Late night wonderings

So as I am flipping through the channels after the Purdue and Iowa losses, I wonder who let Steven Segal make so many movies. Really? Who let that happen?

"My God, the pain is unbearable"- Hank Hill

Bonus Quote:
"You leave yourself open, you're going to get popped. Pop! Pop!"- Bobby Hill

Chaos! At The Stadium

okay so I borrowed the title from the band Panic! At The Disco, but it is a pretty accurate description of what is going on in Iowa City. For those who don't know, Iowa will be playing Ohio State (who is ranked number 1 in the nation) so of course it is complete chaos on campus. To add to this ESPN's College GameDay is filming on campus. And it's a night game which means students have all day to get drunk and rowdy. This is the second time I have been on campus for a filming of College GameDay. It was at Purdue two years ago for the Wisconsin game. As a result, I wasn't surprised to get an amount identical e-mail from the dean of students reminding students that they represent the university and so they should drink and act responsibly on Saturday. Already there is a news van from Ohio parked across from the stadium. The game that I will be watching most attentively though will be the Purdue/Norte Dame game. Not only because I love Purdue, but I really hate Norte Dame. Hopefully Purdue can pull off the upset!

"An all Texas Superbowl? Thy will be done."-Hank Hill

Missing My NPR station

So if you haven't gathered from previous posts, I love A Prairie Home Companion on NPR. A home, it was aired on Sunday afternoon after CarTalk which made Sunday afternoons awesome (as you can imagine). There are two NPR stations that I can get, one out of University of Iowa (WUSI) and one out of University of Northern Iowa (KUNI). So today I looked at the programming schedules to figure out when A Prairie Home Companion was going to be on. I looked first at WUSI and I was dismayed to discover there is no Prarie Home Companion. But thank goodness KUNI has it on (but not after CarTalk). But the KUNI station actully looks pretty interesting because they blues, folk music, and celtic music on Sunday morning. So I will miss the CarTalk/ Prarie Home Companion block, but I think it will be okay. And even more exciting (to me anyway) Frontline will be back on PBS on October 10th. Hooray!

"Now Bobby, you may not understand British humor at first because it's much more sophisicated than American humor"- Peggy Hill
"That man is wearing a dress"- Bobby Hill
(Please note that Monty Python did not corner the men in drag market, Kids in the Hall did it too)

Literary One Hit Wonders

As a person who likes to read there are two major things that always intrigue me: the unfinished novels and an author writing on novel. For the unfinished book, it is usually the result of the death of the author (i.e. Jane Austen and Sandition, Charles Dickens and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Elizabeth Gaskell and Wives and Daughters). But much more intriguing I think is the one novel authors. In some cases, death is the limiting factor and the novel has been published posthumously. A classic example of the one novel author is Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights. Although one wonders if a less than satisfactory manuscript existed at one time and had been destroyed long ago. A more modern example is Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird. I guess if you were going to write only one novel, Harper Lee would be a good example to follow. But she never published another novel (although she still could, she is only 80). It just makes me think that maybe the labor to write one great novel is too much for some authors.

"Today we'll be discussing A Tale of Two Cities, a terrific book by that most Dickensian of authors, Charles Dickens." - Peggy Hill

From members of the Arlen Book Club:
OX: Can't we at least agree that Mary Elizabeth's baby was her own lighthouse?
TRAVIS: Who ever heard of an illegitimate lighthouse? Dangit, Ox, you're confusin' realism with symbolism again.
OX: I'm about to symbolize my gun to your head.

Science on call

I had my first test of the year last night in Principle of Molecular and Cellar Biology. It actully wasn't to bad (despite my worry). It was an essay test, and I was able to write something for each question. (And being the nerd I am, I was actully excited to have a question about the repair mechanism for thymidine diamer. ) And also this week, I helped write the first exam for the class that I am TAing (I'm making it a verb). So this past week was a little busy, but I was able to relax after my test and enjoy one of my favorite activities: reading Discover magazine. And I learned this fun little fact. A study conducted by University of California Santa Barbra found that countries with higher levels of Toxoplasmosis were more neurotic. So I guess "crazy cat person" may actully be an apporiate description of someone.

