Happy xmas!

So we've had this tree for a few weeks now. I think it held up really well and it looks great. It cost a little bit more than some other "trees", but it was totally worth it.

Unfortunately, xmas is over, but I definitely got quite a bit of SWAG. I will have a bragging post some time in the next few days where I show off all my new possessions. But for now, let me belatedly say, Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! Enjoy your vacations and try not to take your family for granted.

Um, guys, I smoked crack

This is pretty hilarious.

But, to be serious for a minute, this is excellent news. For twenty years the federal drug sentencing guidelines (which have up until recently been mandatory) have treated crack cocaine far more harshly than powder cocaine. Rich, young white people (e.g. the children of Congressmen) use powder cocaine, poor people (e.g. unemployed black men) use crack.

Of course, the Bush administration is against this. And the news doesn't help people who were sentenced to the "mandatory minimum" sentence required by Congress. So there's a long way to go yet.

Lead is the new Mercury

In the wake of some unsettling news about lipstick, there's a stunning new common-product-contains-lead revelation. This time, it's christmas lights.

So, if you're wondering how come you didn't crack 1300 on your SATs or why you're always the last one to get the joke, it's because you celebrated christmas with LEAD TAINTED LIGHT-BULBS...

My family also had the tradition of eating the bulbs after the holiday season ended. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be a common practice. But I am putting my foot down, I don't care how fun it is, stop eating christmas lights! I mean it!

Sports Analogy Attack!

Maureen Dowd has an op-ed piece in today's Times discussing the new NIE and Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program. That's a big story. However, towards the end she un-ironically quotes some random analyst as saying this:

This is a slam-dunk reversal, admitting error. Now, when they play poker, they show their hands to each other, so they don’t get another curveball.

Holy mixed-metaphors! Basketball, cards, and baseball all in one statement. My sports-metaphor to english translator says:

This is a dramatic reversal, admitting error. Now, they're sharing information freely so they don't get another shock.

I can't help but hope he went on to say.

For Bush this is really a fourth-and-ten situation, he's not the World's Strongest Man right now so he really needs to bowl a strike. The press is off-to-the-races and ready to go twelve rounds. Now, the stall count is getting high, so he could just ice the puck and it's possible the press will just give him a let, but even then the odds that he'd hit a hole-in-one are not very sailboat.

Driving is Dangerous

Some of you may know that I commute to work from the city. Since I am doing the reverse commute there's usually not much in the way of traffic. Usually it takes about forty minutes to get out to Suffern and around an hour to get back.

That's not the story.

I travel along two roads which are notoriously dangerous. New Jersey's Route 4 and Route 17. Both these roads have stores and strip-malls along the sides which means that along with people traveling from Point A to Point B, you get people traveling from Point A to that store, you know, there on Route 17.

Which leads to people slamming on the breaks and veering across three lanes of traffic so they don't miss the entrance for Bed Bath & Beyond.

I find this is very nerve-wracking and frustrating. Do these people not realize that they are driving a half-ton vehicle at 50 mile-per-hour? Do they not understand that behind them and around them are others doing the same? Are they suicidal?

This is why I work from home so much.

Save the Princess, Save the World

I recently completed Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. It was a pretty fun game and definitely sucked up a lot of time (in fact it tells you how much time you have spent playing -- over 50 hours for me.)

Before I get into the detail, I want to say that I really enjoyed playing this game. The controls are solid, with sensible use of the Wii's motion sensor. The music is catchy and the visuals are pretty terrific. There are some really fun puzzles and a handful of challenging battles. All of which made me wish there was more game in this game.

Zelda starts you out in a small village, getting you used to the controls and introducing the characters.

This sequence (call it the first level) takes far too long to accomplish and contains way too many "what the f-ck am I supposed to do?" There was one point when I was trying to physically chase a cat across the map. Needless to say, this was not the appropriate solution to the puzzle.

Anyways, after you "rescue" the cat, retrieve the baby basket from the crazy monkey, and herd the goats you get to actually get on with the game. Once they're sure you've got the whole running, jumping, riding a horse, and swinging a sword thing down they let you continue with the game. Where they promptly... turn you into a wolf.

This is perhaps the problem with the game. The game takes a long time to get a rhythm and even then it constantly breaks stride. And it's only difficult when you have no idea what you are doing.

But if you have no idea what you're doing, then the game's not fun to play. After all, this is about a hero who saves the princess, not a bumbling idiot who can't just f-ing pick up a f-ing cat, goddammit!

But there are times when everything clicks together and the game comes up with an interesting puzzle or a challenging fight. This is mostly in the middle half of the game. And when the game ends (with its incredibly unsatisfying boss-fight and cinematic) I found myself let down by the sheer potential that this game showed.

However, after the near-disaster that was Madden '08 it was a pleasure to get to play a game that embraced the spirit of the Wii. And, when it comes down to it, that's really the thing Zelda does best.

The star of the Wii show right now is not the games, it's the console itself.

All Clear

Sorry for not updating you on the San Diego front sooner. The fires are out or under control or something. My brother and his family came back home to find the house covered in soot, but otherwise undamaged. It sounds like the final bits of cleaning that stuff up have been completed and everything is back to normal.

