The Weeks You Just Want to Draw the Covers Over Your Head...

Since my bunny ears don’t get FOX, today was a day of domesticity: housecleaning, banana bread making, studying and a facial. (Yes, I can be girly, try not to faint.)Yesterday I went on a kayaking trip to Pamlico Sound exploring up and around one of the old logging creeks. Since I can now publish photos on this site, I will put them up as soon as I get them developed.

I didn’t take the digital camera and this is why: By the end of the trip I was feeling very comfortable, very at ease, enough so as to assist another paddler who got stranded as the winds pushed us onshore in the bay.

“O.k. I got this….”*kerploosh*

I was half way over before I even realized something was wrong. A very “wet exit” and a bilge pump later I was on my way, but thank the Gods I knew me enough to not bring a digital camera! ;)

The Sound and the surrounding marsh were beautiful and it gave me the opportunity to get to know the countryside. We did see a pair of Bald Eagles as well as some wood ducks….at least I think they were wood ducks. They were certainly colorful.

“The Burden of Time”

Michael Wood used this phrase in his mindblowing 1991 miniseries Legacy to speak of the Mayas devotion to the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction.

“The Mayan Book of Creation; The Popul Vou, tells the story of how humans first came into this violent paradise: “The Earth will need nurturing. It will need bearers of respect for its divinity.” And so it was human beings who were given memory, to count the days and bear times burden…”

And indeed, for all these things we have common with our primate cousins; self-identity, language, learned behavior, one of the few things we have left on chimpanzees and other animals is the ability to perceive time. A chimpanzee can not conceptualize the past nor the future. Animals simply exist in the now, the immediate. They cannot speak of something that happened in the past and estimate how it will affect the future.

We can.

So why, having been given such a unique gift among all the animals on the planet, do so few of us use it?

The Destruction of the Al-Askari Mosque may have come quicker than most expected, but many historians, sociologists and political scientists have been expecting it since before the Invasion. We were shocked that it happened before the United States forces left Iraq, but not that it was happening at all. Sunni and Shiite Iraqis have been at each other throats for years; long, long before we got there, long before Saddam even came to power. We removed the one force in Iraq that was keeping the three disparate people in that arbitrarily created country from bloodshed and we have made no attempts to reconcile the populations of these groups, to make them all feel like they had a vested interest in Iraq survival as a single nation. Baghdad politicians bicker and quibble while the People are killing each other in the streets. And even if we had attempted to reconcile the different populaces, it’s highly questionable whether it would have been enough. Those grievances go back a long time. The truth is, they never truly stopped fighting each other, even under our noses.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Shiite militias remain heavily armed and emotional, and on Sunday continued to move into some Sunni neighborhoods in the capital. Clerics are emerging as the only voices that can quell the violence, even as they've come under pressure from their followers to demand revenge. Even Ayatollah Sistani has advocated the founding of additional sectarian militias, drawn from southern tribes, to protect Shiite interests.

"It may well be that things will die down now,'' says Joost Hilterman, who runs the International Crisis Group's (ICG) Middle East Project in Amman, Jordan. "But the structural dynamic still points toward civil war, and the institutions that could restrain it have become severely weakened."

Sectarian violence since the Shiite Askariyah Shrine in Samarra was destroyed last Wednesday has claimed at least 250 lives, and the Sunni-based Iraqi Islamic Party says 120 Sunni mosques have been attacked. Dozens of the dead have been found executed, their hands bound, on the outskirts of Baghdad.
It’s just depressing as hell to watch humanity squander itself; both the Iraqis and the Americans.

And it goes on…

O.K. Bitch Session…

O.k. the rapture is starting to wear off a bit and I’m starting to see more of the details. I’m still happy as hell for the opportunity and trying to make the most of it but it’s also lonely sometimes too. The problem is that the people I would normally be drawn to; middle aged professionals, are my professors and the majority of people I am surrounded by are 19-22. Not that there is anything wrong with that age, I’m just not in it. I was going to the Whiskey, the Roxie and Gazarris during Metal’s second heyday when I was 17. I burned out on that whole party scene by the time I was 21. My idea of a great time now is about 6-12 of my best friends just hanging out somewhere and talking. This of course means you have to be somewhere quiet enough to actually hear each other. I like going to listen to music, but the mixer/DJ has to know the difference between amplified and “so-loud-you-can’t-actually-hear-it-anymore”. Most of them don’t, hence the reason they are working in clubs and not with professional musicians. So I don’t go out much.

