and German wheat beers (since I dropped the ball on getting myself a substantial quantity of, or in fact, any Harp or Smithwick's), and some movies.

Not very Irish of me, I'm aware, but I have my health to show for it today. Will I use the lack of feeling like I got punched in the liver to get to work on the final presentation for my thesis I am expected to make on Thursday? Probably not. Will I watch more of round 2 of college hoops, and pretend like I knew what was going on beyond the top 4 or 5 teams in the country before this tournament started? More than likely. Will I listen to the Jays game, and think about ways in which Gustavo 'DUI' Chacin's career could now parallel Boomer Wells'? You bet.

There's still one week til the Fantasy Baseball Draft, get signed up!

Update: I was listening to the Ongoing History of New Music archives earlier this week, in particular to a two part show on Tool, when Alan Cross played a sample of a lullaby version of one of their songs. Curious, I looked it up and found that, not only are there some hilarious renditions of Tool, but a bunch of other bands from Bjork to Metallica and a bunch in between. Check out some of the samples here.

Its March; Gimme a Break

Snow days are spectacular events when they happen. A few days after the fact however, once your assignment and exam time-line for the following week gets all compressed; not so much. On the plus side, I'm done everything for 2 of my classes til exams. On the horizon though, 3 exams in a 24 hour period, 4 exams in 4 days. Under some circumstances I could probably have one of those deferred, but because the distance education office and registrars office seem to refuse to work together (a recurring theme with many of the University administrative services) I likely won't be able to do much about getting bent over and made a multiple-choice bubble colouring bitch.

But this week is over, and the weather is looking up. Forecast highs above freezing for the next week, and some rain in there to help melt the thick pack of grungy gray-white, pebble and car-part filled snow lining the streets.

Hopefully I'll manage to unwind this weekend, have a few beers, and help the girlfriend celebrate her birthday. Then next week I can resume the stress involved with grinding out my thesis before the 22nd, and hoping to hell that the government tax system gets its shit together soon so I can file my return and get some much needed cash returned to my needy student self. That's enough whining for now though.

Funny story for the day. I'm out picking up some gas, and running some other errands. I'm stopped at a traffic light, when this year or two old black Nissan Sentra pulls up to me with sports seat belts and after-market rims, and the sound system blasting out some modern hip-hop. I look at the driver, and there's this balding, greying, forty-five to fifty year old white guy droppin' more bombs than the bible's got psalms right along with his system. That, combined with the fact that it was warm enough for me to have the windows down and hear it all, made my day.

Down in Dunedin

Well would you look at that. Baseball's spring training is already under way, and that means its also time for Fantasy Baseball:

LooBall 2007
Yahoo League ID: 157649
Password: norod

Sign up and do your worst. Winner gets....uhh not sure what I'll get myself yet, but maybe I'll offer something for second place just to be nice.

Beyond that, I could ramble on about the Jays chances this year, and how they depend on the healthiness of the top 2 in the rotation, or on Vernon Wells having the same jump start that he did coming out of the World Baseball Classic last year, but its all been roughly said before. All that needs to be said is that the AL East is gonna be tight this year, and the Jays have a legitimate shot at the playoffs.