Dissertation ammenddum

Hokey smokes! Now I can't spell!!!

Temped to yank my previous post. Instead, I'll just issue an ammendum [sheesh! spelling]:

It's the quality of the Dissertation, not the sheer length. And maybe other Dissertations have way more theory and loads of summaries of prior research. Dunno; can't say.

--GG

Dissertation status

Hm! These things take longer than one would expect. But then, I've never done this before -- and don't plan to do another one!!! ;)

Shut down just before 2am last night (or technically, "this morning"; but I sez it's still the same day, until I goes to bed!), being maybe two paragraphs away from finishing the second analysis chapter. Surprisingly, took me all day to do it -- mostly because of working out predicted probabilities -- little fiddly things.

Today (Monday), should have the final analysis chapter done. Maybe if I'm lucky, also finish the Discussion chapter! Regardless, should have the whole pile ready to e-mail out to my Committee by Tuesday late-ish. Not perfect, still a goodly number of known gaps -- but certainly stronger than the previous version.


BTW, a few days ago realized that not all Dissertations are created equal. More specifically, different disciplines, and different universities' versions of the same discipline, have different requirements. For example, History Dissertations -- those are ***HUUUUGE***. Whereas the Social Work Dissertations (at least the one's I've seen), and some Education Dissertations -- and this isn't meant as a slag against anyone in particular -- are only about 20 pages longer than my M.A. Thesis. They have an extra theory chapter, but they only have one analysis chapter. Whereas my Social Science degree at [mystery University in western Washington] requires three.

Again, not like I'm sayin' that **anyone's** dissertation is easy... ;)


--Travis

Two very bad Star Wars riddles

Thought of these while shopping w/ The Lady today. Excrutiating. But, feel free to share 'em with your friends.


(Q1) Where does Darth Vader go shopping?

(A1) At the Darth Mall.


(Q2) When a lisping Jedi counts to ten, what comes after "five"?

(A2) "Sith."


--GG

Addendum: Good music/Blink-182

Forgot to mention re: Blink-182.

Good tunes, but sometimes their lyrics are naughty and/or cussin' & swearin'.

Just so's you know.


--GG

Good music for winter mood

Both at Uni and at home, typing with the window open. Cool, chill air. And I'm sleep-deprived and therefore a little bit dull and fuzzy in the head (massively conducive to writing a Dissertation!). ;)

During the last few months, I've been cycling through my CD collection. Today, been listening to the Take off Your Pants and Jacket album by Blink-182. Not sure what it is about the production values (the wash of electric guitars and the subtle chorusing f/x on the vocals?), but it blends perfectly with the crisp air and my mental state: fuzzy desperation. (Hm! ANOTHER good band/album name! "Hello, Chicago! We're Fuzzy Desperation!!!")

Anyhow, for all you college students out there, check out the album when the end of Winter term rolls around. Very suitable.

IMO.

--GG

Time is My Nemesis

"Nemesis" is bigger than "enemy" -- right? :)

Well, major triage time. I need to send of whatever I have to my committee on Friday night, such that they receive it early Friday morning, Washington State time. Which means I have to cut some stuff -- or leave it for later -- just to get the bulk of it out the door. Stinker. But, them's the breaks.

For those who know this social science research stuff: I think I've managed to run all my analyses today. Will probably take me the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening (judging by performance last night!) to make rough (i.e. functional, but non-pretty) tables of the results. More than sixty independent variables (!!!) -- that's what slows down the formatting -- runs across several pages. Pleasantly surprised that my regressions converged (maximum-liklihood, negative binomial).

Hopefully tonight (Weds.) can write up most or all of the results. Will probably slop over into Thurs. Then, need to turn back to the theory chapter, plus the front-end of the analysis chapters. Hopefully done by Friday morn. Some vague stab at discussion/conclusion sections and chapters Friday afternoon; no time for the lit. review and adding citations (have a pile of photocopied articles to incorporate, but...). Then, kick it out the door.

Unfortunately, I'll still be doing catch-up work for the week after. Which also stinks. Ah well.


Working home home tomorrow (Thurs). Tall Guy and Ralphie will be happy to see me, at least. ;)


Hopefully ducking out early today (before 3pm?) to avoid the traffic. The big "State of Origin" game is playing tonight at the stadium between us and the freeway.


