justin, adam, and i are going to see this guy in boston on december 14th. to answer your question, yes. we are happy about it.
10/31/08
10/29/08
do you wanna ride?
this is, pretty much, my car:
graciously given to me by my parents, after i was forced to sell my beautifully amazing and wonderful VW (see 'from austin to nyc (via nashville)'), and who themselves received it from my grandmother. it's like a family heirloom of sorts. the cadi has been experiencing some, shall we say, technical difficulties as of late, the biggest being its inability to idle at a normal pace. it reminds me of myself in that sense. i always knew i had an underlying loathing/appreciation for that car. at any rate, the cost of its repairs have driven me, (i guess driven isn't the best verb there) to have to make a decision about my transportation situation.
i have already looked up bus routes, which don't seem so bad. if i could keep from getting flat tires on my bike, that might be an option. i just called a friend who is a car dealer telling him i might be in the market, and he told me the economy sucks and to buy a vespa! i did just walk home from all the way across austin a few weeks ago and it only took me 2 hours, so i guess that's always an option.
at any rate, if anyone has any good ideas, let me know...i'm fresh out.
graciously given to me by my parents, after i was forced to sell my beautifully amazing and wonderful VW (see 'from austin to nyc (via nashville)'), and who themselves received it from my grandmother. it's like a family heirloom of sorts. the cadi has been experiencing some, shall we say, technical difficulties as of late, the biggest being its inability to idle at a normal pace. it reminds me of myself in that sense. i always knew i had an underlying loathing/appreciation for that car. at any rate, the cost of its repairs have driven me, (i guess driven isn't the best verb there) to have to make a decision about my transportation situation.
i have already looked up bus routes, which don't seem so bad. if i could keep from getting flat tires on my bike, that might be an option. i just called a friend who is a car dealer telling him i might be in the market, and he told me the economy sucks and to buy a vespa! i did just walk home from all the way across austin a few weeks ago and it only took me 2 hours, so i guess that's always an option.
at any rate, if anyone has any good ideas, let me know...i'm fresh out.
10/27/08
the race race
after all this, could it really still just boil down to race?
[title is link to bbc story]
By Jonathan Alter
NEWSWEEK
The conventional wisdom, which I share, is that Barack Obama will win this election, perhaps by a healthy margin. But Democrats are nervous wrecks; they're having nightmares that defeat will be snatched from the jaws of victory.
To add to their misery (and guard against complacency), here's how that horror film could play out:
In the end, the problem was the LIVs. That's short for "low-information voters", the three-fifths of the electorate that shows up once every four years to vote for president but mostly hates politics.
These are the 75 million folks who didn't vote in the primaries. They don't read news magazines or newspapers, don't watch any cable news and don't cast their ballots early. Their allegiance to a candidate is as easily shed as a T-shirt.
I entered the CIA 42 years ago, and I think that the world is as complex and in a real way more dangerous than at any time since then
Robert Gates, interviewed by Newsweek
Newsweek: 'That was amateur night'
Several million moved to Obama through September and October; they'd heard he handled himself well in the debates. Then, in the last week, the LIVs swung back to the default choice: John McCain.
Some had good reasons other than the colour of Obama's skin to desert him; many more did not.
In October, a study by the Associated Press estimated that Obama's race would cost him 6%. The percentage was smaller, but still enough to give the presidency to McCain.
Obama's field organisation was superb, so it was no surprise that most of the 18 million Hillary Clinton voters came home to the Democrats; the person-to-person voter contact (and significant resentment about the selection of Sarah Palin) made a big difference.
But the huge swathe of more than 30 million independents broke heavily for McCain. By piling up overwhelming margins in big blue states like California, New York and Illinois, Obama carried the popular vote, but he ended up like Al Gore in 2000 - denied admission to the Electoral College.
Swinging states
The first ominous sign was largely missed amid the Democratic euphoria after Obama outclassed McCain on the financial crisis.
