But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

[austin_dern]

Bleah. I'm losing one of my teaching assistants for two and a half weeks. Singaporean males are in the equivalent of the National Guard until age 40, and it's his turn. This mostly consists -- for me -- of mild inconvenience, as it adds more class hours and, worse, quite a few more grading hours.

I ran across a book, Easy Google. I was tempted to get it, out of curiosity about how exactly Google could be made hard, but I try not to buy too much stuff I can only enjoy by laughing at. Though I do wonder if anybody can explain ``basic'' stuff like how to use everybody's favorite eigenvector without falling into the Monumental List Of Instructions Way Too Staggeringly Boring To Actually Do. (``To make a brand-new folder in OS X, we hold down the shift key, and the flower key, and the N. This makes a brand-new folder called `untitled folder'. But if we do this a second time we create a brand-new folder called `untitled folder 2'. The number increases with each new folder you make. Let's do this now 73 times until we feel comfortable creating a new folder. What number is the 73rd new folder we create?'') I'm guessing no.

At the 7-Eleven, as I bought a Big Gulp, the cashier asked if I'd like to buy a toothbrush as well. They're on sale, you see. I suspect there's no way for the cashiers to push the toothbrushes without the customer feeling vaguely offended.

Trivia: JRR Tolkien wrote the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word ``wallop''. Source: The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester.

Currently Reading: The Rise of the Great Powers 1648-1815, Derek McKay and H.M. Scott.

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I tend to prefer "splat", myself. ^_^ (My Russian tutor joked that the "zh" character - Ж - came about as a result of St Cyril seeing a squashed spider)

I wonder if they couldn't just give toothbrushes away with Toothbrush Monthly or somesuch. Given the incredible range of magazines on sale, I can't believe there doesn't exist such a title.

Perhaps "Easy Google" was the next work from the author of this help document (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86816)?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Did you see the help file on how to determine if you have the Hewlett-Packard iPod? It's of a similar nature.

I haven't seen any toothbrush magazines here, although one of the women's magazines a few months ago was giving out a free bikini with every issue.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

It's the flower key. The one with the cloverleaf on it. It's also got the Apple logo on it, but everybody I ever met calls it either Apple or flower. I guess it's technically also ``command,'' but that just doesn't work as an Apple key name.

[argon-centaur.livejournal.com]

Interesting help document, but once you have picked up they neglect to give instructions on how to put it down. If you ever see someone standing at a table confused about putting a computer in place, it's possible they have referred to the document Porsupah mentions.

Mavra worked as a TA for a while and you've pretty much described what she did. Ran some labs, Proctored tests, and graded papers. All the boring stuff.

As far as toothbrushes. My dentist always gives me a free one. Of course, I use those neat motorized ones, so I have a closet shelf full of nice new toothbrushes. Maybe I can sell them on eBay.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

See, I love teaching. I love the performing, the interaction, that sort of thing. There's a time that's too much in a row or per day, but I can take that. It's the grading that's long and tedious, at least if you're somebody like me who's willing to try to figure out how much partial credit should be given, and who tries earnestly to give exactly the right amount of credit. I don't mind the class hours but 30 or 40 extra papers to grade is a lot.

[rcoony.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of a book I have, "Advanced Internet Relay Chat". I couldn't resist buying it, even though I've never really read anything out of it. It was about an inch thick, and with an original cover price of $29.95; however it had been marked down to 97 cents.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Hey, I remember IRC. Actually for a short while my adviser and I thought we could use it to coordinate projects online despite spatial separation. Unfortunately we couldn't manage to both get on the same server at the same time, which probably strikes a blow for ``Simple Internet Relay Chat.''