Some of you know, and some of you do not, that I recently left the Land of Enchantment for the Golden State. This means a lot of things, major shifts in my life. This means that I quit school (probably). I've never really quit anything before, and I don't feel too good about it, but I think it was the right decision. It also means that, for the first time in my life, I have no plans to be going back to school. Think about that. I've never not been either in school or preparing to go to school. There's a finality in that that I've never experienced, and I'm not sure how to take it. For now, I mostly just don't think about it.
This also meant moving again. We had some troubles with the landpeople, but luckily my wife is awesome. It meant I had to tear out my garden, which was a little sad because the yellow squashes were finally starting to bear fruit; the zucchini, beans, and corn were pretty much played out, with little result from the non-pop-corn (I should take a picture of my bean and popcorn harvests some time; I dried them and brought them with me...shhh! don't tell California). I had already finished up with the community garden, since my pepper plants succumbed to frost. The zucchini plant also proved to be pretty well infested with aphids, so it was probably time for it to go. It was taking up at least half of the garden when I killed it. I haven't yet gotten around to planting anything here, a month later. And we had to give up all our houseplants (including my grape vine that was doing quite nicely) before the move. Hopefully some of those plants still exist?
Another thing the move meant was that I got to realize what great friends I have. I am a complete douche when it comes to keeping in touch with people and such, as pretty much all of you know. I only talk to one of my friends on a regular basis, and that's because he's a bulldog about calling me regularly. So I had notified two of my friends about the upcoming move so they could come help me fill the truck. I texted (texted!) BT the day of to see if he wanted to come down the street to help out, and he passed the word to SB, who passed the word to KGS and PS...all of these people showed up at my front door on no notice, with SB, KGS, and PS having to drive all the way down from Santa Fe for this. They stayed for hours and hours, helping me move boxes and pack boxes and wipe down surfaces and such. I really don't know how to thank these people. And AKW wouldn't even let me pay him for the beer that he brought over, so I basically did nothing for anybody, with no notice, and all of these people still gave of their time and energy just to see me off. I am truly luckly to have such people in my life. I hope that they still want to know me after my little escapade, although I would not blame them if they did not. They are all welcome to come stay with us in the big city any time, of course.
The next thing the move meant was a very long drive by myself (Alison already having moved out here the previous month). I hope not to have to drive a rental van that far again, maybe ever. The trip took 16 hours, with all of it taken up by road either terribly boring, pitch black, or that I've already seen before. Or all of the above in some cases. The only new towns I got to experience were Barstow and Bakersfield, and I tell you I could go my whole life without experiencing them again and be perfectly happy. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but they're just more Kingmans and Yumas. Nothing for me there. The move took me all of a day and a half, and I did it on a pretty amazingly low budget (less than $1K for the van, meals, gas, and lodging) which netted me a good signing bonus. The nicest part was seeing Alison again, even if we had to stay in a not-so-nice place for a couple nights.
The move also meant finding an apartment. I'll be first to say that Alison put in a heroic effort looking for a place in this city. The rental market here is apparently even worse than in Albuquerque, where you have to basically commit to taking a place as soon as you see it. In SF, you have to commit, and you have to have credit reports, references, and all kinds of other documentation ready at a moment's notice. This was kind of a shock to me, and led to quite a bit of running around for her, and a little bit for me. When I got to town, we looked at a total of two places and I encouraged her to agree with me that we should take the first one we saw. Now we live in a huge (by SF standards - 700 square feet for a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom) apartment on Twin Peaks, from which you can see the entire city, the Bay, the ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, and everything else (on a clear day). Look at the pictures of the city in that article (incidentally, you can see our apartment complex on the aerial photo, just east of the parking area to the north of the two peaks). It's quiet here too, the quietest place I've been in the city yet. The roads are all very steep, and so nobody ever drives through our neighborhood.
It means that my carbon footprint has nosedived. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to work in the morning on the bus and the subway, and about 50 minutes or so on the subway and on foot (up the mountain!) to get home. I have a bus pass now, so I ride all of the buses for free. I have been in the car 5 times since we finished moving into this apartment, which is a bit over a month. I've commuted on public transit, I came home from the airport on transit, and we go into the city to do our shopping, socializing, and eating on transit. I've never, ever lived anywhere so easily accessible as this place. What a wonderful thing.
It means that I am having all kinds of new experiences. I have never lived sniffing distance from the ocean before. In fact, the closest I ever lived before here was Phoenix, which is a far cry yet, climatologically if not proximally. I've never lived somewhere so liberal before (although the passing of Proposition 8 was a pretty crushing blow, and kind of a shock in such a progressive state). Every day I embark on the subway in the morning (and disembark in the evening) in the Castro, beneath a huge gay pride flag. This place is easily the most diverse, most accepting place I've ever lived in, and I'm very appreciative of that.
I hope that this will be a return to regular blogging for me, although I only have a limited number of hours to spend with the wife between work and bed. I had such a long hiatus because my life was in flux, and I hate having to tell everybody that my life is in flux; I'd obviously just rather not deal with it and tell people after the fact.
Finally, it has come to my attention that my mother has located my blog, so everybody cut out the penis jokes and all the childish bullshit, for her sake if not for mine.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Look at the size of that thing! (That's what she said.)
Some of you (or maybe most of you) that are not around me very much may not be aware that I have recently become very interested in growing my own food. Many great reasons for this, including:
1. Reducing my food miles by placing my food source area adjacent to my kitchen.
2. Knowing exactly what chemicals, etc. go into my food (keeping in mind that I don't have any idea what was put into the soil at this house before we moved into it).
3. Getting my food cheaper than from the grocery store, as all it costs is seeds, manure, and water (which is ridiculously underpriced).
4. When the inevitable apocalypse (zombie or zombie-free) occurs within my lifetime, I need to know how to survive in a post-supermarket world, and being able to grow my own food (I already know how to operate a handgun) will be a great help.
I have two gardens going right now, one of them being a community garden in which we are participating. The other is right outside our east wall, and I have planted the "three sisters" in there, corn, beans, and squash. These crops were traditionally planted together by the locals before imperialist Europe arrived on the shores of New England. I have three kinds of corn (blue, sweet, and pop), two kinds of squash (zucchini and yellow), and black beans. These have all grown quite well, and I'm kind of sad I didn't keep a good pictoral track of its progress up to now.
A couple days ago I was rooting around in my plants a little bit. I've been worried about my squash because I always hear that it's a good idea to hand-pollinate your squash for better success (that's what she said) and I've only been finding one gender of flowers on the plants. So I've thought I was going to be devoid of vegetables all summer. I looked down at the base of the plant though, and discovered the giganticest zucchini ever:
This zucchini measured 11 inches long, and it must be at least 2.5 inches diameter. This rocks. I want to use it soon, but I'm a little afraid of eating the first thing I've ever grown for myself.
I looked around in the garden today, just to try to find some more zucchinis, and saw about three more in progress. I discovered my flower-gender conundrum problem. The flowers I was seeing, which were high in my squash plants, were all female. The male flowers, it turns out, are at the base of the plant, which makes sense since the zucchinis end up resting on the ground. I also saw a bunch of bean pods all over my bean plants, which I had not noticed before. I'm not exactly sure when beans are ready, and the pods don't just come off when I pull them lightly yet. We shall see.
Finally, a picture of me, my zucchini, and my lush, lush garden:
1. Reducing my food miles by placing my food source area adjacent to my kitchen.
2. Knowing exactly what chemicals, etc. go into my food (keeping in mind that I don't have any idea what was put into the soil at this house before we moved into it).
3. Getting my food cheaper than from the grocery store, as all it costs is seeds, manure, and water (which is ridiculously underpriced).
4. When the inevitable apocalypse (zombie or zombie-free) occurs within my lifetime, I need to know how to survive in a post-supermarket world, and being able to grow my own food (I already know how to operate a handgun) will be a great help.
I have two gardens going right now, one of them being a community garden in which we are participating. The other is right outside our east wall, and I have planted the "three sisters" in there, corn, beans, and squash. These crops were traditionally planted together by the locals before imperialist Europe arrived on the shores of New England. I have three kinds of corn (blue, sweet, and pop), two kinds of squash (zucchini and yellow), and black beans. These have all grown quite well, and I'm kind of sad I didn't keep a good pictoral track of its progress up to now.
A couple days ago I was rooting around in my plants a little bit. I've been worried about my squash because I always hear that it's a good idea to hand-pollinate your squash for better success (that's what she said) and I've only been finding one gender of flowers on the plants. So I've thought I was going to be devoid of vegetables all summer. I looked down at the base of the plant though, and discovered the giganticest zucchini ever:
This zucchini measured 11 inches long, and it must be at least 2.5 inches diameter. This rocks. I want to use it soon, but I'm a little afraid of eating the first thing I've ever grown for myself.
I looked around in the garden today, just to try to find some more zucchinis, and saw about three more in progress. I discovered my flower-gender conundrum problem. The flowers I was seeing, which were high in my squash plants, were all female. The male flowers, it turns out, are at the base of the plant, which makes sense since the zucchinis end up resting on the ground. I also saw a bunch of bean pods all over my bean plants, which I had not noticed before. I'm not exactly sure when beans are ready, and the pods don't just come off when I pull them lightly yet. We shall see.
Finally, a picture of me, my zucchini, and my lush, lush garden:
Monday, July 21, 2008
Recycling ABQ 4-6
I'm way behind on blogging about my recycling-picking-up adventures. I've also been on vacation a bit lately, spending a weekend in the Silver City area and this past week in northern Michigan (my first ever visit to Michigan, it included a trip to the fabled Upper Peninsula, my first ever chance to see a home game of my longtime favorite sports franchise, the Detroit Tigers, and several hours spent picking wild blueberries, among other activities). However, I did some collecting before these trips, and am now getting around to listing them while cleaning the house. I don't remember the dates on these, so I'm just going to list them all at once.
Trip #4: ~1 mile, OSE building to house:
Total of 26 pieces, although this counts as one piece an entire Alibi, which maybe should count as like 30 sheets of paper, as we all know that is what it would have ended up as had I not picked it up.
2 glass bottles
8 aluminum cans
13 plastic bottles
3 pieces of paper
Trip #5: ~1.1 miles, Community garden to house:
Total of 21 pieces
1 glass bottle
3 aluminum cans
14 plastic bottles
2 pieces of paper
1 chipboard box
Trip #6: ~0.6 miles, ATC to house:
Total of 39(!) pieces (my plastic bag become overburdened and started to tear; I had to leave it somewhere, walk home, get another bag, and come back to complete this collection)
18 glass bottles
5 aluminum cans
13 plastic bottles
3 pieces of paper
Total number of pieces so far is 158:
38 glass bottles
31 aluminum cans
67 plastic bottles
6 plastic bags
13 pieces of paper
1 cardboard box
1 tin can
1 chipboard box
Amazing what a holiday weekend (4th of July in this case) will do to a town.
Trip #4: ~1 mile, OSE building to house:
Total of 26 pieces, although this counts as one piece an entire Alibi, which maybe should count as like 30 sheets of paper, as we all know that is what it would have ended up as had I not picked it up.
2 glass bottles
8 aluminum cans
13 plastic bottles
3 pieces of paper
Trip #5: ~1.1 miles, Community garden to house:
Total of 21 pieces
1 glass bottle
3 aluminum cans
14 plastic bottles
2 pieces of paper
1 chipboard box
Trip #6: ~0.6 miles, ATC to house:
Total of 39(!) pieces (my plastic bag become overburdened and started to tear; I had to leave it somewhere, walk home, get another bag, and come back to complete this collection)
18 glass bottles
5 aluminum cans
13 plastic bottles
3 pieces of paper
Total number of pieces so far is 158:
38 glass bottles
31 aluminum cans
67 plastic bottles
6 plastic bags
13 pieces of paper
1 cardboard box
1 tin can
1 chipboard box
Amazing what a holiday weekend (4th of July in this case) will do to a town.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Recycling ABQ 3
I had to go water the garden today, so I made another walking trip up to my old house at 11th and Mountain here in town. I noticed a lot of stuff on my way up, but decided not to pick it up, rather getting it on the way home. Today I took a plastic bag with me for collection. After doing my thing at the garden, I started collecting recyclables, but took a different route home, stopping at the old house to pick up mail (the postal system is seriously ridiculous here, and it apparently takes a month to start getting your mail forwarded; I have never had this problem during all of my moves in Arizona, where mail starts getting sent ahead pretty much immediately) and chat with the old landlady, then stopping at the grocery store.
