…but with four cats, I’m afraid it never stood much of a chance.
What it means to be a liberal.
October 10, 2006 by
Geoffrey Stone, a law professor at UC, does an outstanding job of outlining some beliefs that he believes define a modern liberal in, What it means to be a liberal. I think he’s off to a pretty good start.
Personally, I agree most with #4.
Arson Garden!
September 27, 2006 by
I went to college at Indiana University, where the local music scene can be pretty outstanding. When I was in school, there was a band called Arson Garden mentioned here before.
There was also a club, called Second Story which was pretty much where all the indie bands played (they still do, from what I’ve seen). Well, Second Story is having a 25th Anniversary extravaganza this weekend, and Arson Garden will be playing their one (and probably only) reunion show!!
Figures, I can’t go. _Sigh._ But if you are anywhere near Bloomington, Indiana this Friday night and you don’t check them out, you are really missing out on a great opportunity to see a phenomenal group of musicians.
And thanks to James Combs, Arson Garden’s lead guitarist/songwriter for the hat-tip on the show! He’s a great solo act as well, and I highly recommend you check out his site, too.
Angela Volan (1970-2006)
July 2, 2006 by
A very good, old friend of mine lost his little sister this week. Her name was Angela Volan, and she was quite an amazing young woman. I only had the pleasure of meeting her once or twice, but she was beautiful and intelligent–just recently finishing her PhD from UC and just about to launch her academic career. I invite you to go read the eulogies delivered by her brothers, Steve and John, and you will see how much she was loved and will be missed.
Angela was a victim of Marfan’s Syndrome, which is a genetic disorder that also affects her old brother and my friend, Steve. Please, take a minute to learn more about the disorder at www.marfan.org.
Five Blades Are Better…
June 16, 2006 by
…or maybe it’s the vibrating.
Taking an engineering tip from The Onion Gillette actually did bring out a five-blade razor: Fusion. And like a sucker (a sucker who hates shaving) I recently bought one.
First, let me tell you about my man hairs. I have a five o’clock shadow by 8:30 in the morning. There’s a scene in the Simpsons where Homer shaves down to a “baby face” smooth, and _while he is looking in the mirror_ his five o’clock shadow returns. That’s me. I guess I just can’t help my god-given virility. Or I’m closer to ape than most on the evolutionary scale. You be the judge.
I was a little skeptical about the whole five-blade thing. I was even more skeptical about the vibration. Yeah, that’s right–this razor has a battery and _vibrates_. Now, if you’re like me, the idea of placing five sharp _vibrating_ blades on your _face_ isn’t the most sensible thing you’ve heard. Oh, but vanity, thy name is Dave! Debating the purchase of this new razor, I asked my wife what she thought. The conversation went something like this:
“What do you think of this? Five blades… and it _vibrates_.”
“I think it looks interesting. I’ll bet it does a good job.”
“But you always fall for marketing ploys. Besides, what do you know about shaving?”
“I shave far more sensitive places than you do.”
“Good point.”
So I bought it. And this week, I tried it. I have to admit, five blades are pretty good. And the vibrating thing works pretty well, too. It is a little weird at first, but I’ve found that overall, the razor does, in fact, shave closer than my old, three-blade dull hatchet. And it seems to irritate my skin far less, too. But Gillette is really missing out. The glory of this new razor is, in fact, the _sixth_ blade.
You heard me. This razor actually sports a sixth blade, they call it the “precision trimmer blade” and it’s mounted along the top edge, facing the opposite direction of the other five main blades. This little ingenious feature allows you to get a close shave on your upper lip without doing nose yoga. Finally, no more pulling and tugging on my nose and lips only to cut myself a million times trying to shave those pesky whiskers just under my nostrils! Amazing. That feature alone is worth the price of the whole razor.
So there you have it… it’s not just marketing hype. Five blades do, in fact, rock. Key the music and the chorus girls.
Sixes
April 12, 2006 by
I’ve been tagged! Yes, In Limine got me with the “Sixes” meme. For this one you are supposed to “list six of your own very unique oddities/quirks.” To which I can only respond, “We’re limited to six?!” My wife, Kristyna, helped me narrow it down to these:
1. I am very obsessively organized. I have meta “To-Do” lists.
2. I’m pretty OCD: I have to have the TV Remotes all lined up and angled in the same direction; all the a/c knobs in my car have to be pointed in the same direction, temperature be damned; I chew an even number of times on each side of my mouth.
3. I archive *all* e-mail. Seriously. I have e-mail dating back to 1990 when I first started using e-mail in college.
4. I clean the house before I go on vacation (so I can return to a clean house).
5. When I travel, I take old underwear that is past its prime, and just throw it out instead of doing laundry.
6. I like to paint my toenails (feet are ugly).
Yeah, several of those are related to my OCD tendencies, but that’s the way it goes. 🙂
Six people to tag? The Usual Suspects: Ken, Kate, Scott, Jason, Amy, Angie
I’m a Genuine Leader!
March 22, 2006 by
Well, my results at least for this test think so:
[Personal DNA Test via ambivalent imbroglio]
At Least I Got One Thing Right in College
February 20, 2006 by
You scored as Theater. You should be a Theater major! Like a bohemian actress, you are seasoned and confident and not afraid to express yourself!
| Theatre |
|
100% | |
| Journalism |
|
100% | |
| Philosophy |
|
75% | |
| Dance |
|
67% | |
| Mathematics |
|
67% | |
| English |
|
58% | |
| Psychology |
|
58% | |
| Engineering |
|
58% | |
| Anthropology |
|
58% | |
| Art |
|
58% | |
| Linguistics |
|
50% | |
| Sociology |
|
33% | |
| Chemistry |
|
33% | |
| Biology |
|
33% |
Olympics
February 19, 2006 by
Don’t ask me why, but I’ve spent far too much time this past week watching the Olympics. In between the Luge and the Snowboard Cross, I noticed a few things:
- I am all for pride in your heritage and homeland, but you know what? If you’ve lived in the United States for over a decade and you train in the United States, you shouldn’t be competing for Bulgrussistan. I mean, c’mon: America is a nation of immigrants, if we’ve accepted you as a citizen here, compete for your new country.
- I don’t care how popular it is, ice dancing is stupid. If this is an Olympic sport, why isn’t ballroom dancing? What’s next, Olympic Ice Dancing With the Stars?
- Twenty-year olds sometimes do stupid things which they’ll probably regret later. I know I did many stupid things in my 20s. The bad news is that it doesn’t stop in your 30s.
- Michelle Kwan should train harder than ever, come back in four years, win a gold, and on the medal stand, flip off the camera and say, “Run, Runner! No one has to die at 30, you can live!”
- Apparently, you can’t ski hung over very well after all. This is a shame, because in spite of the controversy that seems to follow him, I think Bode Miller is a pretty accurate representation of the average American: he plays hard and he works hard, but sometimes his quality suffers for it. For all of the sports writers calling for his head on a platter because he doesn’t represent the “Olympic” ideal: he’s not doping with the ‘roids he’s not cheating on his wife, and last I heard, he hadn’t sexually assaulted or raped anyone.
- Bryant Gumbel is a first class asshole.
- Joey Cheek is first class.
- Zhang Dan earned her medal more than any other Olympian I’ve seen in the games so far.
And finally, would Bob Costas and NBC announcers just shut up already? I mean, really. The inane play-by-play and statements of the obvious in the wrap up really don’t ad anything to the coverage. I know NBC paid 600 Million for the broadcast rights, but sometimes, less is more.