Moonlight Masquerade

My New Blog

2010-07-23T01:23:00.004-04:00

Well, I've done it again. I've created a new blog. This one is called Resonating Rhetoric.

When I started My Fulbright last year, I thought Moonlight Masquerade was just on a temporary hiatus, but as it turns out, I will be migrating to another blog now.

Jump over to Resonating Rhetoric if you want more recent posts from me. This blog has the same good content you found here, just with a new, more sophisticated look.

Check This Out

2009-03-12T17:53:00.005-04:00

Hello blog readers. I have news.

I have recently gotten word that I received a Fulbright grant for this academic year!! In light of this major life-change, I decided to start a new blog dedicated to my time abroad.

Go here: My Fulbright

You didn't think I would stop blogging did you?
Moonlight Masquerade is just on a little hiatus until I get back from Uruguay.

A Room Full of Butterflies

2009-02-18T23:36:00.001-05:00

Imagine. Butterflies everywhere!

At the American Museum of Natural History in New York City they had special exhibit about butterflies. And a room full of...you guessed it...butterflies.

We were able to walk into the butterfly conservatory that allowed us to stand inside a special glass room while butterflies flew freely all around us. It was awesome! Something I always wanted to do.

They made us enter through one set of doors, wait until the first door closed, and then opened the door to the conservatory. I supposed they didn't want the butterflies to escape. Then we walked around and snapped pictures, and let the butterflies flap around. None landed on me, but several landed on people's heads, shoulders, hands, etc. around me. Walking amidst these winged creature was surreal.

I think I could've stayed in the butterfly conservatory forever. If we hadn't been in New York City, with so many other great sights, I think I just might've.

Don't Honk

2009-02-17T22:50:00.000-05:00

Only in New York.

$350 fine? Really? That seems a bit steep.

I'm certain I heard honking too. Maybe the fine ought to be more. Would a $500 fine deter honking? Or better yet, a prison sentence? An electric shock? A neighborhood watchman with a 9-iron? A bed of nails that pops out of street when a certain sound threshold is violated?

Would anything deter honking in New York City?

New York, New York

2009-02-16T23:20:00.004-05:00

This weekend I took a completely random last-minute trip to New York City. Yay for spontaneity.

NYC is arguably the best city in the world. It is living color. Words in action. All glitz and glam.

Apparently it is more affordable to take a bus from DC than it is to take one from central PA. What's with that? DC is 2 hours further away yet costs less than half the price from Harrisburg or Kutztown? Strange.

Even though I ♥ NYC, I still ♥ DC. They are both lovely, just in completely different ways. Points to NYC for the arts and culture. Artists and adventurers flock to the city to make their mark upon the world. Points to DC for the metro and cleanliness. The subway systems don't even compare. New York's subway is to DC's metro as a garbage heap is to a grassy hill.

The thing about living on the East Coast is that we can visit nearby cities so easily. I love it. NYC itself will always hold a special place in my heart though. There is nothing quite like the Big Apple (even if they do have sketchy sketchy subway system).

So you mean to say reason=male?

2009-02-16T00:12:00.004-05:00

This almost hurts to read. There are a few lines of reason (namely fear of the nanny-state), surrounded by hateful bigotry that negates the rest of the message. I present to you why women will never be equals in this world, and why conservative thinkers get a bad rap--because of articles like this, America has become a Nation Ruled by Emotion Rather Than Reason by J.D. Longstreet on WesternFront America. I've copied an excerpt for you, but you really should read the whole thing.

----------------------------------------
"We have feminized our churches, our government, our military, and our businesses, even the Main Stream Media. Woman have been taught they can have it All. Nobody mentioned the cost to her. Now, it no longer matters.

We have gangs of young people, little more than children, roaming our streets, as the barbarians and vandals of old, striking terror in the hearts of the people in their communities. Why? Because they have no home, no parents, and especially no mother, to teach them in the way they should go. Now, our own children are our enemies.

Our men are no longer men. They are something well short of manhood (Metrosexuals!). Men have been taught that being male, and acting as a male OUGHT to act, is somehow abnormal. The American male is so confused he has lost his identify. He is a pitiful sight. When the maleness of a society goes, so does that society. For the foundation of any society is based on the males of that society. The protection of that society is the burden of the same males. When those males are taught that they ought not take up those responsibilities… their reason for existence is lost, and they are confused, and that society is doomed. I offer Europe as an example.

Women, attempting to take up that burden of male leadership, are a pitiful and pathetic sight. Estrogen is no substitute for testosterone! As a result there is little if any action, and when action does take place it is based upon emotions rather than reason. (Example: The US House of Representatives!) It is the worse possible combination for any society seeking to continue its existence.

Look at the Mainstream Media in America today. Try viewing a news show on the TV. You will find more women than men as anchors. Why? Because they are pleasant to look upon and… sex sells the products of the sponsors… and no matter what they tell you… that is the sole reason those blonde cuties are in front of the cameras! If the networks were actually serious about delivering the news in a powerful, impactful, way, the anchor would be a male. That, of course is NOT what they are interested in. The networks are interested in SELLING the airtime and making money. The news, itself, has become only filler, between the commercials and the entertainment, as the networks rake in the loot.

Our churches have become feminized. Women in the pulpits, in the office of Bishop (strictly against Scripture) and, as a result, their membership rolls are shrinking. The mainstream denominations are losing membership in droves! Visit any Mainstream Denomination’s Sunday Worship Services and count the women in attendance as opposed to the men in attendance. You will quickly see that men are staying home. In my case, I don’t need a woman in the pulpit telling me how to behave. My mother took care of that… and my wife took over from her!

Our military can no longer win wars. Why? Because we are too concerned over how the actions we need to take, to secure victory, will be perceived by the remainder of the world. That is most certainly not a manly trait. Even our soldiers are being put on trial for killing the enemy! That tell you anything about the lack of commitment to victory??? It ought to!

Having said all the above, and expecting to be boiled in oil for it, I ask only that you think about it. Look around you. The evidence is everywhere. America is but a shell of her former self. The country has a mortal; a terminal, illness and any reasonable person would not expect recovery.

Watching a strong man wither away and die is always painful to those who love him. That is the sort of pain I feel as I watch my country die right before my eyes."
----------------------------------------

Seriously? You've got to be kidding me. I think someone needs to channel his glorious testosterone into more useful channels than undermining the value of women. Disgusting.

And my favorite part? As he spouts on and on about weenie men, metrosexuals, and the emasculation of America, he uses a feminine personal pronoun to describe America! "America is but a shell of her former self." Followed by a metaphor of his country as a man. "Watching a strong man wither away and die is always painful to those who love him." What does this say? This says somebody is seriously mistaken about the way he sees freedom, leadership, and gender roles. He just doesn't realize it.

I don't want the socialization of America either, but how that connects to the horrible "feminization" of our nation is beyond me. Looks to me like Mr. Longfellow can't help but let his ugly male chauvinism cloud his political thought. Ugh. Has feminism really brought us this far, only to have ridiculous, far-flung essays like that challenge the female voice in the public sphere?

Lovey Dovey Mushy Goosh

2009-02-14T15:28:00.001-05:00

Yep, that's about right xkcd.

(And just for fun this one too)

But there won't be any Anti-Valentine's Day Forum for me either. Nope.

Ooo la la, Barack

2009-02-13T14:36:00.006-05:00

Hmmmm. The GOP has quite a lovely selection of valentine's cards. At first I thought they were parodies created by democrats to mock republicans, but no. The GOP really has these cards, ready to email on their website. Send one of these to your valentine. He/she will love it!

Nothing says romantic like a card such as that. Hahaha.

Conservation of Energy

2009-02-12T00:24:00.002-05:00

Relationship Energy?

This Freakonomics post is very interesting. For very many reasons.

Excerpt 1:

A business exec told me that he thinks of consulting firms a bit like Charlie Sheen thinks about prostitutes. When I asked him to explain, he said that when Sheen was being sentenced for using a prostitute, the judge asked him why a man like him would have to pay for sex. And Sheen reportedly replied: “I don’t pay them for sex. I pay them to leave.”

Excerpt 2:

But Sheen’s (possibly apocryphal) quotation has me thinking that there may be contexts in which people would pay a premium to avoid a relationship. Some people may at times prefer A.T.M.’s to tellers in part because they don’t want to speak to tellers. Some people may prefer Merry Maids to a regular housekeeper (or may prefer to be absent when the cleaning is done). Or some people may prefer buying at Amazon.com in part because of the lack of human contact.

Excerpt 3:

Of course, there are other ways to spin the demand for non-relational contracting. Restricting and regulating our contractual relationships allows us to control and concentrate our limited relationship energy on those people who matter most to us. Surely this is sometimes the case. But conserving our limited relationship energy may backfire. Our capacity to interact with others may atrophy if it goes unused.

I think about the idea expressed in the third excerpt often. I want to put my "relationship energies" in the right place because I get so extremely busy throughout the year. Yet choosing which relationships are "worth the cost" is often hard to tell; for one, because how could we possible know which relationships will end up being meaningful--conserving our energies only to ignore a perfect friend/loved one? And secondly, the unfortunate truth is that we might end up spending too much time/affection/energy on the wrong person and end up being jaded, lonely, and socially inept. I do believe the problem lies in the concept of "relationship energy" itself.

I suspect it is only a myth that relationship energy can run out. It's probably more like conservation of energy: Energy can not be destroyed, just transferred. Hence we ought not avoid certain relationships in favor of others. Or should we? While the concept seems cruel, isn't it something people do every day? We decide who we will spend time with; and those people are often the ones we have deemed "worthy" of our time. Oh, it's so confusing. Since when did time management and relationships get so intertwined? It's unfortunate really.

Ain't No Weatherman

2009-02-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

I teach Oral Communication: Principles and Practice and have my students bring in an artifact to illustrate some concept we will go over within that class.

One of my students used this video as an example of listening gone all wrong.
It's quite appropriate (and by the same token, completely inappropriate).
Hahahaha.
I love my job.

So Christina Aguilera, that's what you were really saying. Hmmmm.

