Ten Things

1. Apparently, 2 minutes really is the operable blender run-time for making delicious smoothies. After countless experimental runs and after pouring through mountains of chocolatey and flavorful data sets, 2 minutes appears to be the hands down winner.

2. After nearly 8 years, whenever I hear someone offhandedly refer to the 1997 seventh game loss by the Cleveland Indians to the Florida Marlins in the World Series (or consequently discusses such banal topics as Jose Mesa or Edgar Renteria), the heartbreak feels pretty much the same as while watching it live on television.

3. I didn't tell either of the classes for which I am the teaching assistant that I have a facebook profile, which implies that I did not give them explicit permission to do this, but I'm curious to see if anyone shall dare to become my facebook friend. Furthermore, if no one wants to be my facebook friend...I suppose that's just fine by me.

4. I drink a LOT of caffeine. On an average day, I normally consume upwards of 8 shots of espresso and a 16 oz. energy drink (lo-carb of course). As if that were not enough to keep any normal person's energy levels way below the ground state, I also supplement my diet with a Centrum Performance vitamin tablet (with ginseng, gingko bilboa, and all the vitamin B's you could ever want). I also frequently snack on trail mix. If productivity falls below 300%, I may need to employ other energy giving resources as a precaution.

5. Now that I've taken to buying my water in cute half-liter bottles, my room is absolutely strewn with empty plastic bottles. I'm thinking after a couple months, I may be able to melt them all down (while wearing a proper mask to protect myself from the awful fumes?) and construct a large plastic cube or maybe a bust of Thomas Edison's head.

6. Taking only two courses (albeit graduate level) in one semester seems quite alright to me.

7. I forgot that going into a hot tub is only awesome when the weather is cold or at least cool. Jon and Mindy invited me to go along with them to their friends' apartment, where we relaxed and drank beers (read: shotgunned beers) in the hot tub. Of course, I was sweating profusely after about 2 minutes (this is Texas after all). One of their friends is Vietnamese. Another guy showed up later who is half-English, half-Indonesian. I probably seemed to eager too talk to them, but I never really had the opportunity to meet (or at least drink) with many different Asian types.

One more tidbit of information from this night: Tito's Vodka is incredible. At $11 for a fifth of this 40% alcohol per volume product, you would expect this delectable treat to go down rough -- fighting you all the way down to your stomach and even afterwards. This is the smoothest vodka I have ever had.

8. What is this?!?!...A center for ANTS!


9. a. When I told my class today that I did my undergraduate studies at The Wabash College of Crawfordsville, Indiana, I had the pleasure of being outed by one of my students. I claimed that none of them have probably ever heard of it. One of my students was apparently recruited for a time to play football for my beloved Little Giants. After the words "Wabash" and "College" left my mouth, the student's hand was raised, and he asked me, "Isn't that an all-male school?" Per usual, I put the dopiest grin I could muster upon my face and replied with the affirmative. After some incoherent hemming and hawing about Wabash, I began the class.

b. I told my class about significant figures today during the lab period. I warned them not to confuse that with significant others. I had a very nice polite chuckle emanate from the class. Being humorous is hard.

10. It is far too hot out here to drink hot coffee. I'll take mine iced. Thank you and gig(gle) 'em Aggies!