…and this is a 
Presents for moi!
Category: Personal
Posted on: September 29, 2008 6:23 PM, by PZ Myers
I just received a big ol' mailing tube in the division office. The office staff made a little joke about how they'd rather I didn't open it there, just in case (the Catholics will be so happy — they've managed to instill fear in uninvolved innocents), so they missed out — it was a beautiful print, all for me.
Thank you!
I also received another present, a wonderfully warm hoodie with an exceptionally cute bit of art on the front. He's squinking hearts! And aren't I adorable in it?
No name was on the package, and there was just a note that revealed that the source was from France. C'est magnifique! Un grand merci!
Comments
Posted by: Owlmirror | September 29, 2008 6:30 PM
I remember the image that the dendrite-like tentacles are based on. Did we ever figure out if it was developmental, or due to injury?
Posted by: Inky | September 29, 2008 6:33 PM
omg omg omg sweatshirt is CUTE!!
Posted by: scooter | September 29, 2008 6:37 PM
prolly that negen troper guy
Posted by: Kel | September 29, 2008 6:37 PM
Far too awesome!
Posted by: Corydoras | September 29, 2008 6:43 PM
C'est chouette!
Posted by: Renee | September 29, 2008 6:48 PM
Sweet, you got the print! I was a little concerned you might think some angry person might have gotten their hands on a very small missile and stuffed it in the mailing tube, but it didn't weight enough for that.
Glad you like it!
Posted by: Dahan | September 29, 2008 6:49 PM
Ghaa! Hearts! Bleach! I HATE the awful "heart" symbol. My students are banned from using it in either art or design in my classes. Still, I guess the sentiment is there.... but... Blah!
Posted by: PZ Myers | September 29, 2008 6:51 PM
Really, whenever I get packages of any size any more, people draw back in trepidation, despite the fact that nothing awful has happened. Yet.
Posted by: Dahan | September 29, 2008 7:05 PM
PZ, shouldn't opening suspicious packages fall under the duties of a TA?
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | September 29, 2008 7:13 PM
Dahan, UMM is an undergraduate university. No TA's. That's why PZ gets grumpy at grading time.
Posted by: EastwoodDC | September 29, 2008 7:13 PM
That does it! I'm going to start a blog that features weekly pictures of diamonds, precious metals, etc., and just wait for the gifts to roll in. ;-)
Posted by: Corvus | September 29, 2008 7:21 PM
Serious present envy here. I need to get me one of those fanbase/following things.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | September 29, 2008 7:24 PM
Er, are you sure that's a print of a squid and not a mat for praying to the Great Cthulhu? And they sent you a prayer shawl to go with it. If your campus sinks into the sea, don't come crying to me.
Posted by: ocean1009 | September 29, 2008 7:38 PM
I've seen that design before. It's from amorphia apparel. They have a lot of pretty sweet designs, though not many cephalopods sadly.
The print looks great, Renee! I had no idea you read pharyngula.
Posted by: Capital Dan | September 29, 2008 7:40 PM
Sometimes, he doesn't even bother to wait until grading time.
Posted by: craig | September 29, 2008 7:51 PM
That octopus needs conditioner. Split ends.
Posted by: Randy | September 29, 2008 7:52 PM
Renee,
That was very nice of you. Er... are all the cephalopods in France as... anatomically interesting as those two?
Posted by: Matthew | September 29, 2008 8:20 PM
Well, Randy, have you seen the Orangina commercial?
Posted by: Jared | September 29, 2008 8:25 PM
PZ, don't you have any post-docs or someone to get to pass a bit of work off on?
Posted by: Dan Pinto | September 29, 2008 8:26 PM
Wait, Wait, Wait.
"Squinking?"
Posted by: Falterer | September 29, 2008 8:41 PM
What's the word for that; when people use intimidation to further their political goals? You know, so that folks are too terrified to go about their normal everyday duty of opening mail? What's the word for the sort of person that evokes that kind of terror in fellow human beings?
Oh, there's a word... it's right on the tip of my tongue...
Posted by: Ichthyic | September 29, 2008 8:52 PM
Oh, there's a word... it's right on the tip of my tongue...
Of course, the Department of Homeland Security expressly forbids you from utilizing that word as any kind of descriptor for a US citizen.
good thing you didn't actually say it.
:p
Posted by: Dahan | September 29, 2008 8:55 PM
Dahan, UMM is an undergraduate university. No TA's. That's why PZ gets grumpy at grading time.
My bad, I should have remembered that. Hmmm, well, I know I don't believe in giving extra-credit at the collegiate level, but if he did...
Posted by: Kate | September 29, 2008 9:45 PM
Ah, c'est ci chere!
You get the best prezzies, PZ. :)
Posted by: Cesium | September 29, 2008 9:45 PM
Squink = squid + ink?
Posted by: Eric | September 29, 2008 10:03 PM
Well, I'm jealous. I need to start destroying holy objects and talking about cephalopods. Or maybe carnivorous plants.
Posted by: Patricia | September 29, 2008 10:23 PM
I think the beautiful print is actually PZ's family tree!
Posted by: Peter Ashby | September 30, 2008 5:10 AM
Ah yes the joys of suspicious packages. Over here in the UK we are used to such things from the animal rights lobby. However this vigilance can have false positives. At a previous lab an unmarked large cardboard box was found on the reception counter in the foyer.
We were all required to vacate to 'safer' areas of the building which meant no work got done for some time. The bomb squad was summoned and the package was just about to undergo a controlled explosion when the 'perpetrator' revealed the truth (they had popped out then come back). Said package had arrived in their lab and had not been ordered so was taken to reception, noone there, so just left. It contained laboratory plastic ware, screw top plastic test tubes in essence.
Over here if that tube of yours had no return address on it then it would have been automatically quarantined and x-rayed in the university mail room. Put return adresses on things people if you want them to get through intact.
Posted by: Josie | September 30, 2008 8:42 AM
Ahh, the thrill of dA print tubes. . . Very nice!
Posted by: Deepsix | September 30, 2008 9:19 AM
PZ, this CD cover art and title has you written all over it:
http://www.amazon.com/Exterminate-Everything-Around-Restricts-Master/dp/B000VDDBIY/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4764672-9241442?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1191901156&sr=8-1
Posted by: Dan | September 30, 2008 9:39 AM
What a great poster! Does anyone else, besides me, think this wonderful cephalopod looks God-like? Indeed, I wonder if we should not start such a religion. It could compete with the Flying Spaghetti Monster sect and probably do better. This could be the poster child, our "CephaloGod"
Posted by: Sili | September 30, 2008 11:05 AM
"Squinking"? Love it!
The trouble with mailing you stuff is that if it comes direct from the company, there's not really anyway to put on return details or warn you.
Posted by: Desert Son | September 30, 2008 12:33 PM
Dan posted:
Does anyone else, besides me, think this wonderful cephalopod looks God-like? Indeed, I wonder if we should not start such a religion.
Been done: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu
Cthlulhu in 2008! Why choose the lesser evil?
No kings,
Robert
Posted by: masklinn | September 30, 2008 2:51 PM
Hah glad to see you like the hoodie PZ, seeing as you hadn't said anything about it I feared either it'd been lost or (worse) you didn't like it.
J'étais certain que le pull plairait, je suis heureux de ne pas m'être trompé.
May it help you against cold weathers.