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I am done grading. I only had one page of a 9 page final exam (thank heaven for TAs) but there were 160 students. I'm also done grading the final papers from the 16 honors students. And, I'm done uploading letters of recommendation to every known format of graduate & medical school website. Why people want letters from a lowly staff scientist, I don't know. I try to dissuade them and tell them to get a letter from a real, tenured professor. No matter. I. Am. Done. Now for (more) coffee, and to get back to sciencing the shit out of some proteins.

Nice list of bands! That's made for some fun exploring. Along the lines of the OP, although possibly too distracting, is the band Hovercraft. One of those Godspeed You! pieces I just heard reminds me of them. I think I would find them too much, but then again, I listen to drum & bass when working.

So, my son and I met with Zenpatista.  He's a very cool guy.  The only problem we had was a loud drunk that wanted to tell us his vast collection of war stories.  Other than that, everything more or less went well.

Thanks & likewise. I had a lot of fun & it was great to meet you & your son. Hope to meet up again soon. The venue too - I can see why it's a landmark pub. Some of the grad students told me stories about it, but I'd never been in the "meet rack" before.

Research...is coming.

Also winter, but mostly research, since saying "winter is coming" when it's already struggling to get above 15C outside and raining all day isn't really all that ominous.

Tuition paid.  I have 4 days then I can put in my thesis (broadly speaking I'm hoping to do research on counterjihadists), and get it confirmed and so actually start writing by the end of the month.  I probably wont finish in time for Xmas, but that is my attempted goal.

Good luck with the thesis. If you ever feel like posting a chapter or so, I bet a few besides myself would be interested in reading it.

Wait.  You're at U of A?

Yes indeed. I've been there nearly 15 years (off and on) working multiple jobs in research with a side of teaching.

I'm in Tucson.  How have you never fallen in with the Hoodlum Cabal?

I don't know. Hoodlum cabal sounds fun though. Wait - that's not like the sheriff's posse up in Phoenix, right?

Wait.  You're at U of A?

Yes indeed. I've been there nearly 15 years (off and on) working multiple jobs in research with a side of teaching.

Once more into the breach.

U of AZ had it's first day of the semester today. Students have been trickling into town over the past week. I have dusted off my syllabus and am getting ready to teach my first discussion section (biochemistry) of the school year. Proteins and enzymes ftw! 

Sorry to hear about all that Nigel. My oldest is 27 and happy and healthy.... now. Your post reminds me of when she was 16 and *surly*. Sometimes it got pretty grim. Hoping for the best for you and yours. Hang in there.

Also, not sure where to put that OP. Not really any rant so it doesn't seem like it belongs here, but I couldn't figure out where else.

Most of my writing is science stuff for work. Feel free to post or pm any feedback. I'm still a novice at this.

 

Oh dear. You don't want to water Tuscon....

I don't mind watering the Tucsonans. I do mind those damn trees ravaging my sinuses with their pollen. I am worried that that rain gets me another week of flowering palo verde.

But the idea of Phoenix underwater is too delightful to deny.

The rain motivated me. Phoenix had to go.

I was just walking the dogs and a guy in a white jeep with the window rolled down stops right by me. I wave at him as the dogs sniff the bushes. I can see the light of a phone on his face. He says, "Hi sir. Just playing a game." He puts the phone away and turns around and leaves the neighborhood. My phone's SD card died a couple days ago so I haven't been playing. It took me a while to realize - that SOB flipped my portal.

It started with a brisk wind on an otherwise unseasonably cool day.

It was normally hot by May and the locals thought the change in weather a welcome delay to the frequently forbidding spring and summer's heat and dryness. So, it was thoroughly delightful when the rains started. First it was a sprinkle and then a steadily increasing downpour.

It didn't last the biblical 40 days and nights, much to the chagrin of some folks in the religious extreme. However, it was long enough to make a few of the timid-type of atheists get nervous.

The flooding washed through the housing developments and demolished satellite cities. Downtown became a concrete reef of overpasses and on-ramps. Bookstores and coffee shops and walmarts and record shops and fast food places and libraries and churches and golf courses - all under water. There was some violence when the highways jammed as people realized the truth and tried to leave in a rush. There was some looting once most of the authorities left. But the waters took the lion's share of the goods. The legislature had tried to deny it. They even took time to pen a quick bill that described the sudden change in the weather as a federal emergency yes, but certainly not due to global climate change. There was even a subclause explaining that it was somehow Obama's fault.

The reservations became expensive water-front property and the richest of the refugees couldn't buy their way in. The Native Americans in the First People's Council had a set of standards to accept refugees that the well-to-do couldn't figure out. Many folks fled to the North or the South. Favelas were set up around neighboring towns. The newcomers were welcomed in but warily at first. Many tried to stay in the ramshackle housing but the desire for their former lives forced them to acclimate to their Northern or Southern neighbor's ways. Tattoo and piercing parlors made 200% increase in profits as the new folks tried to fit in. There was a little head cracking in order to get the refugees to lose some of their holier-than-thou ways, and of course there were many who couldn't ever bring themselves to talk and interact with those they considered beneath them. They were the first to feed the roving coyote packs.

The Great Arizona Lake took 23 days to fill with water. There are still bodies and golf carts and debris at the bottom. But nature is filling in the gaps. There are fast growing reeds at the water's edge. The whole area is home to growing flocks of birds and butterflies. Fishermen have been seen plying the waters. There's even talk of a resurgence in the state's budget due to another natural wonder. But Phoenix was never to rise again.

hxxp://tucson.com/news/blogs/police-beat/police-find-metal-spikes-in-eastside-manhole-covers/article_cd90549a-ef73-11e4-813f-13738f606281.html?id=201408

Looks like someone ground the ends of some bolts into points and bolted them into manhole covers. Someone from a local tire company?

GRE and grad applications?  Good luck with that guys. I applied to 4, heard back from 3 and visited 2 before I settled. I do not want to go through any of that again. On the other hand, my happy place is going back to grad school - this time for marine biology - learning scuba, and studying manta rays.

I'm glad the semester is about over. My last discussion section was today. Now I have 18 presentations and papers to grade and two finals to proctor (and possibly partially grade).

Once someone lets go of that nightstick, that purse will be swung hard in an upward arc. It doesn't look like the straps are tight enough for it to be holding a brick, but what do I know? Maybe it's really stiff leather.

It's an interesting game, but I can see how it gets difficult to play after a while. I don't mind walking more, but there's a limit to that. I would think, if anything, they'd give more loot to higher level players. Once you get to a certain level it seems players taper off their game time and decreasing resources might cost players. For me, for now, it's fun - as long as the app loads on my phone.