Feelin' good

I'm taking some new pills for my heartburn and they're actually working pretty darn well. Thanks, science! I can sleep again.

I am a now officially a genetics enthusiast. Sure, I was interested in genetics before but now I just read The Genome by some dude from The Economist and I can't stop thinking about it. You know you're far gone when you find yourself randomly searching Google news for gene. I mean, honestly, gene banks for potatoes? That's awesome.

Lisa and I have decided that the best time to throw a big party is Sunday mornings. Brunch parties are good because we are losers who go to bed too early for a late night party and since that leaves us with Saturday or Sunday the choice is obvious. It's not like all our friends are going to church at that time.

I have about 10 days of vacation time saved up. This is enough for two weeks off and I'm starting to wonder what I'll do with it all. I wanted to go camping but two weeks of that would get boring pretty quick. Any ideas?

Interviewing

It's interviewing time and among other things I had to conduct an interview at my office for a candidate looking for a job in my department. I've had to do this several times last year in the search that culminated in the hiring of my astute coworker who shares a last name with 40% of Vietnam. In that search a lot of people were turned down on what should have been pretty basic questions. For example: if you don't know the difference between an interface and a class, you're not ready for a job as a programmer/consultant. Similarly, if you don't know how a particular data structure works, you should feel comfortable asking about it.

I like doing interviews because I work well under pressure. What I'm not good at is working with any kind of adverse physical condition. Lack of sleep, hunger, and sickness bring my productivity down to zero. Actually, that's not entirely true. My ability to waste time looking at blogs increases a hundredfold.

I just cooked and ate an entire cauliflower

I looked in the Joy of Cooking to see what recipes there were for cauliflower. Can't have the cauliflower gratin because of the cheese. Can't have the cauliflower paprika since I only have the super spicy kind of paprika.

I ended up steaming the whole thing.

Also, I recently entered a completion for the most boring blog post ever. I think I may win.

Happy Flag Day!

It's flag day, or at least that's what my far-side calender tells me. Also, the "(USA)" next to the holiday indicates that this is a holiday supposedly celebrated in my country and not in Canada or New Zealand or somewhere like that. Thank you Gary Larson.

I once saw Gary Larson's office. He was a visiting lecturer or something at a college in San Diego. As expected, there were many of his comics on the walls. If I was Gary Larson I would do the same thing.

Growing up my mom would often buy me Far Side calenders for Christmas and my birthday. This is probably because I was hard to shop for. I don't collect CDs or movies and though I played video games I pretty much buy or borrow everything I want.

Life Mirrors Art

When I was working for the Heuristic Squelch I once had an idea of a newsflash based on the idea that China was going to invade a foreign country for the purposes of stealing some last names. I'm glad I never wrote it becuase it wouldn't be very funny. Still:

Chinese surname shortage sparks rethink

Wisconsin!

I'm off to River Falls Wisconsin next week. This will be my first time in Wisconsin so I suppose I should pick up some cheese or something. What is Wisconsin famous for again?

Lisa recently suggested I pick up state themed refrigerator magnets for each state I visit. I think this is a capital idea though it does have the drawback of leaving you with a cluttered refrigerator door. I'm thinking the kitchen of the future's going to look pretty silly with some "Aloha Hawaii" magnets on the fridge. That's all.

It is my completely unfounded belief that cold weather makes people more liberal.

American cheese is a plot to degrade Europe's opinion of America.

I've been helping Lisa put together her comic book of teaching-related funnies. It shall be awesome. Put your request in today!