Lab Cleaning

So, I’m taking over as lab manager, and since I don’t have my safety training yet, I’ve spent my time trying to tidy up around the lab. So far I’ve tossed out 6 garbage cans of old papers and equipment catalogues and whatnot. There’s also an Apple II and two huge, ancient printers. There’s probably… half a dumpster’s worth of old stuff in there that needs to get thrown out? And that’s from one lab. Thinking of the thousands of labs in this university, the thousands of universities in the country, and the hundreds of countries in the world, it boggles my mind. Seriously. First, it’s amazing to think of the world’s industrial capacity, putting all that stuff out. And it’s flabbergasting to think of how much of it is off to the dumpster. Seriously. Stultus sum.

I Learn Things From Maps

The word in Turkish for ‘Morocco’ is ‘Fas’. As in the city of Fes.

EAT IT, MARRAKESHI.

Work and Videogame Problems

Friday, all of my paperwork came through at work. Well, almost all of it. I need to get a parking permit, sign up for health insurance, and go through two lab safety courses. But at least it’s all on the road now. I also got to see the lab space that I’ll be the manager of. There’s one well setup lab, and then one that seems to be more like a huge storage area. Plus, there are thousands of books down there. It looks like my OCD will be ut to constructive use arranging things.

So on non-work related subjects. I’ve been playing some videogames recently. Operation:Anchorage and The Pitt, the two expansions for Fallout III, were pretty disappointing. I mean, they were good, for the two hours each lasted. But whatever. I don’t think they were meant for high-level characters.

Point Lookout, on the other hand, ROCKS. I’m enjoying it almost as much as I enjoyed No One Lives Forever. I’m a few hours down, and it’s awesome. With one exception. It’s like a house on stilts, by which I mean it’s extremely unstable. When the framerate gets choppy, I know a crash is around the corner. Sometimes, if I stop, quicksave, and stare at the floor for a while, I can put it off. But it’s inevitable. And oh, how it crashes! Shit just locks up for dozens up dozens of minutes. Terrible!

I was really enjoying Half Life 2. It’s a much different style from Fallout, one I’d forgotten I’d liked. Anthony, that champion of gentlemen, sent me a copy of it. And it, too, was awesome. However, after showing some striders how we do it in the resistance, it crashed. Apparently, I killed a strider so hard my computer couldn’t handle it. And now, when I try and load it, it gives me some malarky about memory not being found. The entire thing won’t load. I have an idea to save it, but I’d have to start over. Sigh. Perhaps someday.

And that’s how I spend my time now.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

So, I hate nanotechnology. I fell like it’s a fad in a lot of ways, and even if it’s not, that stuff is just too small to fiddle with. That’s why like cement. Just dump that business in a bucket and go to town! I’d hate to be those people working with nanotubes, with their elaborate manufacturing processes and all that.

So, I met with the boss today. My first project is going to be mixing nanotubes into cement to improve electrical properties and enable self-sensing.

Touche. Well played, fate.

First day of work

Today was my ‘first day’ of work. All that I really did was go to meet with my new boss, pick up some paperwork, and get some files off off one of the grad students. My boss took me out to sushi for lunch. Oh, Matsu Don, how I love thee.

What I didn’t love? That I apparently have zero social graces. Do I hold the door? Do I not? Do I put the napkin in my lap? Should I not have cleaned my teeth with the chopsticks at the end? Which curse words is one allowed to use in polite conversation?

I felt like I had me a lot more to say. Oh! I needed extra decoration, so I hung up some of my Moroccan maps. Every morning when I wake up, I’ll be eyeballing rampwan Mers Sultan. Maybe it’s a good idea. It looks neat, anyway.

Dinner

So, I’ve got a few days before I start my job, and I’ve got some time on my hands. Now, I considered spending that time moping, but then I decided, I was going to cook two things I’ve always wanted to cook. Someone’s pointed out that they don’t go together, but I’ve got a full stomach that says it was awesome.

Take one acorn squash. Cut in half, discard stem. Oil baking sheet, and cook squash at 400 for 30 minutes. Take it out, pull off rind. Add one cup vegetable stock and blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper and whatever herbs you want. I added some sage and a slice of leftover bacon I had. Boil for a while, and eat it. I shouldn’t have added that bacon, but I didn’t want it to go bad.

