tuO 'nippirT

?tey elgooG htiw dehcraes uoy evaH

The Haul

Christmas is about family, love, togetherness, peace, and good will toward all. That said, here's some of the cool stuff I got:

Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
Blue Man Group: Audio
[The] Flaming Lips: Zaireeka
Hero
The Royal Tenenbaums Original Soundtrack
an awesome NYC panoramic 2005 calendar

I went to see The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou at the AMC with fellow Highlander resident Sarah Linwick. I enjoyed it, but it was a letdown after Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. I think Sarah had similar toughts about the film.

It was, in fact, a merry Christmas for me, in part because of new material possesions but mostly because of family and good friends. I hope everyone reading this was as fortunate.

Grey

I just finished my last final. I was doing terribly for the first hour and a half, and then I had a bunch of breakthroughs in the last 30 minutes. I finished a minute past the official end time, five minutes before he actually gave the last call, and I felt great. Then I talked to other people about the test, and I found out that I had made an incorrect (although logical) assumption about what was meant by an ambiguous problem. I have no idea what grade I will receive on that test and in that class; it's a big question mark.

We had our first real snow last night, although it wasn't even a quarter inch. Still, it made me enjoy my walk to the exam, and brightened up an otherwise dreary day. I'm headed home tomorrow, and posts will become infrequent as usual. I expect I'll be back full-time when the next semester begins in late January.

Press Conference Question

Since President Bush and President Putin are such good friends, shouldn't George be able to say Vladimir's name correctly? (That would be "vla-DEEM-er" instead of "VLAD-i-MEER.")

Intriguing Product

At this time of year we hear "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland" on the radio, in malls, in restaurants, or just about anywhere that isn't a synagogue or a Moslem temple, and we think of the merry ringing of little bells as we are wisked over a snowy landscape. But are your sleigh-pulling horses properly bedecked? If you're not nodding an emphatic yes, sir and you don't want your neighbors to think you're a total Scrooge, you'd best get your act together!

The sixth intriguing product is Forgedale Sleigh Bells, available through Oley Sled Works.

Blog Ecology: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

This great blogosphere of ours is a place where two of the three Rs of waste management are taken quite seriously but the other is ignored completely. There is really no incentive to Reduce since posting is both easy and generally free. Reusing and Recycling are themselves quite easy; in fact, it is usually easier than coming up with something completely new. Most of the Reused material one encounters is not the result of copying but rather just the fact that very few bloggers live particularity interesting lives or are experts on interesting subjects. Most of us just live normal lives and have our gripes, our good days, and our strange experiences on this crazy ol' Internet. As for good material that gets passed around - well, I think that may be what the blogosphere has going for it. Information is being spread in a totally new way, and it will be a while before we learn all of the advantages and disadvantages of the system.

But most of the stuff out there isn't particularity good. I certainly don't recommend reading this blog unless you know who I am and care at least a little bit about me. You won't find any great literature, philosophy, or treatises here. But I do try to maintain some standards. I try to limit posts as long as this one to three a month. I try to keep my ellipses in check. (Haven't we all seen blogs that look like this?...yeah...I think we have...but you know...I guess this is just easier that selecting proper punctuation...) I try to keep my gripes to a minimum. And I try not to use completely generic content, like the results of internet quizzes.

My suitemate Mike vented his frustration about this matter earlier this month. In a post on The Glog, he proposed some biting replies to heavily Recycled material encountered on other people's blogs. For example he suggested:

When someone posts their results of some stupid quiz

"Awesome! I always wondered what sort of (19th century Peruvian peasant) you would be. Now that I know, I'm a more complete human being and no longer have that tremendous void in my life."

And Mike is right to be irritated. Most quizzes are ridiculously stupid, and most of them have no more than, say, six possible outcomes. But even tired old material can be entertaining if its well done. Shakespeare borrowed and plagiarized more than anyone, but the way he combined worn out genres in new ways and generally did everything better than his contemporaries and predecessor allowed him to create works that were immensely popular during his own time and were able to remain popular over the past four centuries.

I'm not sure if we'll ever encounter a Shakespeare of the blogosphere, but there are certainly people out there who do better the same things everyone else does. There are even a handful of good quizzes out there. I found "The Country Quiz," which makes some sense, since countries tend to have behavioral characteristics analogous to those in people. The quiz isn't tedious (there are only six questions), but it yields 64 different results, which all seem to have a mix of admirable and not-so-admirable traits. Here's what it told me:

YOU'RE FRANCE!



