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

First day of classes

And once more, I actually follow up a title with a related blog post. See, much as I hate to acknowledge it, today was really the first day of regular classes since the beginning of December. My schedule is horrendous on certain days of the week: Mondays are a solid block, nine to six. Tuesdays have two classes, at nine and then again at noon, and work at the bookstore in the afternoon. Wednesdays are solid nine to four. Thursdays are completely free, but I'll be working in the bookstore pretty much all afternoon until chorale at four. Fridays are nine to one, and then bookstore after lunch. Today was slightly improved, as there was no lab to tie up my lunch hour.

What are these classes, you ask? Well, even if you weren't asking, I'll tell you anyway. They're remarkably similar to those I took last semester: biology, chemistry, Italian, and multi-variable calculus. Buckets and buckets of fun, indeed. Tomorrow's looking up, though, something like four packages should be arriving in the mail. One of those should bear a Giants logo, but that's not headed for my mailbox. No, that's headed straight to the one who foolishly bet against the Giants and is now going to wear a hat commemorating the Superbowl victory for the next month or so.

Although classes partially blocked my enjoyment of this, today was just about the first real packing snow that's fallen this winter. A snowball fight is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon...yes, it is scheduled...otherwise people can't be there. I personally vote for spontaneous, mostly because I can't resist pegging people in the back on the way to the dining hall. It's things like that that enamor me to people...anyway, to bed. I have to be up and ready to work at the bookstore at eight, and that translates to bed now. Although I really don't think I'll get to sleep until at least midnight...nevertheless, even lying in bed reading is better than staring at the computer screen.

A quick note: Firefox has a wonderful (though questionable) add-on that lets you download streamed content. So if you're listening to, say, Seeqpod, and you want to get a track that you could burn to CD, or listen to without internet access at places like the airport, the add-on lets you do that. Beautiful...

In the brief time I have...

Today's post is going to be quick; I have a bio lab in ten minutes. Might not get around to posting for the next few days; exams are creeping up, and I have two in the next week. Just a quick reminder: I hate calculus. However, I do have time to heartily recommend Seeqpod to anyone who has not already discovered this wonderful musical equivalent of Google. It's completely free, completely legal, and the only drawback is that you need an internet connection to play your tunes. Best of all, as far as I can tell, Google hasn't bought it yet. Don't get me wrong, I love Google, but there are these little things called monopolies that Google is getting close to. I have the same love-hate relationship with Microsoft...a little more hate than love, though. That's all for now!