On this 1.1 mile trip, I collected a total of 25 pieces:
1 glass bottle
6 aluminum cans
12 plastic bottles
2 plastic bags
3 pieces of paper
1 tin can
Total number of pieces so far is 72:
17 glass bottles
15 aluminum cans
27 plastic bottles
6 plastic bags
5 pieces of paper
1 cardboard box
1 tin can
On this 1.1 mile trip, I collected a total of 25 pieces:
1 glass bottle
6 aluminum cans
12 plastic bottles
2 plastic bags
3 pieces of paper
1 tin can
Total number of pieces so far is 72:
17 glass bottles
15 aluminum cans
27 plastic bottles
6 plastic bags
5 pieces of paper
1 cardboard box
1 tin can
Recycling ABQ 2
This morning I walked Alison to the ATC again and continued my recycling-clean-up project. I took a slightly different route, and maybe paid a little more attention, and came up with even more recyclables than yesterday. Today I found a plastic bag on the road, and used that to collect stuff. Today's total was 26 total pieces collected:
3 glass bottles
8 aluminum cans
9 plastic bottles
4 plastic bags
2 pieces of paper
Total number of pieces so far is 47:
16 glass bottles
9 aluminum cans
15 plastic bottles
4 plastic bags
2 pieces of paper
1 cardboard box
3 glass bottles
8 aluminum cans
9 plastic bottles
4 plastic bags
2 pieces of paper
Total number of pieces so far is 47:
16 glass bottles
9 aluminum cans
15 plastic bottles
4 plastic bags
2 pieces of paper
1 cardboard box
Monday, June 23, 2008
Recycling ABQ 1
I have decided to undertake a new project. This project takes very little extra time out of my schedule, but I hope it will be eye-opening. The premise is this: when I walk around town (which I do much of the time), I am going to begin collecting recyclables that I find on the street. I am going to document how much, what, and when I collect.
I started this yesterday with an eye toward glass. I was walking Alison down to the ATC in the morning, and I noticed two beer bottles, one of them on top of a newspaper box. I decided that I needed to collect these bottles because otherwise they would end up as broken glass all over the sidewalk, as tends to happen; I left them there for the return trip. On my way back home from the ATC, I found seven (SEVEN!) beer bottles in a parking lot, obviously left there by jackass revelers from the weekend. Carrying these all in my hands was a little difficult, but then I found a cardboard box lying next to the curb, as if sent there specifically to help me collect recyclables! I ended up getting home (keeping in mind this is a ~2/3 mile trip) with 21 total pieces collected:
13 glass bottles
1 aluminum can
6 plastic bottles
1 cardboard box.
Perhaps after the weekend it won't be as bad?
My other motivation for doing this is that these recyclables on the street will most likely never get recycled (this is based on intuition, not facts). So I do not collect trash, just recyclables. I also have been coming up with some ground rules for this project:
1. I won't pick up anything disgusting.
2. I won't put myself in danger.
3. I won't pick up glass shards, although large pieces of bottles are ok.
I hope this little project of mine will make downtown Albuquerque a slightly nicer place, and maybe inspire some other people to clean up their own towns.
I started this yesterday with an eye toward glass. I was walking Alison down to the ATC in the morning, and I noticed two beer bottles, one of them on top of a newspaper box. I decided that I needed to collect these bottles because otherwise they would end up as broken glass all over the sidewalk, as tends to happen; I left them there for the return trip. On my way back home from the ATC, I found seven (SEVEN!) beer bottles in a parking lot, obviously left there by jackass revelers from the weekend. Carrying these all in my hands was a little difficult, but then I found a cardboard box lying next to the curb, as if sent there specifically to help me collect recyclables! I ended up getting home (keeping in mind this is a ~2/3 mile trip) with 21 total pieces collected:
13 glass bottles
1 aluminum can
6 plastic bottles
1 cardboard box.
Perhaps after the weekend it won't be as bad?
My other motivation for doing this is that these recyclables on the street will most likely never get recycled (this is based on intuition, not facts). So I do not collect trash, just recyclables. I also have been coming up with some ground rules for this project:
1. I won't pick up anything disgusting.
2. I won't put myself in danger.
3. I won't pick up glass shards, although large pieces of bottles are ok.
I hope this little project of mine will make downtown Albuquerque a slightly nicer place, and maybe inspire some other people to clean up their own towns.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Thank you, California
I have a couple blogs from my Oregon trip written, but I don't think I'm ever going to post them. I would have to insert pictures and such, and meh.
Instead, let me take this opportunity to once again congratulate California on being progressive enough to allow for-real same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts as the only states recognizing full marriages for homosexuals. I hope that other states fall into line and that those states that legally recognize some kind of union (Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, D.C., Oregon, Washington, and Texas) (just kidding about Texas) up the ante soon.
Get this! New Mexico recognizes same-sex marriages granted in other countries! They're like one step above the no same-sex marriage states, and one step below the pro same-sex marriage states apparently. Go middle-grounders!
Instead, let me take this opportunity to once again congratulate California on being progressive enough to allow for-real same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts as the only states recognizing full marriages for homosexuals. I hope that other states fall into line and that those states that legally recognize some kind of union (Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, D.C., Oregon, Washington, and Texas) (just kidding about Texas) up the ante soon.
Get this! New Mexico recognizes same-sex marriages granted in other countries! They're like one step above the no same-sex marriage states, and one step below the pro same-sex marriage states apparently. Go middle-grounders!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Philomath is Where I Go
I am making my first trip to Oregon this week, and I have been approaching it with some trepidation…I’m not sure why. For some reason, I really haven’t been looking forward to this week. The point of my travel is to attend a week-long workshop on temperature sensing using fiber-optic cables. While that likely sounds incredibly boring to everybody else reading this, it’s interesting to me (not the actual physics, mind, just the application), and hopefully I will use it in my research.
This workshop I’m attending (at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in central Oregon, east of Eugene) starts on Monday, but I’ve come up a couple of days early (with a colleague; for the next week, when I say “we” I will be referring to the two of us, unless noted otherwise) in order to meet with on of the gurus in hillslope hydrology, a professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis. My plan was to meet with him, then spend a couple days exploring the coast of Oregon before heading down to the workshop.
My day today began at 3am (Pacific Time), when I got out of bed before my alarm went off to get ready to go to the airport. My wonderful wife got up to drive me to the airport. (Speaking of my marriage, lately I’ve been a very bad husband in a lot of ways. Alison is truly patient to continue to tolerate me. I’ve came to a realization today that, in spite of earlier protestations to the contrary, I really am Michael Scott. The difference between myself and him is that at least he was the one bringing home the money in his relationship. Oh, and I actually graduated from college. And when I tell my jokes, I know they’re not funny. I have made a little poster for myself that says: “Think: WWMSD? (What Would Michael Scott Do?) Do the Opposite.” I hope that motivates me. I have become less and less responsible since I met Alison, and I think it’s because she is so responsible that it’s easy for me to totally rely on her for everything. My faculties in a lot of areas have slipped because of this. I don’t know, maybe it’s something else, but this seems to fit.)
My flight left around 6am to quickly head over to Phoenix. As those of you who read my wife’s blog know, we went to Pittsburgh recently, and I reflected that Phoenix is about the ugliest city to fly into. There is no green anywhere, except on the golf courses. Some little kid who was kicking my chair the whole way knew another kid who was talking about all the dirt. Yeah. Most other places you go (Tucson and Las Vegas being obvious exceptions) at least look somewhat alive when you head toward them. And this is one of the fastest growing cities (and therefore one of the fastest growing water demands) in the country.
No time to do anything in Phoenix, and the food in the airport was terribly overpriced, so I just did crosswords for awhile. The next flight was to Portland, and shockingly this flight was not full. It has been a very long time since I have been on an airplane that was not chock-a-block full of people. And not just a few seats were empty; my row only had two people, and I had traded seats with somebody else, and my original row also only had two people. The row in front of me only had two. It was actually very nice. A pleasant flight, and I got like two and a half articles read, which for me is quite outstanding. We arrived ahead of schedule, but then we had to go to baggage claim, then to the rental car place, then we had to wait for the shuttle, and the rental car lots are actually not really at the Portland airport, so we had to drive awhile. And they “upgraded” me from an economy car to a small SUV (a Hyundai Santa Fe) which I’m sure gets only about 2/3 the mileage. While in the airport restroom, I had the pleasure of getting to listen to somebody’s phone conversation, which they held while sitting on the toilet. At some point the guy’s reception cut out, which made him quite upset. I say, the cell phone companies should have no obligation to provide you with reception inside of a restroom. Phone calls are not so urgent that you have to make everybody around you uncomfortable by considering that you might be blasting a dookie while talking to a fellow businessman.
The drive to Corvallis took about two hours, and it was pretty pleasant. We grabbed Subway on the way, and today was Free Cookie Friday, so that automatically was a spirit lifter. In Corvallis we parked on the campus of Oregon State University and walked for awhile so I could meet this hydro guru. I think it was a productive meeting, but who knows. Afterward we went to a local book store where I picked up a guide to hiking along the coast. We went to dinner at Block 15, a local brewpub, because I am obsessed with the idea that I am a beer snob, even though my palette is not at all refined enough to really identify flavors, or what is actually a good beer, and my memory is so poor that I don’t remember what tastes like what anyway. In fact, if I didn’t take notes I would have no idea what I actually liked. I will not have this problem with the beers at Block 15, however, which I universally disliked. I tried a 5-beer sampler, with their Brown Porter, Trubbled Monk Belgian, Aboriginale, American Wheat, and Golden Glo. The last two were very light, and really had absolutely no flavor. It was almost as if I was drinking tonic. The Aboriginale was extremely hoppy (to the point that it was difficult to finish and made me feel a little nauseated), the Belgian was very strong (in a not-so-good way), and the Porter was so-so. I actually drank the Porter first because I thought it had the least chance of being a beer I would like, and I thought it was only OK…but it turned out to be the best of the bunch. I did admire the fact that the brewery uses wind power, they purchase carbon offsets, and they feed their spent grains to local livestock. So at least they are low-impact.
We grabbed groceries before heading out of town (I asked a lady on the street to direct me toward a grocery store, and she told me how to get to the Safeway…then also told me about the local grocery store (which was unfortunately too far out of the way)…then also told me about the farmer’s market (which was unfortunately not until tomorrow)…what a town! And I bought cherries at the Safeway; one of my life’s goals is to live somewhere where I can grow cherries) and driving toward the coast. We first passed through the town of Philomath, from which this post takes its title (the title is actually a quote from an old R.E.M. song, so I’m sure it was meaningless to 99.9% of the world population). This took awhile, but the road was just beautiful. I like the whole coastal range area…lots of tall forests, although there are also numerous clear-cut scars everywhere. We drove into Newport, then headed north toward Lincoln City. We camped at Beverly Beach State Park, which was quite nice (if a little noisy, since I chose a campsite that was right next to the highway, and also very close to the beach access). After arriving we took a little hike up the beach to Devil’s Punchbowl (a collapsed sea cave) and back, about 2.8 miles total according to the guidebook. It was beautiful, although the wind was quite cold. There were very few people around. The goal was to see the sunset, but the western horizon was unfortunately cloudy. The hike back, we decided to try our luck with hiking above the beach, and ended up walking down a highway the whole way. This was somewhat harrowing, but it was still pretty light out (this being about 9:00 P.M.) so nothing bad happened. Once back to the campsite, we set up tents and I brushed teeth and went to sleep. It feels great to be out camping, even if you can hear the traffic noise all night. Connecting with nature, at least to the degree one can by backing one’s SUV into a campsite and unloading the tent from the back.
