wake UP, shaka zulu!

this morning i discovered how shocking it is to be half-asleep when the NPR reporter says, "According to <your name here>..."

turns out that if you mix the adrenaline of being caught in class unprepared with the self-indulgent glee that I think one would and should take in the elitist intellectual hall of fame known as NPR, it's one hell of a morning latte:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19266657

<full disclosure, I edited this blog entry. turns out if you just type the <> things, blogger thinks it's html and ignores what's written in the middle.>

blog update

since it is Part of my Page and therefore Incredibly Important, might I draw your attention to the new lineup of links, who will live below the delegate counters, flawed as they may be, until we have some Republican and, God and my American Express willing, Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.

yep, one should not blog via neighbor's wireless* after finishing off the 2nd day of a bottle of red wine. ok, not quite finished. but it's time to stop.

Anyway, I invite you to check out the new-ish lineup of links, somewhere to the right of the post. AdamX, the "canadian blogger" will show you what a real blog looks like and behaves like. Too Beautiful To Live is just an awesome new radio show out of Seattle on AM 710 KIRO; they podcast and allegedly the new TBTL website drops tomorrow. I recommend Jan 21 as an excellent show to start on. Both hours 1 and 2 are great. I'm sure hour 3 is great too, but... i don't exactly remember.** Oh hell, i'm listening to hour 2 again and it is so great.

Biologists Helping Bookstores hasn't done Anything in awhile, but in fairness, i lived that year that he's living last year (make sense?), and I don't blame him. Four Miles from Boring has been slow, yet definitely living up to the name. In a weird way that FMfB sentence relates to the one before it in ways that luckily i'll never need to describe.

all my blogs? seems to think that South Dakota is colder than Michigan. Luckily for amb?, i've been told about the dakotas and i admit that yes, they are coldest. however, somewhere in this blog I intend to document the horribly cold beauty i have endured here in the cold white Midwest.

OK, I don't think I'll offend the BPP by neglecting to mention anything interesting on its blog. That leaves two matters to attend to. 1) The inexplicably broken in German, blog de Patricia has been removed... like me and social networking sites, there's just too much bullshit to deal with as an adult to do that. And after it was broken in English, it was much less interesting as broken blogs go.

2) Finally, Barack Obama. Please, please, please lend this man (and NO, I don't just mean "man" because THAT's somehow better than a woman) your ear and, if you are a citizen and you believe in what a really different, really awesome candidate can do to really rescue our country from the huge, huge hole we've dug ourselves, give him some money. Or, if you are in a Super Tuesday state, or even a state that has friggin' nonzero delegates at the convention, just vote for him!

and get a good night's sleep. say your prayers and be optimistic!

*why is it that "maggs Library" shows up in iTunes regardless of whether i'm pirating off one neighbors "linksys" OR "NETGEAR"? If we all sign up for comcast or something, will we be able to listen to each other's iTunes in the neighborhood?


** be proud of me not mentioning that I have been mentioned on an earlier episode. actually almost entirely out of context and fairly inaccurately.

2008 Presidential Delegate Counter

Friends--

(ever notice that when someone uses the word "folks," they are invariably going to say something obnoxious? I will say ... I'm a bit worried that Friends is the Gen X / Gen Y version.)

It's surprisingly difficult to find a well maintained counter of the delegate count in the 2008 race. Luckily MyDD not only does the job for you, there are neato applets for me and you here. But you don't need them, you can always come to Not A Fly blog :) Just because I've effectively stopped checking the hit count doesn't mean that I don't care a little.

Dennis Kucinich held a rally in the same building as my lab the other day! What a pure-hearted, well meaning, brilliant, well read, unrealistic crazy person. He's the kind of person who I am glad is able to actually get elected every 2 years, but certainly not the person I am ready to trust as President.

