guppybork central

Imitating Japan isn't good, but it is comforting.

2009-03-09T22:06:00.002-04:00

My good friend Pete has asked me to remind him, from time to time, why there is in fact hope for the economy, and he therefore doesn't need to buy a gun, stash his money in the mattress and garrison inside his house. This time around, we're using Japan as an example, prompted by a recent Paul Krugman blog post.

Now, it should be pointed out that I'm no economist. This may actually provide some comfort, I don't know. Anyways, because I'm no economist, I rely on a few different websites to provide me with some insight and analysis on what's going on out there. One of my favorite sources of information lately has been Krugman. His recently updated book, "The Return of Depression Economics", focuses specifically on the Asian economic crises of the 90's, and how they relate to what's going on today.

On the surface, Krugman's blog post should frighten us. That the Obama administration is stuffed full of some of the smartest economic minds in the country, yet continues to take the same sort of half-steps that doomed Japan to a decade of economic malaise. And they need to get over that. The system is broken, but they're trying to fix it with chisels and paint where bulldozers might very well be necessary.

Anyways, that's not what I'm here to talk about. I see today's reason for Pete not to buy a gun in the very fact that despite the fact that Japan suffered through a decade of economic malaise, they did in fact come out of it, slowly and eventually. It certainly wasn't pretty, and Japan is not the power it was before, but they did not descend into anarchy and chaos. I see this as a good omen. Even if the Obama administration refuses to take strong actions (ahem!), the cycle will eventually come around and life will go on as before, although with less credit and perhaps without the US being the same sort of economic power we were before.

Perhaps it's indicative of the times that I'm trying to take a positive out of a pretty terrible negative. Polishing the proverbial turd, if you will. But if Pete doesn't buy a gun, it'll all be worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving, people.

2008-11-26T09:34:00.001-05:00

Point of View
by Shel Silverstein

Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless
Christmas dinner's dark and blue
When you stop and try to see it
From the turkey's point of view.

Sunday dinner isn't sunny
Easter feasts are just bad luck
When you see it from the viewpoint
Of a chicken or a duck.

Oh how I once loved tuna salad
Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too
'Til I stopped and looked at dinner
From the dinner's point of view.

2008-11-21T12:09:00.004-05:00

Fair warning for the squeamish: this video includes Sarah Palin. Oh, and turkeys being killed on live television. The combination of the two is enough to make one ill...

Clearly, the handlers who scripted her appearances during the campaign are long gone. But you'd think that someone would have looked at the setup for this particular "presser" and stopped things to rearrange. It's a stunning moment of stupidity. And hopefully, a reminder for some folks of how turkeys make it to their tables. :)

p.s.- this clip is spreading like absolute wildfire. i love it!

M.V.Pedey!

2008-11-18T16:06:00.005-05:00

Congratulations to Dustin Pedroia, American League MVP for 2008. Another honor well deserved, to go along with the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. I think I speak for many when I thank the baseball gods for finally giving the Red Sox a world class second baseman.

And also a congratulations to Yooooooooouk, who finished third in the MVP voting and was (in my opinion) only kept from another Gold Glove because he kept having to move from first to third and back to first, and back to third.

If I may speak for just a second specifically to Theo Epstein: Theo, you've got to pay these gents whatever they ask. Pay the men!

2008-11-17T22:09:00.002-05:00

Today wasn't the most red letter of days. I'll just leave it at that. And to add to the increasing mound of evidence that I'm not a young man, I self-medicated by watching multiple episodes of How I Met Your Mother and some Boston Legal. Ah well.

But it could be worse. Citi layed off 52,000 people today. This on top of 17,000 earlier in the year. Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA holds 68,746 people. In other words, the former Citi employees will not be able to rent out a football stadium in order to hold a reunion. That's a little crazy, don't you think?

Anyone else waiting to hear their other shoe drop?

Man, I could use a drink.

2008-11-16T20:45:00.002-05:00

While I'm interested to see the new James Bond movie that opened this weekend, I have to admit, what I'm really excited to see is the new Star Trek movie trailer that's premiering with it (as I write this, only the teaser is available on the website- the trailer will be online officially 11/17). The idea of re-imagining the Star Trek mythology is, I think, exciting. I'd felt for a while that the series had seemed to run its course, at least where the movies were concerned. TNG didn't seem to carry the same energy it had as a TV series into the movies, and none of the other TV series seemed to me to be worthy of a stand alone movie. So maybe this will be the kick in the pants to get things moving again. We can hope, right?

2008-11-15T23:09:00.003-05:00

Nationwide, thousands and thousands of people turned out today to show their disgust with the removal of the right to marry from gays and lesbians in California, and the preemptive limiting of the civil right to marry of gays and lesbians in other states. Here in Champaign, about 100 people gathered in Campustown to lend their voices to the protest. It was a cold, windy day, but there was a great energy, and I feel a great hope that this event is the beginning of a change in attitudes. This is change we want, change we hope for, change we can most definitely believe in.

2008-11-14T16:27:00.002-05:00

I am, most certainly, running out of steam as it relates to NaBloPoMo. Which makes me sad, a little. But things have been so busy, or hectic, or worrisome, that the urge to blog hasn't possessed me much. I took my math assessment test last night, and while I'm certainly not on the path to being a mathematician, I'm happy with the results, and I can now register for class, and get things moving on that front. I'm still employed, which is a good sign, for now. There's a slight chance of snow showers for tomorrow, but if the precipitation holds off, I should have some pictures to post tomorrow from the Champaign-Urbana Join The Impact protest, which I'm hoping gets a good turnout (go here to find the protest nearest you!). But right now, I'm going to wrap up that work day (ha!), and go get me a beer. Or two. Big ones.

2008-11-12T22:33:00.002-05:00

Seeing the Forest actually beat me to what I was going to post about today, but I'll go on anyways.

I was struck as I was reading about venerable credit card company American Express declaring itself a bank in hopes of getting a piece of the federal bailout plan. Does anyone else see the absurdity of this? A credit card company- a company that built its business by convincing ever increasing numbers of people to spend ever increasing amounts of money they didn't have; a company that had a division of financial advisers who worked knee deep in the complex financial derivatives that everyone now understands caused this mess we're in- all of a sudden, weeks after the bailout plan is passed, decides that it wants in. Not only is this unethical, all it's going to do is dig a deeper hole; just as with all the other banks, American Express will horde the cash to allow it to increase its share value, to please its shareholders, which now includes you and me. Ironic- I can't get an American Express card, yet I'll soon be a shareholder, like it or not.

The conventional wisdom that the government is putting forth is that by propping up banks and companies like AIG, these companies will in turn do the "right thing" and push that money out to the (and you'll forgive me for this, i hope) "Joe Six Packs" of the world, thus keeping the economy moving. The problem? Companies have no incentive whatsoever to do this "right thing"- not now, not ever! By definition, companies have to take care of their shareholders first, and then their stakeholders. They are not moral actors, because moral actions do nothing for them- the pleasure of a job well done means nothing if the share price doesn't go up. The only reason companies do anything in the public good is because the government tells them to. How? Cover the children's ears- by regulation! To ask them to do the right thing is foolhardy, and Hank Paulson knows it- that's why we're saddled with this plan to begin with- his buddies get rich, and the rest of us are screwed as we're told to wait for the "trickle down" effect.

It's simple- the average person's discretionary money is disappearing, if not non-existant at this point. Because wages in the office are stagnant, families can't go out to dinner every Friday night. Because families aren't going to dinner every Friday night, restaurants are being forced to cut back on staff, and eventually close. And if those waiters don't have tip money to spend at the box stores, the box stores see their revenues drop and the holding companies that own them shut them down. Which means that all those employees won't be able to go on vacation to the beach, because they're on unemployment. Which means that the high school kids working at the beach front resort will be laid off because of lack of customers, so they won't be able to pay to go to college. And it goes on, and on, and on... And it's all because the companies are watching their bottom line so that their shareholders are happy and hold (and hopefully buy more of) their stock.

And so we've created this massive imbalance in the economy. And smarter people than I (hopefully the fine folks on President-elect Obama's economic team) are coming up with ideas on how to restore the balance. I certainly hope they hurry, because I sit at my desk every day, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'd rather it didn't.

P.S.- there's a fantastic article at Portfolio that follows some of the people on Wall Street who knew the house of cards built on C.D.O.s and bad mortgages, and bet against it. It's a really long, in depth article, but it's well worth the time.

Just who is Horatio T. Kitty?

2008-11-11T21:00:00.003-05:00

I was feeling unwell today- not well enough stay in bed all day, but unwell enough that the prospect of curling up on the couch was far more appealing than being in the office. The problem with working from home is, the guilt is too great. So I tried to balance the two. Horatio was in his standard napping position, as seen above; at first, he was annoyed by my presence, but then he seemed concerned. I told him my troubles and he gave me a supportive pat on the hand. He offered to tell me a story; I gladly accepted. I have no idea if any of the following is true (as cats are well known for their stretchings of truths), but I'll let you decide for yourself.

We've always wondered why Horatio gets so wound up as we are going to bed, yet takes no notice of us as he naps through the day. It turns out, he's no ordinary cat. No, at night, he becomes El Gato Misterioso, famed forensic accountant!

You might say to yourself, as I did, "Wait, forensic accounting has always seemed to be a pretty boring job. And why would he be doing it at night?" It turns out, the public perception of forensic accounting is nothing but a clever ruse. The real job is as dangerous as 007, as hair raising as a ride at Rocky Point, and as cool as Shaft.

Horatio told me about the night when he discovered that Enron's dirty little secret. He was sneaking around their accountants' headquarters, doing a routine check on their SEC compliance work, when he came upon a room filled with triple-cut shreddings. Never one to turn down a good time, he began to dart around the room, diving and rolling in the shreddings, as he is wont to do. He was cleaning himself of the paper afterwards when he realized that he was standing on an unsteady pile of as yet unshredded reports. And right on top, he found the evidence that the books had indeed been cooked.

At just that moment, several three ring binders lalden with 10-K backup came flying through the air, and Horatio had to duck out of the way. Papers went flying everywhere as the pile he had been sitting on collapsed to the ground. He bolted past the late shift accountants who were trying to grab him, and darted out the fire escape door just as the staples began to fly through the air. He then stopped at a ladyfriend's house on the way home, but discretion forbade him from giving me the full scoop on that.

I was shocked, to say the least. First, that my opinion of forensic accountants had been changed so dramatically, and second, that my cat, my dear friend, was engaged in such a high stakes game of, um, cat and mouse? Whatever you want to call it, I begged him to be careful; to wear those little nubby finger things when turning pages so as to avoid paper cuts; to wear a staple proof vest; to do everything possible to keep harm from befalling him. But he would hear none of it. For the life of El Gato Misterioso is one of living on the edge; because that is the only place to find the evildoers.....

To be continued???

(thanks, gladcow. ;))

2008-11-11T12:07:00.002-05:00

Keith Olbermann, as usual, has words far more powerful than I for those who supported Prop. 8 in California. Feel free to have a hanky handy.

And I quote:

You are asked now to stand, on a question of love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate.
You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know. It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow person just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.

That's exactly what it comes down to. We are so often counseled to lift up our fellow man or woman; why would we do the opposite when it comes to love?

A list. And a request.

2008-11-10T23:14:00.002-05:00

So, ten days into NaBloPoMo, and I'm struggling for ideas. So I need your help. What are you burning to know about me? Or about anything? Seen an interesting meme lately? Help me fill some space!

brixton wants to know what my favorite (or least favorite) aspect of living in the lovely Champaign-Urbana area is.

Well, there's an answer for both. My favorite aspect thus far, I think, has been the people. I've met a lot of cool and interesting people, both within the university community and without. For all my grumbling about being stuck at home all day, it's been nice to meet a bunch of folks who I enjoy spending time with when I can get out of the apartment. I mean heck, I've even joined a bowling league! It's made this adventure a lot easier on a day to day basis.

Least favorite thing? Driving. It seems strange to complain about driving in a town where no one on TV or radio ever gives a traffic report, but it's true. And I'll be honest, a good bit of it can be laid at the feet of the university students. They either drive poorly or recklessly, and they walk as though the combustion engine hasn't been invented yet. And then there's the people on bicycles. And I say this as someone who is a big advocate of bicycles. On a daily basis, I watch bicycle blow through red lights, attempt to pass me on the right (at speed) at intersections when I'm turning right, and my personal favorite, ride on the sidewalk. It's no wonder that when I'm on my bike, I see drivers watch me with a combination of fear and annoyance; they can't anticipate that someone on a bike will act as though they are a part of traffic. All things considered, I'm much happier when I can walk somewhere here in town.

So thanks for the question, brixton! Who's next?

Knitting. And algebra.

2008-11-09T20:30:00.002-05:00

Some weekends are full of football and beer; naps on the couch and comfort food. Not this weekend, although the weather certainly called for all of these and more. No, this weekend I took a different tack.

