It's been a while

For which I apologize. Internet access has become spastic, what with the whole trouble of going and using the neighbors' wireless, and before that was final exams. On the bright side, I have all of January to relax (when I'm not in rehearsal, that is). I have to say, whoever thought of creating a program in which students take one class for an entire month is a hero.

So for the month of January I will be acting in a production of Much Ado About Nothing, and in my off hours (anytime not between 9-5 on a weekday) I will be reading, sleeping, snowshoeing, eating, etc. And possibly blogging.

The year is nearly over. Yay. I wonder how long it will be before I remember to put 09 at the end of all my dates. I seem to recall listing some achievements at the end of last year. It's past midnight, and I don't have the energy to do that this year.

So I'll just say that my New Year's Resolution (all caps for emphasis) is to Do Better. More emphasis.

And more later. Now, bed.

Blech

If anyone wants to know anything about the history of Sparta, I'm your guy. Especially if you want to know about the Battle of Leuctra. Something about writing a ten page research paper causes a sort of revelation around the sixth page: I'm freaking tired of writing about this! Ah well. At least I'm done. In a week I'll be home, and shortly after that I will be playing with a kitten. Which makes me happy. All that lies between now and then are four finals...Italian, then Spartan History, both Friday. Then a day off (Saturday! Fun!), then Bacteriology on Sunday and O-Chem on Monday.

Also, I think I'll be doing research in the bacteriology lab here. By which I mean at some point, I will join the lab, but probably not for another semester or so. Which will be fun. It will probably involve biofilms, which is ironic, because the first epidemiology reading I ever did involved Legionnaires' Disease. I'm not linking; you can look it up on your own.

Shout out to my dad! Assuming you read this on Tuesday, Happy Birthday! Your present will make it home, even if I'm not sure yet on how.

The temperature outside is close to zero. Wednesday the high is supposed to be above 50. I have no idea what the heck is up with that. My room right now is warm enough that I can sleep comfortably without a comforter, which strikes me as ironic considering my complete lack of heating for much of last winter. A happy medium is apparently unattainable.

I swore to myself that I'd be in bed before midnight...and it is now past 2:30. Whoops. I'd love to say that it was time well spent...but I can't. Oh well. Also, check this out. My inner geek revealed...it's a long story, but every so often I contribute a guest post to the blog. Finally, if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog yet, you should get on that. The DVD comes out soon, with musical commentary track. Whee!

Dan out (like a light).

I'm Famous!

But apparently it's not a good thing.

Words Cannot Describe

Two words: F*cking amazing.

Well I thought it was funny

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. Nothing like a few days of sleep, good food and TV to encourage me to do work. Because of these motivating factors, I will now begin working and will not stop until Friday morning. So yeah. If anyone has, at any point, researched the Battle of Leuctra and has any opinions to share, feel encouraged to share them with me. I have eight pages left of a ten page paper, and I'm just waiting to run out of things to talk about.

So, back to the point of this post, which was to procrastinate. With all the TV I watched over the past few days (excluding baseball, more than I'd watched in the past three or four months), I had the opportunity to see a lot of funny stuff. Including a car commercial that advertised symmetrical all wheel drive. Which got me thinking...does this mean that some cars come with asymmetrical AWD?

So yeah. That's the kind of stuff I find funny. Moving right along...I'm gonna see if I can hammer out this paper in the next two hours (two more pages, not eight; different paper). Whee. I can't wait for January...acting for credit! Yay!

Daniel Craig wins approval

Mine, at least. Saw a midnight showing of Quantum in Augusta last night, and even though we got there an hour early for no apparent reason and didn't get back until 2:30 in the morning, it was totally worth it. It definitely wasn't the best Bond movie (Goldeneye, anyone?) but it earned its place. Dialogue was snappy and the action was tight, which went a good way toward masking a thin plot.

Also: previews for Watchmen and the new Star Trek movie. Both look excellent, although for some reason I thought Watchmen was coming out sooner than March. I'll definitely be doing the midnight showing, though.

Does this scare anyone else?

Saw this in the news today. Alright. We're starting down a dangerous path, folks. Soon Google will be enjoying government subsidies to share data with the political types. Not very long afterward Google will overthrow the government by manipulating the data they give the government. And after that...I don't know. One supposes Google might be a beneficial dictator. But just so you don't forget...

Really?

This reads like something out of a comedy sketch:

"Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska fired back Friday at the unnamed McCain campaign aides who have been maligning her in recent days, saying that their criticism was 'cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks.'"

That's from the New York Times article. And don't forget: Palin 2012!

Crichton, Crap Scientist

A decent author. "Next" is horrific; apparently at some point when writing his good books (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, some others...) he started believing the kooky science he was writing about. Does it make me a horrible person that I was actually glad that he wouldn't be writing any more books like "Next" or "State of Fear?" I don't think so.

Progress

Well, we did it. As a nation, we elected a black man to the presidency. As a state, we voted Democratic. And as a county, we elected Mean Jean Schmidt again. Well, there's always room for improvement.

Should be an interesting four years.

Enjoy

Wassup 2008
Uploaded by 60Frames

Whoops

Definitely meant to be in bed by now. Alas. Still, the comic above was worth it. And now to bed...O-chem exam this afternoon, Italian tomorrow morning. Wheeeeeeee. I'll let you know if I survive.

A week to the election!

Go Phillies!

Seriously, f*ck the Rays. This is the only time I will mention the ALCS until at least the beginning of next season, if ever again. F*ck the Rays, and all I have to say of the catcher situation is that of Varitek, Kevin Cash and David Ross (seriously? Ross?) I would much rather have Tek and Cash. Anyway, go Phillies. I'm dubiously claiming the right to cheer for them (born in Philly!)

In other news, apparently Sarah "Maverick" Palin's threads cost a bit more than she let on. Remind you of anything? Next thing we know she'll be having a tell-all during the next Olympics.

Also, I'd like to point out that Andrew and I were Mavericks long before the Republican machine stole the term. Go Princeton debate! I still throw down the sign all the time (see above). If I see McCain and Palin doing a secret handshake that in any way resembles ours, then I'll know for sure something's fishy.

One last note: Orgo is cruel and unusual. Homework over reaction types that we haven't covered in class is just too much. Bleah. SN2 and SN1 have been learned. E1 and E2 await...and then more. Whee! Also, bacteriology rocks. Looking forward to either immunology or virology in the future. And at some point, macrobiology. Tufts was on campus today (a guy from the - get this - Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine). Hehe. Aside from scaring the crap out of me (82 admitted out of >750 applied!), it was pretty interesting. Also, I think I may go abroad after all. Now to find a program that fits my interests. Scotland or England would be fun...

Last note (for real this time!): Food would be appreciated if sent from home. Perhaps in exchange for NYT crossword puzzles? They're mostly Thursday and Friday because I do all the others, but I've managed to get doubles of some of those. We're talking about maybe a dozen to fifteen puzzles...we could make a deal, I feel. And now...music!


SeeqPod - Playable Search

It's almost Halloween

The year goes on, sometimes crawling, sometimes racing. I have another round of tests in the next two weeks; it's very strange to think that the semester is close to half over. It still doesn't feel like I've been here very long, although I wouldn't mind going home for a bit. Just a bit, though. Three months at home takes more time than this to wear off completely.

Heard "Gone" from Golden Smog in the dining hall today, and was a little bit excited to hear it there. A sampling of music from the so-called "supergroup." And a little bit extra. Daniel out.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Fiddling with Regularity

I'm back to the late night routine again, and we'll see how regularly I can keep it up. Pumped with adrenaline right now, though, so I won't be getting any sleep for a while. And why am I filled with energy? Because the Sox just came back from 7-0 to win 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth, that's why. Amazing.

Other notable events of the night: Met Congressman Mike Michaud, a perfectly likable person. But I would personally have to vote (if I were voting in Maine) for Professor John Frary simply because he's a character. There was a debate, but I couldn't make it.

I was too busy attending a talk by Nobel Laureate Robert Curl, and being amazed at how people take the Nobel as a token of knowledge in all areas. The talk was not actually about chemistry but about living with technology, and consisted of warnings against nuclear proliferation and a focus on population problems and carbon emissions. Then the question and answer session brought up topics like the political structure of the world and education. Not to complain about the illustrious man, but I look forward to tomorrow's talk that will actually concern chemistry.