And my sister never left, but I feel like I should include her in my reporting. She's fine and except for a few extra days working from home, she was pretty unaffected by the whole thing.

Though the fires are out, it appears there's still some lingering danger. Seems like a dangerous place, that San Diego.

I Got Nothin'

I haven't really felt like blogging in a while. But it's not like I've fallen off the face of the earth. Let's see, what's going on with me?

I went to a frisbee tournament this past weekend. Here are some pictures of the fiasco. Including some of yours truly.

I had a really good time. It was great to get out and play some solid ultimate again.

Late last night, while we were all in bed...

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Wildfires are sweeping through southern California again this year. This time seems a little worse than last years. My brother and his family decided this would be a great time to visit friends in San Francisco (their house is just inside the voluntary evacuation zone -- see the map below). My sister, who lives much closer to downtown and the ocean, is staying put and keeping the windows closed.

The local PBS station in San Diego has a really good google-mashup that shows the affected area. Red shaded areas are mandatory evacuation, yellow is voluntary.

If you're like me, you're wondering what these fires looks like from space.

Why does the smoke blow towards the ocean, when the prevailing trade-winds are the opposite direction? It's the Santa Anna Winds, apparently. Also, "fire creates its own wind". Which is just not sporting.

We've Had 8 Years Of This

There's an op-ed in today's NY Times about a compromise in the works to increase spending for Abstinence Education to coax Republicans into overriding Bush's veto on the S-Chip bill.

Despite the fact that abstinence education is demonstrably a complete disaster, achieving the exact opposite of its goals, it's still the darling of the conservatives. And, instead of gutting the program, its getting a budget increase (to $200 million) in order to pass a law to give more uninsured children access to health-care.

In the larger picture of the federal government it's a small thing, but it demonstrates pretty clearly that there are no solutions forthcoming to health-care, the Iraq war, global climate change, public education, and nearly any other national issue that you can think.

There's a large element of our government (especially notable among -- though not exclusive to -- Republicans) that appears to be operating in a fantasy world. Perhaps these people, tired of seeing well-intentioned policies turn to rot and destruction, decided the solution was to ignore the outcomes of their policies altogether. Or maybe these people are just completely screwy.

The threat to America's future is not from extremist terrorists, nor from growing economies in Asia and India. The danger is that our government is failing us now, building a domestic policy crisis (involving education, health-care, bankruptcy, the justice system, immigration, pollution, and inflation) that could destroy the prosperity and promise of our country.

Reader Poll: Do you find this funny?

Do you find this video funny?



I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I still think it's hilarious. I tried to describe it to Nelly and I couldn't quite justify why I thought it was so funny. So I am curious how my vast and varied readership might react.

Since I am posting you-tube videos. I think this clip from 30 Rock is ridiculous.



Do the crab! Fight the worm!

Haircut Hazards

It's happened again. Once more I have walked into a hair salon and thrown myself upon the mercy of a strange woman with scissors. It worked pretty well last time. (Yes, I did go four months between haircuts)

I went back to the Russian Hair Salon & Hittery, but I couldn't remember the name of the woman who cut my hair last time. So I just went and saw a new random Russian woman.

I explicitly told the woman I liked my hair long. That I was enjoying the long hair and didn't want to cut off too much. And then she proceeded to chop away all my hair!

This is not the first time this has happened to me. And I have decided it's because I cannot see very well without my glasses. And so the stylist pretty much gets to do whatever she wants and I can't complain because I cannot see! Which explains why I go so rarely. Getting my hair cut is too risky!

I desperately need an aide. Maybe I could hire an intern or something.

The Games Wii Play

Since I got the Wii (and I bought a bunch of controllers -- Wii party anyone?) I have found that despite having been around for a year or so, there aren't a lot of games I am really interested in playing on the Wii.

My first purchase was Madden 08. Which is a good game and it makes pretty good use of the motion controls. However, and this has been true since Madden '04, it's not really a revolution.

So far the best game I have for the Wii is "Wii Sports" which comes with it. Although it's too easy. I need to get Nelly playing more so we can go head-to-head.

(I'm making a new "Wii" tag for my blog. Huzzah.)

The Quest For A Stat Tracker

So, a few weeks ago, Laurie pointed me at a online tool named "Sitemeter". It's a little icon you put on your webpage which then lets you know how many people are visiting your site.

They're apparently not that good about respecting the privacy of their users.

So I went looking for alternatives.

I found StatCounter. They seem like they're on the up-and-up. But I couldn't get my online registration to work. I registered and put the counter up, but they wouldn't let me log in.

So I moved on.

Now I have RiteCounter. Which seems decent enough.

And now I've found a website dedicated to the discussion and review of free web stat trackers. And it tells me that while RiteCounter is fine, it's not the best because it only keeps about a months worth of data. So out with RiteTracker and in with OneStatFree... We'll see how long this one lasts.

