Eragon

So, I saw Eragon on Sunday with . And, despite its utter lack of originality, I kinda liked it. The plot is star wars, the setting is lord of the rings, and the dragon came straight from pern (but lost the teleportation along the way). I thought the acting was pretty decent, and the special effects well done. Or maybe the company just put me in a good mood. If you go in expecting to be disappointed, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Opinions and Reason

We like to think our opinions are the product of reason. But all too often we use reason to support opinions that did not spring from reason. In my teens, I feel my attitude toward the supernatural reeked of this. These days, my beliefs about vegetarianism, my choice to do without a car, and similar ‘green living’ topics probably fall into this category.

So here is my rhetorical question for the evening: What opinions do you hold because reason led you to them, and what reasons do you hold because opinion led you to them?

[ETA: if you want to share, feel free to do so, even though I said the question was rhetorical.]

conferences and travel plans

So, there are three interesting environmental conferences I’ve spotted, where admission isn’t outrageous.

One is in pittsburgh, and starts the monday before carnival. It sounds like a mostly technical conference, but that’s not such a terrible thing. Lodging and transportation I can probably handle without much pain. I think hitting both it and carnival would leave one extra day I’d take off, but not much to do there.

The second is in Sherbrooke quebec in late june. Transportation would definitely be an issue, lodging, at $30 (canadian) per night wouldn’t be a big deal (for a university dorm room, $20, if I found someone to split the cost with).

The third is in Toronto in september, but without the details, I’m not sure if it’d really be up my alley. Again, transportation, and maybe lodging would be an issue.

There was a 4th one in glasgow on urban development issues, but the 400 pound registration fee on top of a flight out there seemed a bit much for me, considering this is all on my own time and on my own dime.

training

in some ways, training was a repetition of high school. Like the way in which I was hermione granger, with my hand perpetually in the air. Though the motivation may be a bit different. I’m not sure whether I was trying to stay awake back then, but I’m pretty sure I had no illusions that I would speed things up.

And I’m back

Back in Chicago, that is. Training is over. I’m feeling somewhat better. I spent an hour on an elliptical aerobics thing at the on site gym at their office (it’s a pretty meager gym, but the location was almost ideal) on wednesday. On tuesday, I went out for a happy hour, followed by a long (expensive!) Indian dinner with most of my chicago cohort and 2 ladies from Dallas. It was a good time.

Yay for social time.

getting along with coworkers

Something’s been bugging me lately. I puzzled it out on the flight over. I spend almost 40% of my waking time at work (over 40, with commuting; 40/112, for the “standard” 40 hour work week). And I have iffy social connections at work. But if I’m going to spend that much time there, I need to connect with my coworkers. Because until and unless I start spending all my time hanging with the people I live with, there is no one I’ll be seeing more of.

flattened affect

“flattened affect” is a psych term, and it’s a side effect of several anti-depressants, if I’m not mistaken. I believe it means basically that your emotions go dead. (please correct me if I got anything significantly wrong there)

I’ve been feeling a little emotionally dead. I ask myself what I want to do, and it’s like I’m sulky teenager, hands shoved in my pockets, looking down, kicking a rock, saying “nuttin'”. At least, within the realm of the reasonably possible. It’s rather frustrating. I think it’s arisen in part from swallowing my frustration over various things, including my available free time and social things, and …

Yeah, maybe I just need to bitch more. =)