nigelnameddog

My ESL students bought me a gift. A fancy one, and I didn't even remember to bring them Christmas candy. And they all gave me hugs and took like a hundred photos with me. It was like Tanzania, for being in so many pictures I could no longer see. I was touched but also overwhelmed. I'll have to bring them tons of candy next semester, and throw them a party. If they even bother to come back after I spent an hour trying to get them to read a story in English while the Level Two class had a fiesta with soda and pizza and flan.

Also we learned the word "band" so I was trying to list bands. I'd come up with the Backstreet Boys and Pink Floyd and The Beatles and The Who, and was getting a lot of blank looks, and then Bisifredo chimed in with "The Rolling Stones," and I was thrilled.

Now we have a three week hiatus for Navidad and the new year.

Tomorrow I'm taking a vacation day to go shopping, which I guess makes me officially a girl.

I decided to give yoga a try. It turns out it's really hard. Afterwards all my muscles decided to stop working. I'm hooked.

And last night I got dressed up all fancy to attend my first Christmas party of the season. The party itself was only moderately interesting - a kind of posh Sugar Land event, though the most famous person at my table was this lady who used to be a reporter for Univision. But the food was delicious and the dressing up was super fun.

Yesterday it snowed. From 10am to 5pm, pretty constantly. I've never seen so much snow falling from the sky at one time in my life. Andrew asked if there was 'panic and pandemonium,' but actually instead it was unrestrained glee. From everyone, regardless of age, but in direct proportion to how long they've lived in Houston. Productivity went down the drain. And the entire city got to go home from work early. In a day or so it's predicted to be 75 degrees again. photos.

I learned how to properly cook a Thanksgiving turkey, and no one who ate it died.

And I was an usher at a Blood, Sweat & Tears/Three Dog Night concert with my grandparents and great-grandmother.

I stole this link from Dave.

I finished Season One of The Highlander. And was devastated at the loss of Darius. Now I understand why the episode needed Roger Daltrey - to keep people watching despite their debilitating grief.

I also got more much-needed Dr Who, and we went to go see The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was better than some of the reviews but not as good as others.

The Renaissance Festival was excellent as always. There was some last-minute costume switching, which turned out quite well. I was a formidable foe for the giant turkey leg of deliciousness, our knight was the jousting champion, and we saw two guys dressed as Kirk and Spock. I didn't get many pictures, but I think this one of Jen and David and me is interesting because, when compared with the next one (taken 6 years ago), it shows how young and innocent we used to be. It also documents our tragic loss of Micah.

Here is an advertisement.

Today I accidentally met the owner of the company I work for (and a bunch of other companies) when I turned around and realized he was standing in my cubicle.  He's actually the son of the owner, sent to evaluate us and throw the whole company into turmoil, while unintentionally keeping us from celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day.  I had not expected him to be so young.  He wasn't even wearing a suit.

I'd noticed an impressive increase in the number of male students in the 20-35 age range who were regularly attending ESL class.  I at first attributed it to my mad teaching skills.  But yesterday my co-teacher David left and took some of the newest students with him to start a new class for the super beginners.  This left me on my own with the rest.  Roberto told me I was beautiful (a word they'd just learned), and then Raul and Jose and Julian argued over who would help me carry the books.  I guess just so long as they are also learning English...

Halloween

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists Convention and Exposition was everything I could have hoped for.  The convention lasted all week, but those of us less important people were each assigned only one day to attend.  Lesley and the three Sara(h)s and I went today.

Dave has a picture of himself from the last convention together with a group of cheerleaders (and seismic data in the background, of course), and I'd heard much talk of "booth babes" and dancing girls, so Lesley and I had considered ordering cheerleading outfits for our group.  Luckily we did not do this, because we'd have looked ridiculous.  It seems cheerleading is out, and the black mini-skirt/knee-high boot look is the only proper attire.

We got a ton of free stuff, including a tshirt, a poster, a frisbee, some pens, and a shiny silver slap bracelet.  I even charmed the men at one booth into letting me climb up into one of the big drilling trucks.  I didn't get a picture of the truck itself, but it was practically this one.

Pictures are here.

Also at the convention I ran into my college physics lab partner Ben (of quantum zombie fame), so that was random and exciting.

Conversation I overheard at work today:


Man: yeah, everyone else from my department has either already gone to the convention, or else they don't want to go.  A bunch of them don't want to go.

Carole: not a fun-loving bunch, are they?

Man: no, well the conventions aren't that much fun anymore, not since ... they stopped giving away all that stuff.

Carole: Oh, I thought you were going to say 'not since they don't have the dancing girls anymore.'

