Canada would be nice. But I have the day off; maybe I'll go hiking or skiing or something that takes me far away from the news.

Consuela, I have requested the day off and would be interested in hiking. I don't know how to ski, though.

Ugh. Burn it all down, David. You need to show some folks they shouldn't mess with you. (And, I don't know, burn down your hip, too. Metaphorically.) (But maybe lie on a heating pad. Just not until it burns.)

Consuela, I have requested the day off and would be interested in hiking.

Hiking it is! We'll go to the redwoods somewhere. Depending on the weather, anyway.

(But maybe lie on a heating pad. Just not until it burns.)

Good idea. It feels like structural damage. Like maybe there's a little tear in the labrum in there.

It sucks. Burninate!

Okay. It being That Kind of Day, the heating pad seems to have actually melted part of my (apparently) acrylic sweat pants.

Oh, no, David. That's when I'd say, "screw it," pop an anti-inflammatory of some kind, go to bed, and hope Thursday behaves a little better.

Okay. It being That Kind of Day, the heating pad seems to have actually melted part of my (apparently) acrylic sweat pants.

You need a live rooster to take the curse off you.

I personally would consider interacting with a live rooster to be something of a curse in itself.

So, I interviewed for the classics librarian job four months ago today. I have heard nothing at all. In mid-December I nudged my internal source and he said he didn't know anything. I'm assuming I am not going to be offered the job at this point - I am assuming they have managed to offer it to someone and are in the negotiation stage - but for me to move on and decide what I want to do with the rest of my life I need to know.

The chair of the search committee retired at the end of December; her position is open and I have no idea who is now running the committee. Should I contact the low-level HR person who made the logistical arrangements for my interview? Do I ask what the timeline is? Do I ask who the replacement chair is? Do I contact the person I know on the committee with whom I have a nodding professional acquaintance? Do I just continue to wait? There's still a slim chance I could be offered the job, I suppose, so I don't want to burn bridges.

I am so tired of waiting. Academia is cruel.

I personally would consider interacting with a live rooster to be something of a curse in itself.

I would rather interact with a live rooster than 90% of the people I have to interact with on a daily basis. I knew a really cool Rhode Island Red rooster once; he'd be great company.

Anyone want to hear the rooster story? Of course you do. So I had a friend once, out on the Eastern Peninsula of Virginia, who had a bunch of cats and a couple dogs, and a pet rooster who lived in the house and stayed as close to her as possible. She didn't have any other chickens. I asked her once, how did she come to have this chicken boyfriend? She told me, her sister lived one a farm in Spokane, and once, having no money for a plane ticket, she'd piled her two kids into a little Ford and driven across the country to see her sister. When she got out of the car, this rooster appeared, ran across the barnyard as fast as his little chicken legs could take him, and leaped up on her shoulder. He would not leave her. From the moment he first heard her voice, he was in love with her. At first they tried to shoo him away, but he wouldn't go. So they indulged him, and he stayed with her, only leaving her at night, to crow happily at dawn right outside her window. After a week, when she was getting ready to go home, he jumped in the car with her. They decided not to fight Fate, and she drove five days back across the country with two kids, a new puppy, and a rooster in a tiny Ford. The rooster settled in to domestic life with his beloved, and they all lived happily ever after, except for any guy who came to visit her, because he would get a faceful of jealous chicken.