Mishaps and other haps

I just checked the site and Tiger will be unleashed upon the world at 6 PM today. Hold on to your balls.

I have been crouching, waiting to pounce for a couple of weeks. I might be buying an iMac soon.

Well, it’s all relative. She probably does everything pretty hard sometimes.

It looks like I will be by myself most of the day at work. My manager has every other Friday off because managers can do that and the one co-worker who is in the office today has her weekly half-day on Friday because employees can do that. So by noon, I will be running the department.

And what a reign it will be. If I had minions, this would be the time to start cracking the whips. I should never be put into a position of power over other people. I am very much in favor of jobs that have a high level of analytical thinking and autonomy, but I don’t like telling people what to do. It’s not that I have trouble directing people or organizing– I’m actually pretty damn good at those things (unless I am giving geographical directions). I just don’t like giving orders and I want to be nice to people and more subtle.

But anyway, it should be a bit busier this afternoon than it has been the past couple of days.

I am looking forward to the weekend. I’m planning to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, probably twice, and visiting people and making more solid plans about the future. I would really like to go out to breakfast or brunch on Sunday (for pancakes or French Toast), so I am thinking about asking people if they are up for something like that.

Helped a little tonight with the old PhysOrg/Theta apartment. They have been in their new house for about a week now, but their lease in the old place is up this weekend so every last bit of stuff has to be moved out and it has to be cleaned and inspected by the landlord.

There are still piles on the floor at my place tonight as I am in the middle of my own cleaning out project, still. Did not accomplish anything on that tonight, but I expect I will work on it Saturday.

Last night, Rick’s cafe was open for business and as the hours passed, my apartment increasingly became a locus of chaos.

I am cleaning out– slimming down the house, as it were.

If there is anything anyone wants from me, this would be a good time to let me know.

Have any of you guys heard of James Howard Kunstler? Apparently he spoke last week at the Memorial Union (there is an article in The Isthmus online). He has written a book predicting the end of the “oil age” and suggesting what this will mean for the future. For one thing, he doesn’t think that alternative forms of energy are going to appear in enough magnitude to support the kind of lifestyles we have today.

Which made me think of a couple of questions:

1) If a transportation crisis mandates the end of suburban lifestyles, would you rather live in the city or in the country? (EDIT: Or, to make this question more open-ended, WHERE [country, region, specific place, whatever] would you want to live if a crisis like this occurs?) Why?

2) If scientific evidence predicted that fossil fuels would completely run out by X year and this information became common public knowledge do you think that people would change their lifestyles in *major* ways to compensate and prepare for the future, or would they continue to live as they do now until time ran out?

Any opinions/predictions?

The past couple of days have been really good days. I spent tons of time individually with a couple of people I like a lot on Monday and Tuesday evenings and happy planning things are happening. I hope the rest of the week is equally satisfying.

It looks like I will be moving this summer

Oh, I just had Crispix, so it is going to be a good morning! Honestly, I have to say that if you haven’t eaten a 17.9 oz. box of Crispix lately, you’re really missing out on life. I would have stopped after 3-4 bowls, but someone scheduled a meeting during my normal lunch time today, so I am planning ahead because I am going to be eating lunch very late! Or never, because I may explode.

(OK, I am lying. I only ate one bowl of Crispix.)

I headed to the bookstore after work yesterday to hear a talk by Sean Carroll, a Genetics professor at UW-Madison. Mlitiagrl mentioned him the other day because her Paleontology seminar decided to read and discuss his new book. The Wisconsin State Journal published an article about him over the weekend and mentioned that he would be giving a talk and signing copies of his book Monday night. A couple of things in the article caught my attention, so I decided to go.

Mlitiagrl and I met up at the bookstore and spent some time together before, during, and after the talk. Her book was signed and the talk raised some sciency questions for her. I think we were also interested in some of the same general things about the talk since it was put together with non-scientists in mind– the way he presented information and handled Q&A and the topics he chose to address.

I didn’t think about it at the time, but I appreciate the fact that Carroll’s students and colleagues kind of left the Q&A in the hands of the laypeople. Obviously, they were there to be supportive and maybe also to observe. How often do scientists have the opportunity to test public opinion, knowledge, and attitudes (particularly with controversial, politically-charged topics like genetics and evolution) when they are usually presenting to other scientists?

After the talk, Mlitiagrl and I talked for quite a while about the Carroll talk and various other things. We might have gotten a few things off our chests. I think I did, anyway. It is nice to do that kind of thing every once in a while and Mlitiagrl is very easy to talk with for hours on end.

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention that the House of Luscher acquired a new kitty resident this past weekend (and a couple of new male humans, but that is another thing). The new kitty is named Geneva, she is a young adult (or adolescent?) female, and she is very affectionate, playful, and cute. She is a sort of light stripey/tortoiseshell blend– short-haired.

Geneva found a very good spot to take a nap yesterday, smack in the middle of the chelovyek’s chest. Obviously, she has good taste.

I hope this doesn’t make Justice jealous, though. He is really the senior cat and although he tries to convince everyone that he doesn’t really need them and doesn’t really like people all that much, it is clear that he is lying because he is always hanging around people. Yes, Justice will still need affection, even if he is a bit crotchety about it.

Apart from Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire, which I need to re-read before the movie comes out, I think I am about to shift into a non-fiction reading mode for a while. I have had a couple of days of fiction lag time since I finished Life of Pi and nothing I have picked up has really sustained my attention for more than 15 pages.

I was out frolicking and reading random things promiscuously yesterday and happily discovered The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2004. So I came home and requested a couple of these anthologies from the library. Science journalism rocks when it is well-written.