Breaking news

This just handed to me.

shh

Must say, it's mighty quiet around here without Jendrik...

This is something that needs to be imported to the US.

Unintelligent debate

I try to stay out of the whole Red vs. Blue debate, cause I think it is just making people more polarized, and I think very few people fit neatly into one side or the other. Except me, I'm a hippy Volvo-driving Birkenstock-wearing tree-hugging latte-drinking homophile liberal.

Anyway, my point was... the one thing that's really pissing me off lately (and amusing me, I'll get to that) is the whole "Intelligent Design" business. I have no conceptual problem with Christianity (or religions in general), but there has to be a line between religion and science, and I don't like seeing science getting shat on the way people are trying to do lately.

The latest is that UC is getting sued over what high school courses they give credits for. Because we certainly wouldn't want universities deciding how to give out their own credits, would we?

I also found this article which seems interesting and thoughtful, plus the guy agrees with me. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I haven't finished reading it yet.

Finally, the best part is: if you haven't heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, read up! The Pastafarians are growing in numbers, and Talk Like A Pirate Day is next week.

Big Easy, Big Trouble

News junkie that I am, I've been following this Hurricane Katrina story pretty closely today. Move over, Hurricane Andrew. This is the real deal.

What's funny is that they've been broadcasting evacuation warnings for days, and now that people are realizing how serious this storm is, it's too late to leave. They're now trying to cram most of metropolitan New Orleans into the Superdome, with predictable results. As soon as the power goes out (if it hasn't already) that's going to become a hot and smelly place. Stadium toilets are nasty to begin with, let alone when the plumbing's out of service.

I'm pulling for New Orleans - it's a hot and sticky city, but it's actually pretty interesting. When the water recedes sometime tomorrow, I hope there's something left.

Costa Rica Craziness

I hate to interrupt the big news about the "R" "I" "N" "G", but I told you guys that I would post our flight info so that you can cross reference when you hear news about some plane incidents or kidnappings.

Flight there 8/28:
Continental
Flight #1773 Chicago O'hare to Houston Departs 5:50 AM Arrives 8:26 AM
Flight #645 Houston to Liberia Departs 9:30 AM Arrives 12:04 PM

Flight back 9/4:
Flight #646 Liberia to Houston Departs 1:00 PM Arrives 5:24 PM
Flight #346 Houston to Chicago O'hare Departs 6:44 PM Arrives 9:29 PM

The hotel information is as follows:
Sunday 8/28: http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/arenal/hotel-los-lagos-arenal.htm
Monday 8/29: http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/monteverde-lodge/
Tuesday 8/30 - Saturday 9/3: http://hotellunallena.com/ingles.htm

Don't let the country go to shit while we're away.
Catch you on the flip side.

Well, it's about damn time.

This is VERY important.

I know that you were sitting around thinking to yourself, "Self, I just don't know enough about the latest Star Wars fan upheavel revolving around the re-release of the first trilogy". I know what you mean. That's why my mission is to fill this void in your life.

Last Tuesday, the Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events finished the Outdoor Film Festival by showing the remastered version of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. At Grant Park there were many interesting personalities, including these shady-looking characters:















[FYI, behind the cast was the NU Solar Car that raced in this year's North American Solar Challange. They were partially sponsored by ComEd (an Exelon Company - but not necessarily an excellent company).]

The real core of this post is that we were introduced to a vast counter-culture that goes by the rallying cry "Han Shot First". If you want the more official version of things straight from the geeks, go here. For your instant gratification, I will give you the abreviated version.

When George Lucas remastered his much adored opener to the first Star Wars trilogy, he changed many things with advanced computer graphics. A part of the die-hard fan base grew to believe that he actually made the move worse. The epitome of this is the scene in the "Star Wars cantina" where Han Solo is almost apprehended by a bounty hunter. To get away, Han kills the hunter, Greedo. In the original movie, Han shoots Greedo pre-emptively. However, in the remastered version, Greedo shoots Han from less than a meter away and misses. Only after this does Han shoot and kill him.

