6:39 PM:

Just got word that the retroactive-cognate-switch thing has been approved. This'll be my last semester at Michigan, then, but I will have an MA at the end of it, and won't have to pay for one last course next semester. Good all around.

And sundown will be upon us in a few minutes, so I've gotta get offline. Have a good weekend!

6:37 PM:

Once again, this is my sister's fault. Yet another survey, for your reading pleasure, providing me with about the only activity I'm currently up to performing while waiting for this week's professor-and-GSI meeting. (I'd thought I was getting over this cold-or-whatever-it-is. Ha.)

(Oh, for newer readers -- like my cohort -- who might be confused by the whole "sister" thing... go read my bio page, okay?)

Your name spelled backwards. Leumhs.

Where were your parents born? Brooklyn and Manhattan.

What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? I don't recall.

What's your favorite restaurant? If only I had options around here to choose from...

Last time you swam in a pool? I don't know how to swim, so "never." Last time in a pool of any sort (a wading pool, to be precise)... I dunno, two decades ago?

Have you ever been in a school play? Several. A couple in elementary school (the whole class was, in each case), and I wrote, directed, and rather reluctantly performed in a few post-high-school.

How many kids do you want? None.

Type of music you dislike most? Hmm. I'd hate to count any out entirely... but let's say "electronic ambient stuff with no discernable melody that sounds for all the world like a modem trying to connect."

Are you registered to vote? Ayup. Although I still haven't really gotten into Michigan politics at all, so goodness knows if I'm actually gonna vote this year.

Do you have cable? Yes. Love it.

Have you ever ridden on a moped? No. Never cared to, either.

Ever prank call anybody? When I was much younger, yes. Fortunately, I don't think the tapes exist anymore...

Ever get a parking ticket? Nope. See, there are advantages to not driving...

Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? Not a chance.

Furthest place you ever traveled: From where? [duck] Okay, okay. I guess that'd be Israel.

Do you have a garden? Nope.

What's your favorite comic strip? I don't get the comics these days, alas. I can afford only one daily paper, and that's the Times at the moment, and reading the things online just isn't the same. But let's say For Better or For Worse.

Do you really know all the words to your national anthem? Only the first stanza (that is, the part they sing at ballgames), but yes.

Bath or Shower, morning or night? Bath, night.

Best movie you've seen in the past month? Hmm. I saw part of Josie and the Pussycats in my hotel room the other day, which had some really, really clever bits, and some other bits that didn't work all that well for me... nevertheless, the pickings have been slim otherwise, so let's say it was that.

Favorite pizza topping? Extra cheese.

Chips or popcorn? Chips. Corn chips or Pringles, preferably.

What color lipstick do you usually wear? I haven't quite gotten around to this just yet.

Have you ever smoked peanut shells? No, I get my peanuts already roasted.

Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? It would have been an exercise in futility if I had. No.

Orange Juice or apple? Orange. Tropicana, without the pulp, to be exact.

Who was the last person you went out to dinner with and where did you dine? Hmm. This was back in August. Several of my siblings, at some fast food place in Cedarhurst, NY.

Favorite type chocolate bar? These days, Kit Kat. No, wait; that's just the type I buy most often. Favorite would be Ghirardelli mint chocolate. Mmmm. Or orange-creme-filled, but I haven't seen that in ages. Not a kosher version, anyway.

When was the last time you voted at the polls? 2000.

Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? Never.

Have you ever won a trophy? No, but I've gotten several plaques and certificates.

Are you a good cook? I ain't bad.

Do you know how to pump your own gas? I don't drive.

Ever order an article from an infomercial? Umm... [shifts uncomfortably] You've seen the amazing cordless handy stitching thing that allows you to sew drapes or hem your jeans without taking them off? Well, umm, mine should be arriving really soon now.

Sprite or 7-up? No preference.

Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work? Nope.

Last thing you bought at a pharmacy? This was in North Carolina. A prepaid phone card, a prepaid Internet card, a lighter, and the issue of More magazine in which it is demonstrated that even Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't look like Jamie Lee Curtis without an army of makeup people and such.

Ever throw up in public? Define "public." I'm gonna go with "no."

Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love? This would be a tougher call if I believed in true love.

Do you believe in love at first sight? Nope.

Ever call a 1-900 number? Yep.

Can ex's be friends? Executives can be friends, sure.

Who was the last person you visited in a Hospital? If you count rehab centers, then my mother, back towards the end of 1999, or maybe the start of 2000.

Did you have a lot of hair when you were a baby? Beats me.

What message is on your answering machine? A variation on my usual outgoing message, which is, to the tune of "Clementine" (or "Found a Peanut"): "This is Shmuel / I'm not here now / Or pretending / Not to be / Leave your message / Name and number / I'll call back / Eventually." The variation is that, in light of my current circumstances, I've transposed it into a minor key.

What's your all time favorite Saturday Night Live Character? Hmm. I'm gonna go with the Church Lady, but this is subject to change without notice.

What was the name of your first pet? Bingo.

