Mindless Philosopher

It’s beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas!
Speaking of holidays, due to rain Simchat Torah was brought indoors at Princeton, and instead of dancing in the street we danced in the dining hall. (Although, tomorrow’s potential news would motivate me to dance in the rain–just not with a Torah). For the uninitiated, on Simchat Torah we celebrate the fact that we’ve read all the way around the Torah and need to start over again. Because the Torah is a scroll, this means it must be wound all the way back to the beginning. We celebrate this process by taking the Torah outdoors (or, as the case may be, to the dining hall) and dancing around it for many hours. I only stayed for one of those many hours, but I recall my last year at MIT I hopped from shul to shul, ending up at BU at midnight.
For the curious, there were three groups of dancers/Torahs: one of men-only, one of women-only, and one mixed. You can guess where I ended up. Each group reached a critical mass of people, though I’m always a bit saddened by the extremely large male:female ratio at orthodox religious events.
P.S. I’m pretty sure I sent this invite to *every* I know in DC, but just in case: DC United’s playoff game is Sunday, 10/30, 4:30pm; seats will be great, only $20; RSVP by Friday at 2pm. In fact, if you are reading this, live in DC, and didn’t get an invite, email me because I either don’t know you are living in DC, or I don’t know your email.

I found out what Chicklet was named after…
Returning from a pickup soccer game, I ran into the boys from across the hall. They looked ready to go outside, so I asked if they wanted to play some soccer. They were non-committal, and instead were interested in teaching me a new game called “Chicklets.” It’s a bit complicated, but I’ll post the rules in case anyone needs a game to play with kids outdoors. It’s best with between 4 and 6 players (but it worked with just us three).
First pick someone to be It. Call the other three players B, C, and D. It picks a category: planets in the solar system for example. B, C, and D huddle, each of them thinks of their favorite planet, and player B reports to It that the favorite planets are (for instance) Mercury, Jupiter, and Pluto. (Player B randomizes the planets so It doesn’t know which planet is whose favorite). It closes It’s (Its? hrmm…) eyes, turns around and calls out one of the planets (“Pluto!”). Pluto walks quietly up to It, taps It on the back, and walks quietly back to the group. It opens It’s eyes and guesses who Pluto is. If It is right, Pluto become It for the next iteration.
If It guesses incorrectly, the real Pluto identifies him/herself and It chases him/herself. If It tags Pluto, Pluto becomes It. But, the catch is that as It gets close to tagging Pluto, Pluto can yell out another planet (“Jupiter!”) and Pluto must try to tag Jupiter. Jupiter may use the same escape mechanism (yelling “Pluto!” or “Mercury!”). Clearly, in this scenario, It will tire quickly. When It is ready to give up, It sits down and yells “Chicklets!” Then, Pluto, Jupiter, and Mercury all run as fast as possible to It. The last one to touch It is now It.
Once you get done explaining the rules, it’s fun. Trust me.

This week has been a bit hectic. I had a presentation due on Wednesday and my first real paper due on Thursday. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I also had a “business” trip to DC planned for Thursday. The presentation went off without a hitch, and things were looking pretty good for my paper, but then my procrastination side kicked in. Since my professor said we should email him our papers, I planned on using my NJ->DC amtrak time on Thursday to polish. In anticipation of such work, I tried linking my bluetooth cell phone to my bluetooth laptop.
That’s when disaster struck. I followed the directions carefully, but hit what I thought was a fixable snag. I googled and several people had had my problem, but none of them posted their solutions–it just seemed to magically fix itself. Well, after a couple of reboots, there was no automagical fixing on my end. By now, I was in complete ASD mode. And to complicate matters,I misread a Microsoft Knowledge Base article and screwed up my computer’s settings. The final straw was that when I left Princeton in the morning, I forgot to transfer my files from the network to my laptop, thus destroying any hope of being productive on the train.
To make a long story short (too late!), I found Internet access once I was in DC and transferred my files. The paper turned out decently, and now that I’m not stressed, I quickly figured out how to fix both my dial up networking problems and am now blogging on my laptop via my Treo. Thus,wherever I now have cell reception, I also have Internet access for my laptop. Pretty cool, eh?
The trip to DC was not all “business,” though. I met up with Nick at the National Press Club’s Cartoons and Cocktails event! There were excellent cartoons on display, and I helped check in some famous cartoonists. My schedule did not permit me to stay long (unfortunate, as Tom Toles had not yet arrived); I was off to dinner with the Arlington West Wing crew at CPK. Maya and Carrie were nice enough to let me crash on their air mattress, and the following morning I paid a visit to my former colleagues at The Mellman Group.
Last night included more swing dancing lessons (I’m getting a bit better…) and today my absentee ballot came: add one to Tim Kaine’s total!

