Thursday, March 31, 2005

Mousecapades

I've been away awhile from this little blog, but that doesn't mean there's nothing going on. There's a lot going on. My mom, Lori, and Olivia just hopped on a plane back to Indianapolis. Despite having 4 people share one room, we managed to have the visit get off without a hitch. The problem came when we added a fifth roommate. This roommate was not invited. It was a mouse. A MOUSE!!!! And not the nice Mickey kind. Fortunately or unfortunately, my mom was here for it all. Fortunately because she's not afraid of killing mice. Unfortunately because now I'm sure she thinks I can't take care of myself and that I am a slob. While it's true that I sometimes leave dishes longer than I should. I'm not disgusting! In fact I was in a state of disbelief when we found the chewed up garbage bag in the kitchen--but as soon as I saw it, I became a believer--a believer in mouse traps. All told, after the use of 4 empty traps, one ball of aluminum foil, and one rubber doorsweep, there appears to be no more evidence of said rodent intruder. We think that the enormous gap between my front door and the floor was the cause, so now it may be a little difficult to open the door, but at least the nasty cat next door can no longer chase mice into my apartment. Thanks Mom.

Parental Invasion

Somehow everytime my mom comes to my house it turns out way better than it started. I think she's a little obsessive with making that happen anywhere she goes, but at least I benefit. Anyway, because of my family's visit, I am rodent-free and I have a full sized broom. Not to mention the fact that my bed was made and I made it to work on time or early everyday this week. We'll see if that lasts. By the way, they called it the parental invasion, not me. It was more like vacation in my mind. I hope they thought so. Olivia's comment at the end was "I wish I lived here. I wish we could just bring our whole house and move it here." Me too. Then if I have a mouse, I can escape.

On Thursday night, my family arrived and I picked them up from the airport around 10:30. We got home and to bed around midnight. I told Olivia that we would go to the store when she woke up in the morning to get supplies for our Purim Party. She woke up at 6:40am. I had to beg for 10 more minutes... which she diligently and audibly counted. So there I was at 7:15 shopping at Shaw's Copley. We had to wait for the liquor store to open. Who does that?

Monday, March 21, 2005

Love, Momma

Mom wrote back to my "yes, of course I'm joining you":

duh. I've been writing back and forth to M.J., and just got confused. You must think I am totally ditzy...
I am going to bed.
Love,
Momma
I am really glad she's not just losing it. I was worried.

Planning

How is it that all day I've been planning activities for this Friday with my family and my mom just now wrote to ask, "so can you join us?" Well, in a word, yes. Maybe menopause really does make you forget. In other news, not only am I making plans to entertain family here, I am also *hopefully* making plans to go to California in April thanks to Daddy Warbucks, I mean Dad. Hopefully he doesn't have any war bucks. I wouldn't expect that of him.

To clarify the last entry: just because I went to a peace rally and I think that the war is wrong does not mean that I think simply bringing the troops home is the answer. Unfortunately, we are in a really big mess and we do have an obligation to take part in cleaning it up. I'm not pretending that I know how to do that, but I do know that just leaving the area is not going to help anyone. Well, I don't think so anyway. As you can see by my wavering it is hard to see where to draw the line, and hard to have enough information to be able to make a confident statement. So I will quit.

I bought new socks today. Three pairs are electric colors: purple, shocking pink, and OrAnGe. I put the pink ones on on the way home with my all black outfit. Eventhough only about 2 inches were showing, people couldn't stop staring at my feet. It was hilarious.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Freedom

Sometimes we get confused. Sometimes peace rallies turn into anger rallies. Personal convictions get confused for morals and morals are forgotten. Visions of Jerry Falwell get confused with Christianity as a whole. Is it that the pro-war and anti-war people are diametrically opposed? It seems so at times, but I’m not sure this is true. It is probably an opposition characterized by more than simply different means to the same end, but I don’t think that either group is against Justice, Peace, Freedom and all of those abstract ideas we hold so dear. We have different definitions of these concepts, however, and we certainly have different means to get to those ends.

The War for example: The pro-war people think that the war will lead to the freedom of, and justice and peace for the Iraqi people. The War, however, has imprisoned Iraqi people in their homes—out of fear of car bombs, suicide bombers, accidental fire, intentional fire, soldiers who’ve forgotten which ones are the bad guys, etc. The policy in Iraq is also forcing a democratic government on the state. How is that free? I agree that democracy is a great idea, but it is not always the most functional vehicle in all societies. What about the right to choose a governing system? Plus, considering the great risk of running for office in Iraq, it is likely that some of the most qualified leaders didn’t even apply for the job.

