Thoughts Like Breezes

Body impermanent like spring mist;
mind insubstantial like empty sky;
thoughts unestablished like breezes in space.
Think about these three points over and over.

-Adept Godrakpa, "Hermit of Go Cliffs"

Silent Running

It's been awfully quiet around here, eh? I finally finished up all my summer teaching on Thursday and I'm almost certain I won't teach again next summer. STK, who also did some teaching this summer, echoes the sentiment. Next year, we take the summer off to spend time together as a family, rest, and rejuvenate.

To celebrate the completion of another round of teaching, we participated in what I hope will be an on-going family tradition. As part of a local ethnic festival, I ran the 15K and STK & TLO walked the 5K. Considering I spent most of the last year treating a screwed up ankle and didn't really get into honest to goodness training until the last week of May, I did pretty well. Last year, I ran the race in 1:12, placed 4th in the 30-39 age group, and 44th overall. This this year, I ran the race in 1:07, placed 2nd in the 30-39 age bracket (yes, next year I'll bump up to the 40-49 group--there are some nasty fast runners in that group), and 27th overall. Next year, I'm hoping to improve my time again.

What's in store for the rest of the running season? Provided I avoid any training difficulties, I'm shooting for a half marathon at the end of August. There's also a really flat 8K at a local Oktoberfest that Dr. OneDink and I ran last year; we've talked about participating in that race again this year. More than anything, I'm thankful the previous year's ankle difficulties appear to be a thing of the past. Oh, I'll always have a little bit of pain, but nothing that should keep me on the sideline. Thank the Maker for orthotics. In other words, molded plastic kicks ass.

Fallacies!

For the better part of the afternoon I've been surfing the web, trolling library databases, and thumbing through books, all in an attempt to pull together a rhetorical theory course that meets my approval. The major problem, as I've blogged before, is the lack of a good textbook. So, I essentially make my own textbook using all the resources at my disposal. The process is incredibly time consuming, not to mention boring, but I don't know any other way to pull together the class I want to teach. Several colleagues suggested I write a textbook of my own. Great idea . . . if I had three years to spare. Someday? Maybe.

Despite the nature of the task, I manage to run across some engaging stuff (for a rhetoric geek, I suppose). I found, for example, a digital copy of Plato's Gorgias. I also stumbled across the following site--anyone who engages in public debate, of any kind, should bookmark this handy resource.

Fallacies.

This is an excellent page listing most of the major fallacies a person is likely to encounter. The format of the site is handy, too. Read it. Memorize it. Use it.

Updated Predictions

As promised, here's a run down of the predictions.

Michael has his predictions posted on All Now Mysterious...
---
Lord Mhoram offered the following:

Okay - and some are similiar to yours.

Harry's scar is a horcrux. The fabled last word of the book being scar will be something like "And Harry looked into a mirror and saw no scar"

Snape is in fact a deep cover agent, and will have a rather unpleasent death, saving the cause, but the same actions will save Harry, making Harry feel even worse about him and Snape (as after getting Snapes memory of his father).

One of the twins, and at lest 1 other of the Weasly clan will kick off. It would be pure continuing symbolism if it is dear old Dad, and Harry marries Ginny. Harry has beeen thrice orphaned, and loves the Weaslys - if Mr Weasly dies before Harry joins the family it would be sad, put fitting.

One of the major supporting cast (other than the inner circle) kicks it - I'm going for Hagrid or MgGonnigle. It could also be Ginny - depends on how depressing JKR wants to make it - but one of the closest people to Harry goes. Although Lupin just doesn't feel right for this.
---
The Alabama Hick predicts:

I hope the last Harry Potter doesn't degenerate into a shoot-em-up at the end with the "good" guys triumphant and the "bad" guys dead. We'll see if JKR really is another JRRT. I hope the "good" people realize that being "good" means they don't go around killing people - even "bad" ones. Otherwise, what, really, is the difference between the two groups?

Aside from that aside, here are my predictions.