So for right now, I'm going to coast into the weekend and try not to think about the fact that it's Parent Weekend and I'll be working at the bookstore pretty much nonstop for the next three days. Which pretty much eliminates my weekend. So...yeah. For now, sleep.

More Late Night Posting

I meant to go to bed long before this...ah well. I'm awake, so I'll be productive. Sort of. Got my absentee ballot in the mail today; lots of parties on there in the presidential column. An irrational part of me (the irrational majority?) wants to vote for Bob Barr just for the heck of it. But no, I'll vote for Obama. Mr. Change got my vote when he got the nomination. And of course I relish the chance to vote against Mean Jean, even if she is injured. We can only hope that Wulsin didn't pay somebody to have Schmidt whacked. She clearly didn't get her money's worth if she did.

Nice to see the casino issue making it to a vote again. Dunno if it'll pass or not, but I doubt it. Don't know how I'll vote on it, either. So...yeah. That's fun.

Still debating whether to go abroad next year or not. Studying at the University of Edinburgh would be fun, and the biology program there is supposed to be good. Right now, though, I don't know if I really want to go. The program's in the spring of junior year, which would make applying to veterinary schools fun. And by "fun" I mean annoying. So that's still up in the air. Also, I think taking the MCATs (VCATs?) would be "fun" if I was in Europe. Eh.

Listening to the Avett Brothers right now; good stuff. Little list below if I decide to put the effort into making one. Alright, I put one together. It's down below.

Fall break is over and done with; it gave me the chance to read more than I have been lately. Neil Gaiman's "Graveyard Book" is really good; thanks again to my friend Dan who got me an autographed copy. "City of Thieves" is also quite good; I read an advanced uncorrected proof, but I think it came out in May. I also reread a story by Tobias Wolff, "Old School." Mrs. Harding gave me that one a few years ago and it's a fantastic read, as is most of Tobias Wolff's work. Right now I'm working through Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell," which is really good, quite long, and a bit difficult to read. I've also got another advance copy of a book called "Germania," which came out last month.

So that's my reading history over the past four days. On to other mediums...the Winterpills' new album is fantastic. Been listening to that. Other than that...music follows.

I think that's exhausted my supply of words for this night. Going to sleep now would probably be a good idea; I drove to Portland and back to get winter clothes from my grandparents' house, and as great as the Honda CR-V is to drive, it was still tiring. Little bit of a car review: (keep in mind my limited experience) more spacious than it looks, handles well for a larger vehicle, seats were comfortable. The shifter was in a strange place; it was in the style of a sedan, but without the center strip between the front seats the shifter had to go in the center console, beneath the fan controls and the radio. No serious complaints, though. Zipcars are awesome.

Well, as promised, there is music. I'm going to bed. Tomorrow (today!) should be fun...Nobel laureate Robert Curl will be speaking, and the Red Sox play after (even if the past few games have brought only pain. Right then, sleep.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

I Can Hear the Bells

Every morning, nine o'clock. First the bells ring, then Hail Canada plays. Or rather, Hail Colby Hail. Difference: the words.

Anyway...started this post quite a while ago. Notables: Red Sox win, proceed to ALCS starting Friday night. I've been cast in the role of Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, which is what I'll be doing for all of January. Also, added a bald eagle to my lifelist today.

And that's pretty much it.

I see skies of blue...Clouds of white...

For the first time in a long time, there are clear skies. Or mostly clear. Weathermen would call it partly cloudy. But the important thing is that it's not raining for once.

Important things: The Red Sox are up 2-0 over the Angels, to my joy and my friend's (an Angels fan) anger. The Cake concert was excellent; also the Winterpills were amazing, and I got their new album.

Answers for Andrew: Yes, Yes, and it went pretty well. Ah, Perry debaters...

Music for everyone!


SeeqPod - Playable Search

And the world continues to turn

Despite the fact that September has flown by and all of a sudden it's October. My first O-chem exam is in slightly less than 15 hours, my first bacteriology exam is next week, and I'm writing a five page paper for Friday. So, you know. Fun.

But on the bright side, Google has not taken over the world yet (that we know of), the Senate has passed the bailout, the Giants are 3-0, and the Red Sox just won their first playoff game. Also, I have successfully completed a Wednesday New York Times crossword puzzle for the first time.

Incidentally, the Times reports that Barack Obama was actually looked at by John McCain on the Senate floor during voting on the bailout. I'm really looking forward to watching the debate tonight. I know this is before my time, but I'm really hoping for a "You, governor, are no Hillary Clinton" moment. Unfortunately I don't think Joe Biden is capable of such concise statements. I plan on enjoying bilateral amusement. Hopefully my absentee ballot will arrive soon.

My mind tends to wander at a late hour. Also, I had a Vault at about noon, and since I don't drink much caffeine (I try to keep to water or juice at meals) the effects are still sticking with me. But anyway, speaking of voting and exercising rights, I assume everybody has heard of the Amethyst Initiative? Right now the president of Colby, Bro Adams, is not supporting it. Shocking! This may change, or not; I know that there was a group of students in the student government who were going to petition him to sign. Because nothing says good policy and sincerity like signing on pain of student protest.

Disclaimer: the following was written without being thought through, and the only reason it appears here is because I spent ten minutes writing it and don't feel like deleting it. Read on at your peril.

And to continue with my rant, student protest has been big on campus lately. Not actual protest, of course; the students here are too secure in the world to actually need to change anything. No, this protest is quite a bit more impotent. A little background: the Student Programming Board (SPB) opened the events calendar with themed dance: a luau, as it were. Soon after the student body found out through campus wide emails (it's called the Civil Discourse (but don't let the name fool you) and comes out every morning) that some students (two) had been offended by the dance. Turned out that part of Colby's diversity includes Hawaiians, and they'd been offended by the themed dance. So they demanded an apology; the SPB dallied; the offended party became even more inflamed and gathered some of the more "socially conscious" students to their side; the SPB apologized and was deemed insincere (a formal apology was brushed aside because the phrasing was not personal enough); terms like white privilege were thrown about...the end result is a multiculturalism rally on the steps of the library tomorrow afternoon.

Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm all in favor of social awareness and avoiding racism. But for an entire month we've had all sorts of minorities competing for the label of "most discriminated against," and I'm frankly sick of it. My one contribution to the fray pleaded for rationalism, which of course was shouted down as what a typical white and privileged student would say. Right, I'll keep that in mind. Note to self: apparently going to high school among more diversity than most of these people have ever seen is an invalid argument in the face of being part of the white majority...oh wait, that doesn't work.

One of the more annoying features of Colby is that we live in a nice insulated bubble, free from the actual cares of the world. This is a good thing in many ways, but when it comes to issues such as the economy (I won't claim to know exactly what's going on, but at least I keep up with events) or racism, we've forced ourselves into a corner. Without any real issues to deal with, we invent our own. And this is how a school dance with a luau theme that offends two students embroils the better part of the student body in a sudden wave of cultural awareness and white guilt.

If you're still with me, I deeply apologize for you having to read the previous. Here's some music to make up for it.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

And another thing

Remember, a while back, when I mentioned my theory that Google is taking over the world? Well, it's happening again. And in my own small way, I'm helping. Hopefully the Google army will spare loyal users. What am I raving about, I hear you ask?

I speak of Google Chrome, of course. Google continues to expand in the web, taking over more and more of our daily wanderings through the vast unknown. Now we have Chrome, an actual browser. So if I wanted to, I could start up my computer and chat in Google Talk, browse around using Chrome, spy on Google's enemies with Google Earth...the possibilities are endless, and I don't even have to touch a non-Google product, except the actual computer and OS. But I'm sure those are being worked on. Not to mention Android, which I just stumbled across. And we can't forget that Google buys web startups like they're going out of style. Which they certainly won't be, if all the promising ones get bundles of money from Google.

I'd honestly like to say some good things about Chrome, but I can't just yet. I haven't had it long enough, for one thing; I downloaded the beta last night to give it a try. I am writing this post in Chrome, but there's nothing stopping me from starting up Firefox, unlike how Firefox has rendered me unwilling to use IE or Safari (granted I have separate issues with the latter). The conservative (read: spartan) design of the browser is welcome, if a little disconcerting. When I started it up for the first time, it offered to get all my passwords and my browsing history from Firefox, which gave me a little bit of a shock. Having all my passwords saved in Firefox is one thing when the computer has its own password, but Chrome being able to communicate with Firefox for my personal information impressed and scared me, as simple as the task is. Not that it really matters, seeing as they already have my password to Gmail.

