December 08, 2004

***SPOFI LOCKER ROOM INTERVIEW #25 aka XXV*** gspm:: "I'll do it if it can be XXV." For my "silver" interview, I've lined up yet another of my Canadian rivals in the EPL fantasy league. Let's meet interviewee #25, eh? gspm!

posted by worldcup2002 to navel gazing at 01:08 AM - 94 comments

Can we finish this interview before Dec 25? Before year 2005 AD?

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:09 AM on December 08, 2004

Apologies for the late start, gspm, and now springing this on you ... Q1. How does it feel to be the 25th interviewee?

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:13 AM on December 08, 2004

Well l knew this would be no cakewalk. It wasn't pretty but I'll take it. 25 ain't nothing but a number (to paraphrase a sentiment of Aaliyah). The series lasting this long is more a testament to the appeal of the interview format, the strength and size of the community and dedication of somebody such as our interviewer. So how does it feel? Sure, it is kinda neat but each interview is new and independent of the others. It'd feel like a special interview if there was a half hour retrospective clip thread preceding it and a few ribbon, banner and horn tooter gifs up there somewhere. (Also, it is kind of spooky - or completely unremarkable if you look at it another way - that your 25th interview starts on my birthday which may require some hmmmming when we consider something like that birthday paradox and how that might relate to the Spofi Interview series.)

posted by gspm at 06:54 AM on December 08, 2004

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear gspm. Happy birthday to you.

posted by 86 at 08:42 AM on December 08, 2004

Happy Birthday! (I'd sing, but I've found not singing to be the best birthday present I could give someone).

posted by trox at 08:52 AM on December 08, 2004

Happy birthday! It's an exciting numerical one too - the sum of the (two-digit) year and the day equals the month! That only happens once every hundred years. I really need to get back to work now.

posted by JJ at 09:36 AM on December 08, 2004

Q2. Happy Birthday to gspm! Happy Birthday to Yooooooooou! Well, another milestone to celebrate. How old are you now? Any special thoughts as you pass another milestone (as opposed to passing a gallstone)?

posted by worldcup2002 at 12:38 PM on December 08, 2004

gspm, do you act like a monkey, do you act like one too?

posted by billsaysthis at 01:18 PM on December 08, 2004

We should do a SpoFi age poll. I would guess the average age is about 30, but that's wild speculation.

posted by dusted at 01:36 PM on December 08, 2004

Well, I've gotta dig deep. It's not over yet. I have to look at it as one day at a time, starting tomorrow. Just turned 31 today (bumping the spofi avg up I guess), and so far the celebrating has been limited to spending 5 hours in front of an electron microscope. I don't get too reflective specifically on my birthday so I don't know that I have any wisdom to share. But, so far it is better than my 30th when I was feeling ill (and I am generally pertty healthy, so was it psychosomatic?) and cancelled all plans and spent a very quiet night in. Maybe being cautious (or poor) means that spending a quiet night in is by design this year. JJ - I had never heard of that one. I though it was all over for me when I turned 8. At least until I turn 73. Or something like that. But now I can celebrate that dd + yy = mm. woo hoo!

posted by gspm at 02:33 PM on December 08, 2004

goal for liverpool. such excitement was absent when I was following the celtic match on the bbc/guardian websites yesterday.

posted by gspm at 03:47 PM on December 08, 2004

I want to sing something about Liverpool, but this is about you, not Stevie G. As for the numerical excitement - consider yourself lucky - my birthday is 31st January, which means that shit's never gonna happen to me. Ever. Still... 3-1 though, isn't it? Yes indeed. *smug grin*

posted by JJ at 04:25 PM on December 08, 2004

Liverpool fans have had two big recent wins to soak up. To go along with Gerard's whinging (ALL FORGOTTEN NOW!) of course.

posted by gspm at 04:42 PM on December 08, 2004

Gerrard

posted by StarFucker at 06:38 PM on December 08, 2004

I meant Houllier's whinging! (yeah sure I did. my bad.) hey sauril - that football clips site you offered a link to recently doesn't look like it did that last time i visited (ie I had bookmarked the EPL directory but now it takes me to a seemingly useless mainpage). any insight?

posted by gspm at 06:46 PM on December 08, 2004

I just thought of something hilarious... I know this is an interview thread, but gspm is a football fan so... What if a player put on two team jerseys, one on top of the other, and then when he scored he ripped off the top one and waved it around while the other shirt stayed on? Would he get carded you think? I think that would be a riot! I mean, what would the ref do?!

