My parents left town this morning. :(
I start my new job Wednesday. :)

It's going to be one of those kind of weeks.

If I survive this week, with registration, orientation, and prepping for the new job, it will be a miracle. It didn't help that we were in New York for a whirlwind trip last week (like 60-hours-whirlwind) to see the Yankees play the White Sox and to see my friends from grad school and meet their kids for the first time. BTW, Yankee Stadium is a dump. Or was a dump, since I guess it will be a nothing soon.

I have a bone to pick with mainstream media (or MSM, as apparently the interwebs are referring to it).

From Time Magazine:
"The University of Chicago sits on the city's South Side in a neighborhood called Hyde Park, an enclave of tree-lined streets, upscale condos and cafés."

From Newsweek:
"Barack Obama . . . lives in an expensive home in Chicago's tony Hyde Park section, an academic enclave hard by the University of Chicago."

I have a certain fondness for Hyde Park, but seriously, these writers have clearly never been anywhere near my neighborhood! Even if you want to claim that Hyde Park is an "enclave" on the Southside, which I suppose can be reasonably argued, it's hardly tony or upscale.

Maybe people wouldn't think of Barack as such an elitist if they rode the #6 bus down to his house. Actually I'm somewhat okay with elitism (especially intellectual elitism), but since the American public apparently wants leaders they can drink beer with, I just wish they had a more accurate portrayal of where Barack lives.

My co-worker asked me today what I thought of the nomination of she-who-shall-not-be-named. I didn't want to start fuming again, but I can't even think about her without blowing up. I had to tell Matthew to turn away from CNN last night because I was sure I'd throw something at the TV if I saw one more second of that vitriol. Anyway, as I told my co-worker, even if all she had ever done in her career was to threaten to fire her town's librarian for refusing to ban books, that would be enough right there to keep me from voting for her. Of course, that's hardly all she's done. But if I keep thinking about this, I am going to start hurting my computer. So, I will stop.

And go donate more money to my neighbor.

Oh, hey, I got a new job. Starting October 1, I will be the A-s-s-i-s-t-a-n-t D-e-a-n o-f S-t-u-d-e-n-t-s i-n t-h-e D-i-v-i-s-i-o-n o-f S-o-c-i-a-l S-c-i-e-n-c-e-s a-t U-o-f-C. (I may have gone a bit overboard with the dashes...)

If anyone is looking for a job, requisition number 080400 at the U of C jobsite will get you to my old one.

So, this month may be a bit hectic, cleaning stuff up in one office and learning the ropes in another. Well, not that many new ropes; this is basically a promotion, so the learning curve shouldn't be toooooo steep. Even though I liked my old job, I am very excited about my new one. I hope that remains the case. :)