Now I can add him to my collection of blurry photos of presidential candidates. (For those of you who haven't read the small town Iowa press, I went to an Obama rally in Guttenberg, Iowa, to begin my collection.) No matter who is speaking, the flash seems awful rude to me, but that particular situation isn't terribly conducive to long exposures! Below are the two clearest pictures.

from across the room (okay, 10 feet)

new colleague says, hey, is that some kind of gourmet sandwich or something?

RIP, SS

FOR those of you who have ever driven from Portland to the coast, I have sad news to deliver:
http://www.katu.com/news/local/12043736.html

cafe tom and ray

guys who know cars, know politics, and have something salient and intelligent to say to congress:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/cafe/

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated (but click here for discussion)

******** G*****
8*** ***** ***** Rd
*****, UT 8****

Verizon Wireless
Customer Service Department
Post Office Box 96082
Bellevue, WA 98009-9682

November 17, 2007

To whom it may concern:

My name is ******** G*****, and I have been a customer of Verizon Wireless for 5+ years. My Verizon mobile phone number is ***-***-**** and my account number is *********-*****. My social security number is ***-***-****.

Apparently, yesterday evening you called my alternate phone number, 801-***-****, and asked to speak with me. My father was so surprised that someone would ask for me at his house (it has been 10 years since I lived there) that he said “He’s dead” and hung up, assuming it was telemarketing. This is in spite of my being very much alive. And, in fact, sitting in the same room.

I suspect you were calling about my address, which has recently changed. I did not inform you of it because all my transactions with Verizon are electronic, and I just forgot. I updated my address information online today at 11:53 AM Utah time, and received a TXT message confirming the change.

I then called *611 and spoke with a representative named Chris. In spite of – I’m guessing – not having much training for what to do when a customer calls and says “I’m not dead” he did an excellent job listening. And, when he checked the notes regarding my account, indeed found one stating that the customer is “deceased.” He told me he would insert a note that the customer is NOT deceased, but he was not sure whether any other action had been taken by Verizon as a result of this miscommunication.

Thus I am formally contacting you in writing. I am not deceased. I like Verizon, I like my phone number. I instruct you to take any necessary action to remove any hint that I am deceased from my account. I also specifically request that you do not inform any business partners of the erroneous news that I am dead.

Next time, just call my [Verizon] mobile number!

Sincerely,


******** G******

No Way

In the most recent Newsweek, or today on NPR's Day-to-Day, there's a story about name-letter preference. I'm so000 hoping this is a hoax... but it's not April...

Statistically, people gravitate toward concepts, names and things that begin with the same letter as their name. No way! (in the science-is-awesome no way, not the science-is-bollocks no way)

My name is g*****. For what seems like an eternity, i have been a Graduate student in Genetics. Other than the friends I have met in Graduate school, a very large fraction of everyone else I care about is Gay. (or other g******s, but i suppose that's hardly a coincidence)

for my friends in vegas ... i nearly choked when he told me his last name... it sounds more like hers than any other utterance i've ever heard.

of the head-over-heels crushes i've had, and there aren't too many of them, are a g****** (which i didn't even know for like 6 months) and a gr***. did i mention i'm a gr****?

for some reason Newsweek doesn't have the short pithy article on their web site, but the full science blog link is:

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/labnotes/archive/2007/11/07/a-my-name-is-alice-moniker-madness.aspx

great

mas music-o

my parents get some XM stations by DirecTV. Since when did my musical tastes tend to involve the word "adult"?

i think i can take a lot of comfort in how much i still can't stand Steely Dan. there's nothing else though! my goodness, it's like having every PBS music special ever produced jammed up your ass all at once. that includes Lord of the Dance.

16 years later

something about roadtrips and quasi-homelessness (the kind where you live at your parents'), something about changing the things you see and hear and do everyday also makes your musical soundtrack veer away from the ruts of comfortable but stale playlists.

