Tough decisions (another long one for all you procrastinators)

So the seminars are finished, the recruitment committee has retreated to their offices and are stonewalling the curious students about who will be hired, if anyone. But gossip in graduate departments diffuses faster than information.
I was being a chatty-cathy with a few students last night at our, "we don't have class tomorrow" celebration/dinner/New-Belgium-Tasting (amazing how Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, and Muslims can all agree on the smooth taste of Fat Tire... wonder if I can sell that to them for marketing), and the topic (among others) came up. K and M agree that Baldy is a shoe-in. His research is impressive, he's well liked by students and faculty, and now I think its up to him. Does he want to spend winters in New York, or have a high of 75 in the middle of February. Tough decision. What we don't agree on is the running for who will fill the second (and dare we say it even third) position openings. M and K feel that because Baldy is really more of an applied economist (though he dabbles very successfully in theory), the woman from Harvard will not be hired since she was heavily into applied (although she showed a deep understanding of Micro theory and Econometrics). They think that the last guy interviewed from New York, who despite a bit of a shaky presentation (I think this was actually his first interview) had some impressive theory work. Extremely impressive. So now the split in our department shows itself. The gurus vs. the badgers. The theoreticians vs. the apply... eticians... moving on. There is however a little birdie who has told the graduate students that there is another option. There is enough in the endowment for perhaps a third (or so the rumor goes). A tantalizing tri-force of top tier candidates... hmmm...
And the rumor mill is also spinning that the Harvard woman was offered a job at John Hopkins. M, K, and I also disagree on which would be better for her. I remember the guy who interviewed from Hopkins. I wasn't impressed. M and K are more complimentary about it, and they say its higher on the rankings. I have yet to check that.
But maybe the profs were not impressed with any of them. Maybe some one will be hired, maybe no one will be hired. We won't know for a month or two, and the committee (despite a few leaks) is appropriately tight lipped on everything.

Last week I opened my e-mail to find an e-vite to the birthday party for the American fourth year student, promising to be the ultimate alcohol related catharsis for all us pour souls trapped in the department. Saturday. Hm... I was faced with a conundrum. Do I go to this birthday party with the promise of kegs and possibly seeing my seniors smashed out of their ever-loving minds (blackmail material for our TA's? Oh yeah...), or... what else was going on that night? Oh yes, my girlfriend's fraternity was having it's XV anniversary.
See the extremely hot girlfriend in a dress vs. drunken Bengalis.
Be a supportive, and happy boyfriend vs. ... drunken Bangladeshis.
Dancing, dinner, and fun with a delightful young woman from Juarez vs. ... drunken Turks.
The ultimate cheese cake vs. ... drunken Chinese.
A good time vs... you get the idea.
I must admit. I was torn. Looking at the e-vite, do I click, "Yes I will attend, and BMOB -bring my own booze-" or do I click, "No, I hate so-and-so and don't want to celebrate his birthday."
Hate is such a strong word. Tough decision. Click.

The anniversary party was pretty fun. Got to see Ardilla get an award (much to her surprise), got to dance a bit, meet a few new people, and in general have some fun. I must admit, she wore me out. By the end of the night all I wanted to do was pass out. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, I was burning up in my suit (which I found out is just a little bit too small. No big deal, but I need new nice, black pants), but it was a heck of a lot of fun. And I took some nice pictures which I sent to my family. It really was a great night, and blogging on it just wouldn't do it justice. So ask me next time you see me.

But, what, you might ask, did I miss that night when I went to the anniversary instead of the party (which is quite on the base level that this blog usually traffics)? A good friend of mine (and second year), getting sloshed and propositioning one of the department girls (no one has admitted to who she was yet though) in front of half the people there. M and K had a good laugh about this (K SHOULD have a good laugh about it), and M continued, "she responded by saying she didn't believe in it!" A little confused I asked what was wrong or funny about a girl refusing a one night stand because she didn't think it was right (seeing as the student in question had no girlfriend, I sort of assumed he meant that), and M replied, "No no no. The proposition wasn't one night stand. It was quite the opposite. It was proper proposition." And the laughing then continued... me included. Nice to know that some of the smartest students on this campus can still have a bit too much to drink, randomly ask one of their classmates to marry them, and have it spread faster in the department then butter on a muffin. Reminds me of middle school really.
Hmm... shenanigans vs. time with the squirrel... I'm facing some serious choices these days.

A few classes, some notes, a professor's birthday, and A and I finding out that three of our friends are actually also our TA's this semester (and they'll pay for hiding it from us... they're gonna get question after question), brings us all back home to the Thursday night gathering. M, K, and a Thai econ grad student met at Tom Thumb to drive over to K's apartment. I got there first, and grabbed a six pack of New Belgium Pilsener Lager to go with K's cooking. When they got there, K and the Thai student said they had one last errand to run in the store. Without me even mentioning New Belgium, these two went straight for the Fat Tire and the Wheat Beer. So we decided to have a tasting with our meal. Which was good considering K put so much saffron, chili powder, curry, and God-only-knows-what else into the lamb and rice he made that I was panting on the floor of his apartment for a good hour after I ate. M had the good sense to get me some bread, and made some mild curry to help soften the blow. There was much laughter at this.
Let me explain something about Indian food real fast if you don't already know. Unlike Latin American or Japanese spices, it doesn't kick and then go away after a short while. The worst of it is always yet to come. You take a bite, it's good. You eat some more. Then after five minutes of eating you feel a slight tingle. Ooh, you think, spicy. Nice. Then ten minutes and a few more mouthfuls pass. The tingling gets worse. You take a break. But the food is so good. You eat a bit more. The next thing you know you can't close your mouth, and you're downing whatever liquid is closest at the time to try and put out the raging inferno that is burning your mouth like a Texahoma wheat field off of 75.

So much conversation, and a few hours later I'm good to go, so I take M home and shuffle sleepily back to my apartment. It's stinking cold. So I got Ardilla a coat, and took it to the library for her. Then shuffled back home to sleep. Dropped from 70-something that day to nearly below freezing that night.

Whew. That wasted quite a bit of time. Good thing this is my day off.... which is to say I start studying when the sun goes down tonight... suck.
Thought I would sleep in until 10, but instead woke up at 8 AM full of life and energy and not able to go back to sleep (how does that happen after basically being incapacitated by evil Indian spice, not able to relax enough to sleep until 2 AM, and then have weird fever dreams about game theory, utility, Slutsky's inequality, and strange economics students "propositioning" me with Arrow's Choice Axiom... dang it... why is it I never dream in Spanish, but suddenly I'm dreaming in Economese?). Was too cold to take my bike out (unlike my short "victory laps" around Bishop Blvd. the past few days) soooo... blogging is it.

Okay now I'm just trying to fill up more time. I've got nothing. Going to go take Ardilla to the airport later today so she can go see her new nephew, and then start studying again. Adios.