Most people think you're snobby, but it's really just that you're better than everyone else.  At least you're more loyal to the real language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else.  You aren't worth beans in a fight, unless you're really short, but you're so good at other things that it usually doesn't matter.  Some of your finest works were intended to be short-term projects.

I this is a reasonable three-sentence summary of me if you take it with a wry smile. And I can't complain about being compared with a country like France, which, for better or worse, has never blended in to the European landscape. If you're interested in seeing your own results you can take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Octopus Cannon Hits McDonalds

Sete, France - Armed with a high-pressure hose and a bucket of octopi, hundreds of protestors in this Mediterranean town on Saturday pelted a McDonalds restaurant due to open this week with the slimy seafood.

Up to 500 people gathered on the banks of the Sete canal, across from the fast-food outlet, playing music and yelling anti-junk-food slogans across the water, as police barred them from reaching the restaurant itself.

Aiming the hose across the water, they catapulted fresh octopi - a local delicacy, known here as the "pouffre" - towards the town's first McDonalds, which had been set to open on Saturday.

The crowd held up slogans slamming junk food, dubbed "malbouffe" in French, as well as work conditions in the fast-food industry.

Driving home their point, the protestors were serving up traditional Setois dishes - one of which is the tielle, a fragrant octopus, tomato and onion pie prized by locals and tourists alike.

The demonstration caused the opening of the restaurant, the first fast-food outlet in the port town following years of resistance by the former communist mayor, to be put off until next week.

A group led by French militant farmer Jose Bove pulled down a McDonalds outlet that was under construction in the southern town of Millau in 1999, earning Bove a jail sentence, although the restaurant was later rebuilt.

Since 1985

Happy nineteenth, Mike!

I don't know what windex tastes like...

...but I have to guess that it tastes like Coca-Cola's new energy drink Full Throttle. The Coke product, which comes in a black 16-ounce can, gets points for having a distinct flavor (Rockstar tastes almost exactly like Red Bull), but it loses them all for tasting really, really bad. I bought all three of these drinks at Walgreens on my was back from my Shakespearean Drama exam so that I would be able to crank out book reports to be turned in tomorrow morning (which is now this morning) at my Russian History review session. I didn't buy anything else, so when I plopped these three over-priced energy drinks on the counter to pay for them, I commented with smile to the check-out girl, "I guess you haven't been selling too many of these this week." She replied matter-of-factly, "Oh, no, we have."

Publication

I have sent my portfolio to the publishers to be printed; I should have the hard copies back before Christmas. In the meantime, you can view a PDF version of the book here. If you catch any errors, feel free to let me know; I'll be happy to work out additional kinks in case I ever do a second printing.

On the downside of publication news, I didn't get the job at The Badger Herald. I wasn't rejected outright, though. Apparently some of their current or past page designers unexpectedly became available for next semester, and they're already trained in, so they're preferred. I guess I'll have to look for a job elsewhere if I want any income next spring. I wonder if The Daily Cardinal is hiring...

Since 1958

Happy forty-sixth, Dad!

Italia

I went over to Nat's place thinking it would be for just a few minutes, and I ended up watching an Italian movie from the 1940s and drinking a fair amount of Tuscan wine. We had Sangiovese Cancelli 2002 Coltibuono, a "red table wine." It had a fresh taste, and I thought it had a strong aroma of berries; it definitely lends itself to everyday consumption, as the website suggests. It also had the pleasant effect of taking away the pain in my arm which had started an hour before when I tripped climbing the stairs of the Highlander. The movie was Roma, città aperta, a tragedy, but a engaging one.

Some Of The News That's Fit To Print

I interviewed with the Badger Herald this evening in hopes that I will be offered a position as a page designer. One of my interviewers graduated from Maple Grove Senior High, and we chatted about the school's short history. I liked what I saw; the office looked like a pleasant place to work, not the dimly lit room full of lines of computers that I for some reason imagined. I should know whether or not I got the position sometime next week; I have no idea how many openings or applicants there are, so we'll just have to wait it out.

Concentrated coolness

I think the Hummers are cool looking vehicles. If they weren't hazardous to the environment and extremely dangerous to everyone else on the road, I would be totally into them. They look sharp and have a fabulous advertising campaign. Unfortunately, Hummers are hazardous to the environment and a danger to everyone on the road, so I actually hate the things and spit on anyone who is so selfish that they would buy and drive one.