Also: both "Time is My Enemy" and "Time is My Nemesis" would be really good album and/or band names (e.g. "Toad the Wet Sprocket"). I slightly prefer the second one: "nemesis" has a stronger, darker feel.

Feel free to vote in the "comments" section. ;)


--GG

Feels like Christmas

For the last few days, it's been feeling Christmas-y to me -- or at least, wintery -- on a primal, instinctive level. Just figured out why.

There's a chill in the air -- I'm in the southern hemisphere, so it's pre-winter, not pre-summer. And I'm sleep-deprived, so things are a little surreal.

Groggy and chilly -- just like the end of semester, finals week, of Winter semester. Aha! Yep, feels like that. Eight years of grad-school conditioning; subconscious association.

Kinda spooky.


--GG

Time is My Enemy

Blaaaargh!!!!

Somehow, things are taking WAAAY longer on my Dissertation than I expected/estimated/anticipated/hoped. It doesn't help that I had a flash of blinding insight over the weekend, showing me how I really **should** be structuring my ideas -- but also meaning I have to rip apart the entire thing and re-build. (Well, maybe 40% rebuilding. Recycling the scraps from the old -- but still...)

And when I say "how I really **should** be doing it," that means "...because now my new vision shows me that the old way doesn't work -- so I can't just leave it and plow on." I can't knowingly turn in Stupid Stuff.

Originally hoped to send the final draft to my Committee on Monday. Over the weekend, I e-mailed them to say "Not Monday, but hopefully Weds." But now, I'm not even sure if I can pull it together by the end of the week. I may even end up having to -- rather than being completely finished within a week or two of my defense -- go defend, then take full advantage of the 60 days of revision time. Blehhhh!!!!

JUST... WANT... STINKIN'... THING... DONE...!

OTOH, I'm generating some (to me!) intersting results. But, my guitars miss me! ;)

Time is My Enemy.

G.W. flags in dog poo(?!)

I tried to think of a witty subject line, but couldn't. Too far beyond a pun, I suppose.

Today, my dad e-mailed the family this:

Someone is Germany has been placing tiny flags with Bush's face on them into piles of dog poop in Germany. Authorities say they don't know who is doing it, but it is not illegal.

First link, to the news story: http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/03/1728717.php

Second link, to the originating guerrilla artist's webpage (in San Francisco -- naturally!!!), including contact information for getting the little flags to post yourself: http://www.madeyouthink.org/4.htm


Umm... o.k.

--GG

Turk!!! (Can ya dig it?)

O.k. -- guess what four-DVD, Season 1 box-set is hitting the Aussie shelves on June 29, retailing for AU$40?

SCRUBS!!! [Must semi-sing, in high-pitched "trumpet stab" voice.]

I think the U.S. version is already out. But the DVD formats for the U.S. and Aussieland are incompatible. Blarg!!!

Hm: My new job starts around then. Maybe my weekly "pin money" can be increased...?

--GG

Weird Brisbane weather

It was probably a good thing (maybe even a God thing?) that I stayed at home yesterday. Weird weather -- esp. for this time of year! Hailed in the area around the university. BAD bad traffic, as people tried to drive to unde cover, to prevent their cars getting dented.

The hail resulted in lotsa slush -- the nightly news showed people slogging through it, piled up just below their knees -- and people making "slush angels" out on their front lawns.

The Lady's dad said that people at work had a hard time getting out of the car park ("parking lot" to the Yanks), as there's a 30-degree upward slope -- too slippery! And both at his university, and at the ABC (Australian Broadcasting -- the Aussie version of the BBC), there was flooding inside the building. We get huge rain showers here (semi-tropical y'know), so the roof drainage is usually sufficient -- but the hail plugged it all up. So, water cascading down through the ceiling.

In fact, the ABC wasn't able to broadcast the news, had to hand it off to the Sydney branch! The news showed shots of people desperately trying to rescue video gear and editing eqpt from trickles of water, while letting PCs sit under trickles of water. ($1,500 PC vs $15,000 mixing board -- hm...) ;) Pretty wild.

--GG

Workin' from home

A few months ago I coined a very "Dilbert" phrase (or actually, very "Wally" for those of you familiar with the strip): "Shirking from home." Except today was anything but!

(If we had some pickles, I could be "shirkin' with a gherkin!" But we don't. I like pickles.)