And y’know, 19-22 year olds….

“OhMiGawdIWentToTacoBellAndTheyLikeForgotMyCheeseAndIHad ToWalkBackInThereToGetThemToPutItOnAndIWasLikeSoPissed BecauseIWasLateMeetingMyFriendsAndWeAllWereGoingToThisClub AndTinaWasWearingTheSameShirtIWasButItWasSoFunnyAnd IGotSoLitLastNightICan’tBeliveIDidThat.MyCousinJustHad ABabyIsn’tThatSoCoolI’mLikeAnAuntOrSomethingThisClassIs SUCHADragIJustWantToGoBackToTheDormAndGoToSleepY’know, I’veBeenHavingThisRecurringDreamLately….”

AAAAIIIIGGH!

I’m not kidding! This is behind me in Music Class….and that sample is abbreviated.

Whomever said that girls mature faster than guys...lied.

And was a girl.

(Truth is, we don’t mature faster, we can just cover it up better.) ;)

Granted they aren’t all like this. There are actually a lot of very together younger people that I have met in my classes but they are still in the go-out-and-drink-as-a-form-of-entertainment phase. Not that there is anything wrong with that phase, it’s just I been there, I done that and drunk people are only so entertaining. I’m just feeling a bit…isolated sometimes. A couple of my professors have been very kind as far as chatting with me after class, but there’s that weird dynamic going on. They’re my professors. It’s not like we can be pals, not to mention they are already in a place in their careers that I am trying desperately to get to. They’ve traveled everywhere and done everything and it’s a little intimidating. But I’m sure things will improve once I settle in some more, start poking around some of the local clubs outside of the area immediately surrounding campus. They certainly will improve once I get into grad school and run into other people who are coming back from “The Real World” to further their education (four of my neighbors are Grad Students and they’re all very cool people) and the kids I’m going to school with now get past the “Ohmygawd-my-parents-are-hundreds-of-miles-away”…issue.

FYI-97% on my History Exam and 94%(top score) on my Anthropology Exam.

Congrats to Matt Kenseth

They say the best payback is living well. Living well while the guy who took you out the week prior’s engine blows up also qualifies.

Mark Martin got 9th. (Yea! Dale Jr. got 11th (good job guys) and Elliott got…23rd? (Wassadeal there?)

O.K. Some Good News and Stuff:

Mars Orbiter on Track

These have long been two of my favorite websites: they're a virtual tours of the Caves of Lascaux, and Chauvet, two of the Paleolithic Art Caves closed to the public.

And That What Killed the Dinosaurs: They were gnawed to death.

Cool...

The World is Filled With Stupid People...

Well, tomorrow is going to be a day of study, study and Daytona 500, so I figured I would post tonight.

EDIT: I posted my Daytona commentary below at the end of this entry.

First, Something fun:

This hit the Tolkien board this week to much merriment, something I though some of my other friends and family would enjoy:

Which Sci-Fi Crew Are You?

This is actually a pretty cool test with very good question that really suss out your personality as opposed those cheap ones that allow you to make obvious choices. When given a choice between two, it will even ask tie breaker questions:

My results:

You scored as Babylon 5 (Babylon 5).

The universe is erupting into war and your government picks the wrong side. How much worse could things get? It doesn’t matter, because no matter what you have your friends and you’ll do the right thing. In the end that will be all that matters. Now if only the Psi Cops would leave you alone.

Serenity (Firefly) - 94%
Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) - 94%
Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) - 81%
Moya (Farscape) - 81%
Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) - 75%
Enterprise D (Star Trek) - 63%
SG-1 (Stargate) - 56%
Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) - 56%
Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) - 56%
Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) - 50%
Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) - 44%
FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) - 38%

That was after a tie breaker between “Always doing the right thing.” vs. “Doing whatever necessary, to protect your crew…” Damn my moral imperatives. Though I was kind of surpised that I wasn't "paranoid enough" to be an X-Files agent. *chuckle*

What was interesting was the number of people who scored Babylon 5 on a Tolkien board, give Tolkien’s influence on JMS’s creation. I think it was like 80% of the posters...