This workshop I’m attending (at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in central Oregon, east of Eugene) starts on Monday, but I’ve come up a couple of days early (with a colleague; for the next week, when I say “we” I will be referring to the two of us, unless noted otherwise) in order to meet with on of the gurus in hillslope hydrology, a professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis. My plan was to meet with him, then spend a couple days exploring the coast of Oregon before heading down to the workshop.
My day today began at 3am (Pacific Time), when I got out of bed before my alarm went off to get ready to go to the airport. My wonderful wife got up to drive me to the airport. (Speaking of my marriage, lately I’ve been a very bad husband in a lot of ways. Alison is truly patient to continue to tolerate me. I’ve came to a realization today that, in spite of earlier protestations to the contrary, I really am Michael Scott. The difference between myself and him is that at least he was the one bringing home the money in his relationship. Oh, and I actually graduated from college. And when I tell my jokes, I know they’re not funny. I have made a little poster for myself that says: “Think: WWMSD? (What Would Michael Scott Do?) Do the Opposite.” I hope that motivates me. I have become less and less responsible since I met Alison, and I think it’s because she is so responsible that it’s easy for me to totally rely on her for everything. My faculties in a lot of areas have slipped because of this. I don’t know, maybe it’s something else, but this seems to fit.)
My flight left around 6am to quickly head over to Phoenix. As those of you who read my wife’s blog know, we went to Pittsburgh recently, and I reflected that Phoenix is about the ugliest city to fly into. There is no green anywhere, except on the golf courses. Some little kid who was kicking my chair the whole way knew another kid who was talking about all the dirt. Yeah. Most other places you go (Tucson and Las Vegas being obvious exceptions) at least look somewhat alive when you head toward them. And this is one of the fastest growing cities (and therefore one of the fastest growing water demands) in the country.
No time to do anything in Phoenix, and the food in the airport was terribly overpriced, so I just did crosswords for awhile. The next flight was to Portland, and shockingly this flight was not full. It has been a very long time since I have been on an airplane that was not chock-a-block full of people. And not just a few seats were empty; my row only had two people, and I had traded seats with somebody else, and my original row also only had two people. The row in front of me only had two. It was actually very nice. A pleasant flight, and I got like two and a half articles read, which for me is quite outstanding. We arrived ahead of schedule, but then we had to go to baggage claim, then to the rental car place, then we had to wait for the shuttle, and the rental car lots are actually not really at the Portland airport, so we had to drive awhile. And they “upgraded” me from an economy car to a small SUV (a Hyundai Santa Fe) which I’m sure gets only about 2/3 the mileage. While in the airport restroom, I had the pleasure of getting to listen to somebody’s phone conversation, which they held while sitting on the toilet. At some point the guy’s reception cut out, which made him quite upset. I say, the cell phone companies should have no obligation to provide you with reception inside of a restroom. Phone calls are not so urgent that you have to make everybody around you uncomfortable by considering that you might be blasting a dookie while talking to a fellow businessman.
The drive to Corvallis took about two hours, and it was pretty pleasant. We grabbed Subway on the way, and today was Free Cookie Friday, so that automatically was a spirit lifter. In Corvallis we parked on the campus of Oregon State University and walked for awhile so I could meet this hydro guru. I think it was a productive meeting, but who knows. Afterward we went to a local book store where I picked up a guide to hiking along the coast. We went to dinner at Block 15, a local brewpub, because I am obsessed with the idea that I am a beer snob, even though my palette is not at all refined enough to really identify flavors, or what is actually a good beer, and my memory is so poor that I don’t remember what tastes like what anyway. In fact, if I didn’t take notes I would have no idea what I actually liked. I will not have this problem with the beers at Block 15, however, which I universally disliked. I tried a 5-beer sampler, with their Brown Porter, Trubbled Monk Belgian, Aboriginale, American Wheat, and Golden Glo. The last two were very light, and really had absolutely no flavor. It was almost as if I was drinking tonic. The Aboriginale was extremely hoppy (to the point that it was difficult to finish and made me feel a little nauseated), the Belgian was very strong (in a not-so-good way), and the Porter was so-so. I actually drank the Porter first because I thought it had the least chance of being a beer I would like, and I thought it was only OK…but it turned out to be the best of the bunch. I did admire the fact that the brewery uses wind power, they purchase carbon offsets, and they feed their spent grains to local livestock. So at least they are low-impact.
We grabbed groceries before heading out of town (I asked a lady on the street to direct me toward a grocery store, and she told me how to get to the Safeway…then also told me about the local grocery store (which was unfortunately too far out of the way)…then also told me about the farmer’s market (which was unfortunately not until tomorrow)…what a town! And I bought cherries at the Safeway; one of my life’s goals is to live somewhere where I can grow cherries) and driving toward the coast. We first passed through the town of Philomath, from which this post takes its title (the title is actually a quote from an old R.E.M. song, so I’m sure it was meaningless to 99.9% of the world population). This took awhile, but the road was just beautiful. I like the whole coastal range area…lots of tall forests, although there are also numerous clear-cut scars everywhere. We drove into Newport, then headed north toward Lincoln City. We camped at Beverly Beach State Park, which was quite nice (if a little noisy, since I chose a campsite that was right next to the highway, and also very close to the beach access). After arriving we took a little hike up the beach to Devil’s Punchbowl (a collapsed sea cave) and back, about 2.8 miles total according to the guidebook. It was beautiful, although the wind was quite cold. There were very few people around. The goal was to see the sunset, but the western horizon was unfortunately cloudy. The hike back, we decided to try our luck with hiking above the beach, and ended up walking down a highway the whole way. This was somewhat harrowing, but it was still pretty light out (this being about 9:00 P.M.) so nothing bad happened. Once back to the campsite, we set up tents and I brushed teeth and went to sleep. It feels great to be out camping, even if you can hear the traffic noise all night. Connecting with nature, at least to the degree one can by backing one’s SUV into a campsite and unloading the tent from the back.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
For us to read the fine print, you actually have to print it.
Today is the 5th anniversary of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, which was delivered from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln. Since that speech, nearly 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq. Today, the administration is doing some backtracking on this subject. They are now stating that the banner (the big one that said Mission Accomplished) was not specific enough, and that the speech and the banner referred only to the mission of that particular carrier, which was just a few miles off of San Diego at the time, returning home from a tour in the Persian Gulf.
Only at the end of the speech did Bush actually talk directly about the sailors on board the Lincoln. The administration has tried to set itself free from the "Mission Accomplished" sign, correctly stating that that particular phrase was never actually used in the speech. But you make a speech that indicates that the military was victorious already, and you hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner in the background, and what do you expect? I have to believe (for my own sense of well-being) that the people that run our country are not actually dumb, and understand the full ramification of what they are doing; in this light I believe that the "Mission Accomplished" banner was there to give the American people something simple to see and identify with so that we would feel good about the war. Instead, the press secretary states that they regret not adding some (what would have been) fine print to the banner. Not buying it Perino, try again.
P.S. I love the implications of the following quote from today's news article, considering Bush's military record:
"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said 'mission accomplished' for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday. "And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."First, God forbid that the media brings up the fact that there have been almost 4,000 deaths since our president claimed that major combat operations were at an end five years ago (keeping in mind that we were only involved in WWI for 1.5 years, and WWII for less than 4 years). And second, does anybody really think that the speech referred only to that aircraft carrier? The quote above indicates that the entire misconception is due to the wording on the banner. Let's examine the speech itself, shall we?
Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.Why would he address "my fellow Americans" to tell everybody that the carrier is home?
This nation thanks all of the members of our coalition who joined in a noble cause. We thank the armed forces of the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland who shared in the hardships of war. We thank all of the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country.All of this past-tense formulation ("shared," "joined") certainly indicate that this sharing and joining is not going to go on any more, because it is no longer necessary.
And tonight, I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States: America is grateful for a job well done.I think it is pretty clear that the president was referring to combat operations for everyone when he says, in the first third of his speech, "job well done" explicitly directed at "all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States." I don't think that Dana Perino can justifiably state that there was an implied additional clause after "United States" that should have been "and happen to be sailors on the USS Lincoln."
The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on.Victory! Victory in Iraq! OK, seriously, again we are supposed to believe that this was implicitly directed only at this group of sailors?
In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th, the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got.I didn't want to get into much anti-war sentiment in this post since that isn't the point, but does anybody still believe that our invasion of Iraq was "proportionate to the offense" when the didn't actually do anything to us? Our "proportionate" response to nothing is an invasion that leads to the deaths of nearly 100,000 Iraqi civilians (from Iraq Body Count)?
Only at the end of the speech did Bush actually talk directly about the sailors on board the Lincoln. The administration has tried to set itself free from the "Mission Accomplished" sign, correctly stating that that particular phrase was never actually used in the speech. But you make a speech that indicates that the military was victorious already, and you hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner in the background, and what do you expect? I have to believe (for my own sense of well-being) that the people that run our country are not actually dumb, and understand the full ramification of what they are doing; in this light I believe that the "Mission Accomplished" banner was there to give the American people something simple to see and identify with so that we would feel good about the war. Instead, the press secretary states that they regret not adding some (what would have been) fine print to the banner. Not buying it Perino, try again.
P.S. I love the implications of the following quote from today's news article, considering Bush's military record:
After being landed on the deck of the carrier in an S-3B Viking 30 miles off the coast San Diego (Ari Fleischer said the president "could have helicoptered," but "he wanted to see a landing the way aviators see a landing"), Mr. Bush appeared in a flight suit to the cheers of the ship's personnel and the glare of television lights.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The environment will thank us, part 3.
I arrived at school to this comment from KC (on my blogspot version) in reference to the last post:
I of course cannot prove this, but the Prius is so goofy-looking because people want to project the image that they are doing something for the environment whenever they do so. If you had a car that looked like everybody else's, who would know and then, who would praise you? While I am happy that people are buying and driving hybrids, I really wish that they were doing so for the right reasons rather than for image. The hybrid Camry and Accord look normal, and people still buy those, so I of course may be wrong.
The solution, of course, is to live close to your work so you can bike or walk every day. Or take public transit (like Alison) or private vanpooling (like I do). As my good friend KG (not in SF) pointed out, people who buy a new Prius to replace their old car are wasting a lot of resources having a brand new car created. Our culture of disposability is one of the greatest problems facing us today, and getting new cars constantly (instead of retrofitting old ones) is not helping.
yeah this sucks. I really liked your analogy to the homework questions. I read that Prius article either yesterday or the day before and the reviews of that and the Civic. I think now if it was my car I would lean toward the Prius, however Bernie doesn't like the look of it...What kills both myself and my wife about the Prius is that there actually used to be a Prius that did not look so goofy. Check out the original, 2001 version of the Prius. It's no '67 Shelby GT500, but it looks a lot more like other cars on the road.
I of course cannot prove this, but the Prius is so goofy-looking because people want to project the image that they are doing something for the environment whenever they do so. If you had a car that looked like everybody else's, who would know and then, who would praise you? While I am happy that people are buying and driving hybrids, I really wish that they were doing so for the right reasons rather than for image. The hybrid Camry and Accord look normal, and people still buy those, so I of course may be wrong.
The solution, of course, is to live close to your work so you can bike or walk every day. Or take public transit (like Alison) or private vanpooling (like I do). As my good friend KG (not in SF) pointed out, people who buy a new Prius to replace their old car are wasting a lot of resources having a brand new car created. Our culture of disposability is one of the greatest problems facing us today, and getting new cars constantly (instead of retrofitting old ones) is not helping.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The environment will thank us, part 2.
As the title suggests, this is the second post about the environment on Earth Day (today, April 22); if you missed the first, it's down there somewhere, and I'm sure you are smart enough (being a reader of this here blog) to locate it yourself.
I got sidetracked on the previous post talking about recycling in Socorro. But what made me want to blog today was some exciting news I read today.
The Bush Administration is doing its Earth Day duty and releasing some environmental news. This news is that they are going to raise fuel economy!