posted by StarFucker at 06:56 PM on December 08, 2004

SF, one of the players from Lyon wore two of his own teams jerseys tonight and when he scored, ripped the top one of to throw into the fan seats. He got a yellow but explained after that since he won't be on the playing squad next game, no matter. If you pull up your shirt and show some other piece of clothing underneath, automatic yellow.

posted by billsaysthis at 07:05 PM on December 08, 2004

Anyway, who among us thought the Reds had any chance at all once they were down 1-0 at the half and with Monaco up 1-0? So, gspm, well, you know, interview, Liverpool thread, it's all good on ya, mate.

posted by billsaysthis at 07:06 PM on December 08, 2004

How did you see the Lyon game?!

posted by StarFucker at 07:18 PM on December 08, 2004

Wait a minute, so some guy stole my idea already?!

posted by StarFucker at 07:27 PM on December 08, 2004

I didn't see that game, SF, but for sure they mentioned it on the post-game report. I saw the surreal, even eerie Real Madrid-AS Roma empty house affair. Fucking ESPN.

posted by billsaysthis at 07:30 PM on December 08, 2004

Hahaha, brilliant. Liverpool lovefest again. Go Reds!

posted by worldcup2002 at 08:24 PM on December 08, 2004

Q3. Ahem. Why do I think you're Scottish?

posted by worldcup2002 at 08:24 PM on December 08, 2004

It's a rebuilding year. You'll have to ask yourself that question. But, the evidence for such a thought - when I joined SpoFi I was living in Scotland. I am sure I have posted comments with some indications of first-hand UK knowledge and experience and perspective. But I am Canadian and currently live in Canada. I moved over there for a change of pace. A chance to see and try new things. My wife (answer to question 8 or so) has English heritage and we could get work visas - so, in 2002, feeling relatively mobile and not tied down we put our stuff in storage and moved to the UK. We settled in Edinburgh, had a great time and returned to Canada at the end of the summer. It was about a two year jaunt that ended all too quick. Scotland was super. Met some great people, there are some fantastic memories. But I am back at school (PhD, hence the scanning electron microscopy today). In some senses I would love to still be in Edinburgh enjoying the life we made there but life is lived going forward. I have a mate in Edinburgh who is a big Reds fan (and I properly spelt Gerrard in a email to him earlier) and you have to know I was catching the end of the Liverpool game on text updates but thinking about what the alternative would have been (think Edinburgh + mate + pub + beer).

posted by gspm at 08:57 PM on December 08, 2004

If y'all's haven't figured it out yet, for this 25th interview, I'm trying very hard not to ask any of my standard questions. Q4. What about Wham! Which was your favorite song? Favorite album? George or Andy? Wake Me Up Before You Go Go or Different Corner? Wham George or Post-Wham SexFreak George?

posted by worldcup2002 at 11:28 PM on December 08, 2004

Man, this question is really different.

posted by dusted at 02:04 AM on December 09, 2004

Its a question?

posted by StarFucker at 09:07 AM on December 09, 2004

Its a way of life.

posted by rocketman at 09:10 AM on December 09, 2004

It's certainly questionable.

posted by trox at 09:11 AM on December 09, 2004

Wham. Hmmm. I was never really into them. As far as favourite songs I suppose if their schmaltzy Last Christmas came on at this time of year I would enjoy it. Didn't like the Wham Rap. The video for Freedom when they were in China on the great wall was kind of interesting. Maybe Everything She Wants? Not their biggest hit and not their cheesiest. Typical Wham I guess. I don't know if I could name a single Wham album. And choosing between Andrew or George. Andrew and George? A tough choice to be sure. But I'd pick George because at least he was something beyond Wham. His solo stuff, his first couple of albums post Wham were probably his pinnacle for me. Pinnacle in terms of somebody I was never really into, mind.

posted by gspm at 09:46 AM on December 09, 2004

I'll point everyone to gspm's blog and, in particular, his blog profile for the source of that question. Expect a HUGE spike in traffic, Sean, erm, gspm. You have been SpoFi-ed!

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:15 AM on December 09, 2004

btw, I thought Everything She Wants was the tops. But that's just me.