About two seconds. I don't like the way the stats page looks on OneStatFree, so I bailed on them and went over to W3Counter who have a good rep, pretty stat pages, and no ads.

Birthday Surprise

As has been noted elsewhere, I just celebrated my 29th birthday. I am soooo old. (Not as old as YSA though.)

Nelly (who is very young) got me a fantastic gift. A Wii! Hoooray! So I have a Wii. We haven't had a whole lot of time to play it. But we've played enough to know that it's tons of fun.

The boxing game that comes with it is quite entertaining:



Inevitably there's a victory dance:



(Of course I am playing in my pajamas. That's what birthdays are all about.)

Hillary Wins

(I really shouldn't make predictions, as I am incredibly bad at them.) Still, after Hillary Clinton unveiled her health care plan this week, I cannot help but say that she will inevitably be our next president.

This is not because the plan is so amazing that it will vault her automatically into the White House. It's just that her plan (and the way it is presented) is so masterfully done. There's a level of polish on this thing that is just unrivaled in recent politics.

It's just a gut instinct, but I don't think any of the current crop of wanna-bes can match Hillary now. Don't get me wrong, Obama's great, but this week's news shows that he's not in the same weight class.

Hillary Clinton did everything candidates are supposed to do. She went out and talked to the experts. She sat in on panels and talked to "Real Live Americas"(TM). And then she did something that, well, is pretty novel in these times. She came up with a legitimate, fleshed-out plan that appears to address one of the most pressing and intractable social needs of our country.

It's not a "me-too", it's not a sound-bite, and it's not an empty promise. It's legitimate policy.

And for the first time in a while, I am feeling pretty good about the 2008 election. Now, it's possible Obama could flex some heretofore unseen political chops and come on strong. That would be great. Because then there'd be two legitimate leadership candidates.

The problem is that we're so used to the bungling Bushies that we've forgotten what political leadership is supposed to be about. The past week's other excitement springs to mind as a perfect example. Petraeus and Bush do not have a plan; they have a prayer. And while they may be in charge, neither seems willing to approach this disaster and prepare for the inevitable collapse.

Hillary Clinton has me thinking that she is in fact capable of doing just that. Unfortunately, I have to wait almost two years until she's in position.

Dog? Cat? Rat? Typhoon Wipha!

I just wanted to mention this typhoon hitting China. Nearly 2 million people have been evacuated. With winds of up to 165mph (well maybe not that much, see below), it's apparently the largest Typhoon ever recorded.

They're gonna need all their kung fu to survive!

Here's some science-y tracking information. Apparently 165mph would make it a LEVEL 5 SUPER TYPHOON!!!! which I am sure CNN would love, but the storm trackers are saying it's somewhere between 115-155mph.

Everyone remain calm and please evacuate to the other side of the world.

This is not my fantasy

I was invited to participate in a friend's fantasy football league. Such an opportunity for mass distraction could not be passed up. So I signed up and proceeded to get down to business.

First I sifted through the bajillion pieces of information about each and every player in the NFL. I created a catalog of desirable players, grouping them by position, expected points and weakness of opposing defenses. From there I estimated when each player would be likely taken in the draft and proceeded to lay out a plan several optimal draft strategies depending on what number I ended up picking.

Or rather, that's apparently what I should have done.

What I did was briefly look at the list of 200 or so players and try to figure out which names looked most familiar. Then, when the actual draft started I picked randomly from the list of the 40 or so names I recognized until they were all gone. At this point I had about 4 of the required 12 players. After that, I picked based on how much I liked their uniforms*.

Most of my players underperformed. My starting running back is injured. And the resulting 117 - 74 route to a team called "Maerling's Muppets" does not bode well for the future.

* In fact, I didn't do that. Though I wish that I had. It was made difficult by the fact that they don't show the uniforms with the draft information.

Handy Man

Recently, it came to my attention that my car's rear break-light was out. This is annoying. First of all, it's annoying because how the hell is a person supposed to be able to tell that his break-lights are out? I never see them. And second, it's annoying because who knows what it takes to replace one of these things.

Turns out, it takes ten minutes and a phillips head screw-driver. The cost of the bulb (which is completely generic) was a whopping 46 cents at the local car parts store.

So trust me, you can replace the bulbs in your car. It's cheap & easy and will save you oodles over getting a mechanic to do it.

The only tricky part is don't touch the bulb with your hands. Car bulbs get really hot and the natural oils on your fingers will cause the bulb to burn out much faster. That piece of information was not in the owner's manual. However, everything else I needed was.

Yes, I have many friends

One of them is this guy:


I am very honored to know him.

Your Music Sucks!

You remember the good old days, before downloads, when the music on the radio was really good. You could listen for hours. Every song sounded distinct and even the ones you didn't like that much were pretty good. Ahhhh... the good old days.

Things were better when I was young. It would be a cliche except, it turns out, it's true. The music recordings available today are all mastered with a "wall of sound" approach. (This is also why commercials -- on radio and TV -- are always louder than the show you're watching, and why they're consistently so annoying).

It's also why all popular music seems to sound alike. It's meant to sound best when you're driving with the windows open.