While most of the country moved toward the Democratic nominee in early October, Ohio did not. Obama could never close the sale there. In a repeat of the Democratic primary, his big totals coming out of Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) weren't enough to offset larger-than-expected losses in the suburbs around Cincinnati and Columbus.
CHANGING POLITICAL MAP
Who will win the electoral college?
Florida had looked promising for Obama for a time, but his weakness among seniors caught up with him. One national poll from early October should have been a warning: it showed him up by 7% overall, but down 14% among those older than 65.
And Sarah Silverman's "Great Schlep" fell short. Obama easily carried the Jewish vote, but not with the 75% won by Gore and John Kerry. As it turned out, the real problem wasn't south Florida, where Hispanics came in surprisingly well for Obama. It was erosion in the critical I-4 corridor near Tampa and in the Panhandle, where the astonishing Republican margins among whites could be attributed only to race.
Obama shifted New Mexico, Iowa and Nevada from red to blue. But there was a reason Virginia hadn't gone Democratic since 1964. The transformation of the northern part of the state couldn't overcome a huge McCain margin among whites farther south. They weren't the racists of their parents' generation, but they weren't quite ready to vote for the unthinkable, either.
As McCain closed the gap in the last week with his message on taxes and fear of another terrorist attack, the race came down to New Hampshire (which went for Kerry in 2004) and Colorado (which went for President Bush). Obama needed one of them to get to 270 electoral votes.
New Hampshire's fabled independents had long had a soft spot for McCain in GOP primaries, and they delivered for him again. Colorado, after flirting with Obama, simply reverted to form, with Palin's frontier image helping a bit.
Robo-call alienation
Obama had wired every college campus in the country, and he enjoyed great enthusiasm among politically engaged young people. But less-engaged students told reporters the day after the election that they had meant to vote for Obama but were "too busy".
History held: young people once again voted in lower percentages than their elders. Waiting for them turned out to be like waiting for Godot.
John McCain will make a fine president, but Republicans are subdued...
The Obama margin among young voters was underestimated a little in some polls because so many 18- to 24-year-olds use only cell phones.
But the deeper failure of the polling came from methodology that could not properly account for the nine in 10 voters who won't answer a polltaker's questions.
With ceaseless robo-calls and as many as 15 live calls from campaigns to each household in a swing state, even fewer people than normal took time in the last two weeks to respond.
Who were the voters slamming down the phone? Disproportionately for McCain. In rebuffing pollsters, they skewed the sample toward Obama, inflating his "support".
At the start of the campaign season NEWSWEEK asked, "Is America Ready" for a black president?
The answer: only if Obama proved close to a flawless candidate, and even then, we won't know for sure until Election Day. That doesn't mean Obama lost because all, or even most, McCain voters allowed race to be a factor. But enough did to change the outcome.
Democrats are despairing over the results, fearing they might never view their country in the same light again. Even many Republicans are subdued at the news of McCain's victory.
Having expected him to lose, they know the GOP has now completed a sorry transition from the party of Lincoln to the party of cynicism. McCain, they're reasoning, might prove a fine president, but it shouldn't have happened like this...
... It probably won't. Millions of people in the rest of the world assume that Barack Obama cannot be elected because he is black. They assume that the original sin of American history - enshrined in our Constitution - cannot be transcended.
I go into next week's election with a different assumption - that the common sense and decency of the American people will prove the sceptics wrong.
[title is link to bbc story]
By Jonathan Alter
NEWSWEEK
The conventional wisdom, which I share, is that Barack Obama will win this election, perhaps by a healthy margin. But Democrats are nervous wrecks; they're having nightmares that defeat will be snatched from the jaws of victory.
To add to their misery (and guard against complacency), here's how that horror film could play out:
In the end, the problem was the LIVs. That's short for "low-information voters", the three-fifths of the electorate that shows up once every four years to vote for president but mostly hates politics.
These are the 75 million folks who didn't vote in the primaries. They don't read news magazines or newspapers, don't watch any cable news and don't cast their ballots early. Their allegiance to a candidate is as easily shed as a T-shirt.