This change upset many fans who liked Han so much because he was the kind of character who could ruthlessly kill another person if the situation called for it. Now, fans show their disappointment by passive-aggressively using picket-style signs and wearing these t-shirts to events. You can buy one too and be just as cool as them.

That concludes this lesson of the week.

Mmm, headache

Lots of nifty optical illusions here. Hooray for eye strain!

WWJA?

***Warning: long semi-political rant with no real point ahead. ****

So wily old Pat Robertson put his foot in his mouth again. Personally, nothing makes me more pious than a religious leader going on TV to advocate the murder of a democratically elected head of state.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez may not be the poster boy for right-wing values, but he's been elected by a landslide in three separate elections, each of which has been certified by international observers. And I can assure Mr. Robertson that he is very much loved by his countrymen, even the wealthy ones who claim to hate him. Venezuela hasn't earned its nickname of "Chavezstan" for no reason. The people there might be poor, but the ones I met had a lot more political knowledge than most Americans, most of whom probably couldn't find Venezuela on a map.

Actually, Pat may have done us some good: now that we have all this international egg on our face, there's probably no chance in hell the CIA will "take out" Chavez. In the mid-1950s, the CIA "took out" Iran's president, who had been threatening to nationalize the country's oil industry. The Iranian people weren't too pleased, and they thanked us in 1979, when they exiled the Shah, invaded our embassy and took hundreds of ambassadors hostage.

Back in the 1980s, "The 700 Club" used to come on right after Saturday morning cartoons ended, and I always changed the channel. Maybe I missed the episode where God said it was OK to kill other people's presidents. When Ayatollah this-and-that or Sheikh Mohammed so-and-so goes on TV with the usual "Death to Bush" business, he's labeled a "terrorist." So can we call old Pat a terrorist now? Or are we still just calling him a senile old man?

By the way, WWJA stands for Who Would Jesus Assassinate. Anyone want a bracelet?

Science!

There's a somewhat interesting interview here with Adam Savage of my new favorite show, Mythbusters.

Also, I would like to comment that if Ross Hays grew a walrus mustache and wore a beret, he could probably stand in for Jamie Hyneman on that show.

nouveau library

So I heard this story on NPR today. I think it would be good for the nouveau riche who want to create an instant library. I although thought it would be fun if we looked at this list and made the embarassing realization that we are all drastically underread (except maybe liz the english major). I'll start by saying how many of these books I've read: 47. How many of them have you read? The oddest book on the list that I've read: Piers the Ploughman (one of my favorites, actually). Best title on the list "Gentlement prefer blondes but gentlemen marry brunettes."

crunch during rush hour

This morning was a very bad commute to work.

Much to Andrik's dismay and our Mazda's chagrin, I was rear-ended on 294. I was at first infuriated, because I didn't even stop short and the woman had a TON of room in which to stop before hitting me. But she did hit me, and hard. Andrik says she must have been going no more than 20 mph, which I always thought was slow, but which felt like 50 mph. Although a 50 mph crash probably would have knocked me out, so let's not think about that one too much.

So I was a big baby and cried a little. I called Andrik, my boss, the state police and my insurance company, in that order. My back hurt, but the cop said I didn't need an ambulance and suggested I see a doctor. Andrik asked me if I was going to make a doctor's appointment. Then I got to work and my boss made an appointment for me so that I'd go. I hate unneccesary doctor's appointments. But, my back pain got a little worse and I decided to go.

Which brings me to the happy news: I love the chiropractor. They worked on me for about an hour and it definitely hurt. But now I feel much better. Not terrific, but much better. The chiropractor, Dr. Dave, was very nice and found out that I'm having minor muscle spasms on my upper left and my lower right. He swears that it will probably hurt more tomorrow but that if I ice it and have normal activity for the next couple of days, I won't be inhibited from hiking or horseback riding or surfing in Costa Rica (all on our itinerary). The doctor said it was very good that I was wearing my seatbelt and that she slowed way down before she hit me.


