As for Ms. Coleman, I appreciate the work she s doing but I would not want to be locked in a room with her. She has gazed deeply into the abyss. Who knows what horrors have taken root in her mind, and lie sleeping, waiting to unleash unfathomable nightmares for the lulz?(Yes I loled; captures beautifully a bit of the trauma that can ensue from working on the abyss)
The Portella de Baiau, during our 2008 trip
For a whole month, we'll be mostly disconnected from everything else that
isn't our knee ache, our blisters, the Sun over our heads or where to get
food. It's the first time I leave on a hiking trip as long and tough as this
one, and I feel both uncertainty and eagerness. We've been so busy during the
last few months that we've been unable to train at all for this, and I'm
probably in the worst physical condition in a decade. It's too late
to take care of that now, so we'll try to take good care of our legs and
spine.
In order to get back home in the Mediterranean, we'll have to
be fast, some days joining two stages and skipping a few that we know are not
that interesting (sections over asphalt, etc.). It's hard to make it in just
one month, but we'll try our best. The plan is going to sleep not long after sunset, getting up at dawn, to be able to walk for a decent time before the heat
starts being a handicap and just resting at midday, when the Sun is
strongest.
Of course, this means that I'm missing, yet again, this year's edition
of DebConf in New York City, which is
really sad because I was looking forward hanging around with
Mako,
Mika,
Biella, micah,
Clint and the rest of the
NYC/
Boston gang, but when
the idea of doing a long trip this summer popped up around January, it was
clear DebConf seemed unlikely this year. I hope all of you have a lot of
fun, and see you in a few weeks!
Procrastination most often arises from a sense that there is too much to do, and hence no single aspect of the to-do worth doing. . . . Underneath this rather antic form of action-as-inaction is the much more unsettling question whether anything is worth doing at allThis reminds me of another one of my favorite (and kinda distributing but also kinda liberating) quotes by Henry Miller:
Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaningFinally, the most humorous bit in the article had to do with Victor Hugo, who apparently, to stave off distraction, would write in the nude and then make what sounds like his man servant hide his clothes so he could not go outside. Reminds me that prior to the Internet, there were certainly other ways to squander time. For now, I encourage some procrastination: read it and you might get some insight as to this habit, which seems to afflict so many.
Amen to that! Enough with the coincidence vortex. As I said to Biella in IRC later: Do us a favor don t watch any shows about nuclear attacks on New York, okay
Thank you for your message. This is an automated reply.I have been thinking of writing one myself, being I am also on sabbatical but thought I might be a bit more honest and forthcoming. This is what I have so far come up with:
I am on sabbatical leave and unable to reply to my email. For all matters concerning the __________________________ Department of __________ Contact ____________ .
Thank you for your patience,
Professor
Thank you for your message. This is an automated reply. I am on sabbatical leave and while I am able to reply to my email, in fact, I have a heck of a lot more time compared to when I teach, it is customary to write a message like this and claim otherwise. However, being on leave does relieve you of (most) all department responsibilities. And given the grueling pace of academic jobs and the contemporary burden of email avalanches we all suffer from, I am taking the license (the sabbatical license) to say: 1) I may never get back to you 2) I may but it may take longer than usual 3) honestly I suffer from MEAD (Massive Email Anxiety Disorder) and hate it when people don t respond to me, so I will likely get back to you but don t you get MEAD if I fail to do so. Thanks for your patience,
Gabriella Coleman
On leave 2010-2011
Thank you for your message. This is an automated reply.I have been thinking of writing one myself, being I am also on sabbatical but thought I might be a bit more honest and forthcoming. This is what I have so far come up with:
I am on sabbatical leave and unable to reply to my email. For all matters concerning the __________________________ Department of __________ Contact ____________ .
Thank you for your patience,
Professor
Thank you for your message. This is an automated reply. I am on sabbatical leave and while I am able to reply to my email, in fact, I have a heck of a lot more time compared to when I teach, it is customary to write a message like this and claim otherwise. However, being on leave does relieve you of (most) all department responsibilities. And given the grueling pace of academic jobs and the contemporary burden of email avalanches we all suffer from, I am taking the license (the sabbatical license) to say: 1) I may never get back to you 2) I may but it may take longer than usual 3) honestly I suffer from MEAD (Massive Email Anxiety Disorder) and hate it when people don t respond to me, so I will likely get back to you but don t you get MEAD if I fail to do so. Thanks for your patience,
Gabriella Coleman
On leave 2010-2011
Next.