I entered the CIA 42 years ago, and I think that the world is as complex and in a real way more dangerous than at any time since then
Robert Gates, interviewed by Newsweek
Newsweek: 'That was amateur night'
Several million moved to Obama through September and October; they'd heard he handled himself well in the debates. Then, in the last week, the LIVs swung back to the default choice: John McCain.
Some had good reasons other than the colour of Obama's skin to desert him; many more did not.
In October, a study by the Associated Press estimated that Obama's race would cost him 6%. The percentage was smaller, but still enough to give the presidency to McCain.
Obama's field organisation was superb, so it was no surprise that most of the 18 million Hillary Clinton voters came home to the Democrats; the person-to-person voter contact (and significant resentment about the selection of Sarah Palin) made a big difference.
But the huge swathe of more than 30 million independents broke heavily for McCain. By piling up overwhelming margins in big blue states like California, New York and Illinois, Obama carried the popular vote, but he ended up like Al Gore in 2000 - denied admission to the Electoral College.
Swinging states
The first ominous sign was largely missed amid the Democratic euphoria after Obama outclassed McCain on the financial crisis.
While most of the country moved toward the Democratic nominee in early October, Ohio did not. Obama could never close the sale there. In a repeat of the Democratic primary, his big totals coming out of Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) weren't enough to offset larger-than-expected losses in the suburbs around Cincinnati and Columbus.
CHANGING POLITICAL MAP
Who will win the electoral college?
Florida had looked promising for Obama for a time, but his weakness among seniors caught up with him. One national poll from early October should have been a warning: it showed him up by 7% overall, but down 14% among those older than 65.
And Sarah Silverman's "Great Schlep" fell short. Obama easily carried the Jewish vote, but not with the 75% won by Gore and John Kerry. As it turned out, the real problem wasn't south Florida, where Hispanics came in surprisingly well for Obama. It was erosion in the critical I-4 corridor near Tampa and in the Panhandle, where the astonishing Republican margins among whites could be attributed only to race.
Obama shifted New Mexico, Iowa and Nevada from red to blue. But there was a reason Virginia hadn't gone Democratic since 1964. The transformation of the northern part of the state couldn't overcome a huge McCain margin among whites farther south. They weren't the racists of their parents' generation, but they weren't quite ready to vote for the unthinkable, either.
As McCain closed the gap in the last week with his message on taxes and fear of another terrorist attack, the race came down to New Hampshire (which went for Kerry in 2004) and Colorado (which went for President Bush). Obama needed one of them to get to 270 electoral votes.
New Hampshire's fabled independents had long had a soft spot for McCain in GOP primaries, and they delivered for him again. Colorado, after flirting with Obama, simply reverted to form, with Palin's frontier image helping a bit.
Robo-call alienation
Obama had wired every college campus in the country, and he enjoyed great enthusiasm among politically engaged young people. But less-engaged students told reporters the day after the election that they had meant to vote for Obama but were "too busy".
History held: young people once again voted in lower percentages than their elders. Waiting for them turned out to be like waiting for Godot.
John McCain will make a fine president, but Republicans are subdued...
The Obama margin among young voters was underestimated a little in some polls because so many 18- to 24-year-olds use only cell phones.
But the deeper failure of the polling came from methodology that could not properly account for the nine in 10 voters who won't answer a polltaker's questions.
With ceaseless robo-calls and as many as 15 live calls from campaigns to each household in a swing state, even fewer people than normal took time in the last two weeks to respond.
Who were the voters slamming down the phone? Disproportionately for McCain. In rebuffing pollsters, they skewed the sample toward Obama, inflating his "support".
At the start of the campaign season NEWSWEEK asked, "Is America Ready" for a black president?
The answer: only if Obama proved close to a flawless candidate, and even then, we won't know for sure until Election Day. That doesn't mean Obama lost because all, or even most, McCain voters allowed race to be a factor. But enough did to change the outcome.