Apparently there are a bunch of these. I had no idea.
Yellow Ledbetter
Temperature
This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
Numa Numa

Cool Hunter

2009-02-09T07:42:00.002-05:00

The Cool Hunter website is a pretty 'cool' website for finding new stuff (that you probably can't afford). But ultra stylish, nonetheless.

Haha, last semester I was trying to explain the difference between appeals to field related standards and individual standards, and the only example I could think of was the Cool Hunters. I couldn't remember the name of the website though, so I went on this digression about cool kids giving out stickers to people with trendy purses, new scooters, the latest jeans, and fancy apartments setting the standards of "coolness" for the rest of us. Wow. That's probably why I recieved all those raised eyebrows. No really, I wasn't making it up: The Cool Hunter.

I wish I could be a cool hunter. It'd be like getting paid to ~~envy~~ appreciate other people's stuff. Cool.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-05T23:35:00.001-05:00

What a good movie.
I know now what all the hype surrounding Slumdog Millionaire is all about. I give it an A+

From the first moments of this movie you will be drawn in. It's different and refreshingly so. The cultural elements are beautiful. The symbols potent and messages complex, ripe for criticism and deconstruction. I don't want to spoil the plot for any of you who have not seen it yet; just know that you must see this one.

The first showing of the movie was sold out this past weekend so we had to buy late night tickets, but it was well worth the wait. The whole ride on the train back home we discussed what is all meant. A movie that can make you feel, think, and chatter that much ought to be appreciated.

Airball, Airball, Airball

2009-02-03T22:51:00.005-05:00

I went to my first UMD basketball game this weekend.
Maryland fans are about the classiest ones I've ever met.

When the visiting team is announced everyone gets out newspapers and pretends to be reading. Haha. And then, if that isn't bad enough, after each starter's name is called we chime in with a "sucks." So it goes something like Joe Smoe, 6"7" forward from Florida sucks. And so on and so on.

And it doesn't end there. The poor point guard for the other team missed a shot by a mile which subjected him to jeering chants for the rest of the game. Every time he touched the ball you'd hear rhythmic calls of "airball airball airball." He'd pass to a teammate, "woahhhh." And back to him, "airball, airball, airball." The cheers weren't enough though, they were coupled with one armed robotic air chops. Are other schools this mean at sporting events?

Home court advantage. We won.

Super Bowl 09

2009-02-02T02:57:00.007-05:00

The game was good.
Pittsburgh gave me a scare, but they pulled it out at the end!

The ads on the other hand did not meet my expectations. They sucked (bunch of crap Washington Post to suggest otherwise). I half expected a snuggie commercial to find it's way into the mix with the interest level of this year's bunch.

I still can't believe how largely disappointing they were. The economy must've killed the commercials. I mean even the Coca-Cola advertisements weren't amusing. Must be because PepsiCo wins as this year biggest advertiser

For the first time in a long time, PepsiCo, not Anheuser-Busch, this year will be the Super Bowl's biggest advertiser. Including spots for its Gatorade, SoBe Lifewater and Cheetos products, PepsiCo will have 5 to 6 minutes.

And note that only 30 seconds of airtime costs about $3 million. Pepsi must have bought out NBC. Geez.

Despite the disparaging lack of showmanship this year, I did have a few favorites that stood out among their competitors. My top 6 are as follows:

6. Budweiser Meeting Commercial
5. GE Wind Energy Commercial
4. Bridgestone Potato Head Commercial
3. Budweiser Fetch Commercial
2. Doritos Bus Commercial
1. Pedigree Exotic Pet Commercial

Bruno come back here. Bruno, you bad bad bird.

Would you agree? Any good ones that I missed?

A Note on the Super Bowl

2009-01-29T22:54:00.006-05:00

Seriously? People aren't excited about the Super Bowl this weekend?

Well, I am. I can't wait see the ~~advertisements~~ Steelers play.

Really though. I am ready to see both. I live in that sort of world. (The one were TV commercials and TV programming rate about equal on my interest gauge)

Advertising Age reports

Blog mentions of the phrase "Super Bowl ads" appear to be running at least 20% below the rate they were at the same time last year

I think that they are just counting their hits too soon. Give the blogosphere some time. We are excited about those Super Bowl ads this Sunday. So there. Take that.

I'll have a full post on my faves after the broadcast. I know you'll wait in anticipation. I want to hear your favorites too, so make sure you tune in.

And if you have to go to the bathroom, for goodness sakes, don't go during a commercial!

Your sweater is so...furry

2009-01-27T22:26:00.005-05:00

Well, it is an interesting concept, but um, disturbing, at the same time. The newest craze seems to be sweaters--made out of your pet.

If you love Fluffy, then you'd probably love to WEAR Fluffy too, right?

Ihabitots presents: Make a Sweater From Your Pet's Fur.

Danelle German, a professional cat groomer based in Simpsonville, S.C, was troubled by the large amounts of fur she would dispose of after grooming clients’ Persians and Angoras. Her solution? Spin the fur into yarn. Then you can knit the yarn into warm, cozy creations (cute little sweaters, mittens, hats, you name it). Can’t you just imagine grandma knitting your little one a sweater made from Mr. Buttons?

I personally think Emily C's cat (with fat little cheeks) would look quite nice as pair of mittons. And Emily W. could knit them. hahaha.

Not THAT e-card.

2009-01-26T22:51:00.004-05:00

One e-card you don't ever want to get. Nooo, it's not happy birthday. Nooo, it's not get well soon. Nooo, it's not congratulations. It's hey, sorry, but I may have given you syphilis, and I don't see you often enough in my real life to tell you in person. Have a nice day. The newest thing in e-greeting cards appears to be a nifty little one that notifies all your 'friends' that they might have been exposed to an infection.

From the NYT:

The e-card, which allows the sender to select the disease involved and includes links to public health sites and services, is part of that strategy.

“Notifying the person exposed to a sexually transmitted infection is the critical piece in preventing further spread.”

Ummmm, I don't even know where to start with the problems with this sort of service from In Spot. Not that I'm not against the spread of disease, but sometimes I have to wonder if I am the only one concerned that our society needs oops-I-gave-you-an-STD e-cards?

Star Studded Sunday

2009-01-25T18:27:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday I attended the pre-inaugural concert that boasted of a boat-load of stars. The list of expected stars kept on growing and growing as the day approached. The most fun part of the afternoon was questioning "and who's gonna be next?"

It was a little cold and lot of standing, but fun regardless. The theme was We Are One. The complete star list was as follows: Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Caleb Green, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, Bettye Lavette, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2, Usher, Will.i.am, Stevie Wonder, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashley Judd, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Laura Linney, George Lopez, Kal Penn, Marisa Tomei, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and Tiger Woods.

Despite it being an inauguration concert and all, someone needs to explain to me why Garth Brooks got to sing 3 solo songs while other artists were paired up in rather...unusual combinations. Take for example, Shakira with Stevie Wonder and Usher. Huh? Those three? Together? I wonder who was the dude who got say, "yeah, and let's group together a latin singer, motown/blues singer, and a hip hop artist." Not that they didn't do a good job. I'd just like to have seen a little more Shakira and whole lot less of Garth. But, hey, that is just my opinion.

Obamamania

2009-01-24T20:17:00.000-05:00

If you can make it, vendors can sell it...and Obamafy it.

You can't even imagine all the different products vendors were selling on inauguration week along the streets of DC. For starters, there were the classic buttons, t-shirts, posters, and hats. But those don't even touch upon the more absurd products I saw being sold among the streets. There were vendors peddling Obama perfume body spray (with catchy slogans like "I smell change"), Obama boas, Obama condoms, Obama puppets (creepy), Obama bling, Obama sandwhiches, and Obama dolls among other Obamarific goods. What craziness.

We were joking that next they were going to sell Obama Chia Pets. But, oh wait, they actually do!

Inauguration 2009

2009-01-23T18:09:00.001-05:00

Yes, I went to the inauguration.

Yes, the city of Washington DC was a mad-house.

Yes, I woke up at 5 AM and stood out in the freezing cold for hours upon hours.

Yes, there were so many people on the mall that we huddled in front of a jumbo-tron near the Washington Monument and still could hardly see.

Yes, Obama looked like an ant way up at the capital when ~~he messed up~~ took his oath of office.

Yes, I went to the inauguration of the 44th president of United States.

Even if I had to do it all again, I still would've gone. This is the first presidential inauguration that I've ever witnessed in person and I doubt it will be my last.

A Way With Words

2009-01-22T23:38:00.004-05:00

Today I had the unique opportunity to meet with two White House high-level speechwriters through one of the graduates of my program at UMD. It was so exciting to hear their take on what it is like to work for the both Bush administrations and the McCain-Palin campaign to name a few.

Scully and McConnell had very many intriguing and insightful things to say. They called their speech shop a little "word factory." I was suprised to hear that they collaborate in the writing process from the very begining and then the speech runs through many many hands before being finalized, sometime reaching up to draft number 30. They mentioned at the time they cleaned out their computers there were 10,800 speech drafts saved on the hard drive that are permanently resting in the presidential records.

Wow. That would be the job. Writing speeches for the president.

Framing Venice

2009-01-17T02:01:00.001-05:00

I ordered frames from American Frames this summer for some of my artwork. I loved their classic metal frames because their look is so clean and elegant. I first bought merchandise from them per a recommendation from my drawing professor four years ago. As a bonus to cutting your frames to the perfect (sometimes unusual) measurements, they give you a free cut mat to fit your work as well.

My favorite part, by far though, is that you can snap a photo of your artwork, upload it into their website, and see what your painting is going to look like in the frame you want to order even before it arrives at your door. You can even paint the wall behind the makeshift digital image. Yep. That's nice. I'm sold.

I couldn't decide between pewter and brushed silver on the painting above, but in the end, brushed silver looked better. Alas, when it arrived at my door, brushed silver indeed did accent quite well. Thank goodness for easier framing; I hate ruining a good piece of artwork with shoddy frame-work.

"Make Platitude!"

2009-01-15T21:27:00.001-05:00

Quote Unquote

Generate a Barack Obama Quote!

"I think it's time we had a national conversation about the economic downturn. We need to get past all the disease and recognize that we are our own best hope for overcoming man-eating tigers. We need unicorns, not unemployment. Unicorns are our change we can believe it. And we need to have change in the economic downturn."