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:16 AM on December 09, 2004

Q5. You're #2 in the EPL Fantasy League. What's your secret? Are you really a soccer fan? Calmy's lead has been steadily whittled down. How long until you get to #1?

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:19 AM on December 09, 2004

I'll point everyone to gspm's blog and, in particular, his blog profile for the source of that question. Busted, you closet Wham fan.

posted by dusted at 10:59 AM on December 09, 2004

Wham is such a gay band name...

posted by StarFucker at 11:06 AM on December 09, 2004

blog profile is not something you can hold me too exactly since the content therein is not kept right up to date. but it should give you an idea of where i was at at the beginning of this year when i think i last fiddled with most of it. (i am not immediately familiar with the content I have posted in my own profile. I am a Wham fan?) the EPL pool key for me i guess is experience from last year and a bit of number crunching before assembling my initial squad. i picked whatever keeper i have (green) because he offered great value for initial cost. and lookit that, he was cheap (and his value is rising and rising) and there he is among the leaders. key #2 is avoid making that extra transfer in a given week. i think i have done it once this season but 4 points spend on an extra transfer? half the guys on your team won't score four points for you in a given week. better hang on to those points. key #3 is ignoring the extra bench spot. i filled that with the cheapest possible guy i could find and i don't think he is even in the EPL now (same goes for my backup keeper, cheap as possible since my primary keeper will play in nearly all the games). ask yourself, how many times a season (provided you are not lilnemo and actually are adjusting your lineup on a regular basis) will your third bench guy get auto substituted into the lineup? i say zero. any money spent on a third bench guy is wasted so i wasted as little as possible by going cheap. i finished 6th or something last year after being in the 3rd or 4th spot most of the way. so i knew i had a good feel for the competition but maybe needed to pay a little more attention. while i may yet drop (after giving away my 'secrets' i might be asking for it) i am satisfied so far this year. i am gunning for Calmy this week (GRRRRR!). I have tinkered with my second top midfielder lately (after arsenal went into a slump i had henry, ljungberg and bergkamp and decided to move midfielder ljungberg - only to have bergkamp sit out two games and ljungberg pick up a few solid weeks) and if i have that sorted out then this might be my week. but i dunno. the margins are pretty thin. one good week seems like it can change things greatly. i say there is none gayer band name than The Homosexuals.

posted by gspm at 11:12 AM on December 09, 2004

What about the Queers? Or Pansy Division?

posted by Ufez Jones at 11:21 AM on December 09, 2004

Gay Dad?

posted by yerfatma at 11:53 AM on December 09, 2004

So, you get a card for lifting your shirt, not for revealing what's underneath? Shame. Not that I'm coming to this late or anything... Wake me up before you go go - has to be - anyone who says different is lying. Ahh the memories - summer of 1984, Eastbourne, watching Wimbledon (the tennis tournament, not the football team) on the hotel TV and drinking perfect chocolate milkshakes until I felt sick form it. I was 9. But enough about me...

posted by JJ at 01:01 PM on December 09, 2004

What about the Queers? Or Pansy Division? What about the Buttless Chaps?

posted by LionIndex at 02:46 PM on December 09, 2004

You can bet that your fantasy league response was read with great interest by me your competitors, gspm. You have a devious damn why didn't I think of that very intelligent plan there.

posted by worldcup2002 at 07:07 PM on December 09, 2004

I am not sure that the content therein isn't obvious to everyone else, not that i think about it. maybe that is part of my edge, the idiot savant or something.

posted by gspm at 07:13 AM on December 10, 2004

ha! you'll never catch me (this year)

posted by BigCalm at 07:33 AM on December 10, 2004

...now that i think about it Ha! Big Calm, your hubris is sudden compared to your fretting nigh each time you have posted the standings in the last month! Though, yes, truth says the year ends in only three weeks.

posted by gspm at 09:57 AM on December 10, 2004

At the rate I'm going, I'll pass you both by year end. HA!