Speaking of the Tolkien Board:

One of my board mates asked for prayer for those trapped by mudslides in the Philippines. Apparently there is a school and the teachers trapped are still sending out text messages.

Lord and Lady clear your stormy skies for a while, speed the rescue crews to their work and give those trapped and their families strength to get them through this crisis.

But Sometimes the World is Too Damn Small

Bush Approves Sale of Major Ports to United Arab Emirates

We've got to protect ourselves by doing smart things in America," Bush said. "I appreciate working with the mayors on homeland security issues."

One of those mayors, Martin O'Malley of Baltimore, on Saturday harshly criticized the president's approval of the ports deal as an "outrageous, reckless and irresponsible decision" and urged the White House to reconsider the sale. Baltimore is one of the affected ports, and O'Malley is co-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Task Force on Homeland Security. O'Malley also is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Maryland.

And the Democrats are not alone:

"The potential threat to our country is not imagined, it is real," said Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican of Florida. Another, Rep. Vito Fosella, a Republican of New York, called for congressional hearings on the deal.
Other legislators urging the Bush administration to reconsider its approval were senators Tom Coburn, a Republican of Oklahoma; Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat of New Jersey; Chris Dodd, a Democrat of Connecticut, and Rep. Chris Shays, a Republican of Connecticut.

They said the United Arab Emirates was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea, and Libya by a Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, according to the AP. They also said the country was one of only three countries to recognize the now toppled Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government.

It just amazes me. I mean, whenever I think the Bush administration has done the unthinkable, they just come up with something else more ridiculous and imbecilic. What a bunch of fucking idiots.

And I’m saying that as a Historian.

"A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit of governments of policies to their own interests. Mankind, it seems, makes a poorer performance of government than of almost any human activity. In this sphere, wisdom, which may be defended as the exercise of judgment acting on experience, common sense and available information, is less operative and more frustrated than it should be. Why does holders of high office so often contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self-interest suggest? Why does intelligent mental process seem so often not to function?"~
Barbara Tuchman, Historian. March of Folly

The Bush Administration should in there right next to the Renaissance Popes and the British Parliament of the mid to late 1700’s.

Speaking of just Fucking Stupid

11 Die in Libyan Cartoon Fire

Here‘s the first stupid thing: “The violence came two days after an Italian politician boasted on television that he was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with caricatures of Islam's prophet Muhammad.”

It’s even more stupid when you realize that the same paper that ran these cartoons turned down provocative cartoons of Jesus for the reason that they “might be offensive”. Hell, the Mohammed cartoons aren’t even funny. They’re just vaguely silly. If you wanted to raise a firestorm, couldn’t you have at least made over something really funny?

Here’s the second stupid thing: “Video images showed demonstrators setting fire to an entrance to the consulate and to a car and heaving stones at the whitewashed building.”

Now, I can understand after years of blind vilification by so many in the west that such images would spark outrage among Muslim peoples, and I understand the Muslim strictures about images of God or the Prophet, but still…violence over a cartoon? This is ridiculous. I can understand protesting it. I can understand kicking all Danish reporters out of Islamic Countries. Boycotting products of the country, especially after the editor of said paper has been fired, is pushing my limits because the paper is a private business, not the country itself. But hey, I can roll with it. But violence, over cartoons? That’s just beyond the pale. Can you think of a better way to feed into the neo-conservative propaganda of it being a war of Western vs. Islamaic Ideologies? That you are all fascists? This is not going to win any sympathy from anyone. How stupid are you people?

The most important weapon and comfort and diplomat in any conflict is humor, and sadly it is usually one of the first causalities. I never thought I would live to see the day it was not only shot, but flayed alive and disemboweled.

Third stupid thing: Using live fire on protestors.