I'll cut the rambling short here. I'm not recommending Chrome; we'll see if I stick with it or just go to Firefox by force of habit. If you want to, read more about it here.

The fun...it just won't stop

There is water trickling through the heater in my room. At least, that's what it sounds like. A constant dripping of water that causes me, every so often, to check the floor for puddles. So far it's been false alarm after false alarm. But it's weirding me out a little.

First radio show taken care of, so I'm running on about two hours of sleep. First reaction to the five thirty alarm was that I had made some horrible mistake setting it, but I realized after falling back into bed that it was, in fact, my cue to get up. Once awake, I had no problem with the radio show, although I did substitute a few letters for others. Not that that had anything to do with my being tired. The most fun part was not having track lists for five cds, so putting them in was a shot in the dark. It mostly came out well, though. Kudos to my two listeners.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Never Hear Them on the Radio

Or you didn't at least, until now. I've got my radio show again, even if it is at an extremely lousy time. Six to eight AM Saturdays. You know, because I enjoy waking up early after a Friday night filled with drinking socializing and playing beruit games of skill. Although if by some chance those times work for anybody who feels like listening to bands like Wilco, The Avett Brothers, Joseph Arthur, The National, and others like them, feel free to check out the website, where you can find links to streaming audio from the station. Now all I need to do is find a way to burn CDs without actually possessing a CD burner. Unless this hacked up drive does burn CDs, but I don't think it does.

And now, seeing as it's far too early in the morning to do anything but sleep, I think my choice is clear. To Wikipedia!

Surprise

Contrary to popular belief, despite the fact that I've stopped blogging regularly (I'm trying to get back, I swear), my life still continues. I've had my first labs, my first seminar in Spartan history...all fun. O-chem will no doubt stymie me at points, but for right now it's simple enough. Thin Layer Chromatography was oddly satisfying. Whatever it is, I'm glad to be out of the intro labs, where your hand is held through every simple thing you do (who's had to put up with three hours of learning how to use a light microscope? I know I have).

In other news, I'm waiting to hear if I got a radio slot this semester. Also the Red Sox are a game back of the Rays, and the Giants are 2-0, with Dallas and Philly playing tonight. And now I have to go to O-chem lecture, then Italian.

Wow...

Well, the Mates of State show was awesome. I can't hear a damned thing, because I stood right in front of the stage the entire time. As I was doing that, however, it something occurred to me. I can legitimately claim to have performed on the same stage as Mates of State. My reasoning: BMR performs in the same place. Soon I will be able to add Cake and the Winterpills to the list of fellow performers to have graced the stage in Page Commons.

Yeah, it's awesome. I know.

And just to lend some credence to this preening, here's Joe Biden.

haHa!

The first halfweek of classes is over and done with, and I am pleased to report that everything is under control. O-chem seems manageable, even if it is reputedly difficult (an understatement?). Bacteriology should be fun, and I'm happy to finally be doing real labs rather than the intro stuff. Italian...I can understand words in context. It's an immersion course, and I can understand the teacher almost all of the time. Writing is a different story. And the Sparta seminar meets for the first time next Tuesday...more on that later.

I'm working at the bookstore again. Fun.

Oh, and Cake and the Winterpills are playing here October 3rd. So, you know. More fun

Cute little song

From Camp Colby

So Mates of State is coming on Saturday. Which came as a pleasant surprise. I forget who will be opening for them, but it should be a great show. Now if only they could get Wilco up here...

A day in the life

Freshmen are all moved in, and the upperclassmen and us sophomores are moving around campus trying not to bump into them too much. They have their own schedule of lecture after lecture telling them not to be stupid, and we have some things of our own today. For instance, today I learned how to dress for a student government meeting (business casual, if you were curious), how to write a newsletter for the dorm, and a few names that I'll forget within a few days.

For some reason my schedule of orientation gets busier over the weekend. Tomorrow we finish up at nine, Friday at 11:30 (pm), and Saturday at nine. Over the next few days I will learn how to be an effective student leader. Hopefully. Not too appealing to sit down for hours on end and listen to people read off pieces of paper. But it'll be over soon enough. And classes!

That was awesome..

Just got back from my first time white water rafting, and it was freaking sweet. The student government went up the Kennebec River to Crab Apple Rafting, where we got guides that took us twelve miles down the river, through rapids and slow spots. Getting tossed off the boat by a wave was simultaneously one of the scariest and coolest moments of my life. Underwater, with my head bumping the bottom of the boat, all I could think was, "shoot, and on the last rapid, too." I popped up downstream of the boat and swam back to it. Amazing experience. We also got to get out and swim around in the river as the current took us downstream. I'd say we probably floated around for a mile before getting back in the raft. Six of us in the raft, along with the guide, made for some awesome wave hits. I got soaking wet and swallowed plenty of river water - which is okay, because we were right at the mouth of the Kennebec - but I was loving every minute of it.

Freshmen get on campus tomorrow, and I have to be up early to help them move in. There are already a few bouncing around campus, looking a little lost, trailing their parents. Tomorrow most of the upperclassmen on campus, myself included, are talking to the freshmen about safe drinking habits. Should be a fun time.

Biden Fiden bo-Biden

So the presumptive Democratic candidate has presumed to make his choice for running mate, and it's Joe Biden. Long time senator from Delaware, blah blah blah. One the one hand, he provides needed experience to the ticket. On the other, he's a three time failed presidential candidate and a plagiarizer. He also made that nice little gaffe, "You cannot go to 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts without a slight Indian accent." Thank you, come again Senator Biden.

Biden isn't a bad choice. Was he the best choice? Possibly. For a candidate inexperienced with foreign policy and Washington, Biden is a good counterpart. Now for the conventions and McCain's vice pick. Obama-Biden '08. It'll take getting used to, but it just might be a winning ticket.

Heeere's Johnny!

Greetings and salutations from the wonderful state of Maine, where I have finally resumed residence after three short months in the nasty 'nati. Now that the people who read this blog (at last count, three) are no longer aware of my every action regardless of the blog, I'm going to be posting much more often.

It was a fun summer, and I'm going to miss friends, but it's good to be back here. Saturday is move in day, and aside from the fact that there will be way too much stuff to do to get settled, I'm looking forward to it. Not looking forward to hefting stuff up to the third floor, but oh well.

I have no idea when classes start, but I'm assuming that they will begin on Monday September 1st. When they do, I'll have a pretty good schedule. O-chem and Italian on Mondays, bacteriology, Italian and Spartan history on Tuesdays, O-chem, Italian and bacteriology lab on Wednesdays, bacteriology, Italian and O-chem lab on Thursdays, and O-chem on Fridays. I'll be working at the campus bookstore again this year, and hopefully I'll nab a radio spot too.

More later.

RIP Manny

So the Red Sox have finally rid themselves of Manny Ramirez. And I could not be more disappointed. If Jason Bay does well, I will be shocked. Farewell Manny, and enjoy working under Joe Torre. Say hello to Nomar and Derek. Farewell Brandon Moss, we hardly knew ye. Craig Hansen, your potential will be sorely missed. Wild card spot, here we come.

EDIT: Just found out that the Reds traded Griffey to the White Sox. The fuck? Seriously, I can't think why. John Fay and Paul Daugherty, please enlighten me soon.

W00t!

19! Nothing like a birthday to put some spice into life. I feel so much more mature!

A real time waster

I want to play more...but it is time for bed. Oh, the dilemma. Well, you play some and tell me how you can stop!

Ah, Minor League Baseball

The gimmicks and the rampaging mascots never fail to amuse. Went to a Columbus Clippers game against the Pawtucket Red Sox today, and it was a very enjoyable day. Except for driving back from Columbus. But the rest of it was fun. Only in the minor league could I sit a seat away from the general manager of the club and not know it. Also, they played Sweet Caroline. That was nice.

With a little help from my friends

Alright, I'll concede that my previous initiative to get some posting action going didn't work. It has been two weeks since my last post...I do apologize to my audience for my laxness; Mom, I hope you don't mind. Anyway, I'll be brief, since I can't think of much else to say. Enjoy the new JibJab.