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:44 PM on December 10, 2004

Q6. Moment of bliss or joy. When time stood still. When everything was right with you and the world. Describe.

posted by worldcup2002 at 02:47 PM on December 10, 2004

We don't want any bedroom stories, either.

posted by dusted at 04:18 PM on December 10, 2004

I do...

posted by StarFucker at 04:20 PM on December 10, 2004

there was this time i was waking up and the sun was filtering in through the window and i knew i could sleep in... but beyond the bedroom... i dunno, good question. got married a few years ago in what we fashioned as a Married Life Launch Party (as informal as it might sound, it had a logo that i should dig up to share) and it was an event embraced by friends as an event of memorable greatness. I guess the moment i find myself reflecting upon as the years go by was a trip out west a few month before we got married and we went to the west coast of vancouver island to tofino for a quick visit. and that is a wonderful place to go (great scenery, the Pacific Rim National Park area, just wow) and i would love to go back but am left with revisiting the memories. maybe one day (though as far as BC wilderness goes i have to say that this place is on my list due to a familial - great grandfather - connection. i'm not a very outdoorsy person but it is the kind of thing that i'd like to do someday). i guess i recall really feeling it last summer in Edinburgh when I walked home from work past pretty much my favourite pub in the city and sometimes on Fridays I would get off work early and grab a pint or two there and the late afternoon summer sun was perfectly aligned with the big windows of the pub. their beer is fantastic (lots of import wheat beers and stuff, two kinds of Erdinger on tap, german and czech stuff you wouldn't see many place in town) and the place is cozy. so beer, and sun, and maybe something to read (often some article from the NYT msagazine or the New Yorker i'd printed out for just that purpose) and just relaxing and maybe some friends would meet me there for what was certain to be a great friday night - yeah, those were the times. crappy montreal winter icy sidewalks mutter mutter

posted by gspm at 05:45 PM on December 10, 2004

That's beautiful. I didn't quite know what to expect when I asked that question, but you got it a few times there. I wish you'd give more details about each of those instances, not just the surroundings or circumstances or events, but what you were feeling or thinking. Anyway. Thanks. I'll have to come up with another fresh challenging question.

posted by worldcup2002 at 02:26 AM on December 11, 2004

Yeah, what were your emotions when you were supping that pint? wc2002 should become a football reporter.

posted by squealy at 10:05 AM on December 11, 2004

Hey gspm, you're in Montreal? Outside of the sidewalks, how is it living year-round there? I went last fall (and rode through on my motorcycle this fall) and really loved it.

posted by dusted at 10:25 AM on December 11, 2004

dunno. i've only been here since late august and it is the first time i've lived here. it'll take some adjustment since i am wholly anglophone with a sprinkle of canadian grade school french that as eroded to a level or two above only being able to read labels on food (the pictures don't hurt). all i have heard, though, suggests the town is amazing and i look forward to getting to know it. december 1st was the first snowfall. dec 6th or so was freezing rain which coated everything with an inch and a half of ice. last night was 20cm of snow (the sky isn't always yellow, longer exposure used to make the most of the ambient light). forecast for tonight is 25 more cm of snow. which is a bit of an adjustment after two snow-free winters in scotland and one mostly-snow-free winter in toronto in the last three years. so i don't know if the sidewalks are bad in Montreal terms but I know I am no longer used to it. FWIW, i know there are at least two other montreal spofites on here. can't remember who they are though. so, insofar as feelings and thoughts i think at those times of your life you are able to exist in the moment and forget about what you need to do tomorrow or all that is bothering you. those moments i mentioned were all about just feeling 'yeah, this is good' and just feeling that and enjoying it. Gay bandnames side discussion - I bring you The Gay (i've heard a few tunes, decent indie pop).

posted by gspm at 05:44 PM on December 11, 2004

Q7. Scanning electron microscopy - what are you scanning and measuring? And what answers are you hoping to find? Are you doing nanotech?

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:54 PM on December 13, 2004

I am back in grad school (PhD, Civil Eng). While nanotech is the new big thing I am in the larger scale and lower tech area of concrete. Still, my background is in materials so people like me end up looking at concrete with microscopes. The gist of the topic involves carbonation of concrete. Generally, when this happens naturally it is a very slow process and it is a bad thing but perhaps we can intentionally do it and do it quickly and reap some benefits. Now, if you are asking yourself, what does concrete look like up really really close - see for yourself. So, if I can find a soapbox and impart ONE thing about my area of study on the people of the world (starting with the people of the SpoFi lockerroom) it is the difference between cement and concrete. The terms are not interchangeable any more than saying flour is the same thing as saying cake. Cement is the (generally) grey powdery stuff you get in bags from the hardware store. Cement + water = cement paste Cement paste + sand = mortar Mortar + aggregates (ie stones) = concrete And that concludes intro to concrete.