In this day and age the vast majority of Americans could get by with a pretty small, efficient vehicle. The gas-electric hybrids that are starting to be seen around urban areas are a significant step in the right direction. Unfortunately, most of the efficient cars (hyrbrid or otherwise) lack pizzaz. Toyota did a good job making their Prius a lot cooler when they redesigned it last year, but Honda has failed twice with the nerdy Insight and the boring Civic Hybrid. Ford's Focus, Toyota's Echo, and anything put out by Volvo are just not doing it for me.

Fortunately, there are some cars out there that have the cool factor of Hummers and Cadilacs without their unforgivable downsides. I think more American are becoming aware of the Smart ForTwo even if they can't get their hands on them due to American emissions standards. These little guys make the Mini Cooper look huge and even have reserved parking in high traffic areas of some major European cities. There are a couple lesser know cars that are high on mileage and 'cool.' I just discovered the Tango by Commuter Cars. It's an electric car with an 80 mile range, so it's definitely not for everyone, but since it's slimmer than many a Harley it can zip right between lines of gridlocked cars. (That's a legal maneuver in California where they're marketed.) My favorite of all, however, has to be the Carver. It's not in the U.S. yet, but I'm hoping it will be here by the time I can afford it.

T + 5

I had an enjoyable Thanksgiving break and an enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner. We had a classic dinner of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce followed by slices of both pumpkin and blueberry pie. I didn't complete as much Russian History reading as I intended, but I did complete my lifeguard in-service training, so I'll be able to work over the winter holidays. The highlight of the visit was getting to see Claire on Saturday, which was made even better by Dad's homemade pizza. Interesting the worst meal of the trip was also pizza, although it was from Boston's, a horrible new restaurant in Maple Grove that should be avoided if at all possible.

My trip back was thoroughly uneventful, probably better described by the word 'boring.' The videos were Stuck on You and The Runaway Jury. Reading the much better book version of The Runaway Jury is a much better use of your time if you are considering watching either of these. I've been busy with grad school aps since I've returned, and I've also been preparing to apply for a job with the Badger Herald, since I'm already in the application zone.

Homeward Bound

I caught the Mad-Bus back to the Cities yesterday afternoon. The had free Red Bull this time, and I took the risk of drinking two on the ride, but the caffeine and the confinement of the bus seat did not cause the sense of entrapment that I feared. The tiny TVs on the bus showed Saved! and 50 First Dates, and I enjoyed both films.  Jenna Malone is an impressive actress, and I felt the rest of the young cast of the first movie, none of which I had seen before, were able to hold their own as well.

Today I visited the dentist; all checked out well. I also visited the printer I plan to use for my portfolio.  RiverPoint Media Group, Inc. was recently formed out of Mendota Graphics and Munson Xpress, and I found all the staff members I encountered to be friendly and helpful.  I still have a week's worth of work or so to do on my portfolio, so hopefully I'll be getting the job to the good folks there on or around the first of December.  I'll see if I can post a PDF version here on the site once I get it done.  I've got to say, visiting the place and seeing the materials really has me excited about this project for the first time.

The sound of Milwaukee

I spent the better part of today in "the Genuine American City" and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I worked on my personal statement on the ninety-some minute bus-ride over. When we arrived at the Milwaukee Art Museum our group of twenty or so went in separate ways, and I wandered the museum by myself. The major exhibit was "Masterpieces of American Art, 1770 - 1920: From the Detroit Institute of Arts," which was okay, but less focused than I think an exhibit should be. Grouping works based on where they currently reside seems foolish and unenlightening. After finishing my pass through those galleries, I set off in search of 20th century Italian Art, particularly any work by Medardo Rosso, but I was unsuccessful in achieving my specific goal and only moderately successful in achieving the more general one. Like the Art Institute of Chicago, this museum largely ignores Italy after the time of Carravagio. My searching did yield the unexpected pleasure of conversing with one of the museum guards named Ivana, a 22-year old art education student at UW-Milwaukee. She's from the Czech Republic, and encouraged me to visit Prague as soon as I have the chance. Ivana was most certainly one of the most knowledgeable guards I encountered, but she was trapped in the "Folk and Self-Taught" art section, which we both disliked. I think she was happy to have a little conversation.