Escalating violence never stopped escalation. The USSR never stopped building bombs because we had more bombs. People don’t stop fighting just because you have a gun, they just go away and get a bigger gun. Why does no one see that?

This is just violence spiraling out of control. Can you imagine what history books are going to say about this? WWIII caused by vaguely-silly-but-not-that-clever cartoons?

Speaking of Funny:

MSNBC Countdown Gets to the Bottom of Fox’s O’Rieley Factor

Now that's funny!

Well, well ,well…

Cheny's Story Getting Fishy

Now, I was raised in the backwoods of Maine, a hunting state, so I KNOW all these neo-conservative cries of “It’s just a hunting accident, they happen all the time…” are completely and utter BS. Any accident that stupid I ever heard of always involved copious amount of alcohol.

On the Homefront~

Like any diligent student, I went to see my archeology professor about how I could improve my performance first thing on Monday. Well, after we went over my essay and how dry accademic writing is supposed to be *roll eyes*, it turns out that I wasn’t the only one who didn't do to hot on that exam. Apparently a great many in the class answered the final essay question about the wrong period entirely, something a might confusing to him (despite his obvious enthusiasm and great knowledge of the subject, he’s not the most well organized lecturer so it’s only karma that he be confused for once). So he is giving the class the opportunity to rewrite the final essay question as a take home. Yeah! I could have kissed his feet.

See, I’m almost ready to become a Graduate Slave.

Got an “A” on my International Music exam and will find out how my first History exam went Monday, as well as taking my second Antho exam.

Thursday I had time between my classes and a yoga class I am taking at the Rec center, so I popped into a sports bar next to campus and watched the first of the Gatroade 150’s. With whaddayaknow, the “only other Elliott Sadler fan in North Carolina”, or at least that’s what he called himself. We got loud, hooting and hollerin’, much to the annoyance of the couple that came in, set up their laptops, got on their cel phones and tried to do business (in a sport bar?) and we got very Happy with Elliotts win! Yeah Elliott! I was scared during that green-white-checkered finish. I thought maybe Edward and Dale Jr. might have made a run on him, but nobody had anything for that Yates Powered Fusion. Boo Ya!

The resulting high five practically took my hand off.

But it was great to see one of my guys win and it was fun. Good luck to Elliott, Dale Jr. and Mark tomorrow have a fun, safe race!

Wacky Fun : More Firefly Quizes!

Which Firefly Character Are You?

My results:

You Scored as Book.

"You don't fix faith. It fixes you."

Book - 88%
Simon - 88%
Zoe - 75%
River - 75%
Mal - 69%
Wash - 50%
Jayne - 50%
Inara - 44%
Kaylee - 38%

Or the quote I like to remember:

Zoe: “Preacher, doesn’t the good book something to say about killing?”
Book: “Yes, but it is much fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps…”

Or this one: Which Serenity Character Are You?

In which I scored as Mal

“You've been birddoggin' this township a while now. They wouldn't mind makin’ a corpse of you. Now you can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, but if your hand touches metal I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.”

You are the captain of Serenity, Mal Reynolds. You may be somewhat bitter and hardened, but somewhere in there you are actually very idealistic and would do anything to protect those you care bout most.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds - 94%
Hoban "Wash" Washburne - 69%
Dr. Simon Tam - 69%
Shepherd Derrial Book - 69%
River Tam - 63%
The Operative - 56%
Zoe Alleyne Washburne - 50%
Inara Serra - 44%
Kaywinnit Lee 'Kaylee' Frye - 31%
Jayne Cobb - 31%

EDIT Daytona 500

Firstofall,IwouldliketocongratulateJimmieJohnsononhisDaytona500win.Good Job.

O.k. that’s over with.

First of all I would like to say everybody did a hell of a great job driving today. All of the guys that got loose, all the car that went sliding back up the track…there were few car-causalities today considering all the madness that was going on out there. Great saves, great avoids guys! And just flat out, a great race. For a restrictor plate race, there was a lot of passing, a lot of lead changes, it was a blast to watch.

All of my guys did great today.