If you're bored...

Try this: TrackMania. It is truly awesome: a racing game that can be downloaded to your computer - get this - for free. And it's not some dinky trial version that runs for an hour and then makes you pay up or get out. No, it's a real, honest to G-d racing game that is fun, a bit addicting, and did I mention completely free. So get it here and say goodbye to boredom. No more looking up at the clock every five minutes. Instead, now you can look at the clock once every three hours and ask yourself, "Where did the time go?" Into this game, that's where. Into this game.

I have a new career plan

This is just too cool.

Because Andrew Told Me To

Okay, so I haven't posted lately. Allow me to explain: my sister's bat mitzvah was yesterday (as of right now, Saturday). So, I've been busy. Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally for taking up all of my time (along with all of my other relatives).

I'm going to try to get back to regularity. Honestly, though, not much happens to me on a daily basis, so "regular posting" may be biweekly or something similar to that.

So, yeah. And Andrew? You could get the same information you get from reading this blog just by calling/emailing me. So...communication FTW.

My music recommendation

FYI, if you haven't heard these guys before, listen up and listen good.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

And so it continues

The summer is pretty much in full swing now, and I won't say I'm not enjoying it. I definitely am. What I'm not enjoying is how fast it will be over. I'll be back at school before too long (and yes, I realize I still have a little over two months). But still, three weeks have gone by in a flash. Who's to say the rest of the summer won't?

So that's all fun. Other updates...my fantasy baseball team is still in the toilet, as it probably will be all season. I can't figure it out (well, I can, and it's thanks to an incredibly slow start, and I don't think it's salvageable anyway). So...yeah. Think I'll play head to head next year, because Rotisserie apparently is not like riding a bicycle. It looks like I'll be putting in a guest post here on Friday, so be sure to tune in.

Um...other than that...did anyone see the Tonys? Was anyone else happy that Rogers and Hammerstein continue to be freaking amazing? I sure was. Let's see...it's 2 in the morning and I feel like rambling...so...

Downloaded Firefox 3 today. Hm. I need to find a new theme, because I already miss my old RedSoxFox theme that was simply amazing. I dislike the method of finding URLs from what I start typing up top, because frankly when I type "mail" I want "mail.google.com," not "webMAIL.colby.edu" Other than that...I'm impressed. It certainly is faster. I don't know about better yet. The quick bookmarking tool that was lauded by some promotions certainly isn't any better than the bookmark button on the Google toolbar, and I prefer the latter because all my bookmarks are already there. Hats off to Mozilla, however, for getting almost 2 million downloads from the US alone in about half a day. Wow. It's all because of things like this.

Okay, I'm going to go look for add-ons and themes for my new browser. Whee!

----------------
Now playing: Elton John - High Flying Bird
via FoxyTunes

C'est Moi

Okay, Alright,

Big thunderstorms everywhere. That's the gist of tonight. Listening to Jethro Tull, watching the lightning flash, contemplating reading. When the sirens went off today I was at work, and we basically just watched the storm approach from the north.

Because right now at work we have time to do that. Actually, we have time to do pretty much anything we want. I'm working for a recently opened veterinary clinic during the afternoons (Warm Animal Hospital, remember?), and appointments right now are few and far between. I answer a phone call every half hour or so, and there's maybe one or two appointments per afternoon. I've been told (by my boss) to bring a book to read. That's when I'm not playing with the kittens that live in the clinic. I love this job. Now if one of my other applications would finally call me back...

Ah well. For now, I'll concentrate on the job I do have. And on enjoying the summer that seems alarmingly brief. Until I write again: be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Return of the Jew

After a hiatus thanks to getting home, dealing with job hunting, and poor internet access, I've finally returned to the blogosphere.

Being home is nice. Having a short break from regularly scheduled days is nice. Tomorrow I start working again, at Warm Animal Hospital (requisite plug, recommend to all pet owners) as a receptionist. That's part time, so I'm looking for something else to fill the rest of the week - probably Kings Island, hopefully at the candy shop again. Two old friends are also returning, and apparently there's a "production team" that we're qualified for, having lots of experience making fudge and other varied items. So, that'd be fun. If not that, something third shift.

So that's the first two reasons for vanishing. The third is due to borrowing internet access from the local unsecured wireless, which is now in full force but for the first five days was inexplicably absent.

And so my summer begins. I hope to enjoy it, although I will certainly enjoy being back at school in the fall. I never thought I'd say that.

Almost there...

Homeward bound, and taking it easy at the pit stop right now. Spent my last night at Colby watching Iron Man again, for free this time. It pays to be the designated driver. I leave you for now with music.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Three Days

Yeah, that's right, Penelope Cruz.

Anyways...the point of the post was to take pleasure in the simple fact that a.) in three or four hours I'll be down to one exam left, and on Tuesday I'll be leaving campus for a good long while. Ignoring the fact that my summer jobs are falling through, leaving me with unpleasant thoughts as to where I'll end up...(I absolutely refuse to work for Kings Island again), I'm looking forward to getting out of here. Come tomorrow afternoon I'll start packing up everything that's not already at my grandparents' house (which is not much), and Monday evening I'll sit back with a friend, a long movie (Lawrence of Arabia) and relax. Finally. I should be cramming for the chemistry final that's in an hour and a half...but that's why I got up early, and besides, it's multiple choice. Gotta love the ACS.

Monday is Italian, which I have a hate-hate relationship with. I think I'll head outside and study in the sun (somehow the rain that was predicted for last Thursday still hasn't come, and the skies are clear as can be). Campus is gradually emptying, which is kind of freaky, but at least all the seniors are here. Winter break was fun for leaving late because there were fewer than a hundred kids spread across campus. So few people...

So I should get back to studying...but really, why study when I can just go to Hollywood and get a job as a stunt double for any of my celebrity look alikes? I'm sure I'd make a great Amisha Patel (whoever the hell she is).

OH...Note to self: $7.50 back for a textbook that cost at least $80 (I don't want to know how much it really was) at the beginning of the year? Not a good deal.

What joy!

A calculus exam in the morning does wonders for the body. Especially at eight in the morning. How wonderful. Permission to strike the professor?

Well now

Just got back from a midnight showing of Prince Caspian, and I was totally won over by it. Go see it; it's freaking amazing.

One down...

Biology is history. First out of the exam room, clocking in at an hour and ten minutes. Some of my friends have identified me as "that guy." You know, the one who walks in a couple minutes late, grabs an exam and sits down, and the next time you look up he's gone? Yeah. I figure I might even have nabbed an A- for the semester.

Next up is calculus, at nine in the morning on Saturday. Sounds like fun, no? After that is chemistry, 12:30 Sunday, and then Italian at 12:30 Monday. And after that? Home free. Break out the champagne (actually, probably Harp lager) and start packing.

For now, Smash Brothers and other fun things. With the sudden loss of my CD-ROM based entertainment I've turned to things that are internet based or on my hard drive. So, lots of Yahoo euchre and GTA. If only Addictinggames would produce some decent new games...I personally have no desire to take naughty pics of child celebrities.

So...yeah. That's all fun. I win. According to these rules, which I just made up. Props for reference getters.

A precedent has been set

Since someone else already did it, I figure I might as well...I'm tired of studying anyway, and it's better than a long winded rant on whatever comes to mind...so here. Enjoy, nitpick, suggest new stuff...I'm going to bed with my notebook under my pillow (hoping for osmotic learning).

So that's all fun, then...

Counting down the days now. Unfortunately, as I gleefully consider three months of freedom, my computer has decided to sh*t itself. Although it has been an extremely reliable machine for a year and a half, the CD drive recently broke down in the middle of burning a CD. The drive now reads and plays DVD's but will not recognize anything else. This means no games, no audio discs, no burning...you get the idea. While not a critical issue, it is a minor annoyance that could potentially be problematic. The best part is that with the warranty expired as of last November, a new drive is costly. The best price I've found so far is a hundred dollars, and the worst is two hundred and forty. So...I'll probably have to buy a new drive eventually. Ah well.

Everything else is looking pretty peachy in comparison...my grades, while not stellar, are turning out solid. Italian is consistently my worst subject, and I'll be glad to be done with it after next semester. The ironic thing is that I end up speaking better German when intoxicated than I do Italian when sober. Huh.