At one, we boarded the bus and headed over to a dumpy little part of town for reasons unknown. I stuck with Eva (with whom I've now shared two art history courses) and her friend Rachel, and we ate at a Greek place called Apollo's. I had a good gyro and reasonable balavá. We wander the area for a while but found little of merit, so we walked back to the museum area, stopping it at a Borders and an Old Navy along the way. I used my time at Borders to begin reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, which has me tingling with anticipation. I was not disappointed by what little I had a chance to experience. We got back to the museum in time to watch it close its wings, and then we bussed home again.

InTACOSication

Mike came back after a good number of drinks with some food from Taco Bell. Apparently Mike, in his alcohol-induced enthusiasm ordered all the items on the taco menu, so he arrived with a bag of five or six different types of tacos. I generally avoid tacos because they almost invariably contain cumin, one of the three foods that I most inconveniently do not like. (The other two are bell peppers and fish; other foods I dislike, such as flan, don't really cause much of a problem for me.) Realizing the steak taco would probably be free of cumin, I gave it a shot and was rewarded for my intuition. It's nice to know that there's something for me at Taco Bell, should I ever end up getting my dinner there.

75¢

The city of Madison, like most major cities, has a significant homeless population. I'm glad that some charitable organizations and our campus paper, The Daily Cardinal are currently calling attention this fact. The primary goal seems to be the establishment a new shelter, since the current one is unable to help all those that need it. I support this effort, and were I a resident I would gladly vote for it should it come up as a referendum.

That said, I was a little thrown this evening by my encounter with one homeless man on State Street. On our way to the Towers for dinner, Mike and I were asked for change by a man of about 30, but I was laughing at something or another that Mike had just said and wasn't able to respond. Feeling a bit guilty about it, I decided I'd bring him a piece of fresh fruit from dinner. When Marget and I were together, she would often give homeless people fruit since its a nutritious food needing no preparation, and that habit hers was one of those I greatly admired and appreciated. So I grabbed an apple and a napkin as I headed out the door, and kept my eyes peeled for the guy. I spotted him about 10 meters in front of me, but just as I got close to him, another man approached him and asked for 75 cents. The beggar to whom I was intending to give the apple pulled out several dollars worth of quarters and gave the other man three coins. I had passed him by another 10 meters before they parted ways, and I would have felt weird doubling back. I don't really know what to make of the whole thing, but I'll take the apple along with me tomorrow. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of people who could use it.

3¢

My Shakespearean Drama professor used the phrase 'Mac(k) the Knife' in class today, and it occurred to me that I had no idea what that meant. I've been aware of the phrase for many years, but I never asked about it. This evening I decided to find out. Quick Google searches for "Mack the Knife" and "Mac the Knife" were not instantly helpful, so I ran upstairs to consult my nearest and dearest English major. Sarah, like me, had heard those three words used together but did not know their combined meaning. So I returned to the Internet for answers. I was assuming that 'mac' or 'mack' was a verb, so I went to the Oxford English Dictionary entry for the verb 'mack' (there was none for 'mac'). I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find a very helpful example of using 'mack' to mean "to be or act as a pimp." The OED gives us:

1971 Who took Weight? 160 I was sho'nuff macking. I had nine..whores.

So that cleared that up. Getting back to 'Mac(k) the Knife,' I returned to Google, did a little more browsing, and found my answer within a minute or two. It seems that either spelling is legitament, so I'll use 'Mac,' which I prefer; I suspect this is because of that elusive Dave Matthew Band song "MacHead" or my past relationship with a MacLeod or both. Getting to the point here, it turns out Mac the Knife is the nickname for Macheath, who is a criminal mastermind of London in The Threepenny Opera, which I believe is a play and not, as the title indicates, an opera.

Since 1953

Happy fifty-first, Mom!

Fire/Water

It's raining gently on the Madtown this evening, but it didn't stop someone over at Memorial Union from launching some nice fireworks. I didn't see anything big, but there were lots of loud bangers. I wonder if those tend to hold up better in the rain than the big fountains. I suppose the big stairwell windows of the Highlander may have been among the best places to see the show and stay dry, although I do miss my westward window over at the Langdon.

Since 1983

Happy twenty-first, Nat!