Wow! That's exciting! What do you think these new levels will be, considering that we currently have cars that can get 48 MPG city/45 MPG highway under the new EPA rating system? And considering that individuals have modded those very cars to produce a 100 MPG version (with about $6,000 in upgrades)? And considering that these standards do not have to be met until 2015, which is like 7 years away, plenty of time to refine techniques and change assembly stuff and work toward more efficient cars? 35? 40? 50 MPG? It could be done! What will it be?
New Fuel economy standard will be 31.6 mpg
You dicks.
There are a lot of things that really bother me about our president. Not the least of these things is that he unabashedly claims to be an environmentalist, while also constantly proving himself wrong. He's like the boy who cried wolf, except that it's more like Bush is the boy who cried "I'm awesome!" so many times, and it was shown to be a blatant lie, that even if he did something that helped the environment, I would just be completely skeptical. However, I think that it is pretty clear that 31.6 MPG by 2015 is a piddly goal.
But let's not just listen to me. The proof is in the blubbering, so they say. The auto industry has no desire to increase fuel efficiency. Therefore, any real, proactive stance taken toward actually doing something about the ridiculously low fuel efficiency of our vehicles should piss them off, right? Thanks, logic! Well, here's a quote from them:
Note that Ford produced the first Model T back in 1908, and it had a mileage of 13 to 21 MPG back then. There is no reason that we shouldn't be leagues ahead of where we are today. Europe is already ahead of us (keep in mind that we have a lot more automotive engineers than they do), and will institute a 47 MPG requirement by 2012. Of course, in Europe they don't have so many SUV's.
Check out this article entitled "U.S. ‘stuck in reverse’ on fuel economy." Included is this gem:
I got sidetracked on the previous post talking about recycling in Socorro. But what made me want to blog today was some exciting news I read today.
The Bush Administration is doing its Earth Day duty and releasing some environmental news. This news is that they are going to raise fuel economy!
Wow! That's exciting! What do you think these new levels will be, considering that we currently have cars that can get 48 MPG city/45 MPG highway under the new EPA rating system? And considering that individuals have modded those very cars to produce a 100 MPG version (with about $6,000 in upgrades)? And considering that these standards do not have to be met until 2015, which is like 7 years away, plenty of time to refine techniques and change assembly stuff and work toward more efficient cars? 35? 40? 50 MPG? It could be done! What will it be?
New Fuel economy standard will be 31.6 mpg
You dicks.
There are a lot of things that really bother me about our president. Not the least of these things is that he unabashedly claims to be an environmentalist, while also constantly proving himself wrong. He's like the boy who cried wolf, except that it's more like Bush is the boy who cried "I'm awesome!" so many times, and it was shown to be a blatant lie, that even if he did something that helped the environment, I would just be completely skeptical. However, I think that it is pretty clear that 31.6 MPG by 2015 is a piddly goal.
But let's not just listen to me. The proof is in the blubbering, so they say. The auto industry has no desire to increase fuel efficiency. Therefore, any real, proactive stance taken toward actually doing something about the ridiculously low fuel efficiency of our vehicles should piss them off, right? Thanks, logic! Well, here's a quote from them:
“These numbers are very challenging. They will stretch the industry to innovate in ways they haven’t had to do in the past and will continue to set us on a course to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new autos,” said Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and others.Anything that would actually be helpful should have resulted in something more like:
"Oh my god, holy shit, what are you people doing to us? We're going to lose our houses over this! Won't somebody think of the children?!Instead, we get "ooooh, that'll be really hard" which is what you would tell your teacher if they wanted to know whether they should add more questions to your homework set. It's not that you couldn't do the extra problems, it's just that you would really rather not because you think that time could be better spent surfing the internet and finding things like this and this.
Note that Ford produced the first Model T back in 1908, and it had a mileage of 13 to 21 MPG back then. There is no reason that we shouldn't be leagues ahead of where we are today. Europe is already ahead of us (keep in mind that we have a lot more automotive engineers than they do), and will institute a 47 MPG requirement by 2012. Of course, in Europe they don't have so many SUV's.
Check out this article entitled "U.S. ‘stuck in reverse’ on fuel economy." Included is this gem:
Adding insult to injury is the fact that nearly two-thirds of the 113 highly fuel-efficient models that are unavailable to American consumers are either made by U.S.-based automobile manufacturers or by foreign manufacturers with substantial U.S. sales operations, such as Nissan and Toyota.America's "me first" attitude is going to come back to bite it one day. What can we do to change society in time to save it from itself?
The environment will thank us, part 1.
Today is Earth Day, the one day per year where we acknowledge the giant (approximately) oblate spheroid of rock/ductile rock/magma on which we live. What are you doing for Earth Day? The Earth Science Club here at Tech has a little lunch where they discussed some issues. I think there were about 7 people there when I left (to go to class). Nice idea, although they were not to warm to my suggestion that they should start a community garden for the grad students in an effort to eat more local food.
The City of Socorro has "started" a recycling program here, which basically consists of a company that picks up your recycling happening to move from the East Mountains (east of Albuquerque) down to Socorro. I am dubious that this has been an effort on the part of the City. The recycling company actually calls itself Morning WoodCutters, which, if you are like me and watched a lot of Beavis and Butthead will strike you as either hilariously funny or generally shocking. And to drive home the point that this is not any kind of accidental naming, scope out this picture on the Morning WoodCutters website, which leaves very little to the imagination.
The upshot of the Socorro recycling thing is that you pay $20 a month for MWC to come to your house and pick up your recycling once a month. If you want a one-time pickup (that utilizes the entire truck), this will cost you all of $90. I recommended to those at the lunch that, if they go to Albuquerque once every month or so anyway, it would be much smarter for them to just take their recyclables up there themselves. I guess I should have encouraged the local option for the benefit of those who cannot go to Albuquerque. However, I would have taken less than that per person to transmit recyclables up to Albuquerque back when we lived in Socorro. (By the way, according to the City website it looks like the range of materials that MWC will recycle is the exact same stuff that Albuquerque recycles, leading me to believe that they just dump it off on the same recycling company).
The school is trying to get the Earth Science Club to handle the recycling for the entire campus, which consists of collecting recyclables (plastic bottles and aluminum cans only) from 38 different points on campus and taking them up to Albuquerque. Now, mind that the club is not going to get paid for any of this. I think maybe they get to keep can revenues, but that is unclear. Maybe with MWC now collecting recyclables it would make a lot of sense for the school to shell out $90 per month for its very own recycling runs (I'm pretty sure they spend much less that on flowers every month) and get one of the FacMgmt people to collect stuff. I made this suggestion, we'll see if it actually happens.
I didn't intend to actually write anything about Socorro, and was instead going to be all caustic about the Bush administration, but I guess this will have to be broken into multiple posts...
The City of Socorro has "started" a recycling program here, which basically consists of a company that picks up your recycling happening to move from the East Mountains (east of Albuquerque) down to Socorro. I am dubious that this has been an effort on the part of the City. The recycling company actually calls itself Morning WoodCutters, which, if you are like me and watched a lot of Beavis and Butthead will strike you as either hilariously funny or generally shocking. And to drive home the point that this is not any kind of accidental naming, scope out this picture on the Morning WoodCutters website, which leaves very little to the imagination.
The upshot of the Socorro recycling thing is that you pay $20 a month for MWC to come to your house and pick up your recycling once a month. If you want a one-time pickup (that utilizes the entire truck), this will cost you all of $90. I recommended to those at the lunch that, if they go to Albuquerque once every month or so anyway, it would be much smarter for them to just take their recyclables up there themselves. I guess I should have encouraged the local option for the benefit of those who cannot go to Albuquerque. However, I would have taken less than that per person to transmit recyclables up to Albuquerque back when we lived in Socorro. (By the way, according to the City website it looks like the range of materials that MWC will recycle is the exact same stuff that Albuquerque recycles, leading me to believe that they just dump it off on the same recycling company).
The school is trying to get the Earth Science Club to handle the recycling for the entire campus, which consists of collecting recyclables (plastic bottles and aluminum cans only) from 38 different points on campus and taking them up to Albuquerque. Now, mind that the club is not going to get paid for any of this. I think maybe they get to keep can revenues, but that is unclear. Maybe with MWC now collecting recyclables it would make a lot of sense for the school to shell out $90 per month for its very own recycling runs (I'm pretty sure they spend much less that on flowers every month) and get one of the FacMgmt people to collect stuff. I made this suggestion, we'll see if it actually happens.
I didn't intend to actually write anything about Socorro, and was instead going to be all caustic about the Bush administration, but I guess this will have to be broken into multiple posts...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Baseball and Fireworks!
This weekend we went to another Albuquerque Isotopes game at beautiful Isotopes Park. They were playing the Nashville Sounds, who I remember watching many times back in the day at Omaha. I went with the wife as well as her "little sister" (she's in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America).
The game started out not-so-hot. The 'topes went down 3-0 after the top of the 2nd, but the home team busted out 10 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. You'd think this would translate to a laugher, but the Sounds actually came back to 10-9 by the middle of the 7th. The final score was 15-10 'topes, and there was a total of 9 home runs in the game, and not a single one came out onto the berm. Several cleared the weird hill in center field, and some jerks actually jumped the fence to get one of the balls. And somehow the park staff didn't do anything about it. Blergh.
The main attraction to going to the game was the fact that it was a fireworks night. The fireworks displays are pretty good for a ballpark display, and the best thing is that, if you are on the berm, the fireworks are pretty much directly over you. It's a wild time; next time I'll try to remember to take the camera and the tripod. And the music is patriotastic! Actually, it's a weird mixture of blind patriotism and classical music, but it's much more fun to make fun of "Proud to be an Amerrcan." We ended up getting the little sister home after 11pm because of all the offense.
The only bad part of the evening was that the berm was packed with children who were running around, screaming, stepping on our blanket, even running into us at times. And stealing other kids' baseballs. But any night at the ballpark is a good night.
The game started out not-so-hot. The 'topes went down 3-0 after the top of the 2nd, but the home team busted out 10 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. You'd think this would translate to a laugher, but the Sounds actually came back to 10-9 by the middle of the 7th. The final score was 15-10 'topes, and there was a total of 9 home runs in the game, and not a single one came out onto the berm. Several cleared the weird hill in center field, and some jerks actually jumped the fence to get one of the balls. And somehow the park staff didn't do anything about it. Blergh.
The main attraction to going to the game was the fact that it was a fireworks night. The fireworks displays are pretty good for a ballpark display, and the best thing is that, if you are on the berm, the fireworks are pretty much directly over you. It's a wild time; next time I'll try to remember to take the camera and the tripod. And the music is patriotastic! Actually, it's a weird mixture of blind patriotism and classical music, but it's much more fun to make fun of "Proud to be an Amerrcan." We ended up getting the little sister home after 11pm because of all the offense.
The only bad part of the evening was that the berm was packed with children who were running around, screaming, stepping on our blanket, even running into us at times. And stealing other kids' baseballs. But any night at the ballpark is a good night.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Take me out to the ballgame!
Look! It's Matt! And he's alive!
Yes, I apologize for not blogging at you for the past 1.5 months. I imagine this is my longest drought ever. I just didn't have anything interesting to say (not that that usually stops me). Finally, though, a subject about which I can speak passionately: Baseball!
That's right, last night was the home opener for our beloved local Isotopes, and I, the wife, AW, and BT all bundled up to attend. We sat on the berm, where the team has raised ticket prices 20% since last year (from $5 to $6)! Also, I am extremely sad to report that Isotopes Brewing Company has apparently gone out of business, so no more Slammin' Amber or Isotope Ale. This makes me very, very sad, as these beers were quite excellent (especially considering that the team had no real reason to make a really good beer, since people would buy it anyway for the novelty), and the best beer available at the ballpark (they also have Fat Tire). Certainly the freshest! They were also cheap for ballpark beer, about $5-6 a pint. A trip to the ballpark will not be quite the same any more, and I'll probably no longer buy beer at the park in Albuquerque.
Our ballpark has been recognized by many as one of the nicest in the country, and in the pregame ceremonies (which included our mayor receiving an oversized novelty rent check) one person claimed it was the nicest in all of baseball. Now, we're not going to be visiting PNC Park in Pittsburgh for another month yet, and that's been called the best park in the majors; we'll see.