On the domestic side, freedom is being challenged every day. How gay marriage and abortion became the most important or at least most talked about issues today should be a mystery to us. It is not. This administration has a very clear stance when it comes to freedom at home: we don’t want you all to be free, just the people who voted for us, and even they should have to pay for our war and for drilling in our national treasures like the Arctic Refuge. What about the legislation to ban gay marriage promotes freedom? What about limiting women’s rights regarding their own bodies promotes freedom? What about forcing Terri Schiavo to stay alive for 15 years in a hospital with a feeding tube in her belly promotes freedom? I suppose it is the freedom for the right-wing, conservative Christian people who were conned into voting for a order-taking businessman. They were conned into voting, and now as a consolation prize, Bush wants to give them what they’ve asked for: an end to gay marriage, rights over other women’s bodies, and control over someone’s life who does not want to continue to live. All of these issues are personal issues—especially gay marriage. Gay marriage is not going to hurt you! Gay people in general are just as productive and positive members of society as ‘straight’ people. Why has this become such a big issue? My theory is that Bush/Cheney/Rove et al, being businessmen, used it as a selling point--only. They knew that they would have passionate people supporting them on the extreme and plenty of people in the middle who didn’t have an opinion at all who would stay with them. And the passion of the few would rumble with the many. It’s too bad that Kerry couldn't explain his alleged flip-flopping a little better—Kerry: it’s called thinking. You think. And thinking requires considering both sides—this happens to be something that our current administration does not do very often. To them issues are black and white and decisions are easy.

The election was won out of fear. Fear that the administration created by pouring gasoline (the war in Iraq) on the fire of terrorism.

Freedom is a long term process. We are currently fighting a war and destroying the very geographic area where civilization began: Mesopotamia. When I heard BBC reports about fighting along the Tigris and Euphrates a couple of years ago, I thought back to 6th grade where I learned about those places and I cried. How can we destroy our roots?

So I went to the Peace Rally in Boston today. I was not that impressed. Howard Zinn was there. He didn't seem impressed either. There was some lady walking around saying "Where's Noam Chomsky? He never comes to these things." My favorite sign, which I ripped off above, was a picture of a gas can pouring gas on a fire: the gas can was labelled "War" and the fire, "terrorism." Pretty clever. There were a lot of pierced and tattooed anarchists. There were a few Bush supporters who of course waved American flags as if it belonged to their party. My least favorite sign was "Take That! You hippies! 4 more years!" How does name-calling convert people? Do you think we fear you? I'm sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try your call again. This is my first anything-near-political post, so be gentle. It's my first time.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Family, Family, and More Family

My sister and her boyfriend have been in town for the last week and it was great. Don't get me wrong; I had my doubts that three of us sleeping/living/camping out in my 12'x25' apartment might get a little awkward and/or cramped. But, amazingly it wasn't. Maybe they felt differently about it, but I thought it was perfectly fine. Also, there are several collections of photos at Envy if you want to see what visiting Boston is like.

Next challenge: creating the same sense of comfort when the rest of my family comes next week, which will include sharing a bed with my 6-year-old sister.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Parties, Hobbies, and Religious Affliations: Oh My!

I wore a skirt to work today. Unfortunately it was the same skirt that I wore to my party. Well, that was not unfortunate, but it was unfortunate when I looked down at about 2pm and realized a little more than memory from the party had joined me on the skirt. Evidently, I spilled something. Not really sure what. Well, I don't think anyone noticed, but it was embarassing on the inside. Maybe I should wash my clothes before I wear them to work. Maybe.

In other news, my sister and her boyfriend are here visiting. It is like camping--only inside my apartment. They are knitting and watching Crouching Tiger--both of them. I think my new sidekick needs a hobby like knitting. Maybe he can teach me. Fan, are you a knitter? Well, it's ok if you're not. I need to know who this mysterious fan is... it's really starting to get to me, the suspense.