East Sjælland Island

I attended a performance of Michael Frayn's Copenhagen this afternoon at the Overture Center, a relatively new addition to State Street and a very impressive performance arts facility. The cast of three was well chosen, and the minimalist set design (three chairs) was quite effective. I felt that the play was a bit slow and its repetition of the "key" scene worked better some times than others. This interesting formula certainly made the play seem fresh as a whole, but caused me to feel that the end had arrived numerous times before it actually did. Perhaps the only story with more false endings is Stephen Speilberg's film A.I., which I also enjoyed, actually in a similar way. I was impressed with the playwrite's bold use of Heisenberg's uncertainly principal; he wove a general explaination of it into the dialog in a way that I feel demanded the audience to keep on their toes. All in all, it was a play I'm glad I saw once but would not choose to see again.

الأم ميشيل

Mike's mom was in town this weekend, and she was so extraordinarily kind as to take the two of us out for dinner both this evening and last. Perhaps even more delightful was the fact that they let me choose the restaurants. Last night I selected King of Falafel, an Arabic restaurant just a few blocks down the road from the Highlander. I think we were all very pleased with the food, and shocked at how reasonable the price was. I had a fabulous bean soup and lamb on a bed of gently seasoned rice. We shared falafels and humus as an appetizer, and Mike and I both finished with decent baklava.

This evening we went to a slightly fancier place called Cafe Continental. The place was quite busy, but their schedule had left a table empty for 90 minutes, so they admitted us directly. This restaurant, too, proved to make for a very enjoyable dining experience. I started with the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever had, and moved on to a rather interesting dish from their specials of the day, which included thin pieces of steak wrapped around a soft cheese, breaded, skewered, and fried. It was served with sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella. The menu was reasonably interesting, and the ambiance was most pleasant, being neither too loud nor too dark.

Shadows on the windows

Happy Halloween, all y'all.

No single explanation, no central destination

For the past four hours, there has been an unending stream of cars creeping down Gilman Street and detouring on Henry over to Langdon. Mike and have absolutely no idea where these people are coming from or where they are going; there is practically no parking in this piece of Madison beyond what is taken by those who live here, and it seems strange that so many people are in their cars during the peak hours of the activity. I went out to take some photos of the long line of cars, and Mike accompanied me, making sure that I was aware of the few cars that were headed eastward instead of westward. Mike was (self-admittedly) very drunk from his earlier excursion with his visiting high school buddy Brett. It was of no consequence however, as Mike is the most impressively functional drunk I've ever met; I wasn't really aware of his inebriation until he called across the street to a stranger dressed as Yoshi (of Super Mario Land fame). After I was done shooting, we decided to walk the loop that we often travel when dining at the Towers or the Statesider, meaning that we traversed about three blocks of State Street, which was absolutely packed. It took us about ten minutes to travel what normally takes two or three minutes, stepping on fragments of Halloween costumes as we went.

Mexican Cow Train?!

A rather bizarre occurrence interrupted our Shakespearean Drama lecture this afternoon. Just as Prof. Knowles was discussing the Jewish ghetto in Venice (which makes this the fourth of my five classes this semester to address ghettos created for minorities), we heard the whistle of an old steam locomotive, and 8 or 9 crazed individuals entered the room in a variety of strange costumes, cow suits being the apparent favorite. They ran around, making a lot of noise, although the only words I caught were in Spanish. Once the last cow was gone with an ¡Adios! and a swish of the tail a couple people tried to start an applause, but I think most people would agree that Prof. Knowles consistently provides such lively and pleasant lectures that interruptions are really not welcome diversions.

The professor seemed a bit annoyed while all this was happening but ended up with the last laugh. Once the room was clear and the three people stopped clapping he simply stood, staring down at his notes - as if dismayed with our generation - and then staring out at the audience - as if to see if we realized how stupid we are sometimes. I like the fact that his excellent understanding of comedy is not wasted upon him.

What You Will

I attended an absolutely marvelous performance of Twelfth Night this evening with Jen, a friend with whom I've shared a couple of classes during my time here at Madison. The production was originally playing at the venue where I saw Othello last month, and the American Players Theatre has been touring since their outdoor venue closed for the season. The final showing was this one in Memorial Union, which apparently contains a rather impressive little theatre. I was surprised by the muted ending to an otherwise uproarious comedy (a choice by Shakespeare, not the directors), but it didn't feel out of place. My only quarrel with the entire to-do was that we were stuck indoors on such a fine night as tonight.