That's me, knitting (MEtC couldn't resist taking a picture...) Regular readers will remember when I bought this yarn, more than a year ago. Well, after a few fitful starts, I finally got a few rows done, and was working along happily when we realized that I was not knitting the rib I thought I was doing, but was, in fact, doing a seed stitch. Which led to a complete frogging and re-imagining of the project. Instead of trying to do a three-in-one balaclava combination, I've decided to just do a two in one hat/neckwarmer combo. We'll see how this attempt goes. Maybe next year, you'll get to see a finished product. :)

I spent a good part of the rest of the weekend studying algebra, so the first time in 15 some odd years. See, I've developed an ambition to go back to school, to study economics. I love the subject, and enjoy dorking out about it endlessly. The hiccup in the plan from the beginning has been the mathematical component. I've never been what you would call a "math person", and in fact my last math class was a trigonometry class with Mr. Ossman back during my junior year of high school. I had not, until recently, ever looked back. Well, that's got to change, so I've decided to put my toes back in the water by taking a math class or two at the local community college. In order to do this, I've got to take a math assessment test. It was in reviewing the materials for the assessment test that I realized just how out of practice I was. So I spent several hours at the library today, trying to stretch out the math muscles. We shall see what sort of outcome I come up with...

Now, if you don't mind, I've got to get back to my Nature special on monkeys.

Well that didn't take long...

2008-11-08T08:23:00.002-05:00

8 days in, and I already missed a post! Well, I'm not giving up. I will operate under the assumption that I can eek in by making 30 posts (or more!), regardless of the calendar. :)

We saw Zack and Miri Make A Porno last night. Up front, I'll admit that Clerks is one of my favorite movies of all time. However, like most people, I'd worried that Kevin Smith had gone a bit soft in his old age. Well, Zack and Miri have disabused me of that notion. I walked in expecting a Judd Apatow- style movie, and walked out having seen the movie that I wish Judd Apatow would make. It was hilarious, raunchy, sweet, and dorky. Oh, and raunchy. Also, one of the best uses of music in any film I've seen in a while. I give it two enthusiastic big toes up.

Not my America.

2008-11-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

My America does not pass laws, or amend their constitutions, to prevent people from participating in a state-sponsored institution just because of who they love.

My America doesn't preach smaller government and personal responsibility out of one side of their mouths and turn around and tell 18,000 couples in California that they are now divorced, or tell thousands of kids waiting for foster homes in Arkansas that they're going to have to keep waiting because the loving couples that want to take them in aren't married; many of them because the state won't allow them to.

My America made a huge step forward by electing Barack Obama. But my America is sliding down a slick path of intolerance again, and it needs to find some traction quick and head back up the regain the real moral high ground. We all remember the founding fathers saying that everyone is created equal, right? The pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, right? Just checking. Now let's get on it.

Cop out post

2008-11-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

Exhausted. Bowled terribly tonight. Not two brain cells to rub together to make a coherent post out of. Promise to do better tomorrow.

2008-11-05T01:13:00.001-05:00

Wow. Seriously. I'm agog. Way to go, America.

Twelve more little hours.

2008-11-03T21:17:00.003-05:00

I had this long winded post dreamed up to explain to the world why I voted for Barack Obama on the first day of early voting here in Illinois (yay early voting!), but sitting here, with twelve hours until the polls open, I know you don't care- there will be plenty of time for the analysis after the election.

But I can't make a completely election-free post here. Just a little while ago, Obama gave his first rally since news broke that his grandmother passed away. Here's a video:

I'm going to be completely honest; I cried like a baby watching that clip. My grandmother passed away in August, and the hurt still hasn't completely faded. I can only imagine his pain at this time when I'm sure every nerve is rubbed raw. My thoughts are with he and his family.

I implore you to do your research and get out and vote tomorrow. I don't really care who you vote for (well, I do, but you know what I mean), just that you vote. Even if you don't think your vote matters in the presidential election, remember that there are referendums and locall races that will effect you on a daily basis for years to come. Your vote does matter there- every single vote matters there. The political process as a whole can't be changed unless people like you stand up and speak.

So please vote- and don't come bitching to me about politics and politicians if you don't. I don't want to hear it.

All Hallow's

2008-11-02T18:53:00.004-05:00

Last night was costume night for MEtC and I. My costume? A slight re-imagining of Bill Lumbergh from Office Space:

See, Bill was fired after Milton set the building on fire and ran off with the money. So now he's the part-time afternoon Assistant General Manager at Chotchkie's, and, mmm, yeah, he does have to work on Saturdays. But he does wear more than the minimum amount of flair.

There was an alarming moment, when I went to put on the pants that went with the costume, pants that I'd worn just a couple of months ago, and they didn't fit- clearly my chubby butt needs to be in better shape. Now that I've admitted this to the world, I may actually follow through on that. :)

I know, I know, I need a pithy political post before the election- that'll come tomorrow.

Eeep- I haven't the time!

2008-11-01T20:12:00.000-04:00

I've been quite busy today putting together my costume for the big party tonight, so I haven't got the time to do a complete blog post today. I promise a big, full post tomorrow, hopefully with pictures!

Ooooooh- it's coming!

2008-10-31T16:27:00.002-04:00

Hey kids! NaBloPoMo starts tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited! Especially since I've been a terrible blogger lately, and have fallen behind on my Street Art Thursdays, and political rants, and Albums You Should Own, food pron, and strange and interesting videos. It's all coming back with a vengeance, so watch this space!

Street Art Thursday returns!

2008-07-10T15:09:00.005-04:00

It has been far, far too long!

Today's work comes from FilthyLuker :

I like thinking that the trees, they watch out for us. :)

New favorite radio station.

2008-06-27T10:45:00.002-04:00

So last weekend was the Taste of Champaign-Urbana- despite a nearly complete lack of vegan options (I sampled some hummus and a samosa, which pretty much covered it), it was a pretty enjoyable afternoon out.

Something struck me as we wandered the business vendors though- at one tent, there was one radio company represented, with all of their stations' promotional vans behind them. You had the country station, the classic rock station, the "alternative" station, and the top 40 station. Across the lawn was the area's other major radio company, with their vans parked behind their tent as well- and you guessed it, there was the country station, the classic rock station, the "alternative" station, and the top 40 station. This seemed to me to be the most perfect illustration of why I hate commercial radio with a white hot passion.

To this end, I've been playing around with Pandora a lot lately. I've got an indie/shoegazer station, an early 90's college radio station and a Pixies-inspired rock station.

But one of the ones I've been working on the most is a station that combines some folk, some "no depression" country, some classic Cash/Williams country, and bluegrass. This is what I consider to be my "summer music"- it always reminds me of being at a really good festival, sitting on the grass somewhere. But it's a pain, because Pandora keeps trying to sneak some bullsh*t pop county in there. So it requires a lot of skipping and disapproval.

Fast forward to yesterday. I gave MEtC a ride to the airport in Bloomington, as she was headed off to the big ALA conference in Anaheim. And yeah, I do miss her already. :) Anyways, on the ride home, I was scanning the FM for something decent to listen to, since I was a good half hour out of the range of my normal C-U non-commercial stations. And then I happened upon something strange and wonderful. I happened upon WWHP.

At the exact moment I tuned in, they were playing the first half of Luther Wright & The Wrongs' Rebuild the Wall, a song for song bluegrass-y reinterpretation of Pink Floyd's The Wall, in its entirety. I was frankly a little stunned. What sort of station was this??? Well, it was exactly the station I'd been trying to program in Pandora, that's what. A country station whose idea of country was more Hank Williams and Hank Williams III than Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn. And for good measure, they throw in blues, bluegrass, folk and gospel. And all from a little old station in the middle of Farmer City, IL. What's not to love?

Liberty.

2008-06-17T10:37:00.003-04:00

Despite all my posings, I'm at heart an optimist. Which means that despite the fact that the wingnuts of California recently got a "Marriage Protection Amendment" onto the ballot, I feel like yesterday's pictures of overjoyed couples celebrating their love have got to penetrate even the most homophobic hearts. I mean, how can you not look at this picture and go "awwwww", I ask you?

It's my fervent hope that California and Massachusetts are the future- a future where two adults who love each other can get married if they want to, regardless of age, sex, or race.

Funny enough, I was flipping through my copy of the Intellectual Devotional- American History yesterday afternoon (it's excellent bathroom reading, highly recommended), and happened upon the page about a letter written by George Washington to the head of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI, who had written him in 1790 to congratulate him on his selection as president. The two men exchanged excitement about the great American experiment, and a belief that this new nation represented a new highwater mark in religious freedom- a country where other religions were not just tolerated, but embraced as being part of its fabric.

There is one passage in the letter that struck me like a ton of bricks- although it is referring directly to religious freedom, it seems to me to be more sweeping than that- it's a statement of what liberty in the new United States meant, and what it should mean to all of us now as well, whether we're talking about religious freedom or equal rights:

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens. (emphasis added)

This is a founding father speaking- he saw no reason to deny any one law abiding citizen the rights accorded to another citizen (putting aside the narrow definition of citizenship at that time). It blows my mind when wingnuts and Repugs invoke the founders, and their religion, and try to extrapolate their "intentions" to suit their purposes, when the concept of "natural rights" Washington invokes here is written right into the frickin' Declaration of Independence- "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", anyone? The founders intended all American citizens to have the exact same rights.

So in the end, the judges that have seen discrimination in the treatment of marriage in California and Massachusetts are not "legistlating from the bench", as some would have you believe- they're channeling the true intentions of the founders of this country. And I for one thank them. We are, as a society, finally moving away from just "tolerating" differences in sexual orientation, and towards embracing the rights of all of our citizens. George would approve, I like to think.

If I had $400...

2008-06-05T11:47:00.002-04:00

I'd buy me one of these! It's a pipe dream, to be sure, but it seems like the ultimate tool to convert your bike into your everyday vehicle. And dig the accessories page- it has an optional bicycle powered blender attachment! Insane.

Anyhow, back in the real world... Ordered a new helmet and the slicks that Cycho Librarian suggested- waiting for the rack I want to be in stock, and still shopping for panniers. I had put off fenders, but after having no choice but to go through a couple of puddles yesterday (we got absolutely dumped on the other night), I'm reconsidering at least a front one. Oh, and I got a kickstand! It's the little things that make me happy. :)

Rube Goldberg Friday

2008-05-23T13:05:00.001-04:00

We have found the only suitable use for a Cadbury Creme Egg.

Where would the world be without engineering students, I ask you???

My name is Steve, and I'm a Vegan!

2008-05-21T10:53:00.002-04:00

I can't believe I've never posted this video before! Crazy! Anyways, enjoy!

from the good folks at Olde English.

How lazy can you be?

2008-05-20T11:04:00.003-04:00

I admit, I've gotten lazy over the past six months. Sure, I've been carpenting, yogaing, hanging out with friends, and working, but the lazy part is that I've been driving to do almost all of that. And it finally struck me like a brick to the forehead the other day- in no small part because I saw a gas sign with the numbers $3.89 on it.

In taking a look at my regular trips, only two- going to the scene shop and the "regular" (read: non co-op) grocery store actually necessitate a car. The rest can be accomplished on foot, by bus, or on bike. As much as I like my bike, it's a mountain bike, not built for practicality. So I'm going to have to ugly it up a little. The to-do list:

Kickstand. Although I appreciate the aesthetic look of no kickstand, it's a real pain in the ass when you're chaining the bike up, or even just parking it in the house.
Storage unit. I'll wear my backpack if I have to, but it's impractical for a co-op trip, for example. Probably just get some sort of double basket on the back wheel.
Fenders. I don't mind riding in the rain, but I'm not enamoured of getting soaked from below in the process.
Tires. I'm torn on this, because the knobby tires I have are nice in the wet. But I'm not riding off road, so when it's dry, they're really more of a hindrance than anything.

Not that any of you care about any of this. :) I just want to make sure that I've got a reminder out there somewhere of the stuff I need to get done. :)

Omnibus Cultural Post

2008-05-13T13:57:00.002-04:00

This was originally going to be a street art post about the amazing Blu, but I got to thinking about all the other neat-o artsy stuff I always tell myself I should post about, but don't. So join me, won't you, as I go careening through the art appreciation portion of my brain. Hands and feet inside the cart, please!

Street Art:
The aforementioned Blu has just released a mind boggling new animation:

Also, I've posted some of Mark Jenkins' stuff before, but I happened across his Storker project when I was looking at some other stuff, and I was thoroughly amused.

Music:
Through Smile Politely, I became aware of Jane Boxall, marimbaist extraordinaire, and I'm just enthralled. Spend a few minutes on her page, and you'll get what I mean. The sound she gets out of it is so mesmerizing. I haven't caught her live yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

No matter how deeply I get into the Sonic Youths and Broken Social Scenes of the world, I've always got a soft spot for folksy sounds (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) and traditional instruments. And it just so happens that occasional commenter Andrea Simms-Karp from No More Decorators plays such music! Her homepage has some sample tracks that are really, really good- I love me some banjo, but it takes a skilled hand to make it sound as gentle as she does. I finally got around to ordering a copy of her debut album, which I'm looking forward to immensely!

Crafty:
Recently, my friend Molly, of Emma's K-9 Kitchen, has started the Vegan Etsy blog, a great resource that aims to simplify Etsy shopping for those of us who try to live cruelty-free. Another occasional commenter here, chaifae, is the current featured member interviewee for her shop, Bees Knees Jewelleries. She makes some great one of a kind custom made pieces- I've bought several from her, and the recipients love them dearly.

Well, I've kept you long enough. If I've done my job, you feel a little more enriched, and have spent some money. We here at guppybork are big believers in the stimulation of the economy (and lining the pockets of our friends), so get out there and stimulate, damn you! Stimulate.....

