I was called a Hippie today. Me… a hippie…

I was attending a small talk on the astronaut selection process given by a professor in the department who has made it to the final cut the last two selection cycles. I’ve talked to him several times before, and there’s a good chance that he’ll be my major professor and I’ll do research for him for the next 5 years or so. I came up to him after the talk and made the joking comment, “so what do you think, should I cut my hair before my interview?” We talked for another second or two and he ended the conversation by saying that I should “get a crew cut and go in there looking like a military captain rather than a hippie [from the 70's]“. not sure about those last few words, they were lost in the crowd. I laughed as I left, but then I thought about it… The man I am thinking about asking for a job thinks I look like a hippie… I keep myself nothing but presentable when I’m in public. I keep my hair short in front, out of my eyes, and in back, my hair is always pulled back. I wear my hair long in back because that’s the way I like it, it’s my hair, and it doesn’t hurt anyone else…. but I guess it goes to show you that people of this age are still quick to judge based on appearences… Or maybe I’m reading way too much into it, and it was all just meant as a comical comment.

Dad gum, chocolate creme oreos are good… and addictive… almost addictive as crack.. which reminds me… I will have to respectfully postpone my posting of “A Layman’s Guide to Crack: Choose Your Flavor” until a later, as-of-yet undetermined date. I know all my thousands and thousands of readers will be bitterly disappointed, but oh well… such is life.

On a related note, I’m going to bring riot gear to my office hours tomorrow because I fully expect to be mobbed. We handed back the first homework assignment I graded in class today. Kids barely had the papers in their hands before they were jumping out of their seats yelling “Who grades in green?!?!” (each of the three TA’s has their own color, and mine is, of course, green). Kids come at me from all directions with different comments. One guy I remember had his paper waving it in my face saying he didn’t appreciate me taking off points because he gave a volume instead of a mass as an answer, to which I replied, the problem asked for an amount, or mass, not a volume. He kept saying it was the same thing and he should get credit back. I snatched his paper away from him and kindly pointed out that he had done the whole problem wrong anyway, so no matter how he looked at it, it was WRONG and he was NOT going to get credit for it. I think he called me something under his breath, but he sulked away, which is fine for me. I told Richard that I hope they do try to storm my office tomorrow… I thrive on conflict, especially when I know that I’m right, and they’re wrong

well, time for sleep has come at last. I must depart to a different realm… ::sings and walks away:: of shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings… caloo calay we’ll sing all dddaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy… ’bout cabbages aaaaand kings…..