Democrats are despairing over the results, fearing they might never view their country in the same light again. Even many Republicans are subdued at the news of McCain's victory.
Having expected him to lose, they know the GOP has now completed a sorry transition from the party of Lincoln to the party of cynicism. McCain, they're reasoning, might prove a fine president, but it shouldn't have happened like this...
... It probably won't. Millions of people in the rest of the world assume that Barack Obama cannot be elected because he is black. They assume that the original sin of American history - enshrined in our Constitution - cannot be transcended.
I go into next week's election with a different assumption - that the common sense and decency of the American people will prove the sceptics wrong.
i thought about the army...
"ben, you sing the songs of my life," lauren said.
"you have a weird life," ben replied.
ben folds is a cool guy. he's just a cool guy. shortly after that brief conversation with my friend lauren, he signed his set list and gave it to our friend juliette. our other friend brian works for his label. he secured two giant yellow frowny face masks that the band members wore while playing key-tars. he played most of his new album, but also played fake songs he made up in one day with the same names as the ones on the album, many of which were at least slightly better. he's just a cool guy.
"you have a weird life," ben replied.
ben folds is a cool guy. he's just a cool guy. shortly after that brief conversation with my friend lauren, he signed his set list and gave it to our friend juliette. our other friend brian works for his label. he secured two giant yellow frowny face masks that the band members wore while playing key-tars. he played most of his new album, but also played fake songs he made up in one day with the same names as the ones on the album, many of which were at least slightly better. he's just a cool guy.
10/23/08
it's such a fine line between stupid...and clever
as i sit watching this is Spinal Tap for the sixth time or so, i can't help but think that this comedy number is very similar to most of the Fox News and MSNBC i've been watching for the past several months, except rob reiner does a much better job of asking real questions than most media outlets.
10/8/08
Rock and Roll Is a Lifestyle
And the chicks are great.
Returning from Utah after acquiring nothing beyond food poisoning, I jumped on four more planes and ended up in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. We'll say it was for work.
Two days to recoup was necessary, and after making through the work days, it was time to get out and enjoy the Brazilian fare. The best I've had so far. Belo is a beautiful city tucked into the north central low rolling mountains of Brazil. A little hot, a little humid, but mostly beautiful. Beautiful people, beautiful buildings, beautiful culture, beautiful food...but I'm getting ahead of myself. The soul of the city buzzes and when people you've never met greet you with pure excitement and a kiss on the cheek, I can't help but think it doesn't get much better. Two days were not nearly enough.
Then it was on to Curichiba, further south and near the coast. Cool, crisp, and clean, Curichiba offered a fun-loving nightlife with buy one get one beer nights at the local pub and yes, more beautiful people. Dancing, singing, and harmony ensued. Lunch usually consisted of pay by the weight of the plate and tiny cups of espresso. Actually, everything came with espresso. Only 1 day in Curichiba, and three planes later I was in Concepcion, Chile.
Traveling with my friend Amy from work, we were greeted warmly at the airport by our host, Bruno Fonseca. Bruno is a man amongst men. He started his own outbound Work/Travel company in Concepcion at the age of 24. He has since expanded to Argentina and purchased a coffee shop/language school. Bruno was an endearing character who seamlessly melded the group of 8 clients, 3 partners (Amy, Lauren, and myself), and several of his best friends into many nights of antics and memories.
Great memories included push starting our giant group rental van with a dead battery at 2 am after turning an establishment that was ostensibly a restaurant into a discoteca:
Bruno 'accidentally' running over his best friend Roberto with his BMW hatchback subsequently twisting his ankle, arm-wrestling at a bar after-hours, and,
our never-ending quest to see the elusive Pudu (the world's tiniest deer).
Concepcion is a pleasant city tucked neatly between the far southern Pacific coast and the western edge of the Andes. We spent several days of glorious weather walking the markets:
eating drawn out lunches, and buying Chilean Flag-style kites which were to later be trekked halfway across the globe (no easy task) and somehow fit a good bit of work in between.