Generate your Barack Obama quote at Buttafly.com

Did I mention I plan on going to the inauguration this Tuesday?

Ooo, I made it

2009-01-14T20:46:00.000-05:00

Not into stardom, or onto American Idol or anything like that (which coincidentally aired it's first episode last night), but rather, I made a camera case.

I wanted to make a matching laptop, cord, and camera case, but my mom cleared out some of the old clothes in my closest and gave them to Good Will. Therefore, I had no ugly old flannel shirts to cut up and turn into pretty new things. Awww, poor me (and people who received the flannel).

Alas, I still made the case from some scrap material around the house. The sad part is that I sewed it all wrong first and to redo the whole thing. Yes. I am that bad at sewing. But in the end, I suppose the final product isn't that bad.

But I want ALL the figs

2009-01-13T20:32:00.009-05:00

I just finished reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath after ordering it off of Amazon earlier this week! I loved it. One of my new faves. Tracing the psychological journey of young girl coming of age in the mid-twentieth century, The Bell Jar is rich in colorful descriptions and capturing prose. Esther, the protagonist, struggles to make life decisions that ultimately cripple her and send her into a downward spiral of psychosis.

Ahhh, the beauty of a well-crafted metaphor:

"...I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

Plath's insights into life are disturbingly real.

You have no idea how many times I have considered the same concept in choosing a life-path. If choose to be professor, how can I be an artist? If I choose to be a writer, how can I be a international peace worker? If I choose to be a designer, how can I be a translator? Sigh. We have to choose. We have to be specialists. We can't let the figs plop off the tree.

Fortunately, most are able to grapple with this reality a little better than Plath and her fictional counterpart. Ultimately, I think we find that the figs we do select tend to be quite appealing in their own right. Thank goodness for that.

Icy Red Berries

2009-01-09T15:38:00.001-05:00

Have I ever mentioned that I like ice?

I like ice and pretty red berries that pop against a complementry green and white background.

Although, a little Christmasy, I prefer to think wintery instead. Somehow, I feel like there should be horses and sleigh bells lingering behind these holly bushes. I didn't see any though when I was out freezing to death in the sloshy rain. One must suffer for art.

I Heart Ice

2009-01-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

I ♥ Icy Weather.

Not because it's slippery or slidey. Just because it is so beautiful.

And a great excuse to play with my new camera.

Yay, for icy cold pretty!

Tiny People In A Big World

2009-01-07T11:48:00.006-05:00

Little People--a tiny street art project
Little handpainted people, left in London to fend for themselves.

First a close up. Then a long shot.

How can you not love this stuff? Beautiful art.

Insightful commentary on urban life and human interaction with our environment.

The blog here: Little People
Or check out the artist's website here: Slinkachu.

Dropping Stuff in PA for the New Year

2009-01-02T04:10:00.001-05:00

Emily and I went to the festivities in Harrisburg to ring in the New Year. The fireworks were spectacular. I've never seen such a concentrated bunch of sparkling lights in the sky. A+ central PA. I didn't think you had it in you.

Did you realize that Pennsylvania has the weirdest bunch of goofy things that we drop out of the sky every New Years? We've got a pickle, an anchor, a Hershey kiss, a strawberry, two roses, a frog, a stuffed goat, a lollipop, a spring, and a wrench to name a few. My favorite by far though has to be the annual bologna drop. Yep, in Lebanon, because they are famous for their Sweet Lebanon Bologna. Watching a bologna drop out of the sky to bring in the new year seems a little crazy to me. At least they donate all the meat afterward.

Here's a nice listing of how PA kicks every other state's butt when it comes to New Years celebrations. Never been so proud.

Party like it's 1999

2008-12-31T04:19:00.003-05:00

Happy New Years!

Well, technically New Year's Eve, but today is the day everyone celebrates the new year anyway. Or is it the old year that is being celebrated? Either way, I hope you had a wonderful 2008, and are ready for an even better 2009!

Cheers.

Whoo, I Win!

2008-12-29T16:39:00.007-05:00

I swear I'm not a lucky person. But then again, I've had a really good week.

I just won a $50 Electronics Gift Card from Nabisco. I persistently entered that little code on the bottom of my Wheat Thins box into the online interface, I clicked on a gift, and voila!, I got a message saying that I've won. Yay.

And to think; I've always scoffed at these sorts of contests. If you have a Nabisco box sitting around, there are still 2 more days to enter if you want try your hand at luck. See the Magical Crackers.

Finally my fondness for Wheat Thins has paid off, literally.

Camera Woes Begone

2008-12-28T15:13:00.001-05:00

When I went to the shore this Thanksgiving, I took my camera along to snap some photographs of the ocean waves cascading over the pier rocks. On the first walk we took down the boardwalk, I put said camera inside my knit hat for easier carrying. Unfortunately, the camera fell out of my hat and onto the ground. Bleh. It never turned back on again. It had been acting up earlier, but I'm fairly certain I pulled its last straw by throwing it on the ground. It had been well loved and well traveled. I will miss you good friend.

In brighter news, however, I spent my Christmas money on a new camera, so now I can resume my usual photographing happiness. A month without my own camera was a miserable existence.

I decided to stick with Canon since I was very pleased with my last camera, and can I just say, I LOVE my new Canon A1000? I opted for the brushed bronze color since the plum isn't exactly the prettiest shade of purple. It has a ridiculous 10 megapixels that could potentially make prints the size of poster murals. Craziness. Plus there's a 4X optical zoom and its macro option is way better than my last one. See my Christmas nails? The red glitter appears quite close.

Sorry, I will stop reveling in my new camera joy. My attention must now be turned to crafting a carrying case, so I don't end up throwing this one on the ground too.

Children Are The Future

2008-12-27T14:08:00.002-05:00

The Overprivileged Children's Fund

This holiday season, help where you are needed most. Upgrade little Sammy's iPod. 16 Gigs is never enough. American children are suffering.

Keep Out of the Doghouse

2008-12-26T04:02:00.002-05:00

Men, I hope you stayed out of the doghouse this Christmas by remembering to never get your special lady a vacuum cleaner, blender, toaster, mop, washing machine, ironing board, crock pot, mixer, pots, pans, feather duster, and well, you get the idea--anything used for cleaning, cooking, washing, or commonly associated with any type of menial household chore. The more practical the present, the more likely a disaster waiting to happen.

JC Penny's bewareofthedoghouse campaign seemed to create a buzz in the blogosphere. Watch the linked video. I think it's funny; but to be fair, a tad sexist as well. Women are never exactly exiled to the doghouse when they give a bad present.

Although, giving a man a typically masculinized useful product (like tools for example) does not work to reaffirm contested gender roles. Most men are fine with the assumption that they like hammers (and therefore fixing or building things) as a collective group. Most women, however, are not fine with the assumption that they like vacuum cleaners (and therefore cleaning things) as a collective, because they've been unduly confined to this role for centuries past.

Therefore, my response to the JC Penny's ad is this: Men shouldn't get all the heat for poor gift giving attempts, but at the same time, men should know better than to give "gifts" that make women feel like domestic slaves. It's just common sense my friends.

Gender roles aside though, the best bet for a successful gift is one that is tailored to the individual. If your wife/girlfriend hints she wants a blender for Christmas, it might (and I say might quite purposefully) be okay to forgo the diamond earrings you were going to get her and go for the blender she requested instead. Gifts that indicate you've paid attention (commonly known as 'gifts from the heart') always go farther than gimmicky ones that TV commercials tell you must get.

That said, I think it's funny that my dad got my mom a pink sapphire ring. I wrote this post even before I saw her present. My dad is a smart man, smart man.

All I want for Christmas is you.

2008-12-25T00:00:00.003-05:00

Don't forget to track Santa on Google Earth as he brings all the children of the world their presents. Santa must be real, he's on Google Earth

No matter what Santa brings you though, Merry Christmas! May your holiday be filled with joy and happiness and love.

Ba Humbug

2008-12-24T02:40:00.001-05:00

My pastor had an awesome sermon on Sunday about how Christians have become overrun by materialism and greed especially at Christmastime. I couldn't agree more, and unfortunately I think we all (myself included) fall captive to these sorts of sentiments in our American celebration of the holiday season. We have let consumerism rob us of the joy of Christmas. Take for example the plastic pony commercial.

A girl gets a real pony as a child. Her friend gets a plastic pony. The friend gets jealous when she sees the other girl's real pony. What good is a plastic pony when your friend has a real one? 20 years later the spoiled girl gets a Lexus in her driveway. Those same old feelings of superiority gush back in.

What a moral. Treat yourself to the best. Outshine your friends. What has happened to us? Where have our relationships gone? As my pastor said, contentment is elusive--a present tense concept. We need to find it, keep it, and garner it. If there is anybody who should be content, it should be us.

Where's the Beef?

2008-12-21T05:34:00.004-05:00

The BK does it again.

Burger King wins the creepiest-marketing-campaign-ever award for the third time. First it was the King. Then the Subservient Chicken. Now its' a naked King trying to sell meat scented body spray. No really. I'm not lying.

You can see it for yourself here. Or read about it on Yahoo.

Burger King Corp. may have just the thing. The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."

The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.

Burger King is marketing the product through a Web site featuring a photo of its King character reclining fireside and naked but for an animal fur strategically placed to not offend.

Ewwww. I think I just vomited a little in my mouth. Those hand gestures by the King are just a bit too suggestive for me.

And seriously? Do you really need a body spray that makes you smell like beef? Who is going to be impressed? "Oh baby, get over here, you smell like burgers."

Blog Birthday!

2008-12-14T04:09:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Moonlight Masquerade!

It's been a good 4 years.
Here's to many more in the future!

Netiquette

2008-12-13T19:02:00.005-05:00

Improper netiquette (that's Network Etiquette for all you living under a rock) can be really annoying. Sometimes I get perturbed when an email starts off, "hey u" and other times I feel like it's completely appropriate. It's hard for me to articulate when it's okay to write in text talk and when it's not. In professional communication, it's obviously unacceptable, but where to you draw the line with friendly emails?

