Coffee Talk @ MindSay 
When I get a chance, or have the supplies, I will make my own coffee at home and take it on the road with me on the way to work. It's cheaper, quicker, and there is less of a chance that it won’t be made to my liking. However, I ran out of coffee a few days ago and haven’t gone to the store to get more, so its Tim Horton’s on the way to work. I pull up to go through the drive-through, in Johnston near the highway onramp, but there is a guy blocking the line, talking on his phone. He clearly just picked this spot to BS to whomever, with no desire to get in line.
So I give the guy a little toot. Using the horn in the car is all about the pressure and frequency, otherwise you can really piss someone off. I give him the light toot, and he proceeds to move out of the way in quick fashion. Total time elapsed, 15 seconds. Not bad, so I give him the thank you wave as I drive by. This is when I notice him yelling “Fuckin…” at me. Another stupid Johnston Italian Mafioso wannabe. I hate these idiots. They puff out their chests and talk like retard meatheads. You know that guy.
Anyways, as he see’s my hand raised, he backs off 100% immediately and starts on the “oh, yeah, no problem.” Too late, you’ve exposed yourself as a prick, moron, and degenerate in the span of 45 seconds, not to mention ignorant for blocking the lane in the first place. First impressions count my friend; you get no second chances, way to be an asshole.
I just sat around drinking coffee and trying to stay awake while the work was being done. I am so freaking tired right about now. I'm on my third cup of coffee for the day and I'm still not quite awake.
My father is being nice enough to let me talk some time off before I head back there to close for the day. But as ussual I am too busy, I'm taking a little time at my favorite coffee shop and then I have to go and pay my tuition.
But this morning I flipped on NPR while the work was being done and listened to the news.When Dad come in at opening time (8:30) he changed the station to the commercial talk radio station. He really just wanted to hear his ads.
I found it very interesting the the NPR news was almost a complete 180 of what the commercial talk was. NPR was reporting about the Iraq funding debate while the Commericial station was talking about American Idol and Paris "I'm a spoiled little rich girl" Hilton trying to get out of serving her prision time.
Why The fuck is Paris Hilton news!?!
You know, we have really reached a sad point as a country where a fucking celebrity is more news worthy then a war. I mean who the fuck has such short attention span that they can only pay attention to what the people in Hollywood are doing?
Or maybe that's not it. Maybe we as a country are just so lonely that we can only see our lives as what we see on TV. I mean people are signing a bunch of damn petitions to have the Governator Arnold pardon her. Who the hell is signing that? She broke the law more then once she deserves to serve her time like everyone else.
Thousands and Thousands of people are being killed daily in Iraq and all we care about is Paris Fucking Hilton. They are saying it's unfair for her to go to prison for forty-five day. What the hell is going on? You wanna know what is really unfair, The fact that we still occupy Iraq and that our men and women in uniform are dying when they shouldn't have to.
Put things in perspective, Paris Hilton's jail sentence is no where near as bad as George Bush refusing to change strategies on the war. Paris Hilton will serve a month and a half while somewhere there is a child who wil never see her father again because Bush wanted oil.
Which is more important? You tell me.
Thanks,
Mark
barring classes and research, this is the essence of graduate school:
to sit in a well visited coffee shop with 2-5 Very Smart People, drink coffee at 10pm, and discuss things that are exciting to us. and since it's the beginning of the year, we're still one graduate school instead of eight departments. with a little language translation (interdisciplinary and intercultural AND interlingual) everybody can speak freely to everybody else. there's a french student here in the english program to research changing american perceptions of france using tourist guidebooks from 1970-present. there's a german student majoring in american studies in her home country, here to study american literature for a year in an american english department. over half the incoming graduate students i've met have some sort of undergraduate research, and if asked most are glad to talk about it. most come from small schools where they worked closely with a professor. i wish is had something to add to those conversations. mine is so tied to the mathematics behind it that i can really only give a two sentence description. so instead i sit back and listen to a turkish student explain how turkish coffee is made. apparently, an espresso shot is weak. nobody makes strong coffee over here. and they drink it black. shawn would approve.
andy
Whats in a name? Names are more than just identity you know, they can have meaning too.
Take my first name, "Carl" for example. It is of German origin and means farmer. I know, Iknow, woop-di-doo. Carl means farmer. I'm sure that knowledge didn't make your day. But consider this. If my parents were Adam and Eve. Their choice of my given name would be much more profound. For given names were well thought out. The selection of one's name always related directly to the circumstances the birth parents would have been experiencing at that moment in the world around them.
So this is where it gets interesting, when I write in a column Adam's family line from Him to Noah (in Genesis 5, the first book of the Bible). Then across from those Hebrew names write out their respective English meanings also in a column. The lineage of those meanings tell an interesting story.
Hebrew Name;---------------------English Meaning
Adam Man
Seth Appointed
Enosh Mortal
Kenan Sorrow
Mahalalel The Blessed God
Jared Shall Come Down
Enoch Teaching
Methuselah His Death Shall Bring
Lamech The Despairing
Noah Rest or Comfort
Now read the translated Hebrew/English Meanings. "Man appointed mortal sorrow. The Blessed God shall come down teaching. His death shall bring the despairing rest or comfort."
Interesting thought, that this lineage seems to point towards the coming messiah, Jesus. Take it for what its worth to you. I got it off a cool site, www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org/sitemap.htm. Cause I'm not nearly smart enough to figure stuff like this out on my own. And if nothing else it makes for interesting coffee talk.