Just got a polite and tentative request from someone at the Times Higher Education Supplement for an article on my medieval vampires research. Though it seems everyone's getting them... well Elizabeth is as well. Could be fun. Never thought vampires were so smart, did you?

Arun Blake, my buddy from Undergrad residence days (1982-1984) came to town today for a short visit. He was in India for the month that I was in Japan, and is heading back to Montreal soon. He's a photographer with an upcoming show in Montreal next month, and a show in Bombay this november. And he wants me to come and help. So, the deal is to start looking for funding. Something I'm good at.

The show is including pictures that were taken when Arun and I went to Jamacia back in '84 or 5. I went down with his family, and stayed with his grandmother. She was, at the time, the oldest woman in the villiage, and it was great to sort of have that umbrella of staying with them. I rented a motorbike one day, and drove arun and I around half the country, up into the mountains and through the hills. I got some amazing photos then, but nothing that I've ever used. I'm looking forward to seeing arun's.

With Yuka, we went down to St Lawrence Market this morning to stock up on sausages and salmon and 7 grain breads and all that. Which is what I'm turning my attention to now, after having had a joyful afternoon fighting with the tax gods. I seem to be praying to the wrong one.

I just added the bloglink to the Radio Wallah Street Journal. It is the somewhat blog of my good friend and mac guru alan. Though this may come as a shock that I need a mac guru, 15 minutes discussing macs or old radios with Alan will cure you of the thought that I'm even on the event horizion when it comes to knowledge of technology. And that's a good thing^tm.

BTW, the key interest for you non-radio fans is alan's amazing images of old radios... and his general wit and charm. Watch out for the moose.

Mann-O-cam
[Potentially Large Video Feed]

Catspaw's Guide to the Inevitably Insane presents Extreme Sledding. Of course this is something Julia's been whining about not doing. I think she and Kat should hang out.

Oolong-chan that famous bunny with an orange (and other things) stuck on his head, whose pictures adorned the internet for so long, is gone. At the age of 8.

The page is in japanese, but the alt tags for the images are in english.

Sniff... Here's Oolong in happier times Newyears 2003.

I used to ride motorcycles... dirtbikes. Between 14 and 16 year old. Finally sold the bike to pay for repairs I couldn't afford. Well, that's the past. Was channel surfing, looking for weather news, and ran across an extreme sports channel. I used to also skateboard around 1972-4, so I like sk8ters. And I stopped to watch. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? ExtremeDirtbikes. Same as skateboards, but with motor cycles. A guy, and this was suposed to be the frirst time in competition, did back to back backflips on a motorcycle. First one was a 45' flip, and the second was an 80' flip. And there was only about 40' between the jumps. It was an incredible thing to watch. Yay extreme!

And yes, I'm taking the afternoon off after a draining 30 minute job interview.

What fun you can have with a flatbed scanner and a cookie. This was a present to Yuka from her co-worker Martha (Not Stewart) Scott. Came from the "Queen of Tarts" bakery. Hmmmmm...

O Canada will be sung in French at the Grey Cup. By an Edmontonian woman. The sun shines slightly brighter.

Yuka just commented that I hadn't updated my blog... and I was forced to reflect. Has anything happened yet this week? What did I do so far this week? I think I have an answer, or more likely an excuse.

A cold. Not that it's cold, but that I have one.

Ah. the memory comes clear. Met with Jasjit and to talk about grad school options. Over brekkie at Maggie's on College. Hmmmmmm. Brekkie. Then Salmon showed up (I'd emailed her to say I'd been there) to drag me off to an AoIR 2003 conference planning meeting.

Then met with some students, and sent off some more job application information.

Then came home, crawled into bed for 12 hours. I think I'll spend the rest of the day there, marking papers.

Sniff.

My halloween present to myself was to send out 5 job applications yesterday. As someone around here says, Yay me! And such applications I've never seen. Thus I must share, without going into details of the actual content. But here's what goes in some of these things: 1) letter of application showing that you know who you are, what job you're applying for, and why you think you have a hope in hell of getting it. 2) Statement of research interest that implies that not only have you done things in the past, but hope/plan to do things in the future. And these things aren't your normal things, like "I hope to finally learn the history of the word grommet," but things of lasting and enduring cultural value and significance, like "I plan to conduct inquiry into the hegemonic and sociopolitical influences surrounding the insitutions from which the grommet first came, and track its influence on the maritime cultures of Nebraska." 3) A curriculum vita(e) of ponderous weight and importance. It should be an alzheimer's special, covering everything you ever did in nice neat easily ignorable slots. I swear, I know what I was doing november 15, 1986 because of my CV. 4) Proof of effective teaching is the most dangerous. How can you prove you're an effective teacher? Well, I... I'm not going to say. Suffice it to point out that I sent photocopies of all the course evaluations of my last two grad courses, the anticalendar entry from one of my ENV321 classes where I got to do things my way, and 6 (six) apprasials of my teaching from when I got my teaching degree back in 1992.

I don't remember what else was in each of these packages, but there was more. And STILL, I have to send transcripts of every post-secondary course I have ever taken, going back to 1982!!! AND 3-4 letters of reference.

This isn't enough to decide if I should get an interview. It is enough to reconstruct me completely. I think I just sent out 5 golem construction kits, just add incantations!

Bah. I think I'll go get a blood test or something.

Yuka and I were on our way to pages so that I could buy some books. And between our house and Queen Street. We saw PAZUZU!
Haven't seen Pauzu for months, as she's been doing an archaeology dig in northern manitoba, and has recently returned. Plans to get together with her and Simsim.

[Newbie alert: Simsim and Pazuzu are ex-students and research assistants, and dangerous women in their own right.]

Oh, books

A reader's Manifesto - BR Myers
Aesthetics of Dissapearance - Paul Virilio
Pataphysics: the poetics of imaginary science - Christian Bok
Nostalgia for teh absolute - george steiner
Simulacra and simulation - baudrillard
Book Business - Epstein
Flesh Unlimited : Surealist Erotica - Apollinaire/Aragon
Martyrology 1/2 - bp nichol
Paradoxia: A Predator's Diary - Lydia Lunch
The poetics of space - Bachelard
Literature and Evil - Bataille
Postmodernism Explained - Lyotard
Narratives as Virtual Reality - Marie-Laure Ryan
Cyber_reader - Neil Spiller

These are the ones I bought. I'm so happy.

From NY Times: 'Jesus' Inscription on Stone May Be Earliest Ever Found (login requires). I guess it is just me, but what's the point. If you have a religion based on faith, why bother proving things? I guess it is just me.