Republicans Hate Mothers.

2008-05-09T17:02:00.002-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you House Resolution 1113 of the 110th Congress:

H. Res. 1113
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
May 7, 2008.
Whereas Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of each May;
Whereas the first official Mother's Day was observed on May 10, 1908, in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Whereas 2008 is the 100th anniversary of the first official Mother's Day observation;
Whereas in 1908, Elmer Burkett, a U.S. senator from Nebraska, proposed making Mother's Day a national holiday;
Whereas in 1914, Congress passed a resolution designating the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day;
Whereas it is estimated that there are more than 82,000,000 mothers in the United States;
Whereas mothers have made immeasurable contributions toward building strong families, thriving communities, and ultimately a strong Nation;
Whereas the services rendered to the children of the United States by their mothers have strengthened and inspired the Nation throughout its history;
Whereas we honor ourselves and mothers in the United States when we revere and emphasize the importance of the role of the home and family as the true foundation of the Nation;
Whereas mothers continue to rise to the challenge of raising their families with love, understanding, and compassion, while overcoming the challenges of modern society; and
Whereas May 11, 2008 is recognized as Mother's Day: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives celebrates the role of mothers in the United States and supports the goals and ideals of Mother's Day.

Now, the Congress spends a lot of time on seemingly meaningless stuff like this- resolutions honoring someone's golfing buddy, naming post offices, etc. If you've ever watched C-SPAN after 5pm, you have an inkling of what I mean. And they pass by overwhelming majorities, making everyone feel good that Congress has some sort of idea of what the American people are for. The resolution above is no different- there's one done for every major holiday, and they always pass unanimously. Ah, but not this time...

The vote was initially Roll Call Number 274- a nice clean unanimous vote. But then, Minority Leader Boehner and his minions asked for a reconsideration of the vote, and another vote was taken on the exact same measure, and the original vote was rescinded. Take a look at the no votes cast on Roll Call Number 275- I'll give you a quick translation; Republican names are in italics. Why, you ask? What would cause them to make such a cold hearted decision? Pure politics.

I understand that the Repugs are all in a tither because the Dems were obstructionist before the balance of power shifted, but come on- Mother's Day? You really want to play politics with the mothers of America? How is this supposed to make those vaunted "soccer moms" feel?

I have two quick theories:

1. Some industrious staffer got on the Wikipedia and discovered that in the U.S., Mother's Day was started as a way to unite all mothers against war. And we all know how much the Repugs hate people who hate war...

2. It's part of their wider campaign to reduce the role of women in society, by removing any acknowledgement that women care for and nurture many of the country's children. Pretty soon, they'll have women reduced to birthing vessels and nothing more, which is just how the wingnuts want it...

Street Art Tuesday

2008-05-06T09:36:00.003-04:00

Geek on this:

Bonus points to the reader who figures out the stencil (click to enlarge) before reading the article over at Torontoist. Who says taggers aren't intelligent? Definite bonus points for originality.

Spotted via Wooster Collective.

I nearly forgot!

2008-05-02T10:24:00.003-04:00

In all of my rantings and ravings lately, I almost forgot the single most important food related development in my life in the last six months!

I found bagels!!!

Kafe K (sadly, they don't appear to have a real website) in Champaign, a few short blocks from where I sit right now, serves honest to goodness east coast style water bagels, with many different choices of schmears, including my favorite, peanut butter.

I am one happy camper.

Update: Obama knows what's he's talking about

2008-04-29T15:05:00.003-04:00

An article on the Washinton Post's website today shows that Senator Obama is the only one of the three presidential candidates who has seen first hand what repealing a gas tax for any amount of time can do. As an Illinois state senator, he helped pass a six month repeal of the state's 5% gas tax in 2001. During that six month period, the state lost $175 million in revenue. The overall average price of gas only fell 3% during that time, which means that in real terms, the gas prices still went up 2%. The tax repeal just didn't work.

This puts Obama on even more solid footing when it comes to opposing McCain's foolish plan. Illinois is suffering from a major budget crunch all around, but especially when it comes to infrastructure. That extra money that the gas companies ended up keeping back in 2001 would be mighty helpful right about now. Let's make sure that we as a nation don't end up with the same problem.

Interestingly, last night NBC Nightly News began a series of reports on the nation's crumbling infrastructure. You can see the video here.

How about rolling back the stupidity tax for the summer?

2008-04-28T14:54:00.003-04:00

John McCain has said multiple times that he doesn't understand economics as much as he should, and after reading about his latest economic plan, I'm inclined to agree. A cornerstone of the plan is a three month repeal of the federal gas tax, which is currently 18.4 cents per gallon (and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel). There's a great article over at Wired that highlights the economic issues that this would create- it would short the government $9 billion in revenue (in a department which already has a $3 billion shortfall in funding), therefore killing highway improvement projects, which in turn means that even more people would lose jobs.

Wait- I see the genius of this plan now- more people out of work means fewer people on the roads, thus reducing the demand for gasoline, after which prices will naturally fall! My god, it's brilliant.

Sarcasm aside, this is one of the most ridiculous ideas to come out of Washington in some time. It provides no real tax relief to the average person, and as our transportation systems fall further and further into disrepair, it ends up creating more problems than it solves. Surely, no self respecting Democrat, representing a party that has said that fixing our national infrastructure should be a top priority, could support this entirely impractical political scheme? Right?

Not so fast, my friends! According to the Wall Street Journal, Senator Clinton indicated just the other day, “I would also consider a gas tax holiday, if we could make up the lost revenues from the Highway Trust Fund.” Of course, there's no chance that Congress would support increasing revenues in one area to fund a temporary tax cut in another. McCain has indicated that he would pay for this by increasing the debt, a measure Clinton would theoretically oppose.

Here's the thing though- despite her highly qualified support for McCain's idiocy, now she's attacking Obama for not throwing his support behind the idea. Obama, to his credit, is sticking to his guns:

“We’re talking about 5 percent of your total cost of gas that you suspend for three months, which might save you a few hundred bucks that then will spike right up,” Obama said. “Now keep in mind that it will save you that if Exxon Mobil doesn’t decide, ‘We’ll just tack on another 5 percent on the current cost.’”

To my mind, Clinton is starting to show her desperation. She's anxious to separate herself from Obama in some way, while trying to show Dems that she can draw in some of the same voters that McCain does. But she's picked the wrong issue here. For starters, it's something that Bob "Viagra" Dole tried to raise unsuccessfully during the 1996 election cycle against her husband, and then backed down from because it was so amazingly unpopular with Congress. Add to that the effect more driving has on our infrastructure, and the extra burden that a loss of federal revenues would have on the already strained and suffering budgets of public transit systems across the country, and this is a no-brainer. It's bad policy that's bad for America.

I've been waiting to see some real separation in the views of the two Dems that makes me feel like we're not choosing between two automatons who agree with each other on just about everything. And I think we're starting to see it- she's gone negative like never before, and she's questioning Obama's electability, while at the same time endorsing the ideas of her potential November opposition.

I still believe that Obama is the right one for the Dems, and the right one for the country. He's a leader, and he's not out there spouting the same old rubbish. I'm not sure what else we can ask for.

Street Art Thursday

2008-04-10T15:16:00.004-04:00

Just discovered the Dirty Third Streets site, which covers a lot of street art down south. I love this piece, from Austin, TX:

Flashback Friday

2008-04-04T08:46:00.001-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Superchunk.

"Watery Hands" from the album Indoor Living

Oh jesus, not again.

2008-04-02T11:08:00.002-04:00

So in my ever growing quest to Get The Hell Out Of The Apartment, a few months ago I shot an email off to the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company offering my services as a volunteer.

For the uninitiated, in one of my past lives, I spent a lot of time in the theatre; it was one of several reasons I dropped out of college, and then I served as Master Carpenter and then Technical Director for the Actor's Company of Pennsylvania (now part of the Fulton Opera House)waaaaay back in the mid 90's. Then there was a summer as Master Carpenter at Ephrata Playhouse In The Park, and an unsuccessful attempt to move to New York City. Anyways, long story short (and believe me, there's a whole lot of story there), I burned myself out. But I've always held a soft spot in my heart for theatre and theatre folk. Thus, to bring this full circle, I emailed CUTC and said I was more than willing to help.

I was welcomed with open arms, as every community theatre loves a volunteer who has been around the block a couple of times. Then they told me what the first show was- Jesus Christ Superstar. I'm not one to throw words like this around, but I'll be honest, I blanched a little. You see, back in college, my big set design debut was a student production of JCS. And just like every other student production, it was a bit of a fiasco. We ran out of money, had a lighting designer walk out, and I managed to have a seven foot tall ladder caddy fall on my heel, hobbling me for the three days of production. It was SO bad that my assistant on that show wrote a play about it. Lordy.

But enough about the past. This production has been quite a lot of fun to work on. The set construction was smooth as silk, and I got to stretch out my mad theatrical carpentry skills a little bit. Now we're ready to go live! The show opens this Thursday (April 3) at 7:30 and closes with a 2:30 matinee on Sunday (April 6). I was there for rehearsal last night, and I'll vouch for it- this isn't the easiest show to sing, but they've rounded up a really good cast that does it justice. I'll be backstage for the show, but if you get there early enough (doors open 1/2 hour before showtime), you might actually get to see me hamming it up. Tickets are available here or at the door. Come out and support local theatre!!!

On Ethics and the Workplace

2008-03-26T11:53:00.003-04:00

Late last year, the ethics committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued an opinion paper titled "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine". This is well worth the read- it addresses some of the core issues of the "conscientious refusal" movement that is so popular with wingnuts who happen to have a "Dr." in front of their names these days. Most pointedly, it asks the question- is it right for a doctor to impose their personal beliefs on a patient who may not share those beliefs?

Of course, the Bush administration couldn't resist being all buttinsky about the suggestion that doctors might have a greater moral obligation to put the well being of their patients before their supposed personal beliefs. HHS secretary Michael Levitt shot off a letter to the director of ACOG, stating in part:

I am concerned that the actions taken by ACOG and ABOG could result in the denial or revocation of Board certification of a physician who -- but for his or her refusal, for example, to refer a patient for an abortion -- would be certified.

In other words, the Secretary is concerned that a doctor who fails his or her duty to present all available options to their patient, and in the end do what is best for the PATIENT, might lose their license. These doctors, the Secretary is arguing, should be able to pick and choose what parts of their job they really want to do, and the big mean bossman shouldn't force them to do the other parts.

Let's step into the real world for a minute. Let's say my company entered into a contract to buy a chain of steakhouses. Naturally, as a vegan and generally ethical person, I have a strong moral objection to this, so I mention my objections to my supervisor, and ask that I be allowed to not participate in this transaction. He'll sit there patiently, hear me out, thank me for my input, and then wish me luck in finding a new job. Michael Levitt would not write him a letter begging him to reconsider, I'd bet.

The bottom line is, doctors (especially obstetricians and gynecologists) and pharmacists and their ilk shouldn't get a pass here. Their job is to operate in the public interest and in the interest of their patient, however personally distasteful they might find the patient's choice or the most logical treatment. If they don't find that the job suits their "conscience", they need to find another line of work.

And yet, Congress continues to prop up this notion that health care workers are somehow different from the rest of us when it comes down to doing our jobs. The Hyde-Weldon Amendment, inserted annually into a budget appropriations bill near you (gee, how'd that get in there?) codifies the following statement:

no federal, state, or local government agency or program that receives federal health and human services funds may discriminate against a health care provider because the provider refuses to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortion.

Oh, Henry Hyde. How we miss you- always hiding your anti-woman agenda in giant bills completely unrelated to the subject at hand. It's like a little easter egg hunt!

Anyways, to wrap this lengthy rant up, the government should not be in the business of telling organizations what their ethics should be, and health care professionals should decide what's best for their patients based on communication and medical knowledge, not their fear of where they might end up in some mystical afterlife. It's that simple really. And if you agree, I encourage you to let your health care providers and government officials know how you feel at every given opportunity. You are paying for their Mercedes and third vacation homes, after all. :)

Deep Thoughts.

2008-03-13T11:14:00.002-04:00

Not really deep thoughts, just some random stuff that I've been thinking about or seen lately.

Baseball:
Spring training tests a sportswriters' ability to wring a story out of nearly non-existent material. Sometimes, just sometimes, they're on to something. A couple of weeks ago, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did a profile on first baseman Prince Fielder, who has evidently become vegetarian, but not in a bid to gain power; he's doing it for ethical reasons! Good on him. I'll be curious to watch him through the season- Prince is a big boy (6', 260 lbs.), and the longer he stays veg, he might just become a little more lean. (bonus appearance in the article by former Red Sox third base coach Dale "Go! Go! No, wait, stop!" Sveum)

Manny Ramirez has always been hesitant with the media, and frankly I don't blame him. But, whether it's because he's in a contract year or he's just getting older, he's been a lot more open lately. There's a neat piece here about the changes he's made to his life and his off season preparations. Confession- I do get shivers thinking about a fully healthy Papi and a prepared Manny in the middle of the Sox order. :)

Music:
I would frankly give my left arm to be able to go see the Dropkick Murphys and Ted Leo show tomorrow in South Boston. Holy crap, would that be a to-do. Oh, sure, I'd settle for the motherf**king Pogues (with Shane!) and Billy Bragg in NYC on St. Patrick's Day eve. Ugh.

