"Puppet wrangler? There weren't any puppets in this movie!" – Crow T. Robot
Today was so very Tuesday.
I had a phone call scheduled for noon, which…well, let’s just say it wound up being considerably shorter and less productive than I had hoped it would be. Any fears that I’d run up a hefty cell phone bill by calling from home dissipated pretty quickly.
I’m back in the office tomorrow. Hopefully the phone call I have scheduled then goes a little better.
It’s true, I didn’t do much today besides watch the first couple of Season 3 episodes of The Walking Dead, watch Thunderball, and watch the third and final Presidential debate.
I think that may be a textbook example of diminishing returns.
The Walking Dead had a surprisingly very good pair of episodes leading into the new season. I’ve never hidden my problems with the show, but I thought these episodes absolutely improved upon some of the problems of last season. It helps that the prison is a much more interesting location, but it was more interesting in the comics, and I threw up my hands after only six issues of that (18 total).
Thunderball was okay, though of the four James Bond movies I’ve watched in recent months probably my least favorite. There are far too many underwater fight scenes, and it honestly starts to drag.
And speaking of starting to drag…well, again, you can always check out my Twitter feed if you want to know what I thought of the debate.
I’m back to work tomorrow, though not from the office, which is nice.
I haven’t done much this weekend, so I guess it’s a good thing I decided to extend it into Monday, with a day off from work. (Next year, I think I need to actually do something a little more productive with these vacation days.)
Yesterday, I watched Goldfinger — or re-watched, I’m not entirely sure — and tonight I watched Paranormal Activity 2. The latter is decently scary throughout but ultimately something of a disappointment, forcing the connections to the first movie and the “mythology” that one introduced. It — and, judging by their trailers, the sequels — makes the mistake of thinking that story is what was so surprisingly effective about the first movie.
Though I’ll be perfectly honest: the part of me that can sometimes be a wuss about horror movies — the first Activity was maybe almost too effective — was maybe just a tiny bit relieved.
They tell me today is Thursday, although I’m not entirely convinced by the evidence before me. In some ways it felt very much like a Monday, with me just returned to the office after a five-day (including last weekend) absence, and in other ways it feels like it ought to be much, much later. After driving all day yesterday, the last thing I wanted to do was get up early this morning and face my regular commute.
I drove to Maryland on Sunday afternoon, despite a GPS that thought getting there by way of midtown Manhattan and the Lincoln Tunnel was a good idea. (It wasn’t.) I had dinner with my sister and her husband, hung out with them and their pets — that’s their cat Sebastian up top — and then spent most of the next couple of days at the University of Maryland, meeting with instructors and talking to them about courses and books.
I will say this much about UMD: it is rather hilly. I don’t think it’s any more difficult to find your way around than with any other unfamiliar campus…but it also isn’t any easier. And while there appear to be any bike paths, there also doesn’t appear to be any shortage of bikes. Who says sidewalks should just be for walking?
My campus visit was kind of a mixed bag, but that’s usually the case. I spoke with some professors who were really nice, genuinely informative, and seemed to be understanding when I only had a small handful of awkward questions to ask them. (I try to understand the markets I’m working in, and I’ve been exposed to psychology topics more than I might have been otherwise, but I’m still no expert. I took Psych 101 in college and that’s it.)
On Tuesday night, I watched the Presidential debate. You can dig through my Twitter feed if you’re actually interested in what I think (or the jokes I tried to make). Sebastian watched with me, curled up at my feet, although I’m pretty sure he actually slept through most of it. I’m also pretty sure his was the way the go.
And then on Wednesday, I drove back home, stopping at Towson for one meeting — I’ve got a couple more more by phone and still hope to connect with the textbook manager, who wasn’t in when I stopped by — before heading home. The GPS really wanted me to take the Tunnel again, but weeknight rush-hour traffic in Manhattan is a whole different kettle of annoyance, and I was having none of it. Following the paper maps I’d made sure to bring as well, I made it home sometime after 5 o’clock.
It was a good trip, but it’s good to be back. That said, it would have been better if today had actually been the Saturday it felt like it really should have been. (If that makes any sense.)
I think my next campus visit will be a little closer to home. Unless I could get them to spring for somewhere much further and not have to drive. (Washington, D.C., traffic? Not a fan.)
Although it’s not how I’d choose to spend my Sunday afternoon, I’m off on a road trip to Maryland shortly. I’ll be there for the next couple of days, staying with my sister and visiting instructors at the University of Maryland (and at Towson on my way back on Wednesday). I don’t expect to be fun — chatting with people I don’t know, negotiating all the travel with my lousy sense of direction (though with a GPS, thankfully), all the business of work but separated from the ability to do a lot of it — but it will be a different sort of work week.