I just can't figure it out. My archives simply are not working on this site. After much time spent trying to fix it and poring through the troubleshooting discussion board at blogger.com I have decided that there is simply nothing I can do about it. I think it must be some problem at Blogger Central that is beyond my control. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I had a somewhat surreal experience the other day. I went out to happy hour at Acapulco with some folks from work. Anyway, among the crowd was this other guy named Matt who looked a lot like me. We could have been brothers. As it turns out, this other Matt also used to be the Housing Coordinator for the ALC, which is how he knew several of my coworkers. It was, first of all, a relief to meet somebody who could empathize with me and fully understand the angst that accompanies the position. The frustration of having some student from Russia show up with a suitcase at 5:00 in the afternoon on the Friday before a program start date who doesn't want to live in the dorms, doesn't want to stay with a host family, wants to rent their own apartment, but refuses to share with anybody and refuses to spend more than 300 dollars a month. At that point you pretty much have to grab them and slap some sense into them, as you impress upon them that this is Los Angeles and while 300 dollars might be equivalent to a yearly salary in Slodkoparska or wherever the hell they come from, it will get them exactly Jack Squat here.

But I digress...that's not the main point of the story. Naturally, while talking to the guy, I asked him what he is doing now. As it turns out, he works at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. So, out of curiosity, I asked him if the name Norman Stahl rang a bell. He hesitated for a moment then responded, "I think so...the name sounds familiar." In an attempt to refresh his memory, I said, "Well, he used to work at the Career Center." At this point, his eyes widened and he excitedly said, "THAT'S your dad?" I confirmed that he was, indeed, my dad, at which time he said, "Your dad is SO cool. Everybody in GSE loved him."

I must admit that I was taken aback by this and was wondering if, perhaps, there was another Norman Stahl who had also happened to work at the Career Center and also happened to have gotten his PhD in Higher Education and Organizational Change from the GSE last year. In all the years I have known my dad, that was the first time I'd ever heard anybody describe him as being cool. I've used several words to describe him...ranging from words I can't, in good conscience, post here to perhaps words such as "alright" or "decent." But cool...never. But then I experienced somewhat of a flashback to last June, when I attended my dad's graduation and hooding ceremony at Royce Hall. For some reason, I expected that when my dad was hooded, there would be perhaps a bit of applause here and there, with my mom screeching, "Yay Norman!" as loud as she could so as to cause my brother and I to bury our heads in shame. What happened was, in fact, the exact opposite. When my dad went up, there arose such a thundering applause as hundreds of students, most of whom were my age, applauded for my dad. It just didn't seem right. All these people, who were, essentially, my peers, were applauding for my dad.

It reminded me of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer opens the day care center and all the kids in Springfield think he's the greatest dad in the world, and he wins that award for his day care center, and at the awards ceremony Bart and Lisa run that video so the entire town knows the truth. But, I had no such video to show, so the other students will continue to think of him as "cool". Who am I to take that away from them?