September 9

[Zeke]

I have returned! (Who were you expecting, General MacArthur?) As always, a big thank you to Kira for handling things in my absence. I have a lot to say in this update, so it's time to break out the old <ul> tags.
<ul> First off, I've arrived safely in Waterloo, and it's very cool here. I have my own room, my new computer, my office (I have an office!), and more freedom than I've ever enjoyed. As a result, even with the higher demands of a graduate program, I should have plenty of fiving time this year.
Next, important site news. That part of the post is so long I've done it up as an article: 5MV, Year Five (../news/year5.html).
Today's actual update is the second This Just In Brief: Florida hurricanes not Xindi attack (../thisjustin/b2.html), by one of the two 5MV staffers who would know best, Derek Dean. Read it and be glad you live elsewhere (if you do).
My plan for the next few days is as follows: tomorrow, the first About update in a while, with new subsite FAQs for the three missing Trek subsites (by their section heads). Saturday, being September 11, the site is silent. Sunday, the first of the promised eTrektion candidate profiles. Monday, the Sci-Fivers event referred to in the Year Five article. Tuesday, filler while I (hopefully) finish the v4.0 work, and Wednesday, v4.0 at last. If I pull this off, folks, I'm going to spend Thursday thinking of everything else on the planet but this site.
A side note about Kira's very successful Two Towers fiver: Kira was gracious enough not to mention this, but her original plan was to save BR48's Fellowship of the Ring fiver until the other two movies were done, and then make a whole LotR Week of it. A year ago, in a mental lapse I still can't quite explain, I just went ahead and published FotR. My error was quickly pointed out to me. I wanted to apologize on the site, not just in private, but that would have given away that Kira was doing TTT. So, now that it's published... I'm sorry about that, Kira. It was a mistake.
Am I done? Whew! I'm done. Looooong update. I'll see you guys tomorrow with some About stuff.[/list]

[admiral sab]

YAY for more freedom! Yay for more updates! And another YAY for good measure. Welcome Back, Zeke, although as I recall you still posted while you were gone so you really never left.

Since you don't ever read Misc. by your own admission, there's a link in a thread for you.

Derek: Heh, that's funny! I didn't even think about that! Was it you Neo that said that it was God making sure that FL doesn't mess up the election this year? I read that on someone's LJ.

[Xeroc]

Yay! Hooray - and of course, a funny brief!


Can't wait! :D

[Kira]

my office (I have an office!)
Yeah, it's all fun and games until they start putting more people in with you. No more shutting the door at lunch to watch Scrubs with one of the other guys when nobody's around....

Was it you Neo that said that it was God making sure that FL doesn't mess up the election this year? I read that on someone's LJ.
*snicker*

Nice, Derek. Gave me a good chuckle.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Office? Hah! Maybe in the rarefied air of mathematics they have enough space to give both grad students their own office, but in the highly compact world of chemistry you get a metre of benchspace and an iMac.

I mean, really. An iMac. It's a TV and a keyboard.

Plus I just got evicted from my fumehood and banished to the far end of the lab to share with the Romanian guy.

In other news, amusing TJI. I think it was me who was suggesting that the hurricanes are a message not to vote for Puny Human #1, but not on any sort of LJ. I think.

[Zeke]

Maybe in the rarefied air of mathematics they have enough space to give both grad students their own office

"Both"? There are about 20 math grad students. Rarefied air, my asymptote.

And no, I don't have my own office. I have half an office (the good half). And my computer's not great either -- no floppy or CD drive. But it's mine.

[Kira]

My office went from 15 or 20 (when I started, couldn't wedge myself into desk space with a crowbar) to 4 (after we opened our building expansion and everyone but us moved into it -- boy, was that sweet) and now we're going back up to 8 or 9. I got spoiled by the having 4 people (2 of which were never down there) in space for, reasonably, 10. (Our office became a hangout/hide-from-supervisor spot for the other grad students.) I wish I had a window, but hey, it's still my office. :) (My spot can be picked out due to there being more PhD comic strips on my bulletin board than anything else. <G> Also, it's messy. Very messy.)

[PointyHairedJedi]

Sounds like you've got a plan there, Zeke. Which is good.

Also, the TJI Brief was quite amusing. I have to say I prefer boxers myself though.

[NAHTMMM]

Woo-hoo, an office! :mrgreen:



Amusing TJI ("TJI Brief"?), though no specific line stands out.
Floridians can rest easy in the face of these massive natural disasters knowing that they are not massive artificial disasters.
A great relief I'm sure. ;)

[Derek]

Postcard idea:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mmeblue/images/flpostcard.jpg

[admiral sab]

LOL can I share this with a friend? I am anyways... I'll give the credit where it's due... I promise!

[Xeroc]

Funny, but sadly true.

[Derek]

LOL can I share this with a friend? I am anyways... I'll give the credit where it's due... I promise!
Er, I got it from my wife, who got it from an email forward, thus I have no idea who to credit.

[Xeroc]

LOL can I share this with a friend? I am anyways... I'll give the credit where it's due... I promise!
Er, I got it from my wife, who got it from an email forward, thus I have no idea who to credit.
Derek: Try http://www.tonypavone.com/

[admiral sab]

lol Derek, I realized that as I was writing it because it says Tonypavone.com on it. ;)

Xeroc: LOL yep. Tried that.

[catalina_marina]

Maybe in the rarefied air of mathematics they have enough space to give both grad students their own office

"Both"? There are about 20 math grad students. Rarefied air, my asymptote.
20? Yes, that must be about what we have. We're starting with about 40 or so, but I think there are 25 or so starting the master thing. With this, we have the biggest math faculty of the country. :roll:

[Nic Corelli]

We aren`t terribly surprised.

ROFL :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Very funny, Derek!

[Nic Corelli]

Also, about "5MV Year Five"...

Maybe it would be possible to organize the fourth anniversary... around New Year`s? It just seems such a shame to skip it completely. And just because it`s not in June. It doesn`t have to be strictly an anniversary, but rather a celebration of 5MV`s fourth year, or 2004...

There is still time until New Year, so I guess it might be possible to organize it... Would be much better than skipping it altogether and waiting nine months for the fifth one...

Just a suggestion.

[Zeke]

No, we're not going to skip the fourth anniversary altogether. As I said in the article, there will still be a theme week in 2004, and we'll probably still treat it as the fourth anniversary event -- it just won't be the one we've been working on all this time. That one is being saved for the fifth anniversary due to excessive coolness.

[FatMatDuhRat]

Today's actual update is the second This Just In Brief: Florida hurricanes not Xindi attack by one of the two 5MV staffers who would know best, Derek Dean. Read it and be glad you live elsewhere (if you do.)

That's funny, cuz I used to live in Brooklyn, NYC
for my entire life, and that place had its fair share
of garbage in the streets, constant noise in yr ears,
and also a whole lotta idiotic people, so I moved
down to SW Florida in April of 2003 to get away
from the City and start a new life down here. We
had no major hurricanes during the entire last year
& then this state got slammed with 4 inna row!
:shock:
My roommates and I were worried when we
heard about Ivan but we didn't pay any attention
to the other 3 since they weren't going to affect
our city too badly. Reading this TJI by DD made
me smile a little, but I'll LMAO when the hurricane
season finally concludes.
:lol: