I felt a wave of nostalgia today. It was a weird feeling. It started with my professor, who is absolutely cracking me up. He comes into class, a la Mr. Jenkins, and requests that one of his grad students arrive a bit early in order to set up the overhead projector for him. (Of course, they nod eagerly at a way to please their advisor.) Then he proceeds to instruct them on how to do this (just in case he wasn't in a class of graduate engineers): "First plug it into the top plug because there is something stuck in the bottom plug. Then turn it on. Then focus it. Maybe you want to put a pen on it to make sure its focused on. Everyone see? Understand?" I try to restrain from giggling. Later in the lecture, a la Dr. Kamat, he was saying something about the incompressibility of low speed air flow, and he said "I remember when I was your age, and driving back and forth to Austin all the time. I had a little car with a sun roof. I used to put it on cruise control and stick my head out the top of the roof and let the car drive itself. It was very exciting. A thrill. I don't suggest doing that now. Now, the police would probably arrest you and put you in jail for a very long time." Again. I supressed a giggle. I am the only girl in the class. And the rest look like serious, non-native-American type students, and I don't think we've broken the ice enough for them to appreciate it.

I walking back to my car after class. The birds were chirping. The big trees were keeping the sun from making me too hot. The tame squirrils looked at me like I was going to feed them. It felt like back at Tech. Just for a moment. Then the reverie was interupted by the realization that I wasn't going to lazily wait out the time until my next class by having a meal at Juniors, running into some random friends in the AE study loungue and complaining about homework, going back to my dorm to take a nap, or doing a quick run by the Technique office. I was going back to work. Where I would be for a very long time. But then I would be going back to my living quarters that are much nicer than a dorm room, and I would be playing with my dog, and going camping this weekend rather than stressing about homework. I guess its all a trade off. I also saw a student riding a Segway to class. Since they didn't exist when I was at Tech, that might have put an end to my nostalga too.

And my rant, Bush said he acted to limit raises because “full statutory civilian pay increases…would interfere with our nation’s ability to pursue the war on terrorism.” All I have to say is that I don't agree with the priorities expressed in this statement. If nothing else, civilian federal employees are at the forefront of the Middle Eastern crusade we have going on - more so than in any previous military campaign. And heck, even if I'm not in the front line, I am a civilian federal employee, I could use the extra $1000 pay raise that is recommend by the statutes.