posted by gspm at 09:30 AM on December 14, 2004

And that concludes intro to concrete. That was actually suprisingly useful, especially with a new home.

posted by smithers at 10:59 AM on December 14, 2004

That was a pretty picture! Actually, my cousin's son has a PhD+ in materials science but his specialty is fuel cell technology. Funny how when I first heard about his field of study I was thinking it had more to do with inventory management.

posted by billsaysthis at 12:25 PM on December 14, 2004

Q7b. Follow-up: Why is quick carbonation a good thing? I'm guessing that carbonation leads to loss of some key material in the concrete, which leads to erosion and degradation of the material. How does speeding up the process help? Are you going into applied materials engineering? Inventing new concrete? Figuring out how to make new types of buildings?

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:42 PM on December 14, 2004

No, I'm not stalling until I come up w/ question 8. Really.

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:43 PM on December 14, 2004

slow carbonation lowers the ph of concrete. concrete has a high pH (very basic or alkaline, and not at all acidic as i think martha stewart suggested in a piece once that involved doing some yardwork with concrete) which means that steel placed inside it (for reinforcement) gains a magic protective layer that prevents or inhibits corrosion. so, when carbonation occurs the pH goes down, the passive film becomes unstable, is weakened, or destroyed and corrosion of the steel can occur. since corrosion products of iron take up more physical space than the iron itself the corrosion results in a volume expansion of the iron/iron oxide assemblage. when you have something contained and constrained within concrete and it expands then bad things can happen. like cracks. and cracks can let in more water and oxygen and chlorides etc to lead to the formation of more corrosion products. so, in terms of 'good' carbonation - by carbonating concrete while it is setting it is found that the strength can be improved. the carbonation accelerates the setting (a mechanism of carbonation rather than hydration) and two hours of exposure to high pressure CO2 can given a specimen a strength that exceeds that of a week old non-carbonated specimen. these kind of things are of interest to companies that put things into moulds and can't make any more money until they pop the old things out of the moulds and refill the moulds with new things. but i wouldn't compare the type of carbonation i'm doing to the degradation carbonation i described (yet) since the intentional carbonation is done on small cross-section, unreinforced items where any pH changes would not matter. so, think paving stones, drywall, that kind of stuff. i wouldn't say that any new kind of concrete is being invented here. it has more of an enivornmental slant. how much CO2 can we soak up in a concrete carbonation process (buzzword: sequestration) that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere (where, unless you are a republican scientist, you might admit is not a place to be venting CO2). in terms of new kinds of concrete - there are some pretty funky kinds. light transmitting concrete made the news last year. the soviets made submarines out of concrete, when they get to making bases on the moon they'll probably use lunar concrete, I've heard of using foamed concrete at the end of airport runways as an energy absorbing crash barrier. A polymer concrete that you can extrude and cut. Concrete is not a bad material, the concrete wasteland/urban blight has more to do with the lack of inspired designs than the material. Of course, there is lots of crappy concrete out there. Lots of money in repair and rehabilitation. (on preview: holy blah blah blah)

posted by gspm at 02:25 PM on December 14, 2004

geek. I imagine that you're at McGill? I just got back from a trip out east, so commenting on some earlier comments... - the clips site works fine for me, even from the front page. - I am an ex-montrealer, and docgonzo is there now, afaik. - That was a whole lot more about concrete than I ever learned in a couple of weeks of my first-year materials course...

posted by sauril at 03:00 PM on December 14, 2004

I'd still like to know about composition/curing time vs. relative psi ratings.

posted by LionIndex at 03:24 PM on December 14, 2004

Good grief, it's a [collective noun] of geeks! A confusion of geeks? A confabulation?

posted by worldcup2002 at 03:50 PM on December 14, 2004

yeah, i am at mcgill. the clips site worked for me yesterday when i went looking for the birmingham derby highlights alluded to in the current EPL fantasy thread. When I'd checked last week the opendir format was gone and i was bounced to some front page that seemed to suggest that there were clips available but I couldn't find them. But, yeah, i haven't found that to be the case again. LionIndex, if you want to know the numbers side of things, well, you'll just have to wait for the paper. from the first page of google results comes a suggested list