There's a fantastic visual & audio demonstration of this effect here.

Boy Are My Arms Tired

Nelly and I just got back from the Wildwood beach ultimate tournament (as we've done previously).

The weather was much more forgiving this time around. The sand wasn't too hut, there was a light breeze but nothing ridiculous. And even the thunderstorms stayed off in the distance.

We didn't do as well statistically this time around, going 2-4 over the weekend. But I think we all had a great time and I really enjoyed myself. It was great to get back to playing ultimate again, even if I'll be sore for the rest of the week.

The photos haven't come in yet, but when they do I will post them.

Haircut

I got my haircut today. It's a rare occurrence. I've been growing it out and letting it get long and it was pointed out to me that I should probably get it cut.

I went to this place just down the street a little bit. It's called "Vanilla Hair Spa". What does that mean? Anyways, they were relatively inexpensive and I think they did a good job. Nelly said she liked it, which is a good thing. But I mean, how can I know if she's telling the truth?

So it was a pretty nice salon, the furniture and everything seemed pretty new. And all the people in there cutting hair were Russian. Russian women. And since I was the only person in the place who wasn't a Russian woman, it was a little strange. And in my head I am thinking, could this be, you know, a front for the Russian mob?

Blogus Politicus

I know I haven't been doing much blogging. I haven't been feeling the urge. However, this morning I awoke to a pair of solemn announcements about how America's withdrawal from Iraq would cause a regional war to break out. And it just amazes me how little respect the people in charge of this country and this war have for us.

“In the States, it’s like we’re in the last half of the third reel of a three-reel movie, and all we have to do is decide we’re done here, and the credits come up, and the lights come on, and we leave the theater and go on to something else,” he said. “Whereas out here, you’re just getting into the first reel of five reels,” he added, “and as ugly as the first reel has been, the other four and a half are going to be way, way worse.” -Ryan C. Crocker (US Envoy to Iraq)

Before the war the image was Iraqis throwing flowers to our troops if we do what they say. It's become Iraqi civil war, bloody horrors beyond imagining if we don't do what they say. (Seriously, read the quotes in that article.)

With a Democratic majority in Congress, the Bush administration can no longer pretend that everything is going great. That's why "stay the course" failed, and also what inspired the "surge". But we haven't seen a significant improvement in Iraq (in fact things have continued their downward spiral).

The upcoming debate in Congress will set a new tone because it wont be about what to do to win in Iraq, it will be about how long can we stay in Iraq. And that's why we're seeing these pronouncements of gloom and doom. The Bush administration is fighting a rearguard action, trying to stall and keep the troops in Iraq until after Bush leaves the White House. At that point it'll be someone else's problem.

If only it could be someone else's problem right now.

Yikes! Thomas the Tank Engine Recall

Many of you may know that my nephew and niece are really into playing with Thomas the Tank Engine toys. These are pretty neat toys and I myself have contributed to their collection.

They're now being recalled because some of the trains have lead paint on them. Seriously?! Lead paint? Apparently they were made in China and, as we're learning, Chinese manufacturers are a little shady.

Well, that totally sucks. The company's apparently being cool about replacing the trains with non-poisonous ones, so that's good.

Here's some more info on the recall.

Round-Trip Tickets Available Now!

This is just weird. I'm not sure my mind can even comprehend all of the implications!

Summer Reading

Nelly found this website (www.goodreads.com) where you can rate and review books you've read. You can see my profile here. If you want to know what I am reading (why would you want to know that?) check it out.

Post Memorial Day Blahs

We went to California and we came back. I still haven't downloaded the pictures that I took from my camera. I promise I will eventually get around to doing that. We had a really wonderful time. My brother's kids are growing faster than ever and it's really a treat to get to spend time with them.

We also got to go up to LA for a day. Amtrak has a train that goes from San Diego to LA and it's probably one of the most pleasant travel experiences you will ever have. Especially when you consider what driving to LA entails. LA is nice, but I wouldn't want to live there. We saw Venice Beach and a Dodgers game (thanks Eric!) and on our way to the train station we saw them filming Get Smart including Steve Carrell and all these people in ball gowns and tuxedos. So, I guess now we have to see it.

Since we got back we went to a frisbee tournament in Philadelphia and then got cut from the team. (It's still not clear to me why they cut us, but life goes on.) And this past weekend was spent (as Nelly already blogged) up in Connecticut. I had such a good time, I think I could have stayed there for the whole week.

I feel like I have been on vacation since the trip to San Diego. And while that's demonstrably not true (I have totally gotten work done!) I'm finding it difficult to get into the swing of things. Thankfully, work has been very quiet, giving me time to recover my focus and get going on my new projects. Woohoo! Work work work!

That Other Cost

Tomorrow (Monday) I am flying the friendly skies to San Diego, CA. I am really looking forward to seeing my brother & sister. And also, my nephew Garrett and my niece Zoe! It's been a long time since my last trip. This time should be nice, since I will be out there for a longer period.

The weather in SD is going to be a cool 65 degrees for most of the time. Which is significantly cooler than it's going to be in Manhattan. I'm not sure if that's beach weather, but it's certainly going to be nice.