Got roped into working at the bookstore all afternoon yesterday. I didn't have any plans, and it was a good way to earn thirty bucks, so I can't complain too much.

Packing up to take stuff to Portland tomorrow. I've realized that despite the large number of cardboard boxes I've accumulated over the year, only a few of them are actually big enough to hold much. I have three blankets and a comforter that need to go in some sort of box, and I'll probably have to buy a rather large one at the bookstore tomorrow morning.

Again with the bookstore. On the positive side, we're clearing out old ARCs, which means I got three books to read. For free. It's a wonderful system.

Anyways...I should keep packing/studying/etcetera-ing. Whee!

Yay

One week of classes left! Excitement and joy! Not much going on; chorale concert was wonderful, blah blah blah...OH, and Iron Man was simply AWESOME...Did I mention that there's only one week of classes left?

True Story

If you've never heard of Gregg Jackson, you're missing out. Colby was wonderful enough to have this gentleman come and speak to the leftist mob, telling us all (twenty of us? twenty five?) about how Islam is evil and not the religion of peace, that homosexuality is unhealthy and wrong, that the left is destroying America through attacks on our foundational values, and that Christianity rules. We also learned that lazy hypocritical Republicans are to blame as well, and in Jackson's opinion are the biggest threat to America, but I was too impressed by his ignorant attacks on Islam and the "Left," as he called it, to pay much attention by that point. I took detailed notes of the whole thing, however, and some of the highlights include

Three threats to the survival of the United States: Islamic jihad, The Left, and Apathetic, Hypocritical, Lazy, etc Christian Republicans.

Europe is dead, citing "Londonistan" , and we are close to electing a president with links to Islamic militants: Barack Hussein Obama.

The Left is telling countless lies: about global warming, telling kids (indoctrinating our youth) that gays are acceptable; they are trying (and have been since WWI) to set up a "humanist theocracy" that would set man above G-d, they are teaching evolution (more indoctrination), amorality and moral relativism, self-actualization (which apparently is bad), trying to institute a society of classlessness, abolish natural marriage and destroy the traditional family, and establish socialism and globalism, which would invite micromanagement of the US by the UN.

Soon to come because of the Left are socialized health care and major rationing, Orwellian hate crime laws, increased illegal immigrants, and increased amounts of international law superseding US laws.

Democrats enjoy illegal immigrants because these illegals vote for them.

The Founding Fathers were religious; so should we be. Madison based the idea of separation of powers on Isaiah 33:22, Christian conservatives need to stop compromising, abortion is and always will be evil, G-d has blessed the US and will turn away from us if we keep killing babies.

The nation needs supernatural healing, and it is time to humble ourselves before G-d.



Now...that's fun, right? A man who is devoutly Christian (who styled himself a "Jewish-believing Christian,") is obviously far to the right (although critical of other conservatives, and is, quite frankly, slightly insane. To attack the Muslim faith like that, and then to argue on in the question and answer session after the talk (which took much longer than the talk itself) against a real Muslim...that takes balls. Or a lack of a brain. Either could be true. Calling Christianity a religion of peace, he dismissed the Inquisition and Crusades as non-scriptural based and therefore irrelevant. He didn't seem to know about the Huguenots or the rule of the Moors in Spain.

Repeated questioning by members of the GLBTQ Alliance revealed that he thinks that homosexuality is a mental disorder and should not be explained to our children as acceptable (or, horror of horrors, good). He cited many studies showing decreased life expectancy in homosexuals as showing that homosexuality is unhealthy, and ignored or scoffed at the repeated suggestion that lower life expectancy could be linked to higher suicide rates linked to a social stigma caused by homophobes such as himself.

Listening to this fellow was funny at first, but quickly became infuriating. Because of his religion, he assured us, he was always right. He pressured the Muslim student on whether she believed in everything the Koran says, to which the response came asking him if he believed everything the Bible told him, especially the Torah. That shut him up temporarily. We heard about how his idea of foreign policy in Iran would be to "stand by our ally Israel" and use pinpoint strikes on known nuclear sites in Iran. The Republican party, that of Lincoln and of Reagan, will always be superior, according to Mr. Jackson.

Civility was maintained, surprisingly enough, but I'm fairly sure just about everybody in the room, conservatives included, just wanted to hit him.

Anyways, I need to go to bed, and thinking about this idiot is just making me mad. May G-d bless and keep idiots like him...far away from me. Kudos if you get the reference.

So then

I seem to be most alert in the wee hours of the morning...either that or I'm less distracted now than at other times. Just a few quick updates: I picked a room for next year; it's a hundred square foot single on the third floor. Decent enough; it'll hold me and my things, which is the important thing. A few friends are moving in next year, so it'll be a fun time. Scheduling for the fall semester is over until I find out whether or not I got into the Sparta course. The Red Sox lost again...swept by the Devil Rays. My fantasy baseball team is collapsing into a smoking pile of rubble, and due to some restrictions on which players can and can't be dropped from the team I'm forced to hold on to some unwanted luggage.

Apparently Mars (the candy maker, not the planet) is about to close a deal to buy Wrigley. Is it just me, or are giant mergers becoming the next big thing? Delta merges/takes over United; Northwest and Continental try to make a deal but fail. Are we nearing a consolidated market, where a few giants (fewer than right now, at least) control each sector? I wonder. There's a possibility that mergers could stimulate the economy (don't ask me to explain, economics to me is a vague concept in the back of my mind).

Colby hosted a debate on health care tonight, between Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute (obviously unbiased) and Hugh Waters from John Hopkins. To sum up: Cannon supported competition between public insurance companies to improve care and lower prices; Waters had a scheme called, cleverly enough, Medicare Part E (the E stands for Everyone). Brilliant. The only problem is that Waters lauded Medicare as a bastion of efficiency, and when asked questions equivocated and didn't answer. Cannon had some problems of his own, mostly with the presentation of his argument. Another problem with Waters was his insistence on linking a lower life expectancy in the US than in Japan with worse health care. Um...no. Sorry.

Anyhow, I should probably get to sleep and get the five hours of sleep I still have left. I'll leave you with the thought of a beautiful spring day in Maine, which is exactly what we had for the past week, and exactly what we will not have for the next couple days, as the rain moves in. Taking advantage of the wonderful weather last Friday I went down to the bottom of the quad with a few friends and played cricket. It's a fantastic thing to do on a warm and sunny afternoon.

I'm going to try to share some music.


And:

Getting back in the swing of things

I feel vaguely guilty that I have been inconsistent (at best) in posting lately. I'm not sure why I haven't been recapping every day with a blog post. I could say it has something to do with time constraints, but that would be a lie. I post at night/early morning for a reason, and that's because there is a complete lack of other things to do...well, almost complete. But usually by midnight on a weekday and one or two on weekends (in this case, almost three), things have quieted down and I'm back in my room and relatively sober. And then...I go to bed. Surprise. Perhaps I'll put a little note up that says "Blog, stupid," or something like that. It could work.

Anyway, per Andrew's request at my last disjointed ramble of thoughts, here is a short synopsis of the topics I will cover. I'm not sure why I'm writing this before the rest of the post, as my tendency to digress will probably render it useless.

So I will come back to summarize later...to start the train of thought a-chugging away...later today is room draw, which I have to be at as kind of a mere formality. But of course it's more than that, because as of right now, despite being dorm president, I don't actually have a room. While I agree that it's a good idea to not put a lot of emphasis of the rooming benefit part of being a dorm president, I think that I should at least be able to pick the room that I particularly want rather than having limited options when it comes to getting my room. As long as there's a single available I'm happy...I shall see.

Red Sox lost again, the fourth time in a row. Devil Rays are awful, and Buchholz was amazing(ly unlucky). Thank goodness the bullpen didn't need to come in.

Watched Casablanca tonight. What an amazing movie. Personally I prefer Lauren Bacall to Ingrid Bergman, but whatever. Next weekend I'm setting aside an entire afternoon/evening to watch Lawrence of Arabia. I wish people still smoked in movies. Now that smoking isn't PC, it's no longer cool with Hollywood to smoke. And yet there is nothing sexier than Lauren Bacall sliding through the door in "To Have and Have Not?" I don't think so.

Fortified my health today.

The fish is still alive, which is good. This makes two weeks, which for a free goldfish is something of a record for me...although I'm not sure how many fish I've actually had (two? less). I went for the little furry cute things, although the last hamster I had was insane and not really cute.