Elliott got 4th, which in a day of madness was damn good. I will say two things: The next guy to touch Elliott’s trackbar when he’s running consistently 3rd or higher loses his hands…at the elbows. I’m glad Tommy made the decisions that brought him back to the front, but Elliott shouldn’t have been back there in the first place. Parrott had the same problem. Y’know guys, you can adjust the air pressure in the tires first. Just a suggestion. And I kinda wish Elliott hadn’t stopped when he got to Mears bumper during the green white checkered, especially with Dale Jr. and the rest of the field lined up behind him…but hey, that just me. What the heck do I know. Maybe he couldn't make the outside line work...Still, 4th place at the Daytona 500 is definitely nothing to sneer at and between that and the Gatorade 150, it’s a damn good start to the year. New CC, new car and starting in the top five? Things can only go up from there. Great job!

Dale Jr. I know was frustrated going into the race and frustrated coming out of the race, but hey, he spent the entire speed weeks in the top ten; 2nd, 3rd and 8th. That’s a hell of a great way to start your year and as always watching Dale Jr. wheelin’ it on a plate track is a joy to behold. Good Job Dale Jr., Tony Eury, Jr. and the Bud Crew on a good finish and leading the most laps.

Speaking of joys to behold: Mark. Great job taking the lead, hell of a great pass. Seeing and taking opportunity in chaos like that is why we need experienced drivers in Auto Racing more than cute boys with pretty faces. I was rootin’ for ya man, that would have been so schweet.

And what the hell happened to Tony Stewart? The man went insane. I guess as he held it together last year it was only a matter of time. *rubbs temples* I’m going to disregard everyone’s post race comments until they have all had time to view the video tapes because at this point it’s just damn silly. Holy sh*t.

But still, “Mr Edwards’s Wild Ride” is definitely going on the highlight reel. Just wish Kyle could have come through that unscathed. Wish Bobby LaB could have come through the race unscathed to. How many mirrors has that man broken or black cats walked across his path? Still, it was nice to Petty cars running up there in the middle of the pack.

Duuuude!

It like totally snowed!

Tchya!

Seriously, it was just a few light flurries, nothing stuck, but my delight was entire. It’s been…probably a decade since I have seen snow? Loved it.

Of course I’m not a few states north where they got dumped on, so I can say that. :D

o/~I don’t have to shovel it….o/~

That one’s for the family still in the Home State, but best wishes to all who got dumped on…

So I’m taking a break studying for a History of North Carolina Exam to drop in a say Hell to you all.

“Hello!”

Dammit it!

I couldn’t get my bunny ears to work so I missed the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. I love the Olympics. We watched them religiously every fours year as I was growing up. I think much of my notions of the potential good of humanity came from those four year rituals of the Opening and Closing ceremonies. Call me idealistic, but even after doping scandals and handing the coverage off to NBC *gag*, I still love them.

Especially the downhill. No pansy figure skating for me. Guys and gals whipping down a ski slope at 95 + mph on a pair of slats. *Yeah!* And skeleton. And bob sleds…and anything to do with speed really.

Speaking of Speed…

I may be out of the immediate loop, but I checked in on the Shootout today.

Congrats to Dale for a strong 2nd place finish, great way to start the year! Sorry I missed he and Smoke duking it out.

I’m hoping that the fact that Tommy Baldwin was brought on late is the cause of Elliott 13th place finish and things will improve steadily as the year goes on

And good job Mark for 7th after being punted by Kyle (the little f*ckwit).

And what’s this I hear about Knauss cheating again? Naughty, naughty Chad! Someone really should hire that guy. As annoying as it is on Mini-me’s team, that is what a crew chief is supposed to do: exploit the grey areas. And Chad’s damn clever.

And Jeff Burton, way to go on the pole! Maybe the Childress teams will be someone to contend with this year. Aw-right!

Oooo. It’s Gonna Hit the Fan…

U.S. Government Failed on Katrina

I wonder how far they will go to bury this in the news here. Rebuilding the Gulf Coast doesn’t seem to be a priority either.

The Bush administration doesn’t give a rats *ss about the American people. Clinton, I know so many curse his name, but Clinton made FEMA an effective agency of the government. Look at the response to the massive flooding in the Midwest in 1993 and the Oaklahoma City Bombing. That was one cabinet seat that should not have been messed with.