I don't know how long my poor old camera battery will hold out, but I will try to snap some photos and get the cuteness up on the blog.

See you in a week and a half!

It's May Day

April 1st is a celebration of practical jokes.
May 1st is a celebration of the worker.
Coincidence.
Yes!

Today, for whatever reason, I have been bombarded with the history of May Day. And also, it's very important that we all take note that Fidel Castro did not come out of his hole and see his shadow. That means that Cuba has another 16 years under a Socialist Autocratic regime. Or he might be dead.

Getting Sick

This past weekend I went down to Lewes, DE to play some fine ultimate in the beautiful weather. It was a really fantastic tournament, despite the fact that the team I was on was not really competitive. Great fields, good spirit (mostly), and the most gorgeous ultimate weather makes for a good tourney.

It could only have been better had Nelly been able to make it. Alas, she could not. She's in the midst of finals.

It turns out though, that the cold I thought I'd fought off the week before was returning with a vengeance. It seemed that a lot of people were sick at this tournament, so maybe I caught one of their contagions. But to be honest, I had my own. I've been out of it since I got back Sunday night.

Being sick is lame!

Good Timing

I have been trying to stay at work a little longer (which is a little easier now that the sun sets at 8) so that I don't have to deal with as much congestion on the ride home. So far, so good.

Today I got home at 7:30 and as I was opening the door I thought, "Oh man! I guess Nelly left the light on!" Though almost immediately I knew I was wrong.

A soft orange directionless light and the sweet smell of blossoming lilies infused the entire apartment! It was like... actually, I have no idea how to describe it. It was beautiful!

While we weren't looking

Top three news stories on the NY Times website that don't involve Virginia Tech:

Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Abortion Procedure

“It tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,” Justice Ginsburg wrote, in a dissent joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Stephen G. Breyer.

Bombings Kill at Least 146 Iraqis in Baghdad

In the worst of the attacks, a car bomb exploded at an intersection in the Sadriya neighborhood that serves as a station for buses traveling to the Shiite district of Sadr City. The powerful blast killed at least 115 people and wounded 137...

Bill to Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices Is Blocked

Democrats could not muster the 60 votes needed to take up the legislation in the face of staunch opposition from Republicans ... “The Department of Veterans Affairs is able to negotiate for lower-priced drugs,” said the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. “H.M.O.’s can negotiate. Wal-Mart can negotiate. Why in the world shouldn’t Medicare be able to do that?”

A Few Random Thoughts

- saying this tragedy might have been prevented if students on Virginia Tech's campus were allowed to carry guns is ridiculous. From the descriptions I have heard, no one would have had the time to arm themselves nor the opportunity to return fire.

- could we get a law that says in order to buy a gun you need to present evidence that you have at least five friends? like they have to come with you and sign affidavits or something?

- our national obsession with these tragedies feeds the flames of copy-cats (more than our national obsession with guns). While everyone abhors the murders, it seems that all we want is more information about what happened. We're fetishizing their actions! We paste their pictures on every surface, we talk to their friends, their families, examine every aspect of their lives, and we try to figure out "what were they thinking?" Maybe they're thinking they'll get a lot of attention.

- is there a limit to the appetite of the news agencies (and by extension our society) for this stuff? other things are happening in the world. for example, this is happening every day in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan, Pakistan, etc... Every other day 30+ Iraqis are killed for particular no reason as they try to go about their lives. It happens once in America and the whole country shuts down. How do we expect the Iraqis to create a nation from scratch under such conditions?

Imus v. Rutgers Women's Basketball...

...Nobody wins!

So there's been some to-do the past couple days ever since this radio asshat made a disparaging remark about the entire Rutgers Womens Basketball team.

The media reports generally only mention that Imus used the phrase "nappy-headed hos". I decided there must be some context to this statement. He couldn't just have been like "So Rutgers Women's Basketball, those are some nappy headed hos." He must have been saying something else.

In actuality, there was no context. The newspapers and radio reports I've heard were quite accurate and practically verbatim. I mean, they left out some incoherence about the Tennessee players and Spike Lee. But essentially, Imus blurted out his racist, sexist remark like someone with Torrets syndrome.

Since then he's received his comeuppance. If the clip I linked to is any indication of the quality of his show, it's clear that Imus has fallen on hard times. I would rather listen to Smooth Jazz than five minutes of Imus' ... I don't even know what to call it, prattle? Senile babbling? So he's been suspended, he'll probably get fired. Whatever.

Buried in all this morass is the fact that Rutgers Women's Basketball went to the National Championship game. They're being paraded around (I believe Imus is going to apologize to them personally -- with cameras and reporters! -- tomorrow) so they can talk about how egregious Imus' words were. This is how their miracle season is going to be remembered and that's unfortunate.

These women are not victims! They're champions and they should be proud. Rutgers' run to the finals is a great story and it's a proud moment for the Rutgers students, players, coaches, family & friends who got to participate. The rallies, protests, and calls for Imus to be fired ensure all anyone will talk about is Imus. Who gives a crap about Imus?