On a happier note, last night I went with friends to see a Harpcore4 show at U of I- great fun! Four harpists using their imposing instruments to pluck out very entertaining covers of everything from the Cure to Elton John to Leonard Cohen. I'm always impressed by harp players- their fingers are always flying so fast, in seemingly random ways, but making lovely sounds.

Politics:
I have no earthly desire to even think about politics at this point. Wake me when the conventions are over.

Albums You Should Own: Erin McKeown- Sing, You Sinners

2008-03-03T11:36:00.003-05:00

To continue our occasional series:

I first became aware of Erin McKeown when she opened a couple of Nields shows that I saw back in the day (Nields bass player Dave Chalfant has produced several of her albums); her guitar stylings, jaunty and jazzy, instantly drew me in. Her voice was not of the times- she's always sounded like she should be fronting a jazz combo, not trying to make her way in the rock-folk world.

Well, you can imagine my joy, then, when she released Sing You Sinners, an album of well known (and not so well known!) jazz standards. With herself on guitar (and banjo!), Todd Sickafoose on bass, Sam Kassirer on keyboards, and Allison Miller on drums, she creates the atmosphere of a tight combo playing their hearts out in a club for ten or fifteen people. Her voice is crisp and full as she takes old favorites like "Get Happy" and "Paper Moon" and owns them in such a way that you forget that anyone else has ever sung them. And as though to prove she's not just a pretty voice, her guitar work on "They Say it's Spring" is note perfect, but laden with emotion at the same time.

But my favorite part is the dancing- oh, the dancing! The middle of the album, with "I Was A Little Too Lonely (You Were A Little Too Late)", the title track, and "Rhode Island is Famous For You", is so peppy, that I defy you to not want to get up out of your chair and dance around the room. I actually bought this album for my mom because of this part of the album- she wanted something that would lift her spirits on the ride home from work. Mission accomplished! Although I did have to warn her about dancing and driving...

I recommend this album for fans of : smiling, dancing, having a good time, french cafes, nearly perfect sound mixes

Side story: I had just purchased this album, and was listening to it constantly on my commute, when my car was broken into and the stereo was stolen, with the CD in it. This almost made me sadder than losing the stereo. When I got an iPod a couple of months later, I repurchased the album on iTunes, so as to make it harder for someone to take away from me a second time. :)

You may never understand...

2008-02-26T23:32:00.002-05:00

No, seriously, if you're not vegan (or lactose intolerant), you may not understand the excitement inherent in the following clip:

(the librarians among you can argue whether the use of a live version of das Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane" in this instance falls under fair use, but do it somewhere else. K-thnx :) )

As a bit of background, the folks at Chicago Soy Dairy are the geniuses behind Temptation vegan ice cream, which is frankly the best product of its kind on the market. They've now taken on the challenge of a vegan cheese that actually melts easily and well. And I, for one, can't wait to taste the results.

Wait, what?

2008-02-18T15:17:00.002-05:00

I just saw this story on the wire:

Turkey Plans to Invade Northern Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The Turkish military said it is setting the ground work for a large-scale ground invasion into northern Iraq targeting the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

The military said the ground operation is the final strike against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish language initials of PKK. The operation follows airstrikes on the group in late 2007 and military officials said the operation is scheduled for mid-March, the English language Turkish daily, Today's Zaman said Monday.

Military sources told the newspaper that the operation would be on two fronts; one along the Turkish border with Iraq and one inside Turkey in its southeastern provinces.

Israel gave the Turkish military unmanned surveillance drones that military officials said will provide key intelligence about PKK activity.

The Turkish military deployed about 50,000 troops along the border with Iraq and the newspaper said military officials will keep the same amount of troops in the region for the March operations.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

I'm sorry, did I miss something? Shouldn't the invasion by a sovereign nation of a country we are occupying be bigger news? I can't be the only one who sees a high likelihood that US or coalition troops will accidentally get in the way here. And incidentally, isn't one of our main missions in the middle east to defuse and keep under control sectarian conflict???

I can't even begin to understand the vagaries of middle eastern politics, I admit it (and if some of our elected officials had admitted it seven years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess, but that's a whole other story). But I feel as though 50,000 troops amassing on a border aren't just poking their nose in to see if there's any naughty terrorists lying about. The secular Turks hate the Kurds, and the Kurds hate the secular Turks, regardless of whether they're part of the army or a "terrorist organization". And hate makes people trigger happy.

We really don't need more innocent people killed in Iraq, or Turkey, or anywhere. I long for the day when we have a government who realizes this and has the moral fortitude to step in and mediate these disputes without guns and missiles.

Wishful thinking, I realize.

sigh.

I'm finally ready.

2008-02-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

A full week has passed and I'm finally prepared to face my feelings about Super Bowl XLII. But since I think cursing a blue streak in a blog is in poor form, I'll let Fitzy from Townie News do it for me:

(TOTALLY NSFW, but f**kin hilarious and dead on)

His last point is especially apt- no, not the part about "Go f**k yourself", before that- the part where he thanks the Pats haters for giving us a way to get back to our old self-hating, waiting for the other shoe to drop, chip on the shoulder, Aaron F**king Boone, Bucky F**king Dent, Ulf F**king Samuelsson selves.

We're not winners by nature, see? Raised in a fickle climate, with soil inhospitable to farming
and drivers inhospitable to pedestrians, there is something about a New Englander that loves the underdog, that needs to approach all situations from the position of being disregarded instead of favored. We're just not comfortable any other way. We like our wins to be pleasant surprises, not ho-hum forgone conclusions. I could go on, but you get my point.

Anyways, Super Bowl XLII will go down in my memory as just another game. The same way Super Bowl XX, Super Bowl XXXI, game six of the 1986 World Series and losing to the Lakers in game six in 1987 are just games- filed away in the back, although you always know they're there.

Manny being Manny.

2008-02-08T17:58:00.001-05:00

This, friends, is Manny Ramirez lifting weights. Yes, that Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox outfielder. The one who wears uniforms fifteen sizes too big and is known for not hustling when it might be called for.

And if seeing a picture of him lifting weights that big a few weeks before a contract year starts doesn't make you a little bit giddy, then you're probably not a Red Sox fan. :)

Election ennui.

2008-02-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

I promised an election post on Tuesday, but to be frank, the whole night ended up being humdrum and boring. But I am excited about how the rest of the primary season will break out- it's not normal for the Dems to be in the state they're in- two candidates that their base can be excited about, running neck and neck.

My only concern is about Clinton's electability; the Repugs are licking their lips at the prospect of bringing all the Clinton mud to the surface and scaring the hell out of the middle of the road electorate. I think Obama has a much broader appeal- if you watch him speak, he gives you (good) chills no matter how you feel about his policies. Don't hate me for saying this, but I feel like it's the same sort of charisma that Reagan had- you end up trusting his leadership skills and feeling comfortable without knowing any of the details. And I feel like the general public is ready for that feeling again. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I'd much rather someone with his charisma be on my side than the other.

One thing I did come out of the Super Tuesday race realizing- not only is John McCain batshit crazy, but he can't read a teleprompter with anything approaching a natural style. This is a few minutes of his speech from Tuesday. If that was my first introduction to the man, I'd think he had just won an election for city comptroller, not a presidential primary. Yikes.

Because we all need a laugh.

2008-02-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, it's Super Tuesday. I've already voted, and I'll probably get something election related up later today. But more importantly, I'm still in grief after Sunday. So I thought I might post something to lighten the mood a bit. It's moderately NSFW- you might want to use headphones.

I'll be honest, Sarah Silverman is very hit or miss for me. But this is comedy gold.

I feel a little better now.

Like a punch to the gut.

2008-02-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

There are few things that can be said after the Pat's crushing defeat last night. Few positive things, at least; few things that aren't loaded with expletives. But I'm taking two things, two things that I will cling to until the Pats can start on their next tear through the NFL:

1. Now all the bandwagon jumpers who have only experienced the three Super Bowl wins and an undefeated regular season know what being a New England sports fan really feels like, felt like for all those years before 2002- you put all of your hopes and dreams on the backs of your team, and they inevitably, horribly, collapse under the weight. The days and weeks to follow will see an inevitable thinning of Pats fans in North Dakota, Nebraska, California. And that's probably a good thing. You've got to have strong stomach to put up with this stuff.

2. As of this writing, pitchers and catchers report to Red Sox training camp in 9 days, 23 hours and 39 minutes. I'm ready for that.

Oh, and Chili con Chocolate is amazing- we made some for our gathering. I'll post pictures later.

Braggadocious.

2008-01-08T12:18:00.000-05:00

On my way to the coffee shoppe this morning, this song came on the radio, and as it did so many times back in the day, instantly got stuck in my head. So of course I wanted to share. Enjoy!

Billy Bragg- Sexuality

News Flash: Politician admits to language faux pas, has a good laugh.

2008-01-07T15:35:00.000-05:00

How do you know when you're in the driver's seat as a political candidate? When you can make statements like this.

"I've been campaigning a lot," he said. "And you know I say, 'The time for change has come.' The other day I said, 'The time for come has changed.' And I have to admit, everybody still clapped."

I will say this- I've listened to quite a few of Obama's speeches on C-SPAN, and he is incredibly impressive. I may be alone in this, but back in the day, when Bill Clinton would give one of his more impassioned speeches, I would get chills, and feel very emotionally connected to what he was saying. Obama gives me a lot of the same feelings. My only real questions around him are his policy items. He talks a good game, but where does he actually stand? With a February 5th primary here in Illinois, I intend to find out soon.

I'll say this- I really feel that if the general election comes down to Obama and McCain (as some have predicted), it's going to be like watching Clinton-Dole- you're just going to feel sorry for the old guy as the youngster runs circles around him.

Street Art Thursday.

2007-12-13T20:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy day- I almost completely forgot about my bloggerly duties...

Today, a piece from Banksy, from the Santa's Ghetto project:

There are some amazing pieces as a part of this project. Definitely worth checking out.

In which I finally make peace with 'Fredo.

2007-12-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite dinners, pre-veganism, was a nice fettuccine alfredo. Unfortunately, even before going vegan, my lactose intolerance set in, making it impossible to enjoy it without consequence. You might even say, it betrayed me.

(Waits for groans to subside)

Anyways, faced with a miserable night and a nearly empty (vegan) larder this weekend, I checked the internets for a vegan alfredo sauce recipe, on a lark. Lo and behold, I found a recipe via In a Vegetarian Kitchen that not only used ingredients we didn't need to leave the house for, but it was freakin delicious too. And it's dead simple to prepare:

Pasta with Enlightened Alfredo Sauce

6 servings

2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated margarine
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
One 12.3-ounce container silken tofu
1/2 cup rice milk, or as needed
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
12 ounces pasta (see Note)
Steamed greens (spinach or Swiss chard) for topping, optional
Sliced sun-dried tomatoes for topping, optional

Cook the pasta in plenty of steadily boiling water until al dente, then drain.
Meanwhile, heat the margarine in a small skillet. Add the garlic and sauté over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden. Remove from the heat.
Combine the sautéed garlic and margarine with the tofu and rice milk in a food processor. Process until completely smooth and creamy.
Combine the pasta and sauce in a large serving bowl and toss together. Season with pepper and taste to see if you’d like to add more salt. If the mixture needs to be moister, add a small amount of additional rice milk and toss again. Serve at once, passing around greens and/or dried tomaotes for topping, if desired.

Now, we used plain soymilk, and didn't use the sundrieds or steamed greens, but those two items will be a must the next time. It's just as rich and yummy as you remember alfredo sauce being, without all the folderol that comes with the real thing. Yum!!!

Street Art Thursday (with a smile.)

2007-12-06T16:25:00.001-05:00

Via Wooster Collective.

If that doesn't make you smile, you may want to go see your doctor.

Funny how time flies.

2007-12-06T14:39:00.000-05:00

I'm always fascinated by how things connect in my mind. I got all excited this morning when I found out that the Indigo Girls are coming to Bloomington (about 45 minutes from here) at the beginning of February. It's been a long time since I've seen them live, but I hadn't quite realized how long ago. Almost another lifetime ago.

It was September 22, 2002. It was at the very end of a four year long relationship- we had already broken up, but were trying to "stay friends" and I had already bought the tickets, so we went to the show. Front row seats in a pretty small venue- one of the better ticket scores I'd made, getting those, because they had a big fanbase in the area, so I really had to be quick. It was a great show, but the company made the night awkward to say the least.

If I remember correctly (there's not set list online for this one), it was month later I started therapy. I had lost myself in that relationship, and without it, I had no idea what to do with myself. Seeing a therapist was probably the best decision I could have made at that stage in my life. It was a long, occasionally painful process, but I was able to reclaim my personality and find my passions again.

And here I am, five years later. Five years? Wow. I don't even know the me of five years ago anymore, and I have to say I couldn't be happier about that. I'm a much stronger, happier person, and although I have my moments, "I am more me", as Peter Bjorn & John said. So I feel like now will be as good a time as any to reunite with some old musical friends, don't you think? :)

It feels like weakness.

2007-12-02T22:29:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow night, I got back to the sleep lab for a second sleep test, this time wearing a CPAP mask all night. This is so that I can be sure to have the proper setting on the CPAP machine I will soon have at home.

