Excerpts from the Weekend

"I don't understand how you could not like networking," she said. "Meeting people is fun."

"Networking isn't meeting people. Meeting people is meeting people. Networking is meeting people with the express hope of bettering yourself. I find that more than a little sad."

"It isn't that calculating. Anyone can do it."

"Given many homeless people your business card?"

Things From My Inbox: the Tweed and Leather?!? Edition

That's right, kids, it's time for cognitive dissonance e-mail style. As always, names changed to protect the innocent, etc, etc. Here are this week's selections:

[Person X] would like to invite you, your spouse & two guests of your choice to learn how to create a retirement roadmap customized specifically for you.

and

Why does it have to be a smart young professor aren't there any smart old professors who could get this ball rolling?

Does this suggest that old professors never die, they just retire in a foursome?

Zoinks!

And just as a bonus bit of good news from the Inbox, this arrived late last night:

We are pleased to inform you that your chapter proposal has been accepted for inclusion...

All this and a long weekend. Life's feeling up right now.

You Saw It Here First (or "Take This Out of Context and Chew On it")

I'm going to try to invent a new blog trend (think Random 10) as a way of measuring the cultural zeitgeist, recognizing strange syncronicities, allowing the universe to nudge in me in unexpected directions, and (most importantly) a new means of filling up posts.

So, ladies, gentlemen, and people who identify more creatively, let me present, for the first time on this or any stage, the magical device that all the kids will be talking about and all the adults will be scratching their heads to think about. The one, the only, the stupendous...

Things From My In-Box
"Without joining the group, I'd like to throw some questions out here. Why should Facebook be anything more than a place where a group of (mostly) college students leave each other messages about the daily goings on in their lives? Why does it need to be intellectually interesting for a group of academics?"

and

"I am looking to identify faculty members who would be willing to participate in an informal conversation about the academic possibilities for a program (yet to be defined) in something geared around national and homeland security. I am deliberately being vague because I want to proceed judiciously and not necessarily jump on the “Homeland Security” academic bandwagon that has begun around the country."

Feel like screaming yet? See a connection? Know what the universe is trying to tell me? Dive in and take a shot.

And remember, tell your friends your head hurt here first.