file under odd and interesting

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

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

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

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

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.

Bitter

For whatever reason, I have recently found myself indulging in things that I know will just leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Case in point: Veronica Mars. It's a well-written and well-acted show, which I guess is why I keep coming back to it when I'm looking for a 45 minute escape via internet TV. The suspense is excellent, and I can't help empathizing with the lead characters, who are all basically moral people trying to fix their convoluted worlds. But it's not a happy show. Terrible and depressing things happen in every episode. Kids get murdered, lives get shattered, hearts get broken. Deceit and treachery run rampant. I guess I keep watching because I hope everything will turn out all right in the end, but I think I need to admit to myself that watching is just not healthy, at least for me. I have very limited free time these days, and the last thing I need to be doing with it is watching shows that get me all upset over the plights of fictional characters. I deal with real-life crises often enough; this is absurd. Tonight, I watched my last episode of Veronica Mars. There, I said it. No more. No matter how well done it is, it's not worth this.

If only I could apply the same decisiveness throughout my life.

Frantic but happy

Free time has once again turned out to be a myth. In the last 10 days I've started 2 new jobs and gone on 2 vacations. The trips were awesome (one to the mountains with the boy and family and one to the beach with my family) and the jobs have been fabulous learning experiences. It's kinda crazy I'm doing exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life at 19. Seriously, I could work either of these jobs for the next 10 years and be happy. They're both research positions for nonprofits, so lots of digging up info on various trends and events for my superiors to use in books and reports. It's a lot of what I did last year as a research assistant with my favorite professor but more in depth. They're stretching me in a really good and wholesome way, but between the long hours of thinking and long hours of commuting, they wear me out. It's probably not a good idea to post the organizations' names, but to give you a hint, my first day at the 2nd internship I did tai chi with Rosalynn Carter. Yep, that's right. Rosalynn Carter.

Anyway, here's some photos from my latest adventures and an awesome youtube movie on my hometown.

Night Out

It was one of those date nights that looked picture-perfect on paper, but in practice, things kept going wrong. We were uncoordinated in our timing, forcing us to rush through dinner and continually glance at our watches on the way. Despite the lovely ambiance of the Italian restaurant we dined at,


my overpriced pasta and clams tasted more like large cloves of garlic. When we finally made it to the concert hall (after struggling to find parking within our budget), we climbed up flights and flights of stairs to our seats. Then came the most nasty surprise of the evening: ticketmaster misprinted our tickets, which were my two and a half year anniversary present to Joey. We were supposed to be front row center of the top balcony level, but we were to the left and several rows back. I pouted and complained until the lights dimmed.

Fortunately for Joey, the show started. Glen Hansard of Once fame came out with his trademark guitar, stood at the very front edge of center stage, and began to sing. When he opened his mouth, all the mixups and misunderstandings of the evening evaporated. The acoustics of the opera hall carried his unmiked beautiful voice all the way up to our balcony.

He was also joined by Markéta Irglová from Once and his band, the Frames. Listening to their music doesn't make you feel good inside because their lyrics evoke fond memories of your own; their lyrics are often dark and depressing. Their music makes you feel good because of the sheer passion and honesty behind it. Every song is like him pouring out his heart, and he has no qualms about telling a sold-out house about what happened in his personal life for him to write such a song. Each piece is so mind-numbingly beautiful that nothing else matters in that moment but listening to them sing.


Amazingly, Marketa is only 20. On one hand, I have a lot to accomplish in a short few months to keep up with her (like winning an Academy Award). On the other, at least I have a chance with Glen (38). Of course, I'm rooting for their relationship to make it, because can you imagine how talented their children would be??

So an evening that was dismal turned out lovely. Go listen to Once's soundtrack or better, see the Swell Season (what the duo are calling themselves now) in person. They're worth it.

Finally, because I can't seem to write anything without posting a nugget of comicky goodness:

Here comes the sun

Little darling, It's been a long cold lonely winter.
Little darling, It feels like years since it's been here.

