Mindless Philosopher

Weekend was good. Saturday Chicklet stopped by on her east coast college tour. We went to Shabbat services, where unfortunately we didn’t mingle with anyone. (Despite their being a bat mitzvah that weekend, there weren’t many people our age.) Even the kids didn’t want to talk to us.
Attempted to play mini-golf–failed. Attempted to connect my Treo to my Prius–failed. Attempted to play Scrabble, eat Chipotle, and have dessert at Cold Stone–succeeded. Saturday night I watched Prisoner of Azkaban, which my roommate just acquired.
Sunday started with a trip to my parents–I gave them computer help in exchange for some clothes. Then to Jen’s where coworkers and sig oths had a tasty brunch (including challah-style french toast). Then we went to see the movie Sideways. I left the theatre depressed, as the film was an essay on human nature and humans don’t always come off so well. Basically the movie was a grown-up version of Swingers. Also, the purpose of the entire 2-hour flick could be summarized by one scene from the movie Clerks. Other people in the group enjoyed Sideways, so judge for yourself.
Left coworkers to join the West Wing spin-off “philosophy book club.” This week’s book: The G-d Gene by Dean Hamer. I was the only one that read all the way through. Basically, Hamer says he found a gene that makes people more spiritual. First of all, this gene accounts for 1% of variance so it’s hardly The G-d Gene. Second, the brain mechanism he presents for why the gene affects spirituality is unconvincing. I will acknowledge that Hamer proves that spirituality is hereditary. We had an interesting discussion; I tried my best not to dominate it.
From the book club I headed downtown to a Chanukah bash. I met two nice people whom I’m bowling with tonight. Unfortunately, there were no dreidels at the party. Lots of booze, but no dreidels…sigh, I liked the kids version better.
Monday I worked on grad school apps. My GRE scores have been sent (thankfully they were good enough so I don’t have to retake them), and all my letters of rec are in progress. My personal statement is a bit lacking at the moment though.
Oh! And my Treo now mysteriously links to the Prius at non-deterministic points of time. It’s disturbing and frustrating; I can only hope for a patch soon.

Some of you may remember my first cell phone, the Treo 600. After a mishap on the Metro I bought a $17 EBay phone as a replacement. The phone served me well, but it was time to move on….to the Treo 650! Email, bluetooth (ie, wireless communication with the D4t4Mobile), palm software (including directory assistance), SMS, and AIM are all neatly packaged into a phone that fits (mostly) in the palm of my hand.
Today’s WP had a front-page story on personalizing ring tones, which, coincidentally, I’ve been actively engaging in for the past two days. A person mentioned in the article had to pay $2 per tone–not so with my new Treo. I can play any midi file, and the Internet offers thousands (millions?) for free. Thus, if you want a personalized ringtone when you call, find an appropriate midi and email it to me. I’ve already assigned “Harry Potter” to Chicklet, “X-Files” to Seth, and “Deep In The Heart Of Texas” to Rachel.
Grad school application status: all recommendations in the field, still waiting for GRE writing scores.

As November comes to a close, I realize that I’ve done quite a few things that I haven’t blogged. Apologies to those who read this for updates on my life–I took this month as a decompressing time period. The future brings grad school applications, TiVo building, and New Year’s in New York.
In what is becoming a tradition, I took a post-election jaunt to Boston a couple weeks after the election. The first night of my road trip I stopped off in NYC, where Jon was gracious enough to give me a tour of Google (where he is now employed). I must say I was a bit jealous of the environment: low dress code, hours of 10-10, ping-pong, mini-golf, built-in cafeteria, balcony view of Times Sq, etc. The tour was an insight into the life I could have chosen…but I know I would never be complete just coding all day.
After staying the night at Seth’s (and once again losing to him in Scrabble), I headed up to Boston. Visited (now engaged!) Karen and Mike and went to a house-warming party. The next day included visiting Emily for lunch, taking care of Dawn’s drunken friend, watching a Sports Night DVD with Kate, and partying on my old hall, 2e.
The successful trip led to a quick 3-day week at work (extremely unproductive) and then Thanksgiving break. We visited my Dad’s side of the family, almost all of whom have migrated to Maine. There were several things to be thankful for: (1) my Grandmother was in good health after a little fall a couple weeks ago, (2) lots of vegetarian side dishes (I must learn how to make that string bean casserole), and (3) more time playing touch football than engaging in family quarrels. On Saturday, we shopped in my old stomping ground of Manchester, NH; on the way there we stopped at Deaniac Kate’s house to say hi.
Now it’s back to work. UMich’s application is due on the 15th, so I have to get on that.