My dissertation has a number of holes in it: I make assertions, but need to have some support for 'em -- i.e. someone else has done research on it and it seems to be true. So, I can't just say things like "educational levels and income are positively related" (i.e. the more education, then [on average!] the more income), or "People in the U.S. don't really think of people of Indian/Pakistani heritage as 'Asians', but in G. Britain they do." Gotta go find some support.

So, I have a whole pile o' photocopied articles, and a small pile of books I need to glance, skim, and/or read -- depending on the relevance. Ayep!

Not so bad, really: the kitchen is close by, the music is playing -- and both Ralphie and Tall Guy seem pleased that I'm home today. Sure! :)

--GG

Sleepless in -- well, Brisbane

Sheesh! Can't get to sleep... on time. Since I didn't go to bed at midnight on Monday like I'd planned, I thought, "O.k. then: Tuesday." But, was grinding away on my Dissertation, "Ah, just one more thing..." that I didn't log off 'til 1:50am. Which means I didn't hit the sack until around 2:30.

I guess that means I'm making progress.

How low on material does one have to be to stoop to blogging about bedtimes? Sheesh-a-mie!!!


Today's "get piles of books from the library" day -- plus print out a bunch of academic journals. Tomorrow is "stay home and take notes from the books" day. Plus some tidying of the existing wording in my draft.


--GG

Two keys to business success

Watched "The Apprentice" last night. The Lady and I discussed the outcome. The show's really interesting to two social scientists like ourselves: small group dynamics and all that.

We've concluded there's two keys to winning the weekly challenges: market research, and marketing. That is: get something that people will pay money for; and make sure they know about it.

Useful info, for marketing the music of TG and myself, WIFMD(tm).


Interesting that no one on the show really has good leadership/management skills: ability to resolve conflicts between workers; after delegating tasks, remembering to follow up on whether the task got done. Instead, the contestants talk about "having fire," "being tough," "having hunger." Misses the point. Doesn't matter how much you want it, if your strategy's flawed.


--GG

Bedtime follow-up

Oh: not sure if it worked out. The dog left us a little present -- or rather, a moderate-sized, diffuse present -- in the house. Slowed me down, didn't get to bed until around 2am anyhow. Nice try though.

Up around 7am...

No nap in car.

--GG

Early(?) to bed...

Decided to "treat myself" and go to be "early" last night: 1:10am. Luxury!!!

I figure that going to bed an hour or two won't meaningfully delay my e-mailing my final draft to my committee. Worst case, it makes it a day later than it would've been. And I might break even: I'm finding the cumulative effects of sub-optimal sleep are catching up to me and pounding me something silly.

So, I decided to pack it in early tonight. Rounding off to the nearest quarter-hour, last night would've been the fifth night in a row that I went to bed at 2am or later. Bleh. So, decided that I'd watch "The Apprentice," put in another hour afterwards, and shut down around midnight. As it turns out, I got on a roll and ended up working until around one.

Here's my tally of "quit times" for the last week, when I really started "digging in" to my dissertation for the final push. Note that the dates actually represent when I got up that day, not the technical "post-midnight = a new day" date. Also, note that this is when I pack up; my actual BED-time is about a half hour later -- after taking care of the dog, closing up the house, brushing my teeth...

Mon, 5/9 = 1:20am
Tues, 5/10 = 1:00am
Weds, 5/11 = 1:40am
Thurs, 5/12 = 1:55am
Fri, 5/13 = 2:25am
Sat, 5/14 = 2:50am
Sun, 5/15 = 2:25am
Mon, 5/16 = 1:10am (last night -- early...!)

Luckily, The Lady drives us to and from work, so I nap in the car going in -- and sometimes, on the way home!

Hmm -- now that I've typed up the times, I'm inclined to dump it into a spreadsheet and make a line graph. I won't -- but I wanna!!! That's why I'm a social scientist, I suppose: I dig looking for patterns in social data. (A "data nerd"? Such a thing?)

When I was in college, I kept track of the number of CDs I owned (vertical axis) versus the date (horizontal axis) on graph paper. I'd go on binges: not buy any for a few months, then go and buy a whole armful (nearly always at used CD stores; they are your friend -- more band for the buck [pun a fortuitous mis-type!]). Despite the "dry spells," it was a linear relationship -- a near-perfect straight line over three or four years; a constant half-yearly average.