Will It Never End?

Of course, the latest firestorm to hit this net is this video.

I don’t know what frighten me more, the violence against children or the absolute sexualilized sadism expressed by the video’s narrator. I mean, seriously, it sounds like he’s masturbating to it.

The kids were throwing rocks at the soldiers. Over reaction to kids throwing rocks is what got the British into so much trouble in the Colonies in 1770. You’d have thought they would have learned…

Transparency

A friend of mine sent me the link to this.

I swear to Gawd, the only you'll get transparency with politicians is to skin them.

And Cheney Shoots a Hunting Pal.

Reuter's Article

Nothing is going to come of it of course, and actually, it's rather funny. But I do find it more than a little frightening that when something like this happens, the White House can cover it up for a day.

Maybe we should give them all guns and send them out hunting while we…take a vacation in the Bahamas for a week or so. Take care of half of our problem in a weeks time.

Can Some Tell Me...

How with everything that is going on in the world, THIS was Newsweeks cover? What are they vying for a share of the Cosmo audience?

Into every life…

Well, I got my butt kicked by an Archeology exam last week. It’s no ones fault but my own, I didn’t study enough. Got to used to skating through community college and it caught up with me.

Maybe I don’t rule so much.

And… I found out I have to take another math course. The three algebra classes I took in Community College “just don’t count” in the University system.

I’m a history major and I will have spent 7 years taking math courses. What the hell?

But all in all, things are still going well. I studied and played with my Roomba all weekend. This thing is so cool...and it works! I *heart* robots!

Actually it was very neat watching it navigate it's way around and then zip back to it's home base. What was interesting was that at one point I put down some light boxes (I didn't have the batteries for the virtual walls yet) to keep it out of the kitchen, but it kept bumping at them almost as if it could sense that they were moving a little each time and if it kept at it...

Sentience, I know it's possible. In two years this thing is going to asking me to please do SOMEthing about Kalliope's hair.

I’m such a geek.

…And Boy Are My Arms Tired…

Or…Kips First Archeological Dig

Hey folks how is it going? Sorry about the long delays. I’m still settling in and the exams have started plus one of classes is requiring a research a paper on North Carolina History which promises to be interesting.

Anyway, due to the lack of graduate slaves, my archeology professor let undergrads volunteer to do a test dig as part of his project to determine the type and period of the pre-historical human occupation of the area. We drove just a little ways out of town to a farm behind which was a sand ridge and (my team) dug out a two meter by two meter by meter square.

My professor recited a quote about how “ticks, heat and rain were an archeologists usual rewards rather than peace..” I paraphrase greatly, I was too exhausted at the time to take it in word for word.

We didn’t find anything…while we were digging.

Digging requires the diggers to take off 10cm layers by “shaving” the soil, or in this case damp sand, off a little at a time with square-edged shovels then flipping it up into the screens next to the hole that someone will use to sift out any large chunks worth looking at.

I got very good at throwing sand. At least I didn't smack my screener in the face with a shoveful as happened to me the first time we traded off. *chuckle* I'm still digging sand out of my ears. :D

Truly, she was a sweet gal who had worked on a dig before so she had a lot more experience, it's just she was very petit and got a little too entusiastic with her first pitch.

After that, though we did not find anything, we still cleaned up a wall, took pictures, drew a stratigraphic profile (a picture of the layers of sediment laid down) and took soil samples to get a clearer picture of the geology of the area. As we were taking the soil samples for OSL (Optical Stimulated Luminance which uses light to determine how long the soil has gone since it was last exposed to light), the wall collapsed.

Then we found a flake. (As in a flake of stone that had been struck off a larger rock in the process of making a stone tool)

To which I held up my arms like I had made a touchdown. “I found it!”

After all that, we had to fill the hole back in.

What was neat is how many people drove up to us in the middle of this huge field with artifacts that they had found on their property or while they were in the woods and so on that they curious about. We got about 6 cars the 6 hours we were digging.