Also, how do you sign your emails? You want them to be warm, but not too chatty; pleasant but not over the top. I find it frustrating to always be thinking of new ways to sign emails. I used "Thank you" for a long time, but that one bothered me, because it's not always appropriate to say thank you unless someone in someway deserves a thank you. It seems weird to say, "Hi, how are you? yaddah yaddah. Thank you."

Then I used "Take care" for awhile, but then I noticed that several of the people converse with via email regularly use that exact phrase and you can never respond with same catch phrase. Plus, I don't want to be the copy cat that steals email signatures. This leaves me in a predicament. What other salutations are left? Sincerely is too formal. Best is too short. What's left out there in email-sign-off-phrases land?

I'll Have the Bucket Size Please

2008-11-30T19:30:00.006-05:00

When at the boardwalk, one must always get boardwalk fries.
When at Ocean City, one must always go to Thrashers.
When at Thrashers, one must always get the ~~large~~ bucket size of fries.

When holding a ginormus bucket of hot boardwalk fries, one must always dump a bunch of apple cider vinager and salt on said bucket.

Yum.

Between three of us this was still too many deliciously salty, vinegary, french fried potato sticks of ~~heart attack~~ happiness.

Black Friday Addendum

2008-11-29T15:56:00.006-05:00

I feel it necessary to comment on my original Black Friday post. I thought the Black Friday consumeristic phenomenon was funny up until today when I heard the two terrible news death stories from yesterday's shopping frenzy.

Walmart employee stampeded to death during Black Friday shopping mayhem. The NYT describes:

Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him.

Two die in Toys R US shooting. The AP reports:

Two men pulled guns and shot each other to death in a crowded toy store Friday after the women with them erupted into a bloody brawl, witnesses said.

What is wrong with people? Are we really this greedy in America? People in other nations fight for food and peace and political representation. We fight for Furbies, Tickle-Me Elmos, Webkinz, and Guitar Hero. Disgusting.

Pointless Banter captures the sentiment just right: from blood diamonds to Walmart toys, If nobody died in the procurement of my gift I don’t want it

Nothing like a little bloodshed to make our 'valuables' more valuable.

Black Friday

2008-11-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again. The day that shoppers have been waiting for since last year's day-after-Thanksgiving. The day that true bargain hunters strap on their running shoes to brave the freezing temperatures, bustling crowd, and early-set alarm clocks. It's going to be mayhem in the stores today. Everyone and their uncle has gotta hit the sales.

My mom grabbed us a newspaper yesterday so we could look through the ads inside. It appears that most stores are opening at 4 AM this year. Seriously? I always considered ourselves a serious shoppers, but not THAT serious. We'll be sleeping in at least until the sun comes up. Geez.

I have always secretly wanted to go to a store on Black Friday where crazy shopper-people are stealing merchandise from each other's cart, pushing and shoving to grab the new hottest toy, and weeping in ecstasy over the biggest deals they found. Not that I want to BE one of those people, I just want to witness it. American consumerism at its finest.

Thanksgiving at the Beach

2008-11-27T01:17:00.000-05:00

I am in Ocean City, Maryland right now over Thanksgiving vacation. Yay, the beach--even if it is a freezing cold beach. The roar of the waves and boardwalk shops, however, comfort our temperature woes.

We watched a few crazy people stick their toes in the water. Followed by their whole feet, ankles, calves, knees, and finally an unexpected wave soaked their pants completetly. Haha. I bet they were sorry they got so close to the water.

Unfortunately this "holiday" for me means working on papers that are due next week. At all the hotels we canvased, I had to ask, "and you have free WiFi, right?" so I can do my research. Happy Thanksgiving to me.

Turkey 911

2008-11-26T02:52:00.004-05:00

A bird roasting emergency? No worries.

Don't forget that if on this turkey holiday you should happen to have any turkey related questions, there are trained professionals waiting by the phone to rescue you.

We have the following:
The Butterball Turkey Talk Line 1-800-BUTTERBALL
The Reynolds Wrap Turkey Tips Line 1-800-745-4000
The USDA Meat & Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHOTLINE
and there are more, believe it or not.

This article compiles a few stories about the funniest turkey calls. How one loses their turkey, or worse, loses their dog inside their turkey, I have no idea.

It might be fun to be one of the turkey line operators. Imagine the calls they get.

Oil Spill

2008-11-25T18:26:00.003-05:00

Who knew the blacktop could be so pretty? I love it when the rain transforms normal things into extraordinary things.

I also love the print that leaves create on concrete sidewalks during the fall. You know--that pretty brown and white collage. It's the small things in life that make me happy.

Oodles of Doodles

2008-11-18T18:43:00.008-05:00

Oh my. Doodlers.
Presidents. Vice-presidential wanna be's. They all doodle, according to CNN.

Some guy bought an Obama doodle (of poorly drawn heads) last year for over 2,000 bucks on eBay. Now he's getting offers in the 6 figures, but he won't sell. I think he should. The doodle is hardly fit for hanging on the fridge, let alone over the fireplace.

Palin likes to make doodles too. Only hers prove that her mind must always be racing. Talk about a jumble of chicken scratch. Reminds me of middle school when I was deciding how to fashion my John Hancock.

I see why these two went into politics...because art school just wasn't for them.

Beef Panties

2008-11-12T08:17:00.001-05:00

Spell Check always did anger me.

This article is the perfect example, from over at Revealing Errors, of how spell checker messes us up. Apparently Reuters posted a story that proclaimed the recalling of beef panties. What are beef panties, you ask? Well, in short, I have no idea, nor do I want to know. The whole idea goes something like this:

Quaker Maid Meats Inc. on Tuesday said it would voluntarily recall 94,400 pounds of frozen ground beef panties that may be contaminated with E. coli.

Of course the article was talking about beef patties, not beef panties.

This error can be blamed, at least in part, on a spellchecker. I talked about spellcheckers before when I discussed the Cupertino effect which happens when someone spells a word correctly but is prompted to change it to an incorrect word because the spellchecker does not contain the correct word in its dictionary. The Cupertino effect explains why the New Zealand Herald ran a story with Saddam Hussein's named rendered as Saddam Hussies and Reuters ran a story referring to Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement as the Muttonhead Quail Movement.

Hardy har har. Snortle snort. Silly spell checker results make us chuckle, but also sorry, very very sorry in the case of big news organizations that publish stories about beef panties. I myself get frustrated over words like globalized, rhetor, and problemetized. Spell checker is bad for language, very very bad.

And yet, I so spell checked this post. Hypocrite, I am.

We Salute You

2008-11-11T07:33:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all the veterans who have fought for our country.

For our lives.
For our hope.
For our freedom.

I personally think of my grandfather who fought in WWII and I am proud of his service to our country and proud to be his granddaughter.

To all of the veterans on this Veteran's day, we appreciate you today, but also on every other day of the year too. There is no just one veteran's day.

Leave the Bag of Cash by the Unmarked Car...

2008-11-10T12:00:00.007-05:00

I had no idea text-to-speech things even existed on the internet. There are websites that you can go to, type in words, and have the computer read it back to you out loud. Phrases. Full Sentences. Whatever you type in, they read back to you. At Cepstral, you can choose your voice, rate, pitch, and effect. I'm partial to William, although Amy has a nice intonation as well. Yay, who doesn't like to play around with cool technology toys? It's actually a great idea. Especially for people with speech or hearing difficulties.

On the other hand, you know, these are also great for kidnappers, perverts, pranksters, and other assorted criminal offenders...
But that's beside the point, right?

Design the World a Coke

2008-10-19T05:28:00.008-04:00

Oh so cool. Design the World a Coke.

Look at the Coca-Cola bottle I designed (For some reason it won't face the right way in the still shot. Click on the link to watch it rotate in all directions and at all angles, because it's in 3D! So fancy, I know). Seriously, you have to check out my beautiful Coke bottle. It's pretty awesome.

Now make your own; but be warned, this site is highly addictive. I thought I would spend 10 minutes playing around with the design tools and ended up burning 2 hours getting the color of splattered paint just right.

You can't say you haven't been warned; but really, this is just too cool. Even more exciting than the M&M website that lets you make crazy photographs. Wait. I'm noticing a trend. I think I'm a sucker for these sort of interactive marketing things. And now I'm advertising for them on my blog... I have in no way been paid to tell you how cool Coke is.

Don't drink Coke; just design their bottles. Good, now I don't feel like I have broken any moral codes.

Visit with friends

2008-10-18T02:05:00.000-04:00

I got to see my Emily and Nicole this week! We had a little rendezvous in Frederick. I missed my girls so much, so this was good for the spirit. It's amazing how fast time can fly by without seeing people who are dear to you. Sad. Writing this post, I realize we did not take any photos. Booo.

Frederick has a cute little downtown, where we went out to eat. Mmmm, good food, outside on that terrace. And then we went back to Emily's place to chat and watch SNL skits. Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, so unbelievably funny. Oh, we also got some presents from a little place known as Paris, France. Thanks Em.

King's Dominion Halloween Haunt

2008-10-17T01:41:00.006-04:00

Sorry my posts are so sporadic as of late. I hardly have time to breathe on some days, so blogging sometimes falls right off my list. I know you are saying, "Wait, Jenn, blogging is next to breathing." And yes. I hear you. Maybe I just don't have my priorities right...

Anyway though. Last weekend I went with a group of friends to King's Dominion in Virginia. We thought it was perhaps a little closer than it really was. Or maybe it just seemed farther away since we hit Friday DC traffic. The rollercoasters were worth the trip though. Oh man. The volcano. The dominator. Plus others. For some of our friends, this was their first time at an amusement park, first time on a rollercoaster. Good stuff. Welcome to American culture, now hold on before you get dropped 150 feet to the ground.

Also, the park was doing a Halloween Haunt which include scary people in scary costumes jumping out at us and chasing us around in circles. They also set up a bunch of haunted houses around the park. Ahhhh.

My throat hurt so bad by the end of the night from screaming so much. I'm not sure whether it was the haunted houses or the rollercoasters...

ZOOlicious

2008-10-09T22:37:00.005-04:00

When my parents cam to visit me two weeks ago, I took them to the National Zoo. Yay. I love the zoo. The day was a little rainy, but I'm still really happy they came down to see me. We saw the elephants, sea-lions, tigers, black bears, gorillas, and gross reptilian things.

