Ego?

so i've noticed a few of the students who have come by my office so far (mostly people that are either clueless or brown-nosing) have called me mrs. helbley (and i think one quiet one even said miss).
now i don't know if i am being egotistical or if i really should do something about this. i would prefer that students choose from the following three options: dr. helbley, professor helbley, or jennifer. i feel that if a student wants to be informal with a teacher and is comfortable calling me by my first name that is fine. but if they want to use a title it should be dr. or professor. i wonder if some of the guys get called mister. or if it is just women that they assume don't have a ph.d. i'm contemplating asking one of the younger men faculty in the dept. if they get called mister. i'm pretty sure that if i talked to the other woman in the dept. that she would say she's been called miss or mrs. we were talking on sunday before school started and she said just the other day someone doing some freshman orientation stuff walked into her office while on the cell phone and asked her to open a door for them. when she couldn't the cell phone talker requested that she go find someone that could. she's pretty sure that cell phone talker thought she was the secretary. and that if she had been a man that assumption would never have been made.

i could be over reacting. it may not matter at all in the long run. it is too bad that i still think that there is the possibility of gender bias by people because i think in general that isn't true. so what do you think? should i ignore the mrs. or should i try to fix it?

Cooking Essentials

well i finally found the cutting boards at my current place of residence. but this past couple of weeks i have made two purchases which i have determined are essential for a kitchen of mine.
-non-stick fry pan
i purchased an exceptionally cheap one at wal-mart for $5. i didn't find a fry pan at the place i am staying. there was a large cast iron skillet but i am not prepared to try my cooking skills with such a monster. it would take forever to heat and probably require a lot of fat to keep my fried egg from sticking.
-rice cooker
i've made rice twice since getting here. both times i burnt my rice to the bottom of the pot and had to scrub it for a while to get it clean. so i broke down and got a rice maker at target for $15. now hopefully i won't have to scrub for extended periods after cooking rice and i can cook it unattended. i hate having to wait for rice to cook on the stove: i'm not supposed to lift the lid to see what it is up to but i shouldn't leave because the water might boil over since the stove is less than precise in its flaming.

word-lag

merriam-webster online has a blurb about some of the "new" words in their latest edition of their college dictionary. some of the words are definately a bit late in their addition such as ollie, but there were a couple i'd not heard. i love to be reminded of words i forget about and learn new ones. so for those who are interested you can go to see the definitions of such words (or groups of words) as mouse potato, ollie, aquascape, unibrow, biodiesel, and manga.

Can't Help It

i remember when my dad was buying this one house on norwood ave that had 4 bed and 2 3/4 bath and an office with a nice lot. it was a pricey house which since i was in i think about 7th grade i don't remember what pricey was in those days and probably didn't actually know what the cost was. but my dad at some point said that he couldn't help looking at the house and wanting to buy it . it was so much nicer than the other houses and it was new.

i now know what it is like to be a bit greedy for a nice house. i have gotten attached to the niceness of our new house and so looking around at what is available here makes me realize i can't help but look at the nice new houses. there are probably some real deals on the market, but i also look at them and see tile kitchen counters when i really wish for tiled granite or granite. i see worn out carpet or aqua carpet on the flyers. or old appliances. or dark houses. or ugly walpaper. all of these things are fixable, but the new ones are so nice....

People (not) Ready

there is a microsoft commercial that has a guy going to his new job and people are very helpful in telling him how things work. everything from getting a cup of coffee to finding orientation.

my new job is people not ready. i got my id card the other day when i checked in with human resources (actually they filled out a slip of paper and then sent me down the hall for the card from student services). i asked the guy at student services so this will work as my library card, right? and he said yes and it also functioned for copies and the cafeteria and some other stuff i can't remember. so this morning i went to the library to check out books. card doesn't work. the girl says go next door to "mike-holl" to activate it and she disappeared. like i know what "mike-holl" is. and did she mean next door like the offices that were next to reference or the next building? so i thought i'd try to figure it out by reading a faq on the library web site. nothing useful. so then i asked the reference desk person. didn't know anything about it. so i went to the next building, wandered around for a minute and found a door with a guy in it and a small sign next to the doorway that said "micol". asked him about it. he said i had to go to information services to get it activated. (at least he was nice and didn't pretend i should already know all this stuff. when i asked where IS was he actually gave good directions.) so i went to IS and asked about activating my card. oh the guy who does that just went to his other job so you'll have to come back in the afternoon. and i asked for a sheet on how to set up my voicemail for my office phone. oh well once we get you in it should be self-explanitory. but i still left empty handed. they are going to get crap from me this afternoon. i want my card activated and they better have written instructions from me.

anyways. the chemistry dept. is very very helpful and nice, but the rest of the campus.... definately people not ready.

oh ya, did i mention that they lost the I-9 i sent down and somehow missed sending me other paperwork or lost what i sent. at least i am getting paid.

oh baby

there are two cats in house i am staying in. one is ellusive and stripped, tommy. but the other is dumb and friendly, baby. it is a conformation that i don't particularly like, short legs and kinda droopy stomach, and the butt high in the air. like the left cat but with more stomach. i think it is some sort of bombay cat gone wrong in breeding somewhere. the interesting part about this cat is it likes to chase shaddows. not the wiggling hand, the shaddow that it casts. your hand can be 3 inches above the carpet and this cat will pounce on the shaddow. like i said high intelligence.

Turning

well i made it down to the city of riverside and hung up my hat (okay actually hung up my lab coat). keith came down with me to give me some company on the way and to help me get settled and then he flew back last night. i will be living with a lady that teaches at the academy down the street. it is only about a mile away. so that will be nice. the traffic is not so nice. people don't use turn signals... they just cut over when they want. well i am going to try to use my turn signal (i'll still probably have to cut in pretty quickly or else the other drivers will cut me off) but my goal is to not let these drivers make me a bad driver (although keith might say i am one already so there's nothing to ruin).