"My dad making me learn 500 words for the SAT. He's such an autocrat" Connie Souphanousinphone
Bonus Quote: "What's an S A T ?"-Bobby Hill

A love song for Tommy Rall

So a few days ago, Kiss Me, Kate was on TCM, so of course I watched it. Kiss Me, Kate features the fantastic Tommy Rall . I will never understand why Tommy Rall never got a popular as other dancers of that era (like Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire). Tommy Rall is so much more interesting to watch both as a dancer and as an actor. Alas, he will always remaining a supporting character in all the movies (like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Merry Andrew and of course Kiss Me, Kate). Oh poor Tommy Rall...

"Does it come with a hat?"- Bobby Hill
Bonus Quote: "He named his toe 'Madam' and she speaks with a French accent"- Connie Souphanousinphone

Smoker's Row

So, the campus at school is apparently smoke-free, according to the signs posted on the entrance to the hospital. But from what I can see, only the inside of the hospital is smoke-free. The campus isn't smoke-free, there are just areas that a person is not so smoke in. This of course led to areas that become the place to smoke. Are all the smokers pushed into walled in area to smoke? No... they are allowed to smoke in areas near buildings that do not have an adjacent entrance. So this means that everytime I walk to class from the hospital (which is about everyday), I get to walk past at least two areas populated by smokers. So I'm trying to figure when to breathe to reduce my smoke inhalation (I'll let you know how that goes). Or maybe I can start looking to tunnels that connect the buildings so I don't have to go outside at all. Wish me luck!

"Look at them little twig arms. I could smoke one of those arms."-Hank Hill

Bonus quotes:
BOBBY: Why does my potato have skin on it? I hate skin!
PEGGY: I will not sit here and listen to you criticize my work! What, do you think the potatoes just fly into the bowl and mash themselves?
LUANNE: I know y'all don't mean none of those harsh words. It's just the nicotine withdrawal.
HANK: Why is she still talking?

"Mom, it's your son. Nine months inside remember? Those were good times too."-Bobby Hill

5 years and one day

Yesterday was the five year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Virginia. So, I watched a repeat Frontline about religion in the aftermath of the attacks. It was very interesting because they looked at people whose faith was strengthened or weakened by the attacks and the role religion in the attacks. There was an interesting quote for Vladamir Putin (the president of the Russian Federation) when he was on NPR talking about Osama bin Ladin. The interviewer asked if he thought the word "evil" was applicable to bin Ladin. He said that evil is not enough, and there were words he couldn't use on the radio to describe him (bin Ladin). Putin said "We are like dust to him." Which I thought was quite an interesting illustration of the feelings of animosty towards the "west" . And then I watched the documentary about the building of the memorial at the location of the twin towers. I personal like the design that was chosen (you can see it by clicking here but apparently there was a big uproar about the design (which isn't really suprising).

Then today, I decided to beat my head against a stone wall by trying to do my Molecular Bio homework (which is on the verge of being impossible.) I have already done everything I know how to do, and now I'm stuck. I'm trying to get unstuck, but I'm just getting annoyed. So I think I am going to stop for a little bit. The professor showed us how to use this really complicated website, but she only had 30 mins. and there is a about 3 things she didn't explain how to do. But I still have until Friday, and I am mostly done with it. On the brightside, I did pretty well at the discussion section for that class on Monday.

"I assume you, that is just a ridge of extra fat." -Hank Hill

"Your mother is a Spanish dictionary"- Peggy Hill

hello worst day possible

So I drove the five hours home this weekend for the Labor Day vacation. I got to see Bridget and Orrin and Silas (after another 2.h hours in the car!) so that was really nice. I haven't seen them since March so it was nice to see them again. And then I got to spend quality time with my mom and dad for the rest of the weekend. And then I left to return to school on Tuesday. The drive was uneventfull until about 4o miles from my apartment. I stopped to go to the bathroom and when I got back in the car, it would start, but not move. That's right, my car had broken down 4o miles from my final destination. After about 30 phone calls to dad, I called a mechanic who was equally confused by the almost instant breakdown of the car. My car was finally towed to his shop and then after about 1 and a half hours of waiting, he determined that there was something wrong with the transmission. So I was going nowhere fast. My friend recused me from the shop and I finally got to my apartment (after about 3 hours of waiting and about 8 hours after leaving home). So my car is at the shop until mom and dad decide what to do with it. Maybe it will go to SUV heaven.

"I wish is could take credit for this. Oh, I did but the newspaper."-Peggy Hill

"This isn't my fault. Mom did buy the newspaper. Eww, and I'm as mad at her as you are!"-Bobby Hill

"To the 'Flowers of Time!"-Bobby Hill.