The gorillas were the most amusing. Two were in the middle of a fight when stopped by their cage. They actually did the whole, beat on my chest, I am alpha male thing. It was crazy to see. Everyone was chattering and clapping when they did that. But it was a little too much violence for my tastes. Walking away from that display really made me think about agression and natural tendencies. Is it really ok to push your brother off of a branch? And then for human children to clap about it? This was some sort surreal experience for me, and it made me feel uncomfortable.

After the zoo, I took my parents to Dupont Circle where we had dinner at little Italian place. Yay for visitors!

DC Chinese Cultural Festival

2008-10-06T23:46:00.005-04:00

I forgot to post about a Chinese festival that I went to with some friends from my cohort last Sunday. We took the metro to Chinatown for a parade and little performance on the streets of DC. It was fun and festive. I was enthralled by the pretty fabrics of the dragons dancing down the streets. The Chinese know how to do celebrations in rich color.

The show was a display of kung fu (or maybe some other form of fighting since I really don't know my kicking and chopping so well) and drumming with ribbon dancing. Yay. I love living in a multi-cultural city. Homogeneity is so boring when so many different cultures have amazing contributions to our diverse world.

Who wants to go on a little field trip to China now? I know I do.

First Day of Fall

2008-10-04T11:09:00.002-04:00

The first day of fall was September 22nd, and I completely missed it.

How sad. There were no grand celebrations. No groans about how summer has passed us by. No fall festivities to welcome the new season.

The day came and went with no recognition.

How remiss of me. Well, apple cider, falling leaves, pumpkins, and crisp autumn air: hear my apology and know you will appreciated in due time.

Can you spell INDOCTRINATION?

2008-10-02T00:44:00.006-04:00

Holy Word! This is creepy. A whole new level of creepy I didn't even think existed in 21st century America.

Sing for Change A bunch of children singing hymns for Obama. The angelic little voices. Matching t-shirts. Excited parents and overzealous music teacher.

If this isn't bad for democracy, I don't know would be. Am I the only one who thinks cult-like children groups are a bad sign for our future? No matter the candidate being endorsed, this is political propaganda and indoctrination at its worst.

Improv Everywhere

2008-09-30T22:56:00.004-04:00

This is interesting. Improv Everywhere.

They do the most random things in the most random paces with hundreds of random people. You gotta love it.

No Pants Day
Food Court Musical
Frozen Grand Central

My favorite is probably no pants day. Why doesn't DC attract these types of events? It's always NYC.

The Coolest Thing Ever to Hit the Pool

2008-09-26T00:19:00.001-04:00

I went to swim laps at the rec center on campus this week. I stuck my head under the water to get ready to swim some laps, but I heard something strange. Something that I thought was air bubbles in my swim cap at first. But the noise did not stop. Words? Were those word I was hearing? Or music? Could it be music? I asked my friend I was with if she heard it too, and lo behold I was not going crazy. She had heard an ad for McDonalds the last time she went swimming.

UMD broadcasts radio stations in the pool. Literally. Underwater. Stick your ears under and you can hear it. Come up for a breath and silence. It is the coolest thing ever. I had no idea it was even possible to listen to music while swimming. This will make using the pool much more enjoyable. When in high school, I always wished they'd invent something like this, and here it existed all this time.

Now I can swim to the beat.

A Functioning Freezer

2008-09-23T23:07:00.004-04:00

My roommate and I finally got a freezer that works! Yay. They hauled away the old fridge and brought in a new one. Finally. Ice. And TV dinners.

The first thing I ate from our new spanking new freezer was one of those little cups of "stick it in the freezer and wait 24 hours and out comes sorbet" things. It was so tasty. And cold.

I remembered the name: Del Monte Fruit Chillers. Freeze overnight & Eat. They cleanse the palette. I recommend the glacial mango. Although, after looking at their website I also want to sample the frosty peach, polar raspberry, and arctic strawberry. Ok, that's all the flavors--it looks like I might still be eating sorbet when it starts snowing outside. Brrrrr.

Which reminds me...I have big plans for making smoothies soon, before it gets too cold. I love frozen treats.

Cheeburger Cheeburger

2008-09-22T22:39:00.010-04:00

On Sunday my Aunt and I met up in a city between the two of us to catch up. We went to what I would consider one step away from being a "mega" church. The music was really loud, and the building looked more like a warehouse outside and concert stadium inside than a traditional church. A different experience for me, not necessarily bad, not necessarily good. I don't think I would drive for 30 minutes to go there again though. Meeting with my Aunt who I usually only get to see once a year was the nice part.

Then we went to a 1950's inspired diner in Old Columbia with electric pink walls and a cardboard Elvis cutout in the corner, Cheeburger Cheeburger. The sandwich and fries were delicious. I love how they encourage you to get about a thousand different toppings on your "invent-a-burger." It ended up being so big, I could hardly fit my mouth around it. Thank you slice of pineapple, onion rings, roasted red peppers, bleu cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, guacamole, and honey mustard. Yeah. It might sound gross, but it was great.

Touchdowns=Toppings

2008-09-20T22:11:00.006-04:00

The Terps won another football game again today. Cool stuff. I wasn't feeling so swell this morning when I woke up, so I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to go, but fortunately I bucked up and went.

Apparently, for every touchdown our team gets, every attendee can get a free pizza topping at Papa Johns. And if Maryland wins, they double that number. That means that this week we can get a large pizza with 12 toppings. Whoo. It's not so much that I would every want 12 different things on my pizza, but somehow game is more exciting when we can celebrate that we will have two more topppings to add to our Tuesday pizza. We got another touchdown? Oh, yay, more toppings! I think the people around us were cheering for other reasons.

My apartment building was having a resident appreciation party today, so we did our quote, unquote, tailgating, for free. We had hamburgers and then got our faces drawn by a sketch artist named Jerry. His technique is the giant face, little body style. I never much understood the concept, but hey, it's still kind of cool to have my "resemblance" on paper. Looks just like me, huh?

Casa Blanca USA

2008-09-18T13:38:00.006-04:00

Today, a group of friends and I hit up the White House. Yeah. We went inside. I bet you are jealous now, but don't be too much, we only got to tour the first floor East Wing. Thank you Wisconsin congressman, (even though I've never stepped foot in Wisconsin).

It was cool, something every American should visit at some point in their life time. We walked through the Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room (my fav), and the State Dining Room in addition to a few others. I think I could get used to living there; a little stately elegance. My plan is in progress. My bid for the 2024 presidential election is only a few years away. Watch out Washington.

What I really want to know though, is how you get a job working in the White House. I was envying all the young professionals scurrying through the corridors. How could I be one of those people? Hmmmmm.

Oh, and about the one lone protester outside. He apparently he has a 99 year permit (of which he has completed 26 years) to camp out, but they don't offer such things anymore. All other protesters must go home to sleep. We opted not to walk by him; looked a little creepy. We don't even know what it was that he was protesting. When I suggested that I could live in the White House, I did mean in it. Not outside. Across the street. Or on the road.

Terps Football

2008-09-14T20:00:00.003-04:00

I went to a REAL football game yesterday. Maryland vs. California. We did not get creamed. Or pulverized. Or chopped up and served for dinner like everyone seemed to predict. We actually won, 35-27. Go Terps!

I was amazed at how many people showed up. The Byrd Stadium holds over 50,000 people, and seemed to me like it was full. For students, they have a lottery system, so sometimes you get tickets, sometimes you don't. We, fortunately, did.

The cheers however, are kind of cruel. There is one that features the line, "Hey, you suck" over and over again. A real classy way of celebrating a touchdown. The most compassionate one though, was when a player on the other team got hurt and people in the crowd start chanting "you got f*@#ed". Well that was nice.

My face really hurts from the game. It's probably because it was about a million degrees outside and only two clouds were in the whole sky. My skin is about as red as the red shirt that I was wearing. Oh, good American sports.

Don't Forget to Dot Your Eyes

2008-09-12T00:05:00.000-04:00

My sister got me the cutest eye equipment ever. A contact case and glasses case that match each other. They're purple! With polka dots! Sooooo adorable. I especially love the compact and travel oriented nature of the cases.

Now I can see when I'm on the move (see how cute my contact & glasses cases are).

9-11

2008-09-11T00:00:00.002-04:00

Seven year anniversary of 9/11 today.

I can hardly believe it has been that long ago.

I remember sitting in chemistry class my sophomore year of high school when someone ran in and insisted we turn on the TV. There the world trade towers were on the screen, smoking away. I don't think it's a moment any American will ever forget.

My art teacher made us write down our personal response to the whole occurrence and seal it in an envelope because she said we would want to remember exactly what we were feeling in that moment. She was right; but now I don't know where I put that envelope. Maybe I'll find it someday.

Our hearts are heavy today in remembrance of the many lives that were stolen by the terrorists. But they did not win, nor will they ever. 9/11 only brought our nation closer together and revealed the good that was resting within millions of people.

Zig zag, Kick, Knee, Yah

2008-09-09T22:16:00.003-04:00

Tonight a friend and I took a Turbo Kick class at the rec center. We had planned on going to a Latin dance workout class called Zumba, but it was cancelled due to some CPR training or something. Turbo Kick however, was pretty fun. The kicking and punching was especially fun. Our instructor was high energy. I figured that we spend all that money on student fees, why not take advantage of the classes offered?

Pretty soon no one will want to mess with me in dark alley ways. Yah.

The One

2008-09-09T00:35:00.005-04:00

How did I completely miss John McCain's "The One" campaign ad fraught with Judeo-Christian religious allegories? I wanted to burst out laughing when I saw it. At first I thought it was produced by the Obama campaign, but something didn't seem right. It was over the top, too inflated, too laudatory.

Then, in the last few seconds, it all came together. It is making fun of Obama's religious following. It is so well done and poking fun at just the right spot that it becomes ridiculously funny. Obama as our saviour? As the deliverer to the Promised Land/Moses/Charlton Heston?

Here's the ad. You'll love it, no matter who you plan on voting for in November.

I feel like some young right wing conservative is sitting is his/her office chuckling about his/her cleverness for creating this concept. And he/she should be; because this is brilliance.

A Pool? Outside? At My University?