Not a whole lot of lu-love lost between Israel and Eqypt.

The weekend started with a “dorm party,” thrown by my fellow politics cohorts. For some reason a lot of the social life in grad school revolves around drinking. I try to offset that with IM sports, playing with the neighbor’s kids, and West Wing Sundays (more on the latter in a moment). But the party was decent, as ranting about our professors was fun, and other people can be somewhat entertaining when plastered.
Saturday, Janeite came up for a visit. We made scallion pancakes and went to see “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” with Rupa. The movie was your average W&G–lots of bad puns, comfortably predictable, and fun for the whole family. I must say that the one thing that has always freaked me out about W&G movies is that Gromit never speaks. He has full comprehension of his surroundings but can’t vocalize his ideas. I think we need to empower Gromit to voice his opinion and welcome him (and all who fall prey to the evil that is speciesism) into the charmed circle.
Sunday we had another successful West Wing gathering. Roomie made Halloween cookies (with help from the kids on our floor) to everyone’s delight. The episode was mediocre and I have to wonder whether this is the last season of West Wing. So far we’ve lost Will and Donna, and from yesterday’s episode, it looks like we’ll lose another major character shortly. We’ve only gained Janeane Garofalo, and I doubt she wants this project long term (though I’m speculating here). Plus, by season’s end we almost certainly lose Bartlet as well. I could see Charlie staying on in another Dem administration, but what’s CJ going to do, take a demotion? Personally, I’m not sure I’d watch a West Wing without Allison Janney. Seven years is a pretty good run, and it was a damn good show for four of those. Perhaps Commander and Chief will be good.
Fee Fi Fo Fum! Someone’s been messing with the computer in my office. I came in the other day and noticed that my computer was logged in. The computers auto-logout after 10 minutes, so someone else must have used my machine. Now, I work in a bullpen, with computers that are workstations, so I can see how someone would think my computer was fair game. Thus, I didn’t think much of it, and logged them out. Today, however, I came into the office, hooked my laptop up to the USB switch that enables me to only use one (ergonomic) keyboard and mouse, and quickly realized that the keyboard was not working and instead making a funny beep when I hit a key. Oddly, the mouse was working. So then I hit the USB switch and tried the workstation: both the keyboard and the mouse work. So, it’s not the keyboard’s fault. But, the mouse goes through my keyboard (which acts as a sort of USB hub), so how in the world could the mouse work on my laptop but the keyboard not?! My CS debugging side kicks into gear, and I try to simplify the problem by eliminating the USB switch. As I try to pull the keyboard wires, the wire (which also has a PS/2 output) feels stuck. That’s weird…I shift the computer and try again…still stuck. I duck down and realize the PS/2 end of the cord is plugged into the workstation. Argh! So not only did someone use my desk, they couldn’t figure out how to press one button on the switch to get the keyboard to work. And instead of just using another machine, they messed with my configuration. Goodness knows whether they figured out how to use the joystick mouse or even if the mouse worked through the keyboard’s PS/2 connection… . It’s unfortunate that I don’t have access to the workstation’s registry, because then I’d swap the control and caps lock keys (as I do on my personal machines). Good luck pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del to login then! Basically, people, my message is this: go to a cluster.
Tech LOTD: Sticky notes for Opera. I’ve put one on slashdot that tells me to “Stop Reading!” — so far it’s working.

