The Bronzed Shoe Archives

2008-11-16T20:24:00.004-05:00

*deep breath*
I moved to Wordpress.
I know, I know! I've been on blogger forever. It interfaces so nicely with all my google stuff.
But... wordpress is just so much better. Plus it is SO easy to transition- I carried all my posts, comments, and widgets with me. Go check out my new home.

http://bronzedshoe.wordpress.com/

Dear Team

2008-11-14T17:30:00.002-05:00

Irish:
Here's the deal. You have broken my heart far too many times this season.
In the words of Vivian of Pretty Woman,
Don't do it again.
Go Irish, beat Navy.

xoxo, Laura

P.S. In case we lose, I might be renting Pretty Woman for some quality escape-from-agony time. Darn good movie.
Old Lady at Opera: Did you like the opera, dear?
Vivian: It was so good, I almost peed my pants!
Edward: She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance.

Blasphemy

2008-10-14T10:49:00.002-04:00

I need to get this out there.

I am SO OVER this election.

But Laura! You are a polisci student! You are in college and should be in the prime of your activist years! Where is your passion??

This is what killed it for me:

More than anything, I hate the negativity. Could somebody (for once) do a commercial where they just talk about what they're going to do for the good of America, and NOT what the other guy can't/won't/doesn't do?? Please? That would be great. I don't want to vote for ANYBODY now because you're all so freaking horrible to each other. I look for other qualities in a president than Expert Insult Thrower.
We have been campaigning for what, a year? More than that? I don't know, but it's been way too freaking long. Seriously. Enough already.
Sarah Palin. WTF. McCain might make a great president- what do I know- but he had better not effing die.
The total lack of vocabulary in either campaign. I want to rip my hair out whenever I hear the m-word.

I cannot wait to vote early when I'm home next week, get it over with, and stop up my ears until this time next month.

A rant

2008-10-03T15:56:00.002-04:00

Friends, today is a sad day under the Dome. Today I witnessed an unparalleled feat of incompetence.

Everything was merry and bright as I strolled over to the laundry room in my dorm. Disaster. Bags of laundry everywhere, socks on most surfaces, distressed chicks by the bucketful. I waited patiently for my turn at a washer, put in one load instead of the two I had been hoping for, and returned to my room until it was time to put my laundry into the dryer. The laundry room had, if possible, deteriorated even further. Girls were in tears. I kid you not. Soon, it became apparent that my soaked laundry would need to sit for half an hour before a dryer would be available. ARGH! I screamed in my head, but outside I smiled nicely. These things happen when living in such a big community. Sometimes all of us decide to do our laundry at the same time.

But I was so wrong, friends. This incident was not explainable by laundry fever taking the dorm by storm. No, the reason the laundry room was in chaos was one girl. One. Who, by the looks of it, had not done laundry in a whole semester. Friends, we have six washers and eight dryers. Her stuff was in at least half of them. This is bad enough and worthy of a glare, because when you live in community you ought to respect the needs of others. But was the girl to be found to glare at? NO! She never graced us with her presence. It was her MOTHER, presumably up for Parents' Football Weekend, doing all of her laundry. Hauling bag after bag around and standing patiently by the dryers waiting for them to finish. I waited my half hour for my dryer, put my stuff in, and departed as the poor mother was putting another load in my recently vacated washer. For shame, anonymous dorm mate. For shame.

Photoblogging the ND bookstore

2008-10-03T14:00:00.006-04:00

These uber wide-brimmed hats with the ND monogram make me laugh. For the ND fan who also finds himself trekking through the jungle.

We start 'em young. That helmet will fit him someday.

Cake-topper? That would be so flipping sweet...

This one made me laugh the most, because whenever Notre Dame gets excited about something, merchandise is sure to follow. Coming off the Forum on Energy and Sustainability, then, I guess this was inevitable...

Oh Notre Dame.

Hephelumps

2008-09-08T23:43:00.000-04:00

A remarkable elephantine solution for the problem of a runny nosey
while trying to sleep.