Easy - Arthur Weasley will be the new Minister of Magic. Honest, hardworking, many years of service to the magical community.

Harder - Draco saves Harry or some other major character. Surely we are not destined to repeat the mistakes of our parents. Furthermore, he doesn't die either, but survives and tries to heal the rift between the pure and mud bloods.

Hardest - Snape. I have no idea. Damn that JKR is good!

Seeing as how I've punted on Snape, I'll have to make another prediction. Harry dies in the end. In fact, he never really lived. Harry Potter, the baby, was killed by Voldemort. Voldemort "inadvertently" created a horcrux out of Harry. The spirt of Harry is actually the good nature of Voldemort himself. That is why "neither can live while the other survives." They are the same person and they need to be made whole again. Dumbledore, of course, knew this the whole time. He sincerely cared for young Tom Riddle and wanted to help him. He also cared for older Tom Riddle AKA Voldemort, even after all the trouble.
---
Bob makes a rather cryptic prognostication:

Harry sits at a Dinner. Screen goes black, most think that the cable has "gone Out"
---

I should have my copy of the book in hand a little after midnight. We have to drive an hour away to attend one of the late night book premieres. Has there ever been a midnight release for a book before the Harry Potter series? With a little luck, and perseverance, I should be finished by Sunday. I'd probably be finished Saturday night if I could get up Saturday morning and read straight on through. With a kid and puppy in the house, that's not very likely.

Predicting Harry

The latest movie just debuted, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows hits bookstores in roughly 72 hours, and spoilers have already hit the web. There's only one thing to do: offer our own fearless predictions. I'm inviting everyone to play along. There are only two rules.

1. Make a prediction regarding Harry's ultimate fate.
2. Offer up to three additional predictions for supporting characters, unresolved plot lines, etc.

If you offer your predictions on your own blog, please make note of the prediction in the comments and I'll post a direct link. If you don't have a blog, or don't want to clutter your own cyberspace with Harry Potter predictions, offer your thoughts in the comments and I'll copy/paste to my blog.

For the record, I'm a Harry Potter fan but not a raving lunatic who has read every book a dozen times. I'm read each book once and I'm not about to go back and look at a single thing when making my predictions. Harry Potter is fun for me, not an obsession. Here goes.

The Fate of Harry Potter. It seems crystal clear to me that Harry is actually a horcrux. At the very least, the infamous scar is a horcrux. Voldemort intended to use Harry's murder to create a final horcrux, the spell was disrupted, and V rushed the spell to completion using the materials at hand: Harry Potter. This isn't a very original; I've seen tons of people make a similar observation. Here's my twist: Voldemort's spell had an unintended effect. While Harry is a horcrux of Voldemort, Voldemort is a horcrux of Harry. In the final book, Voldemort will ultimately destroy Harry (with the intention of fixing the spell gone bad and creating a new horcrux via his murder). As Voldemort is a horcrux of Harry, Harry can't be destroyed. Harry's essence springs forth from Voldemort, vanquishing the Dark Lord in the process. Voldemort's desire for immortality turns out to be his downfall.

Fred or George Weasley Must Die. One, but not both, will meet his doom in the final book. The death will be an act of selflessness, an act of sacrifice to protect others. This is what it means to be a Weasley (except for that weasel Percy--what's up with that guy?)

Redeeming Severus Snape. Snape hasn't returned to the Dark Side and he hasn't been a double agent since Voldemort's disappearance. Snape has remained in faithful service to Dumbledore and, in fact, will play a crucial role in defeating the minions of Voldemort. Operating from the inside, Snape will be the crucial piece of grit in the gears. At the end of the book, Snape will be appointed the permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Until a few days ago, I predicted Snape as the the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Dr. OneDink and STK convinced me to moderate my position.

Mad Eye Mayhem. A soldier to the very end, Moody won't be around to enjoy the conclusion of the story. He goes down with his eye spinning and his wand blazing.