Blogging on Yom Kippur since I’m not supposed to do real work. Even though the fast officially ends at 7:05pm, the Hillel here isn’t serving food until 7:30. I’m thinking about eating a little before the initial dinner, but the two-hour nap I just took helped propel me toward the finish line.
This past weekend was a filled with transportation adventures. Friday night, four of us were supposed to go to a Decemberists concert in Philly. Chicklet got stuck in traffic (because of the rain–which still has not stopped), and had to bail out and take a train. I was taking trains the whole way but missed my stop because of what I consider to be a confusing SEPTA rail system. I exited the train at Temple University, and had to take the regular subway and then a cab. I only missed one song, though Chicklet didn’t get in until later, and the other two folks didn’t bother to show up. Despite the mess, the Decemberists put on a great concert (especially when playing “The Mariner’s Revenge”) which made the night enjoyable.
On Saturday, my parents were supposed to visit, but they got stuck in DC because a downed tree caused a power failure on Amtrak. Since we were planning on going to Avenue Q, I gave their tickets to Samidh and Rachel. The musical was funny, and it was fascinating how the actors played their puppets on stage. Since the puppets can’t have facial expressions, you end up superimposing the actors mood on to the puppet. The characters were very one-dimensional, which I thought detracted from the quality of the show. But, I was never a big fan of musicals anyway…
Seth joined us for dinner in New York, and thankfully I had no transit issues getting back to Princeton. Saturday evening I inaugurated my new Settlers of Catan game, and taught my neighbors Cate and Nathan how to play. They were quick learners and the next time we play it’ll be a much closer result.

Pretty low-key weekend since I was sick with a cold, though West Wing Sunday: Princeton edition was another rousing success. Turns out that Strong Bad was sick as well. I think I caught my rhinovirus in New Haven, it came full on Friday morning, and I finally broke its will last night. I get the funkiest dreams when my body finally wins the war against sickness. Last night’s dream sequences included spiders crawling on my shoulders (how Ron of me, I know), an undertow current pulling me away, and weird combinations of my friends/acquaintances. But, I’m in full recovery mode now: I just played an IM Ultimate game (we won 7-3) and now I’m off to IM flag football.
Oh, and last night I made veggie lasagna for a dinner party that Miranda and I hosted. The lasagna turned out quite good–I guess all the time watching janeite make it helped!
L’Shana Tova!

I’m listening to Condoleeza Rice, who is speaking at Princeton, from the comfort of my apartment via webcast. I helped with the student protest of her speech by creating ribbons and handing out fliers. I’m surprised to find that I agree with almost everything she is saying. Dr. Rice is extolling the virtues of combating extremism and spreading democracy–the subtext is obvious. A person just waking from a 4-year coma, however, would think that we attacked (or at least heavily pressured) the blatant extremism of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Iran. She hasn’t even spoken the word “Iraq” yet.
Oh, she’s finally on Iraq. And she is not directly connecting Hussein’s regme to Islamic extremist. Of course, you’re not supposed to notice that she can’t link those two concepts.