Owie

2008-09-03T22:58:00.001-04:00

Pretty impressive how much I photoblog now that I can do it instantly.
Anyway, behold, my first bee sting. Wasp, actually. There was a fun
moment when I was unsure whether I was dying from allergic reaction.
The good news is I'm not allergic! The bad news is this hurts. Like.
Hell.

update

2008-09-02T22:35:00.004-04:00

Joey wins the Sweetheart award today. See, we made sweet tea yesterday, but since the pitcher resides in his fridge, he ends up drinking much more of it than I get to. To remedy this, he brought me a cup of tea all the way from his dorm to the student center (probably about a mile apart), in the dark, despite the danger of malevolent sprinkler systems AND the fact he was running late for work. What a cutie. This is why my parents pay him the big bucks to stick around.
Also, Joey got me a pretty rockin card today. Parentals, remember the awkward dinner conversation when a certain godmother proposed we add "in bed" to the ends of our fortune cookie fortunes? Yeah, the card's about that game. Apparently this is more widespread than we thought.
The classic Dillon pep rally has been CANCELED. They always do their dorm pep rally/ stand up comedy routine the night before the first home game. It's a major tradition. Maybe the admins thought it was getting too rowdy. Dillon's the biggest dorm on campus, though, so they better be prepared for armed insurrection.
I'm working 10 hours a week sorting and delivering mail. The mail delivery today was hugemongous, to use a Lindaism.
I dropped my first class EVER today. I just had too much on my plate and what's the point of running around like a crazy person just because I can? Of course, it will probably be replaced with another in short order.
Today was the biannual meal with academic adviser/ stroking of Laura's ego session. Never a bad thing. Hopefully he's not just getting my hopes up.
The medical mission trip I'm helping to organize (but no longer going on) is now going to Ecuador. This is our third change of national venue, for those of you keeping track at home.
Boo visa forms.
Hooray cotton skirts on 90 degree days!
Also: go to http://www.zooatlanta.org/videos/pandabirth083008.htm and watch the Atlanta panda mommy give birth to the new cub. It's not gross or anything- it's actually really funny. Moan- moan- puzzled look at abdomen- baby! Mom thinks it must have been the sugar cane.

Ridiculosity

2008-08-29T07:42:00.002-04:00

I somehow managed to get a blister on top of a callus on the bottom of my foot. Brilliant.

a gem to share

2008-08-26T13:29:00.000-04:00

Letter from Beijing: The Only Games in Town

I wish I had known about this article earlier- it's an excellent and amusing first-person account of the Olympics. I haven't had a chance to read Part 2 yet, but Part 1 is definitely worth reading while lunching on leftover Chipotle. Or whatever you happen to be doing.

All moved in

2008-08-25T22:36:00.001-04:00

The Discipline of Packing

2008-08-18T15:01:00.003-04:00

The hardest part about packing is that as I go through my boxes of stuff, I discover about half of it is made up of things I don't need or use, but simultaneously can't just throw out, because that would be wasteful. For example: half-empty bottles of nail polish from back when secretly painting one's toes was an act of protest against Catholic school rules; a portable hair dryer that was useful when I was taking swimming classes but has not been plugged in since; four different varieties of iron supplements (none of which I take now); and, last but not least, one of those hand-held vacuum cleaners for cleaning up minuscule messes. It's been used maybe twice since I got it before freshman year. Seriously, when a mess is big enough to call for a vacuum cleaner, I go get the hallway's massive upright one. What on earth would you use a dustbuster to clean that couldn't be done more easily by hand?? I am not above picking up crumbs with my fingertips or grabbing dustbunnies with a wet paper towel, thanks very much.

I think the end result of all this (which my parents will hate) is that there will be a stack of stuff going back to school with me, and a stack of unuseful but un-throw-out-able stuff to remain behind in the basement, blocking my father's access to his beloved mini pool table. This whole process is insane.

Perks

2008-08-16T17:57:00.001-04:00

Rodrigo y Gabriela

2008-08-16T16:26:00.004-04:00

This is how close we were: I couldn't get them in the same frame. I attended this fabulous concert at the gorgeous Tabernacle as an early birthday present from That Cute Boy. They are truly masters of the acoustic guitar.

Bego, my lovely loyal reader: have you heard any of their stuff? If not, I am so burning you a CD for Sunday night.

Major News Stories of the Weekend

2008-08-10T22:00:00.002-04:00

In order:

Russia and Georgia went to war
An ND student won the first U.S. gold of the Olympics (Mariel Zagunis is my hero)
Laura got an iPhone for her birthday.

Sad face, happy face, happy face. The happy faces win!