The theme of the evening was "cold." It was 47 degrees Fahrenheit when the game started, and the sun quickly set. Some of the players were wearing these cold-weather head things like Placido Polanco does. Of course, others were in t-shirts and whatnot. I had a thick fleece over a thinner one, and Alison was even more bundled up:
BT is the only one of the four of us who paid attention to the weather and truly prepared for it. We sat on the berm, as we always do, and I don't know whether this made us colder or warmer. The 'topes did not get off to a very good start, and were down 5-2 after the top of the third. The cold made it difficult to pay attention to the game, and I hadn't been around AW for awhile, so he had to assail me with a couple months' worth of puns in the span of a few hours. I was watching the scoreboard to monitor the major league scores (the Tigers actually won a game!) and the temperature as it continued to drop through the game. 46...45...44. At some point each of us had to get up and walk around for awhile to warm up. AW got some Crown Royal, Alison and BT went to locate hot chocolate (unsuccessfully - the concessioners must have run out), and I went to the warmest place in the park - the gear store. I didn't buy anything, although I was sorely tempted.
After the 5th, it was 6-3 Redhawks and about 44 degrees. AW, Alison, and I were all ready to go home at this point, but BT refused to leave before the end of the game. I guess we all felt emasculated, and stuck it out. I took a picture in the 7th after the temperature dropped to 42 degrees:
We ended up staying until the end of the game. The announced attendance was over 9,200, but there could not have been more than a couple hundred people left at the end of the game, and maybe fewer than 10 on the berm. Go us! The temperature when we left was 41 degrees, and the Isotopes lost their home opener.
Anyway, we were (or I was, anyway) glad to go see a baseball game for the first time this season, and look forward to seeing some more. I have two new major league parks on my schedule this summer (PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Comerica in Detroit), so that will be pretty exciting and blogs are sure to be forthcoming!
Yes, I apologize for not blogging at you for the past 1.5 months. I imagine this is my longest drought ever. I just didn't have anything interesting to say (not that that usually stops me). Finally, though, a subject about which I can speak passionately: Baseball!
That's right, last night was the home opener for our beloved local Isotopes, and I, the wife, AW, and BT all bundled up to attend. We sat on the berm, where the team has raised ticket prices 20% since last year (from $5 to $6)! Also, I am extremely sad to report that Isotopes Brewing Company has apparently gone out of business, so no more Slammin' Amber or Isotope Ale. This makes me very, very sad, as these beers were quite excellent (especially considering that the team had no real reason to make a really good beer, since people would buy it anyway for the novelty), and the best beer available at the ballpark (they also have Fat Tire). Certainly the freshest! They were also cheap for ballpark beer, about $5-6 a pint. A trip to the ballpark will not be quite the same any more, and I'll probably no longer buy beer at the park in Albuquerque.
Our ballpark has been recognized by many as one of the nicest in the country, and in the pregame ceremonies (which included our mayor receiving an oversized novelty rent check) one person claimed it was the nicest in all of baseball. Now, we're not going to be visiting PNC Park in Pittsburgh for another month yet, and that's been called the best park in the majors; we'll see.
The theme of the evening was "cold." It was 47 degrees Fahrenheit when the game started, and the sun quickly set. Some of the players were wearing these cold-weather head things like Placido Polanco does. Of course, others were in t-shirts and whatnot. I had a thick fleece over a thinner one, and Alison was even more bundled up:
BT is the only one of the four of us who paid attention to the weather and truly prepared for it. We sat on the berm, as we always do, and I don't know whether this made us colder or warmer. The 'topes did not get off to a very good start, and were down 5-2 after the top of the third. The cold made it difficult to pay attention to the game, and I hadn't been around AW for awhile, so he had to assail me with a couple months' worth of puns in the span of a few hours. I was watching the scoreboard to monitor the major league scores (the Tigers actually won a game!) and the temperature as it continued to drop through the game. 46...45...44. At some point each of us had to get up and walk around for awhile to warm up. AW got some Crown Royal, Alison and BT went to locate hot chocolate (unsuccessfully - the concessioners must have run out), and I went to the warmest place in the park - the gear store. I didn't buy anything, although I was sorely tempted.
After the 5th, it was 6-3 Redhawks and about 44 degrees. AW, Alison, and I were all ready to go home at this point, but BT refused to leave before the end of the game. I guess we all felt emasculated, and stuck it out. I took a picture in the 7th after the temperature dropped to 42 degrees:
We ended up staying until the end of the game. The announced attendance was over 9,200, but there could not have been more than a couple hundred people left at the end of the game, and maybe fewer than 10 on the berm. Go us! The temperature when we left was 41 degrees, and the Isotopes lost their home opener.
Anyway, we were (or I was, anyway) glad to go see a baseball game for the first time this season, and look forward to seeing some more. I have two new major league parks on my schedule this summer (PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Comerica in Detroit), so that will be pretty exciting and blogs are sure to be forthcoming!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Why we don't like Texas
I just read a story from Newsweek on the polluting prowess of Texas. I was not at all shocked to learn that Texas is the state with the largest CO2 output. However, the following did horrify me:
"Were the Lonestar State to secede from the union it would be the world's eighth-largest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, just behind Canada."
also:
"Texas still outpaces the combined emissions of California and Pennsylvania, the states with the second- and third-highest CO2 outputs."
That's amazing and terrible and irresponsible and...
"Texans epitomize America's penchant for overconsumption, so much so that they've even coined their own phrase for superlarge portions: Texas-sized. The state's 23.5 million residents use nearly 3,000 more kilowatt-hours of electricity every year than the average American and a higher percentage of them drive large, gas-guzzling vehicles."
"[I]t is one of only 15 states without a climate action plan in place or even under consideration."
I can definitely see that Bush belongs in Texas despite his Yalie pedigree. I recently read an article in GOOD about Vermont's desire to secede because of the restrictive hand of our federal government; they want tougher environmental laws, for one thing. That's great, and I think that states (see California) should be able to enact tougher laws if they want to, and that the federal government needs to get tougher too. My worry with the secession talk (and there is some low-level talk in the South) is that southern states are not very likely to enact tough laws benefiting the environment, and will instead likely go in the other direction, making pollution easier. And we are all affected by the decisions of the eighth-largest CO2 emitter in the world living on our doorstep.
"Were the Lonestar State to secede from the union it would be the world's eighth-largest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, just behind Canada."
also:
"Texas still outpaces the combined emissions of California and Pennsylvania, the states with the second- and third-highest CO2 outputs."
That's amazing and terrible and irresponsible and...
"Texans epitomize America's penchant for overconsumption, so much so that they've even coined their own phrase for superlarge portions: Texas-sized. The state's 23.5 million residents use nearly 3,000 more kilowatt-hours of electricity every year than the average American and a higher percentage of them drive large, gas-guzzling vehicles."
"[I]t is one of only 15 states without a climate action plan in place or even under consideration."
I can definitely see that Bush belongs in Texas despite his Yalie pedigree. I recently read an article in GOOD about Vermont's desire to secede because of the restrictive hand of our federal government; they want tougher environmental laws, for one thing. That's great, and I think that states (see California) should be able to enact tougher laws if they want to, and that the federal government needs to get tougher too. My worry with the secession talk (and there is some low-level talk in the South) is that southern states are not very likely to enact tough laws benefiting the environment, and will instead likely go in the other direction, making pollution easier. And we are all affected by the decisions of the eighth-largest CO2 emitter in the world living on our doorstep.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kids today
So once again, just listening to NPR and heard this story. Apparently the decline in pretend-type play among children has led to changes in behavior and responsibility, among other things. Read or listen to the story, especially anybody that is or will be a parent.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Sweet hearts!
OK, so my wife got me some of those sweetheart things (in Spanish, they're Corazones Dulces!) for Valentine's Day/our first anniversary, and I have been looking at the messages because they're generally amusingly pithy. This box is some sort of weird mixture though. There's the impressively current (I'M YRS), the completely neutral (NICE GIRL), the thoroughly passe (PAGE ME), the somewhat passe and completely unromantic (FAX ME), and the just plain weird (PAY DAY). Oh, and the one befitting of the angst felt by teenagers everywhere, the blank heart.
Thanks for the treat darling!
Thanks for the treat darling!
Calling BS on Hillary Clinton
Let me start this blog by stating that I voted for Clinton in the primary here in NM because she actually talked about what she would do about the problems facing this nation at her rally. But a story from this morning's Morning Edition is making me change my mind. Can I go back and change my vote? I kind of want to now.
Why? Well, I'll tell you. We have this really bizarre and nonsensical primary system in this country whereby a few states (particularly Iowa and New Hampshire, extremely white states) get a huge say in who gets to run for president from each party. I don't think that this is a particularly fair system, and I would like to see it changed somehow. I haven't done any real research on the topic, but I have not seen a viable solution yet. Anyway, this time around a whole lot of states decided that they deserved to be the most important state in the primary process, and moved their primaries forward. This resulted in New Hampshire and Iowa moving their primaries even further forward, until they occurred ridiculously early. When these states (including both Arizona and New Mexico) floated this idea of moving forward, they knew full well that if they moved them too far forward, their delegates would not be counted. Florida and Michigan moved theirs too far forward, and so their primary results are not supposed to count. They did it anyway. And their votes did not count. In fact, candidates were not supposed to put themselves on the ballot. Clinton did it anyway. And shockingly, being the only major candidate, she carried both states (the second most popular choice was uncommitted).
Now that she's slipping further behind Obama, she suddenly wants those votes counted. Here are some quotes. Early on, she gave her reason for putting herself on the ballot as: "It's clear - this election they're having is not going to count for anything. I personally did not think it made any difference whether or not my name was on the ballot."
Now, the day before Florida primary, she said, "I want the voters in Florida to know that I hear them. Hundreds of thousands of Floridians have already votes, so clearly they are taking this seriously, they believe their voices are going to be heard and should be counted, and I agree with them." Sounds suspiciously like she was hedging her bets by putting herself on the ballot to me.
As I said, I disagree with the system the way it is currently set up, but if there are rules, and you know full well what those rules are, and you choose to break those rules, then you should be prepared to face the consequences. This is why I have little sympathy for anybody that gets a speeding ticket (I've gotten one, and paid it), stop sign ticket, etc. The stakes are higher here, of course. Tad Devine says, "If the margin in these two states represents a difference of who's going to be the nominee, it's going to be hard fought and it could be fought all the way through the credentials and the rules committee and to the convention floor itself."
Of course, as will always happen, this has been turned by some into a matter of race. Surprisingly, Rev. Al Sharpton comes down on the side of reason (the side of reason always being my side): "I do not understand how you can say that you're going to have primaries that are not going to be respected, candidates not going to campaign, and then later change the rules [dumb sports metaphor omitted]. That is a civil rights issue." But Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, sees it differently: "Under present rules, these voters will not be heard, they won't be seated, they won't have any recognition, or representation at the Democratic Convention. I'm old enough to have been through these credential fights at Democratic Conventions in '64 and '68 when the issue was in race, and in some ways the issue is race now. A great portion of the voters in both those states are black. They have a right to have their expressions heard and felt." Why does a credential fight automatically turn into a race issue? No idea. What kills me is that if any other state with a negligible minority population, say Minnesota, the exact damn same thing would have happened. The only possible way that this is a race issue is if black people are somehow more inclined to push their primaries way way early, which I do not think is the case.
The upshot of this whole thing is that Clinton is going back on what she said earlier as soon as it will benefit her. Now, I am not so naive as to think that, if he were in the same position, Obama would not be saying the same thing. And maybe with time I will back Clinton again. But it pisses me off that they are being such politicians, frankly. Tad Devine again: "This is a fundamental issue of fairness. For our party, we're holding ourselves out to be the party of fairness, on issues like taxes, on the way people live and their lives. If our own process doesn't appear to be a fair process, we're going to hurt ourselves. We need to figure out a way to make sure that these states are fully engaged in this political process at the Convention, and certainly in the general election. And that's not going to be an easy thing as long as the nomination is on the line." What would be fair? Sticking to the original plan, despite the fact that it hurts the candidate for whom I voted.