A Swing And A Miss

I got hit up for some change by a bum outside of Walgreens who tries rather hard to win 'em over with humor: "Spare change? I'm trying to collect enough to buy a box of screws, a drill, and some Viagra. My girlfriend wants me to screw her all night long." The same guy told me last week that he accepts Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

Four For Four

The Red Sox have been my no. 2 team ever since they lost to the Twins at my first baseball game, back in the summer of '92 or so. Living in Massachusetts for two years only solidified their standing in my heart, so tonight's victory will keep me smiling for a long time. My hat's off to all those guys who've worked so hard to finally overcome the curse of the Bambino.

Intriguing Product

On Wednesdays I am unable to return to the dorm system for lunch, so I often smuggle a bagel or two out of the dining hall to munch on during the day. The bagels in the Highlander are locally made and really nothing special except for the kooky information on the bag regarding "Care of Bagels" and "Preparation." You can find almost the same text on the site, but here's the essay on Preparation.

Try a sliced bagel, toasted, with butter or cream cheese and jam. Our bagel, even after it has been cut in half, is sometimes too large for the conventional toaster. In this instance, the bagel must be compressed after cutting in order to fit into the toaster slots.

The bagel will make anything taste better. Consider using it in the construction of your next sandwich. A traditional favorite is composed of lox (smoked salmon) and cream cheese strategically placed between the two halves of a sliced bagel; perhaps a slice of tomato or onion can be added to liven up your concoction. But, it is important to note that your bagel will always taste better when it is hot, so please take the time to heat it.

You will discover that the bagel has many uses; it can be used in any situation where ordinary bread may have been used in the past. Feel free to use as many bagels as you please without worrying that the supply will dry up, because at our bakery you will be able to find Bagels Forever.

The fifth intriguing product is Bagels Forever.

Meg Slekt

I met up with my family for a final morning of breakfast and cards. I paid my first visit to an IHOP, and found it to be similar but superior to a Perkins. After we said our goodbyes and Dad dropped me off at the Highlander, I met up with my classmate Nat and we headed off to Kohler Art Library to kick off our research for papers we're writing for Italian Art of the Twentieth Century. Mine will be on The New York Times Building that was designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and is currently under construction on 8th Avenue. I am very impressed with this architect's work and equally in admiration of the way his workshop is organized to fully utilize all of its human resources. Could RPBW perhaps be a future employer? After I returned from the library I ate the piece of sour cream raspberry pie my parents picked up from the Norske Nook on their way here. I'm not sure if there's anything truly Norwegian about that pie, but it sure is as good as the rest of their cookin'. It was a nice encore to the weekend of good meals with the folks.

המשפחה שלי

Waking at 6:40 this morning wasn't too bad, and although the hotel continental breakfast was no better than PRH food, I had an enjoyable time playing Hearts with my family. For lunch we went to a Ella's Deli, which serves a great number of Kosher foods and favorites of the Jewish-American culture. I started with a very tasty matzo ball soup, moved on to a well prepared Ruben and impressive coleslaw, and finished up with a rather typical banana split. While I thought the soup was reason enough to stop in at Ella's, the decor serves as another attraction. A diner might very well feel like the interior of the place is a result of a circus colliding with a toy store. Every inch of the place seems to be decorated with moving parts and loud colors, but it's so much more authentic than, say, the Times Square Toys "R" Us, that it isn't nearly so off-putting. It's definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the Madison area.

Regarding This Blog's Ability To Help You Find Jesus

My most vocal critic who goes by the clever moniker of "JamesSux" commented on my 20 October post:

James, you are so lame. Why do you write stupid nonsense? Oh, your eyes meet, blah, blah. Is this a romance novel?

Dude. It's my blog. It's called (as you can read at the top of the window) "The Life and Times of James Lucas Hepokoski." Because this blog has only one title, we can safely conclude that it is NOT called

Entertainment For Everyone

or

You Should Read This Blog Because It Will Make You A Better And Happier Person Who Is Very, Very, Very Close To Jesus.

If you hate me or what I say here, don't feel compelled to read this blog. I assure you, not all of the cool kids are reading my blog on a regular basis. It's okay to read other things. I personally enjoy reading many things that are not this blog. Such as books.