2008-09-05T22:11:00.000-04:00

UMD is awesome. They have a pool. Well, actually 3 of them, but one is outdoors. That's right. And it's free for students.

Thursday some friends and I went to the pool before class. And basically it felt like summer. At a park. Sun bathing. Splashing around. A few laps.

I got a ~~tan~~ burn.

I love going to such a big school. They offer so many cool things and have endless resources.

They even hired a poor lifeguard to sit in front of the kiddie pool and watch the water drip off of the mushroom. I found it mildly humorous.

Raisin' McCain

2008-09-04T23:59:00.000-04:00

McCain's speech at the RNC tonight was as expected, meh. The guy is a "maverick" (which is great verbal branding by the way). A war hero. A great man. I liked when he spelled out his policies and distanced himself from both his opponent and his own party. He did what he needed to do.

He did a decent job with his oration, but basically reinforced the same ideas I already had about him. He'll never be the public speaker that Obama is (or for that matter his candidate for VP is), but all the same, he gave a respectable presentation of who he is and where he came from. He spelled out his policies and plans and that seemed honest and straightforward.

Let me tell you, if I heard one more commentary about the balloon dropping, I was going to blow a gasket. We had the TV on ABC, and the newscasters started commenting for an extended period of time about the balloons and confetti falling from the ceiling rather than about the speech that just took place. It was disgraceful. And then we switched channels to CNN and lo and behold, they were marvelling at the balloon drop too. Apparently if you want to impress the media, just drop a few patriotic-colored helium-filled rubber things from the sky.

Gee guys; don't comment on the speech, please. We want to hear about how cool the convention decorations are.

The Treat

2008-09-02T22:13:00.000-04:00

Before I drove back to Maryland today, my family picked up food from the Treat, aka iconic Shippensburg. This place has been there forever and draws a large crowd of individuals from just about every age group--middle school students to senior citizens.

I can't ever remember a time when the Treat wasn't there. It is probably the most successful ice cream shop and diner in town. They make mean Oreo flurries and hot fried ham hoagies. Today we had chicken dinners, but if you ever visit, I would recommend the ice cream. It's good.

Maybe not the best food ever, but The Treat is kitschy; and it is my hometown.

Day of the Laborers

2008-09-01T02:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day (which might be more accurately termed Laborless Day since most of us have off work)!

Don't forget that you can't wear white shoes anymore. Not to say I will obey that rule. I will probably end up donning white shoes around around Thursday of this week.

Who made up the arbitrary shoe-color rule anyway? No black after memorial day? No white after labor day? Foolishness I say. Does anyone even go by that antiquated fashion nonsense anymore?

Corn Festival

2008-08-31T00:24:00.000-04:00

Every last Saturday in August, Shippensburg hosts the annual Corn Festival. I'm not exactly sure why we refer to it as the "corn" festival as there are next to no usages of corn at the festival. But to be fair this year, they did paint ears of corn on the downtown shop windows, serve corn on the cob at a few vendors, and pay a guy to walk up down the streets in a scarecrow costume.

The Corn Festival is basically a giant craft show with food and music. Up and down King street hundreds of vendors come to sell their handmade products. I noticed a lot of jewelry stands this year and less of the antique-ish potpourri that usually dots the streets.

I got myself a pretty blue abalone shell bracelet. I couldn't resist. It was calling to me from one of the tables. It said buy me, buy me. I almost got one in pink too. But then I took a deep breath and put it back down.

Palin for VP

2008-08-30T18:02:00.005-04:00

Ohhh, goody. I am quite excited at McCain's Vice Presidential choice. His campaign managers must be geniouses. Sarah Palin very well could win McCain the election.

Right on the shirt tails of the DNC that had the press buzzing about Obama's acceptance of the democratic nomination, McCain's announcement made everyone forget. Palin has the unique ability to stir up the mix, woo disgruntled Hillary supporters, soften McCain's image, and roundup conservative republicans. The McCain/Palin duo just made this election more of a competition.

I love what Marginal Revolution has to say about her:

Around the blogosphere you will see many left-wing writers criticizing Palin for lack of experience. Maybe this criticism is correct, but these commentators are falling into The Trap. Most American voters do not themselves know much detail about foreign affairs and their vision of an experienced leader does not require such knowledge...

The more the word "experience" is repeated, no matter what the context, the more it will hurt Obama. Palin needs to appear confident and capable on TV and in the debates, but her ticket is not going to lose votes if she cannot properly spell Kyrgyzstan or for that matter place it on a map.

Ha. Yeah. Somebody else I know doesn't have "experience" either. And he isn't just the candidate for VP. Talk about a complaint that shoots you in the foot.

Ironic. Obama doesn't pick Clinton and here McCain pick a female running mate instead. Hahhahaa. One thing is for sure, no matter which party claims the white house, a historic presidential election this will be!

CHANGE how?

2008-08-29T00:15:00.008-04:00

I watched Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight. I loved how some people were there with their change signs and tears streaming down their face. Did they have auditions to make it into the Denver stadium?

As a rhetorician, I'll be the first to admit that Obama has smooth and collected public appearance. He is a good orator and resonates well with a younger crowd. He said all the right things and told all the right personal anecdotes. Poor little Barack, from a single-parent family, pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Yeah, Columbia. And Harvard. But he's just your average guy. McCain; however, he's a neo-conservative elitist, with money in his back pocket since the day he was born.

I like what blogger, Megan McArdle had to say:

Obama makes you want to believe in him. That's why the conservatives hate him really hate him--the way that many liberals still say the name "Reagan" the way my grandmother said "Satan". Obama will not change the world. But he makes his ideas appealing by sheer force of personality.

So True. Obama can rally the crowds. And this scares me.

Within Obama's flowing words tonight, he made some big promises. End dependence on foreign oil? Stop the war in Iraq? Fix the health care system? Tax breaks for 95% of the American population? Get big business to create job in the US instead of overseas? Great Obama. BUT HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO THIS? Change. Yeah yeah. We all want that. We all look forward to better days ahead, but let's be realistic, our friend gave us a bunch fancy words and with no manpower behind them. He can't do those things; and especially not with the policy that he promotes.

Sometimes hearing what I want to hear, (i.e. change for a better America), only makes me more skeptical that I will never get it from the source of those words. Show me how the government is going to be more responsible based on sound theory and practical implementation and you can have my vote. Republican Convention next week--hopefully empty promises with be followed by solid substance. Can't somebody have good intentions and the means for following through?

Get Out the Dust Buster

2008-08-27T22:12:00.005-04:00

Someone once asked me what dust was, not dust of the earth, but rather those pesky amorphous flakes of unknown substance resting on all inanimate objects on our trophy cases. Hmmm. That is a good question. I've always thought that it was dead skin cells, but what is this mysterious stuff we call "dust" for real?

Well, I was partly right:

Dust is made of just about everything. Household dust is composed primarily of things like human skin and hair, waxes, pollen, mold, fungi, lichen, tiny particles of wood, paint, fibers from fabrics such as wool, nylon, rayon, acrylic (and in the disco '70s lots and lots of polyester), foam rubber, sheet rock, plant and vegetable matter, insect parts, and of course every form of pollution such as auto and industrial emissions, heavy hydrocarbon waste from your oil or gas heater, even tiny bits of metal debris from door hinges or any place where metal and friction meet, lots of food waste, and loads of paper fiber...

Ahhhh. Most disturbing: dust mites.

Unseen in the dust where we rest are colonies of eight-legged relatives to spiders and lobsters, mating, defecating and gorging themselves on our cast-off skin.

Arlian, who has studied dust mites for more than 30 years, says that by the end of summer our beds and easy chairs are often teeming with microscopic dust mites. He said past studies in Miami Valley homes have found as many as 18,000 mites per gram of dust.

Dust mites are more than just creepy; they're harmful. Researchers believe the critters and their waste can cause asthma, coughing, itchy eyes and running noses and may account for about 30 percent of all allergic discomfort.

Holy Cow! Gross. I had no idea that dust was as completely disgusting as it is. My question now is how can those silly feather dusters work? Don't they just spread the dead cells/mites/debris around more? I think you are going to have to excuse me while I go start my dusting.

Sources:
What is Everyday Dust Made of?
Life Nuts and Bolts; Household Dust is a Fact of Life

Acclimation

2008-08-26T23:43:00.005-04:00

Orientation, orientation, orientation.

That is all I have been doing and will be doing this week. Teaching requirements, teaching tips, teaching liabilities, teaching pedagogy, teaching fears, teaching problems; teaching, teaching, teaching.

BUT, at the same time student concerns, student requirements, student adjustment, student needs, student life, student welcome.

How does one perfect the fine art of both being a teacher and a student at the same time? That seems to be the million dollar question of the week.

Maryland Love

2008-08-25T15:44:00.001-04:00

Oh my, I've been busy. I went into the city again on Friday for dessert (cheesecake) at Friendship Heights with friends of friends. Saturday I went out for dinner and walk in Clarendon, VA. Sunday I read a bunch of chapters from my textbook that I am teaching from. I still have a lot of rapid reading to do before classes start next week. Ahhhh. Today, orientation started bright and early in the morning. We met some of our faculty and got keys to our offices. Yay! I like this whole grad student/TA thing

We also walked around campus and the Comcast stadium is huge!! I think they take basketball seriously here. There is also a mini-farm right on campus and a multi-level super-awesome gym. They even have an Olympic sized pool outdoors in addition to the two indoors. This Maryland place is crazy. Every day I am more and more happy that I am here.

A Day in the City

2008-08-23T15:16:00.007-04:00

Thursday, a friend and I spent a day in Washington DC doing the touristy things. We visited just about every memorial on the mall. From the Washington Memorial to Lincoln Memorial and back again. I really like downtown DC, it's such a good place to spend a nice sunny afternoon. The city has very clean feel to it; that is, except for the water edges of the Tidal Basin. There were a few piece of litter floating around and some lovely green foam/slime. We happened to find an abandoned ice cream sign floating in the water, and it just looked so sad. No thanks, I don't believe I want that Popsicle.

We are going to be experts on the Metro soon. Everything was going really well, until we messed everything up right at our last transfer when we literally ran on a train, sat down in delight, looked up at the sign, realized we were on the wrong one, and ran hurriedly ran off again before we were whisked away to who knows where.