Andrik reminds me that I need to sing the praises of Progressive Insurance company. I have spoken with three people from the company today, all very nice. A claims manager called me within two hours of the accident and the claims rep called me within another hour. It looks like the claim is going through the other woman's insurance (and to screw with her premiums instead of mine), so I don't have to do much. But the woman who took my initial call did a good job of calming me down and the claims people were very prompt and friendly. I sort of expected them to drive to the accident, like in the commercials, but I was kind of glad they didn't because I didn't want to wait for them.

Anyway, I promise to post more often with positive things, instead of only being inspired to write about bad things.

Call Betty Ford

I'm addicted.

I'm addicted to these things. See, I've never been a good swimmer. More specifically, I've never been a good water-treader. In our efforts to be more healthy, Jen and I have started to go to SPAC. Well, we actually go to the Norris Aquatics Center (we don't want to take away the grandeur and recognition due to Mr. Norris for getting a multi-million dollar tax break).

The thing is that I have a really hard time being in the pool without the fins. We usually station ourselves at about the 7'-7.5' range. I think that's pretty deep. It's not like I will drown without the fins, but I get tired really fast and have to either grab onto the edge, or start to swim somewhere (I do fine when I'm really trying to move). I noticed last time we were there that I have kind of become dependent on the fins for propulsion. I allow my arms to do less of the work. When I take them off, I struggle to do the laps.

So, the question for those of you who were lucky enough to actually learn to swim as kids is, is there some way that I can reduce my dependence and get accustomed to the relatively minor movement I get from my regular feet? Is there an exercise or activity that will improve my treading (other than the obvious answer of doing more of it)?

Yours Truly,
Evanston Fin

2007: No More Spring Breaks!!

Just wanted to announce to the group that I received an offer of full time employment commencing after my completion of the July 2006 Bar exam. WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!

The firm is Ellman, Burke, Hoffman & Johnson.

What did Bill start?

Today, there is more proof that geeks are slowing trying to take control of the world. Yesterday, Gooogle, Inc. announced that it is ready to sell more shares of its company stock. Shares are already at $280 (!).

Here is where the geek comes in. The number pi rounded to eight decimal places is 3.14159265. If you take everything after the decimal, you have 14159265. THAT'S HOW MANY SHARES THEY ARE SELLING! How more geeky can you get?

Geeks are the new money people. There is a generation of geeks who are now million and billionaires. For a long time, the "in" thing to be if you wanted to make money was a doctor. Then it switched to a lawyer, then to a Wall Street trader. Then it was an engineer (ever so briefly, because of biotech). Now it's a geek with a good idea and some bandwidth.

It gives some of us hope for the future. Too bad I will never be half the geek that Beanie is. Who's got the real earning potential now?

Get your pillage on

And you thought your popsicle-stick bridge was cool...

UPDATE: This week's Onion is particularly good. Especially this article.

Catch the next flight.

So, one of the reasons that all of you think that I am great is that I can provide you with things like this upcoming movie review. Last night Jen and I saw Red Eye. Before we get into the nitty gritty of the plot holes and suspension of disbelief, I would like to provide you this little vent.

There was only one preview (plus). That preview was for Just Like Heaven (big minus). Even though I know nothing about Just Like Heaven, I can tell you all you need to know: it's a new, worse version of Ghost. I mean, it's practically a direct rip off. The only differences are that the two people haven't met before one dies, and Reese Witherspoon only wishes she could get Ashton. They have a psychic (portrayed by Napoleon Dynamite, no less). They even have that "I'm a ghost and I can enter your body" bit. I will end this by blandly saying that it looks terrible, and as a person who is old enough to have seen and enjoyed the original, I am offended by this obvious forgery.

