A Handy Guide for Renters

I have been wasting inordinate amounts of time on craiglist.com recently. We had great luck with that site when we were home-hunting two years ago. For those of you who are also on a quest to find a decent place to rest your head at night, here are a few tips.

* Smoke detectors are not "features" or "amenities". They are requirements by law.
* "AGGRESSIVE BREEDS WELCOME!" really means "Puncture wounds likely!"
* "Cozy" is synonymous with "shoebox"
* "Cottage" means overpriced
* "CLEAN" is not a feature. Again, it is a requirement.
* "TREE IN FRONT YARD" is not a feature or an amenity
* "Funky!" is a word I use to describe my running shoes and the olives rotting in the fridge. See above picture for further detail.

On a different note, I would like to say to anyone tempted to post links to their online porn site on our blog, I will hunt you down. Or worse, I will spam you with links to MY blog. Hah! That will teach you!

Number 2?

So I was just checking, and it turns out we are currently number TWO on the web. You can sue me for false advertising, but all we've got are unmatched socks and cat poop.

Who knew I cared about George Mason basketball?

With Indiana's loss to Gonzaga, I've had to find other teams to support. Boston College was my team until they were defeated on Friday. And, I guess since I'll (Lord willing) have a degree from Texas, I cheered a little for them.

Since IU, BC, and UT have blown it, I am now out of teams to cheer for. Go George Mason?

2.5 Hours of Sleep = Mandatory Blog Entry

Last night I was up till 5 am with Jerry Falwell.

My religion and policy class is reading a book about the rise of the religious right and so I can tell you everything about the movement. Right after I take a nap. Oh wait, I can't sleep in the library. DARN.

During discussion for this class we tried to think of religious leaders who are on track to become the next Billy Grahams or JP2s. The number of people they have interacted with during the course of their ministries is mind boggling. I realized that statistically, chances are good you might have encountered one or both during your lifetime. Then I realized Jeremy played the steel drums for Billy Graham's grandson's wedding and I met the JP2. Statistics are funny things.

On a different note completely, we are looking for a new place to live. It is overwhelming and "apartment locators" can be sketchy. We tried to use one last time and she wasn't really helpful, but did let us know a billion times she got a $1000 commission if we signed a lease through her company. Were you aware that it is now essential for all college students to have a hot tub in their rental units? This was news to me, but apparently Texans like their hot tubs.

All we really want is a cute house with a yard, deck, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, central air and heat, dishwasher, washer/dryer, garage, and personal chef. And it would be great if it cost $200 a month. And had nice neighbors. And a built in china cabinet.

Must go to sleeeeeeeeeppp........

J-U-I-C-Y

Most of my time is spent on the remote east part of the University of Texas campus. My graduate program is self-contained in the building adjacent to the LBJ Presidential Library. We are in solitary confinement over here, without so much as a coffee stand. I suppose if I became desperate, I could eat one of the LBJ Library collectible spoons, mugs, or tourists. I'm usually good about bringing my own lunch, though.

Given my isolation, it startles me when I do emerge from my isolated liberal think-tank of a world over to west campus. Most notably, the density of sorority girls wearing shorts that say "Juicy" increases exponentially as I journey west to forage. Often I gawk at them as if these indigenous west campus people are new to me. I've seen them before, had classes with them, heck, I've even had one kick me off a treadmill! I just can't stop marveling at their features so very distinct from my own.

Has anyone else noticed that sororities have special t-shirts to commemorate everything? They seem to celebrate their crushes, dad's weekend, mom's weekend, lil' sis weekend, pre-parties for the OU, OSU, A&M homegames as well as their post-game parties. Other shirts include, but are not limited to: homecoming, pledge class, rush, various fund raisers, the flu season, and the day they received their first commemorative t-shirt. Maybe it's just me being grumpy, but that seems like a waste of resources and closet space.

You can imagine my delight when I boarded the bus to find a rather large man proudly wearing a KAPPA DELTA CRUSH 2001 light pink t-shirt. At least it was being put to good use. I only wish he'd had the matching shorts...

I bet God would buy His printer cartridges here...

Check out the above link. Buy stuff from them. It's what Jesus would want.

Thanks for the link, Niq.

Weekend Update

Last Saturday Jeremy and I went to a Darwin Party. What is a Darwin Party? It is what separates us from other twenty somethings. Rather than get all dressed up to go "out" Jeremy and I got dressed up to depict our favorite evolutionary biology concepts. For anyone who cares, I went as an outlier.

Biology parties and the people who attend them are incredibly different from the public affairs (or really any) functions I've attended. For example, one friend wore a fur-lined tiara and had plush-toy microbes (ebola! influenza!) pinned to his red cape. Obviously he was representing the Red Queen Theory. Another friend came dressed as a Soviet police officer and brought his hatchet. At least we didn't worry about party crashers.

A shelf in the lunchroom of Jeremy's lab has a set of umm, bull parts on display in a jar. They are nicely labeled so there is no question as to what the jar contains. Why are they in the lunchroom? I'm not really sure. All I know is that they must appear in the refrigerator of the grad student lounge at the LBJ School before I leave.