Today Joey drove all the way out to my side of town and swept me off to lunch at one of our favorite Conyers restaurants, the Whistle Post Tavern. We picked out a sunny table on the patio, I ordered my traditional grilled salmon sandwich with sweet tea, and just like that, summer began.

And I say, it's all right.

After our leisurely lunch, we strolled around Old Town. For the first time in quite a while, my ritual mourning of Tattersalls was counterbalanced by my excitement over the neighborhood's new offerings, such as an Irish pub and a chic coffee shop. We also stopped by the garden behind the Pavillion, and I concluded that if (against all odds) I end up getting married in the Conyers area in the summer, my wedding party photos will most certainly be shot by the garden's lovely fish ponds and creeping vines.

Relaxing with a healthy dose of unpacking is the order of the week, with the promise of a weekend in the mountains lighting the way. It's good to be home.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

And, for your enjoyment (I love this comic, can you tell?):

Home now. More later.

So much for studying for finals. I found xkcd.com.
Just kidding [Mom], I'm actually studying pretty hard. Two more tomorrow, then packing, then driving home, then SLEEP on Sunday. So close.
Resurrection of this blog will most likely commence along with the summer, seeing as I will only be working 40 hrs a week and will actually have time to myself once in a while. School seeps into all corners of your life, making free time an oxymoron; jobs [ought to] end at 5PM.

Auf Wiedersehen

I'm pretty sure that means goodbye. I'm off in about half an hour for Poland by way of Germany. Hopefully I'll have lots of pretty pictures when I get back. So long and thanks for all the fish.

I can be such a girl sometimes. I got my hair cut today AND my eyebrows done. I know. I pamper myself too much. A haircut every six months?! The insanity!

All because I wanted to look nice in my Europe pictures. Tsk, tsk. So vain (I bet you think this song is about you).

busy work

My Holocaust class midterm essay question is:
Historians speak of a radicalization of antisemitism in National Socialist Germany from 1933 to 1938. Do you agree or disagree?

Um. Disagree. Entirely. Obviously the correct answer.
Basically I'm providing a summary of Nazi actions against Jews in this time period. Reads like a textbook and is very boring to write.

In other news, has anyone noticed the new widget in my sidebar, under my gorgeous picture? Click on the "Star-Studded Love" article to see a clip of George Clooney asking Regis about the ND- Syracuse game on the Oscars red carpet. He knew we were up at the half! Could I love this man any more? It's doubtful.

To close, a guilty confession: I haven't watched a single debate yet this presidential race. And I'm a polisci major.

Papal Plane

From Wikipedia:
"Whenever the Pope flies on a plane, it is nicknamed "Shepherd One". Typically, it is a chartered Alitalia Jet, however, the nickname follows the Pope to smaller craft when necessary to land at small airports. The tradition is for the Pope to fly to the country he is visiting on a chartered Alitalia jet and to return on a jet belonging to a flag carrier from the visited nation."

Sorry I've been so out of it, but I have to share.. this is fabulous.

Oy vey.

The Monologues are back on campus, so the bishops walk. Read the article here. Not quite sure how I feel about this; border skirmishes between Catholic clergy and the academic (and theoretically impartial) nature of this university happen all the time, over things like what professors are hired (are they Catholic enough?) and whether birth control meds can be offered at our on-campus pharmacy. It all works out in the end, after everyone ruffles their feathers and we all go back to our corners of the ring and sulk. My inclination in this case is to be exasperated with the bishops, but that's more gut reaction than researched opinion. Bishop Darcy posting things in our basilica (technically in his domain) seems a little silly. I tend to roll my eyes at the whole business and move on to more important matters.

Such as the weather. Lately, the in-vogue trend in South Bend has been lots of melting and rainstorms, causing our number of on campus lakes to increase from 2 to 200, then sudden freezing temperatures creating inches of ice everywhere. Walking on ice all the time to get to class is only slightly less bothersome than getting soaked, despite wearing a raincoat, going to class. When you get to class, you might have a numb arm from falling and cracking your head on the ice (as happened to my poor roommate this week), but at least you'll be dry.

