The Black Hole for Resumes

Check out these sweet socks I got from a Google campus recruiting event! (Crappy picture.. whatever.)

I got them because I answered the question, "Where did Google first start, specifically?" (Answer: Palo Alto. More specifically: in a garage in Palo Alto. You could get way more specific than that, regarding whose garage and the relation of that person to Google's founders... but let's not.)

The recruiters were accepting resumes, and as I glanced around the crowded auditorium with well over 100 students in it, I wondered if the resume pile would ever have human viewers. So at the bottom of my resume, I wrote, "Hi! Does anyone actually read all these resumes? Bye! :)"

That recruitment event was October 21, and I still haven't received a response to my hidden message. Take from that what you will.

It's a Trap!

Danger! Danger!

What kind of deranged person leaves such a booby trap as this in a public bathroom?

3 Cat Harmony

I feel comfortable in declaring that we have achieved that most elusive state called 3 Cat Harmony. Things finally seem to have simmered down between my 2 kitties and our newest addition Sparky.

Sparky's story is a very sad one. We can only guess at his age, which is probably between 7 and 10 years old, but we know for sure that he's been abandoned at least 3 times. After his latest abandonment, Sparky was left in a cruel Kitty Limbo: his previous caretaker hadn't bothered to take him to the county shelter, and he was left with no home, food source, or prospects for either.

Enter bleeding-hearts Laura and Evan. (Suckers.) When we brought Sparky home with us, he was emaciated and had a large weeping abscess on his side. Fleas and ear mites were the least of his problems. Fast forward 4.5 months, and Sparky is healthy, happy, gaining weight, and driving us nuts the way only a talkative cat can. And all the cats are getting along now. (At least mostly.)

Signature move: paw in the mouth

Wild Rumpus-ing

... or All Hallow's Eve: Athens Edition.

This year's house pumpkins: a sexy lady pumpkin and some goober reddit meme

It's pretty cool living in a town where people take Halloween very seriously. And by Halloween, I mean Halloween costumes. People in Athens take their Halloween costumes very seriously.

The first year I was here, I vaguely dressed up for the Wild Rumpus parade on Halloween night, but only when I arrived at the parade did I realize how horribly under-dressed I was. People had been working on elaborate costumes for days, weeks, or even months before the parade! There was a giant papier-mache Dolly Parton with moving arms, a very convincing PeeWee Herman, Cheetah Girls on the aerial silks, and Max (from Where the Wild Things Are) leading the parade and heading the band for the after-party. Just to name a few. Evan made an awesome Wild Man costume and had his picture taken with some random Japanese tourists. (...?)

Our billiard room, with Ms. Peacock and the Confidential envelope in the background to the right.
From the Athens FotoFlower man.

This year my personal favorites were Richard Gene Simmons (Richard Simmons clothes and personality with Gene Simmons KISS makeup) and David Bowie from Labyrinth (complete with abducted baby). And my costume this year was part of the Clue Crew, that is, Clue the board game. We had characters, rooms, and even the lead pipe. Evan still had the best costume, going as the Confidential envelope. How does he always win?

As for me, I take pumpkin carving very seriously. Here's the house's pumpkins from last year (mine's Paul Stanley from KISS).