What is in your purse? My knapsack goes everywhere I do, and it contains everything but the kitchen sink. Papers, books, a first-aid kit, my Palm, batteries, glasses, sunglasses...

Favorite thing to do before bedtime? Surf the 'Net. Which is also my favorite thing to do all day...

What is one thing you are grateful for today? All things considered, my classes could have gone a lot worse, and they didn't. Yay.

10:08 PM:

I have no idea what this means, but I think I really wanna know.

1:07 PM:

Brief wrapup of last Thursday onward...

So, I stayed up all night. My cab -- reserved two days in advance -- was supposed to show up at 5 AM, and the time in between was spent packing and printing another couple of transparencies. The cab was actually a shared ride shuttle, which, I was informed, could arrive up to fifteen minutes late. I budgeted that in, and concluded that it'd still get me to my 6:46 flight with time to spare.

At 5:25 AM, I gave them a call asking what was going on. They assured me that my car was on its way, that the woman in question was picking up three people, but that I should keep waiting, and it'd be along really soon.

At 5:55 AM, I called again, and was told, whoops, there hadn't been a shuttle in my area after all, but, well, they'd send a regular cab over now...

The cab arrived around 6:00 AM, and dropped me off about 6:40 AM. I didn't tip the driver.

Rushed indoors, the flight hadn't left yet, I was given directions to the gate... and then got stopped by security. Five minutes later, they ascertained that I had a small container of pennies in my backpack, after which I was permitted to run to the gate, only to find that my flight had left.

I probably wouldn't have made it even without the security thing.

I got the next flight out, departing at 10:12 AM, and missing the first couple of panels of the day. And I managed to doze off for a bit in the airport and on the plane, which was a Very Good Thing, all told. Arrived safely in Charlotte, took a cab to the hotel, got my room, then had to decide what to do next. Attend the panel before mine? Rehearse my talk? Take a nap? (The last was out for pragmatic reasons-- I'd have slept right through my own panel.) I eventually called Mary Anne, who succeeded in calming me down, not to mention giving me advice on what to wear.

Got some outrageously overpriced food from the hotel snack bar ($5 gets you a 20-ounce bottle of Diet Pepsi, a small bag of peanuts, a small bag of chips, and 6 peanut-butter-on-tiny-cracker sandwiches), which I ate, after which I timed the newly-abridged version of my paper, yanking out a couple of paragraphs and restoring another, but ending up in the allotted fifteen minutes.

Went downstairs, the panel started, I delivered my paper, and it went over well. Heard the two other papers in my panel, after which there was time for questions on all three papers, which time was dominated by discussion of mine. People liked it, found it engaging, found stuff to argue about. It was good.

I'm going to leave out the whole sorry Quest for Kosher Pastrami saga as being too painful to talk about; suffice it to say that I didn't get any, despite spending a small fortune on cabfare.

Otherwise, I heard a few other interesting papers (highlights included "WWXD? Religious Pluralism and Xena, Warrior Princess," and a paper on Britney Spears and bare-midriff fashion), ended up attending one of the Saturday Buffy panels after all (this merits a separate entry, one I may even write, but not this moment), and saw a few movies on the in-room cable. And read some stuff for my classes. On the whole, not a bad weekend.

On the other hand, I also came down with a cold. Turns out that this was going around Ann Arbor, so I probably picked it up before I left; the lack of sleep and travelling could only have helped weaken my resistance. Not knowing this, I came up with this lovely, optimistic theory shortly before I left that the reason why I'd gone through an entire box of tissues and quite a bit of toilet paper in the past 24 hours was related to my allergy to Carpet Fresh, and that once I left the hotel, I'd be all better. Not a bad hypothesis, actually, but it turned out to be incorrect. Oh, well.

On the bright side, it's following my usual pattern for such maladies, so the last two days were the worst of the runny-nose phase. I should be able to get through my office hours with my students today without any problems.

No news yet on the retroactive-cognante-switch thing for my M.A.

And that's pretty much the weekend roundup.

You may be wondering why this page is pink. (At least, I hope it's pink. Past experience has taught me that it's impossible to know how a given color will look on the wide range of monitors out there. This journal's usual color, bright yellow on my monitor, looks like cream on Mary Anne's laptop. But I digress.) This is not because of my ongoing efforts to express my feminine side, nor because I'm in a generally good mood, or whatever. Rather, it's National Breast Cancer Month, and Shmuel's Soapbox is doing its part to raise awareness of this. Ideally, I'd be keeping this up all month, but I'll probably go back to yellow next week. I like yellow.

My sister's started a team for bloggers, escribitionists, and readers of same in the Komen Virtual Race for the Cure, and I'm asking y'all to join us. The Komen Foundation was founded in 1982, and since grown to a network of 75,000 volunteers, many of whom actually do work on advancing research, education, screening and treatment, rather than merely raising money for same. (What, me, cynical?)

Anyway, it's a worthy cause, and donations start at five bucks, which is a small price to pay if it leads to saving lives. So get your wallet out and click on the link, okay? Do it for others. Do it for yourself-- we're all affected by breast cancer, directly or indirectly. And do it through my link, in the interests of sibling rivalry.