Now, on to Red Eye. Don't let the title fool you, this movie isn't about ocular apparatuses. It's a suspense thriller that packs a punch. As a disclaimer, I tend to have a hard time "suspending disbelief" at movies. Despite this, I thought the movie was really good. It's been a long time since I felt my heart pumping during a movie. Although there were a couple of predictable twists, the plot as a whole was pretty novel (something that is hard to come by these days - see prior paragraph). Even though she sits for a good chunk of the movie, Rachel McAdams still manages to be pretty hot. Cillian Murphy admittedly has eyes that draw you in, even if his character is an asshole.

I will let you discover the roller coaster-ride emotinal twists for yourself. It was the first time since I saw the re-release of Start Wars Episode IV that I actually heard an audience cheer as good conquered evil. It was a little surprising and a lot refreshing. I will end this by saying that I think it's definitely worth a look.

And speaking of reviews, whatever happened with the Black Eyed Peas? Yeah, I'm looking at you, the cause of the $3 gas...

My latest syringe encounter

So, like most people I have a skeleton in my closet. That skeleton is that I don't like to floss. Lately I have been doing it, but I don't like it. I find it tideous and unwelcome by my gums (and fingers). Growing up, we didn't have dental insurance, so I rarely went to the dentist. I didn't have insurance at NU and the no-dentist-seeing trend continued into my career at Ford. Finally last year I caved in and went to see one after roughly 8 or 9 years. It turned out that I only had three cavities after that time, and they were between the molars (due to non flossing). Everything else was really well. The dentist warned me that I should not take that to mean that I could wait another 9 years to see her again.

So, I was a little surprised to find out last week that I have another cavity - between the molars again. I had the filling put in today. The right side of my face is still numb. The novicane went all the way up to my eye socket; it feels weird when I close my eyes hard. The thing is, I really like my dentist in Dearborn. She was really nice and the office was full of hot nurses, which will always dull the pain in my mouth and wallet.

This new dentist has all male nurses. They are nice guys, but can't begin to make up for the lack of women under 55 in that office. And one of them called me "Andrika". I usually don't care if you mess up my name, but don't change my gender in the process. Anyway, I'm satisfied with the end result, and am sure that I will tongue my Permanent Maxillary Right First Molar (#3) until the filler smooths out.

Here is what I had to stare at while the novicane took set:













The dentist recommended that I slide the floss between my teeth and, instead of pulling it out from the top the way I inserted it in, to pull the whole length of floss through the side of the teeth. That seems really strange to me. I'll give it a try, but I'm sure it'll give me another reason to dislike the whole process.

Running on empty?

So, gas at the station outside my apartment complex hit $2.85 per gallon today.

I don't know that we'll ever see cheap gas again. This might be it, folks. Every time you drive past a gas station in Europe - be it a Total, a bp, an ELF, a Cepsa or a Texaco (of course they have Texaco in Europe. Duh.) - the prices are all in the $6 to $7/gallon range. The prices are enough to make your head spin.

But then you look around and everyone is driving around in comically small cars with names like Clio and Vectra and Pepi. These amazing little vehicles, as goofy-looking as they are, get fantastic gas mileage. You hardly ever see an SUV, and when you do, it's usually about the size of a Honda CRV. Throw in phenomenal public transportation and compact cities, and things don't look nearly as bleak as the gas prices would have you believe.

I realize I'm preaching to the choir here (and sounding like a pissy tree-hugging San Franciscan), since all of us drive compact cars. And a good portion of Americans are trying, I'll admit. But it infuriates me to see people obediently pulling their Hummers and Suburbans into gas stations and willingly paying $2.85 a gallon to fill up their tanks. I want to pull over and scream at them.

How much longer can we keep this up? The rest of the world might be stuck in pricey-gas hell, but at least they're trying to put out the fire. What will it take for Americans to change their driving habits? We've spent the last 50 years creating a culture based on sprawl and highways and macho big cars and the promise that gas would be cheap forever. Short of rebuilding our cities from the ground up, we're out of options.

So what do we do now?

Where do sins fit in?