Whelmed

This came up last night at dinner. And I am sure we are not the first people to discuss it.

Overwhelm is a word. Whelm is not a word. This injustice cannot stand!

(So what if Whelm actually is a word; it means the same thing as "overwhelm" and no one uses it anymore).

I think that Whelm should become an Over/Under word. And that Whelm by itself should mean neither Overwhelmed nor Underwhelmed. Kinda like Goldilocks. The first porridge was too hot (overwhelming), the second was cold (underwhelming), and the third was just whelming!

Who's with me?

Guess What?! Chicken butt!

So according to the New York Times homepage professional baseball has begun a new season. Color me surprised. I guess that would explain the recent glut of opinion pieces about baseball. But honestly, baseball... such a stupid sport.

Logistically, Baseball is completely screwy. Here you have a sport where at any one moment, only 10 players are on an incredibly large field. And at any one moment, perhaps two of them are actually doing anything of interest.

What would otherwise be a multi-purpose (soccer, lacrosse, frisbee, picnic) field is broken up by a large dirt ring centered on a raised pile of dirt. Considering the shortage of field space in the city, the way a baseball field is constructed and used seems to me to be incredibly devilish.

Also, the Rutgers women's basketball team is in the championship game tomorrow.

Anniversary Number Two

Last weekend, Nelly and I celebrated the completion of our second year together! That's right, two whole years! You can't beat that with a stick!

Once More, It Begins

Spring is officially here and it's brought with it some very nice weather. Today, Nelly and I made our way down to Prospect Park in Brooklyn for the open tryout/practice/scrimmage of Crafty (the ultimate frisbee team we played on last year). It wasn't the most grueling practice, nor was it very practice-y. But we had really good turnout and it's exciting to know that there's so much interest in coed ultimate in the city.

It's also great to get out and play again. I had some good moments and some not so good moments. Overall, it was a really great day and I am really excited to play ultimate again.

Bush gets philosophical

Today, as part of his visit to Guatemala, Bush was asked why he never mentions Hugo Chavez's name. His response was to change the subject to something more... er... philosophical.

My message to the people in our neighborhood is that we care about the human condition and that we believe the human condition can be improved in a variety of ways.

Say what? I guess by now we're all inured to our president's cockamamie way of speaking. And his malaprops are usually buried by the media who are more interested in conveying his meaning. This one got through as I've heard the quote several times on NPR.

I guess he was trying to say that the United States cares about the lives of the people in Latin America. The wikipedia takes a pretty good crack at what the phrase "human condition" means. Perhaps it makes more sense in Spanish.

When Doubletalk Becomes Tripletalk

The Democrats in the senate proposed a phased withdrawal from Iraq (Starting in 4 months and finishing up in a little over 2 years). It probably wont come to be, though who knows, maybe in six weeks the Republicans and Democrats will agree on a non-binding statement or something. Anyways, the Republican minority leader John (Careful-Pronunciation) Boehner had this to say:

“The Democrats are using the critical troop-funding bill to micromanage the war on terror, undermining our generals on the ground and slowly choking off resources for our troops,” Mr. Boehner said.

Because the generals have done so well with the free-hand they've had for the past 4 years! But this is just the standard doubletalk the Republican leadership always spews out. Wait, it gets better:

If a bill with an arbitrary deadline were ever passed, Mr. Boehner said, America’s enemies in Iraq would “step back, sit back and wait until the dates come and go and then go ahead and press your attack.”

Wait, is he suggesting that should the Democrats proposal go through, we'll have two years of reduced insurgency in which to build up Iraqi institutions? I'm having a hard time seeing a downside here. It's a deal!

After 8 years of bending and twisting the facts to match their world-view, the Bush-Cheney faithful are beginning to actually forget what their world-view is. It's understandable really, since it never had any basis in reality.

Iraq=civil war, Afghanistan=taliban resurgence, Iran=building nukes, N. Korea=Clinton's agreement except now they have nukes, Budget=deficits forever (in hock to the Chinese), Health-care=looming/actual disaster, Russia=rising totalitarianism, Climate=screwy, Oil=still addicted,...

Can we hold out for another 16 months?

Operation Status: Complete

According to this post on the Nellog, we are officially moved in. So I am declaring Operation "Movin-On-Up" accomplished. This is pretty momentous. Let me get my flight-suit and land on an aircraft carrier ("Heckuva job, Mr. Teleprompter!"). What's that? I don't have an aircraft carrier? Drat.

Yesterday we moved the couches and the furniture around to make the living room seem bigger. That was a total success! We have one or two furniture items that might not make the cut. But otherwise, we've fit everything in with room to Cha-Cha.

Next up, Operation "Jungle Cover"...

Operation Status: Unpacking

Today was the day of the big move. Nelly and I got all our stuff in boxes, hired a mover, and catapulted out of the Garden State and into the Big Apple. The heat's on, the electricity is on, they gave us our keys. So far so good.

Of course, we now have 20 boxes to unpack. And I have to get a spot for the Rav in the garage downstairs. Other than that, we're all set.