Played softball today, which was fun. Got a hit all five times I came to the plate, and pitched just about the whole game. The only bad thing about that was having to pitch from about thirty feet away from the batter. I got hit twice, once on the arm by a line drive and once by a bouncer that took an amusing path. It hit me in the thigh, bounced up, and came down on top of my head. Fun.

Being knowledgeable about the Civil War (more so than the average college freshman at least) has its perks. Apparently Shipyard Brewery makes something called "Chamberlain Pale Ale," which has a portrait of a man in a Union Civil War uniform on the label. I was able to inform friends of the man's identity as Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War general from Maine (a professor at Bowdoin, actually) who came back to Maine after the war and became governor for a few years.

It's random shit like that that gets me strange looks. One of my friends actually assumed I am a Mainer based on that. Nope, just a person who remembers odd things. Thank you, Jeff Shaara.

That's pretty much it...I feel like sleeping. I'm actually not going to go back to the synopsis...sorry, Andrew.

That time of year again

It's five weeks to the end of school, and not only is room draw for next year coming up soon, course selection for the fall is opening up tomorrow. I have a general idea of what I want to take, but I'm not quite sure yet. The problem stems from my uncertainty of what major I want. Right now I'm a declared biology major, so I feel like taking a biology course would be a good idea. I also declared a minor in classical civilization, mostly to get into a course on Sparta next fall. The two classes I'm sure of are organic chemistry (which I fear) and my last semester of Italian (thank G-d). I know I want to take a history course of some kind, seeing as that's the other major I'm considering. If I take a biology course, that means I'll have two science labs again. Now to decide between four or five classes. Looking at the schedule I've mapped out, five seems manageable, if only because the day wouldn't be too crowded (the Sparta course meets just once a week). I would have three classes Monday morning, two Tuesday morning and one in the afternoon, three Wednesday morning and biology lab (I'm thinking bacteriology) in the afternoon, two Thursday morning and O-Chem lab in the afternoon, and two Friday morning. Class would start at nine MWF and nine thirty TR, which I've managed this semester. In the fall I'll even have time for lunch every day, something which has not been true for Mondays and Wednesdays this semester. There's plenty of time still open in the day for work, both academic and at the bookstore. The only problem I see is that I would have to take chem lab on Thursday, which cuts into Chorale rehearsal by an hour. Without the Sparta course I could move lab to Tuesday afternoon, which would lighten the load at the end of the week considerably. I just have to decide...Of course, even if I elect to take the Sparta course, with just 15 openings I might not even get in. That's why I declared the minor. Ah well...I have a little time to decide.

On other fronts...chorale concert in a little over a week. Beethoven's Mass in C, and that's it. Tour has been confirmed as going to Argentina next spring, which will be amazing. Passover is roughly half over, and so far the food in the dining halls is still tolerable. Thank G-d for the fact that rice and beans are still allowed. Although the dining halls are relatively good with food (even matzo pizza at one dining hall), the local groceries are not. I went to a Hannaford's to buy food and discovered a complete lack of matzo. I am drinking Dr Brown's cherry soda and eating Manischewitz. Yay for gefilte fish! But if anybody wanted to get me this...

It's Spring!

Finally...it's actually warm...the temp hit 76 degrees today, an amazing number for us snowbound northerners. Of course, there are still places with snow on the ground, but for the most part the ground is clear.

Continued at a much later time...Big Papi is officially cleared of his slump. In other unrelated news, I acquired a fish. Its name is Cicero, and it will hopefully survive the semester. I found Cicero in a vase sitting on a path outside one of the dining halls after the freshman class dinner, and after some minutes of wondering why it was there, decided to claim it as my own. So far, no angered announcements of lost fish.

The hosting of two high school seniors went well, and without any embarrassing stories to tell of it, I will leave it at: hopefully two awesome people will be coming to Colby next year. They truly were cool people.

Other than that, not much to say. I discovered that playing two hours of ultimate frisbee a day is not a good choice after a winter of inaction, and that falling asleep in the sun is also not a good idea. I am sore and sunburned, and also tired, and so I shall go to bed and not awake until late, late in the morning/early in the afternoon.

No, I Won't Go to Bed

When there's nothing else to do except sleep, I don't really feel like sleeping. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days of the week, one because I have nothing to do in the evening, and the other because I have little to do all day. Radio show excepting, Thursdays are blissful (and that only because I have to wake up way too early to do the show). And yet despite the fact that I should be getting to bed, as it is past getting late and is now, in fact, late, I don't want to sleep.

Tomorrow may be hellish; I'm hosting not just one, but two prospective students, and although I have no problem with that alone, fitting them into my room should be an interesting experience. Tomorrow night is the class dinner; I have no idea why this is necessary, neither have I any idea why the theme is "Yacht Club." I don't have the heart to inform the planners of this no doubt exciting meal that I have, in fact, never been in a yacht club, and never plan on it. As it is, I will attempt to look "the part," and will wear a hideously orange polo shirt with khaki slacks. Is this an appropriate look for a "Yacht Club?"

I'm not sure why I said that tomorrow (now today) may be hellish; despite the high schoolers coming up, the day really won't be that bad. The day that could really be bad is Friday, when I have to take said high schoolers around to my classes, get rid of them, eat, work, and then spend a few hours orienting volunteers at the local animal shelter. (This way is up, this way is down, etc). I volunteered to help run/coordinate the Colby Pawpals, a group that organizes volunteering at the animal shelter. My responsibilities keep mounting...horrors.

Speaking of responsibilities, my term as dorm president will commence next fall with me residing in the same dorm, with different rules. Difference numero uno: alcohol is allowed. Hopefully the dorm won't go downhill too fast. I'll be attempting to get a single; I no longer get first pick of room in the dorm but instead pick first of all rising sophomores in the dorm. So, after the rising seniors and juniors have had their way with the rooms, I get to pick from what's left (hopefully, a single). I was planning on a triple with a couple friends, but they had the opportunity to get a better room in chem-free housing and took it. So I'll have a single, with luck, and despite the apparent rule against lofting the bed (no doubt something to do with the ever present exposed water pipes that run through the dorm), I'll cram everything in there.

I may have mentioned this before; I'll be playing softball for the Colby Christian Fellowship team, which never fails to amuse me (and others who know me). I personally just wanted to find a purpose for my glove, let alone a religious purpose. Nevertheless, a friend (the girl I beat in dorm president elections, actually) wants me to attend her church this Sunday. Um. I'll be going, but I don't plan on participating too much. I have no idea what denomination the church is, nor do I have any idea why she wants me to go. Apparently I'm too blatant in my lack of religiosity. Maybe I should take down the Nietzsche quote from my door (okay, that's a lie; no Nietzsche quote...yet).

It is now 1:30 AM, and all is well...except that I'm at my desk typing, not in bed sleeping, or even reading. I really can't think of anything else to write about...the Red Sox lost painfully to the Yankees, a defeat made more painful by the arrival of four Yankees fans right when Timlin loaded the bases. My fantasy baseball team is in an absolute rut, although I am buoyed by: 1) I have good players and 2) they can't stay cold forever and 3) the other teams have to cool off sometime...right? Anyhow, I'm off to finally get in bed. I think I'll read if I can't drop off right away...I'm rereading Douglas Adams, and also "The Kings of New York," about a high school chess team. Until later.

Return to Normality?

Hopefully. I've finally caught up with all my work, and the next week, at least, should be pretty peaceful. Then, of course, comes exams in all the classes, and then another week or so before finals. But of course I'm tired of talking academics...I declared a major, biology, although I'm considering history. Given that I haven't actually taken a history class here yet, I'm going to hold off on actually declaring it as my major.

Enough academics. Other events coming up/recently past: I'll be playing softball on a recreational team, which promises to be enjoyable. I couldn't get enough people together to captain my own team, so I'll be playing *pause for dramatic/humorous effect* for the Colby Christian Fellowship team. Chances are it's better than the team the campus Hillel is fielding, anyway.

Lessee...that's actually about it, really. Other than watching the Red Sox whenever there's a game (they're finally winning, yay), being won over by Vampire Weekend and hoping that they will release a second CD as good as their first, and being introduced to Buffy, not much is going on.