So, one of the reasons why I like "Men's Health" is that their philosophy of what a man should do and be like pretty much jives with my own. There are some times when the articles remind me of the stripped shirt man, with advice that may give you the best way to muscle your way to the top or something like that. But, by and large, the contributors perpetuate an idea of a man that I could really relate to and (many times) aspire to be.
Today I read this article off the home page about the "The New Seven Deadly Sins". The begining of the article talks about the "old" sins as actually being part of what a man should be. I don't think I agree with that assertion, but I understand that the author needed a way to introduce his main idea.
The article basically boils down to the notion that it's a sin to avoid being a "true" man and living up to your obligations. In this sense, "Men's Health" is pretty conservative. It boosts the idea that a man's role in the world is bound by certain mandates. It's a man's duty to live up to these.
My least favorite "new" sin: #2 - the idea that a righteous man will show some wrath.
My most favorite "new" sin: #6 - continually making excuses for your mistakes.

Sex and the City

So, today, I went to Sunday brunch at a place in Chicago called Orange with three of my girlfriends. We all felt very Sex and the City having brunch to recount our exploits from the last two weeks since we saw each other last. Not that I have any exploits, but two of the four are single... Anyway, Orange is a trendy brunch place (tagline: Contemporary Brunch with A Peel). It's so trendy, in fact, that they serve Frushi, which is fruit sushi where fruit replaces fish on a big rice pad. Turns out, it's not that good. However, they had this amazing Chai French Toast with a reduced Chai Latte sauce. Highly recommended. The only thing messing with the Sex and the City vibe was that my friend Simrit brought her husband. It's very difficult to have girl talk with a nice Indian boy at the table. But very fun anyway.
On a completely unrelated note, only 13 days to Costa Rica and counting....

True SF Morning

This is what my morning looked like:



Followed, of course, by a strong Irish Coffee at the BV.

Ahh, San Francisco.

Volcanoes Not Erupting

The aforementioned "Bumpass Hell":



The postcard shot:



And, in case you forgot what we look like:

That's rock and roll, bitches

I realize I've been somewhat lax at posting here, but that should surprise no one. So here's the catch-up from the last week (or is that catsup?)

Last weekend, we visited beautiful and scenic Lassen Volcanic National Park. At 4000 feet, it was about 95 degrees during the day. At 7000 feet, there was still snow on the ground. Saturday we went on a 12 mile hike, which was really nice, except that hiking 12 miles in the mountains in 90-degree heat is really exhausting. Next time I will bring: a) my swimsuit, and b) more water. Sunday we visited the aforementioned "Bumpass Hell" which is a bubbling stinky valley full of sulfur vents, mudpots, and boiling springs. The creek running out is gray, and the whole place smells like it got good and Bronheimed. Ewww. Pictures are still forthcoming, but we haven't gotten them off the camera yet.

Tuesday, we saw the Black Crowes at the Fillmore. Great venue plus great band equals great concert. Extra bonuses included lots of hippies and weed, and the crazy guy next to us who kept shouting things like "That's rock and roll, bitches! Yeah!" Although I was pretty disappointed with myself for not knowing more of their songs beforehand.

Tonight we're seeing Dave Matthews with, I believe, Black Eyed Peas and JEM. Not one I probably would have picked on my own, but one of our friends had extra tickets. Should be an entertaining evening at least. And yes, Jamie, I do like Dave Matthews. Get over it.

How Rude!

So, last Monday, I met a bunch of fellow Kellogg 2 year students that will be entering with me. As it turns out, they were all really nice. Most of them were down right interesting. We had lunch at good ole' Buff Joe's. That night, we went out to Ravinia to listen to Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen do Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D.

The night went as many Ravinia classical concert nights go, with one exception. Remember the guys that would walk around with signs that said something like "Silence Please" or "Please be considerate to other concert goers" or something equally passive aggressive to get people to shut up? I remember them standing right over us when we were there, usually because Mikey and Johnny couldn't stop giggling at something. Well, this time, the attendants actually walked right up to us and told us to shut up or get out. About two minutes after the concert started, one said to Jen "I'm not kidding, quiet or move to the front [points toward the front gate]." I thought the guy was very rude interrupting our fun.