I've not been able to come to any better acceptance level of the situation than the last time I posted about this. I'm still freaked out, and I can't shake the general feeling that I'm broken somehow. Of course, I didn't actually break anything, but when you get to a point in life where you're on stomach meds every night, and your knees are falling apart, and you've got sleep apnea, you can't help but think that there are forces conspiring against you somehow.

I'm not really big on being "normal", but I do wish that my body worked the way it ought to. I don't think that's too much to ask for.

And I'm spent.

2007-11-30T14:33:00.000-05:00

Well- this is it, folks! All I have to do is hit "publish post" and I've actually completed NaBloPoMo. This has been fun- discovering new blogs and bloggers, forcing myself to sit down and write something every day that doesn't just come out as one long whine...

I've got nothing pithy to say at the moment, just a thanks for stopping by. And don't worry, it doesn't stop here. I've got a new momentum to this blogging thing, and I will keep it up on a regular basis. Promise!

Street Art Thursday

2007-11-29T16:02:00.000-05:00

I know, two posts in one day? What's come over me?

Today, a picture I actually took:

I was in Portland, OR for a conference, and was walking around the southwest part of the city when I spotted this. It was written on a ledge next to the amazing Ira Keller fountain. I probably spent a few hours when I was in town at this fountain, listening, watching the water, and watching people interact with the water (It was July, and pretty warm for that part of the country).

Anyways, what grabbed me about the word "poop" written so carefully in such an obvious place was that I couldn't imagine who had written it there- a precocious 9 year old? A bored hipster with nothing else on their mind? An incontinent tourist? The fountain that day was a gathering of every type of person that the city had, so it could have been anyone...

Plus, let's face it, it's fun to say "poop" over and over again, even if it's just in your head.

Pat Robertson: Stretching is great, yoga is evil

2007-11-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I try to live my life in the exact opposite manner than Pat Robertson instructs. So when I saw this, I knew I made the right move in deciding to sign up for yoga class again, starting in February. Also, by posting this on my blog, I will remember to sign up, and not want to embarrass myself by not going after I'd told the whole internet I was going to. Right?

Pat also sort of hates karate, but I've been down that karate road before, and I'm not going there again. There just weren't enough "demon spirits" involved for my liking.

I don't even know where to start.

2007-11-28T21:13:00.000-05:00

Feministing drew my attention to an effort by the forced-birth crowd in Colorado (and evidently in several other states, as well) to add an amendment to their state constitution that says the following:

As used in sections 3, 6 and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the term "Person" or "Persons" shall include any human from the time of fertilization.

That right there is a pretty powerful little sentence. In less than 30 words, it gives a fertilized egg inside of a woman's body the same inalienable rights that every other citizen of Colorado has, including the right to due process under law, and access to the courts. But what does it really do?

-If you want to have an abortion, you will need the permission of the court, AND of the counsel appointed to represent your fertilized egg. Can you imagine being the attorney who makes a practice out of representing single cell beings? If a woman has an ectopic pregnancy, she will have to go to court to get an abortion that will save her life. And if the courts are busy, she could very easily die waiting.

-If a woman has a miscarriage, it could be considered manslaughter. And if the miscarriage is because the woman drank or smoked prior to it happening, she could be guilty of criminally negligent homicide.

-And what about embryos created during In Vitro Fertilization? If they're not fully brought to term, then what? Is it cruel and unusual punishment to keep an embryo in suspended animation?

Then there's practical considerations- does a woman get an additional dependent credit for being pregnant during a tax year? Does a woman have to notify the town clerk every time she becomes pregnant, and get a birth certificate for her embryo? And a death certificate if something goes wrong, or if she discovers she wasn't actually pregnant? Can you imagine the nightmare for municipal employees?

This is the bottom line for the forced-birthers- they set their sights on tricky new ways to keep women from having abortions, and they fail to see the ripple effect of their actions. If they spent as much time and effort on preventing pregnancy in the first place as they do on this crap, the abortion rate would go down dramatically on its own. Forest for the trees...

Honestly, I'd laugh at it all if it wasn't so bloody possible. Nicaragua has given us a lovely roadmap of where we're heading. All these laws will do is paralyze doctors, just as they've done in Nicaragua, into inaction. I don't ever want a doctor pausing before treating me or someone I love. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let some idiot religious nutjob make that happen.

My Two Great Loves.

2007-11-27T21:57:00.001-05:00

with my baby
Originally uploaded by .m.e.c.

I couldn't resist posting this picture that MEtC took of she and Horatio. Not to get all gushy, but I don't know what I'd do without these two...

(yes, i realize that this is a total cheat post- I didn't even take the picture! but hey, they can't all be gems...)

So what's your excuse?

2007-11-26T23:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight I got a chance to talk to my friend Karen Jennings, who is running in a special election for Annapolis City Council. She's fighting an uphill battle as a Green Party candidate, but the great thing about small special elections is that anything can happen if you're willing to work hard, which Karen definitely is! I shared some of my experiences from running for office a couple of years ago, and Michelle was able to share some of her expertise from having gone through a couple of campaign schools and her involvement as a board member with the Pennsylvania Women's Campaign Fund.

The conversation got me to thinking: why don't I know more people who are running or have run for office? You're all smart people- you care about things, you're passionate about issues and many of you have killer smiles. Seriously though- running for office is the ultimate democratic action. Your vote may be ignored, sure, but when you're a candidate, you've got the bully pulpit to get your ideas out there, and a chance to affect real change in your community. You don't have to be the next Barack or Hillary, you just have to care. Want your city to hire more police officers? Want your public park system improved? Well DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! If nothing else, it will make you more aware of the real issues in your community, the ones that you might not have been aware of, because it will make you talk to all those people you haven't met yet. It's a very educational experience.

So my question to you is- when are you going to do it? When is the world going to tick you off to the point that you're ready to be actively involved in changing it? As I said, you're smart folks- I have no doubt that the political system will only be richer for your involvement in it. And if you're not going to do it, I really do want to know- what's your excuse???

10 albums you should own- Part one of series.

2007-11-25T20:07:00.000-05:00

It occurs to me that in order to keep my NaBloPoMo readers, I may need to have a hook, something this blog has heretofore lacked. So today I'm starting what will be an occasional series, outlining ten albums that I feel as though every right thinking music fan should own. This will be in no particular order, but when it's all said and done, I think you'll be pleased with the selections. on with the show!

Sloan- One Chord To Another

So say you're a rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Your debut album is a huge seller in your home country, and gets you some pretty good buzz in the States, and you're one of the many bands hit with the tag "The Next Nirvana". But you're smart enough to know that you're not the next Nirvana, and your second album goes in a completely different direction.

Your label disagrees, and refuses to promote the album. The fans love it though. Folks in your own country even vote it the greatest Canadian album of ALL TIME. Naturally the label drops you. So what do you do next?

Well, if you're Sloan, you briefly split up, then triumphantly reunite and record the album you want and release it on your own label. The result- One Chord To Another.

Sloan has always been a band that wears its influences on its sleeve, and OCTA is no exception. "Junior Panthers" would be at home on any Brian Wilson album, and "Autobiography" recalls late era Beatles. I'm not sure what inspired the horns of "Everything You've Done Wrong", but I like to imagine it's a bit of Herb Alpert.

My favorite part of any Sloan album is the lyrics. Lots of bands use clever turns of phrase and work for the laugh, but very few bands are willing to string the joke through the song and accept as a reward a chuckle at the end. "Autobiography" is one of my favorite examples of this:

I'm writing "young and gifted"
In my autobiography
I figured, who would know
Better than me
I'm certainly the former
But I'm not so much the latter
But no one's gonna read it
So I'm sure it doesn't matter
When you find that you're the former
Take pride in how you form
And when you find that you're the ladder
Don't let those people walk under you
I'm writing "sharp and adult"
With my finger on the steam
On the mirror in my bathroom
While I'm applying shaving cream
Which would suggest that I'm the foamer
But how can I be the lather
And something tells me
It's the opposite I'd rather
When you find that you're the foamer
Be careful what you foam
When you find that you're the lather
Don't shave too high, you'll regret it later
La la la la
I've stayed in school this long
But still no one will tell me why
They figured who would know
Better than I
I know I'm a conformer
But I'm sure it doesn't matter
My new friends are all adults
And my old friends all have scattered
When you find you're a conformer
Take pride and swallow whole
But if you're trying to climb the ladder
Don't let people walk over you
Because that's just what they'll do
Don't let people walk over you
Because that's just what they'll do

I just adore it.

All in all, this album sparkles with tight musicianship, and the sense of a band that has shed its shackles and has decided to spend the rest of their careers doing what they want, damn the consequences. And as a special treat, the US version of the album was released with a bonus "Live at a Sloan Party!" cd, featuring the band performing some great covers, including Stereolab, Jonathan Richman, and Bryan Ferry. It is not, however, an actual live album.

Overall verdict- while Twice Removed is possibly the best Sloan album, you simply cannot go wrong with OCTA. It's a piece of pop genius that will make you smile from ear to ear. And definitely one of the ten albums that I think you should own.

Home now.

2007-11-24T22:29:00.000-05:00

Back in Champaign now. Allow me to regale you with a brief review of the airports we visited on this trip:

1. Indianapolis: Nice place, very easy to get to from here. Parking wasn't cheap, but it rarely is anymore. Had a nice veggie burger and a beer before getting on the plane, so can't really complain.

2. Detroit: the Detroit airport is evidently the Philadelphia airport of the midwest- it's not the biggest, but just about every flight going east seems to go through it. I love that the terminal tram goes over your head. :)

3. Harrisburg: I really do like what they've done with the new terminal here- it's spacious, there's a Starbucks, and the little glass enclosures they make the smokers use are quite entertaining to the rest of the passengers!

4. Pittsburgh: The neat part of the Pittsburgh airport is the mall-type shopping in the middle of all the terminals. The rest of the airport isn't much to write home about. And it was pretty obvious that US Airways cutting back on most of its flights out of Pittsburgh has had a huge impact on the number of passengers- there were a lot of empty gates as we pulled up, and there weren't a lot of people generally.

All in all, a nice trip- but it's really nice to be home. Horatio wasn't all that happy when we got home, but he'll be alright. I just won't tell him that we're leaving again in a few weeks. :)

Arriving on a jet plane

2007-11-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow afternoon, we fly back to the Great Flatness. I must say, a week back here in PA has made me miss here more than I ever miss the town I grew up in when I go back there. I know it's because I really became an adult here and still have many friends here and all that. But don't you think I should feel at least some sort of an attachment to the sleepy bedroom town in Massachusetts I spent the better part of 18 years living in? It perplexes me, but there's that part of me that accepts the wanderlust and has more of a fondness for where the friends are than any fixed place on a map.

Also- note to self: when you're still recovering from Thansgiving dinner, Indian food is not always the best follow-up, no matter how tasty it is. Oh the bloat!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

Holiday appropriate cartoon art instead of street art, courtesy of Natalie Dee, for this Thursday, as I try to overcome the bloat that Thanksgiving dinner always brings. Have a good one, everyone!

nataliedee.com

Avoiding excess.

2007-11-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

After MEtC picked me up from work today, we went to run some errands, including a stop at Old Navy. I've been known to buy quite a bit of my clothing there- it's inexpensive, and you can look reasonably presentable. In poking around though, I found that my attitude towards the place has changed greatly. I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything.

Part of this stems from just not needing to dress for anything but comfort lately, I know this. Working from home affords a certain luxury in this regard- lots of pajamas, showers at lunchtime, the works. But I've also been feeling the crush of hyper-consumerism lately. This was evident in my reaction to visiting Meijer a couple of weeks ago too. The feeling that I get walking into one of these stores now, and being surrounded completely by all of this cheaply constructed STUFF that has been shipped in from countries with atrocious labor practices, is a combination of horror and illness.

There's a role for this stuff in our society as it is today, I admit. People are working one or two jobs for a far smaller wage than they used to, and they are spending far more on the essentials. So when it comes to clothing yourself or your kids, places like Old Navy look like a freakin oasis. And it just keeps moving in this never ending circle- people want cheaper goods because they earn less, so companies keep moving their factories to countries where the wages are lower and lower, taking more and more jobs away so that Americans have to find even cheaper goods because they're making even less.

In my heart of hearts, I hope that some day this cycle ends, and everyone gets a living wage, and everyone can get what they need at a reasonable price. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. And that's why I am heartened by the sudden remergence in the public conscience of the labor union. Corporations will never lessen their greed- they are bound by contract to create the greatest return possible for their shareholders. It's up to the workers to bind together and draw the line and say "this is all we will give you".

This country has bowed to the fear of corporations moving overseas for the last 20 or more years. But we're getting to a critical point where we have to instill some fear back in the corporations- they need to understand that they're going to run out of third world countries to exploit eventually, and by that point, at the current rate, no one in this country is going to have a job with which to make money to buy their products.

We consume a lot as a country. Corporations need to be told that they are in eminent danger of losing their best customer base if they keep it up. The automakers are already seeing this: people don't have the free capital to buy a new version of their crappy product year after year. And so they've started reacting to the market instead of trying to drive it. There are still too many automakers and too many autos. But now at least they're working to make a better product, instead of just a cheap product.