R.E.M.'s Out Of Time is remarkable.

to california

I Miss You. Very Much.

for those of you who also yell profanities at your computer

in excel, if are sorting your data, and for some reason it keeps deciding you have a Header Row when you don't,

don't yell out "not fucking header row" because no one around you will think that's what you said.

MY new 7oy

i bought atablet that Ieahwrite with. Iguess its not perfect. In othernews ) I had a great dinner with friends M Vegas The burgers and company were great, and try service was dinine divine Its so sadwhen bad handwriting gets innuway of a goodjoke.

more utterfly brilliant things i'm stealing from other blogs

seriously. watch this.

and by the way...

I am honestly not sure what should be done about the absolute absurdity of that email. I feel bad that Paige L. Macias has to be the defender of a ridiculous, fascist policy. But if no one ever tells her how life-sucking that attitude is, it will never change.

plmacias@uci.edu

"translation: UC Irvine is proud of being a soulless wasteland"

Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:24:56 -0700
From: "Wendell C. Brase, Vice Chancellor, Administrative & Business
Services"
To: "Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, School of Medicine
Students": ;
Subject: Animals on Campus Policy

ANIMALS ON CAMPUS POLICY

In order to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff, and
visitors, we would like to remind you of UCI's policy regarding
animals on campus, summarized below.

1. In general, animals are prohibited in campus buildings, athletic
fields, and parks. Exceptions are service animals, therapy animals,
search and rescue animals, fish aquariums not used in research or
teaching, and animals bred specifically for use in approved teaching,
research, and clinical activities.

2. All animals on University grounds meeting the exceptions above must
be restrained and under control of a person at all times.

4. All persons bringing animals onto University property will be
responsible for the recovery and disposal of waste.

5. Any animal found on campus in violation of campus policy will be
impounded and the owner will be held responsible for impound and/or
license fees.

Animals housed in Verano Place, Palo Verde, and Vista del Campo are
subject to the policies of the Central Housing Office.

Animals residing in University Hills are subject to the policies of
the Irvine Campus Housing Authority.

UCI's complete policy regarding animals on campus is available at:
http://www.policies.uci.edu/adm/pols/903-16.html.

Thank you for your role in fostering a safe campus environment.

Paige L. Macias
Associate Vice Chancellor
Administrative & Business Services

:(

not my new house:

Forgotten Turkey Sandwich

I had planned to start my pilgrimage with a nice homemade Turkey sandwich instead of that awfulness (1 definitely not a sandwich 2 possibly not even animal or vegetable) that you can buy for $5 on the Northwest flight. I had also planned to, you know, actually Lock The Car before leaving it in the LAX lot for two nights. Neither of those came true; sandwich got left in fridge at home, car got left unlocked. Neither of those turned out badly, though...

Dinner last night was said Turkey sandwich. It was awesome. I think I will go back and revise the ingredient post to include green onions.

Lay down the following ingredients on top of one another:
Standard beginning:
Toast (whole wheat or TJ's flax+friends)
mayo
black pepper
sprouts
New fangled addition:
1cm-length cuts of green onion. don't separate the layers. just put about 4-7 of those bad boys somewhere in the spouts
Next three ingredients, order unknown:
3 slices Turkey
7mm slices of ripe heirloom tomato
green leaf lettuce, enough to cover with 2 layers of leaf
Finish:
a bit of yellow mustard
toast

Now, I don't know whether aging the sandwich in a gladware container for 3 nights is essential, but it sure didn't hurt. garnish with a little spicy hummus dip and crackers. man that was good.

apartment update. unless the winds blow an unexpected surprise my way, this will be my house. the first floor is me.

a pilgrimage

So... more apartments to visit. no time.

I thought I was coming here because of a girl. Then, it was a lab. Then, it got even more complicated. But now I know the real reason I am here.

death to the faggits? (& lesbians)

so one of my friends at St. Mark is a co-producer of a documentary about the intersection between the gay community and the christian community. give it a look; i'm not sure which theater it will be at in Irvine, but i'll keep you posted.