davedot dot com

My first year at Tech is winding down. My first finals are tomorrow, and continue through Tuesday or so. With regards to everything that has happened, ever professor I have has said that grades will not be lower than they were on 13 April regardless of how we do on the final. Grades can only improve. That's pretty good, because honestly it has been kinda hard for me to get back into the swing of things.

I'll be in Blacksburg for most of the summer. Anyone who wants to visit is welcome to the more-than-ample floorspace. My lease runs through the end of August and has been paid up to that point, so pretty much I'm just sitting around until fall, working enough to keep me fed. Pretty much everything is fluid. Yup. Super exciting.

Psst! I have a secret. I just told you what it was, but you weren't looking hard enough. It's not so very hard to find. Also, one more thing which actually isn't secret, but I haven't gotten around to mentioning. Steve and I broke up a few weeks back. I'm OK. He's OK. We still talk. If you're my family, he'll probably still pop in for a visit. I'll pop in to visit some of his family still too.

I am honestly at a loss for what to say about the events that unfolded on the Virginia Tech campus this morning. I was walking across the Drillfield towards GBJ when firing broke out in Norris hall. I had heard nothing about the previous shootings in West AJ. While I recognize that the decision to go on with classes was an informed one, I still feel that it was the University's responsibility to inform the students of potential danger.

I consider myself extremely fortunate that neither I nor anyone I know was involved. I spent the morning trying to touch base with as many people as possible until the phone network here became absolutely saturated. I hope that I was at least able to set up a cascade so that people wouldn't have to be worried about my safety. That being said, it's extremely difficult to place my reaction. Obviously I am not as heavily affected as those whose loved ones have been injured or killed. At the same time though, this is very jarring for everyone involved. I don't think I'll really know how I feel for a while yet. They don't tell you how to react to this sort of thing.

UPDATE 17 Apr 2007 11:21p: I have been mostly disgusted by the media coverage of this event. I think that larger and more distant news outlets get things the most wrong, and locals do the best job. CNN's article is as sensationalizing as the rest, but if you scroll down towards the bottom, Gov. Tim Kaine's remarks perfectly echo my sentiment. "People who want to take this within 24 hours of the event and make it their political hobby horse to ride, I've got nothing but loathing for them." I don't deny that there are questions that need to be asked, but there are more important things to deal with right now.

On the other side of the coin, I am deeply touched by the outpouring of support from universities and individual students across the country and abroad. There has been a huge "We are all Hokies" movement, with students wearing maroon and orange to show support. That is probably the best response that I've heard about. I'm glad that the younger generation have a grip on what's important. We're going to need it going forward.

So Ben Folds came to Tech last night. He rocked my socks absolutely off. I was sitting right-center JJ, but I don't think there's a bad seat in all of Burruss Auditorium, at least not for a show that big.

The opener was a guy named Eef Barzelay. He's the frontman of an "alt-country" band called Clem Snide. I haven't heard the band, but Eef has an interesting sound (and I don't just mean his name.) It's quirky. He also covered a bit of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" and all of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" in his own style which was interesting too. I definitely plan on checking him/them out.

After Eef went off, house lights came up and crew were running around doing those things that crew do before the main act goes on, and the crowd grumbled because that's what they do. Suddenly the lights go off and "The Final Countdown" comes on. Ben and his accompaniment on bass and drums launch into the first two songs before introducing themselves or saying anything. He made a joke that he would work the keyboard part from "The Final Countdown" into every song, and he did slip it in to the first few but then decided to skip it. He did slip it in though whenever there was a little lull in the show, and it always got laughs.

In my opinion, one of the best parts of a Ben Folds show is the audience participation. The man is as amazing a songwriter as he is a musician, including a number of very interesting harmonies. He had the audience sing backup vocals (and flugelhorns) on a few songs, which was super nifty. There was even a three-part harmony on "Not the Same."

When he played "Gracie" he started over three times from the middle plus a number of restarts right at the beginning, because people were hooting or hollering at some point. I thought that was adorable. Granted it was annoying, but I was annoyed with the audience, not with Ben. This is a song he wrote for his daughter, and he just wanted to get through it.

While I'm raving, I'll mention how impressed I was with some improv he did. He just started playing, then started singing about Blacksburg, saying that it had a distinct lack of "black... buildings." What can you say? The south isn't known for being especially hospitable towards black... buildings. He also worked in the local pub where he ate, and plugged Gay Awareness Week. Afterwards he asked if it was Gay Awareness Day or week, and said "As long as you're fighting for some time for recognition, you might as well go for a week."

So basically that was one of the top two rockinest shows I've ever seen. The other one was also a Ben Folds concert.

