Mindless Philosopher

The wedding was in Sturbridge, Mass, just outside the colonial village. The ceremony was outdoors, and the weather could not have cooperated better–clearly the sun and clouds were pleased to see Karen and Mike wedded. And I’m happy to report that I know Karen’s last name now :)
While Karen and Mike skedaddled off to Vancouver for their honeymoon, I continued north to Camp Wigwam, where I spend 12 of my childhood/young adulthood summers. There I serendipitously met Andy Tobias, DNC Treasurer/author, who was a Wigwam alum in the 1960s (and helped bridge the traditions from the Pop and Mandy era to the Strauss era).
Oddly though, traditions that had remained constant for decades were changed this year, thus messing with my schedule. Camp started and ended on a Friday (a bit unusual, as the season usual traverses Thursday to Thursday), but what was really strange was that Color War started and ended a day early. Once in my twelve years did the Color War break occur a few hours early–all other years it started on the evening a week before camp ended. This precise timing leaves room for four days of color war, beach day, packing day, and traveling day.
Thus, I timed my trip to coincide with the final day of Color War; but, when I arrived I discovered that my uncle had prematurely started the competition (leaving an extra day at the end of camp). Thus, I caught the tail end of the last event, group one soccer, in which Grey beat Red in a penalty shootout. However, the disappointment for Red soccer players was short-lived as they realized that their team had amassed enough points in the final afternoon of competition to guarantee victory.
The last night of Color War is “Song and Cheer Night,” where both teams sing their original song and cheer and then everyone embraces to celebrate the end of Color War. (The traditional chants include “it just doesn’t matter” to signify that there are more important things in life than winning, “we’re going to the beach” because the next day they are, and “Toga! Toga!” because the movie “Animal House” will shortly be shown.)
So instead of my trip ending at Song and Cheer night, I traveled with the camp to Old Orchard Beach, where I ate funnel cake, played air hockey, and swam in the Atlantic. Adam (another alum) and I challenged Noah and Nick (counselors) to a game of skins mini-golf, where we were narrowly defeated 10-8.
Then, after a short stop in Boston (where I met up with Diesel at a HoDean event) and NYC (where Seth was kind enough to play host), I came back home to Arlington. My joint going-away party with Miranda on Saturday was a success–lasting a marathon 7.5 hours and including about 50 people. (K Hicks even made a surprise appearance!)
But I must pack and stop procrastinating.

I’m on a road trip to New England, with the primary purpose of celebrating Karen and Mike’s wedding! The only problem being that I now don’t know how to spell Karen’s last name…Ch…Chme..Chmielew…something or other

Shot…
“You go back to, what’s her name, well, Gloria Steinem, but I’m trying to remember I can’t remember the woman’s name. It’s terrible. Anyway…” — Santorum, on the names of some radical feminists who are on a “mysogynistic crusade to make working outside the home the only marker of social value and self-respect” (This Week, 7/31/05).
…Chaser
“Gloria Steinem? Who’s Gloria Steinem?”
“Gloria Steinem’s a famous feminist! She says there is no separation between feminists and housewives! She says you can be a housewife AND a feminist!” (Sour Juice and Rhyme)

Paul Hackett, former Marine who has spent time in Iraq, is running for Congress in a Republican district of Ohio. Despite the nature of the district, he is making waves and won the endorsement of the Cincinnati Post. You can read much more about this race on Daily Kos or the official campaign website.
Importantly, the election is tomorrow, and if you don’t happen to live in Ohio’s second district, please contribute instead of voting. (Don’t worry: ActBlue does not take a cut of your contribution.) This post details how your contribution will be used in the next 24 hours. If we win, Congress would get its first member with first-hand experience in Iraq. Now that’s a cause worth fighting for.
QOTD: “How many AEPi guys does it take to screw in a light bulb?”
“10?”
“Hah! You think AEPi guys do any screwing?”

Thursday night was DC United vs Chelsea. We got there a bit late, but didn’t miss any goals, and it was the best half of soccer I think I have ever witnessed. DC United played phenomenally against England’s best club team and scored first! The crowd went berserk (we had seats right behind the Screaming Eagles). Chelsea quickly pulled even, but DC continued to dominate ball control throughout the first 45. The teams headed into the locker room tied at one, and since both teams came out with drastically different lineups, DC tied Chelsea in my book.
The second half was played very differently, in front of a much subdued crowd, as the second stringers took over. Chelsea’s second line is much better than DC’s: they dictated play and added one goal to their tally. Over 30,000 came out to cheer on DC though: our group consisted of 14 people–a great draw for soccer on a weeknight.
This weekend, Ann and I helped Chu move into her place at UVA law. U-haul screwed us over in terms of truck rental, but Ann was gracious enough to let us use her mini-van. Moving took most of the day, but we arrived in C-ville in time for dinner. We gambolled around University Hall, and stopped in at a very dorky game shop, where I bought Settlers of Catan (now I don’t have to rely on others to have it). Dinner in U-Hall was quite tasty.
Sunday I helped Chu continue to move in and then I spent the evening watching the O’s get demolished by the White Sox, Jack McCoy lock up criminals, Ellen DeGeneres be funny, and the Governor of CA kill lots of people on Mars while unlocking the secrets to an ancient alien device that creates an atmostphere on the red planet.
QOTD: “That reminds me of this shirt that I like because it has my nickname on it–it says ‘Jesus saves; Everyone else takes full damage.'”

