Powell's admission here is something which makes him all the more human, and we must love him for it.

I, too, once hated the French. But then along came my own personal Frenchman. His name was Abtine, and he was a very confused Frenchman newly arrived to the United States. I hired him as a student worker (despite the fact he had shown up at my office by mistake while looking for a job at a completely different university office).

"I like the cut of your jib, Frenchy!" I told him. "And you don't smell as bad as advertised!"
Abtine had no idea what i was talking about, just smiled politely and took the job.
"Your people are a smelly, diagreeable people!" I told him.
"Oh?" he would say.
"Yes! Smelly and disagreeable. Yet they make a nice Statue of Liberty, and I enjoy croissants! Explain!"
"I do not know!"
"We'll figure it out together, Frog-man!"
And so we did.
And I came to love my little Frenchman, so full of the joie de vivre was he!
When he went home, he brought me back a nifty snowglobe of the Eiffel Tower. I had provided him with a portrait of him that he could show to his mother.
"Notice the baguette in one hand, Frenchy! And the glass of wine in the other! I've also added a curly mustache, although you do not have one."
"Perhaps I should grow one."
"I think we'd all like that. Get to it."
We gave Abtine a new nickname as "Frenchy" only partly covered who he really was, and so he became "Titine (Tee-Teen), the Frenchman."
Titine came to love this wonderful country of ours, and I came to understand not all Frenchman are smelly ingrates. Especially not my Titine. I miss him so.

when students fail to grasp the concept of tenure...

Randy Writes:

Why would Superman need a supermobile? Isn't he already super without a car? I can understand Batman's need for a batmobile and a batplane, but Superman? Isn't a Supermobile just plain redundant?


-Randy

Why, yes Randy. I actually had a toy of the Supermobile when I was a wee tot, and I asked myself these very same questions... And I remember my brother saying "Dummy..." (He always started with "Dummy"). "Dummy," he said, "What if he has to fly into an asteroid field full of Kryptonite?"

Ahhhhh...., I thought. Bullshit.

Anyway, it seems Corgi toys wanted to make a Superman themed toy, but they did pretty much just vehicles. So they thought up something Superman could use, because a car seemed REALLY impratical for the Man of Steel. What I remember about the tiny toy is that it had little chormed fists that shot out with the push of a button. Ah, the Supermobile.

Thanks again to Jim for yet another Sci-Fi'd vehicle posting. May the force be with you on the 101.

One wonders if I actually bought Superman seat covers, what else I would need to do to turn my car into the Supermobile?

For those about to rock New Hampshire, we salute you. See, the League's candidate, the Reverend Al Sharpton, should have gotten the Isley Brothers to do something for his delirious concession speech. Oh, and Charlie Brown...

Once again, the President has personally inconvenienced me and those close to me. Jamie cannot go to her doctor's sppointment today because the Secret Service is shutting down the area near her hospital because Bush is speaking at the Community College down the street.

What next, Mr. President? What diabolical scheme will you launch to slightly inconvenience us next time?

The semester kicked off for me in two ways yesterday. Yes, I work at a University, so I still think in terms of semesters and summer break and whatnot.

We launched somewhere in the nighborhood of 45 classes yesterday with quite a few students enrolled in our online programs. I am now managing not just my usual team of three full-timers, co-managing a few others, and lording over my my three student programmers, but I have also taken on 8 studio techs and I need to hire one or two more. (if anyone knows anybody who is available from 7:30-1:30, TTh, Arizona time, I'd appreciate a shout).

Wow. I am full of power. And I still do my own photocopying!

I also began the second course of my masters program. Hoo-ahhh... Busy day. Anyway, at least I know two people in my masters class and they're both people I liked from my previous course. Now let's see if I learn anything.

Jim has forwarded me the image of the coolest minivan EVER. We all need our own personal Galileo.