Morning Edition mentioned some solutions proposed for this situation. First, we could rehold the primaries, probably the most reasonable of the options, and the one that they term "unlikely." Second, we could split the votes evenly between the two candidates, which would be a BS solution since it would not actually do anything, just adding the same number of delegates to each candidate. Plus, if Clinton would have actually won real primaries in these two states, it would be only fair that she get her real proportion of delegates. Finally, split the votes according to the proportion of the national popular vote that each candidate holds; this won, again, would make zero difference to anything, since if Obama holds, say, 60% of the popular vote nationwide, he would still hold 60% after those two states were counted. I mean, what is the damn point? I suppose this would be the most popular option for those that want to placate Michigan and Florida and not disillusion them with the Democratic Party. I say, if you play with fire, you might get burned.
Why? Well, I'll tell you. We have this really bizarre and nonsensical primary system in this country whereby a few states (particularly Iowa and New Hampshire, extremely white states) get a huge say in who gets to run for president from each party. I don't think that this is a particularly fair system, and I would like to see it changed somehow. I haven't done any real research on the topic, but I have not seen a viable solution yet. Anyway, this time around a whole lot of states decided that they deserved to be the most important state in the primary process, and moved their primaries forward. This resulted in New Hampshire and Iowa moving their primaries even further forward, until they occurred ridiculously early. When these states (including both Arizona and New Mexico) floated this idea of moving forward, they knew full well that if they moved them too far forward, their delegates would not be counted. Florida and Michigan moved theirs too far forward, and so their primary results are not supposed to count. They did it anyway. And their votes did not count. In fact, candidates were not supposed to put themselves on the ballot. Clinton did it anyway. And shockingly, being the only major candidate, she carried both states (the second most popular choice was uncommitted).
Now that she's slipping further behind Obama, she suddenly wants those votes counted. Here are some quotes. Early on, she gave her reason for putting herself on the ballot as: "It's clear - this election they're having is not going to count for anything. I personally did not think it made any difference whether or not my name was on the ballot."
Now, the day before Florida primary, she said, "I want the voters in Florida to know that I hear them. Hundreds of thousands of Floridians have already votes, so clearly they are taking this seriously, they believe their voices are going to be heard and should be counted, and I agree with them." Sounds suspiciously like she was hedging her bets by putting herself on the ballot to me.
As I said, I disagree with the system the way it is currently set up, but if there are rules, and you know full well what those rules are, and you choose to break those rules, then you should be prepared to face the consequences. This is why I have little sympathy for anybody that gets a speeding ticket (I've gotten one, and paid it), stop sign ticket, etc. The stakes are higher here, of course. Tad Devine says, "If the margin in these two states represents a difference of who's going to be the nominee, it's going to be hard fought and it could be fought all the way through the credentials and the rules committee and to the convention floor itself."
Of course, as will always happen, this has been turned by some into a matter of race. Surprisingly, Rev. Al Sharpton comes down on the side of reason (the side of reason always being my side): "I do not understand how you can say that you're going to have primaries that are not going to be respected, candidates not going to campaign, and then later change the rules [dumb sports metaphor omitted]. That is a civil rights issue." But Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, sees it differently: "Under present rules, these voters will not be heard, they won't be seated, they won't have any recognition, or representation at the Democratic Convention. I'm old enough to have been through these credential fights at Democratic Conventions in '64 and '68 when the issue was in race, and in some ways the issue is race now. A great portion of the voters in both those states are black. They have a right to have their expressions heard and felt." Why does a credential fight automatically turn into a race issue? No idea. What kills me is that if any other state with a negligible minority population, say Minnesota, the exact damn same thing would have happened. The only possible way that this is a race issue is if black people are somehow more inclined to push their primaries way way early, which I do not think is the case.
The upshot of this whole thing is that Clinton is going back on what she said earlier as soon as it will benefit her. Now, I am not so naive as to think that, if he were in the same position, Obama would not be saying the same thing. And maybe with time I will back Clinton again. But it pisses me off that they are being such politicians, frankly. Tad Devine again: "This is a fundamental issue of fairness. For our party, we're holding ourselves out to be the party of fairness, on issues like taxes, on the way people live and their lives. If our own process doesn't appear to be a fair process, we're going to hurt ourselves. We need to figure out a way to make sure that these states are fully engaged in this political process at the Convention, and certainly in the general election. And that's not going to be an easy thing as long as the nomination is on the line." What would be fair? Sticking to the original plan, despite the fact that it hurts the candidate for whom I voted.
Morning Edition mentioned some solutions proposed for this situation. First, we could rehold the primaries, probably the most reasonable of the options, and the one that they term "unlikely." Second, we could split the votes evenly between the two candidates, which would be a BS solution since it would not actually do anything, just adding the same number of delegates to each candidate. Plus, if Clinton would have actually won real primaries in these two states, it would be only fair that she get her real proportion of delegates. Finally, split the votes according to the proportion of the national popular vote that each candidate holds; this won, again, would make zero difference to anything, since if Obama holds, say, 60% of the popular vote nationwide, he would still hold 60% after those two states were counted. I mean, what is the damn point? I suppose this would be the most popular option for those that want to placate Michigan and Florida and not disillusion them with the Democratic Party. I say, if you play with fire, you might get burned.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Do you live in the Southwest?
If you've somehow not heard yet that you live in a desert, you should read this article from this month's National Geographic Magazine that talks about the present and future water-related difficulties of our beloved West. I don't think any of it was really news to me, as a water quasi-professional, but this is probably the most widely-read (amongst laypeople) publication I have seen take a stab at the issue (ha! pun!). Give it a read and a think. You think tap water tastes bad now? Just wait. Also, the writer talked to a lot of scientists from Arizona and New Mexico whose work I have read or am familiar with.
In other news, we went on vacation and discovered a new and frightening quasi-state we like to call New Texico. We have a joint blog post planned to detail this place, which means it will be published in a terrifyingly unnecessary three different locations.
In other news, we went on vacation and discovered a new and frightening quasi-state we like to call New Texico. We have a joint blog post planned to detail this place, which means it will be published in a terrifyingly unnecessary three different locations.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Weather and politics
So you know that I'm only going to half-piss off half of you!
This morning, when I woke up before 6 to get to the van, I walked out to the kitchen for some breakfast, I noticed that we got a fairly light dusting of snow overnight, well under an inch. However, the recent fairly warm weather combined with that overnight moisture input to turn Albuquerque into an icy mess. The van did not arrive because nobody got on at the first stop (my advisor said that there was a half inch of ice on the parking lot), so we had to drive a car. We had the radio on in the car (conservative talk radio, but I guess I can't complain about not having to drive myself) and heard that they were not only closing schools due to the light snow, but apparently nobody could drive on the ice as there were numerous rollovers reported, and one of the main northern roads connecting the western parts of the valley (Rio Rancho) to main Albuquerque was closed. There was a three hour wait for tow trucks, and they were asking that, if you were in a minor accident, that you wait for awhile to report it so that you don't tie up the police's time. Crazy.
Also, I read short article today about history repeating itself. Now, of course the author is a raging liberal like me, and so I am more inclined to agree, but the facts are I guess undeniable. Two things kill me about this:
1. If this happened in the past with this same cast of characters, why did we let it happen again? Why do we learn nothing from history?
2. Why the hell have I never heard about this until now? The so-called liberal media didn't bring this to our attention back in 2003. Why? I think that if the American public knew that Cheney and Rumsfeld had already tried to pull the old bullshit maneuver in the past to increase "defense" spending, we never would have gone for it.
Depressing. Have a great day!
This morning, when I woke up before 6 to get to the van, I walked out to the kitchen for some breakfast, I noticed that we got a fairly light dusting of snow overnight, well under an inch. However, the recent fairly warm weather combined with that overnight moisture input to turn Albuquerque into an icy mess. The van did not arrive because nobody got on at the first stop (my advisor said that there was a half inch of ice on the parking lot), so we had to drive a car. We had the radio on in the car (conservative talk radio, but I guess I can't complain about not having to drive myself) and heard that they were not only closing schools due to the light snow, but apparently nobody could drive on the ice as there were numerous rollovers reported, and one of the main northern roads connecting the western parts of the valley (Rio Rancho) to main Albuquerque was closed. There was a three hour wait for tow trucks, and they were asking that, if you were in a minor accident, that you wait for awhile to report it so that you don't tie up the police's time. Crazy.
Also, I read short article today about history repeating itself. Now, of course the author is a raging liberal like me, and so I am more inclined to agree, but the facts are I guess undeniable. Two things kill me about this:
1. If this happened in the past with this same cast of characters, why did we let it happen again? Why do we learn nothing from history?
2. Why the hell have I never heard about this until now? The so-called liberal media didn't bring this to our attention back in 2003. Why? I think that if the American public knew that Cheney and Rumsfeld had already tried to pull the old bullshit maneuver in the past to increase "defense" spending, we never would have gone for it.
Depressing. Have a great day!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Two in a row!
I think this a pretty accurate metaphorical history of the past decade. Two in a row from Mr. Rowland!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
OIC, it was ironic
OK, so this evening I watched Death Race 2000, a cult classic starring David Carradine (just after Kung Fu) and Sylvester Stallone (in the early stages of his career). This movie is the origin of the "point system" for running over people and things, where you score points for killing people based on their age and gender. Sounds off the wall, right? Well it was, sure.
However, it was also pretty terrible. If you like wooden dialog presentation, shallow writing, and lots of gratuitous female nudity, then perhaps this is the movie for you. I watched the brief "Looking Back" special feature that interviewed some of the people involved in the film (not anybody I had ever heard of), one of them referred to it as a "satirical ironic comedy." Like that's supposed to make it better. Look, Army of Darkness was a satirical ironic comedy, but it was actually well-conceived, unlike this movie. I want my 1.5 hours back.
The only redeeming quality of the movie is that I Netflix'd it, so it didn't cost me anything.
However, it was also pretty terrible. If you like wooden dialog presentation, shallow writing, and lots of gratuitous female nudity, then perhaps this is the movie for you. I watched the brief "Looking Back" special feature that interviewed some of the people involved in the film (not anybody I had ever heard of), one of them referred to it as a "satirical ironic comedy." Like that's supposed to make it better. Look, Army of Darkness was a satirical ironic comedy, but it was actually well-conceived, unlike this movie. I want my 1.5 hours back.
The only redeeming quality of the movie is that I Netflix'd it, so it didn't cost me anything.
End of an era (eventually)
I've been thinking a little bit the last few weeks about the end of American civilization. We all know it will come eventually; anybody who denies it is just being foolish. The following webcomic by Jeffrey Rowland sums it up pretty well.
I mean, we live in a pretty OK country, comparatively. We of course don't have a pristine human rights record, and there are a lot of laws and quasi-laws/quasi-traditions that I would like to see changed to make us a more tolerant society. Am I proud to be an American? I guess so, but I also guess that if I were born into another country, I would probably be proud to be from there too. Hey Fundies! Isn't pride the number one deadliest sin?
I mean, we live in a pretty OK country, comparatively. We of course don't have a pristine human rights record, and there are a lot of laws and quasi-laws/quasi-traditions that I would like to see changed to make us a more tolerant society. Am I proud to be an American? I guess so, but I also guess that if I were born into another country, I would probably be proud to be from there too. Hey Fundies! Isn't pride the number one deadliest sin?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Prepare to be SHOCKED!
...and maybe even AWED.
As the result of another tidbit I heard on Morning Edition today, I'm writing another angry blog entry today. Curb your enthusiasm, people, I'm only one man.
