Gilmer

Put the cork back in the bottle? We tried that back in the years before I got too bad. I found that after a couple of days the wine would spoil and taste bad--and, heavens! We can't have that! So I drank it all at one sitting!

woodhead

Liz,
Great analogy. In what area were you pursuing the Ph.D.? If I were to guess, let's see........................., literature? I guess this because you seem very well read and very articulate, although many pursuing a Ph.D. have those characteristics. History would be my second guess. Inquiring minds are interested.
Best,
W

woodhead

Gilmer,
I guess I don't understand the point of someone trying to keep you off this board if it is helpful in your recovery. I think my wife would have done almost anything to move me towards sobriety, but it took me deciding for myself to do it - I don't believe that anyone can convince one to be sober until the drinker becomes determined to change their life. Once that decision is made, however, support becomes a huge help. SR has been my only support group through my journey to sobriety, and is perfect for me. I honestly believe I would have backslid if it weren't for my friends at SR, and I do count you all as friends even though I've never met you face-to-face. Some day I do hope to meet some of you in person. Sorry Gilmer, but I digress - please find a way to stay with us.
Best,
W

LizG

history?! hahahahaahahahahaha … totally useless there, I’m afraid.

But bang on! Lit. in a continental European language which I still have the pleasure of teaching part-time. I help students cobble together sentences so they may order a beer or buy a snazzy pair of Lederhosen.

woodhead

I love it when I'm right - happens at least once a year.

LizG

Once a year? Well, you’re obviously not a math prof. If your wife is right 90% of the time and is not wrong 10% of the time and one accounts for bias or variance, that leaves you, hmmmm, at best, a solitary chance per decade to be right. Savour your small victory!

Gilmer

Academics can be fruitcakes (present company excepted, of course)!
I just read an interview in Biblical Archaeology Review with four archaeologists of different camps. They were accusing one another of lying, slander, and gross misquotation: one even said to another, "This is why nobody takes you seriously, Tom--you never get your facts straight!" I don't know how the moderator managed to keep it from turning into a brawl!

Greensleeves

LizG, thanks for the gentle correction. Let's blame it on the avatars and not my whirling brain!

Gilmer, I'm glad to see you're able to be with us again, if only for an hour a day.

I had a weird temptation yesterday: I usually avoid the liquor aisle at the grocery store, but yesterday I spotted my husband across the way and the quickest way was through that aisle. Without thinking, I charged ahead and halfway down the row thought...wow, this is totally uncomfortable. WINE EVERYWHERE! I shimmied on through, and now I acknowledge my mistake. Clearly, I'm not ready to be surrounded by that much booze. And the metaphor works: sometimes the quickest way is not, in fact, the best way. Next time I'll take the long way 'round.

woodhead

My crowd, the scientists, are just as bad - especially the shiny new Ph.D.s. They have something to prove to the world, so arguing about minutia is a favorite pastime. It takes some time to realize that much in science is uncertain and that diverse opinions help advance one's field. I enjoy the research for which much of our value is judged, teaching only affecting status if you do it poorly. However, as time goes on I enjoy teaching much more than research.

LizG

Hilarious! A new screen saver scroll for work :-) Reeny mentioned she's @ the Uni too, so that makes at least 2 full-baked fruitcakes and one half-baked. I admit I don't miss the petty rivalries and the no-life-outside-the-job aspect of academe, but I would give my right arm to be challenged like that again. woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? :-(

LizG

Bang on again, W. Twice in 6 hours :-) Fun fact : According to the internets, the geographic centre of the contiguous US is Lebanon, Kansas, population 218. The North Americans could congregate there some day. With only 218 other souls wandering about, at least we'd be able to find each other fairly quickly!

Throwing other continents into the mix makes the math for me, artsy girl, too complex. That being said, there would not be much arm-twisting required to get me back to OZ :-)

woodhead

Ha Ha! I've been called worse than a full baked fruitcake for sure. Our former Governor, George Wallace, often referred to professors as "pointy-headed intellectuals who can't park their bicycles straight." He was before my time, but the sentiment still holds in our wonderfully progressive state.

woodhead

I'd much rather go to Canada than go to the land of wind blow, grass grow. I spent a lot of time in eastern Colorado - same thing different arctic tundra hell - and don't see much reason to return. The western half of CO is a different, mo' better, thing.

Gilmer

I've got 30 days today!

LizG

ouch. Hopefully no one on our thread is from Kansas, or eastern Colorado for that matter! You're always welcome here in the land of beavers, hockey and toques, just as long as there as many deer in forest after you leave as before you arrived.

LizG

That's super news, Gilmer! Congratulations!

Gilmer

I love that firecracker emoticon!

Reeny

Great analogy, Liz! Divorce it is, despite times of madness when I miss you like crazy, old friend.

Reeny

And a spare bottle just in case. I mean, I can always use the remainder of the bottle for cooking, no? Ha, ha, ha.

Reeny

Yep, count me in - a total fruitcake, as charged!