Use Nanobots Responcibly!

Via IO9

Foucault Flakes

"But its empty! But of course!"

From Great Diagrams in Anthropology, Linguistics, & Social Theory on Flickr.

LOS - Love it, Die by it

Zero Hour

Tomorrow is the day I start teaching full time. I am ecstatic! I am also nervous as hell. This will be far more than I've ever dealt with before, and to top it off I'm going to be neck deep in it.

In other news, the house has acquired another cat. More news and pictures when he stops hiding from everything. He's a TINY thing.

Currently, Dir en Grey has eaten my playlist alive. I'm not sure why the sudden dark turn, but I'm really enjoying it.

Last Day at Aaron's - I'll miss these guys.

So, today was my last day at the job I've had since June 2006. I was fed, I was caked, and I was carded. Major dawww moment.





Card was designed by one of our graphic artists who I've gotten along with wonderfully the whole time. I love it. Signatures are a bunch of the folks who worked with me or knew me at HO.

I'll miss you guys, but my elevator into the Ivory Tower has just arrived!

Stolen Meme

Questions-meme time!
1. Ask me five questions. On any subject you like. Anything at all.
2. I will answer them in a separate post. (FYI: I may do several interviews in one post, but you get the idea.)
3. If you would like five questions, ask in response.

(as usual, play nice, I reserve the right to not answer something or answer privately, management not responsible for ball failure....have fun.)

PS: Please either ask in the comments of this post or on the lj feed page for this post. Thanks!

Grammar Aardvark

From Grammar Girl's Affect vs Effect podcast. This makes me happy, as this is one of my biggest nitpicks at students' writing. That, and the then/than difference.

Weird News

So, more news on the mono front.
Yesterday the taru went to have more bloodwork done, primarily to check his white blood cell counts. This time, he saw a different doctor, his usual one, who asked for a full update on everything from the taru. The taru explained everything that had been going on, and the doctor, curious, checked the charts.
The taru does not, in fact, have reactivated mono. No, instead, he has such a high immunity level to mono that he's likely never to have it again or ever be contagious again. Most people who have had mono chart in at 100-200 counts in terms of their antibody counts. The taru registered at over 1000 in terms of his antibody counts. Somehow, whomever read the test results the first time, misread that antibody count as actively having mono (that is, they read it as the wrong antibody).
So what does this mean for me? It means that most likely my test results were misread in the same way, and I have a much lower, but still present, immunity to mono. Meaning I most likely caught it as a child or never have symptoms. Which makes sense, given as the only symptom I have close to mono is the sore throat.
WTF.

Meet Strixus - AWA and DragonCon

Are you coming to DragonCon (Aug 28 - Sept 1) in Atlanta, or Anime Weekend Atlanta (Sept 19-21) this year?
Want to meet Strixus, previous host of the Lorekeepers and Ancient of Lore, and Elder God extraordinaire?

This is your chance.

I'll be at both events this year, assuming all goes as planned, and I'd like to invite any fans who happen to be coming to get together with me at some point during either con.

If you are interested, please send me a message either by email (strixus(at)gmail.com) or by twitter direct message (strixus). I don't really have any plans in terms of a big get together, but if a few of you happen to be around, come see me.

Bonus: If you are at AWA, you will get a chance to meet Burster and Gabby.

Trust Me

To Future Possible Readers

I should go ahead and get this done.
I live in a digital age, one which I embrace fully. Others of my academic peers may not quite have the understanding of the digital world that I do - I've grown up here, so it is hard for me to understand how you see the world much in the same way fish cannot understand frogs.

I make this post by way of an explanation to any students of mine, or any student which I have contact with in an academic setting, or any current and future colleague or peer of mine within an academic context. Upon finding this blog you may be confused, concerned, or really only curious. Read this first - but know it has been written well after the establishment of this blog, my online presence, and my life.

I am a human being, like you. I have emotions, attachments, interests, and these all change and grow over time. And this blog has been with me for quite some time. Since I was an undergraduate. In a way, it has been with me for much longer.

Outside of a professional setting, beyond our relation as or within any of the previously mentioned situations, I make no effort to hide who I am, what I am, or what sort of person I am. I will not bring these into the classroom beyond the way that they are a part of myself and my personality when I teach. I hope that you, as my peers or students, will regard this in a similar way. I will not go out of my way to search out the lives of those I interact with unless they open that up to me. I expect the same respect from you. We are here, individuals living in the digital, and by choice we place parts of our lives online at the scrutiny of others. I do so without shame - others may not be quite so open to the idea.

If you and I face each other across that gulf that exists in the classroom, I will treat you as my student, and I expect to be treated as your Instructor. If we engage in any other professional interactions, I will abide by the norms of those interactions. But I am a person, never forget. And this is my blog, and my story, and many other things. And I will always extend the same to you - you are a person, before all else.

Update

For those of you not following my twitter feed, here is an update on me.

1) I leave my current job on the 8th.
2) I start my new job on the 18th.
3) I'm teaching 5 days a week, 4 classes. 240 students. Fuck.
4) My fiance has reactivated mono.
5) I caught mono.
6) I feel fantastic.
7) I cant sleep for longer than 4 hours at a go.
8) wtf

I'm Drinking

Seo sláinte an tséitéara, an ghadaí, an trodaí, agus an óltóra!
Má dhéanann tu séitéireacht, go ndéana tú séitéireacht ar an mbás,
Má ghoideann tú, go ngoide tú croí mná;
Má throideann tú, go dtroide tú i leith do bhráthar,
Agus má ólann tú, go n-óla tú liom féin.

Is fear rith maith ná drochsheasamh!