My Professor was on The Daily Show
Every once in a while, when I’m trying to distract myself from thinking about my upcoming surgery, I’ll google a name of someone from the past and see what comes up.
Today I found this:
Lee Gutkind is one of my professors from the University of Pittsburgh. His classes and his writing style fascinated me. Every time I scheduled my next semester, I would try to take something he was teaching. When all was said and done, I believe he was responsible for giving me about 13 credits or so of very well deserved A’s.
I interned for him at his then newly created journal called Creative Nonfiction. In fact, Creative Nonfiction turned into my first job out of college, where I worked an an assistant editor. This man could research the hell out of just about any topic, write about it, and make it interesting.
He used to take essays I had written and cross off the entire first three pages to show me where my story should start. I would initially want to cry, after all that work that I had put into my writing; but then I would read the finished result in front of the class and watch their reactions. I knew it was good because people sat there nodding their heads as I read.
Just about everything that is good about my writing, I learned from him. How cool is it that my professor was on The Daily Show!?!
Blogsitting
I am blogsitting over at IzzyMom today, with a super holiday gift suggestion for the little "princess" in your life. Go and read. I’m busy working on my fantasy football line-up.
Playoffs baby, oh yeah!
Confession
Thanks to all my shopping over the past few days, my cold has decided it’s the perfect time to ramp it up. That means that it’s the perfect time to complete my meme duty as per Martial Development. I’m supposed to state three embarrassing personal confessions.
1. Day and Date Memory Lapses: Yesterday I woke up thinking it was Sunday because I thought that Friday was Saturday. Because of this, I completely forget to take Big I to karate class yesterday morning. It wasn’t even like I remembered in the morning though. I didn’t realize she had missed her class until Saturday night. I frequently screw up days around holidays, so you probably shouldn’t make any plans with me when Big I has days off from school. Come to think of it, I am usually not aware of the date or time (since I don’t wear a watch) so making plans with me is risky. Tomorrow is Tuesday right?
2. Sunday Plans: During football season, I usually spend my entire Sunday curled up on my couch with drinks, snacks and my lap-top so that I can constantly check on my fantasy football players and their performance. I often yell at players as if they can hear me. Lil C is getting really good at yelling at players too. This makes me quite proud.
3. Pronunciation: Because I don’t wish to share any more embarrassing flaws of my own, (and since I already told you about the Danger of Recorded Material which goes down in history as one of my most embarrassing experiences ever), here’s one of my sister’s which I will never let her forget. After the tsunami happened my sister called me. "Oh my God," she said, "Did you hear about that (word spelled as she pronounced it) "tut-som-ee"?" When I could catch my breath again, I asked her if she was referring to the tsunami and indeed she was referring to exactly that.
I’m supposed to tag people, so I hereby command the following people to tell all of their most embarrassing confessions. With the exception of one, I’m tagging all the fantasy football participants in my league called Smack Talkers Anonymous. May this meme serve to distract you from your line-up duties to deliver me a win and a bump up in the standings. . .
Adam
Papa Bradstein
Goon Squad Sarah
August Runner
Ikigai (if you don’t have a blog, you have to add yours in my comments)
Marcus Aurelius (ditto)
Jenn Maniacal
Da Mack Daddy
Shameless Gloating to Follow
Last year I joined Blog Burst. You register your blog with them. If accepted, they find big online publications to publish your posts. Exposure is the name of the game. The Houston Chronicle has been loving me for some time and publishing pretty much all of my entries (I’m loving them back because of it); but lately I’ve noticed some new places. Check me out!
The Sacramento Bee
Reuters, yeah THE Reuters. (I should mention here that I totally think it was a mistake. Someone probably lost their job over it. I’m on the "investing page" and I can almost guarantee you it’s because of the name "Bill Gates" that was included as part of an end note. I’m taking it any way I can get it though.)
Now if I could just get Bill Gates to notice me and my tip jar. . . (Oops, there I go again.)
How to Find a Wii
Every day, multiple searches land people on this site, people who are still looking for a Nintendo Wii. A year after my quest for a Wii, I can’t believe that people are still having trouble finding them for Christmas. Instead of just reading about how I was one of the lucky ones who found a Wii, I thought I’d give you googlers some advice about how to find one. Here goes:
- Investigate all the local stores that sell Wii’s. Where are the people most friendly? Where are the managers or sales associates who are most like you? I made "friends" with the Electronics Department Manager at my local Walmart and it worked wonders for me. Don’t waste time traveling all over looking for one. You only need one manager/sales associate who likes you. Make that the store you’re determined to get a Wii from. In my area, the Walmart received weekly shipments and they usually received more Wii’s than the other stores did, 15 to the other stores’ three or four.
- When I say "make friends," I mean, talk to the manager instead of just barking "Did you get any Wii’s today in their face?" I was the master of schmooze. I always asked her how she was doing, when she thought another shipment might come in, how many she thought she might receive, and I always thanked her for her time and help. It really paid off.
- Do some investigating about when your chosen local store receives their shipments. My Walmart received shipments on Wednesdays around noon, which means I arrived at the store at around 11:45 and hung out around the incoming boxes.
- Be persistent, but don’t be annoying. Obnoxious people don’t get Wii’s. A Mom, toting two kids, who looks incredibly depressed every time the manager says "Sorry, we don’t have anymore" gets the gold.
- That being said, it doesn’t hurt to tote your kids along when you’re looking for a Wii. Think empathy factor: a mom trudging through crowds of people with children in each arm. . . you get the idea. If you don’t have two of your own, borrow your nieces or nephews, with permission of course.
I firmly believe that the manager saw my perseverance and "awarded" me with a Wii. One had been returned unopened, and she snuck me back to the layaway area so that I could buy it in peace without some lunatic swiping it from me (because last year, someone totally would have done that). She had seen me arrive at Walmart on all the shipment days, with a heavy one-year old in my arms every time and I was rewarded for my efforts.
That being said, Good luck finding your Wii!
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