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stinky_monky to me after dinner.Sigh. Yeah, well, I'm doing important things with my life too...
- Location:43207
- Mood:
amused - Music:The Rock on TV
- A random comment to some blog post I read somewhere. It doesn't really matter what blog (well, it's here in case you are just dying to know); I just thought this statement was delicious.
- Location:43207
- Mood:
bouncy
stinky_monky and I got back from our trip to Washington DC on Monday, got reconnected to the internet on Tuesday, and I got sick on Wednesday. My head is still stuffed up, but my snot machine is no longer on overdrive. Now I'm in the super sweaty stage that usually indicates the light at the end of the tunnel.We got word yesterday that our adoption homestudy is done! We had our last interviews with the social workers a couple weeks ago but we were waiting on some documents from California, which appeared in the last couple days. Now we send off the homestudy results to the attorney we've already met with and then decide whether we want to also work with an agency (and then decide which one). But it's a big step! And now the waiting begins...
The trip to Washington was awesome. We expected the Fourth of July weekend to be a madhouse, but there were surprisingly few crowds. The only mobs we saw came on the Fourth, when people crowded Constitution Ave for the Independence Day parade and then when people came together on the west lawn of the Capitol building for the annual PBS concert and the fireworks show. On the Fourth we watched as impersonators of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel Adams read the Declaration of Independence with a fife and drum corps, and then we ducked into the Smithsonian Museum of American History while the crowds watched the parade. It was a bit tingly to be there during the Independence Day celebrations.
During our four days there we toured the Capitol; viewed the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives; wandered through the Library of Congress, the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum, and part of Arlington Cemetery; waved at the White House; visited the Washington, Lincoln, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War memorials, and got to know the DC Metro system very intimately. We didn't make it to all the places we hoped (especially the Jefferson Memorial and the Air & Space Museum), but we had to save something for our next visit.
( Random pics of DC )
And now I have to get to work on that dissertation thing...
- Location:43207
- Mood:
sick
The DSL gateway we bought three houses ago finally burned out today, so we're stuck with our phones' data plans for teh interwebs until we get a replacement. I don't care how much AT&T brags about their 3G speeds, it just doesn't measure up. It feels like 2003 all over again...
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
- Location:United States, Ohio, Franklin County
- Mood:
Disconnected
- Location:43207
- Mood:
hungry
( More of a bitch session than a review, but read on if you like... )
- Location:43207
- Mood:
calm - Music:TV noises
( The last 36 hours )
- Location:43207
- Mood: hungry
- Location:Via Burigozzo 11, Milan
- Mood:
accomplished - Music:Smashing Pumpkins - Farewell and Goodnight
( June 12-13, 2009 )
- Location:Back in Milan at this writing
- Mood:
sore
OK, that's just irritating. I suppose I'll slow down and do this right. The conference started yesterday morning, and it's comparable to most conferences: some good presenters, some awful presenters, and some big name historians (most of whom I don't recognize) strutting their stuff. I have come to realize that powerpoint presentations at conferences are disastrous. Even when they work correctly. Most presenters basically project their entire papers in bullet-point form and read from the screen. And they take longer. I know that a lot of teachers do that in their classrooms these days, but I don't have to sit in on those. Now that I've sat through two days' worth of bad powerpoint presentations, I realize just how bad the practice is to the audience. I found myself flipping through the conference program over and over and over and over, looking up long enough to read the slide. I am not perfect with my own powerpoints, but I am going to trim more text out before my next round of lectures start in July.
After lunch, which did not really appeal to me at all, I came back to the hostel, napped, and revised my presentation. No powerpoint involved. I got back to the conference in time for the grand opening ceremony (a speech by the heir to the Benetton clothing empire) and a reception that served the bitterest alcoholic drink I've ever had. Wow, it was bitter. The serving staff only spoke Italian so none of us knew what was in it. It was kind of a dull red, if that helps...
Prof. Wild Bill has been demanding proper Italian food since we got here (the kebabs, reception food, and pizza didn't cut it), so we found a hole-in-the-wall trattoria last night which had good cheese, decent wine, and excellent macaroni and sausage. A note for future conference organizers in Italy: since dinners typically last until after 11pm, how about you not schedule panels for 8:30am? Or maybe schedule a siesta in the afternoon? How about it, people? We were going to find some dessert but were too exhausted by the time the check came (and I still needed to do a final revision on my paper), so we called it a day and went our separate ways.
I don't know why I'm complaining about the long conference schedule, it's not like I've actually been attending every panel. I've come up with excuses to bail after lunch every day so far (today it was that we wanted to go see the cathedral). Tomorrow I'll come up with another excuse. Conferences are kinda boring, but they seem to occur in beautiful places sometimes.
- Location:La Cordata
- Mood:
hot
That sleep was interrupted by a siren and screaming at 2:30am, but I'll save that story for another time since it is potentially embarrassing to one of my traveling companions...
