May 2004 Archives

Yes friends, I think the apocalypse is upon us. Or at least, upon my apartment building. As you heard me whine about incessantly, I had flooding in my apartment last week due to a pipe bursting on a floor above me. Just when you thought things were back to normal, this afternoon an apartment on the 15th floor of my building caught on fire. I was in my apartment on the 5th floor when I heard the alarms go off. There wasn't any smoke or fire on my floor, but I decided to grab my purse and my computer (yes, I know, geeky) and head outside anyway. By the time I made it downstairs, there were already 4 or 5 fire trucks in the street. I don't have many details, other than that it was a small fire, and was mostly contained to the apartment. I don't know if it was occupied or not, although I don't think anyone was injured. They let us back in the building about a half hour later, and I am happy to report that there is no damage to my room.

So, I am expecting a plague of locusts any day now. Just in case, I am planning to take out a flood, fire, and locust insurance policy. :)

Of course, then you see things like this, and realize that a) things akin to the apocalypse is happening on a regular basis across the world, and b) you're not in such bad shape after all.

I had a very surreal moment earlier this morning walking the streets of NY this morning. I was up and out much earlier than usual, due to the fact that my apartment management wanted to get into my room to bang a hole in my bathroom wall, in order to replace pipes that have created several floods over the past week. [another story for another time] Anyway, rather than go into work early (god forbid) I decided to stop at the Hungarian Pastry Shop for a cup of coffee in the sun. As I walked along 111th St, between Bdway and Amsterdam, I realized that there were a) way more men randomly hanging out on a small, quiet, shaded side street than I'd ever seen and b) absolutely no women aside from myself. At all. More pedestrians entered the street, all men. Coupled with the fact that I was hazy from very little sleep, this seemed extremely odd and slightly disconcerting. Some sort of alternate universe where the men outnumbered the women, 20 to 1. Hmm. Beam me up, Scotty! :)

Joking aside, the dark side to this experience is the very real potential for being harassed. Dana explains this well in a recent post. I'm always aware of my surroundings when I walk around by myself, and being alone on a side street full of shady men is not a situation a woman wants to find herself in. So it goes in the city.

Although Disney doesn't want us to see this film, Michael Moore's follow-up to Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival. Well done! I found Bowling to be more docu-drama than documentary, but I've heard that 9/11 comes across with a more coherent message. So now the question is, when do we get to see it?

Well it's a lovely day in New York, if a bit hot and muggy. I don't have school work to do on a Saturday for the first time in months, so I'm going to grab a copy of the Times and an iced coffee and head to the park. Ahhh.

Steve has been a real link machine today, forwarding all sorts of sites that demonstrate the diversity of matieral that you can find on the web. Because I'm feeling too lazy to post something original, and because I found all this stuff funny and/or horrifying, let me share some of the highlights. (Then again, you can't really accuse me of being lazy. After all, this is what the original weblogs were thought to be - literally, a list of one's travels on the web [links]. Although most early webloggers did make the effort to find the links themselves, rather than waiting for them to appear in their inbox, I will grant you that.)

Ever wonder what happened to Kirk Cameron? Me either, until I saw this. Evangelical Christians unite! Be sure to take the Love Quiz, which is actually another attempt at indoctrination, disguised as a fun quiz.

Jon Stewart delivered the graduation speech at his alma mater, William and Mary. It's good stuff. I heart Jon Stewart. We had biologist E.O. Wilson at our graduation... eminent, stately, and boring as hell. Ah well.

Last but not least, a person with even more time on their hands than I reconstructed scenes from the Old Testament using Legos. It's a riot, and extremely well done, with a definite comic angle.

Themes for the day seem to be celebrities (or ex-celebrities turned fundamentalists) and religion. Hmm.

"For when it absolutely, positively needs to be blown up overnight
US Marines"

- seen on a bumper sticker in Ludlow, VT

"I'm laying out a nice script, a nice James Cameron script, with a great, great ending in the end."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Have a good quote? Leave a comment!

Speaking of Vermont (see this post), tomorrow I'm driving up to the Green Mountain State to attend the wedding of my friend and colleague, Jamie, and his fiancée Erin. I'm very excited to get out of the city, given that it's been a stultifying 80 degrees the past few days, with air so thick you can chew it. I'm excited to spend 6 hours in a car alone, all by myself, with only music to keep me company, or in complete silence if I choose (a luxury here in NYC). Mostly I'm excited to see my friends tie the knot, they're great people and I wish them all the best. Also, I'm going by myself, and am hoping to meet some of his single friends. I'll keep you posted. ;)

Maybe you'll feel a little less safe after reading this Wired article that reports widespread diploma fraud among government officials. Apparently, this includes "National Nuclear Security Administration employees who have top-secret security clearances and "emergency operations responsibilities." Fantastic!

Which brings up a question. If, as the article says, employers don't really check if your diploma comes from an accredited school, WHY THE HELL AM I IN GRAD SCHOOL????

On the front page of the New York Times online edition this morning: How to Catch Fish in Vermont: No Bait, No Tackle, Just Bullets

Oh. My. God. Too funny. I have to say that in my 3 + years in Vermont, I never saw this particular sport in action, although I did see my share of rednecks (ask me about the Addison County Fair and Field Days). I asked a friend of mine, who is as close to a native Vermonter as I know, if he's ever seen fish shooting in action, and he has not. Then again, he's not a redneck. (yes, yes, politically incorrect, i know. oh well.) Between Howard Dean and fish shooting, Vermont's looking pretty good in the national spotlight, huh? :)

While an FDA review board has said that Plan B, the currently prescription-only morning after pill, can be sold over the counter, it's unlikely that we'll see it on shelves soon. The New York Times is reporting that the FDA, which normally follows the recommendations of its review board, has asked for further testing. According to the article, "Advocates say that making the pill more broadly available will prevent unwanted pregnancies while opponents say it will encourage promiscuity and risky sex." Promiscuity and risky sex, all rolled into one little pill? Sign me up!

Sigh. The whole thing sounds awfully familiar to me.

In honor of this lovely holiday, I will be dining on Mexican food and drinking mojitos (decidedly non-Mexican, but hey, they're yummy). Speaking of mojitos (nectar of the gods), the AP is reporting that Richland, NJ will be renaming itself Mojito for a few weeks this month. Yes, it is an advertising ploy: "Bacardi offered to give the township $5,000 for recreation projects such as new playground equipment in public parks." Better than being named Coke for a month, tho.

Here I am, blogging again after months away. I used to be a good, dutiful blogger, churning out several posts a week on blogs (and other tech) in education. Then I went away to grad school, and it turned out that blogging didn't fit on my list of priorities, which goes something like: reading articles, reading textbooks, reading more articles, working, writing papers, working some more, eating, sleeping, and socializing. In that order. Although on the better days, socializing moved up a notch. :) Anyway, the semester is winding down (1 year of grad school complete! The overwhelming emotion that I feel is... relief), so I've taken it upon myself to get my ass in gear and start blogging again. This time, I'm going to try it in a less structured kind of way, so this blog won't be focused on one topic, but will look more like a "traditional" blog (I think we're at the point where we can say that) comprised of many topics. In this, I've been inspired by my friends and co-workers Gus and Dana, who are much crazier and more interesting than I. Therefore, I'll be stealing their ideas on a regular basis. No, just kidding. Not really.

And, they're off...

This is a test. this is only a test.