Doctor has such a nice ring to it

I'm not sure if he's Doctor Captain Paul or Captain Doctor Paul. Either way, he passed his defense today and the Ph.D. is official. :)

Here's Paul with the goofball shirt I had made, doing the Vanna White pose with the book that served as the basis for his dissertation. The book, Methods for Real-Time Measurement of THMs and HAAs in Distribution Systems, Part 2 (yes, it's a sequel), is available on Amazon. At a mere $300, its Amazon.com sales rank is #2,006,143.



Gosh, five years for three little letters after his name. I don't think I would've made it without his reassurance that today would be here soon enough. He has a whole list of official acknowledgments of people that helped him get to this point. But some other acknowledgments need to be made, ones that won't make it into any books.

Among them: Vault Zero, for getting us up early and keeping us up late; Amtrak, for carting him to important conferences in Nola and Chicago; Excedrin Migraine, for fighting off the "What the heck am I doing here?" moments; the chocolate chip cookie recipe I got as a wedding gift, for helping keep a whole group of grad students happy; the bookbags that valiantly gave their short, nylon-stitched lives to carrying books and papers; and our unlimited T-Mobile plan, for Paul's long chats with me and much longer chats with his research advisor.

Congrats again, babe. You did it!

To E (A: Definitely Dish) - scroll down for pic

My hunch paid off, and the second clue helped a whole, whole lot.

A pass, a dime
round-ball assist (all basketball plays)
plate or bowl
can all be this (dishes)

It's near a square (Overton)
Think opposite of old (Young Avenue)
At a rubber tire company (Cooper Street)
Maybe sterling, maybe gold

I don't get the sterling/gold references. No matter. Objective met.

Oh my gosh! Objective met! This actually does feel a lot like a real-world version of The World Ends With You! :-)

So, as I recall, I get one question -- huzzah! I'm actually going to give you two questions from which to choose. If one of them narrows it way down and effectively brings things to a close, answer the other one. Once I figure this out, I do have a couple of questions and maybe a favor. Make a fake account or something; drop me an e-mail at katesink AT gmail DOT com. Yes, there's a reason. All will become clear shortly.

Question option 1: From where do I know you?
Question option 2: How long have I known you?

Very nice person indeed

This is the note I mentioned in my blog a few days ago, from Michael H. (who I don't remember). The note has been in my childhood bedroom a long time.

I love how it says "Kate" at the top, like that's the name of an assignment. "Okay, let's see here. Kate. Must think of something nice to say about Kate. Are we being graded on this?"

If you can't read it, it says: Kate. Kate is one of the nicest people I have ever met, even though she is very quiet! I believe she is a beautiful person inside and out, and I hope she stays that way. -- Michael H___. P.S. Can't wait to read your book! :)

Theories as to who this guy is and why he was assigned the task of saying something nice about me?

So I went to Dish ...

... because you can dish the ball AND a plate and a bowl are both dishes. Oh, and because it's on Young Avenue (opposite of old). So there you have it. Best guess. I had a couple of people brainstorm and we all came to the same conclusion. So thanks to those folks. We're either all right or all wrong together.

While we were in Midtown snapping pictures, we stopped for dinner just down the street at Celtic Crossing on Cooper. First time there. Paul and I used a gift certificate I won at the corporate spelling bee last October. (Hey, I don't make it to Midtown very often.) I had the pork tenderloin; Paul had the shepherd's pie. We had some cash left over, so we got a creme brulee and a bread pudding to go. Good stuff.

Here's a pic of Dish, site of the past two office Christmas parties. Caused some confusion with Paul the first year when I told him we were going to a tapas bar for a party. Tapas, not topless.

Clue-related brain drain

I've been on a jewelry blitzkrieg -- a couple of pieces for friends, then wrapping some crystals and stones I bought earlier this week.

Packing is slow because I keep getting distracted, and not just by jewelry (although that does have a huge impact). I'll start off with the best intentions of sorting through a box, then I'll come across some cool stuff and ... well, there goes my productivity.

Example: I have a huge box of wedding cards from bridal showers and whatnot, but last night I found a bunch of cards that had been separated from the pack. So I started looking through them. We have the sweetest friends, for real. I really should scan some of these things. (Something else to distract me from packing. Sigh.)

Okay, so I'm having a bit of trouble breaking down E's clue, and today's the last day for me to finish it and get a l33t bonus. Here's the clue part of his comment:

a pass, a dime
round-ball assist
plate or bowl
can all be this

its near a square
think opposite of old
it can be round
and opposite of gold

Hurm. Random thoughts. A pass and an assist are basketball terms. A dime is another term for an assist, if I recall. So what can basketball plays be? Good? A good pass, a good assist? Dropped? You can drop a pass (etc.), as well as a plate or bowl.

What are some local squares? Well, there's Overton Square (the obvious), Court Square (the next obvious), then Collierville and Bartlett town squares. I assume Germantown has one too.

Opposites of old are young or new or modern. The only opposite of gold I can think of is silver.

Thoroughly stuck. Must think harder.

By the way, E: I've never been to the Tower Room, so I didn't realize there was a lounge there. As in a not-going-to-break-the-bank lounge -- which was my whole problem with the restaurant. Someone clued me in way after the fact. (Oops.) So my "I'm not going there; it's too expensive" argument is kind of moot, but I didn't know it at the time. So, yeah, the shot of vodka's on me. :-)

Oh, and ... if I don't have the answer by, say, Monday night, I'll forfeit my question in favor of another hint to this place. This is the first one that's really tripped me up. Ran it past the usual crew; none of them could get it either. Will keep thinking.

Matthew's coming over. Must go.