Perks

Rodrigo y Gabriela

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

In order:

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

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

Ho hum

• 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...

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

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

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

"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

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.