Man: Oh, they were at the Icebreaker Party.  Both Schneiders got pictures with them.


In my dream last night I quit my job as a geophysical analyst so that I could move to Washington, D.C. to write and produce a live-action version of the My Little Pony movie.  

My push-ups are paying off and last week one of my students, Jorge, complimented me on my strength.

I drove downtown to Annie's Kroger and bought them out of ginger beer.

Plus I was unexpectedly social this weekend.  And on Wednesday I'm attending my very first geophysics convention, by office mandate.  I'm told these conventions are geared for middle-aged Republican businessmen, so it should be a blast.

Raheel and Lesley and I spent a good amount of time today at work seriously discussing whether or not someone had come into the office in the nighttime and moved all of the cubicles two feet closer to the front  of the building.  It seems very unlikely, but all three of us have a feeling that they aren't where they used to be.

Bisifredo still calls it "The Salvador."

But I found mia mbili.

At the end of class today my students all clapped.  I hope it was a "what a great class" clap and not a "hooray, it's over" clap.  They'd just learned their longest sentence yet "You are sitting in the chair" which was a combination of two sentences we'd been practicing ("You are sitting" and "You are in the chair"), so that was cause enough for excitement, I guess.  As they left they all told me "Happy weekend!" and it was cute so I replied "happy weekend" back.  I guess next week we'll learn "have a good weekend" as a more correct alternative.

This weekend I drove up to Austin to hang out with my peace corps friend Steve and his buddies Mark, Brandon and Ben from Ann Arbor. 

I attended my first live hockey game (and Steve scored the first goal of the game), ate a cupcake that we bought from a man in a trailer on the street, shook hands with Juan - owner of famed taco joint "Juan in a Million" and renowned handshaker (though apparently shaking hands with Juan means something completely different depending on your gender), saw performer Mayer Hawthorne live and, through some intense childhood connections (of Steve and Mark), even got an invite to the after-party, read the messages on a bunch of antique post cards from the early 1900s (it seems the word 'thanx' is a lot older than you'd think), tried on expensive cowboy hats, and, in between all this, managed to watch more college football than I'd ever seen in my entire life previously.

These four photos, I feel, adequately sum up the entire weekend.

Check out this snake they caught last month at the school where I used to teach in Tanzania:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RhMNdhCCCGkcBgGembCPtA?feat=directlink

It's insane.  Though compare it with the one they caught while I was at the school:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DOl-_UJKH96xr9Uyw5ElSg?feat=directlink

It seems the most recent one is just a baby.  According to Wikipedia, the African Rock Python lays up to 100 eggs at a time.  The school must be surrounded by pythons, and they're all just going to keep getting bigger!  Wikipedia also says the Rock Python is "Noted for its bad temperament and readiness to bite if harassed."  Some days I really, really miss Tanzania.

The theme song is Duran Duran and the villain is an exceptionally young-looking Christopher Walken.  No one could ask for more from a film.

The stars aligned and I flipped on the tv this weekend to discover the episode of Scrubs in which J.D. and Turk get exact replicas of the tiki idol from the Brady Bunch Hawaiian special.  na na na na naaaa.

I went to meet my brother for lunch today.  I got to the restaurant and pulled into the parking lot, and there, parked in the lot, was a DeLorean.  Of course I parked near to it, got out, and began photographing the DeLorean with my camera phone.   As I was snapping picture after picture, trying to get it from all angles, the man who owned it walked up and asked if I wanted a picture sitting in it.  I did!  So he opened up the gullwing door (and I swooned, a bit).  And it was just so pretty that I didn't want to mess it up by climbing in, so instead I crouched under the gullwing door for the picture, which was more than exciting enough for me.  I'm pretty much the luckiest person ever.

I'd post the pictures, but apparently my phone can take pictures but not send them.

These people know how to do things properly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_zombie_emergency_plan

Oct 3 Note: it seems that, sadly, the article has changed.  At least for a little while they had it right.  The man is always beating down the truth.

Work has been very interesting lately.  Today Dan called me "Ace," and it made me happy.  Yesterday we entertained a couple of Korean men.  On Friday Stan gave me some of this intense powdered green tea stuff that turned my water all murky and swamp-like.  I asked Stan what the benefits were, but his answer was vague.  I'm unsure if it's because he's Polish and didn't understand my question, or if it's because he's just a deliberately vague person.  Possibly both.

Also today they put up a bunch of framed posters that advertise the capabilities of our company.   One has a picture of Dave standing over Raheel and Lesley as they pick velocities, and the caption reads "Our highly skilled geophysicists use the most advanced software."  The rest of us are insanely jealous.  

