Karl's Profile Picture

Karl posted a very cute picture as his Facebook picture, which makes me wonder what part of the joke I'm missing because I don't think he likes cats:

Graduation

Friday and Saturday, I went through the graduation ceremonies. Friday was the hoodingn ceremony--where your advisor gives you your pretty hood that I will wear to the W&L graduations and events. Saturday was convocation and commencement. (I need to look up what the differences are between convocation and commencement.) It was a lot of fun and I got pretty emotional, but it's kind of awkward because I know that I haven't finished writing my dissertation yet and I have another month until I defend. I don't have a sense of closure. So, maybe I should have waited until next year to participate in the ceremonies. Or, maybe, the defense will be closure enough.

I'm not completely ungrateful. In fact, I'm mostly very happy:



Lori has three students graduating this year: Mike, Dave, and me. Kiera (Mike's daughter) won't graduate for another 25 years or so. (I liked this unposed shot better than the posed ones.)

Burning Questions

Is one of the things that men can do better than women making that "uhn-tiz" sound of dance music? I can't do it. The Raisin Bran Crunch commercial cracks me up with the guy making that noise. I vaguely remember Frank telling me the name of some album (Bloodhound Gang?) that was dance music. Maybe it's like bomb sounds. Girls can't make bomb sounds, unless some guy had explained how to make the sound correctly.

My Super Powers

My super powers only seem to work when no one is around. This problem started when I was a kid. I remember when I was about 6, I could move the moon and my cousin Amy (7) could move the sun. I totally believed I could move the moon, and I saw the moon move. Then, a neighbor kid stopped by, and I tried to demonstrate, and I was shocked that it didn't work. I think my cousin Amy knew that we didn't have super powers, but I had to contemplate why my super powers weren't working.

More recently, I have bragged to Frank about my ability to call my cat. When I call for Sydney from another room, she comes running in to the room I'm in. She does not come obediently when Frank is around. Again, my super powers do not work for other people to witness. It seems that my superhero alter ego will never be revealed, and I can continue saving the world without worry.

Typical Day in the Lab

Fear the Bird! Unless it's programming.

Trying Out a New Saying

Peter complained that he found gum under his chair in the lab. I wanted to say something along the lines of "He who smelt it, dealt it" and "The faker is the maker," but I couldn't come up with anything. I thought long and hard about it, but I had been focusing on ending it with "stuck it". One lazy weekend morning, I came up with "He who ewwwwed it, glued it." Frank doesn't approve, but Peter liked it.

Show Time!

Frank and I saw Spiderman 3 at the movie theater in Lexington. The theater only has 3 screens and is pretty small but it was nice--nice, comfortable stadium seating. The movie started at 7, we got there at 6:20. We got there way early because on Friday night, there was line for tickets before the theater even opened (probably for Shrek). I periodically gave Frank updates about the time. The times I gave and the actual times are below:

Actual	Given
6:24	6:24
6:28	6:28
6:32	6:27
6:35	6:27
6:38	6:27
6:42	6:27

On the last one, he realized something wasn't right. I was cracking up
in my head the whole time.

Strong and Dangerous

Emily: The storms aren't supposed to get strong and dangerous until 7 p.m.
Sara: That's funny; that's when I'm supposed to get strong and dangerous too.

I'm not sure if I'll tie this characteristic into Victoria Bodyworks.

Another Bad Pet Owner

Jessie allowed her cats Pauline and Eva to list to Kanye West's "Golddigger" today, and ever since then, Pauline has been raising the roof, yelling, "We want pre-nup! We want pre-nup! Yeah!" Yet, she judged me for not giving my cat water. People in glass houses.

Speaking of Kanye West, if you haven't seen the Daily Show's "n-word" expose, you should. I haven't found an easy way to link it. Go to Comedy Central and click on videos and look for Contributor Larry Wilmore. The video is about a NYC councilman who wants to ban the n-word. There is a part in the expose that features "Golddigger".

Why My Mom Is Better Than Your Mom

I don't want to make this a competition, but my mom rocks.

I sent her a Mother's Day card, like a good daughter that I pretend to be around Mother's Day, her birthday, my birthday, and Christmas. When I was home at Easter, I stashed her Mother's Day present in the desk drawer in Dad's "satellite" office in my old room. In the card I wrote where she could find her present. I added, "I poked holes, so it should still be alive."

Today, we had our weekly phone call. She said, "Sara... It's dead." She had me for a second because I couldn't know what she was talking about. She continued, "And starting to smell." Oh, right. "Like cucumber melon?" I asked. I had given her cucumber melon lotion and soap and some toiletry freebies I had picked up while on the interview circuit.

That's a good mom: one who can one-up your jokes.

The card--a good card, not a great card--featured a mama kangaroo looking in her pouch, saying "Don't _make_ me come in there". I didn't know kangaroos could look in their pouches.