To all of my American friends, have a happy Thanksgiving. Give thanks for what you've got and for your health and your family and friends. It's not about some group of european invaders or getting ready to shop on Black Friday, it's about being thankful- it's right there in the name. So relax, watch some football, and remember to Buy Nothing on friday.

In which our hero is grateful for what he's got.

2007-11-20T22:14:00.000-05:00

The last two days, if they've taught me nothing else, have given me a greater appreciation for the upside of working from home. I'm not trying to sound gripe-a-rific here or anything, but I've really felt the stress pile on like a ton of bricks since I've been back in the office, and I don't enjoy it one bit. It's a combination of the people I work for having constantly high expectations, and me being very quick to get down on myself when I'm not meeting those expectations. It's sort of self destructive, in a way, and has me very much looking towards my future, and what I really want to do when I grow up. I've got some ideas, but no full fledged plan yet.

On a completely different note, tonight we had dinner with my cousin and his wife, who we don't get to see nearly enough. One of the things I've been thinking about a lot as Thanksgiving approaches is how precious friends and family are, and how I've got to make a better effort for my own part to be a social person, and keep in touch with both friends and family.

"Black Friday" is the anniversary of my grandmother's death a couple of years ago. Of my two grandmothers, she was the one I was least close to, mainly because she didn't live as close as my other grandmother. And I've really come to regret that, as I really enjoy hearing the stories about what a tough old broad she was. And it makes me feel, like I said, like I've got to really work to get to know people the people in my life better and really enjoy them for who they are. I don't want to be left wondering about who they really were when they're gone.

Today's lessons.

2007-11-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

Here's what I learned today:

1. I really don't like wearing dress shoes OR a tie anymore. I used to love looking sharp, but now it's just annoying since I don't have to do it every day.

2. Even if I'm not in the office for three months, very little changes.

3. I've never fully appreciated quite how much I walk/run around during an average day in the office. Working at home has me so sedentary that I was exhausted after half a day!

4. Pumpkin soup, no matter how yummy, is not all that filling in the end.

Again, I apologize to those expecting deep social insight, but until I get back home Saturday, this will likely be a blog of travel stories and griping about work. Now I think I remember why I didn't blog much when I worked in the office!!!

Almost....

2007-11-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

Back to regular blogging tomorrow. The trip back to PA was uneventful, but now that we're here, it's supposed to snow today. Snow? What's up with that???

Leaving on a jet plane.

2007-11-17T10:45:00.000-05:00

Off to Indianapolis shortly to fly back to PA for Thanksgiving. I think we've got everything- I hope we've got everything! More later!

My vegan story.

2007-11-16T14:19:00.000-05:00

A while back, Yarn Ho suggested that I do a post about how I made the transition to veganism, and so, here it is. To tell the truth, I'm removed enough from that stage in my life to a point that I really had to think about how it all happened!

Let's go back a ways. My sociopolitical "awakening" started back in high school, I think. I was always a big reader; read the newspaper religiously, watched the national news on tv, read Newsweek, things like that. When i got to high school, I got involved in Model Legislature, which is exactly what it sounds like. Researching and writing bills, arguing policy- fun stuff! No, really, it was! It was at this point in life that I discovered my more liberal tendencies- mostly in the form of a general desire to help people, to do the right thing.

This all spilled over into college, where I got involved with pro-choice groups on campus, and started running with the theatre kids, who were about as liberal as one could be at a tiny conservative liberal arts school in Amish country. This was when I really got to know my first vegetarians- veganism wasn't even really a presence at that point, in the early 90s. I admired their commitment, but didn't give it much thought beyond that.

Anyways, fast forward a few years. I dropped out of college and ended up just outside of Harrisburg, PA. I got a job as a dishwasher, and then a cook, at an "Irish pub". This was when it really started to happen. I got really sick- always having to wake up in the middle of the night and vomit up whatever dinner I had scarfed down when I got home, and sometimes having it come out the other end as well (sorry to be graphic, but this part is important). I was absolutely miserable. It wasn't until i quit that job and got one with actual health insurance that I discovered that I had a condition that caused my stomach to create too much acid. Eating right before bed only exacerbated that and was the cause of my troubles. I started on an acid-blocking medication, which greatly lessened the problem.

I was still having issues though. Even with the medication, I would occasionally end up praying to the porcelain god. I remember a particularly gruesome night in Pittsburgh after a trip to Bob Evans. It was at this point, I started to think about vegetarianism. Anything sounded better than puking my guts up for the rest of my life.

As a kid, I'd never been a big fan of meat. I would never eat steak or chicken on the bone, always preferring it to be in the form of some sort of patty or other unnatural shape. There was just something about the meat that made me gag (literally) when it was in that "natural" form.

So I did some research, declared myself a vegetarian to friends and loved ones, and dove in. It wasn't easy. I was spending a lot of time around avowed hunters and carnivores who either ridiculed me or were just no help at all. And worst of all, I didn't know any vegetarians to help me through the transition. So I failed miserably. Twice.

A year later, I was making big changes in my life. I was single, I had started into therapy and getting treatment for ADHD, and was generally starting anew. One of the good/bad things about a lot of ADHD drugs is that they are based on amphetamines, and absolutely kill your appetite. I was eating like crap, when I did eat, and lost about 20 pounds very, very quickly. The worst part was that it took me months to notice this. I changed meds immediately and decided to once again start the transition to vegetarianism. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I felt like this was the way to go.

A couple of months later, I became friends with my first vegan. This was the kick in the pants I needed. She pointed me towards literature online and resources that would help me kick meat for good. I started to learn about animal testing and animal abuse in the entertainment industry (both of which I had known about, but been able to gloss over before), and began to understand how the love for animals I'd always possessed meshed with my innate sense of justice, and how blind I'd been to the connection between the animals I loved and the animals I was eating. I started to really understand what George Bernard Shaw meant when he said "Animals are my friends. And I don't eat my friends."

It was probably another year before I finally went vegan myself. Between my own cognitive dissonance and the other issues I was dealing with at the time, I just wanted to take it slowly. The "ah-ha!" moment came one day when I was feeling sort of queasy after eating some cheese and I thought "Wait a second. I'm lactose intolerant. What the hell am I doing?" Not a glamorous moment, I'll admit, but it worked! From that day forth, I've been vegan.

This was around the same time I joined the Vegan Represent forums, which quickly became my vegan support system. I made friends who were asking the same questions I was, got good, accurate information about food and ethics, and was able to fess up when I'd made a mistake, without being judged. I began to feel comfortable with a belief system that valued all living creatures, and it helped me finally feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin.

Yarn Ho once said to me "Stegan," (yes, she calls me Stegan in real life too) "I'm glad you're not one of THOSE vegans." By which she meant that I wasn't always being preachy or judgmental, and I let my friends be who they were, without making them feel like I felt I was superior to them.

I'm glad that my friends see me that way, and I'm glad that I make it look easy. But as vegan chai recently put it, in far more eloquent terms than I, it's definitely not easy. It takes effort sometimes to keep your opinions to yourself in the interests of harmony, and it takes serious understanding to see that everyone's got to find their own path, and if you don't give them the space to do it, not only will they not find it, they're likely to resent you for your attitude.

I love my friends and family, and I want them to be happy. If they look at me as an example and decide to try making steps towards veg*nism, fantastic. But I do try and make a conscious effort not to force them down that way. Veganism is a belief system, not a religion. You want other people to agree with your belief systems, and you want to seek out others who do, but you want them to do it for their own reasons, not because they feel like you forced them to.

This got a little rambly, but I hope it made sense. I would love for the whole world to be vegan, I really would. And I hope all of you reading this do your own research and begin the journey. But what's more important to me is that you're good people who are kind to others. The rest will come in its own sweet time. I hope. :)

I'm fascinated. (Plus Street Art Thursday)

2007-11-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

I do love checking my Google Analytics account to see where my readers are coming from. And for whatever reason, as soon as I post yesterday's Ali G. video, I got more international hits than ever- there were hits from Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Spain and Norway, and a few others. So a hearty welcome to my new international readers- enjoy!

Time for Street Art Thursday. This week, via Wooster Collective, is some amazing stuff from an artist named Tano out of Chicago. Nope, it's not photoshopped.

Crazy, no?

I used to be very anti-Burger King....

2007-11-14T16:59:00.000-05:00

Ali G. at his best:

via Feministing.

On Labor.

2007-11-13T19:03:00.001-05:00

Long time readers of this blog may assume from the title of this post that I'd be talking about pregnancy. And for once, they'd be wrong. Today we're actually going to talk about the plight of the working person.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been reading up on two strikes and one potential strike that hit close to home (or at least the same neighborhood). Let's give them each some space here:

First, and most public, is the strike by the Writers Guild of America. To simplify it greatly, the writers are striking to correct a flaw in their previous contract that pays them a shockingly low per unit set fee for each video (or DVD) sold that contains their work. When the previous contract was agreed to, nobody saw the video market as being the huge cash cow that it has become. As I heard someone say today- "who would have predicted that people would gladly plunk down good money for entire TV series on DVD?" The other, slightly more complicated, part of the writers' demands is that they receive payment for content provided via the internet, for which they currently receive NOTHING. I can't blame them for being just a wee bit angry about this! We're seeing more and more of the tv networks broadcast whole shows absolutely free on their websites. The catch, of course, is that the networks sell advertising during these online streams. Thus, they're producing revenue through this "free service". It's ridiculous for the networks to make money off of someone's sweat and talent, but not compensate them, don't you think? This video from some of the fine folks involved with "the Office" makes the argument crystal clear- they made web content for NBC, won an Emmy for it, and never got paid. How on earth is that fair?

The other major strike right now is IATSE Local One in New York- the major stagehands union for most Broadway shows. This is more what one thinks of as a typical union action- management wants to cut jobs in half(!) and slash benefits to the remainder. As someone who spent several years as a technical theatre professional (a lifetime ago, it seems), I definitely feel a kinship with the strikers on this one- it's a hard, often dangerous job, with long potential periods of layoff. Anyone who works in theatre is considered "high risk" by health insurance companies, so getting your own insurance is pretty much out of the question. And yet, producers continue to hike ticket prices, increasing their profits by leaps and bounds. Why shouldn't the people who make the scenery move and the lights go on get better treatment? How on earth is that fair?

Far more locally, and on a far smaller scale, SEIU Local 73 Chapter 119, representing the food service and building services workers at the University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign have been working without a contract since June 2006. They recently voted to approve a strike, which could start any day now. The University (a state run institution, it should be noted) is offering an obscenely low wage increase (2.5% versus a 4% request, which is in line with the current federal cost of living) and outright rejecting the other worker demands. It's sad that an institution with courses in labor history would not even take a good faith negotiating position with one of the most important unions on its campus. How much will it cost the university to bring in scabs to clean dorms and serve food? And how much of this will get passed on to students and taxpayers? This one just isn't fair to anyone!

These strikes are bad for everyone- the workers and their families, the general public, and the pocketbooks of management. But, in a strange way, it gives me hope. High profile work stoppages (the SEIU work stoppage will have an enormous impact, should it happen) like these are making people take a second look at the profit motive that is driving the corporate culture in this country. The sooner people realize that corporations just don't care despite their loud assertions to the contrary, the sooner we can start to talk about making real change in this country.

Links:
Deadline Hollywood Daily (great source of info about the WGA strike)
United Hollywood (pseudo-official touchstone for writers and their supporters)
Broadway World (daily coverage of the Local One strike)
Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center (the only local media providing info about the SEIU fight)

Always go out on a song- here's some Billy Bragg (with accompanying cheerleader in drag!) to keep you in the mood:

Random quotation.

2007-11-12T13:28:00.000-05:00

My old friend Cycho Librarian (still the only person I know who has built their own hammer dulcimer) has tagged me for a random quote.

This is evidently how it works- you turn to page 161 of the current book you're reading and post the fifth sentence from that page. You then tag five other bloggers. So here goes nothing!

I'm currently re-reading, for the fourth or fifth time, the Big Book of Conspiracies from the Factoid Books series. I picked it back up after reading one too many 9/11 conspiracy theory articles lately. I always find it interesting when faced with a giant new conspiracy theory to go back and re-read about some of the classics. Before you ask, I'm leaving my opinions about 9/11 out of this, lest I am besieged.

So on to the quote- page 161 comes in the middle of a chapter called "Lone Nut Family Tree". I won't even get into detail about the chapter, since, as with all conspiracy theories, it's next to impossible to relate without relating the whole thing verbatim. Anyways, page 161 talks a bit about Sirhan Sirhan, and then sentence five begins a transition into a new rant:

"Sometimes it seems as if the roots of assassination are everywhere, tangling through virtually every killing cult and secret society known to man..."

And so who shall I pick to be the next five tagees? Hmm- let's go with metc, yarn ho, mishka, vegan chai and river selkie. Your turn, gang!

11 days in.

2007-11-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

One of the dangers of NaBloPoMo is that there's going to come a point during the month where you don't feel like you have anything to write about. And I'm sort of at that point.

Sure, I've got tons of opinions, and things I COULD say; in the end though, it can be a lot of work to do when you're feeling run down- finding interesting links, pictures, videos, all of that. So I beg your indulgence while I take a night off to watch the Colts get their butts kicked (HA!!!) and recharge the old blogging batteries.