At night we met up with people from our cohort in our department at UMD at Comet Pizza and Ping Pong (yes, you guessed it, a restaurant that combines pizza and ping pong). We got to meet all the people that will be spending the next 2-4 years with, and really think we have a good group. Everyone is friendly and sweet, and very intelligent. I can't wait to get to know everyone better.

Settling In

2008-08-20T23:13:00.006-04:00

Last night my new roomie and I watched Phantom of the Opera together. Yes, I think we will get along just fine. (Thank you Gerard Butler).

I also used the gas stove in our kitchen for the first time, and managed to make a horrible mess. I dumped a can of soup in my new pot, put the lid on, set it on the burner, and wouldn't you know as soon I look up, there is Campbell's Cream of Mushroom rapidly boiling over the top of the pot. I don't know what happened. I thought I had it set on medium heat, but apparently it was on super high. It takes real talent to mess up soup...

Today I explored campus with another newbie from the Department of Communication. I really think that I am going to like it here. The people I've met so far seem very friendly and the campus is nice. UMD has a completely different atmosphere than my undergrad school had.

I am so happy to be in the Maryland/DC area.

However, my new friend and I quickly learned that listening to eager direction-givers is not always a smart idea. Maps, on the other hand, never lie (if you can read them correctly). We took a few large round-about circles to get places, but that's ok, we chalked that up to exercise and adventure. That's what exploring is all about anyway.

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato

2008-08-19T14:11:00.001-04:00

My grandparents sent along tomatoes from their garden and chocolate zucchini bread when I left. So that's what I'll be eating until I have a chance to go look for a grocery store nearby. I will go store searching this afternoon since I can not get a student ID card until I register for classes, without which I cannot sign my lease yet either. Oh complications.

As far as tomatoes go though, I never realized how good they are all by themselves. Slice them up, dump some salt on them, and gobble down. Why don't people eat them like this more often?

Moving Day

2008-08-17T23:14:00.004-04:00

Saturday was moving day for me! Hello College Park. Goodbye Shippensburg.

Boxes, boxes boxes everywhere. I packed up an entire truck and still couldn't fit all my stuff in.

Moving isn't exactly the most fun task ever.

Getting my desk and bookshelves up the stairs was a precarious task. Some of the furnite had nowhere sturdy to grab onto, so the giant hunk of wood wanted to slip right out of our hands. My dad kept asking me when the football team was planning on running by to help out. Right. As I am staying in graduate housing, I told him the football players don't usually make it to grad school. Ouch, that was mean of me. Thankfully, we did eventually get everything up the stairs in one piece; my back and arms are sore though. All I wanted to do on Sunday is lay flat, and honestly, that's about all I did.

I still have everything sitting around the apartment, but once I'm finished unpacking and decorating I'll upload a photo for you to see.

Fancy Smancy Laptop Case...and Handmade Too

2008-08-15T14:02:00.002-04:00

I sewed something! I made a cute bag for my laptop and another one for the charger and cords. The first was actually just practice to see if I was up the task, and surprisingly, it turned out well.

Unfortunately, I still can't use my sewing machine that I got for Christmas two years ago (since I am a sewing moron, and every time I touch the thing, the threads from the bobbin get ridiculously twisted while the material gets jammed around the needle until it starts making angry noises), so this project was all done by hand.

I used scrap material and an old blue flannel shirt for the lining that ought to have been cut up years ago for violating every rule of fashion. I took pleasure in cutting the flannel shirt up and sticking pins in it. Bah ha ha.

But anyway, after I was finished sewing the first bag, the trim around the top turned out being uneven at the seams. That's ok, I had a light bulb moment. I found ribbon and tied little bows right over the bad alignment. Problem averted. Then I sewed buttons on side for decoration. Voila! A free laptop cover and cord-carrying bag. It only took me about 6 hours to make...

Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day

2008-08-14T16:19:00.003-04:00

Sunflowers waving in the wind. I am shocked at how tall those things get. How is it possible that stalks could get that high without toppling over? I am just amazed. What keeps sunflowers from drooping down?? They seem so top heavy.

I believe that sunflowers equal smiles. They take you away to a fun sunshiny place. They make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. They mean sunny days, water sprinklers, iced-lemonade, and the smell of freshly cut grass. Sunflowers just make you happy; that is, of course, unless you are crazy. Although, crazy people probably like sunflowers too.

Just for fun: Step by Step Guide for growing sunflowers.

Mac Love (And Hate)

2008-08-13T16:02:00.005-04:00

My Macbook and accessories came in the mail last week (the FedEx man woke me up 4 different days in a row since I had to sign for the packages that all happened to be delivered separately. He probably thought I am a disheveled individual; I made a habit of shoving on pants over my pjs while hopping to the door, my hair a mess, and not being able to see the box to sign without my contacts in yet).

But anyway, I have a love-hate sort of relationship with my new Mac. I love the design and setup; it's so sleek. I hate that you can't double click or push a the delete button to erase to the right; those two things frustrate me to no end. I love the new programs that I am still testing out from iPhoto to iChat. I hate that it takes me 10 minutes to do anything that on my old computer would've taken me 1. Argh. I think it's just the adjustment period. Soon we will have a love-only relationship going on.

If nothing else, every time I look at the computer, I swoon at how pretty it is. The glowing apple on the back is the best thing since sliced bread. And did I mention that the Incase cover is purple?

Just my style.

Mac and I will get along just fine.

A Good Place for Hiking

2008-08-12T23:59:00.002-04:00

Ironic. On Thursday, I starting writing this post about how much I love the South Central Pennsylvania area because there are so many nice hiking trails around, then, that very night, a trail took revenge. I started on a hike, it began to rain, the finale of So You Think You Can Dance was about to be on in a half an hour, so I brilliantly decided to run down the the mountain. Well, I was wearing old sneakers, and the rocks were really slippery wet, so I took a tumble and sliced open my knee. Smart, I know. At least I didn't break anything. I told my mom that I was close enough to the road that I could have at least crawled down the side of the mountain and laid on the road until somebody stopped. A great relief, it didn't come to that. It probably would've been a sketchy white unlabeled van that would be the first to drive by too...

However, as I started writing earlier, I do love living in a place where there is easy access to nature. I love the beauty and freedom of a solitary trail. I love the climb up into the middle-of-nowhere, where birds sing, turtles scuttle, mountain laurels flower, and vistas overlook the valley.

When my brother-in-law who lives in Texas was here, we hit up almost all the trails within driving distance to Shippensburg. When I make my move to the city at the end of this week, I am going to miss the nature I have grown to love this summer.

Maybe the DC area has lots of nature too? I know downtown DC is at least landscaped well. How about the suburbs? I guess I'll find out.

Picasso's Bullfighting Aquatints

2008-08-11T15:58:00.014-04:00

A snapshot in time.

Most people don't realize that Pablo Picasso had a whole lifetime of art apart from the cubism movement that he pioneered.

He did tons of other works.

When I visited the Museo Picasso in Malaga (the birth place of our beloved cubist), I was SHOCKED at the breadth and depth of his early works. There was one (quite good) realist painting of a girl sitting in a chair that was not abstract in the least which he painted when he was only 15. There was pottery and my favorite, his aquatints. Entitled, La Tauromaquia ("The Bullfight" translated from Spanish to English), this series of 26 panels includes some of my favorite images of all time.

Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique which is a variant of etching. Created in 1957, Picasso's aquatints are exquisite in line and form. I love the black and white contrast. The movement of the drawings. The character of the images. The hurried expressiveness of the bullfighting scene.

This lesser known side of Picasso is powerful, exquisite, and by far, my favorite.

Win Me an Olympic Medal, and I'll Pay You

2008-08-08T22:04:00.006-04:00

8.8.08 The Olympics start today. Go USA!

My favorites to watch are beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, diving, indoor volleyball, synchronized swimming, basketball and the rarely broadcasted, rhythmic gymnastics.

Watching the opening ceremony, it sort of makes me feel bad that America is so good at everything. What athlete wouldn't want to train with the best coaches and resources in a country where the standard of living is probably 10 times better than their home country? It's almost unfair. Some small and poor countries march in with one lone person on their Olympic team, and you know they have no chance competing against giants like the USA, Russia, Canada, and China.

The NBC broadcasters were saying that some nations pay athletes from third world countries to compete on their behalf. In some cases, countries offer $20,000 for a medal win. That seems to go against the spirit of the Olympics to bring the nations of the world together for celebration and fair competition. I get the sinking feeling that "buying" athletes tiptoes toward a vague and undefined ethical boundary.

Evening Out the Happiness Train

2008-08-07T13:37:00.006-04:00

I find happiness studies fascinating. According to Justin Wolfers at Freakonomics, happiness inequality in the United States is decreasing both among gender and race, despite increasing among those with education differences. The graph below shows how happiness inequality is generally decreasing in each of the groups listed.

Our key finding is that most of the movements in happiness inequality reflect changes in happiness inequality within even narrowly-defined demographic groups, and these changes are quite pervasive.

While this is a statistical explanation, it simply begs the question: What changes could have narrowed happiness inequality so pervasively? And juxtaposing our observed trends in happiness inequality with measures of income inequality — which have pretty much risen for the past four decades in a row — presents a real puzzle. How might we reconcile these trends?

I have my theories...perhaps happiness isn't as dependent on income as some would like to claim.

I believe that happiness is evening out because happiness has everything to do with life attitude. Richer people are becoming less happy because they have realized that money can't buy them the most important things is life, and they spend so much time concerned about their money that their enjoyment of it actually decreases. Poorer people are becoming more happy because they have growing access to all the fundamentals in life and often times their poorness is only poor in relative terms. People without money have been profoundly good at focusing on the more 'meaningful' elements of life throughout history.

The main idea??? HAPPINESS IS NOT DEPENDANT ON INCOME (beyond a basic needs/survival level). I get sick of hearing that assumption over and over again. Many people without money are the most satisfied and happy I have ever met.

When people do attempt to base their happiness on their real or perceived level of financial prosperity (or any other externality for that matter)---that is when they will never achieve the happiness that alludes them.

What Happened to Red Watermelons?