Careful Out There

For all you geek types who frequent geek websites: the end of Harry Potter has apparently been spoiled on the Intertubes. This is not the same spoiler rumor floating around a few weeks back. At least one "spoiler" has scanned, and made available as proof of authenticity, a few pages from the final chapter/epilogue. I'm not going to post the link to the site that's linking to the spoilers. That would be like, well, offering booze to an alcoholic.

I didn't look at the spoilers as we're picking our copy up on Saturday. Any guesses as to what I'll be doing on Saturday and Sunday?

Focus

Focus,
not on the rudenesses of others,
not on what they've done
or left undone,
but on what you
have & haven't done
yourself.

-Dhammapada, 4, translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

The Feast: 151

Friday's Feast: 151*

Appetizer: What is your favorite fruit?
This is a really tough question as I love fruit. Bananas are probably my favorite, but I could also make a case for pears, apples (braeburns or granny smith), or a crunchy peach (crunchy, like an apple. I don't like the consistency of smushy peaches).

Soup: Who is someone you consider as a great role model?
Obi-wan Kenobi. Seriously. Someday, I'll spend an hour or so and put together an essay on why I admire Kenobi so much. He's spiritual, decisive, reflexive, and fallible.

Salad: If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?
In a corn or soybean field, most likely. There's really not much within an hour. We could camp at any number of riverside campgrounds.

Main Course: Name something you do too often.
Complain. I've become the most negative people I know. Not sure what that's about but it needs to change.

Dessert: Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.
I really like running because it's the only time I stop thinking.

Indentured Servitude

I read the following quip in a discussion thread at Crooked Timber:

"Grad students are of course subject to feudal rather than modern conceptions of authority."

That is so unbelievably true. When I was a first year graduate student, the department chair approached me and asked me to serve drinks and hors douvres at our school sponsored national convention party. For those not familiar with national academic conventions: it's not unusual for schools of note to throw parties for former graduates, friends of the program, etc. A savvy grad student convention goer can avoid paying a single penny on food if he or she concentrates on getting invites to these exclusive gigs. There aren't many breakfast or lunch parties (or any), but if you can survive on cheese, crackers, fruit, and veggies (maybe even a dessert of some kind) once a day, you'll be a frugal traveler. * Yes, many of the parties have a door person who checks your invite. Unbeknownst to me at the time is that it's common practice to have graduate students act as waitpersons for these events. So, I looked at the department chair and said, "Uh, no." I didn't realize it at the time, but saying "no" is something of a faux pas. As I would discover over the years, graduate students are cheap labor for departments.

Grad students often take on a variety of roles: babysitter, taxi driver, mover, and what not. There's always the role of "research team member." What this means is that graduate students lucky enough to be on a research team spend inordinate amounts of unpaid time--as if they don't have their own research and grading--conducting interviews, administering surveys, and coding texts for a faculty member. Said faculty member than takes the work of the graduate students, writes it up, and publishes it. The grad students get a gratify passing mention in a footnote. I even received mention in an "Acknowledgment."

I think my most vivid memory of grad students as beasts of burden occurred, once again, at a National Convention. Dr OneDink and I were trying to rhetoric our way into some of the big parties when we heard quite a commotion from the other end of the hall. Approaching a rather raucous room (the parties are often held in hotel suites), we were almost run down as a rather distinguished scholar did his best Ben-Hur imitation atop a chariot, er, luggage cart propelled by a handful of giggling female grad students. I may be embellishing the memory, but I believe Ben-Hur tossed his head back and howled with laughter as he zoomed down the hall. I'm almost certain there was a drink in one hand. Or did that go without saying?

*If you're lucky enough to smoke and drink coffee, this is no problem.

On the Road Again . . .

A few odds and end I've been meaning to post.

*We're headed out of town tomorrow for a "quick" jaunt to Bismarck, ND. A is heading off to Iraq later this month and is home visiting his mother, my ex-wife, who now lives in ND. So, 9 hour drive tomorrow, spend the day with A on Saturday, 9 hour drive Sunday to return home. Good thing I love to drive.

