The Nerd's Eye View

I know you all didn't think I actually possessed one, but I do. Yesterday as I was driving home from school/work the sun was setting over the mountains at the west end of the Valley. The sky was streaked with high clouds that looked like someone had taken cottonwool and was pulling it apart, almost spreading it thin. As the light hit it - and Arizona sunsets can be quite spectacular - it took a gradually changing color from yellow to orange to pink to slightly purple. That's one of the perks of living out here in the cultural wasteland that is the greater Phoenix area. You may see pictures of this if I can ever figure out how this damnable CSS thing works ...

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sometimes I am offended by the incompetence of the people around us in this world. I mean I know that half the people are below average, just on the basis of statistics, but whenever it is proved to me I am still surprised. Maybe that makes me stupid too, then.

My brother pointed out to me the other day that my paycheck had somehow been directly deposited into his account. So I checked my bank account and sure enough I hadn't been paid at the end of last month. With today being payday for the middle of the month I was feeling ... well let's just say I was feeling suspicious about the prospect of getting my cash. Sure enough, no direct deposit, and no clue of what was going on. So I called human resources, as if that would help. Sure enough they claim that they know no such thing. After I pressed them a bit they said they had deposited the money into a different account that I had opened and told them to start depositing to. Then they said it was my bank's fault. So I went to the bank and they looked up the account number, which turned out to belong to my brother. So basically the long and short of it is that when my brother started working for the university and tried to set up his direct deposit, some genius thought to themselves "There can only be one Elhassan working at this university, he must want to chance all his information. I wonder why he changed his signature too?". Of course there is the whole question of my first name and ID number and the fact that I had not signed anything etc etc, but who can be bothered to read, right? I will get my money ... I just don't think it'll be before the end of the week at the earliest. Damnity damn damn.

So what else? I guess I'm still not used to blogging on this system. I need to learn more about CSS I suppose but I am too lazy to even think about that. Heck I'm neglecting actual schoolwork these days, let alone this sort of frivolous stuff.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a crappy Sunday that was. The only good thing I can say about it was that I managed to weed the front yard before it became totally impossible to do. From there on out it just went downhill. Ok that's not entirely fair either. We did win our soccer/football game which is the first game we've won since we won our opener. The bad thing of course was that I rolled my left ankle really badly on a play in the second half. I was running back to catch up with a forward and as he crossed the ball I brought my left foot up and knocked it away for a corner. Of coures this twist my foot a little in mid stride, and I overcompensated on the way down. Needless to say, it hurt - a lot.

I heard and felt it go "Pop!" and immediately collapsed. My genius brother thought I was faking an injury and ran over to tell me not to get up. I informed that I had no intention of doing so, and proceeded to literally drag myself off the feild. Now as an aside, I had no idea dragging yourself off could be so difficult and painful. I have so much more respect now for those guys in the movies who are dragging themselves through minefields during the war. It's hard work! At any rate that was the end of the game for me, and I am still in quite a bit of pain. Hopefully I'll be fine by Sunday for the next game...

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I forgot to mention. The word of the day two days ago was daedal. For those that don't know what it means, it means this:

daedal \DEE-dul\ (adjective)
1 a : skillful, artistic *b : intricate
2 : adorned with many things

Did you know?
You might know Daedalus as the mythological prisoner who
fashioned wings of feathers and wax to escape from the island
of Crete with his son Icarus. But it was as architect and
sculptor, one said to have designed a labyrinth for King Minos
on Crete, that he earned his name. "Daedalus" (from Greek
"daidalos") is Latin for "skillfully wrought." The same
skillful Latin adjective also gave English the adjectives
"daedel" (in use since the 16th century) and "Daedalian" (or
"Daedalean"), a synonym of "daedal."

Who else identifies with Daedalus? The proto-engineer/Renaissance man, he embodies the spirit of human curiousity and drive to make more sense of the world through reason. I always felt some kind of kinship with Daedalus, especially after his daring escape from the palace of king Minos on Crete. Too smart for words but not smart enough to save his only son.

This probably makes no sense but it's late and it is a postscript so let's call it a night

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's late, my spelling is bad and I am unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. What kind of justice is that? None, I tell you... so here's what I have to say:

I spent today just bopping around from my office to the lab and thinking about all sorts of nonsense. For instance, it occured to me that there the war on Iraq could have real consequences for those of us ensconced safely here in the States. I wondered what people were thinking in Europe in the last months leading up to the First World War. Did they see it coming? Or did most people walk around minding their own business and thinking how dull life had been getting? It worries me.

On to other topics. I am turning into a white boy. I think that many people would argue that this is not news, but it is dawning on me and I am not too happy with it. Am I not funny anymore? Am I just some strange face in the otherwise undifferntiated mass of whiteness that resides in Arizona? Shoot, people, this cannot be allowed. I always thought that I was just the way I was and not subject to labeling or categorization but I could be wrong. I have no idea how to handle this but I am hoping someone will have some advice.

Ok I did think of other things but it's late and I'm tired. Good night ...

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just in case you guys were wondering, I will have pictures up on the site in the next two weeks. And by pictures I mean both the photos I had up on the original site, as well as the new ones from the play I was in. That's right, there are some production shots from "Heat" so brace yourselves.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok so this is just a test to see if all this crap works ... am I real? is this real? What does the web mean? The matrix has you now ...

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)