One guy in our group got warned three times. His name was Cannabis or Dope or Hashish or something like that. Jen has his phone number.

After the concert, we came back and rocked the house at the 1800 Club. It is going to take me a couple of visits to each place to get used to the fact that I drank at these bars four years ago. It turns out that the new Optima Views condos that went up right next to the building where Liz did her money-getting as an undergrad is trying to take away the 1800 Club's "patio license" so that they can't have people outside talking, eating, drinking and generally being happy. Just like Evanstonians. More uptight people rudely trying to get rid of fun.

Sandbox betrayer

Even though Evan is too cool to play with our glog, he's not too cool to hang out on Halsted for Market Days last night. According to Evan, Market Days is "the second gayest weekend of the year."
It was a good time, even though none of the guys tried to touch my bum. Something about me screams "straight" to gay men and I don't know what it is. Oh well. I guess I should count my blessings. At least I'm not a grope magnet like Mikey.










[Evan at the Belmont Clarke's after some fun street drinking.]








This was the inaugural picture taken with my new cellphone, a Samsung e335. I was pleased with the outcome, if not with the fact that I had to wait three weeks to get it.

By the way, I discovered that I really like Leinie Honey Weiss. It's drunktastic!

Feel the Burn

So, we've got some people dedicated to exercise who look at this blog, right? So, riddle me this: why is it that today's 10 mile bike ride hurt more than the 1st 10 mile bike ride that we took a month ago? Even after I've been working out with bike rides, Peter Gunnerson's Core Secrets (which I love) and finally swimming yesterday. Any advice would be greatly appreciated so as to help me avoid intense agony during workouts.

Just call me Nick at Nite

So growing up, my dad's all-time favorite show was "My Three Sons." Like, serious all-time favorite. He really liked it. I think it's good for a few yuks, but it's pretty basic family slapstick sitcom fodder. Oh well, to each his own.

And since I am nothing if not a doting son, I am now the proud possessor of all TWELVE seasons of "My Three Sons," which I will be sending to my father for his birthday next month. Twelve seasons, at between six and seven DVDs each, translates to a giant stack of burned DVDs of questionable quality. Still, my father will be thrilled.

Hats off to eBay for making inane transactions such as mine possible. If anyone wants to watch "My Three Sons," you know where I live.

File a complaint...

I was just told to "file a complaint" because I feel that the grey is too bland and dull. So I am.
Don't any of you people have jobs? You guys post a lot. I love it. I'll try to do better.

That's a feature, silly

Apparently people like me are responsible for killing financial districts everywhere. There's a somewhat interesting article in the Chronicle about it.

I Just Haed To Remark...

... on the sudden unannounced new look of our blog. Sup with that? Will the responsible party please step forward?

It's not that I don't like the gray, I'm just thirsty from some posts from someone other than Andrik and myself.

Aside: I told Evan about this blog, but he doesn't want to play in our sandbox. Maybe he thinks there's cat poop in it.

Intervention?

So, is there a cure for Typer Shark?

I started playing the game after Jen and Jamie just happened to mention that my typing sucks. I had been aware of this for some time, but there is never anything that highlights it. It's not like there is a way to keep track of the time lost due to hitting the backspace key. There are certainly no typing critics looking over your shoulder as you write emails.

Nevertheless, I started playing Typer Shark as a distraction and now I play it all the time. I have gotten to stage 13 on the "Expert" level. That's supposed to equate to ~50 wpm. That's not very much. When I took my typing class in 7th grade, we had to have 60 wpm to pass. The kids with computers always had higher scores (duh).

But now I feel like I have to play it. Got a few minutes before the next show is on? Play a quick game. Gotta go pee? Can you hold it long enough for a quick game?

It's not all bad. Typer Shark showed me that there is a word "haed". That's good, right?