私の家族

I met my family again today; I showed them the Elvehjem museum quickly, and then we caught the 80 out to Allen Centennial Gardens, where we meandered and discussed what we might like in our own yard. The gardens are less spectacular than they were during the first month of school but still make for a nice stroll. We walked back to the Highlander to pick up Mike, and my parents met one my favorite neighbors (who also happens to be one of the multitude of Sarahs in my life), albeit so briefly they didn't quite realize it. Once Mike joined us to make five we headed down to Ginza of Tokyo on State Street, and we all enjoyed some Japanese cuisine. After our walk back in the rain, we discovered the Prius was trapped by the UW homecoming parade, so we sloshed over to my room for a game of hearts, which Mom won with ease. We're getting togther in the morning tomorrow, and we've agreed to meet at 7:30, which is pretty early for a Saturday morning unless your in the Hepokoski household. It is good to see them.

La Mia Famiglia

My family came to visit me for MEA Weekend, a four-day break that comes to public schools throughout Minnesota each October. They arrived in the middle of the afternoon and brought me a few things I had been missing, including my copy of No One Is Really Beautiful, some jeans, and the mail that has been piling up at home. We went out to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow at a theater near the southwest corner of the Madison beltway. After the movie, which I enjoyed despite its (perhaps intentionally) clunky dialogue, we headed over to Biaggi's, an Italian restaurant that is part of a small chain that just expanded into Maple Grove. I had some good gnocchi, a very impressive balsamic vinaigrette salad, and some of my mom and my sister's veal parmesan. It was a enjoyable evening and a very welcome change of pace. They'll be here through the weekend, so there's still more to which I can look forward.

Ego Tripping at the Gates of Humanities

I was walking back from Van Vleck this evening as the last light in the sky was disappearing. As I passed the Humanities building on my way into Library Mall, I caught the eye of an rather beautiful young lady who appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani heritage. We both smiled as we walked towards each other, and for two or three seconds our eyes connected. The moment was sharply interrupted a moment before we passed each other when she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and let out a hushed exclamation that I suspect was something unladylike. She regained her balance without falling, so I can without too much guilt simply enjoy the memory.

Midterm Madness (Day Two)

I'm through the worst of the midterm experience. The Modern Algebra exam this morning was far easier than I expected. Looking back, I realized I missed a step of one proof, but I feel like I probably earned at least 15 out of 25 points for that one anyway, and I'm hoping that I got full or nearly full credit on the other three problems. When I finished I had lots of time to spare and nobody had left yet, so I was a little worried that I had missed something. I looked over the whole exam, but I found nothing. I guess there's no use in worrying now.

Midterm Madness (Day One)

I had my first Twentieth Century Italian Art quiz this morning, and I felt it went well. I'm not a fast writer, but I felt I was able to discuss the chosen works reasonably well. I grudgingly skipped Russian History to study for the test, but I dropped by to hand in my paper which was also due this morning. On my way over to the art library where I did my studying, I was exposed to what might have set a new low for cell phone conversations I would have rather not overheard: "She just drank soooo much...yeah...well she just threw up all over the bed...no, she has the top bunk..." Some girls around here should not have cell phones.

Saturday at the University of Wisconsin

Today was an all-around life-on-campus day. I woke up in time to say goodbye to the people who crashed on our floor for the night (Mike's sister and her boyfriend), then studied for the upcoming Art History exam until brunch, which I ate at the Statesider on my way to College Library. I met my friend and unofficial math tutor and we studied Abstract Algebra for a couple hours. In my attempts to express my appreciation, I bought him a sandwich and a cup of hot chocolate. As we were leaving, we had a random encounter with another former Langdonite and fellow student in my math class. I took a nap after getting back and went to dinner when I woke up. At dinner, Mike and I had another random encounter with a number of students from our dorm. (Granted, it wasn't as random, since we're on the same meal plan.) I vacuumed my floor after returning and returned to studying Art History until the rioting and screaming outside my window notified me that our football team beat Purdue. On Wisconsin!

8

The floors in the Highlander are quite small; they're comprised of a single hall with six rooms, two landings in the stairwells, and elevator access. I've come to mentally nickname the inhabitance of each of the rooms on our floor.

