came down to corvallis to give krista a ride home for thanksgiving. heading back up to pdx tomorrow to do the thanksgiving thing with friends. friday i fly down to reno to do it again with the family. fly back at the gawd-awful-hour of 8 am monday.
steve gingold, who some of you may know as dan's little brother, has got himself a website. go check it out. for those of you who haven't been keeping tabs on him, he's down in costa rica doing the school thing.
i talked joe, lainey, and dustin into going zoo bombing last night. spaceman had to go hang out with his "mystery" girlfriend and couldn't com. a good time was had by all. pictures soon.
joe lane's in portland. he got in late thursday night, and i think he'll be around until next thrusday.
robert byrd, one of the few politicians i have any respect for, calls the senate to task for creating the abomination that is now the dpt of homeland security.
paul krugerman analyzes the real reasons behind bush's push to privatize the federal work force.
krista called tonight seething about all the rude people in portland. well, specifically the guys working behind the cheese counter at the snobby little grocery store a block from her apartment in the north west (it's really snobby artist neighborhood to start with).
the way she described it reminded me of the scene in hi-fidelity where the record store clerk wouldn't sell a patron an album because they don't appreciate it fully. personally, if some dungeon master selling cheese wants to give me a hard time about mixing dissimilar cheeses i'd start laughing at them. when she mentioned that she knew better than to try mixing those cheeses, one being too salty for it to work, it became clear, the problem was really being rejected by the cheese dork clique.
i tried explaining how it was like the scene in fight club where the people seeking to join to project mayhem had to stand on the front porch and endure constant insults for three days before being admitted. she didn't seem convinced and even made some half hearted vow never to go back in there until she realized that she wouldn't be able to get smoked mozzarella anywhere else. i told her i'd get her a book about fancy cheeses for christmas so she could start cheese talking with them. she didn't think that was so funny.
well it's not really punk rawk but i got to see the black heart processional tonight, mates of state was supposed to play but ended up canceling.
a one man act called, pleasuresaurs (or something like that) opened. it was one of the funniest things i've seen in a while. picture that kid with attention deficit disorder you went to school with now in his early twenties with a suitcase full of costumes and a whole list of nonsensical songs played over some kind of generic bumper music. i kept going back and forth between "why am i watching this clown make such a fool of himself" to "this is really happening" and then laughing hysterically.
some really crappy band played next, their lead singer can only be described as andy dick playing the role of bumbling rock star. he had the most limpwristed tambourine style i've ever seen, i almost died when he almost kicked the mike stand into the guitar player. even better was after hopping down into the crowd to mix and play tambourine he almost crashed trying to hop back up on stage. i'd almost watch them again in the hopes that tragedy would befall them.
i'd never heard any of the black heart procession before and didn't have any expectations going in. after seeing it i've got to admit they put on a pretty good show. i think this was actually the first time i've ever seen anyone play the saw before, they managed to make it work well with the rest of the band too. i didn't have any money but i'm going to try to pick up their new album it's supposed to be excellent.
i picked up the new johnny cash record, american iv: the man comes around, and it's excellent. the majority of songs are covers, everything from nine inch nails to the beatles to depeche mode. the original songs are great though, solid cash and worth every penny.
i guess winter is here. everyone keeps saying it's amazing that the weather has been so nice for so long. seeing all the leaves dropping reminds me of fall in dallas when i was a kid. a couple of times i've found myself staring at the wind swirling the leaves off a tree and up into the air as if it was plastic snow in one the snow globes. the rain makes stomping through the fallen leaves a bit less enjoyable but i don't mind it, i'd be happy if it'd just stay warm.
based on this article in the nytimes, it would seem the police back east are doing their best to make a good chunk of their case against the snipers inadmissible.
"There is no question in my mind that this was orchestrated to permit a period of time to go by where they were unrepresented and law enforcement could take advantage of it," said Joshua R. Treem, a lawyer for Mr. Malvo.
...
Mr. Treem said he tried to contact Mr. Malvo to inform him that he would have to reassert his right to counsel if the federal charges were dropped and he was handed over to Virginia prosecutors. But Mr. Treem said federal officials would not tell him where Mr. Malvo had been taken.
Once he was able to find Mr. Malvo, Mr. Treem said, the interrogation had already begun. Under Virginia law, because Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Malvo were transferred to the local police after the courts closed, investigators did not have to bring them before a judge until the next morning.
In Virginia, a guardian was appointed for Mr. Malvo on Thursday afternoon. But the guardian, Todd G. Petit, said he had been barred by the Fairfax County police from speaking to Mr. Malvo.
today i was introduced to the ladder theory. i would classify this relationship theory as one of most accurate i've encountered based on the evidence that i've gathered in the process of my girl chasing research.
my chemistry professor is hardly an interesting speaker, most of the time i sit in the back and waving my laptop around trying to get a wireless signal so i can check my email. occasionally though, he'll come up with an amazing analogies out of nowhere, wednesday he was discussing the quantum mechanics principles that prevent you from knowing exactly where an electron is in relation to the nucleus of an atom. the class was having trouble grasping that you could only know the probability of where the electron was. "okay, this isn't the most pc example, but imaging a keg party, there's only one frat boy there. where is he most likely to be?" silence, then some jocko kid shouts out "near the keg!" "right, he could be anywhere, he might go to the bathroom, he might go out to get something from his car but he's most likely to be next to the keg. the electron is the same way", and everyone was enlightened.
la times high lights the increasing attacks on palestinian olive pickers by jewish settlers.
"God gave this land to the Jewish people. The minute other people question Jewish sovereignty over the land they not only have no right to pick olives, they have no right to be here," he said. "They can decide what is more important to them: olive oil or [their] blood."
i finally got an email into risks digest. my submission was about oregon's vote-by-mail system.
well i guess i haven't been posting very much reciently. i've been spending a majority of my free time with krista (the girl from the street car) the internet, and by extension this webpage are getting shorted. chool's going well though, i'm doing a lot of reading for the honors class and trying to get ramped up for the major paper that will be my grade in the class. anyway more later.
here's a story that dan will really like: the first godless americans march occured in washington dc on sunday, one of the signs read "al qaeda is a faith-based initiative"