Haven’t written in a while since work has been hectic this week and I’m working on my present for Karen’s and Mike’s early August wedding. But I had a very pleasant weekend, which balances out the stress of these past two days.
Friday night we threw E Bars a surprise birthday party. The guest were supposed to show up in “half formal attire” (e.g., tux top and biker short), but I was pretty much the only one to do so. I wore dress pants, with one sock-Teva combo, and the rattiest t-shirt I own. Thus, I looked ridiculous enough for people to immediately realize that I didn’t dress like this on accident, and was, in fact, following the directions on the e-vite. Bit of a Bridget Jones/Elle Woods moment, but a fun party nonetheless.
Saturday included three action-packed affairs. The first soiree was a send-off for Jenna, who is now working at an organic farm. The party fare was vegetarian and organic, and I strayed from the reservation a bit with my tasty, though store-bought, key lime pie. The next celebration was a toast to the recently-married Colleen and Miroslav–we gathered at Loriol Plaza and others went out dancing, while I traveled to my third engagement of the evening.
Driving a couple miles downtown, I joined Allison’s and LaBolt’s apartment-warming party near midnight and stayed til about 2am. Met some interesting people, including one who works in Leader Reid’s office. There were also some very drunk people, and the police apparently arrived earlier in the evening to quiet everyone down. A successful evening.
Sunday, I took some time for myself (to appease the introvert in me) before attending Eily’s condo-warming gathering. We had a nice view from the roof of a crazy amount of police activity–they had closed off part of the East-West Hwy in fact. Many of Eily’s guests were grad students, and they shared their stories as I took mental notes in preparation for my Princeton adventures.
Tuesday, I cut out of work early (only to return later) to attend the Bris of Rafi, son of Eva and Issac. Unfortunately, I did not arrive in time to see the snip-snip part of the affair. There was quite the large MIT Hillel presence at the party, and we got caught up in each others lives. After a humorous speech by Isaac (as we’ve all come to expect), we benched and parted ways. But, NJ seems to be in the middle of the Boston-NYC-MD Jewish corridor, so I have a feeling I’ll be seeing these people again in the near future.
Tonight: Maya’s birthday dinner. Tomorrow: DC United vs Chelsea.
Today’s LOTD is socks and teva themed

Below the fold is my analysis for Book 6. For those that haven’t finished or for you non-HP fans, here is a great LOTD: Episode III: The Backstroke Of The West (warning: if you open this at work be prepared for others to ask what you are laughing so hard at).

Continue reading →

As Chicklet said while she was visiting, good thing Bush nominated Roberts to the High Court, because the voice of white men is really underrepresented on the Supremes. Sigh, if only Bush had listened to his wife or Justice O’Connor.
In better news, even though the musicians were sexist and attempted to impede her assent, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hired Marin Alsop as their new conductor and musical director. At least there’s progress somewhere…
Also, “Take Me Out” was a fantastic play, which details why there are no openly gay, professional athletes. Some of the acting was just phenomenal. Also, there’s a lot of locker room male nudity, which makes the acting more impressive. We gave them a standing ovation.
LOTD: The Honorable Governor of California

Friday night, we went over to Maya and Miranda’s to pick up our copies of HBP at the Borders across the street. After retrieving our numbers for a place in line earlier in the evening, we were somewhat disappointed by the lack of fanfare at midnight. I got through two-thirds of the book that evening before my head finally hit the couch around 5am.
I had to wake up a few hours later to go butts tubing on the Potomac in the Harpers Ferry area. We managed to successfully avoid the potential for thunderstorms, and generally had a very relaxing time. I got sunburned on my feet for the first time in my life and looked like an idiot when my tub flipped over due to a small whitewater wave (happens to the best of us). I continued to read HBP on the way to and back of butts tubing, which made me a bit of an anti-socialite.
We raced back from Harpers Ferry since I had a soccer game to play in and Nick had to pick up Amy and Washington-National, but my game was canceled (the storms finally hit) and her flight was delayed, so all the hustle and the bustle was for naught. My game being canceled allowed me to finish up Harry Potter by 6pm, only 18 hours after I got my hands on it. (Trust me, there will be a [long] post on my thoughts in a couple days after most people are done with it.)
Sunday night I went to the Capital Steps with Chicklet who were performing at the national Hadassah convention (which is why Chicklet is in town). We’re also going to the play “Take Me Out” this evening, which has received rave reviews. My opinion will be up here shortly.

From today’s WaPo, White House budget director Joshua Bolten:

The White House does include $37 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan war costs for 2006 and $13 billion in 2007, but Bolten said those costs will certainly be higher than that. The projection also includes no additional expenditures to fix the alternative minimum tax, a parallel income tax enacted to ensure the rich pay taxes but one that increasingly ensnares the middle class. Bolten acknowledged the AMT needs to be fixed, but he said it should be part of an overall tax reform effort that does not change total tax revenues.

If you decrease revenues by fixing the AMT, and you want to keep overall revenues constant, then you’ll have to increase revenues elsewhere!