So, it was a lot of hard work, little in material reward, but we sure learned a heck of a lot and I loved it. I’m really glad to be having these opportunities to get my hands dirty so early in the game. I figured this wouldn’t start for a couple years yet.

Of course, after spending the last 5 years sitting on my butt for 10 hours a day, I came home yesterday and crashed.

Beyond Dirt…

School is going very well. I consider staying on top of my reading and studies my new job and a damn great one! I got the results back from my first two exams: A’s.

I rule.

And I have my research paper topic picked out, but not refined. I need to visit a local museum to talk to a expert about the research materials available for such a subject.

I checked out the Rec Center which is completely amazing! Bally’s would be sincerely jealous. And I signed up for a couple ocean kayak trips with the adventure club.

I still have boxes around, but on the good side we seem to have found a vet.

The Not So Great News:

Unfortunately, having looked over my ravaged finances after the move…I can’t afford cable which means that ¾ of the NASCAR races are out of my reach. Which maybe a good thing, I’ve got studying to do and losing five hour chunks out of my weekend may not be the best way to keep up in class.

Still, it’s more than a little ironic I move here and can’t participate in the fandom of the sport North Carolina spawned. At least not this year. Next year I won’t be playing out of state tuition, nor will I have moving costs, so I’ll be able to play more.

:(

Well, I’ll definitely watch what I can catch over the network with my bunny ears, which includes the Daytona 500 in a couple weeks.

In fact….I think the only thing I have due that week is my bibliography. Cool!

P.S. Congrats to the 38 Team on their new Crew Chief (at last!). With so many old faces in different places this year, 2006 promises to be very interesting and good luck to the 38, the 8 and the 6 in the Shootout!

Politics

Well, there really isn’t much to say, the only positive point of the State of the Union Address that caught anyone’s attention was debunked by Bush's own people a day later.

The rest of it was lies and propaganda, as per usual. There’s no point in me going over what most everyone already knows. Cindy Sheehan was arrested for wearing a T-Shirt. While I can understand needed to create some decorum in Capitol Hill (Gawd know the people in power don’t have any), I am getting a little tried of Bush handpicked audiences free of dissent. If everything is going frickin’ peachy, what’s he so scared of?

Please Gawd someone do something to stop the nut cases in charge of this country….

North Carolina So Far

I love this place. I love the countryside, love all the birds that visit my feeder every morning (and though the window so do the cats), and I really like the people. Everyone is really friendly. So much so that sometimes I feel like I must come off as rude and abrupt in business transactions so I make a conscious effort to be more conversational. One curious thing I have noticed is that they don’t ask questions. They just talk about themselves and their experiences and don’t ask you about yours. I don’t think it’s a “self-absorbed thing” as much as a “don’t-pry thing”, but it’s a little awkward sometimes when you come from a society in which you don’t offer information about yourself unless asked.

But all in all, the people are great. My neighbors are really nice, even the ones that don’t have pets are pet loving people, so it’s all good. About the only problem I have had so far is JEEZUS CHRIST YOU PEOPLE CAN’T DRIVE! ;)

Now, I come from CA. We live in our cars. I spent a minimum of an hour and half on the road everyday getting to and from work. Granted, I am learning my way around, where the stop signs are and how this intersection works and so on…but I have had more near misses in the last month that I had had in the last ten years in CA. Speeding (and I'm not talking five-mph-over-the-limit-speeding, I'm talking "floorin'-it"-speeding) is a lot more common out here, but we’ll just skip that for now. People whipping around corners in packed parking lots at 30-35 mph. People ignoring stop signs. People tailgating on an industrial street, with street lights, during business hours, at 45 mph. Buddy, I don’t let anyone within 15 feet of my bumper unless we are going 5 mph on the 405 during rush hour. This ain’t Talladega. There is no drafting. Get the hell off my ass.

But other than that. I love the place. It’s great. :D

Superbowl:

Go..aww damn, I have on friend that's a Steelers fan and one that's a Seahawks fan. I can't win for love nor money. ;)

Now, I have some reading to do. Just thought I’d take a break and pop in to say “Hey!” I will endeavor to update this blog every weekend.

Take care!