*Remember that ankle problem about which I've been complaining for the better part of a year? After cortisone, physical therapy, and reduced impact exercise provided little relief, we finally went with orthotics. I'm running again with very little pain. Do I still hurt a bit after a 7 mile run? Yes, but it's totally manageable. Switching my running schedule to no more than every other day--cross training & weights on "off" days--is also helping. I do have early onset of osteoarthritis in the ankle and there's not a whole heck of a lot that can be done about that. Thankfully, Naproxen takes the edge off on the days when the pain becomes an annoying distraction. My doc has given me the preliminary okay to run a 15K in July and a half marathon in late August. I'm presently up to the 7 mile mark on my long run day and I'm cruising 5-6 miles on moderate days. STK and I are also walking for roughly on hour every morning.

*I finally decided to take the reliable Civic in for some serious preventative maintenance. I'm replacing the clutch (it's been slipping a tiny bit for several years and I finally decided to replace the thing before STK gets stranded during her commute)and a couple valves that may be contributing to an undetermined idle problem (car is still running smoothly but does a slight idle surge at times--the problem has the Honda tech guys stumped). I think there may be a problem with the exhaust system, too. I noticed a new sound a couple days ago that smacks of "hole in muffler" or something. I crawled under the car but couldn't locate the problem myself. Time to leave it up to the pros. All told, I'm probably looking at $1500-2000 in maintenance. Love those cars, eh? Actually, I can't really complain. I've had the car for 12 years and it has 176,000 miles. Would you believe it still gets 45+ miles per gallon? Considering the car has had no serious mechanical problems beyond routine maintenance (belts, hoses, brakes, etc), I'd say I'm still running way in the black ::knocks on wood::

*The puppy, who we pick up on July 23, will be named Malcolm. That's the name TLO seems to like the best. Every time we give him the list of options, he usually says that he likes Mal. Mal it is. I bought Mal a brown collar a few days back. Geek world! Geek world. Party time! Excellent!

*Looks like we're making another run to Colorado around the 2nd of August or so. We need another shot of urban living before heading into the school year.

And with that, I'd better head off to bed. Lot's of driving tomorrow and we can't hit the road until around 3 PM. That means at least a few hours of late night driving. With a bit of luck, we should arrive at our hotel around midnight. I'm not sure we'll have internet access in the hotel so I may be out of internet contact for a couple days. I know all of you are just dying to reach me.

Weekly Reader: Mikhail, Mammoths, and Movie Merchandising

Mikhail Bakhtin. Good read on Bakhtin, a theorist who popped up frequently in my dissertation. The guy rolled cigarettes with some of his philosophical musings. Now that's an addiction.

Mammoths to Return? Paleolithic Park, anyone?

Movie Merchandising. Check out the #1 great moment in merchandising history. You don't know the power of the dark side! Speaking of merchandising, STK and I took in the 2.5 hour Transformers commercial over the 4th . . . and freaking loved it! Plot was light, effects were fantastic, and the entire experience was fun, fun, fun. We had so much fun that we'll probably see this in the theater for a second time. I haven't done that since a Star Wars movie. Would you believe I even got a little weepy eyed when Optimus talked about the importance of protecting humanity?

No Respect

Just when I thought I couldn't despise this president any more, he pulls yet another freakin' stunt.

Commuting Libby.

Paris Hilton serves three weeks for violating parole. Libby serves zero time for committing perjury in a case involving the intentional leak of a CIA operative's identity. Unfreakinbelievable.

Uh, No

Had a student request a Saturday meeting as a result of her poor planning. Any guesses as to my response?

Feast

Friday's Feast for Friday, 29 June 2007

Appetizer--How many pieces of jewelry do you wear most days?
Varies from day to day but on a light day I wear 14 pieces of jewelry: 9 piercings, 4 rings, and a necklace. I'm not counting my wrist jellies--I typically wear 3 on the left wrist and 7 on the right.