Pictures from the new place

Building A Relation

Laurie posted a brief message about the troubling implications of pig riding which got me thinking. I searched for more information and found a brilliant web-site dedicated to fostering human-pig interaction.

Unfortunately, the human putting the website together didn't do a good job of linking the images to the pages. Fortunately, at least some of the images are freely available.

Ahhhhh, you know what's funny? People riding on pigs.

Off-White Is An Ugly Color

So the big pre-move project for this weekend was painting our apartment back to the ugliest color imaginable... er... off-white. I'm not sure why, but my landlord prefers it. It was a shame to undo the beautiful paint-work we did after we moved in, but it's a requirement of our lease.

It went very smoothly. We had help from Nelly's friend Eileen and my friend Java (who's unused blog is linked). And thanks to them it went smoothly and really fast. We were prepared for the whole thing to take all day, but we were done in 4 hours.

So now all that remains is to fill a couple boxes and we'll be on our way!

He Did the Mash!

George Bush had a press-conference or something. Whatever...



He did the mash! He did the monster mash! He did the mash! It was a graveyard smash!

Ahhh... I hate the president.

Not to bore you

I just read this Op-Ed piece in the Times which left me feeling really frustrated. Mainly because of the silliness of the premise. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this on CNN or Fox News, but the New York Times op-ed page does not usually print such garbage.

Ostensibly, the piece suggests that since the Democrats now "control" congress they have all the power they need to stop the war in Iraq, bring the troops home. The article suggests that they haven't used this power because they are in basic agreement with the Bush administration and meanwhile they are happy to see the republicans bear the brunt of the public's discontent.

This simplistic rationalization overlooks the fact that the Democrats "majority" was not large enough to even push through a non-binding criticism of the President's ridiculous Surge.

Congress may be full of lilly-livered equivocators on both sides of the aisle, but the Republican party has made following Bush's lead a requirement for all their members. Until enough individual senators break free of the Bush team's leash, anti-war legislation is DOA.

A lot can happen in two years and I suspect that after the Surge, we'll see the president quietly agree with the major proposals being offered from the Democrats. Meanwhile, the democrats know there's a treasure-trove of sleaze underlying the President's 6 years in office. If they chose to pursue (which I think they will) all the avenues of corruption, Bush will be fondly dreaming of the days of 35% approval. And the lawmakers that have been clinging to Bush's makeshift raft will perhaps finally decide to take their chances on the open-seas.

The anti-war crowd (most everyone) is impatient for results. Unfortunately, the changes, if they're on their way at all, are only going to come after months and perhaps years of painful and occasionally outrageous political games.

A Valentines Day Miracle

I love Macintosh apples (the kind that grow on trees). They're my favorite fruit. I usually have one or two every day. Today I was about to bite into mine when I noticed a familiar pattern...



... just in time for Valentines day!

Laurie's B-Day

Happy birthday Laurie! Laurie's in Germany where they celebrate birthdays by donning dark clothing and lamenting the actions of their ancestors. So we need to do a lot a celebrating over here. Get to it!

It's Official

It's been a long time coming. I'm happy to say that Nelly and I are officially moving to the city. We put the money down and signed a lease last saturday and only heard back from the management agency today that we were approved and the apartment is ours. Woohoo!

We'll be living it up on the Upper East Side. So long, New Jersey.

A Man Named Peter

For those of you who don't know, I work with my father; often in fairly close proximity. And my father almost exclusively uses speaker-phone. Which means that I am often bombarded with his phone conversations. Also worth mentioning, though he goes by Peter his actual name is not Peter, it's Pierre.

Today, my father accidentally booked the wrong flight, so he calls in to change the ticket. He gets a chatty woman in a very good mood. She's helpful and friendly (and resolved the ticket issue), but she notices something weird about his account. Specifically, his frequent flier miles weren't being credited properly.

Which led to this brilliant snippet*:
C: "Well, is your name Peter or Pierre."
P: "Both. My actual name is Pierre, but I go by Peter."
C: "Why?"
P: "Because I don't speak French!"

It turns out that due to the first-name conflict, Continental's been jipping my dad out of his frequent flier credit for the last few times he's flown. So she tranfers him to Continental's One-Pass customer support. This woman is highly trained (ninja/customer-support/astronaut), though she confesses early on that she can't help at all. (I think my father must have suspected she was lying)

After a few minutes of trying to cajole her into doing what she repeatedly says she cannot, my father comes up with this doozie*... "I know you're a smart person and I am not going to insult your intelligence by saying that you don't know that 'Pierre' is the French word for 'Peter' because you obviously know that. Everyone knows that. But the machine doesn't know that and that's the problem. Clearly you're smarter than the computer.¹"

This is how I know that she was highly trained (perhaps as a Jedi). Because she didn't react at all. In fact, after my father called her a complete and utter moron she patiently explained what he would need to do to resolve this issue.

A fun time was had by all! It's amazing any of us gets any work done.

*Not an exact quote
¹I'm actually a little surprised this didn't work. My father is pretty effective on the phone. Like Jack Bauer or American Idol, my father's methods sometimes make me cringe but they often get results.