After being gone from home for nearly 17 consecutive days, traveling on 15 different airplanes in that timespan, and conducting 5 separate Work/Travel job fairs, I was exhausted and ready to be home. But I certainly did not want to leave South America behind.
Luckily, just a few days ago, Bruno was in the US, and after visiting San Francisco where he is likely starting another business venture, he came to visit us in Austin.
It was a night to be remembered. After going to dinner, many people from the office met up with Bruno at Creekside Lounge and let happenings run free.
We made our way over to Flamingo Cantina to watch my main man Paul Banks:
play a brilliant show which I am now currently watching on video on a giant projection screen in my backyard, and then headed back to Creekside to finish the night with plenty of festive drinks and dancing. Bruno managed to catch his flight home the next morning and ended up being up all through the next night with more friends in Santiago, but somehow made it home in one piece.
We miss you already Bruno, but hopefully Chile won't stay too far for too long.
Returning from Utah after acquiring nothing beyond food poisoning, I jumped on four more planes and ended up in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. We'll say it was for work.
Two days to recoup was necessary, and after making through the work days, it was time to get out and enjoy the Brazilian fare. The best I've had so far. Belo is a beautiful city tucked into the north central low rolling mountains of Brazil. A little hot, a little humid, but mostly beautiful. Beautiful people, beautiful buildings, beautiful culture, beautiful food...but I'm getting ahead of myself. The soul of the city buzzes and when people you've never met greet you with pure excitement and a kiss on the cheek, I can't help but think it doesn't get much better. Two days were not nearly enough.
Then it was on to Curichiba, further south and near the coast. Cool, crisp, and clean, Curichiba offered a fun-loving nightlife with buy one get one beer nights at the local pub and yes, more beautiful people. Dancing, singing, and harmony ensued. Lunch usually consisted of pay by the weight of the plate and tiny cups of espresso. Actually, everything came with espresso. Only 1 day in Curichiba, and three planes later I was in Concepcion, Chile.
Traveling with my friend Amy from work, we were greeted warmly at the airport by our host, Bruno Fonseca. Bruno is a man amongst men. He started his own outbound Work/Travel company in Concepcion at the age of 24. He has since expanded to Argentina and purchased a coffee shop/language school. Bruno was an endearing character who seamlessly melded the group of 8 clients, 3 partners (Amy, Lauren, and myself), and several of his best friends into many nights of antics and memories.
Great memories included push starting our giant group rental van with a dead battery at 2 am after turning an establishment that was ostensibly a restaurant into a discoteca:
Bruno 'accidentally' running over his best friend Roberto with his BMW hatchback subsequently twisting his ankle, arm-wrestling at a bar after-hours, and,
our never-ending quest to see the elusive Pudu (the world's tiniest deer).
Concepcion is a pleasant city tucked neatly between the far southern Pacific coast and the western edge of the Andes. We spent several days of glorious weather walking the markets:
eating drawn out lunches, and buying Chilean Flag-style kites which were to later be trekked halfway across the globe (no easy task) and somehow fit a good bit of work in between.
After being gone from home for nearly 17 consecutive days, traveling on 15 different airplanes in that timespan, and conducting 5 separate Work/Travel job fairs, I was exhausted and ready to be home. But I certainly did not want to leave South America behind.
Luckily, just a few days ago, Bruno was in the US, and after visiting San Francisco where he is likely starting another business venture, he came to visit us in Austin.
It was a night to be remembered. After going to dinner, many people from the office met up with Bruno at Creekside Lounge and let happenings run free.
We made our way over to Flamingo Cantina to watch my main man Paul Banks:
play a brilliant show which I am now currently watching on video on a giant projection screen in my backyard, and then headed back to Creekside to finish the night with plenty of festive drinks and dancing. Bruno managed to catch his flight home the next morning and ended up being up all through the next night with more friends in Santiago, but somehow made it home in one piece.
We miss you already Bruno, but hopefully Chile won't stay too far for too long.
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