Soup--What is your favorite instrumental song?
Great question. I'll skip the classics and go with something more poppy: the theme from Star Trek: DS9.

Salad--Who has a last name that you like?
Obi-wan Kenobi.

Main Course--Name a popular movie you’ve never seen.
Titanic. I won't see anything that unseated Star Wars as the biggest money maker of all time. Want to know how it ends? The boat sinks.

Dessert--Fill in the blank: Nothing makes me ___________ like ____________.
Nothing makes me excited like finding out about new Star Wars projects.

Dog Days

I've been suffering from a great deal of guilt the last couple weeks. Dargo, the dog we rescued a few months back, made it quite clear that we weren't the family for him. Despite months of trying to help him feel more at home--months of kitchen messes, chewed toys, and wrecked crates--it finally became apparent he needed a home with an outdoor kennel or people who are home most of the time. A couple months ago everything seemed to be going well. Within the last six weeks, however, his destructive behavior escalated to the point that we were concerned he was going to tear up the kitchen floor, chew the cabinets, etc. So, Dargo returned to the rescue from whence he came. And I feel awful about it. I know it was the right thing to do, but I just feel terrible. He was an awesome dog . . . when we were home. The foster person at the rescue reminded me that they'd find him a more appropriate home and that he won't be euthanized. Thank goodness for folks who care, I suppose.

On a far more positive note, we stumbled across a new puppy. One of my students heard about the recent dog difficulties and connected us with a local family trying to get rid of puppies. The puppies--yellow lab and black farm dog mutt mix--will be ready for pick up in a little under a month. While puppies are definitely frustrating, we'll at least have a hand in training this dog from the outset and the kind of long term destructiveness issues we encountered with Dargo are highly unlikely. Yes, we'll have to deal with house training, a chewed shoe or two, and dominance issues with TLO. After a full year, however, most of those problems will dissipate with consistent training. That's something we couldn't provide Dargo; at two years of age, there were some behavioral issues that weren't ever going to change.

So, while we're sad at one departure we're looking forward to a new arrival. We picked a male puppy that has a black coat with just a wisp of white on his chest and chin (kind of looks like my tiny little soul patch). Leading contenders for names include:

Malcolm (he'd be called Mal)
Kaladi (Kal, for short. A nod to my favorite coffee house and Superman's Kryptonian name)
Severus (my present favorite)

Listen up, you primitive screwheads.

Bruce Campbell alert! Bruce is co-starring in a new show on USA Network:*

Burn Notice.

While I'm a huge fan of USA programming--Monk, Psych, 4400, Dead Zone--I really didn't have much interest in this show until I found out, just minutes ago, that Bruce Campbell is part of the cast. This has now risen to "Must See" status.

Hail to the king, baby.

Returned

We drove into the garage around 4 AM this morning, thus completing our two week Colorado journey. This is probably the last time we'll do the 16 hour drive straight through. I don't know if we're getting old or what, but we were really dragging the last couple hours. Would you believe two weeks wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted to do? Despite missing out on Fashion Nation, the new location of the Tattered Cover/Twist & Shout, the Botanic Gardens, and the newly renovated art museum, we did spend tons of time with friends and family. Some of the highlights of the trip follow.