Happy Thanksgiving! Almost 400 years ago, early settlers of this country met with a group of Native Americans to celebrate the mutual cooperation between the two groups. That was, of course, before these newcomers marauded and depleted the Native American way of life to realize their �Manifest Destiny.�
In the dawn of the 21st Century, race relations have dramatically improved, but some straight white men refuse to sacrifice their privilege for the common good. Take, for instance, the Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig. When MLB awarded the District its first baseball team in three decades, everyone knew they were going to need to replace the old team name, the Senators. First, the Senator�s trademark is held by the Texas Rangers (who were born of the last DC franchise). Second, and more importantly, the District has no senatorial representation on the Hill; the �Washington Senators� would be a misnomer.
The early water-cooler consensus was that the team would be named the Washington Grays after the Negro League team that resided in the city before Jackie Robinson broke MLB�s color barrier. The Grays had a winning tradition (a stark contrast to the star-crossed Senators), and given DC�s large African American population, the name fit the city nicely. But then, suddenly, word came down from on high that the team would be the Nationals. Why? According to The Washington Post, while the Mayor preferred the Grays, Selig wanted to revert to the Senators. Nationals was seen as a compromise.
We know the Mayor�s reason for his aversion to naming the team the Senators (taxation without representation), but why didn�t Selig like the Grays? MLB did focus groups and Grays didn�t test well. Where were these focus groups, Loudon County? Apparently, White America is still unprepared to acknowledge our diversity and racially charged past. And MLB�s commissioner is unwilling to challenge the self-awarded privilege of the majority.
Well done, Bud. You�ve given us one fewer thing to be thankful for this year.

Over the past week, I’ve been doing a lot of wallowing. My goal was to be productive by yesterday, but I didn’t make it. I’ve been extremely fatigued lately, as a result of both my physical and mental status. When people say they are giving 110%, I now know where that extra 10% comes from: the future. And while I’m still paying off my sleep loan to the Bank Of Energy, here’s my attempt at mental closure.
Not only am I updating my table of top-ballot campaigns I’ve volunteered/consulted/worked for, but I’m making it public. I can only hope that future potential employers don’t stumble across this.

Thus, I’m now a stellar 0 and 9 for candidates reaching the office they sought.

Here’s something to put on your to-do list today: VOTE. Friend of mine from MIT is flying home to FL for a day to vote (her absentee ballot never arrived)–now that’s commitment.
If you have trouble voting, here are some resources:

• MyPollingPlace can tell you where you should go to vote.

• Call 1-866-MYVOTE1 if you find yourself not on the voter rolls or encounter other roadblocks to casting your vote; they’ll answer questions specific to your problems. Other similar resources would be your state’s election web site and the phone number of your state’s Democratic party.
• Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE if you see a serious problem at the polls: voter supression, intimidation, ballot problems. You’ll immediately get a lawyer on the line at this number–it’s for emergencies.

Thanks to J Levin for the Dean for America bumper sticker! My car is now fully restored. I actually saw a Dean for America sign in Arlington yesterday. I was momentarily puzzled until I saw a “Write In” sticker in the upper right. C’mon Deaniacs, that’s not the best was to dump Bush.
A couple of friends are in PA this weekend cavassing. They report that it is very fun (and I can confirm from experience). But don’t take my (or their) word for it: travel to your nearest battleground state and knock on some doors!
And don’t forget to turn those clocks back.

A lesson I learned on the Dean campaign first-hand: Be careful with your emails.
The Bush campaign also learned the hard way, as several emails accidentally sent to georgewbush.org (as opposed to .com) were released today.
Among the most damaging emails: a staffer fantasizing over a picture of a Bush daughter (search for “Jenna” on the link above) and a potentially illegal Florida voter list.

With the Red Sox leading 2-0 in the 100th World Series, it looks like the “Curse of the Bambino” might be finished. I wanted to pass along this indepth history of the curse, which has some startling insights.