Ayep! :)

--GG

Cold house, long dissertation

Up late, typing on my dissertation. Will be up until 2am-3am, as I have most nights for the last week. But, yesterday and today I slept in until 9:30am or 10am (luxury!).

It's 11:30pm and it's 64.0F indoors (equivalent: 17.8C). As I sit here, I can feel the cold thru my jeans; I'm contemplating putting on longjohns under my jeans, except that it's not even winter yet and I'm indoors, so it seems inappropriate. I compensate by continually making "tea runs" back to the kitchen, to keep my insides warm.

Daytime, though, was sunny and pleasantly warm. Typical Brisbane weather, as summer slides into winter.

If I wasn't working on the ol' Dissertation, I'd be in bed, warm and reading a book. Ah well: If I had just put in fifteen minutes a day extra over the last year... ;)

Only a week or so left of these late nights: I told my Dissertation committee I'd get my draft to them by Monday, May 23 rd. (-ish.)

Did a rough calculation of what I have left to do. I'm estimating more like Weds, May 25 th. Not quite as nice to them, but still gives them two full weeks to look at it before I defend on Weds, June 8 th. And they've already seen an earlier version.

Tonight's task was (and still is) reading through the comments and suggestions my committee made re: my previous draft, and either addressing them or making a note to myself on how I'll address them later. Really good suggestions -- caught stuff I hadn't noticed, thought of things I hadn't. Which you'd expect, given their experience levels, compared to mine. :)

Good stuff. But, a lot of handling to do...

--GG

Episode II is in my way!!!

Dor! I only regularly watch three t.v. shows: "The Kumars at No. 42" [see also[here]; "The Apprentice"; and "NCIS" (Yaaaay Ducky!!!). (Four shows, if you count "Merrick & Rosso: Unplanned." But it's between seasons for them.) And NCIS is usually on Sunday nights, but won't be -- BECAUSE OF STINKIN' "Star Wars: Episode II." Grrr!!! Bleh.

--GG

Green undies

WARNING: Potential "too much information" alert!!!


I actually bought underwear -- for the first time since I've been married (Aug. 1999)! Used to have a grandma who'd buy me socks and undies for Christmas, but she died in 2000. (I'm down to my last grandmother, out of three.) And I think before I got married, I bought a Costco 20-pack (or received it from my parents). So, as a bachelor-type, I had a comfortable backlog of undies, which let me push back laundry to a monthly endeavor.

However, the undies are slowly falling apart. I've been informed that most females do **not** find undies-full-o'-holes attractive on men; so, as a favor to The Lady I've been surrendering holey undies to the rag bag. But, only the >5% holey ones. I mean -- hey! they still work! :)

Since all of my undies are around the same age, I'm experiencing a near-simultaneous failure (or whatever the I.T. jargon is). Material fatigue, and all that. So I'm now down to only a week's worth of undies.

Hence, the shopping trip. Just a four-pack this time, to get me going; if I like this brand, I'll get more. Not the "plain white briefs" I've always bought; instead, a four pack of one color each. Faaaaancy!!! :)

One, one of the four is green! (Looked for a "pack o' four greens," but couldn't find.)


I'm also going to have to buy some more socks in a bit. I actually have plenty of "regular" socks -- both athletic and plain-colored dress socks -- but over the last couple-a years I've realized I like gargoyle (i.e. "argyle") socks. Esp. with boots, and Converse-style sneakers.

Strangely, they don't sell gargoyle socks here in Aussie-land -- at least, not in Target. (Except -- this season -- in the women's section. But they're not my size.) Used to get gargoyle socks from the above-mentioned grandma, but no more. So, will have to pick some up in the States.


--GG

Bubby progress: semi-crawling

The Lady and I are in at work on a Saturday (although she dropped me off late morning, then ran some errands). The Bub is here too.

The Lady just phoned down to come up and look at The Bub. She (The Bub, not The Lady) has started pre-crawling around the floor. She pushes up and back with her arms -- but rather than digging in with her knees and feet, she slides backwards. Thus, she's made a big loop around the office floor, about 2 meters in diameter, sometimes dragging a toy with her.

Feel free to bet small amounts of money on when she'll start crawling properly.


--GG

WARNING: Juvenile wit

O.k., I don't think I'm all hee-larious -- but I still think these are fun phrases. But I only use 'em around the house.