Today in ESL my students practiced reading and writing.  Next week: rooms of the house.  In the kitchen, in the library, etc.  Lesley points out that it's the perfect time to bring Clue to class.  This will not only help them practice rooms, but will also help them learn lots of other good vocabulary words, like "professor," "revolver," and "lead pipe."

The weekend has so far included successful navigation of Houston freeways to and from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Dr. Who, Dollhouse, pizza, a robot, a Brady Bunch marathon (including most notably the three-episode Hawaiian special in which Bobby finds the cursed tiki idol), a pack of cigarettes that announces "SMOKING CAUSES GANGRENE" with photos of a horribly diseased foot, a guitar, and, very nearly, a male strip club.

We've now had 4 ESL lessons.  I teach Level 1, so the very beginners.  The first week we had 35 students, so we divided the class in half, and somehow I still have 29 students.  They keep bringing more friends along.  Of my students, 3 are from Vietnam and the rest are from various countries in Latin America.  The biggest groups are from Mexico, El Salvador (which I can't for the life of me convince them that in English they don't have to call "The Salvador") and Cuba.  They range in age from around 18 to I'd guess about 60.    Teaching them is insanely fun.  I drag students around just like in Tanzania.  I made Roberto sit on the table (Where is Roberto?  He is on the table.)  Then I made Osairys sit on the floor.  After that I taped a pencil to the wall.  We counted off forwards and backwards several times.  29 students and 2 teachers.  I have a co-teacher, a man named David who is very helpful during the class, but  so far I've been doing all the preparing and teaching, and he seems content to let it continue that way.  I don't mind, though, so I think we'll get along great.  The students are making great progress and seem to be having fun, so hopefully it will be a success.

I'm also continuing with Highlander.  The dialogue is getting sharper and the actors are growing into their roles, though it's still somewhat difficult to take someone seriously when they are wearing jackets like this: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_OuxlUg35IAk9Rlq3ZXkFw?feat=directlink

Our International Talk Like A Pirate Day celebrations went excellently.  We started Friday with the South Park episode in which they go to Somalia to be pirates.  It is my favorite of all the episodes.  Then Saturday we had Cap'n Crunch for breakfast, at 11:45am, which meant it could be almost immediately followed by rum for lunch.  Around 5pm we began with the Pirates of the Caribbean marathon, all three films in one night.  And they said it could never be done.  Yarrr.
Also, almost everyone had a costume (several of which were provided by me.  That's right, I have three pirate costumes.)  And someone once gave me a huge pack of pirate-themed temporary tattoos, so even those without costumes could be piratical.
Many of the attendees were engineers, resulting in some of the most ridiculously dorky pirate jokes I have ever heard.  (I heard one of them ask "what is a pirate's favorite phase of nickel-titanium?")
We also made a variety of pirate-themed snacks.  But somehow we forgot to make the gARRRlic bread.  Perhaps due to all the rum.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/lwedelich/InternationalTalkLikeAPirateDay2009?feat=directlink

We weren't allowed to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day at work this year.  Apparently my supervisor Elizabeth was instructed by upper management to be on her best behavior this week, and unfortunately coming to work wearing bandanas and bearing plastic swords whilst yelling "arrrrr!" a lot, though not necessarily infringing on our productivity, would not be considered our 'best behavior' by management. 

But Talk Like a Pirate Day is actually Saturday anyway, and I have great grog-filled pirate partying plans for the weekend, so I think that'll suffice.

Arrrrr.

A clown races through an East German forest, chased by a set of acrobats, who also happen to be twins.  They catch up to the clown, attack him with a knife, and throw him in a river.  The wounded clown climbs out of the river and stumbles through the forest to the British Ambassador's house, where, with a balloon tied to his wrist and a knife in his back, he crashes through the window and falls down dead.  A Fabergé egg rolls out of his hand and over to the Ambassador's wife, who picks it up.

Octopussy is a classic.   It came out the same year as me.  Bond battles ninjas in an Indian street fair and later gets hunted in the jungle where, within about ten minutes and while being shot at by soldiers on elephants, he confronts a tiger, a tarantula, a snake, leeches, and a crocodile. He then spends a night on an island inhabited only by women.  There is also, of course, a killer octopus and a number of requisite cheesy jokes involving the word “octopussy.”  The film closes with a return to the East German circus scene, where Bond disguises himself as various circus performers and disarms a nuclear bomb with less than a second to detonation.

I was watching tv the other night and this commercial came on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCiTAJi1yRk
I really want one.