  • an embarrassment of geeks
  • a jibble of geeks
  • an "It's too fucking early" of geeks
  • a charlton of geeks
  • a collectivenoun of geeks
  • a bewilderment of geeks
  • a cluster of geeks
  • a beowulf of geeks
  • a subnet of geeks
  • a gaggle of geeks
  • a hub of geeks
  • a graph of geeks
  • a dll of geeks
  • a library of geeks
  • a grep of geeks
  • a newsgroup of geeks
  • a package of geeks
  • a packet of geeks
  • an array of geeks
  • a LinkedList of geeks
  • a java.util.Collection of geeks
  • a stack of geeks
  • a binary tree of geeks
  • a vector of geeks
  • a google of geeks
  • wow, looking that up was kind of a geeky thing to do.

    posted by gspm at 04:21 PM on December 14, 2004

    a matrix of geeks?

    posted by mbd1 at 04:41 PM on December 14, 2004

    I think mbd1 has a winner.

    posted by worldcup2002 at 06:36 PM on December 14, 2004

    Q8. Expand on this geek thing. When did you know you were a geek? Favorite geek moments?

    posted by worldcup2002 at 06:38 PM on December 14, 2004

    I think I figured out I was a geek soon after 6:38 PM PST on December 14. Is geekdom a bad thing? I haven't scored well on any of those net geek tests out there (and maybe I haven't even taken one). I don't care much for Star Trek though would probably pick the original for camp value. Star Wars is OK but my interest is limited to the movies and not really any of the spinoffs like toys or games or books. I am OK with computers but by no means an expert, just more adept than most people I know which would just suggest that I don't have many computer geeks in my sphere (either that or I have reached my computer geek friend quota). I think you figure out pretty early which side of the geek/cool fence you end up on. And with good grades and glasses I was pretty much on the geek side once you reach that point in school when these things enter into relevance. I've played ice hockey, soccer, baseball and basketball as a kid (nothing specific now, I keep intending to get back into something) and was reasonably adept at all of them so I can't be too much of a geek. I went to computer camp one week in the summer after grade 5 or something, so, on the other hand, there are some geek experiences to recall. I find that as you go on in life your surroundings recalibrate. Like going to school you think that everyone that got in is smart or something, but no, you can still pick out the same archetypes you knew in grade school. So it is all kind of relative. I don't know if I have any favourite geek moments. But in lieu of that you can consider my reading list since October.

  • Why Do Buses Come in Threes?: The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life
  • 200% of Nothing: An Eye-Opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy
  • How to Dunk a Doughnut : the science of everyday life
  • 31 Songs
  • The Best of Annals of Improbable Research
  • The Game (non 20th anniversary edition mind you)
  • A Short History of Nearly Everything
  • Lost in Space: the Fall of Nasa and the Dream of a New Space Age
  • Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True
  • The geek rating seems like it would be high.

    posted by gspm at 10:46 AM on December 15, 2004

    sounds pretty cool to me.

    posted by garfield at 11:31 AM on December 15, 2004

    Q9. What are you doing this Christmas? Do you have any Christmas rituals? What gift do you most want to get this Christmas?

    posted by worldcup2002 at 01:58 PM on December 15, 2004

    Staying in town. Probably getting some reading done (not the above kind, the academic kind). Staying warm. Family in the area so we're not headed far. Probably aim to watch some sports on the 25th. Lakers vs Heat or game 1 of the Canadian Jrs at the World Jr hockey tourney. Hopefully they don't conflict. I think the only kind of Christmas ritual I can recall is cinnamon buns/rolls on Christmas morning. That's two packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls rolled into two sheets. cover on in some cinammon/butter/sugar (maybe icing sugar) mixture and place the other sheet on top. roll. slice into rolls. bake em in the oven, enjoy. though i notice THIS year pilsbury offers cinammon rolls (these, i guess) that cut out all the work but the heating. easier, but probably not as much fun to prepare. i don't have a big christmas list. my computer is getting full so a new hard drive is on my personal list but i figure that is something i'll take care of on my own. so, uh, warm socks. this cold (and it ain't nothing yet) is not something i am used to anymore. but if my wife landed a job (new in town, the search continues, I know you ALL have contacts in the Montreal advertising/communications field that you're not sharing) it would make our life in a new city much easier and more enjoyable than anything you can wrap up and put under a tree.

    posted by gspm at 03:37 PM on December 15, 2004

    Q10. How about New Year wishes and resolutions? For yourself? For SpoFi?

    posted by worldcup2002 at 01:29 AM on December 16, 2004

    And who do you wish to be the first interviewee of 2005?