I have job(s) for the summer, which is nice; I'll still be working at veterinary clinics, probably splitting hours between two. I can hardly wait to be out of here...as much as I love it here, I'm looking forward to a time when getting home doesn't bring work with me. Plus, I want summer and all the glorious things that come with it...even though the Reds aren't selling tickets to the Red Sox series, I still plan on absorbing as much baseball as possible during the summer (radio, internet radio, TV, possibly games at GABP? I never know).

I actually had less to write than I thought I did...I suppose that's good, considering I should probably sleep. One more quick thing: finally having interesting things to do in lab, for example getting a solution that may or may not contain certain metals, and performing a series of tests of my own design to determine what metals are in the given solution. Fun! And until whenever...so long, and thanks for all the fish.

Well I'll be darned

Ever heard of these books? They're conservative brainwash material and garbage, one and all. I'm sorry, maybe that came off as a little bit harsh. Lets let them speak for themselves:

From the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam:
The jihad continues today: Europe could be Islamic by the end of the twenty-first century

From the Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism:
Horner (an attorney and senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute) reveals the full anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-human agenda of today’s environmentalists, dubbing them “green on the outside, red to the core.”

From the Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design:
Wells begins by explaining the basic tenets of Darwinism, and the evidence both for and against it. He reveals, for instance, that the fossil record, which according to Darwin should be teeming with “transitional” fossils showing the development of one species to the next, so far hasn’t produced a single incontestable example. On the other hand, certain well-documented aspects of the fossil record—such as the Cambrian explosion, in which innumerable new species suddenly appeared fully formed—directly contradict Darwin’s theory.
Wells then turns to the theory of intelligent design (ID), the idea that some features of the natural world, such as the internal machinery of cells, are too “irreducibly complex” to have resulted from unguided natural processes alone. In clear-cut layman’s language, he reveals the growing evidence for ID coming out of scientific specialties from microbiology to astrophysics.

From The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science:
Why embryonic stem cell research is snake oil medicine (which is why it needs government subsidies)

And of course many, many more. Not only politically incorrect, but incorrect in every other aspect as well. This series of books is from the same publisher that produced such "quality" reading as: The Truth About Muhammad and the ever classic Epidemic: How Teen Sex is Killing Our Kids.

From the same group that contains Regnery, Perseus Books, comes this painful tripe, Boys Adrift, which states that:

"More and more studies show that some of the most common video games may be discouraging boys from engaging in more traditional pursuits such as sports and sex."

So in retrospect, perhaps video games are a good idea after all? It seems that they distract boys from pursuing sex, which as teens could potentially give them any number of sexually transmitted diseases.

I'll leave you with this. Just know that conservative nutjobs are out there, and they're watching you.

It's been a while

Life right now is hell. After a full week of BMR and not really being able to do anything but sing, dance, drink, and sleep, all my work hit me really hard Sunday and Monday. Thankfully the worst of it is over after the chem exam this (Tuesday) evening, at which point I'll be able to relax and gain some sleep. Depending on how I'm doing Wednesday evening, I may choose to sleep in and skip the radio show. That's unlikely, though, as I want to play more Vampire Weekend. I'm so infatuated with their sound right now...I also have lots and lots of The National to unload over the air. Playing three songs every two hour show means that getting through all of it is highly unlikely. Ah well.

A little highlight today was finding out that East Quad will not be chem free next year. I now have the option of taking the duties of dorm president in a dorm that is no longer what I thought it would be when I ran, or I can move to another chem free dorm. The chem free dorm that is likely to be offered me is out of the way and not a terrific place to live. This year it was the party dorm, and in general it's dark and dingy. So...I think I'll take my chances with living in a non chem free dorm next year. I'll still have a single (although possibly not the one I wanted - that may be turned into a lounge area, so I'd lose the fireplace), so...all in all, not terrific, but not the most terrible thing ever. The only real problem is that now my friends who were going to live chem free will now no longer be in my dorm...which sucks. Argh.

Anyways, worse things have happened. The shows went great, and I do have a recording on disk (actually two separate disks), so everyone can see if they want. Simply put, it was...spectacular. Mass props for anybody who gets the reference.

It's late, and although I did drink soda to stay awake (I've been off soft drinks for nearly four months, but I needed the caffeine), it's starting to wear off. Writing an Italian composition does that to me...yeargh. I'm just so sick of work. I want to curl up and sleep for a couple days. That may be what happens this weekend. I might just crawl in bed Friday afternoon and not come out until Monday morning. The awesome thing is that aside from one biology paper there's nothing stopping me from doing that...we shall see. Summer is nearly here, and with it comes a steady job with no extracurricular requirements. I can't wait. It was about fifty today and sunny, and it should reach sixty by Wednesday. YAY!

That pretty much sums up my past week...I wasn't really doing much beyond BMR and going to class. Oh, and one other thing. COLBY RAISED TUITION. By 5.25 percent. To my parents: if you haven't heard yet, you will. A letter was apparently sent out last Friday. Even with the replacement of loans with grants...argh. What a pain in the tuchus.

Funny

So the work is going faster than I thought...and these are helping.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

I'll be back...I promise

So anybody who checks this place out regularly has probably noticed that I haven't exactly done anything with it for a full week. Reason: Five hour rehearsals and performances for BMR for the past week. End result being that I won't have a decent post to share for another two or three days, because of this awesome thing called a backlog that means that for the first time in a long time (and possibly the first time ever), I have work to do for all four of my classes at the same time. That, and I might have to drive to Orono again. So please hold steady, I promise I'm not abandoning you or my blog.

Quick music plug: Try out the Rustic Overtones. A Portland based band, they split up for something like several years after one cd. Now they're back together with a new cd, and despite the cliche they're frankly pretty damn good. Also, Vampire Weekend. If the fact that I played lots of both of them on the show last week matters (and it should), it means that you should check them both out. Do it now!

Moment of hilarity

Watching the Red Sox play the Dodgers in a resumption of spring training. Ortiz just hit a double and the announcer described him "scampering to second base." Um...right. I'm fairly sure David Ortiz doesn't scamper. A more appropriate word might be "trundling." Just though I'd share...it made me laugh, at least.

Edit: Kevin Cash is a keeper.

Edit Edit: I don't remember the Coliseum in Los Angeles being such a crappy ballpark when I was out there a couple summers ago...but it seems like a lousy place to play. Also the cameras are placed strangely.

Editx3: Just now seeing Wilco on SNL. Wow.

Editx4: Alright, so it was a football stadium, not the ballpark I was at two years ago. Stupid mistake. I was wondering how they fit 115,000 fans in...

I revived the Mixtape

Awakening of Spring

Or not. With the snow today, Portland passed the hundred inch mark for the winter. I suppose that's something to celebrate, in some twisted way. I would certainly not object at this point to a sudden transformation to 50 degree days with sun - spring, basically. If it snows again in the next two weeks I'm packing up and hitchhiking to Florida for the rest of April.

I'm dreading the end of break, because with it comes not only a full week of BMR rehearsals/performances but also a bio test and general business. Not to mention that I'm responsible for getting lighting equipment for the show by Monday, but have no time to drive an hour and a half to Orono to get it. And if I did, I have no car. Alas, the conundrum seems irresolvable. Hopefully someone will respond to my emailed plea for help and go get the stuff for me. If not, I'm borrowing a car and heading north.

A side note: if you are given the opportunity to see Spring Awakening, don't. It's awful.

Certifiably Insane

I've been absolutely devouring books over break, and have made my way through two Civil War books by the Shaara father-son duo, the second book in a series by John Twelve Hawks, and Good Omens. Right now I'm reading The Historian, a remarkably good, if dark book.

Watched the FX series "The Riches" for the first time last night. Eddie Izzard stars, which for me is a good reason to watch it, but it's actually a pretty good show. I'd never heard of it before, but according to Wikipedia it's been nominated for Emmys, so I guess it's decent enough. Part of the soundtrack was The National "Start a War," which was another reason to like it.

Watching late night television for the first time in a long time, I hadn't realized the amount of swearing that Leno and Letterman do. Not to come off as a prude (I certainly swear far more than I should), but...wow. Disregarding the fact that both of them think that they're funnier than they really are, the swearing kind of puts me off. There are times when a swear is appropriate, like when frustrated, angry, emotional...times like that. Swearing randomly...for lack of a punchline...not really that appealing to me.

