Caltech Basketball!

What's this? A documentary about Caltech basketball? i'm shocked! i might just have to find and see it. It's funny, because it's about the 05-06 team, which is all students from after i graduated. i played my senior year, so the freshmen then would have graduated in 05. And there's a new coach. So i don't recognize anyone (actually, i think i do recognize at least one of the seniors, but it would be from prefrosh weekend or going to visit Michelle during her senior year). It even has a page on Rotten Tomatoes. Hopefully i'll be able to find it.

Just for the record, all the talk about not winning a game since 1985 means conference games, not all games. When i played, we won twice, just not any games that actually mattered.

First Impressions

We all know that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Looks can be deceiving and all that. Here is one example from my own life.

It was my freshman year at Caltech, and all of us frosh were going through rotation. In my rounds, i occasionally noticed a particular freshman who struck me as rather odd. i need to clarify something here. All of the students at Caltech can be referred to as odd (unless a few slip by the admissions office). We are a strange bunch, full of equations and witticisms founded in differential equations and quantum mechanics. A good portion of the students have poor personal hygiene and are not the best in social situations. So, when i say someone struck me as odd, that is from the frame of mind where the aforementioned is normal. This classmate seemed to be something else entirely. In fact, he seemed to be trying to stick out. i'm a little fuzzy on the exact details, but i seem to remember a name tag identifying him as a reporter or private eye from some 40's movie (Sam Spade?).

So, i had noticed him a few times. Rotation ended, and all us frosh were picked into the various houses. Well, it turned out that this guy was going to be a mole, same as me! And there he stood, as we all played in the flooded courtyard, in his slacks and t-shirt and sunglasses, trying to avoid getting wet (at least at first). i must admit, though, that was a significant change from his normal garb - the omnipresent trench coat and fedora. i mean, come on, who is this guy trying to be?

It turns out that he was just being himself - all that stuff is just part of the package. In the coming years, i actually got to know him, and he's one of the most interesting people you will ever meet. He loves math and numbers, but he's also a connoisseur of literature and video games and movies. He's always good for a rousing conversation on any subject. He's also one of the most caring people i know and values his friends highly. Thank you, Tim, for letting me get to know you and getting to know me. i'm very thankful for your friendship. i'd go on, but i'm pretty sure this post has gotten sappy enough already.

There you have it. Next time you happen across a guy in a trench coat and fedora... try to avoid eye contact - he might decide that you're his next victim. But really, i often need to be reminded that people don't fit in the boxes i have all prepared for them. i also need to be reminded that it's ok to be myself, even if i'm odd and quirky.

(For the record, Tim's hat and coat are much more Humphrey Bogart than The Matrix)

Sorry, Tim, if i totally butchered all the details of rotation week. That is how i remember it, but it may be totally different than what actually happened. i would not swear to any of it (except the hat and coat, of course).

Pranks

i work in IT, and since our group is fairly typical, there tend to be a fair number of pranks that happen. Or, at least, a fair number of pranks that get talked about. To be fair, there are a few pranks that are pulled off, but most of them are so lame that they aren't even fair pranks. Most of the ideas revolve around waiting until someone leaves their laptop alone without locking it, and then sending an email to their boss (or their boss' boss) telling them how much they are loved. Or installing some program that changes their desktop background every 30 seconds. Or setting their screen saver to come up after 2 seconds of inactivity. The last two haven't even happened, that i'm aware of, just been talked about. Oh, there's also the class of 'disconnect some wire so the person can't use their mouse/talk on their phone. Really, i would call most of what goes on around here hijinks, not pranks.

Our boss (let's call him B) actually comes up with, and pulls off, the best pranks. i have a fairly gullible coworker (let's call him G) who is most often the victim of these pranks. Once, for example, G was about to go on vacation to Vegas for a week. At some point during his last day before the vacation he got pretty frustrated with something and swore loudly. Across the cubicle divider from him is someone who didn't appreciate that. G realized that. Soon after the incident, he left for Vegas. When he got to Vegas, he had a voicemail from B saying that a complaint had been filed with HR and he needed to call B about it soon. He freaked out (thought he was going to lose his job) and called B, who directed him to another manager (M) because "i don't think i can be objective in this." So G called M, who was also in on the prank, and M led him about for a little before breaking the news to him. Thankfully, G is good-natured about it all.

So there have been a few good pranks, but so far no one (including me) has really stepped it up besides B. i'm not that much of a prankster, though if i'm going to pull a prank, i do have my standards. My main goal is to prevent people from pranking me. So far, it seems to be working. The others on my team seem to think that any prank they pull on me will be revisited on them in mutated and larger form. i think they're intimidated by stories about pranks from Caltech and assume that i am heir to that legacy.

And they don't even know about Alley Assassin.