telophase: (Default)
telophase ([personal profile] telophase) wrote2004-11-10 08:52 am

(no subject)

Random boring entry.

I work in the basement of the TCU library - there are windows in our office that start about four feet above the ground, at ground level, so we have a nice view of shrubbery and the inhabitants thereof - usually a random assortment of bugs and bird flocks. Today a male cardinal has taken up residence and is CONVINCED that the cardinal in the window is horning in on his territory, so he's been strutting up and down all morning, chirping angrily, and occasionally attacking the window. "WHO da man? I'M da man! WHO da man? I'M da man!"

In other news an inflatable doll of the figure in Munch's The Scream has mysteriously taken up residence inside the office.

Also, one of my rare political references, but I'm a stats monkey and like to see things like this: cartograms to give a much better idea of voter distribution than your normal red-state/blue-state map. (The amusing thing about the red-state/blue-state map is that it correlates almost exactly with pre-Civil War free state/territory and slave state/territory divisions, which just goes to show how deeply and for how long the country has been divided.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2004-11-10 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
A cardinal! Cool! I have never in my life seen a cardinal.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2004-11-10 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Really? Wow. Well, if TEH SKERIT PROJEKT sells and you want to come to A-Kon in Dallas, I can probably get you invited as a guest, with admission free and possibly hotel room (or at least crash space), and you can see all the cardinals you want, most likely. :) And oak trees! ;)

My boss posted this to the staff intranet page under 'Announcements':

Angry red cardinal
Attacks my basement window...
Defending his shrub.

And shortly before noon I posted:

angry cardinal gone
his rival in the window
besting him at last

He's (my boss) gone to a meeting so he hasn't seen my poetic contribution yet. :)

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2004-11-10 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
That would be AWESOME.

And any job where the boss writes haiku in the announcements has to be amusing.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2004-11-10 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool. :) Getting to be a guest at A-Kon isn't that hard - I was a guest last year based on my webcomic, but I'm probably just going to buy a table in the artist alley and not whine at them to let me be a guest this upcoming year, just wait until I have some sort of actual credentials of some sort. Getting them to provide room space is a bit harder, but I'm officially Too Damn Old[tm] to sleep in crash rooms, so I'll be getting a hotel room with 1-3 friends (depending on who wants to chip in) to guarantee bedspace and a minimum of snoring.

My boss apparently has an MA in English, but he's been the Systems guy here at the library for 14 years. He also sits less than six feet from me as the crow flies, but never *says* anything all corrsepondence to me is e-mailed (well, ok, that way we have a written record of everything, but it still feels weird). And when he had a possum mysteriously appear in his closet a few weeks ago, he posted a picture of a possum in the announcements. :)

[identity profile] txvoodoo.livejournal.com 2004-11-10 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Today a male cardinal has taken up residence and is CONVINCED that the cardinal in the window is horning in on his territory, so he's been strutting up and down all morning, chirping angrily, and occasionally attacking the window. "WHO da man? I'M da man! WHO da man? I'M da man!"

*sporfle!*

*wipes monitor clean*

Thank you for that imagery :)

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2004-11-10 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
:D

You know, that's what all the birdsong you hear is - the equivalent of trash-talking teenagers sitting on the street corner making wolf-whistles at the girls walking by and grabbing their crotches and spitting at the guys walking by.

Sure takes the romance outta nature, don't it? XD

[identity profile] pzb.livejournal.com 2004-11-11 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
You know, I hadn't even thought about it like that, but yes....that is totally how it was divided, wasn't it? And what can they expect really? With as much as religion has been playing into it all lately....hmmm...see? You got me started... :D

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2004-11-11 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
:) Here's the maps (http://sensoryoverload.typepad.com/sensory_overload/2004/11/free_states_vs_.html) that shows the free/slave division thing. It's sort of scary and yet itneresting how thought and belief can persist over time like that, even in a country with the population as mobile as the US. And then knowing that, the countries in Europe and the MIddle East and Africa that have been squabbling for *centuries* make more sense ... as wella s make you realize that the peace process is really ahrd and really long. :/
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[identity profile] sub-divided.livejournal.com 2004-11-11 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Represent! University of Michigan! (This is my school. I remember that power outage.)