Intended to write an entry yesterday, but got caught up in other things. Sometimes it's downright inconvenient the way work gets in the way of my getting things done. For a few hours yesterday I was helping one my collegues go through a lab for an instrumentation class. I always wonder at the fact that there doesn't ever seem to be any standard for who is allowed to teach students. I recognize that these are PhD candidates, and are probably well past the formative period where a poor teacher could ruin them for life, but still. Honestly, I believe that teaching is one of the most important jobs in the world, and I certainly don't believe that I have any business at the front of a classroom. Felt the same way when I was a TA at Cornell. It was a little harder to deal with then because about a third of the students in the class were nubile 19 year-old females - easy to pay attention to the blackboard when you aren't looking for VPL.

Thinking of which reminds me of the first class I ever TA'd - I had a friend of mine go in ahead of me and start to introduce himself as the TA, with a heavy Bulgarian accent. When I came in and confronted him, he caused a distraction and rushed out of the room. I thought it was really funny, but all of the students just gave kind of a blank stare. I feel we get the same reaction with this site a lot.

But that's not the point. As I've mentioned, this is supposed to be Me Lording My Trip Over You week. So more in that vein. Though I'm not really sure how much further I'm going to go with it - it was a short trip and all went with very few mishaps. I'd go so far as to say zero mishaps (although a little drama. But what do you want, it was a wedding. The only thing more dramatic than a wedding is a scene at a death-bed. And with that, you know exactly how it's going to end). I did want to mention the fact that, if you ever find yourself buying a trampoline and are wondering where to put it, the Atlantic Ocean works really well (I assume the Pacific or Indian Oceans would do just as well). There's nothing quite like having a few Hummingbirds (a magical drink that tastes like a milkshake and does temporary damage to ones eyesight) and jumping up and down on a rubber sheet, ending ones journey in the busom of the ocean. Also, aqueous placement of a trampoline seriously reduces injury due to falling off, the frequency of which increases exponetially with the number of Hummingbirds intook. Intaken. Drunk. Drank? Dranken? I hate the english language.

What else... Oh yeah. Golf carts. The resort we stayed at (Sandals Grande Sport) had this really fab system. You could be picked up and dropped off anywhere at any given time. Dial zero from a house phone, and within a couple of minutes a golf cart and driver would show up to bring you anywhere on the resort you wanted to go. I think that, because they had this available, everyone assumed that the resort was enormous and you had to use the carts if you wanted to get to the pools in under an hour. In actuality, it took only 10 minutes to walk from any given point in the place to any other. It definitely made me feel like a rock star, though. Well, not a rock star so much as Marlon Brando. For some reason I assume that Marlon is brought everywhere he goes in a golf cart of some type, carrying his thespianic mass from place to place like a Roman empress on her litter.

And some apartment news. Well, "news." Like I mentioned, Sam brough in a Playstation II on which I've been playing Tony Hawk III. I used to be a serious addict to Tony Hawk II, so I was a little concerned that this was going to be the beginning of another problem in my life. But a decision was made to finish all of the goals on a single character, and then leave off to bigger and better (and more productive) things. Well, the other day I finished all the goals on one player (Geoff Rawley, I believe, for those of you who are interested). And ended up unlocking Darth Maul as a playable character. I fully intended to not play anymore, but there is an irresistable draw to being able to do killer skate tricks that involve a double-ended light saber and the Force. What's a boy to do?