• Kaladi Bros, Kaladi Bros, and more Kaladi Bros. As STK's folks live less than five minutes from the coffee house, you can bet I made multiple stops every single day.
• Finally meeting Nancy, Michael's wife. Michael finally meeting TLO. TLO's middle name is Michael. The connection is intentional.
• Spending a ton of time with M, C, and their little one, R. If anything happens to STK and I--knock on wood--TLO will live with M & C.
• Quality family time. No major disagreements. This trip was, without a doubt, the most pleasant time I've spent with my family as an adult.
• The VNV Nation show. I will never understand why people find the "live" performance of computerized electronic music all that engaging--three songs into the show I was kicking myself for not bring a book--but it was awesome to see all our long lost friends. Totally worth the price of admission. For the record: I really like listening/dancing to VNV Nation, but I won't ever see them "live" again. It's too much like watching the lead singer do karaoke to his own album.
• TLO's birthday and Father's Day fell on the same day. For Father's Day, I went for a long 7.5 mile run and then shuffled off to--you guessed it--Kaladi Bros! By the time I returned home from Kaladi Bros, TLO's birthday brunch was set to begin. STK's family showered TLO with good food, gifts, and more attention than he could handle. We repeated the ritual later that afternoon with my folks. Birthday cake twice in one day? Heaven!
• Tattoos. STK and I made what has become our annual pilgrimage to see Jen at Mantra Tattoo. STK finally took the plunge and inked a piece she designed over the course of the last year. Stretching across the top of her back, the piece took almost three hours. My piece, a small triskele on my left wrist, took less than an hour. I'll post pics when the healing process if finishing.
  

I know I'm missing several "most excellent" moments, but those are the major highlights. We're headed back in August for another 7-10 days, I think. Here's to seeing those we missed on the most recent journey!

Bushwhacked!

Yes, it's been even longer than usual in terms of my sporadic updates. The lack of posts is not without reason, however. First, we're in the middle of a two week foray to the homeland: Colorful Colorado! Second, and this is really why I haven't been able to post for several days, is that I had a rather stupid accident roughly nine days ago.

While trimming the hedges with an electric trimmer, I somehow managed to mistake my left index finger and thumb for a piece of shrubbery. For the record, human flesh does not provide the same amount of resistance as wood. When the accident occured, I leapt out of the shrubs shouting a very loud "frak!", peered down at my mangled fingers, and shouted to STK that we should head to the Emergency Room post haste. Unfortunately, I do not do well with my own blood. I'll save all the gory details but I came extremely close to passing out while STK raced us to the hospital.

No permanent damage, but a bunch of painful stitches. I'm not sure how aesthetically pleasing my fingers will be--they were pretty torn up--but they will be fully functional.* And that's what counts. When I sat in the emergency room, not knowing the full extent of the damage, I feared some kind of long-lasting damage. I'm damn lucky I didn't lose a finger.

As we left the Emergency Room, my fingers pieced together and wrapped up in pressure bandages that looked like white dill pickes, I turned to STK and said, "If this isn't an excellent argument for hiring someone to do the hedgues, I don't know what is."

*I could finally type with no pain yesterday. Stitches will come out in a little under a week.

Revvin up the Powerful Mach 5

Anyone remember the old Speed Racer cartoon? I used to love this show!



The Wachowski brothers, of Matrix fame, are apparently making a live action version of the gig. Check out the cool photo of the Mach 5.

I'm not a huge fan of this recycle all the old movies/television shows trend we're seeing in Hollywood, but I have to admit I'm intrigued enough by this idea to give it a look see.

Go, Speed Racer! Go!

iTunage

Here's a question for all the music geeks: what's the dealio on burning copies of an album purchased from iTunes? Once I "buy" the digital copy, do I have unfettered access to making CD copies for my car? Can I burn a "regular" audio CD that will play in my car? The reason I ask is that I'm pretty tough on car CDs and it's not uncommon to trash a CD within a year or two. I'd rather buy my music via CD, but we live in a remote location and if you want anything other than pretty mainstream stuff it's mail order only. Given that theStart is putting out a new CD on Tuesday and I have no way of getting the album here in town, I thought I'd check out the iTunes thing.

UPDATE: Nevermind. I checked the iTunes Help file and found my answer. Seems like a pretty easy process and I can burn the album 7 times. What's to keep me from burning an audio disc, then taking the disc and ripping a copy on another computer? Will that copy have some kind of anti-copying protection? This is all so ridiculous to me. If I buy the album, I should be able to burn as many personal copies as I see fit. Whatever happened to the days of recording a vinyl album to cassette tape?