Laurie Could Be Your Next Keynote Speaker!

Are you (or is someone you love) holding a conference on gender, sexuality, transvestitism, frothing, or... you know... anything? Are you looking for qualified and highly motivated speakers to hold forth on topics both actual and virtual?

Laurie is available for a nominal fee.

Apartment Hunt: The Quickening

I always liked "Quickening" as a noun. I don't really understand what it means, but it really adds a sense of drama. And of course, after looking on the internet for the definition, I'm disappointed. I'm using it appropriately, but knowing exactly what it means removes some of the magic. Anyhooo...

Nelly and I have begun our search for a great new apartment in Manhattan. We started last week, with a quick in-and-out of a tiny seeming apartment. (Dingy bathroom.)

Yesterday we saw two apartments that we liked. They are both really nice and in very good places on the upper east and upper west sides. However, as you might expect from a nice apartment, they are both very pricey. Undaunted, we put in an application on a very nice 1BR on the upper east side (Elevator building).

The process of renting an apartment in the city is a heinous exercise in supplication to the arbitrary and fickle gods of housing. It's also quite humbling. Due to the fact that Nelly is in law school (and reports no income) and I am self-employed (so I pay myself very little), it's difficult to prove to these people that we'll be able to pay the rent.

While I understand their rationale, I find the implication that we wont be able to pay the rent insulting. Well we'll know soon enough whether the management company is willing to trust us. I'll let you know.

Children of Men is Cool

Nelly and I took a little time this weekend to go see Children of Men, which turned out to be a rather good idea. It's an interesting and thoughtful movie. Now usually that means there will be a ton of exposition and a lot of boring quasi-philosophical narration. But Children tells its story deftly and the details of this crazy mixed-up future-world seem to flow out naturally from a great script.

The one thing I would say is that, if you are receptive to the movie when you see it, you should prepare yourself for some strange dreams. This movie hews to our reality so closely that when it raises its unanswerable questions its effects are fairly chilling.

Word of the Day: Triage

I was just talking to a friend of mine online. In describing my work I used the word triage. I don't know why, it just felt like the right word. I was a little concerned that it might be a misuse, considering the heavy dose of hospital-related TV shows Nelly and I watch. However, after looking it up online, I think it's pretty appropriate.

the system of prioritizing patients in an emergency situation in which there are a great number of injured or ill.

It's an apt metaphor for my situation these days. It's funny how this sort of thing just kinda blows up on you.

Roomba

I got Nelly a Roomba for Christmas. Here's a video of it in all its glory.



It's adorable! And it does a great job cleaning up.

The Good Shepherd v. Munich

For the past two weeks, Nelly has been on break from law school. That means we have more time for doing fun things like seeing movies. We recently saw "The Good Shepherd" which was unbelievably long. (Remember that scene at the end of LotR where all the hobbits are hugging on the bed and they're saying goodbye and it just goes on and on... worse than that!)

It's length was just about the only attribute that stood out in this movie. It wasn't that it was bad more that it wasn't nearly good enough for me to spend so much time watching it. This reaction was put in stark relief last night as I flicked over to HBO and found they were playing "Munich" (based on the reputed Mossad assainations after the Munich Masacre).

Both movies follow a regular joe as he backs his way into becoming something of a master spy for his country. Both films take on the delicate balance of familial and patriotic duties. Both show a man slowly progressively losing himself, his friends and family to his occupation. They even have similar run-times (with Munich coming in 4 minutes fatter).

Except Munich paints a much more vibrant, interesting, entertaining, and captivating picture. In every imaginable aspect (writing, directing, acting, dialog, music, editing...) Munich far exceeds TGS. The only categories The Good Shepherd wins are fedoras, trench coats and misery.

"Surge"

The word "surge" has been in the news recently. Mainly it's used by people describing our president's latest Pinky-and-the-Brain plan to take over the world (Or at least, "complete the mission" in Iraq). That is, he's going to announce a plan to send even more troops to Iraq.

It's sly to use the word "surge" to describe this troop increase. Surge implies that the level increases and then drops off (perhaps even below prior levels). It connotes an imagery of a flood of troops storming into Iraq and breaking down the insurgency and then whisking safely away back home. When the reality is that these troops will join the 120-140K (anyone know the actual number?) currently trying to avoid IEDs and hunkering down in their heavily defended bases.

This is not a surge; it's an escalation. These poor men and women aren't going to come home until after Bush leaves office.

Tomorrow's Forecast

I know that talking about the weather means that I have nothing interesting to say, but did anyone else notice that tomorrow's weather forecast calls for near-record highs of 67º? I know what a certain badger-like person would say: "GLOBAL WARMING!"

The weather certainly was enjoyable during our trip to Washington, DC over New Years (more on that later). And since I lost my hat, I'm kinda glad that it has remained rather temperate. But I like the seasons and I really do love snow.

Plus, my sister got us this incredibly delicious hot chocolate and I just don't feel right drinking hot chocolate when it's 70 degrees outside.