That sounds familiar. My office hosts Famous Academics on a regular basis. My co-workers could recount for you countless instances of Famous-Academic-itis. Like the famous evolutionary biologist who went apeshit when someone tried to take his photo, or the semi-famous feminist who lived in New Jersey but refused to fly out of Newark. Anyway ... Site's back up after a week of frustrating email exchange with the folks at my host. Seems my ownership of the sixlayerkate.com domain somehow vanished from the cyberuniverse. Just *poof* ... gone! I'm not even going to try to understand how that happened.
posted by Kate at 10:45 AM link/comments
Saturday, April 27, 2002
Famous writer visits UI this week. Famous writer is supposed to fly out of tiny nearby airport on return trip to NYC. Tiny airport decides it cannot cope with intense cloud cover, cancels all flights. Famous writer calls grad student (me) says he wants a taxi to Seattle so he can possibly make his connecting flight. Grad student does quick calculations in head about cost of taxi ride from Idaho to Seattle. Grad student makes series of fruitless phone calls to higher-ups in the department, none of whom are home. Grad student gets bright idea to rent a car for the famous writer, but, alas, no rental cars are available. Grad student suggests to the famous writer he might spend an extra night in Idaho, get a flight tomorrow, but famous writer has had enough of Idaho and will possibly freak out if he cannot leave the state within an hour. Grad student hires a taxi to drive famous writer 300 miles to the Seattle airport.
posted by Jen at 8:31 PM link/comments
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Sixlayerkate.com has been completely inaccessible. My apologies for any inconvenience. *grumble grumble*
posted by Kate at 2:44 PM link/comments
Monday, April 22, 2002
So there is this hill outside my office, a rather steep hill, and given the pleasant weather today, the skateboarders are out in force, and I just watched this kid attempt to negotiate the hill on his board, hit the grass, and take a spectacular tumble. It was rather amazing. It was the highlight of my day so far.
posted by Jen at 3:37 PM link/comments
Thursday, April 18, 2002
DC is been over 90 for the past few days.
posted by Mike at 12:33 AM link/comments
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
81 degrees --- really? In April? In Cleveland? I would feel thrilled yet suspicious, like there was a blizzard in the works for next week.
posted by Jen at 6:06 PM link/comments
Far be it from me to complain about the weather we're having this week, but check this out: It's April 17. Something ain't right.
The current temperature in Cleveland is 81 degrees.
The current temperature in Tijuana is 60 degrees.
posted by Kate at 1:55 PM link/comments
Tuesday, April 16, 2002
Yes, those were certainly plans gone awry...oh the tragedy of the prank gone wrong.
Took my first shot at the climbing wall in the new rec center. Learned how to tie a figure 8 knot, how to strap myself into a snug little S&M-ish harness, how to make it all of six feet up the wall before admitting to reality of gravity. Watched, with envy, as lanky spiderish climbers made it all look deceptively easy. I couldn't make my mind stop thinking, "Uh, you are going to plummet to your death in about three seconds" despite the harness and ropes that prevent such falls. So I got a little ways up the wall, and the instructor was like, "Great! Now let go!" and it took a lot of willpower to let go. But it was kinda cool. Maybe instead of getting a summer job I'll play on the climbing wall for three months.
posted by Jen at 10:21 PM link/comments
Monday, April 15, 2002
Ahhh, undergraduate student stupidity. Here's another example, told to me moments ago by one of my office's student employees. File this one under "Plans Gone Awry" ... Over the weekend, two members of a campus fraternity decided it would be a good idea to steal a fellow frat brother's car. The act would be undertaken for no other reason than to cause great panic in said car-owner, because apparently, making one's friend think that he has fallen victim to automobile thieves is very funny. Under cover of darkness, the two morons found their friend's spare set of keys, got in the car, and started it. The car's owner heard the engine start from inside the fraternity house, looked out the window, and noticed his vehicle rapidly leaving the premises. Making the (logical) deduction that a robbery was taking place at his expense, he summoned authorities. By the time Morons 1 & 2 had arrived on the opposite side of campus, there were six police cars' worth of Cleveland Police waiting for them with guns drawn. The cops, for some reason, were not terribly entertained when the Morons explained that "no, no, see ... this was all a big joke! Ha! Ha!" To make matters worse, one police officer had driven over a median strip en route to the scene, which yielded considerable damage to the cruiser's tires. The car's owner dropped all the charges, but the police charged the Morons with some sort of criminal damaging thing.
posted by Kate at 3:35 PM link/comments
Friday, April 12, 2002
Signs that Idaho is officially behind the times: Two weeks ago some University student senators broke into the Student Union, stole the Gay-Straight Alliance Flag, and burned it at a fraternity. How's that for complete inanity and raging homophobia? It's actually downright disturbing...needless to say, the culprits (who were nicely caught on surveillance cameras) have resigned, but not until this week...anyway, I'll search for more upbeat Idaho news, should the blog pick up speed anytime soon...
posted by Jen at 3:34 PM link/comments
Monday, April 08, 2002
Advice for freshman around the world: Using a shiny NSYNC folder as a means for turning in your massive research paper project worth 25% of your final grade does not instantly create, shall we say, an academic impression. Also, using a homemade folder constructed of manila sheets and duct tape is also not the best choice for presenting yourself.
posted by Jen at 3:39 PM link/comments
Thursday, April 04, 2002
Oh good lord. Brian on wheels. Motorized, gasoline-powered wheels at that ... Burton - Sounds like fun, but that's the weekend of Jen's parents' annual shebang in Rochester. Sorry. Kate + New Medication to Lower Insulin and Correct Goofy Hormones = Kate with Near-Constant Nausea = Kate in Non-Blog Mode Lately. Apologies. Bitchy Blogging Kate should return to you in full force within the next few weeks.
posted by Kate at 9:42 AM link/comments
Tuesday, April 02, 2002
Brian Hanna called this morning to announce he had purchased his very first car. It's a 1997 Honda Civic, light blue. He sounded very excited. So Clevelanders beware -- the Bridog has his wheels and shall be unstoppable. He was giddy when he called. His exact words were, "Hi Jen I'm making beans and looking at my 1997 Honda Civic right now it's got 41,000 miles on it and I own it...." and on and on, sans commas...
posted by Jen at 7:24 PM link/comments
Monday, April 01, 2002
Calling all friends of Mike!
Attention!
Attentione!
Attende!
Memorial Day Weekend, come out and visit me!
We have Burning Man that weekend, and I think you'd like.
posted by Mike at 3:37 PM link/comments