Ask and ye shall receive

Yeah, so....hey. How's it goin? Whatchoo been up to? Me? Nothin much, just work, you know how that goes. So...uhh....you...you been reading any other blogs since mine? I mean, it's ok if you did, i wasn't around and you had to live your own life. Hopefully you can come back to me in the end, but i totally understand if that can't work out. Well, i'll let you decide....talk to you later. Bye.



Not quite a year, but better late than never. Danrunt told me at our latest bingo excursion that i needed to update this thing. So i am.

Work sucks, as it does for everyone else in America. Started my 4th year at Election 2004 U., only 2 or so more years left....hopefully. That's the magic of getting your PhD...it's not up to you when you're done. Eventually your boss hands down a memo that says, "Look for a job." I'm shooting for December 2007 (5.5 years total), because i want to apply for a postdoc whose deadline is every January. It's mixing science with public policy work down in DCizzle working with either the executive (DoD, State, DHS, etc.) or the legislative branch (Rep's). Sounds pretty cool, plus it's only 1 year with a possible 1-year renewal. That way, i can find out if i hate it or not BEFORE i make it my life's work for the next 50 years.

I'm gonna try to talk my advisor into letting me take Russian and possibly Arabic next semester so that i look even better on paper for the application process. Need to have some "intelligence capital" to expend for the face-to-face interviews when they see me. (Haven't decided what's going to become of the metal....). I'm also going to try to bring up my whole "graduation scheme" of Dec 2007. We'll see how that goes, i'm not too hopeful. Although (1) i have bugged him for stuff and gotten it (2 new computers for our lab) and (2) i don't care any more, so i've got that goin for me....which is nice. As long as i have a set plan with goals in mind, it should go better than expected, but it's still venturing into the unknown.

Been reading a lot. It's amazing how much reading i actually get done while walking places. Efficiency experts should look into that. Walking to work was a 10-15 minute period of nothingness (well, just exercise). Now, i get through like 7-10 pages in my walk...which adds up. Finished Watership Down...didn't like it. Read a whole bunch of other stuff. Just finished No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson; picked it up in a supermarket about 5/6 years ago, impulse buy. Finally got around to reading it and it was surprisingly good. It's about this Senator from NJ, Kerry Kilcannon, running for the Democratic nomination for Prez. Got to "see" the behind-the-scenes dealings and goings-on of a campaign. The author also, from what i've read, picks a pet topic for his novel and kinda runs with it. This one was about gun control and abortion. The first chapter is this guy going into an abortion clinic in Kenmore Square and shoots up the place. (I learned that 'abortionist' is a word...who knew?).

Now i'm reading a book Patterson read as background for NSP about how power in Washington works; I like to think of it as Government for Dummies. The Power Game by Hedrick Smith is a ginormous tome of a book that seems like something kids would have to read for AP Gov't or Intro PoliSci or something. But, because i'm retarded, i'm reading it for fun. Practice for when i get there.

Not really sure what else is goin on. Slowly nursing myself from a CivIII addiction and prepping my body and mind for a new CivIV addiction, which comes out Oct 24. Lots of games are coming out before xmas that i'm going to need or need to ask for: XMen Legends II ("game over" to my social life...see what i did there?) and Batallion Wars to name a couple. My electric bill is going to be ridonkulous. Might need to get my required Yale 2005 package--a new phone and an IPod. We'll see.

Speaking of xmas, i just bought my flights "home" for xmas...which is weird since i've never had to fly anywhere for a holiday before. I bought them Monday...from JetBlue....who I loved when i flew them earlier this year, but recent events made me less than thrilled. I watched it unfold on television...live. Only news from LA would have a helicopter follow around an injured airplane. I thought to myself...what happens when this does land? There is a possibility that in can crash and burn and lots of people will die on live television. Kinda messed up. I flipped between MSNBC and NBC (I am a GE whore, i think they implanted something in me while my mom was pregnant and working there) to watch the Martha Stewart Apprentice show, a seeming plane crash in its own right. She got off of house arrest Sept 1st. Since then and now she started a daytime talk show (where Diddy, nee P. Diddy/Puff Daddy/Puffy/etc., taught her to rap) and a reality show. It was better than Donald Trump's mainly because he's so arrogant and grating and says "huge" wrong. There's no "you're fired" though, which is the main reason i watched. She says something "nice" and then pens a cordial goodbye letter to them. It wouldn't be any other way....