Monday afternoon, I went on a daring school night expidition to the land of New Haven, CT. There I had dinner with Mara and Sam from MIT Hillel, Alissa from Dean, and Rain. (Alas, Josh W of DFA-NH was unable to attend.) We went to Claire’s for food, which, as a vegetarian and kosher restaurant, had something for everyone; the quality was, despite its reputation, surprisingly good.
Rain and I then went to a Dar Williams concert, which was the real reason for my trip. The opening act, Girlie Man, was surprisingly brilliant (given my previous negative experiences with openers). For the main event, we slithered our way to the front row; Dar was so close that we could practically touch her. She put on a fantastic show, playing most of the songs from her two recent CDs–Beauty of the Rain and My Better Self, as well as some of her past hits. (When she started to play “The Babysitter’s Here” a young woman two rows back wistfully exclaimed “I learned to play guitar with this song!”) “The Christians and the Pagans” received the biggest crowd reaction, with people jumping up and down during the chorus (and by people, I mean me and the girl next to me).
Needing to put Rain’s 10 pounds of picked raspberries to good use, we made Peach-Raspberry Cobbler (straight out of the joy of cooking). While the cobbler was in the oven we enjoyed an episode of Firefly, in anticipation of the new movie Serenity. (Useless trivia: apparently Kaylee will be much skinnier in the movie.)
Last Saturday was The Game: a mini MIT mystery hunt style scavenger hunt. My team finished in the middle of the pack–we got much better as The Game went on. (It took us a while to get the style of the clues.) Some of the puzzles were fantastic: one included a laser set-up with half-mirrors. My two critiques were (1) the flavortext was misleading and unhelpful most of the time, and (2) the great, Back to the Future theme had no climax at the finish line.
In other news, I’ve started playing soccer most days with my neighbors’ kids: two brothers (Gotham and Sidhar) and thier friends, two sisters (Anania and Samya). We play three against two, with my side being down one player. The kids always want to be on my team–they haven’t figured out yet that my team somehow always loses…
QOTD: “I think that if Barbara Lee would read the history of Joe McCarthy she would realize that he was a hero for America.” (AP)

Last weekend was action-packed, which is hopefully a good sign for my time here at Princeton. Friday night started with services at Princeton Hillel, which no one here calls Hillel. It’s the CJL, or the Center for Jewish Life. The building is big and well-adorned. Services were good, and very similar to MIT’s. ( For those who care, we used Sim Shalom for our Siddurim.) Dinner afterwards was free for grad students (and will be free every other week!) and they had plenty of vegetarian options. I mistook the couscous for another dish because it was smushed together so much, but the food quality was reasonable for a Kosher meal.
After dinner, we did lots of singing, and I learned new hand gestures to accompany Kol Ha’Olam Kulo (and new English lyrics for it as well). The young woman leading the singing was especially bouncy–I’ll have to see next week whether she is normally like that or just overly excited about the new term (I suspect the former). A few of us then took the Jew party to the dorms where I chatted it up with the underclassfolk.
Saturday, I bought a mountain bike for $100. It’s in like-new condition, has front wheel suspension, and is only two-years old. It was a great find, except that the seat is a bit painful. I was scoping out other bikes and I saw some seats with extra padding–I need to get me one of those. The other problem is that it’s mostly all uphill to class and I’m out of shape. The trip back is very pleasurable though :)
Saturday evening I went to an east coast swing lesson in the non-air conditioned main gym. The girls outnumbered the guys and the freshman girls probably outnumbered the total guys. So I met a lot of 18-year-olds. The lesson was a nice extension of Portia’s brief introduction to the dance last summer.
From there I met up with my fellow politics department first-years (aka. my cohort) to go to a concert benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Turns out the concert featured Gza from Wu Tang Clan. And while I had definitely heard of the Clan, I don’t think I recognized a single song and I was unfamiliar with this Gza fellow. Suffice it to say that my cohort and I were out of our element. We left early, though I must say that I gave Gza a chance: I listened to his music for over and hour. But, in the end, I think I’ll stick with Jewel, Alix, and Dar.
Sunday I went into New York City, to take advantage of NJ Transit’s free ride that they were offering students last week. I saw Rachel and Aswini from DFA-NH, and met up with Seth to watch the Emmy’s. Seth said two of his lady friends were coming but they stood him/us up. So we talked about Seth’s burgeoning music career instead.
And now it’s back to the grindstone and the 500 pages / week I need to read for school.