Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Where For Art Thou Caffeine?

I have now had the opportunity to try the braintoniq elixir eight times. I feel this is an adequate number to give my impressions. Honestly, I miss the caffeine. Actually, since I went veganish I haven't had any caffeine at all and I really miss it when I am writing. But getting back to the braintoniq, it doesn't seem to have much more effect on me than a glass of orange juice. It's a shame. I had high hopes for it. These things vary from individual to individual, so feel free to check it out for yourself when it comes to your neighborhood.

There is a joke among mathematicians that states a mathematician is a machine that turns coffee into theorems. In my case, it is more appropriate to replace coffee with caffeine since I don't drink coffee. As I previously stated in my "Some Coke and a Smile" post (I'm not going to link it, I am too lazy to look it up.) I really like the feeling I get from caffeine. I also said it is not uncommon for me to skip it for a few weeks every now and again, and for those that didn't believe me, the past couple of weeks is an example.

No wonder I got sick. No meat, no caffeine, how's a body to function?

Sluggishly, that's how! I did buy a bottle of double strength Jet Alert a few years ago. Oddly enough they still have almost two and a half years before they expire. Who knew raw caffeine could sit around so long. I get a kick out of the label saying it is non-habit forming, but then I still have a half bottle left, so who has the last laugh on that matter? Perhaps they assume the people with weaker minds, who somehow manage to get addicted to the stuff, won't use their product.

I mention the Jet Alert because I really feel like I need a hit. I'm still not in the mood for a soda, but I do feel like I want some caffeine. I suppose once I get around to having breakfast I'll pop a couple of inspiration pellets and see where it takes me. With my luck, it'll put me to sleep.

I guess I do have an update. I wrote the head of the math department at UNLV about teaching in the fall or the spring. For those that didn't know, it is a state school and at the moment the state (just like NY) is in a hiring freeze and nothing is available. I have been reading about the slipping economy and when people can no longer afford to go on vacations, it really hits this area hard.

There are a bunch of other colleges in the area, but all the non-state ones are DeVry/ITT Tech type schools that I would never teach at unless they made it well worth my while. Since they won't and since these kinds of barely accredited schools keep math on the far end of low on the totem. I'll just say no right now.

For kicks, I looked into doing some secret shopper gigs. I did a few of them back when I owned the restaurant, only theater checks as I recall, and it turns out there are quite a number of things available in the area. Not surprising considering the amount of customer service that goes on in this town. As always, there was a catch. Apparently Nevada is the only state that requires a person doing this type of work to have their private investigators license. I looked into said license and let's just say, I'm not apprenticing for five years just to be able to snitch on Burger King employees.

Looks like it's back to writing and becoming destitute in six months....

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