Stack of Frogs

Patrick didn't have anything to do with this picture, as far as I know, but I suspect some graphics software may have. I like it anyway.

Feeling Safe

Ellen, one of Dad's coworkers, asked Dad to walk her out to her car late at night after work. He wasn't her first choice. She asked the other two men but they were watching the fight. On the way out to the car, she asked, "Were you really a Navy Seal?" Dad said, "I was more of a walrus." Dad was in the Navy, just not a Seal. To help assuage her fears, when she asked, "What would you do if someone attacked?", Dad replied, "I would ask them to stop."

There are a bunch of furballs around the apartment. Sydney is shedding, and when she scratches, she kicks off chunks of fur. I was a little wary of the fuzzballs, but I saw Syd fight one and win (which is rare; she often loses fights), so I'm feeling much better.

My Hero! (in progress)

I'm working on a new superhero character. She's loosely based on my superhero talent. I render men defenseless by spritzing them with women's fragrance. Have you ever had a guy complain about the body washes available in your shower? ("Don't have any regular soap?" "Nope, just 'Love Spell' and 'Pretty in Pink'... Oh, wait, I just found some 'Exotic Coconut'.") Or, a guy run when you spritz on your body spray, in case some of the cloud would touch him? Or, someone cringes when they catch a whiff of your wallet that accidentally got doused with 'Moonlit Path' when your bottle spilled? (No on the last one?) It's a great power.

I'm tentatively calling my superhero character "Victoria Bodyworks". We'll see how that plays with various demographics.

I imagine various scenarios where I fight bad guys, and they say, "Egads! Not the 'Whispering Mist'!" "The floral scents! They're too powerful! Must return to the Hall of Evil to clear my sinuses!"

Of course, Victoria Bodyworks would need something to fight to counter the women archnemeses as well. The only weapon I have come up with so far is a combination of fragrances. "No, not 'Cucumber Melon' and 'Sweet Temptation'!"

I wonder if the author of those Swedish Comics is available for drawing life into my creation...

The Last Name Conundrum

I know I've talked with some of you about this: the debate over what a woman should do with her last name when she gets married. I've always thought I would stick with Sprenkle. What choice did I have? So many people comment on my name--they call me by both first and last name, or they say it sounds like a fairytale character (like Rumpelstiltskin?). Kids love my last name because it's like "Sparkle" or "Sprinkle". "Sprinkle" really annoyed me as a kid, and still even a bit now when I get mail with my last name misspelled.

On the otherhand, my cousin Amy (also a Sprenkle) knew that she would take her future husband's last name at an early age because she didn't like the last name. I remember throwing her all sorts of awful last names, and she claimed she would take them over Sprenkle. Now her last name is Rocco. Serves her right.

Jessie hyphenated her last name to Sprenkle-Weitzer -- I couldn't hope to get married to a guy who has a last name that fits so well with mine.

Dad claims that when he and Mom got married, they considered combining their last names: Sprenkle and Stine. I thought he meant hyphenating as "Sprenkle-Stine". He claims that they were going to combine them into "Stinkle". I asked about "Sprine" or hyphenating. He conceded that those would have better solutions.

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Andy turns, um, well... Andy turns a year older today. We don't need to mention the milestone. But he was born in 1977. He's much, much older than I am.

We will mention, though, that it's easy to remember Andy's birthday: "May the Fourth be with you."

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Why Did the Turtle Cross 896?

Now it's time for my animal story...

When I was making my u-turn on US-896 (a 4-lane highway), I saw a turtle in the middle of the inner lane. I missed him, and the car behind me missed him, but I'm not sure after that. I thought about helping him across, but I thought I' probably cause a worse traffic accident and I wasn't sure how skittish I'd be with a turtle I don't know. Poor turtle. I hope someone was able to help him.

And, to answer the above question, I don't know. I worry the answer is that the turtle had a death wish.

Dad's Animal Stories

I saw a commercial on TV for a product described as "rabbit repellent". How bizarre! I would much rather have rabbit attractant. What is the matter with adults that such a product would even be on the market? OTOH, I may get some rabbit repellent and put it in Harry's and Amspachers' [the neighbors'] yards.

We have always been a very bunny friendly household--except for the cats, who killed a couple bunnies when they were trying to be good cats. Dad named one of the bunnies who frequented our yard as "Bun-Bun" and his brother "Luigi". Collectively, they were the Bun-Bun Brothers.

A bird tried to come in the basement today. He failed loudly. There's a small patch of feathers on the door. If I see a bird with a bald spot, I'll know it was him.

Mormons Saved My Cat!

On Saturday, I got a visit from some nice, young Mormon missionaries. Frank doesn't know why I talked to them for so long, but I didn't mind a little spirituality. While I talked to them (in my PJs), I had the door open, just enough for Sydney to run out the door. They were very nice and corralled her back to my apartment. I opened the door and let her run back inside and closed the door.

I told my parents about the visit. Dad asked, "They didn't baptize her, did they?" Nope.