A group called The Center for Public Integrity released a report called Iraq: The War Card - Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War. I know, sounds pretty exciting! This group meticulously documented 935 (!) false statements by administration officials regarding Iraq in the two years after 9/11, especially concentrated in the months leading up to our invasion. Now I'm sure you could find 260 things I've said in the past two years that turned out to be false (Bush's total). Three differences being: (1) Nobody gives a damn what I say, nor should they, since I am not an elected public official; (2) When I say things that turn out to be false I don't generally know beforehand that they are; (3) The harm that I can do by lying is many, many orders of magnitude lower than that Bush was able to accomplish. Following are a few excerpts from the summary:
(All emphasis mine.) Am I the only person driven to blind rage by this? They lied knowingly on hundreds of occasions, or at least distorted the truth. The end result of this? Here are some statistics taken from some sort of Liberal Politics website using numbers culled from reports from The Brookings Institute:
- $600 BILLION taxpayer dollars spent on the war, with another $200 BILLION requested this year. (Holy shit! We're in a recession? Seriously? I wonder if each household would want its $4,100 each back right now.)
- 3,927 U.S. Troops killed so far. (Less 18% killed by non-hostile causes leaves 3,220 soldiers killed in combat.)
- Almost 29,000 U.S. Troops injured, 20% seriously
- 30% of troops develop "serious mental health problems" within 3-4 months of returning home
- At least 50,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed, and maybe as many as 600,000 (for comparison, about 625,000 Americans died during the Civil War, although a full 2/3 of those deaths were non-combat; total combat deaths equalled 213,000 - and we were the antagonist and protagonist).
- Approximately 4.4 to 4.5 MILLION Iraqis displaced internally and to Syria and Jordan.
All of this happened because our administration made a concerted effort to mislead its own citizens. And now they refuse to even make a mistake. I personally want all of our troops out of Iraq A.S.A.P. I realize, of course, that we broke it, and therefore we should fix it. But do the Iraqi people need more of our brand of fixing? Signs point to our recent activities making some improvement, but it has been too long, with far too great a cost of both money and lives, for our continued presence there to be accepted any longer. Yet even the most popular Democratic presidential candidates refuse to state unequivocally that they would pull us out posthaste.
If I had my druthers, my ideal solution would involve a total troop withdrawal accompanied by a public apology from our president for what he has wrought. That would, of course, not bring back any of the almost 4,000 dead Americans, or any of the $600B we've frittered away, but it would at least prevent further waste.
I have a number of conservative friends, but I expect that they avoid my blog like the plague because it probably makes them as angry as I am when I write my entries. But if they read, I'd like their take on this administration, and their reply to my statements.
Maybe I'm just mad because I bought a Mountain Dew out of the machine and it came out goddamn frozen. Who is in charge of these things? It's sitting on my office floor right now in an effort to have some diffuse solar radiation and sensible heat flux help out the melting process.
As the result of another tidbit I heard on Morning Edition today, I'm writing another angry blog entry today. Curb your enthusiasm, people, I'm only one man.
A group called The Center for Public Integrity released a report called Iraq: The War Card - Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War. I know, sounds pretty exciting! This group meticulously documented 935 (!) false statements by administration officials regarding Iraq in the two years after 9/11, especially concentrated in the months leading up to our invasion. Now I'm sure you could find 260 things I've said in the past two years that turned out to be false (Bush's total). Three differences being: (1) Nobody gives a damn what I say, nor should they, since I am not an elected public official; (2) When I say things that turn out to be false I don't generally know beforehand that they are; (3) The harm that I can do by lying is many, many orders of magnitude lower than that Bush was able to accomplish. Following are a few excerpts from the summary:
False Pretenses
Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith
President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.
On at least 532 separate occasions (in speeches, briefings, interviews, testimony, and the like), Bush and these three key officials, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (or was trying to produce or obtain them), links to Al Qaeda, or both. This concerted effort was the underpinning of the Bush administration's case for war.
It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to Al Qaeda. This was the conclusion of numerous bipartisan government investigations, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (2004 and 2006), the 9/11 Commission, and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, whose "Duelfer Report" established that Saddam Hussein had terminated Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to restart it.
In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003. Not surprisingly, the officials with the most opportunities to make speeches, grant media interviews, and otherwise frame the public debate also made the most false statements, according to this first-ever analysis of the entire body of prewar rhetoric.
..............................
Consider, for example, these false public statements made in the run-up to war:
* On August 26, 2002, in an address to the national convention of the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Cheney flatly declared: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." In fact, former CIA Director George Tenet later recalled, Cheney's assertions went well beyond his agency's assessments at the time. Another CIA official, referring to the same speech, told journalist Ron Suskind, "Our reaction was, 'Where is he getting this stuff from?' "
* In the closing days of September 2002, with a congressional vote fast approaching on authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, Bush told the nation in his weekly radio address: "The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given. . . . This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year." A few days later, similar findings were also included in a much-hurried National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction — an analysis that hadn't been done in years, as the intelligence community had deemed it unnecessary and the White House hadn't requested it.
* In July 2002, Rumsfeld had a one-word answer for reporters who asked whether Iraq had relationships with Al Qaeda terrorists: "Sure." In fact, an assessment issued that same month by the Defense Intelligence Agency (and confirmed weeks later by CIA Director Tenet) found an absence of "compelling evidence demonstrating direct cooperation between the government of Iraq and Al Qaeda." What's more, an earlier DIA assessment said that "the nature of the regime's relationship with Al Qaeda is unclear."
* On May 29, 2003, in an interview with Polish TV, President Bush declared: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories." But as journalist Bob Woodward reported in State of Denial, days earlier a team of civilian experts dispatched to examine the two mobile labs found in Iraq had concluded in a field report that the labs were not for biological weapons. The team's final report, completed the following month, concluded that the labs had probably been used to manufacture hydrogen for weather balloons.
* On January 28, 2003, in his annual State of the Union address, Bush asserted: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production." Two weeks earlier, an analyst with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research sent an email to colleagues in the intelligence community laying out why he believed the uranium-purchase agreement "probably is a hoax."
* On February 5, 2003, in an address to the United Nations Security Council, Powell said: "What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources." As it turned out, however, two of the main human sources to which Powell referred had provided false information. One was an Iraqi con artist, code-named "Curveball," whom American intelligence officials were dubious about and in fact had never even spoken to. The other was an Al Qaeda detainee, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, who had reportedly been sent to Eqypt by the CIA and tortured and who later recanted the information he had provided. Libi told the CIA in January 2004 that he had "decided he would fabricate any information interrogators wanted in order to gain better treatment and avoid being handed over to [a foreign government]."
The false statements dramatically increased in August 2002, with congressional consideration of a war resolution, then escalated through the mid-term elections and spiked even higher from January 2003 to the eve of the invasion.
..............................
The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war. Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, "independent" validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq.
The "ground truth" of the Iraq war itself eventually forced the president to backpedal, albeit grudgingly. In a 2004 appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, for example, Bush acknowledged that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. And on December 18, 2005, with his approval ratings on the decline, Bush told the nation in a Sunday-night address from the Oval Office: "It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As your president, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. Yet it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
Bush stopped short, however, of admitting error or poor judgment; instead, his administration repeatedly attributed the stark disparity between its prewar public statements and the actual "ground truth" regarding the threat posed by Iraq to poor intelligence from a Who's Who of domestic agencies.
(All emphasis mine.) Am I the only person driven to blind rage by this? They lied knowingly on hundreds of occasions, or at least distorted the truth. The end result of this? Here are some statistics taken from some sort of Liberal Politics website using numbers culled from reports from The Brookings Institute:
- $600 BILLION taxpayer dollars spent on the war, with another $200 BILLION requested this year. (Holy shit! We're in a recession? Seriously? I wonder if each household would want its $4,100 each back right now.)
- 3,927 U.S. Troops killed so far. (Less 18% killed by non-hostile causes leaves 3,220 soldiers killed in combat.)
- Almost 29,000 U.S. Troops injured, 20% seriously
- 30% of troops develop "serious mental health problems" within 3-4 months of returning home
- At least 50,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed, and maybe as many as 600,000 (for comparison, about 625,000 Americans died during the Civil War, although a full 2/3 of those deaths were non-combat; total combat deaths equalled 213,000 - and we were the antagonist and protagonist).
- Approximately 4.4 to 4.5 MILLION Iraqis displaced internally and to Syria and Jordan.
All of this happened because our administration made a concerted effort to mislead its own citizens. And now they refuse to even make a mistake. I personally want all of our troops out of Iraq A.S.A.P. I realize, of course, that we broke it, and therefore we should fix it. But do the Iraqi people need more of our brand of fixing? Signs point to our recent activities making some improvement, but it has been too long, with far too great a cost of both money and lives, for our continued presence there to be accepted any longer. Yet even the most popular Democratic presidential candidates refuse to state unequivocally that they would pull us out posthaste.
If I had my druthers, my ideal solution would involve a total troop withdrawal accompanied by a public apology from our president for what he has wrought. That would, of course, not bring back any of the almost 4,000 dead Americans, or any of the $600B we've frittered away, but it would at least prevent further waste.
I have a number of conservative friends, but I expect that they avoid my blog like the plague because it probably makes them as angry as I am when I write my entries. But if they read, I'd like their take on this administration, and their reply to my statements.
Maybe I'm just mad because I bought a Mountain Dew out of the machine and it came out goddamn frozen. Who is in charge of these things? It's sitting on my office floor right now in an effort to have some diffuse solar radiation and sensible heat flux help out the melting process.
Monday, January 21, 2008
DeLay: McCain = worst thing evar?
I heard a brief snippet today whilst riding home on the van that a certain former house majority leader (Tom DeLay) went on a rant on that bastion of independent media, Fox News about the Republican candidate who appeals most to independents and moderates, John McCain. Now, I am not going to do much defending of McCain; in fact, I could write a fairly vitriolic blog about what a phony he is, but that's a subject that would be best left to Alison's energies and angers. No, instead I am going to take this time to make fun of Tom DeLay (awfully french-sounding name, don't you think? Oh, it's irish? Dang.). Go watch the video; I'll wait.
OK. DeLay makes some criticisms of John McCain, and I would like to lead your attention to a few of them (Is this unfair? Should I keep in mind that this statement was not prepared and written down, but was instead ad lib and that he may have said some things that came off a little different from his meaning? After all, I do that constantly. What's that? I was never elected to public office? You make a good point. Touche.).
"John McCain himself killed our ability to drill in ANWR." - I realize that the audience for these comments is not the left, or even the center. But with the recent polar bear news and the administration's efforts to keep them off the ESA, I think that drilling in ANWR is going to become a less and less attractive option to mainstream America. In case you had not heard, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to delay a ruling on whether or not to post them on the ESA until February 6, which gives the administration enough time to sell off all of the oil leases in the Chukichi Sea of Alaska, which is important polar bear habitat. I wish more people paid attention; this is not a coincidence.
Joseph Lieberman is "one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate." - With the Democratic Party very close to a Senate majority, Lieberman lost his Democratic primary in Connecticut, and, rather than take it like a man, he decided to run against winner Ned Lamont as an "independent" and somehow won his Senate seat back. Lieberman now labels himself an "Independent Democrat" and does not necessarily vote party line. There's nothing wrong with not voting party line, but anybody who refers to Joe Lieberman as "one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate" is clearly off his rocker.
"I think McCain has done more to hurt the Republican Party than any elected official I know of." - The stupidity of this statement should be self-evident. Let me direct you toward a photo:
Now to the quote again: "I think McCain has done more to hurt the Republican Party than any elected official I know of."
Photo:
Now, even considering the fact that McCain is only a self-proclaimed "straight talker" (Alison would certainly beg to differ, and I agree with her), I love the implication that straight talk (i.e. telling people the truth) is damaging to the Party. This does not surprise me in regards to the GOP. Here's a fun game: can you think of any elected officials who have done more to hurt the Republican Party? I think I can name a few.
OK. DeLay makes some criticisms of John McCain, and I would like to lead your attention to a few of them (Is this unfair? Should I keep in mind that this statement was not prepared and written down, but was instead ad lib and that he may have said some things that came off a little different from his meaning? After all, I do that constantly. What's that? I was never elected to public office? You make a good point. Touche.).