2008-08-06T13:24:00.002-04:00

No no, it is not pineapple you see. It is watermelon.

Yellow watermelon is the new thing.

Red is out. Yellow is in.

For some reason, I don't think yellow watermelon tastes the same. Psychologically?? it tastes more like cantaloupe and less like watermelon, which is a sad sad change for any melony-fruit.

Also negative, the yellow watermelon I had was seedless. Why eat watermelon unless you can have a speed-spitting contest afterwards? I am just not a fan.

Gross, Too Cute

2008-08-05T15:29:00.000-04:00

I promised myself I would never be the type of ~~blogger~~ person who incessantly broods over anything cuddly, furry, or ridiculously cute (i.e. pets).

Example: People at these disgusting sites i can has cheezburger, Awwpix, Cute Cat, Daily Pets, Random Kitty Generator, and Cute Overload.

I am making an exception now. My sister's dog and two kitties are about the most adorable things ever. It almost makes me sick.

Especially this little guy. He's so lovable, and tired.

I have been reduced to adding a "y" or "ie" to every word I use when I talk to the itty bitty cutesie wootsies.

*Shaking my head* What has happened to me? I've turned into a bowl of mush.

iTouch, he he he

2008-08-04T15:53:00.001-04:00

I started blogging this post from an iPod touch. Oh la la.

Soon Aemelia is about to be the proud owner one of these hot pieces of metal.

Funny thing. I didn't realize the official name of the device was an iPod Touch. I thought it was simply called the "iTouch." So in conversation, I start talking about iTouch this and iTouch that. My friends thought I was some kind of weirdo creep talking about how I like to touch things. Nooooo. An iPod. Really that's what I meant.

Now the jokes never stop. iTouch.

Good thing Apple saw the futility in potentially naming their product that. The puns would get out of hand in about, oh, one minute.

Movin' to the Country...Gonna Eat a lot of Peaches

2008-08-02T23:40:00.002-04:00

Yummy. It's peach harvest season! My mom and I went to the orchard on Mt. Rock Road in Shippensburg today. Mmmmm. They had fans blowing in their little tent and the smell of fresh ripe peaches wafted to our noses. Oh. It was delightful.

The beautiful orange peaches were calling out to us, especially in their antique wooden baskets. My favorite thing about peach season would have to be a bowl of sliced peaches with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on top. Sigh. I am dreaming about it now.

The worst thing about peach season, however, would have to be peaches with the skin still on them. Ewwww, they are not meant to be eaten that way. Those fuzzies on my tongue?? Argh, I can't handle that.

Paradox of Self

2008-07-31T21:09:00.003-04:00

I've been waxing philosophical lately about what I will coin, "the paradox of self." After a diversity seminar at work a few weeks ago, I realized that there exists a whole new dimension to stereotypes that I had never considered before. Individuals can define themselves by different groups, traits, and beliefs without being the whole of that group. That is obvious. That is the basis of faulty stereotypes and categorizations. The CIA Factbook can't tell you who a person of FILL IN NATIONALITY HERE truly is. I think that type of ridiculous stereotyping is easy to recognize (or at least ought to be).

However, individuals can also define themselves in seemingly opposing terms. Part of the essence of humanity rests within a paradox. Stereotyping is not just assuming that a person fits a bill because of one of their identifiers, but also that they can not identify with other traits on a conditional basis. I can be a religious feminist. A conservative humanitarian. A procrastinator go-getter. An intellectual idiot. An outgoing introvert. A dreamer and a realist. I can be one thing and the exact "opposite." Humans are composed of layers and layers of identities with varying levels of densities.

If people could figure this out, there would be a lot less misunderstanding in the world. Unfortunately, many groups or ideological followers expect fellow identifiers to believe or act the same as them. BUT, here's the news. This type of prejudice, faulty logic, stereotyping is wrong and detrimental to the exploration of human identity in both self and in others. The costs of refusing to recognize paradoxes are great.

It has taken me many years to recognize the paradox within myself and regarding others. I can be two things at once, and nobody can tell me that one part of me invalidates another part. Within all humans exist a paradox; and this paradox is a valid way of expressing and defining one's self, no matter the contradictory social messages that suggests otherwise.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

2008-07-30T16:49:00.007-04:00

I have finally made my Mac vs. PC decision that I was ruminating about earlier (thanks to all of you who contributed your advice). Drum roll please...

A Mac. I listened to the majority, and ultimately, my brother-in-law's enthusiasm for all things Mac convinced me in the end. I am hopeful that I will make the adjustment smoothly and painlessly. The MacBooks just seem so modern, reliable, and design-friendly. I am ready for the change.

However, as I added things to my shopping cart, it seemed like more and more unexpected costs kept popping up. For example: I was advised to purchase extra GBs of memory for $100. And if I am buying more memory, I might as well just get the faster processor for another $100. And if I don't want my laptop to get scratched, I should buy a cover which runs at 50 bucks. And if I spend that on just the cover, I ought to buy AppleCare to protect the machine itself which amounts to no small sum of $350. Sigh. It's the classic lesson that I learned in elementary school: If you give a mouse a cookie, he will ask for a glass of milk.

And then he'll ask for a straw. And then a napkin. Followed by a mirror, scissors, a broom, and well, you get the point. (You've got to the read the book by Laura Joffe Numeroff. It is a childhood classic). The point is that soon the mouse will be living with you and asking for cookies all the time. There is no end to the chain of requests, events, or costs resulting from a seemingly isolated incident. All things in the known world are attached to strings.

For all I know, my new MacBook could be a marionette. I'll own one of everything the Apple Store sells by next week.

bella, the movie

2008-07-29T15:40:00.000-04:00

I just watched the movie, bella, for the second time, and I think I liked it even more than the first time. It has the whole independent/foreign film feel to it. It was artful and emotional. The plot is simple but beautiful; the cinematography basic but insightful. My favorite scenes are when a blind man asks Nina to describe the day to him in exchange for one of his folded paper origami creations. See clip here. Another one of my favorites is when girls on the street compliment Nina's Mexican dress that they think Jose spent a fortune on, but really it was her waitressing uniform.

The casting was excellent. Eduardo Verástegui is a perfect soccer player turned mysterious chef, and Tammy Blanchard is a great down-and-out New York City waitress. Alejandro Sanz even put one of his songs into the film that infuses the soul of his music with the lives of the characters.

After watching this movie my heart feels heavy (in a good way). This is a film filled with humanity and brimming with a positive message despite seemingly overbearing hardships. You've got to watch this one.

Nothing Says America Like Flags and Fairs

2008-07-28T22:16:00.003-04:00

Remember my obsession with those flag photos, you know the ones that I've been posting over the the past year here, here, here, here, and here? Well, finally my obsession paid off.

My digitally enhanced photo won "Best of Show" in the photography section of the fair. I was surprised...I suppose pleasantly so. The judges just must have wanted a big slice of Americana. The majestic Washington monument, superimposed by a nighttime DC scene. Red, white, and blue flags. Let freedom ring. Proud to be an American. Yadda yadda yadda.

My other photos, painting and jewelry also pulled in a few firsts. All the money I won will go directly back into buying more beads and frames. In truth though, I hardly even won enough to cover what it took to print out the photos that I entered this year. At least there's the validation---yes, my art means something.

Plus, I get to share my photos with more people than just my lovely blog readers. But let's be honest, you guys are my *favoritest*!

Fairlicious

2008-07-27T23:37:00.004-04:00

Several days this week, I went to the fair with friends to catch up and eat artery-clogging food. This coming week I will be officially detoxing from all things fried and/or frozen.

Although, I have realized that the fair generally is less as exciting as I believe it should be, I do like spending time with people (or leaving them waiting in the stadium all alone for half an hour, sorry Tami). I do like the idea that SOMETHING is occurring in good ole Shippensburg as well. And as Emily C. said, "It's always going to be our hometown" (take that as you will).

After only stopping by the tractor pull at the fair for a few minutes, Emily W. and I about contracted black lung. The good earth had to have frowned upon the smoke that came out of those tractors. It was sort of like watching a coal mine explosion. I'm pretty sure I complained about the same thing last year... For some reason though, the tractor pull always pulls in a big crowd.

In better news, the girl scouts made super delicious thin mint chocolate milkshakes. Mmmmmm. Chocolate was dripping down the cup, onto my hands, down my mouth, and onto my feet. Ugh, perhaps too much chocolate.

We also petted the animals. They were cute. Especially the cows and goats.

We affectionately termed the goats, "the love goats." They liked taking naps on each others' backs.

Overall, I would say I had a fair-licious week.

Whispering Sweet Nothings to...My Water Bottle

2008-07-25T02:47:00.001-04:00

Oh, beautiful water. Thank you. May you be blessed by kindness and peace. I wish you happiness.

Crazy? Well, Japanese scientist, Dr. Masaru Emoto, claims that the structure of water molecules can change based on the thoughts of the humans observing them. He taped a bunch of positive and negative words onto different glasses of distilled water before freezing them and taking photos of the water crystals that formed. Via What the Bleep:

Dr. Masaru Emoto discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. He found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors.

Here's an example of two of his water crystal photos, one which he told to die and the other which he thanked. They certainly look different.

Honestly, I want to believe that human determination can affect the very structure of water, and I like flirting with the idea that the human mind could manifest realities. But let's be serious. I can't will it not to rain tomorrow. I can't will my car not to break down. Thoughts cannot transcend "fate." The human mind simply can't assume control over forces that are complete externalities (including water molecules).

For more info....

Detailed laudatory info at Life Enthusiast:

From Mr. Emoto's work we are provided with factual evidence, that human vibrational energy, thoughts, words, ideas and music, affect the molecular structure of water.

Detailed denigratory info at Is Masaru Emoto for Real?:

After the lengthy review of Emoto’s research methods and results, I have come to believe that Dr. Emoto is offering pseudoscience to the masses in the guise of defensible research.

Personally, I believe that exploring the idea of human possibilities is intriguing, even if the theories do fall short in the end.

Where Did I Put the Magnifying Glass?

2008-07-24T00:53:00.005-04:00

I especially like this one (from over there at indexed).

Why does it feel like I'm signing my life away? Do I really have to read all those those tiny ink blots?