Attempting to standardize the deviance...

Monday, October 30, 2006

Can't breathe. Laughing too hard.

Every year, on the weekend nearest Halloween, Chicago Area Mensa holds an enormous (600 people or so) gathering. There's a costume contest, with prizes being awarded for best pun and worst pun. I wasn't able to go this year, but have heard this first-hand account from the fellow unfortunate to go on after the winner...

**

The winner of worst pun was hilarious. I was laughing
so hard that it was hard for me to give my spiel when
I went up to the podium. I followed directly after
him. It was [name redacted], dressed as a snake
charmer. He sat on the floor and played his flute, but
the snake would not rise. He opened the basket,
slapped the snake a few times, but it still would not
rise. Finally he apologized, "Sorry, folks. I'm having
a reptile dysfunction."

Thursday, October 05, 2006

An amusing annual event

The Ignobel Prizes for weird, wacky, and occasionally worthless scientific research have been announced by the Annals of Improbable Research. Most of the, ahem, honorees, have a good sense of humor about it. This year's winners include someone researching why woodpeckers don't get headaches as well as the inventor of a teenager repellent. CNN story here

yes, we're still alive

Sorry for no posts in a while, life's been pretty busy.

Mike and I had an anniversary a few weeks ago. We supped on some yummy Omaha Steaks that were gifted by a relative, and then off to the movies. We saw "All the King's Men", based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren. I've heard critics pan it a bit, claiming that Sean Penn's performance was a bit over the top. However, given the character he was playing, I don't see how he could have played it anything other than over the top.

We may be going to the movies again soon, as we've both expressed an interest in the new Robin William's flick, "Man of the Year". He's running for president... ha! Should be good for some chuckles.

On an aggravating/annoying note, my bike was stolen as part of a rash of such thefts. Mike is encouraging me to replace it, as I did enjoy riding it and was getting more exercise than I otherwise would. However, the cheapskate in me doesn't want to spend several hundred more dollars on a new bike. There's a bulletin board near the bus stop where people advertise all kinds of stuff, so I've been keeping my eyes out for someone selling a used one. We'll see.

Classes are chugging along. I was really frustrated the first few weeks and was beginning to thing I must be the stupidest person in the entire department, but I seem to be hitting my stride and doing a bit better now.

My sister Heidi and her husband were in town on business last weekend and stopped by for a while on Sunday. They seem to be doing alright, and invited us up to their place in Anderson for Thanksgiving. I have classes until Wednesday evening, so it will be nice to have to drive only a few hours to get to Thanksgiving. It occurs to me that this will be our first holiday spent on my side of the family rather than Mike's. That's mostly a function of where we live relative to various relatives rather than any commentary on either family.... our geographically closest relative used to be Mike's parents, now it's my sister. C'est la vie.

We've finally seen our first rain in the last few days... not too bad, and the afternoons are still sunny and relatively warm. However, you can no longer go out after dusk in your shirtsleeves as the evenings get cooler and cooler.

I need to get back to the probability... hope everyone is well.