In the mean time, feel free to leave a comment with anything you'd like to see me write about. I'm always open to new ideas. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go have a cupcake.

Holy Capitalism, Batman.

2007-11-10T20:14:00.000-05:00

After a trip to Home Depot to buy the stuff to refurbish Horatio's scratching post and to build him a new cat perch, we decided that we needed to take a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Instead of the friendly confines of our co-op, we decided to give Meijer a try. We'd been told it was a midwestern institution, and neither of us have ever been ones to shy away from an institution.

Now I did some thinking, and figured out that it's been at least two years since I set foot in anything so massive as a SprawlMart or anything like that. And even then, I'd never been in one quite this large. It was entirely overwhelming to my small store brain. The food portion of the store was as large as a goos sized regular supermarket, and there was a hardware store, a sporting good store, a clothing store, and an electronics store we didn't even go near. All under one roof. It was too much to even comprehend.

I don't even have any real analysis to go with this- I'm still in a bit of shock. It's safe to say, though, that I don't plan on making Meijer a regular stop. It makes one appreciate the little co-op that much more.

Happy Diwali Everybody!

2007-11-09T15:54:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite parts about my job (and some days, the only thing that keeps me there) is the fact that I work with a lot of Asian-Indians, and it gives me a great opportunity to be a part of their culture. It's a fair trade- they're unendingly curious about my veganism, and I'm unendingly curious about their culture. It's fun!

In any case, today is the third day of Diwali, one of the biggest holidays on the Hindu calendar. If you poke around the internet, you'll find that quite often, the definition of Diwali depends on who you ask. But here's a really good one, courtesy of the HARI Temple in New Cumberland, PA:

ABOUT DIWALI

The customs of celebrating Diwali, the festival of light, vary from region to region. Though the theme of Diwali is universal, i.e., the triumph of Good over Evil, the Darkness paving way for Light and Ignorance leading to Knowledge. Diwali is celebrated for five days from Krishna Chaturdashi to Kaartik Shukla Dwiteeya. Diwali is observed by Hindus, Sikhs & Jains.

First Day: Dhanteras – Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Throughout India, the first day of Diwali is widely known as Dhanteras. This day is celebrated to revere Dhanavantri, the physician of the gods, and Goddess Laxmi. Dhanteras is also known by various other names such as Dhanatrayodashi, Asweyuja Bahula Thrayodasi / Dhantheran (in few South Indian States).

Second Day: Kalichudas – Thursday, November 08, 2007
In every Indian household, the second day is celebrated with the lighting of 5-7 deep (Diyas) on the door and corners. It is Diwali on a smaller scale, with fewer lights lit and fewer crackers burst.

Third Day: Diwali – Friday, November 09, 2007
Accompanied by the exchange of sweets and the explosion of fireworks, the third day of Diwali as the most important and significant day. The name Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word Deepavali. Other names that vary according to the regions are:
Lakshmi Puja: Diwali is synonymous with Lakshmi puja. Houses are decorated; Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped for prosperity and health.
Chopda Puja: Diwali also represents the start of a new business year so all businesses close their accounts and present them to Lakshmi and Ganesh during the Chopda Puja.
Balindra Puja: Diwali is also known as Balindra Puja in many South Indian States. In the morning, a puja offering oil to Krishna is performed.
Fourth Day: New Year – Saturday, November 10, 2007
The fourth day of Diwali falls on the first day of the lunar New Year. At this time, it is a new year for most of the Hindus, while for others on this day old business accounts are settled and new books are opened. The families celebrate it by dressing in new clothes, wearing jewelry and visiting family members.

Fifth Day: Bhai-Bij, Sunday, November 11, 2007
The fifth day of Diwali is widely known as Bhai dooj or Bhatri Ditya, and is dedicated to the sacred bond shared between brothers and sisters. It is a big family day.

Here are a couple of excellent links about Diwali: the BBC has some excellent background, as well as some lovely recipes (did I mention that this is a predominantly vegetarian holiday? Can I get a woot?) . And the Times of India has an interesting take on the commercialization of the holiday.

So best Diwali wishes to everyone. May the next year bring you all the happiness you deserve. And fireworks. Lots of fireworks.

Street Art Thursday

2007-11-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

This fella is one of the amazing works of Mark Jenkins. I love the assorted reactions from the passers by:

Haven't we all had days where we want to stick our heads through a cement wall? I know I have.

Today's required reading.

2007-11-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

Via Feministing, I came across this post on Alas! a blog- it's just brilliant stuff, a good primer for anyone who says "I don't consider myself feminist" or a reminder for anyone who does.

Last night's show.

2007-11-06T17:19:00.000-05:00

As mentioned, last night I went to see Broken Social Scene at the Canopy Club in Urbana. I had seen them two summers ago, on a triple bill with Ted Leo + the Pharmacists and Belle & Sebastian at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. I don't think I can overemphasize how bad the sound was during the BSS part of the show, and I walked away not seeing what others saw in them. So when I saw they were coming to the Canopy, a much smaller venue, I resolved to give them another shot.

First up on this night was Arthur & Yu,
(excuse the blurry cell phone photography, but I assure you, that's them) from Seattle, who were good, in a Bright Eyes sort of way. Very earnest, melodic. They were good enough that I picked up their cd to give it a closer listen.

After Arthur & Yu had done their thing, it was time for the main attraction:

I know, I know- you want to buy me a new camera phone? Anyways, after some vocal exercises (very important for both audience AND band, I promise you), Broken Social Scene rocked the Canopy Club HARD! Okay, well it wasn't "hard rock" or anything, but it was pretty damn excellent. While it wasn't the full blown band (there were only the core five, plus Andrew Kenny from American Analog Set guesting on keyboards), they didn't seem to miss a beat, and seemed like they were genuinely having a great time playing with each other- when was the last time you saw a whole band have fun on stage, I ask you?

Anyways, this is where the review falls apart, since I'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you what songs they played from what albums. They did play several Kevin Drew solo songs, and one from Brendan Canning's upcoming solo album. The rest of the set I'm guessing was pretty well spread amongst the rest of the albums. I'm working on rectifying this lack of knowledge, as I did pick up "You Forgot It In People" at the show and was listening to it while working today.

It's fair to say that BSS proved themselves worthy of the second chance, and I'll definitely check them out again, as you should when they come to your town.

My first placeholder post of the month.

2007-11-05T20:09:00.000-05:00

Some may call it cheating, but I just wanted to make sure I had something up in case I didn't get home before midnight- going to see Broken Social Scene tonight, so I'll try to get a review up tonight, but I can't promise anything!

Here's what I've learned in the last 24 hours.

2007-11-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple of things I've learned in the last 24 hours that I thought you might find useful.

1. Charlie Weis is far from infallible. In watching the Norte Dame- Navy game last night (and rooting for Navy, because Notre Dame are the Yankees of college football), I was shocked, nay stunned, when Weis, supposed offensive genius, didn't go for a 40 yard field goal at the end of the fourth quarter that would have won the game. Instead, they run, turn it over on downs and go to overtime, where Navy (who had been running over the Notre Dame defense all day) finally won it in the third over time, on a pass play. Smooth move, Charlie.

2. The situation in Pakistan has gone from not good to scary. A coup that disbands the parliament is one thing, but a coup that disbands the judiciary and results in the rounding up of lawyers and human rights activists is the true sign of a leader who is running away from democracy as quickly as he can. And given the tremendous amount of aid we send to Musharraf, you'd think that the US would be strong in its opposition and make bold public statements as a warning to this valuable ally. And if you thought that, you'd probably have been living under a rock since 2001. Other than a few weak statements from Condi that indicate that our supposed "war on terror" is more important than the rights of the people of Pakistan, there's been nothing but silence.

Someday I hope that history tells us what Shrub's actual policy on spreading democracy is, because it's not been entirely clear. Nor has Charlie Weis' policy on not kicking field goals to win football games.

Let's talk about sleep apnea.

2007-11-03T15:14:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure the love of my life and my former roommate will gladly attest, for a relatively little guy (5'9", 175#), I sure do make a lot of noise while I sleep. My snoring was first brought to my attention when I was 12 and my darling brother made a tape of me snoring while we were at a family reunion and played it for everyone.

It wasn't until my mid-20's, having heard the complaints of numerous roommates and bed partners, that I finally decided to talk to my doctor about it. This was the first time I ever heard the term "Obstructive Sleep Apnea". Essentially, the throat relaxes and collapses on itself while you sleep, preventing air from getting into your system. It looks a little something like this:

The most definitive way of diagnosing sleep apnea is through a sleep test. You spend the night sleeping in a doctor's office- the nice ones are set up like bedrooms, but there are others that are like sleeping in a hospital room. Your legs, chest, head and face have leads attached to them, which are connected back to a central computer to measure your brain waves, breathing and movement. The resulting effect is something akin to a Borg who still has a few surgeries left to go.

After my first sleep test (thought I use the word sleep loosely, since it's difficult at best to sleep when you're that wired for sound), it was discovered that I did indeed, have obstructive sleep apnea. During the test, the lack of oxygen woke me up an average of 40 times per hour. The waking epsiodes are not enough that you would remember having woken up, but enough to keep you out of the realm of restful sleep.

There are still only a few options available to those who suffer from sleep apnea. You can make lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or cutting back on alcohol. Sometimes though, as in my case, the problem is purely structural. My tongue is too big, and the opening at the back of my throat was too small. The two options open in these cases are surgery or a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. The goal of surgery is to create a more open airway, and the CPAP provides, as its name indicates, a continuous stream of air down the airway to prevent the throat from closing.

I began with CPAP therapy and had amazing results- I actually felt rested, I had a ton more energy, and just generally felt great. But the machine is pretty inconvenient. I met with my ENT, and we discussed the surgery options, settling on Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, also known by its more tongue friendly name, UP3. This could theoretically be a permanent solution, or it could be a waste of time.

I'll spare you the details; let' just say it didn't work very well. The whole experience soured me on the idea of treating my sleep apnea at all for several years. But, thanks to a persistent partner, a forceful doctor, constant fatigue, and a high blood pressure reading during a physical, I've decided to try to treat this beast again. I had a sleep test a couple of weeks ago to establish a baseline, and at the beginning of December, I'll have a second test, this time wearing a CPAP mask for the whole night. After that, I'll be attached to a machine every night for the rest of my life.

Why did I post all this? I'm not sure. I'm a little freaked out by the permanence of the CPAP, and admitting that you have something that will never really be cured isn't easy. But on the other hand, I hope that no one else is as stubborn as I am with this. Side effects like hypertension and heart disease are serious enough that whatever qualms you have with getting checked out are weak excuses. So not to get all after school special, but if you are constantly being told about your snoring, or that you stop breathing while you're sleeping, go see your doctor. And if someone you're sharing a bed with has these issues, push them to go see the doctor. It's weel worth it in the end.

The American Sleep Apnea Association website is an excellent resource if you're not sure, and also has links to support groups and an online community for those who are dealing with this.

What's Stegan Reading?

2007-11-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

I'm saving up for a bigger post tomorrow, so I though today I'd share links to some of the sites I've been frequenting lately. Boring, I know, but it's going to be a long month, so you're going to have to bear with me on some of these!

I can't start my day without a stop at Uni Watch- as I've mentioned before, there's something about the minutiae that draws me in- I just love it. It's sort of a little bit of mental exercise to jump start the day.

Another favorite for the first cup of coffee is the Wooster Collective site. I first discovered the site when I was looking at different Banksy stuff on the web, and I was instantly hooked by the mix of styles of street art that the site presents. I've discovered a few favorites through the site, like ABOVE, The London Police and Mark Jenkins. And it's done something else to me- every time I find myself walking down a city street, I'm always looking at what's written on the wall, or what's hiding behind that fence. Fun stuff.

I work for a hotel development company that is currently focusing a lot of its energies on New York City. And one of the work-related surfings I like to take on from time to time is to see if anyone on tha interwebs is saying anything about our NYC projects. Luckily, New York has got to be one of the most heavily blogged about cities in the world. Curbed and Gothamist are two of my favorites out of the many, with Curbed tracking the real estate and Gothamist with its finger on just about everything else.

While I read Boston.com and ESPN for most of my sports-related news, I find most of the mainstream news sites to be annoying. Maybe I'm just lazy. But I tend to use Alternet and Huffington Post as my real windows to the world. Add a quick peek at Feministing through the day, and I feel pretty well informed.

And I would be remiss if I left off my vegan support system over at Vegan Represent, the only online message board I spend my time on.

In any case, I hope I haven't bored all my new readers to tears. I promise, they won't all be like this!

Hell yeah, I'm a feminist.

2007-11-01T08:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finished reading The Handmaid's Tale for the first time. Set in the not too distant future, it forsees a United States where damage to the environment so greatly reduces the birthrate that women are stripped of their rights and reduced to property- they can no longer have money or jobs, and are instead viewed primarily as birthing vessels.

As clichéd as it sounds, I couldn't put this book down. Every page rang true to the direction our society is pointing in, and it terrified me. I cannot recommend it enough.

But we're not here to do a book report.

Despite being passionate about women's rights for years, and marching on Washington, and volunteering at Planned Parenthood, I'd always been hesitant, as a man, to claim myself to be a feminist. Something about my taking on that label always struck me as being patriarchal, although I've never been able to put my finger on why. Over the years though, women I love and respect, women who I definitely do consider to be feminists, have applied the label to me. And that was alright. But in my mind, I still couldn't refer to myself that way.

