oh, awkward.

I observed someone else doing this today, which is what confirmed for me what I have several times recently suspected is me looking incredibly awkward. (Kind of like that sentence. Sorry. I don't feel like trying to fix it. If you can't make any sense of it, it's not that critical.) Activity in which I believe I look way awkward: running with a backpack. How in the world is one supposed to do this? I do it, and I feel awkward, and I picture myself, and it is terrible. Add to it that the most likely reason I am ever running with a backpack is because I am about to (and usually do) miss a bus, so I'm sure the running with a backpack is compounded by my look of desperation. Oh, me. Oh, my. And as if that's not enough, I usually have two liquid containers in my mesh side bottle holders, so I am undoubtedly running with a backpack with a hopeless look of desperation AND with both hands awkwardly behind on each side trying to hold in these bouncing-around containers that otherwise would fall out.

I hope no one ever videos me.

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wildfire

Perhaps you have heard of the fire burning in the hills west of Boulder. Last I heard, 7100 acres have burned, 3000 people live in the evacuation area, 92 structures are destroyed. Crazy. It started on Monday around 10am. Monday we just watched the plume of smoke grow and grow and it was soon no longer a plume but just a covering over the city and extending as far west and east and north as we could see. After dark, we could see the glow from the flames over the hills. There were high-speed winds on Monday which, naturally, caused the fire to spread incredibly quickly. Winds have died down, but yesterday the acreage burned doubled in size. Thunderstorms are forecast for today, which could be a blessing since the fire is at 0% containment still. Smoke in the city (at least by our apartment) is almost worse today than the previous days -- not as dark and thick but more spread. I couldn't see any of the foothills, except for kind of the ones further south, on my walk to campus today. I know at least one of the professors in my department is evacuated.

A few photos from throughout the day Monday:

no title

1. I saw this guy on campus today in a slogan t-shirt. It was a slogan that made me wonder, "Does he just not get it?" or maybe, "Do t-shirt companies come up with stuff like this to point out the people that don't get it?" The shirt said:

People who think they know everything are annoying to those of us who actually do

Obviously, I get why he was wearing it (which is also annoying). But it's like, no one knows everything, which means he is just one of the people who thinks he knows everything...and is annoying.

2. Something I do not get: People biking on the sidewalk when it is RIGHT NEXT to a bike lane on the road. Seriously, one foot to the left and you would be in the bike lane! It probably shouldn't make me seethe as much as it does, but it really, really does. I'm not one for violence and I would never push a biker, but it kind of makes me want to push them and yell, "BIKE LANE!!" Now, bikers on sidewalks when there is no bike lane, I get, and I am fine with it. It's just when they are mere inches from a bike lane and instead are in the walkers' space.

exactly how are you calculating "safe"?

This series of emails from the manager of our apartment complex last night really made us laugh.

Subject: Police activity
Time: 8:38 PM
There is a police presence in the [apartment general] area. There was a report of an individual with a weapon. Please stay inside your apartment until further notice.

Subject: Re: Police activity
Time: 9:16 PM
Police were unable to locate the suspect. It is ok to leave your apartment at this time.

To be fair, it did go on to say that it was because the police thought there was no real reason for concern. But still. Funny.

oh, women.

This evening, I offer to you a smattering of excerpts from my reading for Neuroscience. They are from a review of Principles of Mental Physiology, with their Applications to the Training and Discipline of the Mind and the Study of its Morbid Conditions by William B. Carpenter, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. From 1874. That's kind of important.

"It is always wise to try the simplest explanation first, and in women the capricious is certainly more common than the biological temperament, even if the author's statistics of the latter be correct."

"The writer well remembers when going with Dr. Conolly through one of the wards on the female side of the lunatic asylum at Hanwell, Dr. C. remarked to him, 'It is my belief that two-thirds of the women here have come to require restraint through the habitual indulgence of an originally bad temper.'"

overheard

...while I was on the bus and my driver was taking a break outside. (Side note: Even though I was pretty frustrated that the first bus just blew past me while I was waiting at my stop, maybe it was worth it to hear this.)

He was on his cell phone with, I'm guessing, his wife, so the conversation below is only one half. His half was all said with an amused, with touches of incredulity, intonation. You can also imagine his great, thick southern accent.

"Wuh'd you baby?!?!"

"You got to stop!"

"Naaoooh! You just got to stop!"

"When he puts on his lights, you just got to stop! Stop in the middle of the road -- it don't matter!"

"You can pull over if you want to, but you got to do it fast! You can't just keep on driving!"

"Did you tell him you're from Russia?"

intensives

I am now five days down in the 13 days during which I will complete two classes (2 credit hours each). It feels good to have one week done, although it was pointed out that we have only had one project due during that time, so I think the second half(-ish) will feel quite busy. Overall, it has not been as bad as I was anticipating. But enough about the work side of things.

The other -- and more important -- thing that comes along with these intensives is that we get to meet and get to know the rest of our cohort! We are now a class of 32, I believe, which nearly triples our class from last year. I can't definitively say I have talked to each person, but I think nearly. We have already taken two opportunities for socializing out of class, which I have greatly enjoyed. Good times, good people, good pizza, good limoncello margaritas (really good -- they lived up to their legend!).