On a side note, guys yelled "I wanna have your babies" on three occasions, whereas I didn't hear any girls say that. Now Mr. Folds is married with twin daughters, so I'm afraid these gentlemen are going to be disappointed. It does raise the question though, do more men or women ask to have his babies?

People seem really surprised when I hold a door for them. I mean to hold it a second while someone catches up to you is one thing, but if someone is coming towards you or if you hold a door and let someone go through ahead of you, they seem really confused for a second, then you'll hear one of the most genuine "thank you"s you've heard in a while. It's kind of incredible, really. And even if someone isn't pleased about it (though I've not yet observed anyone to be displeased) at least you've confused them a bit, which is nearly as good.

I'm surprised there isn't more door-holding going on here, with the volume of military folk here. What happened to the day when a serviceman (at least when he was in formals) was a gentleman?

No, I'm not in danger of losing my job. I just want to mention something really cool. My supervisor has a Demotivators wall calendar, and I think that is amazing. When I mentioned it to her, she said she chose ones specifically that weren't about people, because those ones could be tasteless or offensive. Then she said, "Kinda sick, dontcha think?" to which I replied, "It's healthy to be a little bit sick."

I'm too lazy to write an actual post, but there are a couple of news items I'd like to point out.

Grape Juice is Great Juice - I've been saying this all along! Grape juice is the best juice in the world, but cranberry is a close second. Apple juice is just gross, but cider is good. The article is actually about antioxidants, though. Quoth British researcher Alan Crozier, "Purple grape juice made with Concord grapes contains the highest and broadest range of ployphenols as well as having the highest antioxidant capacity. Other high-ranking produces include cloudy apple juice and cranberry juice drink."

Ballmer says Google is insane - So is that what he calls his reflection? I've always just addressed myself as "self." I'd say something like "It'll be smooth sailing from here, Self." Ballmer, scary-looking CEO of Microsoft and really crazy dude, is all up in arms over Google (again) over their development plans for the new Docs & Spreadsheets product, among other things. That man is going to have a heart attack, mark my words.

The Problem, in A Fundamental Nutshell: 'Is Your Baby Gay?' - I tried to think of something for this one, but Southern Baptists just aren't funny. Mohler, "one of the leading voices of the... Southern Baptist Convention," asked on his blog what Christians would do if there was testing available to detect imminent homosexuality in fetuses and a hormone patch that could prevent it. It's sort of an interesting question, after you get past the disgusting bigotry of the way it's asked.

By the by, the new dog is named Abigail, and she was spayed on Friday. I haven't gotten any pictures because the light has sucked for the past couple of days.

Tuesday night Dr. Ruth Westheimer came to Tech for Jewish Awareness Month at VT. It's common knowledge that she is a holocaust survivor, but I learned that she was also trained as a sniper. Fantastic! Not only is she nearly as old as my grandmother, 4'7" tall, and still touring the country and writing books about sex, but she can put a bullet between a man's eyes at half a mile! OK, I don't actually know that she can still do that, but she was a sniper during the fight for Israel's independence. Regarding the explosion that seriously wounded her legs and ended her military career at 20, she said, "It didn't have any affect on my height." Anyhow, she did talk about sex, because that's what she does. After that I went home and wrote 9 pages on the problems with abstinence-only sex education programs in intermediate and secondary schools. I didn't even make that connection until just now, to be perfectly honest. It's funny how these things work out.

Entirely unrelated to that, Amy (my roommate) got a new dog. She's about the same age as Sebastian but larger. She was rescued from a pound where she was soon to be euthanized, but the guy who saved her could not keep her. Amy, now down to one animal in the apartment (both cats have moved in with her mom) decided that it would be a good idea to adopt her. She needs some work, but she seems to be obedient at least, and is certainly intelligent. Based on the (short) time I've spent with her I'd say she is dominant and insecure, which is leading to some issues with territoriality around her cage and possessiveness of toys. It doesn't help matters that she is currently in heat, but she will be spayed within a couple of weeks. That issue was probably not particularly important to the pound that was going to euthanize her or the rescuer that couldn't keep her.

I'll post pictures once I take some.

Today during lab for Anatomy and Physiology, I compiled a list of things that are real. It's about as close to comprehensive as you can get.

• rocks
• dolphins
• trees
• rainstorms
• elephants
• platypuses (probably) Verified! Thanks Courtney
• cupboards
• UPDATE: beachballs

For contrast, here are a few examples of things that are not real. This list is far from comprehensive; it is only meant to give you an idea of what sorts of things are not real.

• plastic
• fast food
• politicians
• God
• punk-ass hos
• American cheese