Ho hum

2008-07-27T19:27:00.003-04:00

I LOVE using the Google shared items system, but gosh I wish they had a comments feature. However, I really like being able to easily share things I find around the net that interest me, so I will stick with it for now.
I finally went down to the basement today to start going through things I brought home from school. I'd forgotten how much I love the sense of accomplishment that comes after plowing through a box of junk and throwing it all out. The plan is to be able to move back to school in my little car- previously that task has required a van. I'm excited for less stuff.
A week and a half of internships left. What. The. Hell?
Plus a week in Destin and a few days off with my family. Yay vacation!
After this summer, I don't think I'll be able to go back to not reading the news daily. Yes, that's right, my jobs are that cool- my first hour every day is dedicated to BBC and the NYT. And FP Passport (best blog ever).
JC told me I asked him a good question in our intern Q&A session this week. I don't care what anyone says, this dude rocks (and not just because he boosted my self esteem).

That's all, folks.

The alternative to blogging...

2008-07-23T21:51:00.003-04:00

Is posting links to things other people have written, with commentary from me. A much more easy medium for doing this is the new "Shared Items" function of Google Reader. My shared items are in a sidebar on this page, but it's far easier to go here: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/09078108577072479098. Please tune in to see what stories I find interesting and what I have to say about them. There are much fewer clicks involved to share things this way, and the site is simply more manageable than blogger. I will still post random musings from time to time, but my Shared Items is a more reliable source for finding out what's on my mind. :-)

poor gnomes

2008-06-12T09:15:00.000-04:00

170 Figures Stolen: French Police Arrest Serial Garden Gnome Thief

There are lots of articles I want to get around to posting (I get to read the news A LOT these days :-) ) but until I get a chance, here's a humorous piece to tide you over.

update

2008-06-06T16:34:00.003-04:00

Watch out SB! This is my crappy attempt to copy a map from the Weather Channel at http://www.weather.com/weather/map/interactive/46556?from=36hr_tornWatch_golf&zoom=7&interactiveMapLayer=radar . ND is the dot in the middle. If this was in color, ND would be covered in green with angry clouds of orange and red rapidly approaching. Pobre dome.

duck and cover

2008-06-06T16:15:00.000-04:00

"UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
Message sent - 6/6/2008
TORNADO
N D Alert Emergecy! There is an imminent threat to the campus from a TORNADO. Go immediately to the lowest level of the building you are in and take cover! If you are outside, seek shelter immediately. Do not come out until you hear an all-clear announcement. This threat is real and imminent!"

Peachy. At least we finally had a use for our emergency alert system? Hopefully everyone (and the campus) is ok.

file under odd and interesting

2008-06-06T12:09:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Fast Lane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation

The US Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters, keeps a blog. Who knew?

good call

2008-06-06T09:28:00.000-04:00

2 Leaders Ousted From Air Force in Atomic Errors - NYTimes.com

Despite myself, I really like Gates. He's always struck me as a good man in a tough spot.

response

2008-06-04T23:50:00.000-04:00

Doug Kmiec Reaffirms Endorsing Sen. Barack Obama - Catholic Online
This article is the best answer I have to the question of how I can support Obama and be true to my Catholic beliefs.

Some comments in addition (read the article first):
The bottom line is that I'm unconvinced McCain would make any real progress against abortion, and meanwhile a variety of other policies of his, especially his welfare reform ideas, would directly increase suffering in the United States. It's not that I don't like McCain- I do. I just don't think he could affect the kind of change Obama will be able to.

Then there's the fact that Obama is the closest thing the US has ever seen to a second Jimmy Carter, and a little bit of peace and human rights love in the oval office right now would do a lot of good internationally.

victory

2008-06-04T10:31:00.002-04:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7435580.stm

"It was five months ago today that an unknown black senator rode into the all-white state of Iowa and absolutely ruined Hillary Clinton's day. And the day after. And the day after that. And pretty much every day since. " - Jack Rafferty, CNN

Brilliant.

bravo

2008-06-02T22:59:00.000-04:00

State Dept. Reinstates Gaza Fulbright Grants - NYTimes.com

If you haven't been following this situation, late last week seven Palestinians had their fulbrights revoked by the US government because Israel banned them from leaving Gaza to study abroad. Fulbrights fully finance graduate studies in the US. It was a awful decision that evoked its due share of outcry, leading to today's reinstatement of the grants.

Here's the cool part:
I first heard about the situation when I got to work Friday morning. The senior staff were clustered in the middle of our workspace, sharing information and complaining about the government. Then they broke up into teams, several going off to call their contacts and try to reverse the policy that way and others setting to work on a press release from my place of work on the matter. It was one of those goosebump-raising moments- I realized I am FINALLY in a place where more can be done than just complaining about a bad situation. Policy was made while I watched. My job totally rocks.