In other news...

I just surpassed the total number of posts ever to the Cabal of Style. That seems so long ago, but it was fun while it lasted. At least this blog is all me. There's something to say for your own creative output. Speaking of my creative output, here's a link that sent me through waves and waves of nostalgia. I can't believe it still lives. I also can't believe that which such a stellar layout, it didn't make it. Then again, there are plenty of other reasons for its demise completely unrelated to the layout.

Ugh

It's been a hard couple of weeks. I don't write on this blog much anymore, but it might not be a bad way to let off some steam, keep writing, be thoughtful and all that nonsense. There's a lot on my mind and if anybody comes by here, you should feel free to comment.

First, the job plainly sucks. My kids are better than last year. They're much brighter than the kids I taught last year. That being said, the deficits are still there and they can still be quite surprising. However, the school is insane. It's not enough that teaching kids in the south Bronx is challenging enough on its own. It's not enough that my job requires producing an insane amount of data. It's not enough that I teach six periods a day (that's an extra period a day that I'm not contracted to teach but do anyway - nobody told me this was the deal when I signed up). It's really hard. I'm planning 4 different lessons every day. There are reasons why middle school teachers don't usually get scheduled in this way. It's because it's lots and lots of work. I think about quitting a lot. I don't get much sleep and I get sick to my stomach every Sunday night just thinking about going back into school for the next week. It really sucks and I don't know what to do about it.

The graduate work is really suffering. I have to take masters classes as part of my program, but because of the added stress of work, the grad courses are really suffering. I'm really unhappy about it.

I don't get to spend any time doing anything else. Friday night I'm beat. Saturday night, if things don't fall right into place (which they often don't) I don't get to do anything. Sunday is all about work. Weeknights are all about work (when I don't have grad classes, which go until about 8 at night, then I commute home). I don't get to see my friends. It sucks.

I feel like I'm whining, but I suppose I'm entitled to whine if I want to. It's my blog and nobody reads it.

Earlier tonight I contacted a former professor about the possibility of going ahead and applying to grad school for next year instead of waiting the additional year. I don't know if I can do it in time, but it feels like it could be the right move. I'm not very happy with my professional situation right now, and I feel like it's crowding out everything else. I suppose we'll all just have to hold our collective breath and see what happens. I should be working right now. Even better, I should have finished my work so that I could be sleeping right now. But no such luck. At least Tuesday the kids don't come, so no planning. No grading. Just precious, precious sleep.

So there's your ray of sunshine for the day.

Strike Back!

How can we appropriately mourn the death of Steve Irwin?

Here's how.

New Events Brewing...

Literally! Kate and I went to Long Island today and bought a homebrewing kit. I'm going to try and start brewing my own beer! This may be an exercise in futility, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. So I've got all the pieces and all the ingredients I need so that, in three or four weeks time, I'll have five gallons of tasty homebrew pale ale to consume! I'll try and put up some pictures once the fun begins.

SUPER RARE VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE! (Part 2)

You won't believe your eyes...

SUPER RARE VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE!

Enjoy part one.

Yanni: Despicable or just Disgusting?

This is mildly upsetting: (from CNN)

Florida authorities say new age musician Yanni faces domestic battery charges.
He was arrested at his home Friday after an alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend.

It makes me ashamed to have used Yanni's music for the closing credits of "Crupnick and Bowser" all those years ago... Then again, we didn't pay for it. So screw you, Yanni.


Dick.

Much needed validation

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Pointless Wikipedia Entries: Part 3

David Xanatos
If William Riker played "Lex Luthor" for the annual Westly Crusher-pennedEnterprise Follies, the result would be something very much like David Xanatos. I can't think him enough for brining the Gargoyles to our shores, and with them, my early love of Norse mythology and Shakespeare.

AOE III - The White Man Cometh

Age of Empires III, the third entry into the Age of Empires game series (duh!) dropped a little gift for us on the internet, today. Or at least I became aware of it today. A demo has surfaced on the official site and I for one an very, very anxious to go home and give it a try. Where AOE focused on the empires of antiquity and AOE II focused on the medieval period, AOE III apparently focuses on the periods of colonial and imperial expansion - from Henry the Navigator through the Industrial Revolution.