    posted by worldcup2002 at 01:30 AM on December 16, 2004

    I'm gonna WIN one of the SpoFi leagues. EPL maybe, maybe the NBA head-to-head one. My typically fantasy performance seems to involve being competitive in the early going, even leading for a bit (see NHL04-04, MLB 2004, NFL pick'em 2003) before fading. I couldn't even win the 6 person NHL playoff pool. But this is my year. For SpoFi i'd always thought that a previously mooted idea of a short links sidebar would be good. You know, links to stuff that isn't worth an entire thread unto itself. Something I tried to gauge with a few Link Dump threads. Who knows. The long rumoured tweaks are still around the corner so I'll be satisfied to see what is in store with that. Who's got next? Well, how about the old timer that showed up early in the thread, 86. So, cheers, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to All. (one last geek moment - I find it is weird that my posting habits here have me always hovering very close to a having a # of comments made, currently 609, that is ten times greater than the number of threads posted, currently 62).

    posted by gspm at 09:49 AM on December 16, 2004

    and the NHL. i hope they sort things out. i forgot about that.

    posted by gspm at 10:32 AM on December 16, 2004

    Nice work gspm. And you too worldcup. I'll be the next interviewee, but I can't guarantee I'll respond in a timely manner until tomorrow evening... Work sucks. Take a break wc and we'll get this thing going tomorrow or whatever day works for you.

    posted by 86 at 10:41 AM on December 16, 2004

    gspm, what kind of work does your wife do? I *might* have a contact or two, but they're probably pretty tenuous. gimme a shout at the email in my profile.

    posted by sauril at 01:14 PM on December 16, 2004

    sure, will do. Holiday magic comes in many forms. The eggnog form is one of my favourites.

    posted by gspm at 01:54 PM on December 16, 2004

    86, I'm done interviewing this year. You're the first in 2005. Whenever I recover from my hangover. Ho ho ho!

    posted by worldcup2002 at 03:21 PM on December 16, 2004

    and thanks gspm for a cool geek interview.

    posted by worldcup2002 at 03:21 PM on December 16, 2004

    wc, sounds good. Happy hangover to all!

    posted by 86 at 04:09 PM on December 16, 2004

    I'm just glad the interviews are back in full force. Thanks again for a great job, wc2k2!

    posted by trox at 07:57 AM on December 17, 2004

    hear hear!

    posted by JJ at 08:25 AM on December 17, 2004

    i dunno if gspm = cool geek is good or not (thought I suppose it is better than interview content = cool, gspm = geek, interview of gspm = cool geek interiew)

    posted by gspm at 11:06 AM on December 17, 2004

    ok, now you've lost me.

    posted by garfield at 11:33 AM on December 17, 2004

    gspm, stop trying to unravel the ambiguities of language with the certainties of math. I think the more you dig, the more the uncertainty principle comes into play. Either way, I'm not telling. ;-p

    posted by worldcup2002 at 03:24 PM on December 17, 2004

    yeah, after losing garfield i recall confusing you when i was trying to unravel something i said. maybe that is my thing. not a great 'thing' to have. but a thing.

    posted by gspm at 03:46 PM on December 17, 2004

    IT's all about Heisenberg, my friends, every last top spin quark!

    posted by billsaysthis at 04:27 PM on December 17, 2004

    I think I'm gonna pronounce gspm as "gypsum" from now on. In honor of it sometimes being an ingredient in concrete. I own a copy of The Best of AIR. Nice interview.

    posted by mbd1 at 06:17 PM on December 17, 2004

    Geek link: speaking of Heisenberg and indeterminacy, if this play comes to your town, go see it....it was fantastic.

    posted by smithers at 11:44 PM on December 17, 2004

    Is it possible that you can know when that play is being performed or where that play is being performed but never know simultaneously when and where that play is being performed? I coulda thrown up a SEM photograph of some gypsum but wouldn't you know it, i picked the other one.

    posted by gspm at 10:48 AM on December 18, 2004

    I'm confused.

    posted by worldcup2002 at 03:13 PM on December 18, 2004

    And knowing where it's playing does affect the show times, after all...

    posted by LionIndex at 02:15 PM on December 20, 2004

    gspm, here's a link dump, in your hono(u)r : little known Dan Patrick fact.

    posted by garfield at 02:31 PM on December 20, 2004

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