Listening to the Eels right now. Time for dinner at IHOP, so for now, adieu.

The man, the myth, the legend

D.B. Cooper, that is. Hijacker extraordinaire, he apparently died after jumping from the plane with the money. Now his parachute may have been found, just 36 years later. Bravo to the FBI; you brilliantly recruited two kids to solve the case for you.

Ten Thirty Musings

I meant for the title to be "Midnight Musings," which actually has some appeal as a title. But it's not midnight, not by a long shot, and "Midnight (almost) Musings" seems...a tad silly. But just a tad.

Anyways...welcome to the wonderful world of nutter. The actual point of this post was to note that I blog much better late at night (the virtue of this ability is debatable, as is the truth of it). I'm trying to work out in my mind the value of a concise, to-the-point post, versus one of my near-midnight rambling stream of consciousness "posts." I noted quite a while ago that stream of consciousness writing gets you in trouble. Alas. Hmmm...I've rediscovered the zooming function of my optical mouse, which allows me to type in a font so tiny my eyes hurt. Lets get out of that...there we go. Here goes the stream of consciousness...this is just another wonderful feature of my mouse/Firefox (also amazingly convenient, despite the fact that I have used it just once, is the feature that brings up a Google search box when I hit Ctrl twice in a row. Although I think that's Google desktop rather than Firefox...but the point is obvious: IE sucks).

The question of nice and neat vs rambling mess is still unanswered, but I'm going to soldier on until I wrap this up or I fall asleep, whichever comes first. Hm...whichever is a word. "Hm" apparently is not, according to the Firefox dictionary (neither is "Hmmm," "Hmmmm," or "Hohum." Wow...it's like being drunk, and knowing that what comes out would probably be better unsaid (untyped), but being unable to resist the temptation of just saying (typing) whatever comes to mind. I feel like Smithers "I love boobies!" And a scholarship to Yale for whoever gets those two references (Yes, two references, and I want an episode number/title). For those who read this: I'm aware I'm insane. It's a hobby.

Of course, I could just as easily blame this on sleep deprivation. Seeing how I did wake up at ten of six to watch baseball. The Red Sox, by the way, won the first of what I predict will be 103 games this season. There were some promising things (Manny being the Manny of old, Brandon Moss being amazing, Dice-K settling down for four good innings), and some alarming things (Papelbon getting tagged). Regardless of how the win was achieved (disregarding the Moss tying homerun to actually get to extra innings), and allowing for Oakland to let us win, things are looking just like they should. Except that Papelbon needs to look better.

Do not worry; this will not turn into a baseball blog. Not entirely, at least. For my loyal readers, know that you will still be gifted with many mundane details of my life. Read and enjoy, and do whatever you do with the knowledge that I ramble unto you. Can I just use that as a verb? It makes me think of a verse from the Old Testament: "And Daniel didst ramble unto his readers, until verily they were bored out of their minds."

Which puts me in mind of the fantastic book I just finished, "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I picked up a reissue (first published in 1990) at Books Etc. in the Old Port the other day, and absolutely devoured it. I have time to do things like that this week. I won't actually tell you what the book is about, but imagine your two favorite authors. Then imagine them writing a book together. That book is this book, literary manna from Heaven. Unless your favorite authors were completely different. Like, I dunno, C.S. Lewis and Richard Dawkins. In that case, you'd be screwed, and the book would suck. Plus, if those were your two favorite authors, you've got some issues of your own to work out.

Okay, so I've gone through baseball and books. All that's left is music and movies. And maybe weather. Actually, I'll attack weather. Snow tomorrow. Snow Friday. Are you fscking serious? To reiterate: I love New England, and wouldn't be anywhere else. But isn't snow supposed to, oh I don't know...GO AWAY?! Sigh. I want spring, now, after many months of cold and white. And everyone I know who's in Florida, or California, or New Orleans, or anywhere warm, right now, will be sure to remind me of their experiences in the warmth when we're back on campus next week. And I can say...at least there was a little more grass visible. Alas.

Righto (another non-word), music is next. "Jessica" is playing right now, and I didn't even have to cue it up. I am officially in love with a radio station, and it doesn't even broadcast my show. If you're ever in Portland, Maine, for any reason, and you're looking for classic rock, 107.5 FM is the answer. Way up high on the dial, beyond all the country, beyond even the jazz and public radio, is this fantastic station. In the past half hour that I've been writing this junk I've heard the Beatles, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, and now the Allman Brothers. Yay! And now Queen...love continues! Here's the station's top ten for everything imaginable (all classic rock, naturally, but still).

Wow...I just came to understand the lyrics of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," when the band goes "Ready Freddie." Wowee, can I be dense. Anyhow, now it's Bad Company and the Who.

So...movies. I saw my first Kevin Bacon movie this past weekend: Silverado. Edit: the movie does not actually have Kevin Bacon in it. I was sadly mistaken by the presences of Kevin Costner and Kevin Kline. Ah well, no Bacon. Mmmm...bacon. The movie did feature John Cleese, however, so not all is lost. A decent movie, not terrific; it did feature a nice score, which apparently was nominated for an Oscar. Tonight I saw Click for the first time; a decently touching movie, although because it was Adam Sandler there were several crude moments that didn't quite mesh with the rest of the movie. Then again, given how many times the film showed a dog humping a duck, it could easily be said that the tender parts of the film didn't mesh with the crudity.

I think I've covered all I wanted to cover, and it's time to answer my question. Hang on while I scroll up to remember what my question was. Ah yes, that question. Well, my answer is short and simple, even if the post wasn't: Bully. Less simply put (isn't that ironic), I don't really care which is better; I'll write as the mood strikes me. If I have time (now, late at night), I'll write. If I don't have time (middle of the day), I won't wax annoyingly long. This applies to email, which I now remember I wanted to address. Accidental pun; kudos if you get it (the candy/cereal bar, which is pretty good. They still make those?) Aaaanywho...if I check my email, and don't have time to answer everything I need to, I file it away to answer later. If I wait too long, I forget about it. After two days, it's hopeless. Thanks to the annoying school email service, anything more than a couple days old goes off the main screen, and I have to dig for it. And that's if I remember when I get online. A memo to anyone who emails me/has emailed me: if I don't reply after a couple days, email me again. Chances are I remembered to reply to your first one while I was nowhere near a computer, and forgot again by the time I sat down in front of my laptop hours later. Apologies to anyone who has waited days, weeks or months for replies. Or you could email my Google account. If you can find it. Mwahahaha. Honestly, though, it's not that hard to guess. For now, I leave you with these, the

TOP TEN ROCK ANTHEMS
Those powerful songs that always JUMP out at you… the songs that are “what rock and roll’s all about”

10- Jump/VAN HALEN
9- Baba O’Riley/THE WHO
8- Where the Streets Have No Name/U2
7- You Shook Me All Night Long/AC/DC
6- Start Me Up/STONES
5- More Than A Feeling/BOSTON
4- Born to Run/BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
3- Sweet Home Alabama/LYNYRD SKYNYRD
2- Dream On/AEROSMITH
1- Stairway To Heaven/LED ZEPPELIN

Spring Break!

A week off of classes to have fun in the sun...or not, really. It'll be a fun week even without the sun, though. I plan on sleeping, reading, and watching baseball, often at the same time. A couple of days will be spent in the Old Port, hopefully, wandering around, and I may take up residence in a corner of Longfellow's Bookstore. It'll be fun; no doubt of that. Can't wait for baseball, hardly any time now. Fantasy draft just concluded; I don't love my team yet, but it's growing on me as we speak. I didn't get some of my favorites; I forgot about the draft, came in late, and had to deal with some automated picks. Robinson Cano instead of Dustin Pedroia, for example. Sigh. The Yankee will of course have to go.

But of course fantasy baseball isn't all-important (just close). In the wide world of Colby there's a lot going on. The student government elections, concluded in my case, are still being contested for the position of overall president and vice president. After some issues with disqualification and the threat of disbanding the student government altogether (apparently only 200 student signatures are needed, which is a piece of cake), the elections are going to be run again, just for the top positions. I keep my post no matter what. I plan on dealing with this kind of insubordination very harshly when I take office, and may enforce martial law in the dorm.

I need to sleep before my trip down tomorrow; I'm luckily going with people I know, but they still won't cut me slack if I'm late. I'll post again from Portland!