And then I read this book. Despite having read several "classic" feminist books before, none of them ever clicked with me like this one. It's the complicity that got me. The idea that men who considered themselves "enlightened" would be complicit in the subjugation of a full half of the population absolutely sickened me. And the more I read, the more I realized that this isn't some futuristic, far off thing, it's happening right now.

So many "enlightened" men refuse to take umbrage to the rampant sexism in our society just to get along; just to be one of the guys. And that's how it starts. Every time we gawk at a Hooters waitress, or laugh at a joke about how "ugly" Hillary Clinton is, we lose a little bit more of our outrage. And so, when the governor of Missouri appoints a commission to "study the negative effects of abortion on women", and stocks it full of people from the forced birth crowd, we hardly blink, and we don't consider the ramifications of this on our friends, lovers, sisters, mothers.

So what am I saying? I'm saying that I believe in that "radical notion that women are people too". I'm saying that my mom raised me with the idea that women can indeed to anything that a man can, and deserve equal pay for doing it. And the amazing women I've known in my adult life have taught me that women are not a collection of random, surgically enhanced body parts, they are living breathing people, just as smart (in most cases, smarter) as I am, and just as passionate about the world around them.

In short, if I didn't walk side by side with the women who are every day fighting to be considered equal to men, to be seen as more than incubators and sex objects, I'd be going against everything I've ever learned; I'd be a stone cold hypocrite. Feminism transcends gender- it's about human rights. And I happen to think human rights are worth fighting for.

So hell yeah, I'm a feminist.

Sign the Petition to Repeal the Hyde Amendment!

2007-10-31T16:40:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned the National Network of Abortion Funds in this space before. One of their big projects currently is working for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment- I recently received an appeal from them that I wanted to share with you:

Dear Friend,

Abortion is still legal in the U.S., but every year thousands of women are denied this right because they don't have the money to pay for abortion care.

Low-income women are often forced to use money they need for food and rent to cover the cost of an abortion. Many women cannot raise enough money and must continue the pregnancy and stay trapped in poverty. Women face this difficult situation because in 1976 Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which excludes abortion from government-funded health care programs.

We urge you to join the more than 60 groups in the Hyde – 30 Years is Enough! Campaign demanding an end to this injustice! Sign our petition calling on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment and restore coverage of abortion for low-income women.

Women enrolled in Medicaid and similar programs receive coverage for all medically necessary health care services, including prenatal care, labor, and delivery. However, as a result of the Hyde Amendment, a woman enrolled in Medicaid is denied assistance in most circumstances if the care she needs is an abortion.

Sign the petition and make your voice heard! Our goal is to collect 20,000 signatures to deliver to Congress by January 22, 2008. With your help we can meet this goal! Please forward this email to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign.

By signing the petition, you join a strong, national effort called the Hyde – 30 Years is Enough! Campaign. The campaign is led by the National Network of Abortion Funds, a network of groups that raise money to help women cover the cost of abortions. A complete list of organizations participating in the campaign can be found here.

Please join us and sign the petition now!

Together, we can create a society in which all women have the power and resources necessary to make healthy decisions about their bodies and families.

Thank you,

The Hyde – 30 Years is Enough! Campaign
www.hyde30years.nnaf.org

Please, take a second to sign the petition. And again, I implore you to use some of your free time or funds to help out the abortion fund in your area. True reproductive justice can't be achieved while abortion is still financially out of reach of anyone in our communities.

Condom Dance Party!

2007-10-30T12:06:00.000-04:00

Warning- extremely catchy.

We'll get back to the regular blogging soon, I'm saving myself a bit for NaBloPoMo!

It's NaBloPoMo time again!

2007-10-25T10:33:00.000-04:00

Is it November already? Well, almost, and that means it's time for both National Novel Writing Month AND its only slightly less ambitious cousin, National Blog Posting Month. And being the slacker that I am, I'm going to go with NaBloPoMo once again this year. Last year I managed to stick out for half a month before everything else got in the way (why do they always do this in a month with a major holiday???), but this year, with working at home, I really think I can do it.

And you, dear reader, you can too! Just click on the link above or the button on the right, or if you're really lazy, right here. There is so much to blog about in this great big blogosphere, so don't be intimidated! You can do it!

A trip to Fenway

2007-10-24T14:03:00.000-04:00

Since no normal person's going to be able to afford a ticket to tonight's game 1, here's a short tour:

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a nap so that I'll be able to stay up and watch the whole game...

Random Red Sox memories...

2007-10-20T16:56:00.001-04:00

As the Red Sox face a critical game six tonight, I thought I'd put down on the page some of my memories from a long time of being a Sox fan:

-First game attended at Fenway: if memory serves correctly, it was 1983, and I went with my dad to see the Sox play the A's on a Saturday afternoon. It was Yaz's last season. We sat behind home plate on the first base side, up about halfway. I don't remember much, but I seem to remember Yaz coming in as a pinch hitter in the late innings.

-My first big trip into Boston without my folks was in high school, when two friends and I went to see the Sox on a weekday afternoon, and sat along the left field line. I can't remember who they played, but I remember yelling at Mike Greenwell all afternoon...

-It's not every day you get to witness history, even if it was made by the opposing team. The whole family went up to see the Sox play the Twins on a weeknight (My brother was always a big Kirby Puckett fan), and the Red Sox managed to hit into two triple plays, soomething that had never been done before, and hasn't since. They did manage to win the game at least. :)

-I've proably seen the Sox at Camden Yards more often than anywhere else, which has led to some fun memories, including both games of a doubleheader, teaching an Englishman some of the finer points of the game from the left field nosebleed section, and my favorite:

-Cal Ripken's last game. When Cal decided to retire at the end of the 2001 season, his last game was supposed to happen at Yankee Stadium. I had tickets to the last Orioles-Sox series, which was scheduled for the middle of September. Because of what happened on September 11th that year, many of the games that week were bumped. And the game I had tickets for was bumped to the very last day of the season. It's weird how fate works sometimes.

It was a very odd game- there were lots of speeches beforehand (including Bill Clinton, which brought about the very odd sight of secret service sharpshooters on the roof of a sports stadium), and for the first time in a long time, the seats at an Orioles-Sox game were mostly held by Orioles fans. The Sox won, which made it easier to sit through even more speeches afterwards, and all of the celebrations.

-Then of course, there's the little memories. I remember exactly where I was when the ball went through Buckner's legs, and where I was when the Sox won game four in St. Louis. And the names- Oil Can, El Guapo, Dewey, Nomah, and Papi.

You can't give up on your team when you've got this kind of history, can you? Nope.

Go Sox!

This is not funny.

2007-10-18T16:18:00.000-04:00

Nope, not a bit.

Ah, dammit, who am I kidding? It's hilarious. And I feel dirty for saying that.

Ron Paul? Really? Are you sure about that?

2007-10-16T12:07:00.000-04:00

Every couple of days, I get emails, letters and telegrams from you, my valued readers, asking something along the following lines:

"Stegan, we know you're a huge Dennis Kucinich fan, but what do you think about the "Ron Paul Revolution"?"

I have to admit, I'm new to the Ron Paul watch, so I decided to check out some of his positions. He's anti-war and would pull us out of Iraq (good), against the Patriot act (very good), against trade deals such as NAFTA (good), wants to take us out of the UN (huh?), abolish the Federal Reserve (um, okay), abolish the IRS (alrighty then), return decisions on abortion and contraception to the states (BAD), repeal all federal gun laws (BAD), return all decision making power over medicine and education to the states (BAD), and make the rights of homeschooling families paramount (WHAT?).

His views appear to have drawn in support from white supremacists and the forced birth crowd, as well as certain numbers of anti-war republicans and people who enjoy saying "Ron Paul" while intaking their favorite illegal or semi-legal substance. To each their own, I say. I mean, as a Dennis Kucinich supporter, who am I to judge who you vote for?

But let me ask the Paulies this- your boy wants to return a large number of powers to the individual states. Have you looked at your state assembly (or legislature, or what have you) lately? Some of them only meet every two years! They think teachers unions shouldn't be allowed to strike! They think they know better than anyone what you, or your partner, or your mother should be allowed to do with your bodies! They are, in short, elected officials. The minor leagues of elected officials, no less. And while I'm honestly not a big fan of Congress, I think they've usually got smarter people telling them what to do than your standard breed local politician.

In the final analysis, it seems like Ron Paul really just wants to pass the buck down to the states (and the UN) and create a system of federal governance where the bigwigs in Washington can sit back and say "Hey, it's not my problem!"

Which, now that I think about it, might be the perfect system of government for the early 21st Century United States- we have after all become the "Hey, if it doesn't affect me, I don't care about it" culture. Hm- maybe I should reconsider this whole Ron Paul thing...

Uniform madness...

2007-10-11T12:52:00.000-04:00

(it's an oxymoron, see- uniform implies order, while madness implies chaos? but you probably figured that out already, didn't you?)

Over the past year or so, I've become a regular reader of Uni Watch, which, as the website says, is dedicated to "The obsessive study of athletics aesthetics". I find the minutiae that Paul Lukas and his team dig up to be fascinating, and I've found myself watching sporting events, such as a White Sox game a couple of weeks ago, and trying to understand why they'd wear special unis to commemorate "Halfway to St. Patrick's Day" instead of just enjoying the game (it really was distracting!).

Anyways, my original reason for all this was to make you aware of this week's Uni Watch article on ESPN.com- I found it hilarious and fascinating. And I would imagine that it's articles like this that create jobs like "uniform spellchecker" in sports stadiums across the country.

On a similar (although not uni-related) note, last night I had the pleasure of watching the documentary "Helvetica", which was, as the title promises, a film about a font. A font that is so ubiquitous, so everyday, that you can't go five minutes without seeing it, or a version of it. And this has made it both beloved and reviled over the last 50 years. It's a fantastic documentary that takes you into the hitherto unknown world of typeface design, and I think, gives great insight into the last 50 years of graphic design in general. It's touring the world right now, and I could not recommend it more highly. The website has the dates and locations of screenings.

No, seriously.

2007-10-09T10:34:00.000-04:00

Am I the only one who needs to keep reminding themselves that the presidential election is NEXT November? Enough with the campaigning already!

Words to the wise.

2007-10-01T17:21:00.000-04:00

From Natalie Dee.

nataliedee.com

Sure he's a right wing Fox News loving nutjob,

2007-09-25T14:55:00.001-04:00

But will he blend???

The answer my surprise you. Although it shouldn't:

Quick Hits- Champaign

2007-09-25T12:23:00.000-04:00

It's been almost two months since we picked up stakes from Harrisburg, where I'd lived for ten years, and moved out west. I figured it was a good point to share some observations on the city, gathered while sitting outside Pekara with a lovely cup of coffee (Ethiopian dark roast, always a good bet.):

-I really could see myself living here for a while, especially if we stay within biking/ walking distance of downtown. I love that there are still a lot of local businesses, and a good number of vegan or adaptable vegetarian options (although it's far from perfect in that respect) foodwise.

-There is a disturbing lack of bagels. From a quick non-scientific tour of the coffeeshops, Dunkin Donuts appears to be the only reliable source for bagels. This is no good. The server I talked to at Pekara confirmed my fears, so it's not just me. Someone needs to fix this situation.

-I've started to notice some of that famous midwestern reticence. The students I've met have been lovely and friendly, but there is definitely a difference when it comes to "townies"- people are not really interested in making eye contact, and it's rare that a smile is returned. I'm not sure if it's because I dress fairly casually around town, so it could be guessed that I'm a student, or if it's just the way people are around here...

-Working from home has definitely made it harder for me to meet people. I've definitely got to go make an effort to do things like go downtown to watch a game at the bar and whatnot (dare I become a Cubs fan in addition to a Red Sox fan?)- this will be a LOT easier when the bars in Champaign go smoke free at the end of the year...

-Steak n' Shake scares me.

90 seconds on the Global Gag Rule

2007-09-20T10:07:00.000-04:00

via Feministing:

to take action, visit: NARAL Pro-Choice America

So you like abstinence only education, do ya?

2007-09-18T11:30:00.000-04:00

Your tax dollars pay for this man to speak at schools:

My personal favorite comes at about the 4:00 mark, where he goes on about how all the aborted fetuses are thrown in a blender and put into makeup. Not to mention the shame he's heaping on anyone in the audience who may have already had sex, or an abortion, or, god forbid, kissed someone...

Gah! I will say that I think it's great that one of the students was annoyed enough that he got out his camera and filmed this- this is the stuff that these righties won't show when they tape a presentation for teevee or anything like that. This is the stuff that Henry Waxman rightly went after this multi-million dollar industry for spewing (if you do click on that link, spend some time on the Guttmacher Institute website- you'll learn something).

The worst part is, even when you scream at the top of your lungs about this, you get the feeling no one's listening.

Yarn!

2007-09-15T15:23:00.001-04:00

Yarn!
Originally uploaded by VeganSteve

I'm finally moving out of the world of washcloths and scarves, and ready to try my first knitting in the round project. is the one- and of course, it's no simple hat. I hate wearing hats in the winter, so it seems to make sense to do something that I can move around, and has an opening to let my head vent. Very exciting stuff!