Three euphamisms for "baby processes":

(1) "making a deposit in the Bank of Nappie" ("nappie" is Aussie for "diaper"; Yanks could say "in the Diaper Bank")

(2) "lucky pants" (as a toddler, First Nephew used to say "mucky pants," which I mistook for "lucky pants") (example: "Uh-oh -- baby's got 'lucky pants'."

(3) "taking care of my issue's issue" (i.e. "changing my offspring's nappie")


If you have kidlets of your own, feel free to use these. ;)


--GG

Adding a calculator?

Those that know me "in real life" know that I wear a lot of gear on my belt, and in my pockets:

-Back pockets: wallet with both U.S. and Australian currency; cloth hankie; paper for jotting down ideas.

-Front pockets: coin purse, including guitar picks; folding scissors; keys; black pen; green pen; small tape measure.

-On belt (clockwise from belt buckle): pedometer/clock; 35mm camera; multi-tool (pliers, knife, can opener, etc.); green LED squeeze light; blue LED squeeze light; harmonica (key of C).


In addition to all this, I had this ideas yesterday morning, on the way to work: a small pocket calculator, in a shoulder holster! (Left shoulder.) The Lady says that this is going beyond, (i.e. getting excessive) -- which is probably true. OTOH: **major** GeekPoints(tm)!!!

WIFMD (tm)*... ;)


--GG


*When I Finish My Dissertation

**Proper** weather!

It's been raining pretty steadily since around 7pm last night. It's currently overcast in a lovely, soothing, meditative gray. The air is cool and damp (rather than hot and muggy), the parking lot is wet, and you can smell the organic smells of wet dirt, wet leaves, wet bark. Reminds me of Seattle.

Now **this** is **PROPER** weather!!! :)

Ayep!


--GG

Other job app still pending

Grr!!! This is my second attempt at posting this, as BlogSpot glitched when I tried posting, and I lost the entry. Still: it's a free service. :)

Phoned the HR folks at the govt. agency downtown, to ask them the status of the hiring process for the two positions I applied for. Closing date was Apr. 11th, so it's been almost exactly a month. Justified my inquiry by saying that I just received a job offer from another organization.

Nice HR person said that they'd had some difficulties in convening the hiring committee. I asked if it was because the new Research Director had just started; she confirmed. Makes sense, as the new Director would want a hand in hiring the people she supervises.

The nice HR person said it would be a week, maybe a fortnight ("two weeks", for you Yanks) before they determined the shortlist. She apologized for the awkward position it put me in.

So, I guess I'll wait.


At least I'm in a comfortable position: a good job "in the hand", versus the possibility of an even better job. :)


--GG

Informal job offer

Hey!!! Got an informal (i.e. verbal) job offer for the on-campus job I interviewed for, yesterday. One of the three lower positions, rather than the higher position -- which I kind of figured. I was told that the hiring committee was very impressed with me, but that someone with slightly more experience applied for the same position. Fair enough.

And, it's for only four days a week (I went back and looked at the job posting, which indeed says "full or part time"). So, 80% of F/T pay. But, this **does** mean I can look after The Bub one day a week, to take some of the load off of The Lady's mom, who currently watches both The Bub and The Bub's cousin. And, "a job" is better than "no job."

They're flexible and won't have me start until I finish my Ph.D. Because I'll have a Ph.D., whereas the position only required a Bachelor's, hopefully I can negotiate starting at the top of the pay scale. The Lady conjectures that this may be, in fact, why they had to drop me back to four days a week: they don't have the $$$ to pay me "Ph.D. person" rates for the full five days/week.


I haven't received the formal offer yet, so I don't have to formally accept yet. I'm still waiting on the government position, downtown. The govt. agency would be a better resume-builder than the on-campus rsch. centre, AND it pays more (both in raw salary and in terms of being F/T, not P/T). The Lady thinks I have a pretty good chance of at least getting short-listed.

Tomorrow I'll have to phone in to govt. agency's HR folks and see what the status is.


--GG

Job interview: results

Just got back from the job interview. Went pretty well: although not as eloquent as I sometimes am, I didn't stick my foot in it, and I think I addressed all their questions in a way that made it sound like I could handle the position.

They also asked about whether I would be open to the lower, Research Assistant, position, if that was deemed more appropriate than the Research Officer position: I said "yes." They also asked me about my availability, since I'm finishing up my Dissertation. I said "around June 23rd," which everyone wrote down. Don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign. :)

They'll contact everyone in the next two days, so we'll see. My sense is that I'm probably not seen as exerienced enough for the Resarch Officer position, but that I'll probably be offered the Research Assistant position.