Today my other sister (6 years old) called and told me that when she comes in 2 weeks we will be having a Purim Party. Yes, somehow my little sister is the first Jew in our family, well, ever. And she is damn near orthodox. It is hilarious. Actually, she wants to dress up in costumes, play games, and win prizes. I guess that part runs in the family.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Reason-Free Snowballs

I think the title of my party rubbed off on my mentality. Reason-Free was supposed to mean that there was no occasion for the party other than as an end in itself. It has evolved to mean an utter lack of reason altogether. This might not even be momentary as in Pink Floyd's album. I can never tell if reason will be restored. In any event, the party went off without a hitch except for the fact that my poor friend Anna had to leave about 6 times on various errands. One time she had to throw snowballs at my window to get back in. This is a lot harder than it seems.

This morning I was desperately seeking contact solution at my local CVS as I had completely run out the night before and had to sleep in contacts. I left the house in such a daze that I forgot my keys. Luckily, my sister and her "special" friend are staying at my house and I knew they could let me in. However, instead of doing the smart thing and buzzing into my apartment, I forgot that I could do that and decided to try my hand at snowball throwing. My hand is not so good. I made it to the window once, but it barely struck. I made it to the level of my window a few times, but hit only brick. Anna is officially the strongest woman alive.

I also did the insane and created a sidekick application. It is quite possibly the worst database I have ever witnessed. It consists of one table with horribly defined fields and doesn't even look nice. But I did it and I posted it on the web and I have decided that that is an accomplishment even if people hate me for it in the end. They shouldn't; it's a joke.

And to my "fan": are you serious or is this Leslie playing a trick on me? Do you know Leslie? What's your email address? (Hey, if you don't respond to your fans, they begin to hate you. Love and hate are very closely related. I should know. I took a whole class in it in college. No really, I was an anthropology student.)

Immediate Needs

Immediate Results: Click Here for Sidekick Application. (Against my normal preference, this page must be viewed in Internet Explorer. MS wants to sqeeze out as much revenue as possible and makes their Data Access Pages from MS Access impossible to read with any browser other than IE. Thanks, Bill!)

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Two Steps Forward

But how many steps back? How much progress can one little person handle at once? And if one spends all this time on progress, what gets left out, forgotten, neglected? In my case it is currently the dishes. Dishes are the bane of my existence. Why can't someone (please) invent a machine to fix this problem? Oh wait! Someone did. It's not a perfect fix since the traditional sort doesn't also put the blasted things away, but it's a start. However, I don't even have this requisite first step installed in my lovely 450 square feet (of pure freedom).

This has led me to my next conclusion: I need a sidekick. Forget freedom; sidekicks are way better than machines and freedom combined. Not only can sidekicks wash the dishes but they can also put them away! Brilliant! Ideally this sidekick would be smart, entertaining, not repulsive looking, fond of trying new food, approximately 5'10" or taller, healthy but without exacting standards about fitness that I can't live up to, good in bed (what? we all have shallow things on our wish lists), male, and most importantly, willing to do my dishes.

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch. For Graham make him a (web)guru, for papa make him latino. For me well I wouldn't holler if he were, well, neither of these things-or either, for that matter.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

The Gates

Did you see it? There are a few more images if you click on the picture. My dad took them all--my little camera doesn't hold a candle to his--not to mention artistic ability.

Snow and Images of it

Have you seen the new pics at Envy? I put up some fun ones of the recent snow we had. Not nearly as cool as the snow in Hokkaido on Laura's blog, but pretty fun.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Eschew Disappointment

Things I learned tonight:

1. To eschew disappointment, one must deliver on things people want.
2. Some people are more demanding than others.
3. One of these more demanding people, who happens to be quite effective, demanded that he be included in this evening's post.
3a. This includes the expectation that I will actually post.
4. I am a pushover.
5. At Addis Red Sea, my favorite Ethiopian restaurant in the city, they don't ask questions. They just want answers.
6. J.P. Licks satisfies ice cream cravers.
7. Even if you spend the evening talking about work-related stuff, it can still be fun (this isn't so new).
8. Interrupting is rude and I am a frequent offender (also not new).
9. Some people call dinner "supper" and they're not trying to be funny by doing so.
10. If you want people to leave, play them music of which your voice is a part. (only kidding)

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Let the Record Show

Evidently, I was so caught up in the annoyance of being PC (Valentines Day), that I misrepresented my dear, loving, observant sister. Let it be known that she does not fall under any of the following categories: freshman, freshwoman, or even freshperson. She is a Sophomore. Sorry, Emu.