"John McCain himself killed our ability to drill in ANWR." - I realize that the audience for these comments is not the left, or even the center. But with the recent polar bear news and the administration's efforts to keep them off the ESA, I think that drilling in ANWR is going to become a less and less attractive option to mainstream America. In case you had not heard, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to delay a ruling on whether or not to post them on the ESA until February 6, which gives the administration enough time to sell off all of the oil leases in the Chukichi Sea of Alaska, which is important polar bear habitat. I wish more people paid attention; this is not a coincidence.
Joseph Lieberman is "one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate." - With the Democratic Party very close to a Senate majority, Lieberman lost his Democratic primary in Connecticut, and, rather than take it like a man, he decided to run against winner Ned Lamont as an "independent" and somehow won his Senate seat back. Lieberman now labels himself an "Independent Democrat" and does not necessarily vote party line. There's nothing wrong with not voting party line, but anybody who refers to Joe Lieberman as "one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate" is clearly off his rocker.
"I think McCain has done more to hurt the Republican Party than any elected official I know of." - The stupidity of this statement should be self-evident. Let me direct you toward a photo:
Now to the quote again: "I think McCain has done more to hurt the Republican Party than any elected official I know of."
Photo:
Now, even considering the fact that McCain is only a self-proclaimed "straight talker" (Alison would certainly beg to differ, and I agree with her), I love the implication that straight talk (i.e. telling people the truth) is damaging to the Party. This does not surprise me in regards to the GOP. Here's a fun game: can you think of any elected officials who have done more to hurt the Republican Party? I think I can name a few.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The weather in Quito
My wife is near Quito for two weeks, and as it didn't break the freezing mark here in Abq today (high of 30 degrees F; felt like 21 F), and as it is supposed to get down to 14 F (feels like 3 F) tonight, I thought I'd check into the weather in her area. At the time of this writing, it is a brisk 52 F in Quito, with an expected low around 50 F. Tomorrow's high is to be 62 F. However, it does look like there's a chance of rain pretty much every day. Oh, and the humidity is 100%. At least here, it's a dry cold.
Monday, January 14, 2008
And resolutions too.
I made some New Year's resolutions this year (I don't usually, since I believe I should have my life together enough that I don't have to use some occasion as an excuse to improve myself), and forgot to mention them in my two posts today. They are:
1. Stop cracking my knuckles. I am worried about the arthritis, and I think I already have it to a certain degree. But maybe I'm just being paranoid...
2. Reduce my sugar intake. After the diabetes scare with my mother right before my wedding last year, I'm a little worried about the future, considering how much Mountain Dew (oh my god, check out that page - "Mountain Dew’s name is a previously-existing euphemism for moonshine, which likely traces back to Ireland (see the Irish folk song “The Rare Auld Mountain Dew”), and has generally been marketed to highlight its potency. It was originally marketed as “zero proof moonshine” and had pictures of hillbillies on the bottle until 1973.") I drank as a child.
3. Make significant progress on my research. I am now 1.5 years in, with not enough to show for it. This semester I need to do lots of field work, and build the base level of any models that need to be made, and actually start writing.
I think there was at least one more, but I cannot remember now. I think that I have done a decent job on the first two. A couple Hershey Kisses per day, soda once in awhile. Less knuckle-cracking, although I didn't go cold turkey of course. It's funny, I've been doing it for so long that I now feel very uncomfortable when I don't crack them. And then, of course, when I give in and do it, it hurts. Research has not been as much of a win for me. I've gotten so little done this past couple weeks, it's pathetic. I've been questioning myself a lot lately on this count, and I don't understand why I just can't seem to focus on work.
Edit: 4. Be nicer to my wife. If you're reading this and don't know her, she's great. Not sure how I'm doing on this one so far, since she's in Ecuador.
1. Stop cracking my knuckles. I am worried about the arthritis, and I think I already have it to a certain degree. But maybe I'm just being paranoid...
2. Reduce my sugar intake. After the diabetes scare with my mother right before my wedding last year, I'm a little worried about the future, considering how much Mountain Dew (oh my god, check out that page - "Mountain Dew’s name is a previously-existing euphemism for moonshine, which likely traces back to Ireland (see the Irish folk song “The Rare Auld Mountain Dew”), and has generally been marketed to highlight its potency. It was originally marketed as “zero proof moonshine” and had pictures of hillbillies on the bottle until 1973.") I drank as a child.
3. Make significant progress on my research. I am now 1.5 years in, with not enough to show for it. This semester I need to do lots of field work, and build the base level of any models that need to be made, and actually start writing.
I think there was at least one more, but I cannot remember now. I think that I have done a decent job on the first two. A couple Hershey Kisses per day, soda once in awhile. Less knuckle-cracking, although I didn't go cold turkey of course. It's funny, I've been doing it for so long that I now feel very uncomfortable when I don't crack them. And then, of course, when I give in and do it, it hurts. Research has not been as much of a win for me. I've gotten so little done this past couple weeks, it's pathetic. I've been questioning myself a lot lately on this count, and I don't understand why I just can't seem to focus on work.
Edit: 4. Be nicer to my wife. If you're reading this and don't know her, she's great. Not sure how I'm doing on this one so far, since she's in Ecuador.
Taking the plunge
I finally spent some (way too much) time today trying to figure out for whom I should vote in the Democratic primary coming up on February 5 (Tsunami Tuesday) here in New Mexico. The Washington Post has a candidate quiz that actually gives the candidates' answers to a questionnaire. This quiz has one extremely mega-major flaw, in that it only provides answers by Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, neglecting my favorite candidate, Dennis Kucinich. Of course, I know that he has no chance, and I may end up voting for him anyway if he's still in the race, because of my quiz results.
Not surprisingly (to me), the quiz tells me that I should vote for John Edwards (29 points) because of a variety of things. Clinton and Obama come in second and third at 16 and 15 points, respectively. If Edwards is somehow out of the race by that point, it appears that there will be no major candidates about whom I am particularly excited; in that case, ol' Kucey gets my vote. Things I like about Kucinich: he wants to impeach Cheney; he wants to form a Department of Peace; he's been against the war in Iraq from the beginning; he wants us to sign onto Kyoto (the ONLY developed nation not to do so now); and he supports same-sex marriage.
Of course, I found a second quiz, which has given me different results, as these things often do. This one includes all of the minor candidates, and is much much faster to do (and therefore probably less accurate). Edwards comes in a whopping 6th on this quiz. The order, with their point totals:
Kucinich (69)
Gravel (54)
Obama (40)
Clinton (39)
Dodd (38)
Edwards (36)
Biden (33)
Richardson (24)
Paul (-6)
Giuliani (-22)
T. Thompson (-22)
McCain (-26)
Cox (-35)
Brownback (-40)
Huckabee (-47)
Romney (-56)
Tancredo (-63)
Hunter (-67)
If you don't know much about the candidates, this should be a good demonstration that Kucinich is the most whacked-out liberal amongst the group. Again, unfortunately he will not get the support he deserves.
Not surprisingly (to me), the quiz tells me that I should vote for John Edwards (29 points) because of a variety of things. Clinton and Obama come in second and third at 16 and 15 points, respectively. If Edwards is somehow out of the race by that point, it appears that there will be no major candidates about whom I am particularly excited; in that case, ol' Kucey gets my vote. Things I like about Kucinich: he wants to impeach Cheney; he wants to form a Department of Peace; he's been against the war in Iraq from the beginning; he wants us to sign onto Kyoto (the ONLY developed nation not to do so now); and he supports same-sex marriage.
Of course, I found a second quiz, which has given me different results, as these things often do. This one includes all of the minor candidates, and is much much faster to do (and therefore probably less accurate). Edwards comes in a whopping 6th on this quiz. The order, with their point totals:
Kucinich (69)
Gravel (54)
Obama (40)
Clinton (39)
Dodd (38)
Edwards (36)
Biden (33)
Richardson (24)
Paul (-6)
Giuliani (-22)
T. Thompson (-22)
McCain (-26)
Cox (-35)
Brownback (-40)
Huckabee (-47)
Romney (-56)
Tancredo (-63)
Hunter (-67)
If you don't know much about the candidates, this should be a good demonstration that Kucinich is the most whacked-out liberal amongst the group. Again, unfortunately he will not get the support he deserves.
Hello....internet.
Every day I check my favorite blogs to see whether there have been any new posts. This includes my wife's blog, even though I should theoretically know exactly when she writes a new blog, us living in the same house and everything. I mostly do this out of a desire to not do anything worthwhile, which is apparently my life goal. The reason I say this is that I have realized that it's been about 3 weeks since I last posted a blog. Hypocritical, yes. It's not that I haven't had anything to say - that is, anything more to say than I usually do when posting here.
Since I last posted we of course has Christmas (actually, we had like 4 Christmases - we opened stockings on the 20th, opened some presents with Alison's family Christmas morning, opened more presents with my family Christmas afternoon, and finished when KC and BC showed up on Dec. 29). New Year's -- we went to bed before midnight. We had the pleasure of driving home to ABQ on New Year's day; at least there was very little traffic. Oh, I did get to go to a Phoenix Coyotes game with MD in which the Coyotes won in a shoot-out, the first shoot-out I had ever seen (not getting cable -- which really wouldn't help very much).
Since then, not a hell of a lot has gone on. Alison left on this past Friday to spend two weeks in Ecuador on a volunteer vacation with her sister. They're staying at an eco-resort and spending their days building trails or something, she wasn't entirely sure what they would be doing. This is definitely the longest I will have gone since I met her without actually talking to her -- even when I was in Canada for a summer I only spent about 4 days at a time in the field. It's a weird thing to suddenly not have any contact with her, and kind of depressing. I have not gotten enough work done so far with her gone. I've spent some time playing Evil Genius, one of the greatest computer games ever created, and good training for myself and the other horsemen (you know who you are brothers!). I also did some house cleaning last night, taking down our Christmas decorations and such. I went running the past three days in a row, and boy am I sore; this is my effort to be a little thinner when Alison gets back.
Today I surprised myself by actually getting up in time to get to the van and come down to Socorro. Trying to go to sleep last night (not very successfully, as I slept in pretty late on Sunday), I gave myself maybe a 25% chance of actually getting up in the morning. Maybe this will be a good start for me. This week I have to get writing more on a proposal I have to have done in a couple months, as well as doing some GIS work for my research. I also have to apparently get ready for the class that I am apparently going to T.A. this coming semester. Finally, I have a few secret blogging projects in the mental works that I'd like to get firing up.
Since I last posted we of course has Christmas (actually, we had like 4 Christmases - we opened stockings on the 20th, opened some presents with Alison's family Christmas morning, opened more presents with my family Christmas afternoon, and finished when KC and BC showed up on Dec. 29). New Year's -- we went to bed before midnight. We had the pleasure of driving home to ABQ on New Year's day; at least there was very little traffic. Oh, I did get to go to a Phoenix Coyotes game with MD in which the Coyotes won in a shoot-out, the first shoot-out I had ever seen (not getting cable -- which really wouldn't help very much).
Since then, not a hell of a lot has gone on. Alison left on this past Friday to spend two weeks in Ecuador on a volunteer vacation with her sister. They're staying at an eco-resort and spending their days building trails or something, she wasn't entirely sure what they would be doing. This is definitely the longest I will have gone since I met her without actually talking to her -- even when I was in Canada for a summer I only spent about 4 days at a time in the field. It's a weird thing to suddenly not have any contact with her, and kind of depressing. I have not gotten enough work done so far with her gone. I've spent some time playing Evil Genius, one of the greatest computer games ever created, and good training for myself and the other horsemen (you know who you are brothers!). I also did some house cleaning last night, taking down our Christmas decorations and such. I went running the past three days in a row, and boy am I sore; this is my effort to be a little thinner when Alison gets back.
Today I surprised myself by actually getting up in time to get to the van and come down to Socorro. Trying to go to sleep last night (not very successfully, as I slept in pretty late on Sunday), I gave myself maybe a 25% chance of actually getting up in the morning. Maybe this will be a good start for me. This week I have to get writing more on a proposal I have to have done in a couple months, as well as doing some GIS work for my research. I also have to apparently get ready for the class that I am apparently going to T.A. this coming semester. Finally, I have a few secret blogging projects in the mental works that I'd like to get firing up.
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