Category: Uncategorized

So, if I drop this community economic development course, which, honestly, is annoying me, and is probably my biggest behind-ness, I could just pick up sustainable development next semester and never worry about it. This idea almost has merit, but not really.

This was the first time I’ve seen Clinton talk in person. My dad was briefly personally recruited by him to be a doc in Arkansas, while he was governor, but declined. Let’s just call it a bullet dodged and move on.

I think we hit a pretty good balance of getting there early enough to have decent seats, but not waiting too long for them. His speech centered around 5 points.

1. We need good security from terrorism. But he was quite explicit in pointing out that good security in the case of terrorism is the stuff you never hear about, I believe he actually said “never gets seen in the paper”. He didn’t mention Valerie Wilson, though that would have been an excellent opportunity to do so, if he were trying to make a partisan slam speech.
2. We need to make more friends and fewer enemies, turning enemies into friends, is in fact, job number one. He pointed out the opinion polls turning for America and against Bin Laden in countries receiving US aid after national disasters.
3. He cited a need for international cooperations as opposed to going it alone. At this point, he got into a compare and contrast with the current administration. I don’t remember him making a strong case for this point, but the audience, myself included, was highly receptive, and I wasn’t taking notes. He did make the case that the US is currently in a position of power, and that that power will likely decline, and that we may wish to set the world up so that it’s the way we want it when “we aren’t the biggest dog on the block.”
4. He talked about the importance of caring for our population, and maintaining our environment. He made the point that we are rare in our failure to provide the health of our citizens, that it’s not economically efficient, and several other points besides. He compared our national healthcare expenditures as a percent of gdp. He compared our administrative overhead in the private healthcare system and noted that it was way higher than everyone else’s.
5. His final point was about balancing our budget, both at the federal level and on the individual level. And the danger of mortgaging our future for current consumption. (I look guiltily at my own credit card debt here).

And he tied all of it in to the morality and/or ethics of how we want to live and how we think we ought to live. It was a good speech. As I expected, I very much enjoyed it. The two hours of crowd to get in was a bit much, but so it goes. It was good, and I’m glad I went. Matt provided conversation such that I didn’t mind the wait so much. And thoughtful commentary afterwards.

Friday evening, I hung out at the qscc, then went home, changed and went to JetSet for the QGPA happy hour, and followed it up with some club time at the Saloon. Saturday afternoon, Matt and I went to see Mr Clinton speak. More on that later. Then the pics which you’ve been treated to, and at least one of which I’ll make into an icon at some point, so that I have a pic that’s remotely current. And then, Saturday night, Matt and I went to Bethany’s birthday party, again at the saloon. I had had enough crowded, noisy environs for one day, and called it early. Today has been mercifully low on the social interaction. ffxi (now thf41, with the marauder’s knife), and started playing firefly episodes, so I was compelled to come in and watch. I like it. I wish the series hadn’t been canceled. *shrug*

I wonder if a direct to dvd release for a tv series would be economically viable.

And reading on embryonic stem cells and human cloning for tomorrow. Yay! =)

As part of my day with Matt of SnarkMarket fame, we did a little photo shoot.

Some of the pics I liked best are in their raw and huge form available on the web.

Why do I do these things?
arcane trickster

Got a haircut (paid via bank card)
Got my new glasses & contacts (prepaid w/ bank card)
Saw a skyway after a truck tore out part of its underside. People were still walking in it, and it looked stable, but I took the ground-bound route.

Along the way, I found I was missing my bank card. And I had less than $8 in cash on me. Medium soup and mini-baguette for lunch.
Several hours later, no one seems to have charged anything to it. I suspect I left it at home somehow.

I’ve decided to get a LG VX-9800 once I get my hands on my credit card again. It has a keyboard, it plays mp3s, it takes pictures and records video. It _should_ fit in my pocket. If I re-up w/ Verizon for another two years, it’s only $200. Two birds, one stone. I’ll get a better camera when I’m better off financially. After I get me that 17″ flat panel.

Now at work, and suffering for want of motivation.

So, if I land in Columbus late in the evening on tuesday nov 22nd, is there anyone in the area who’d be around to hang out?

In Dumping in Dixie Robert Bullard lays out these disparities and the actions that have been taken against them, as well as proposing an approach to combatting them in the future. His strategy is well thought out, but fails to address the fundamental resource constraints of these communities.

I was going to take a new picture of myself for this thing, ‘cuz I’m severely procrastinating. Well, it turns out my old camera is nowhere to be found. But that’s not such a terrible thing because it really is an old camera. We’re talking a christmas gift in the late 90’s and it was not cutting edge then. So, I want to replace it with some decent. Not an ooh-ahh camera, an affordable camera, that will last for a few years. Suggestions?

Also, my cell phone is limping along. Its problem is that it no longer fits the charger without a carefully adjusted folded up bit of paper. My contract with verizon is nearly up, and they’ve been offering incentives to sign back up with them. I’m debating the merits of changing to someone that’ll give me a free phone or going with a better Verizon deal + a new phone that sucks less for text messaging. That’d probably be one with some minikeyboard deal. Once I’ve hit that point, is it a small jump to get web-browsing and shit? Input most gratefully received.

Finally, I think I want to replace my crappy monitor with a flat panel.

Now all I need is a robotic masseur & I’m set.