Having a wonderful weekend

semester is almost completely over...  one more paper... no big deal

New Posts on RFJ

Rethinking the Way We Teach Hegel

One Last Conversation with Peter

Another "Conversation" with Peter

Sadly, on the day after Christmas this year my brother-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  The prognosis was originally positive and it has thrown my sister and her husband into a six-week tailspin of hospital stays and thinking of answers to questions no one likes to consider even in the hypothetical.  To make matters graver, they had their first baby in June, which adds the logistical stress of managing an illness with an infant as well as makes those life and death considerations more difficult to process.

RedFuzzyJesus...

So, I’m a happy bunny right now and have been for sometime.  And I feel like posting about it.  Things are going well.  I like my graduate program and the work I’m producing.  I’m going to be named on two articles coming out soon in a political science journal– 3rd or 4th so it’s no big deal but it’s satisfying to me.  And I don’t teach this semester because they made me a research fellow at GMU which is less work hours-wise and more money.  And I’m not sure how to describe it but I have a lot of friends that I love and negligible drama or superficial relationships.  And I feel like I’m living pretty fully with a lot of working out and hanging out and eating well and stuff.  I just think I’m living really well.  It’s a fine balance to walk in that if you focus too much on things not going well then you risk sounding too negative and that’s off putting.  But if you’re really pleased with how things are lining up you risk sounding self-aggrandizing or obnoxious or worse, insensitive to people for whom things might be rocky.   So I’ll just say things are going really well with me and leave it at that.  But, even if things weren’t going well I think I would still be happy because I feel like deep down in the big blue sea I’m happy.  The me that is me is happy.  But, contrarily, somehow at a core level I’m also really fucking angry.  And I’m not sure how both things could be true simultaneously.  Further analysis suggests happy has the upper hand over angry and is gaining momentum and I like that, chubby cat.  It’s sort of grown up I guess.  This post has become heavier than originally intended.  So you should watch this clip and drink every time they change clothes. 

Holy goodness this is so cool.

Read the article

Watch the video in the article

Ok, there are a lot of little things that annoy me.  People generally being stupid is the umbrella category for this I guess.  But one thing in particular that drives me nuts lately so I'm going to post about it. 

My voicemail on my phone doesn't say much.  It either just says my name and beeps for you to leave a message or the number and beeps.  I assume - incorrectly - that this is enough to cue the person as to what to do next.  Answering machines and voicemail greetings have been around since the mid 80s so by now I would think that reasonably intelligent people would know what to do with them and that you don't need the explicit instructions, "This is gabriel, please leave your name, number, and a brief message after the tone."  I assume you know what to do when the thing beeps.

Unfortunately, I'm sadly wrong about mankind's embracing of this technology.  Apparently voicemail greetings are a novel and complicated phenomenon just within grasp of the feeble psyche of most callers.  Day after day after day I get numerous messages that go something like:

"Um... I think I'm supposed to talk now... is there something wrong with your phone?  [pause, pause] Uh, well, uh, I hope you get this.  Your voicemail didn't say anything.  Are you there?  [pause, pause] Well, um, just I guess if you get this... call me back... this is [idiot's name]."

There is nothing wrong with my phone!  Leave your message when it beeps.  At this point in human history do you really need to be told by a recording to leave a message at the beep?  Isn't the beep enough to provoke that action or do people really need a recording on every phone that tells them what to do when it beeps?

My phone:  "Gabriel Hudson" *beep*
You:  "This is so-and-so from such-and-such.  Please give me a call when you get this."

I’ve thought about this for a week now but I can’t get the frustration out of my mind. My hesitance to say anything stems from my unwillingness to criticize anything about Madonna. There’s too much senseless opprobrium that I don’t want to contribute in any way. And I think 99% of what she does is genius. It is with a heavy heart that I have to point out Madonna’s stiffing of her fans in the Live Earth concert.

During my camping trip Gloria and I went off-the-trail hiking.  It was somewhat dangerous but only because we got lost in the woods.  We always found our way back eventually but we kept stumbling on tore up carcasses.  The first was a deer.  The whole skeleton was there minus the legs.  It was cool but it gave me the creeps because I kept thinking whatever did that to the deer could come along and do it to us.  Of course I picked up the spine and played with it.  Later we came across a turkey carcass.  And, again, I made it talk and played with it.  It may seem gross to pick up dead animals but that’s how I roll.  I just hope my friends don’t think I’m weird. You can view the rest of my carcass photos here.