Will let y'all know.


--GG

Hey! Gots a job interview!

I think I already posted that I have two separate batches of job applications pending: one set of applications for a govt. research job downtown (identical positions, but one's permanent, while the other's a one-year contract); and another batch for a social science research center here on campus (one for a "Research Officer," and another for one of three openings as a "Research Assistant"; all are one-year contracts).

Just received an e-mail today, saying they want to interview me Monday for the higher-level position (Research Officer). Nifty! 11:50am. Will actually trim my beard, wear a tie. ;)

Actually, I enjoy wearing ties; I just don't get around to it too often. Partly, it depends on my closet and how accessible my ties are. Currently, they're awkward to get to, so I don't wear 'em. I have some nice ties, and some truly grotesque ones; I alternate.

As long as I don't say anything rude or insulting, I think my odds are pretty good. Even if they don't hire me for the higher position, they'd probaby [hopefully?] -- just downgrade me to one of the Research Assistant positions. I'm willing to "work my way up the ladder," and the pay's reasonably similar (AU$4k/year less?). And, a job's a job.

Getting one of the downtown positions might be a stronger resume-builder; and there's a really good used CD shop just a few blocks away; and there's **two** 7-11's within a few blocks -- so in case one of the Slushie machines is down, I can just go across the street!

OTOH, the on-campus job is more flexible: they claim to be "family friendly," so some weeks I could potentially work "four tens" and watch The Bub the other day (maybe a Wednesday?); other weeks, I could at least still commute in with The Lady.

Either way: it'd be nice to double(-ish) our household income!


Job, job, job, job, job...!


--GG

Guilty pleasure: the Apprentice

I don't watch much t.v., but one of the few shows I watch is The Apprentice. It's fun seeing the challenges they get assigned each week, and thinking about how **I'd** handle 'em. It's also interesting seeing how some people do really well, some do really poorly -- and analyzing the reasons for the successes and failures after the fact.

I've actually managed to get The Lady to watch with me, and we have some enjoyable de-briefings of the shows.

A lot of the U.S. t.v. shows get imported to Australia a season behind, so this series is probably over and done with in the U.S. I suppose if I did a web search I'd find out who won. But, I'll wait. :)


Curiously, it's also given me a new appreciation for Donald Trump. In this week's episode (I think it's on Monday nights here, but oddly, I can't truly remember) this "Chris" guy got "fired" (i.e. booted off the program). His team had to go to "the boardroom" yet again, meaning they'd lost the day's challenge SEVEN times in a row. All the other times, he'd avoided being fired by being less incompetent and/or less obnoxious than his teammates. Still, he was getting frustrated with always being on the losing team. And this time, he'd been team leader, meaning he'd have to bear more of the responsibility for their loss.

I've only been watching for the last four(?) weeks, and initially I didn't particularly like his personality (EVERYONE on his team was whiny and/or backstabbing, though -- so he wasn't markedly worse than the others). He's a bit of a rough frat-boy type (chewing tobacco; calling everyone "bro," even the 70 y.o. advisor guy), and had a bit of a cussing and anger problem.

Over the last two episodes, however, he decided to give up chewing tobacco, and he **really** mellowed out this episode. So, I thought it was too bad that Donald Trump decided to can this Chris guy. (Saw it coming, though.) Trump didn't even "recess" like usual, to deliberate with his two advisors.

So he tells this Chris guy "You're fired." And Chris starts tearing up. (Which must be **really** hard for him, given his style of masculinity -- double-handed handshakes and all that.) So then Trump tells him, "Hey, don't take it so hard," and calls Chris around to his own side of the boardroom table to give him two bits of advice: stay away from tobacco, and keep working on that anger. Then Trump shakes his hand (which I haven't seen him do for anyone else) and tells Chris he has lots of potential, keep at it. And Chris croaks "O.k., sir" or some-such, and you can totally tell from the crack in his voice that he's trying not to cry.

Then Chris leaves the boardroom, and the camera goes back to Trump. And Trump looks like **he's** about to cry -- or at least, like he feels really bad for making Chris cry. And he turns to his two advisors and says "He's a good kid," to which his advisors agree.

So: I guess Trump isn't completely mean and impersonal.


--GG