I was a big fan of AOE, years and years ago when it dominated the field of historical real time strategy. I would watch my friend Chris as he sent dozens upon dozens of his War Gallies against the enemy's coastline, pummelling them into submission. While terribly fun, AOE II made this strategy far less plausible by adding little exploding ships that would sink a tightly clustered fleet to the bottom of the briney deep. Anyhow, AOE III is rendered in full 3-D and looks set you know your socks on your ass.



This screenshot doesn't tell you anything about the game. Yet, I found it to give me a tremendous sense of peace...

Jenny's Calendar

Did you know that Robia LaMorte (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Jenny Calendar") has her very own Calendar? Neither did I! But the naming synchronicity is just too much to pass over without comment. If you qualify as a "true Jenny fan", you can purchase this 2006 calendar for the low, low price of 19.99. However, I can't imagine why any "true Jenny fan" would pick the 19.99 calendar when they could get one personalized by Robia, herself for 39.99!

Computers - blah blah blah - Musty old books...

Pointless Wikipedia Entries: Part 2 - "Blathering Blatherskite"

Fenton Crackshell, a.k.a. GizmoDuck

Pointless Wikipedia Entries: Part 1

One delightful feature of the Wikipedia is that entries are generally directly proportional to the amount of enthusiasm out there for a given topic. As a result, entries for fictional characters, ideas or places are often longer than their factual counterparts. While researching my previous post, I was reminded of my love for truely pointless Wikipedia entries. Therefore, in the same vein as previous successful series as "Englishmen I Like" and "Blogstrike", I bring you "Pointless Wikipedia Entries".

We'll start off with a fun one.



Harmony Kendall

FLASH: James Marsters not Divorced from Reality

According to SciFi Wire James Marsters would be very interested in reprising his role as Spike for a possible TV movie in the future, but cautions that he doesn't have forever:

Buffy/Angel creator Joss Whedon approached him "when Angel was still filming and asked me if I'd be interested in a TV movie, and I said, 'Hell, yeah. But you have five years.' Because this character read as a 27-year-old. [When I first took the role], I was 35 then, but kind of looked 27. Now I'm 43 looking like a 35-year-old, but my character is not supposed to age one day. I think I could maybe match that first shot, but I think I maybe have about two more years [left]."

No word yet if a similar statute of limitations exists in regards to Marsters' musical ambitions.

Who Am I?

Xander Harris
45% amorality, 72% passion, 54% spirituality, 54% selflessness

Xander. Loyal, brave, true and passionate. Perhaps the best friend a
person could have, always willing to jump into the frey to help out his
buddies.
Also, one of the most popular characters in the Buffy universe.
Congratulations!
THE 4-VARIABLE BUFFY PERSONALITY TEST


My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

	You scored higher than 12% on morality
	You scored higher than 69% on repose
	You scored higher than 26% on spirituality
	You scored higher than 59% on selflessness

The Grinding Gears of Progress

I want one!

It's a pizza vending machine! Can you believe it? One more job for hapless tennagers - outsourced - to a MACHINE!

Terrifying

I went to Lincoln Park Zoo last Saturday and saw the chimpanzees, so maybe, just maybe I know how Sonic feels. You see, Sonic, along with Team Sonic member Yuji Naka went to visit a German hedgehog sanctuary recently. Though the article (you can find it here at UK Resistence) doesn't explicitly state what they were up to, Sonic seems to be presenting a check for 1,500 Euros - paying homage to his natural ancestors.


Or, Sonic might need to consume his genetic relatives to absorb their Earth Magics, fueling his supernatural speed. Take your pick.

Link via Kotaku

Long, Long Distance

If you submit your name here they'll burn it onto a CD-ROM for free! Does that sound lame. Well, it would be if that was the end of it. Fortunately, rather than gathering dust in a jewel case somewhere, that CD will be loaded aboard the New Horizons probe and blasted into space on a mission to Pluto!

Mr. Eno, Would You like to be Paid $5833.33 per Second?

I had previously heard that Brian Eno was responsible for the Windows Start-Up sound. However, that's about all I knew - until now. Did you know Eno was reportedly paid $35,000 for a six-second sound? This blog post at Music Thing spells it out in far more detail and links to this article in the San Francisco Gate, an interview with Mr. Eno:

The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I'd been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, ``Here's a specific problem -- solve it.''

Read the whole thing.

Family Guy vs DS9

This image, aparently from the Family Guy "Movie", just leaves me speechless. Consider my dollars spent.