Then on the radio this evening, the dj announced that if we hadn't gone to see Borat this weekend we definitely needed to.  She went on to remind us to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when it opens next week.
It's possible I accidentally entered some sort of time warp, except that it must have been some sort of twisted alternate universe as well, because those movies came out years apart.  I suppose it's possible the dj said Borat but meant Bruno, in which case it would have almost made sense, but even so it had me driving down the road reconsidering everything I knew about life and the current date.  I even seriously considered the possibility that I had somehow wound up in the past but with knowledge of the future.  I probably need more sleep than I'm getting.

For Your Eyes Only is my favorite Bond film of all, because it has Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof as a Greek smuggler, and because Bond tells that skater girl "now get your clothes on and I'll buy you an ice cream."  Also there's a battle of submarines, which is just as awkward as it sounds, Q dresses up as a priest, and the main girl is very cool and has a crossbow. 

Started volunteering with the ESL program.  So far I've just been testing students to see what level they'll be.  I'm testing for all the different locations besides just mine, because it's fun like a game.  I also recently discovered that there are 118 episodes of Highlander on Hulu, and I must watch them all.  Thus far I'm on episode 5.  I'm trying not to let it distract me from Bond, but Bond just doesn't have as much Queen.  I was also recently introduced to Battlestar Galactica, but I'm as yet unsure how to procure the shows for home viewing, so that one's on standby.  Today at work Raheel and I decided that, in light of the recent Labor Day weekend, our company's new motto should be "We hate socialism! (Unless it means we get Monday off.)"

me: so my friend is having an affair
     with a robot
     every night he's out late
Andrew: um, what?
me: sometimes he comes home from work, eats dinner with his girlfriend, then goes back out
     to the robot
Andrew: to the robot?
me: yes
     his robot lover
Andrew: is he canoodling with this robot?
me: canoodling!
Andrew: WHAT?
me: I'll tell him to stop, this instant
Andrew: that's sick!
me: I've been on to him for ages
     jen, I think, knows
     but what can she do?
     robots are taking over
     first our men
     then our lives
Andrew: Well that is just unacceptable
me: I agree!
     I think he's with the robot right now
Andrew: I don't want to talk about this
     I just can't.

The post office seems to think I live with someone named Luis Bombita.  When I moved in, I was given a form to list which last names would receive mail at my apartment, and I gave only mine.  But the little sticker on the inside of my mailbox where they wrote the names that could get mail at my address says "WEDELICH" followed by "BOMBITA."  I'm unsure why they think he's here.  I have never heard of this fellow, but it seems his Reliant bill comes to him in Spanish, so I sort of wish he did live with me.  He could help me learn Spanish.
I bought myself an mp3 player so that I can study languages while I cook.  I alternate between Spanish and Mandarin, but I'm going through Spanish at twice the pace of Mandarin, because I need to learn Spanish more quickly.  Even so, so far the Spanish is all stuff I learned in elementary school.  But it's good to get practice speaking it.

All day I've had the lyrics to that Billy Joel song stuck in my head.  Just the lines "You may be right.  I may be crazy.  But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for."  I can't get rid of it, so I might make it my new motto.

I've decided what to picket in DC.  Because if I go to DC, the things I want to do are (1) chill with Nixon's ghost at Watergate, (2) stalk President Obama's puppy, and (3) picket something.  But I was unsure what to picket.  Now I know.  Pirates.  It's come to my attention that there is not a single pirate in Congress.  Pirates are a severely underrepresented group, and I'm outraged.  I have a Captain Jack Sparrow poster that I think I can easily glue to a stake.  

Have had a very productive weekend so far.   My hair was getting ridiculously long, so I finally broke down and got a haircut.  (see attached photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/lwedelich/August09?feat=directlink)  I also added some pictures of my cousins Chris, Mark and Leslie in the audience of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  Tonight I went over to Annie's new house for wine & cheese, where everyone was in awe of my wit (actually I announced, among other things, that the 5 dollar bottle of alcohol Annie had bought because it was supposed to be like what Jane Austen might have drunk tasted like benedryl, which everyone else was thinking, but politely refraining from saying.  And also Annie wanted me to tell the story of my malaria misadventures, which is always a crowd-pleaser.  I guess because very few things are more entertaining than malaria.  Anyway everyone present will definitely remember me now, though it's hard to say if they'll remember me pleasantly.)  This next week will be quite busy indeed, with a dentist appointment, two 3-hour ESL training sessions, and a plane flight, in addition to my usual 40 hours of geophysics.

I recently found this picture that Ben and I made one evening in college while we were doing our quantum mechanics homework.  It shows how zombies are affected by an infinitely tall dirac delta pile of rotting corpses.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/12HUKa42_Eerwy24BjRC1A?feat=directlink