- Location:About to get kicked off a computer at Bocconi University
- Mood: hungry
- Mood:
distressed
Well, it was actually a flight, a train ride through the Atlanta airport, another (really long) flight, a train ride into Milan, and a cab ride to my hostel (which should have been a bus ride but the professor I was travelling with got tired and paid for the cab; he also bought me a beer in Atlanta, so he'll be on my good side for a while). The flight went well; this was the first time I got on a plane in daylight and then got off the plane in daylight on a different day. I got through an audiobook (on something that had nothing to do with school or Italy), started reading a real book (again that had nothing to do with my career or my trip), and then passed out long enough to miss the horrid-looking breakfast plate that Delta Airlines likes to subject its customers to. The cab ride through Milan was the most exhilarating part of the trip so far. European cities are so freakin' chaotic! Five lanes of traffic crammed into the space for three, with scooters, motorcycles, and trains randomly swerving in and out of the "lanes." and the side streets are wide enough for one vehicle, until another driver decides to stop suddenly and eject from his car. Then it gets death-defying. Oh, and the cabbies here drive hybrid cars. Al Gore wins!
Then I and my roommate (who is not the aforementioned professor) passed out at the hostel for a bit.
I scored some major swag when I registered for the conference after the nap! A lanyard, a fancy pen, and a T-shirt, all with "Bocconi" prominently displayed. And a map, a listing of goings-on in Milan (including concerts by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Eagles, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and UB40 (I'll leave it up to you to figure out which of those I would like to see)), and an invitation to the "meat" gala dinner on Saturday. I don't know what kind of meat they're going to serve, but I am a fan of most kinds of meat.
Oh, and parking is just as chaotic as driving. Since everybody drives such adorably small cars (the largest passenger car I've seen is a Jeep Cherokee), they can fit their vehicles in almost anywhere. And they do. Sidewalks, strips of grass, empty storefronts. It's really quite amazing.
My traveling companions and I are doing the decidedly un-American thing and walking everywhere (well, now that we're here). And my feet are feeling it. In an hour I have to put my shoes back on and meet folks for dinner. Not looking forward to that...
And we had kebabs for lunch! I finally got to eat around 4pm, and it was tasty!
Wow, what a disorganized post! That's what you get when I post via my phone, I suppose. Oh well, you'll be ok.
I'll try to post pictures next time. Or not. We'll see.
- Location:Via Burigozzo, Milan
- Mood: exhausted
- Music:Fan a-blowin'
And there's a guy sitting in the middle of this cavernous space berating one of his employees over the phone. The poor bastard signed the boss up with a telemarketer! Awesome.
- Location:CMH
- Mood: amused
- Location:43207
- Mood:
busy
Poll #1410177 Facebook etiquette
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
What should I do if I run into my former Facebook friend?
View Answers
Feign ignorance and ask why I haven't seen him posting on FB lately
0 (0.0%)
Let him know that I know what he did and accuse him of being a backstabbing bastard 0 (0.0%)
Take the high road, ignore the drama, and be cordial 6 (66.7%)
Pour myself a drink and never go back to campus 3 (33.3%)
- Location:43207
- Mood: sleepy
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Now playing: AC/DC - Thunderstruck
via FoxyTunes
- Location:43207
- Mood:
excited
But now we get to fantasize about the next possible step: a Constitutional Convention! What would you all like to see in a new state constitution? What would you like to change in state government? I'll start:
- Scrap term limits. Yes, it's nice to boot legislators out before they get all fat and lazy and corrupt, but it's not fair to pit rookies against seasoned special interest lobbyists. There's something to be said for legislative expertise and institutional knowledge. Both of those get tossed out the window with mandatory turnover.
- Revise Prop. 13. I'm fairly conflicted about Prop. 13. It is good to have relatively predictable property tax bills every year, that are not determined by wildly fluctuating real estate values. But by limiting those tax revenues, counties became more dependent on the state for funding, which means higher state income and sales taxes. I'm not sure how to revise Prop. 13 in a fair way, though. Maybe peg property taxes to inflation instead of the currently arbitrary 2% rise per year.
- Redistrict fairly. Making districts competitive will allow for real elections between different parties. The current districting system, where legislative districts were gerrymandered long ago to favor particular parties, encourages extremism as primary candidates try to out-party each other. Candidates in competitive districts also have to play more to the center, which is where most Californians hang their hats. Making districts more competitive could also help solve the term limit problem.
- Increase the number of state legislators. Every Assemblymember represents almost half a million Californians, and every State Senator represents almost a million Californians. That's a lot of constituents to represent. No wonder people think their representatives are unresponsive.
- Require sunset clauses for all ballot propositions. There needs to be an expiration date. After ten years or so (long enough to give the proposition a chance to get going) the legislature, or the people in general, should review the proposition's effectiveness and consequences and decide to extend or discard it.
- Set a higher bar for amending the new constitution. The current system, whereby 50%+1 of the voters can amend the state's foundational document, is just insane. This low bar has allowed the current constitution to be revised and amended over 500 times since 1879. It is the third longest constitution in the world (behind Alabama and India, of all places), and is packed with contradictory and confusing clauses. America's founding fathers had it right: constitutions should be hard to change. The federal constitution has only been amended 27 times, and it still works pretty well. Amending the new constitution should require a 2/3 majority in both houses of the legislature and a 2/3 or 3/4 majority of voters, which would make the process more closely resemble the federal process.
- Refrain from defining marriage or "solving" any other social issue. Social relations change over time and don't belong in a permanent document. Let the legislature deal with those problems. With redistricting and increasing the number of legislators, their votes should more accurately reflect the opinions of their constituents. And by failing to enshrine social issues in the constitution we will have the flexibility to change them later without going through the whole amendment process again.
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Now playing: Weezer - Why Bother
via FoxyTunes
- Location:43207
- Mood:
contemplative
It's been ten years! Good thing I'm the only one who ages!
- Location:43207
- Mood:
chipper - Music:TV noises