However, despite the weather, my mood is mostly jubilant because we just signed the nation's best recruiting class (even if the recruiting sites give the honor to Bama, who will never be able to hold together their humongous class of recruits until fall). Signing day was way more fun than super tuesday. Go Irish.

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

[typical excuses for lack of postage]

Speaking of lack of postage, did you know it takes TWO stamps to send an absentee ballot? Discrimination against poor college kids, I say. I'm going through the effort of voting, the state should cover the postage.

About voting... I went with my 3rd choice candidate. Why? Because my first two dropped out before I even got to vote. Having already procured a Democrat ballot, my choice was narrowed down to Hillary and Obama, and I think it's pretty obvious which way that decision had to go. I feel like my rights were constrained; I might have rethought and voted Republican if I could have gotten a Republican ballot. At least I voted. Hurray for boosting the participation stats for my demographic.

Otherwise, life's swell. Classes are interesting (maybe I should have been a history major) and not to tough for once, social life is going well, and blockbuster online continues to deliver fabulous movies for me to watch. Seriously, nothing gives me a happy high like a really well made movie. Most recently, I have loved Amelie and The Waitress. Another good development: we went to a Superbowl party at the Knights' clubhouse, and dude, never in my collegiate career have there been so many steady couples in one room. I could lean against Joey without feeling like I was making the whole room feel awkward, and what a huge relief. Nice to find groups of people like that; having mostly single friends is peachy but makes me worry about being offensively non-single.

For the history buffs: War in European History is a fabulous and concise history of war, and War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust is delightfully controversial while explaining the Holocaust really, really well.

In other news, I'm looking at immersing myself in starting a Timmy Foundation chapter at Notre Dame. We would do advocacy, education, and fundraising year round for our partner org in the Dominican Republic and do an annual fall break service trip for 20 students with medical personnel. What I love is they've found a dependable, excellent, in need local organization that we can support and work through. We're not starting from scratch (like some campus initiatives) and we would be doing more than just talking about making things change. We would have a measurable impact over time and an ongoing relationship with our partner org. Furthermore, being tied to this group would give the chapter a sense of permanency- something hard to obtain in a college club with overworked and short-term leaders and members. Basically, I think this is the best thing to happen to ND since the CSC was founded, and I want to be a part of it.

Yup. That's pretty much it. Off to a Poverty Studies guest lecture by a South Bend dentist. The title of his powerpoint? Boom Times for Dentists, But Not for Teeth! So witty.

Again, not what I meant to spend time doing.

You have to click on the image to see it real-size- silly blogger photo size limits.

Solitary time

While relaxing in the arms of my very handsome reading chair, I got the notion to fix up my blog. I cropped my favorite wallpaper from VladStudio for the images involved- hopefully the credit blurb in the sidebar will save me from nasty lawsuits. We'll see how long I can handle the lack of blue in the color scheme.

This wasn't entirely what I meant to spend my afternoon doing... but it is pretty spiffy looking, if I do say so myself. And hey, I'm on break! Anything I meant to get done today can get done tomorrow (or sometime in the next few weeks) right?

Also, The Thirteenth Tale was an utterly fabulous book. Spectacularly lyrical descriptions. Now I'm on to A Thousand Splendid Suns, and I borrowed Stardust and The Poe Shadow from a friend last night. I'm also working on re-reading Reading Lolita in Tehran. I'm all set for my Annual Recreational Reading Christmas Break Marathon. Anyone else been reading anything interesting lately?

Finally, for your enjoyment:
After accepting the friend requests of friends' moms, adult relatives, and parish acquaintances, I have admitted the ineffectiveness of my no-adult-facebook-friends rule. I am swimming against the tide, people. Therefore, I have gone over to the dark side: I friended my mom.