Anyway. Take 12 chicken wings. Steam for 10 minutes. Put in fridge for 1 hour. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Flip pieces and bake another 20 minutes. Save whatever fat drips off for stock later. During the second baking session, combine 1/4 cup hot sauce and 3/4 sticks of melted butter. Add a clove of mashed garlic and salt. The garlic, I was surprised to see, was super important. And delicious. When the wings are done, slop on that sauce and eat it with your mouth.

Fantastic. Now, to go get plowed.

Toot Toot! Here Comes the Faux Pas Train!

I went to the university for the first time since the interview today. All of my paperwork seems to be in order, and I will get keys and cards and badges and permits and all sorts of stuff on tuesday. Fun side note: if you fill out important paperwork on your first night in a town that sells beer in the supermarkets, you’re at increased risk of listing your previous occupation as Culture Jammer. Just saying.

Anyway! They showed me my new office. First of all: WOO! I HAVE AN OFFICE! I managed not to say that when I first saw the place. If the office were an apartment in West Philadelphia, it’d be like $1000 a month in rent. There’s a Korean guy who’s going to show up next week, but still. At Drexel, we’d fit 10 people in an office like that.

I guess I’ve sold out. Which way to the tophat emporium?

Meeting the PLO

Oh. I may have mentioned this. In the last few days I’ve done a bit of exploring and a lot of shopping. And of course, the first important thing was to find a liquor store. So I find one (between a thrift shop and the dollar store, oddly) and inside two guys are speaking Arabic. I don’t understand any of it, but I keep hearing the letter 3in, which we don’t have in… well, in anything else.

So I ask the young lady behind the counter where she’s from. Apparently she was born and raised in, ugh, Portland Oregon, but she’s of Palestinian heritage.

That store is now to be referred to as the Palestinian Libation Organization.

Ann Arbor Arrival

So, things seem to be set up pretty well here. Comcast was in on tuesday, and I went and got one of those wireless setups, so now I have internet access in the ‘office.’ I also went and bought a bed at Ikea. Fun fact: When the lady in the beds department says “just because you can afford it doesn’t mean it fits,” she’s not telling you you’re living beyond your means. She’s telling you the headboard won’t fit in your tiny car, and you will have to drive 30 MPH all the way home with it strapped to your trunk. In the rain. Well, that’s why I’ve got a bunch of bungie cords in my trunk, I guess.

I also went and got a TV. This whole thing is sort of weird to me. I went from sleeping on a couch and using my kitchen table as a desk in a crappy Philadelphia apartment to having a bed in an actual bedroom and owning reasonable things. I’ve gone from living like a hobo to living like an average member of society. It’s a strange transition. Does anyone know a good dry cleaner in Ann Arbor? Next thing I know, I’ll be needing to get my tophats cleaned.

Filled out all my paperwork, and I go to turn it in to-morrow. I guess then I will officially be a wolverine?

Oh. Another strange transition – people are nice up here. I was walking down the street and a man I didn’t know said good morning to me. I immediately reached for the screwdriver in my pocket, you know, because if I’m going to get mugged, I might as well make him work for it. But it turns out he didn’t want anything from me! I think. Is that how it works up here? You say hello to people without it being a prelude to ‘I need to get the train to Trenton can you spare five bucks?’ At the McDonalds, they told me to have a nice day as I was leaving. My first thought was: I already ate here, what more do they want from me? Then the realization: perhaps they just wanted me to have a nice day? I guess I should stop carrying around that screwdriver.

Oh, also, it’s colder than the devil’s breakfast out here.

That is all.

The Return of the Marakablag

So. I’m bringing back the Marakablag. After 9 years of college, the same college I finally got my doctorate. Happily, I also got a job. Unhappily, it’s in Michigan. Well, I shouldn’t say unhappily. Everyone tells me the town is awesome. I’ve already my stuff up there and into an apartment, and it’s sweet. For the same price as a basement studio in philadelphia, I was able to get a proper, modern, 2-room place in Michigan.

Anyway. Some folks asked me to start the ol’ blags again, and I know some folks have the Marakablag saved as RSS or whatever, so I’m going to go for it.

I move the day after tomorrow. With Pennsylvania’s strict liquor laws, I think freewheeling Michigan might be about as strange at first as Morocco.