Wii

Earlier this week I went over to Eric's apartment and played Wii bowling, golf, and tennis. It was way, way, way too much fun. I'm sorry to say that I got my best bowling score ever in Wii bowling: 201. I suspect the computer is a little forgiving. This little video shows what the bowling game is like.

I'm afraid it was totally addictive and, not only that, I was really breaking a sweat playing the tennis game.

Who needs real bowling???

Mysterious

Recently I got a surprising email...

"We have received your application for a faculty position (rank to be determined by qualifications and experience) in the Department of Health Studies.
Federal regulations require the University of Chicago to request sex and race/ethnicity information from all job applicants. We request that you voluntarily provide us with your name, sex, and race/ethnicity by creating and saving an academic profile online at Https://jobopportunities.uchicago.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=192937
Whether or not you choose to provide us with this information will have no bearing on the handling or consideration of your application.
If you have questions concerning our Equal Employment Opportunity policy or its application, contact Employment Services at 773-702-8903 or Aneesah Ali, Associate Provost and Affirmative Action Officer at 773-702-5671.
Thank you for your interest in the University of Chicago."

This email is particularly surprising given that I have never applied for any job, ever, at the U of Chicago. However, I did once walk around the grounds for half an hour.

My suspicion is that my Columbia advisor Habib, who took a job there a year ago. is responsible. I did send him my CV recently. Oh well. I guess it would be nice if they flew me there for an interview. I could visit Karin and Sean!

graffiti

I guess some people are getting a little tired of the coupe du monde.

Marché

I finally got paid for September. Alors...

Here were some treats from the market this week.

Les figues et un saucisson:
Les girolles
Muscat grapes
et trois avocats.

Even more online time

This week Janine convinced me to sign up for facebook so that I could eyeball the profile of her ex-boyfriend. But then I couldn't even see it anyway because you have to be someone's "friend" to see their profile. So silly! You can see the random profiles of strangers, but not those of friends of friends.

I suppose these online networking are really for 18-year olds who want to hear about the next rally down at the student union. Which I guess makes me a late adopter. However, there I was surfing through the UNC alumni network, and I learned that one of my ex-boyfriends is now an assistant professor at the U of Georgia. Strange but true.

More trips

Looks like I'll be heading back to the US for the third time in 3 months, this time for meetings at NCI on the 25th, in DC. Or rather, Bethesda. Is Bethesda a total suburban experience? At least it is on the metro.

This week will be quiet for me, both because I'm participating in the all-consuming IARC monograph on painting, firefighting and shift-work, but also because IARC neglected to pay me last month, and I have all of about 5 euros in my bank account. Literally. I told this to Farhad and he opened his wallet and gave me 40 euros to help me make it through the week. Fortunately I do have some groceries.

Coupe du Monde

For the last month the sports news has been dominated by the Rugby World Cup, an event that I suspect has been getting slightly less press coverage in the United States than here. Adding to the local hysteria is that France is the host for the games, several of which have in fact occurred in Lyon’s Stade de Gerland. Whenever I have heard drunken people singing the Marseillaise outside of my window, I have known that La France is in another game.

Surprisingly, the US has indeed fielded a team and is participating. Shockingly, we have not made the finals. Julien told me that since the US team members must hold down day jobs, they seemed to tire more easily. We lost to all the other teams in our pool, even Tonga and Samoa.

The Friday before last I made the mistake of trying to meet up with someone at an Irish Pub down in Place Carnot at the same time as the France-Ireland game. The French don’t really do sportsbars, so they crowd into Irish pubs to watch sporting events, which was pissing off the Irish, who were already feeling pissy because Ireland was losing the game. Les Bleus creamed the Irish in that game. It was a sad day in the Irish Corner Pub.