806 "The RAs" - Leah and Amanda both hold that title here.
805 "Those Guys" - They're, as best I can tell, typical Wisconsin undergrads: nice guys with an affinity for beer.
804 "The Nerds" - Those guys have more computers and more 12-sided dice than anyone else around.
803 "The Nerdetts" - Those girls have more computers and more 12-sided dice than anyone outside of 804.
802 "Los Estupidos" - Those two girls always scowl at us or pretend not to see us for reasons unknown. I think it might have something to do with the tiny Kerry/Edwards sticker way up on the corner of our door (and I'm serious; it is discrete). Should they be Las Estupidas? Probably, but I maintain that they are kind of man-ish, especially the obese one.
801 "We" or "Us" - It depends if we're the subject or the direct object.

Our relationship with Los Estupidos was made even more strange when the thin one's friend visited and was overly nice to us in a way that made us sure that the other two really hate us. It is truly weird.

Tall Buildings

I attended a lecture on the history of architecture in Chicago. Covering 201 years in an hour and a half, it was extraordinarily brief, but the eighty-something woman giving the talk proved most lively and it was a highly enjoyable lecture. The lecture focused most heavily on skyscrapers, which are widely (although not universally) considered to be a Chicagoan invention. I sat next to Professor Buenger, who teaches my course in twentieth century Italian art. Professor Buenger, who I suspect to be about 50 years of age, and I were probably the two youngest people in the room, which was comprised mostly of friends of the library. A gentleman gave a brief introduction on the matter of the recent book sale the library held to raise funds, and he added a comment that they always encourage donations to the library, especially from young folks. Of course he was looking right at me as he said it, and we all had a good chuckle.

After that lecture, we swept over to the Elvehjem Art Museum to catch the end of a lecture on Xu Bing, a Chinese artist who is currently being featured in the Elvehjem with a gallery of his work and a special year-long installation in the main room. This makes two evenings in a row with the good professor: a new record for a non-major undergrad perhaps?

The Fullest Day

Today was perhaps one of the fullest days of my life which began and will presumably end in the same bed. I awoke at six to write a formal analysis of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop design for the new The New York Times headquarters that are being constructed in Manhattan. I ate breakfast and then made the usual tour of Russian History lecture, 20th Century Italian Art, Shakespearean Drama, and Russian History discussion.

The first two classes came off without a hitch, but in Shakespearean Drama, our professor decided that we needed an in-class dramatic reading to more fully appreciate the hilarity of the Pyramus and Thisbe play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Volunteers were few, and the professor became rather animated in his attempt to find a Pyramus. I was sitting two-thirds of the way back, but there I was with a huge grin on my face, being amused by our professor's antics, and that's what did me in. He picked me out of the more than a hundred students in the room, and I found myself, a math major, reading Shakespeare to a room full of English majors and feeling altogether jittery about the whole thing. I think I did alright, really. I switched two words, added a 'the,' and mispronounced 'vild,' but I must have read ten or fifteen lines for each of those three mistakes. I'm not cut out to be an actor and certainly not a sight-reader.

I continued to be rather verbal in Russian History discussion and enjoyed that class. I had an hour or so back here to get started on my math homework before I set off for the Elvehjem Art Museum for my fifth class, European Architectural History. I got to drop in to the office of my professor for a few minutes before I attended a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum, and consumed some very good cranberry bars and raspberry punch. By the time I got home, it was time for the final presidential debate, in which both candidates were their strongest yet. I've been working with mixed results on my math homework, but it's time for bed now.

Compatibility

Okay, Firefox and Safari users, it may not be pretty yet, but I think I've managed to get The Life and Times to work in your browsers. I'm sorry it took so long.

Masterful Production

Fatboy Slim's newest album, Palookaville, came out a week ago today, and I've been listening to it a couple times a day since Thursday. It is a truly impressive piece of music, an equal to its critically acclaimed predecessor Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. The album has a lighter feel, as if Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) was imagining a party on a secluded beach instead of one in a jam-packed dance club. Palookaville takes another step away from Slim's first two more purely techo/remix albums Better Living Through Chemistry and You've Come Along Way, Baby. As it turns out, the general absence of big beat grooves like "The Rockefeller Skank" or "Ya Mama" isn't at all problematic. The first single, "Slash Dot Dash," fills this position somewhat, but the other 11 tracks support themselves just fine with catchy lyrics and a variety of talented vocalists. With Palookaville Cook has shown he his a multi-faceted artist, and I can only hope that his next album is not another four years away.

Master of My Domain

I managed to secure James-Lucas.net this weekend. (JamesLucas.com was selling for $950, JamesLucas.net belongs to a man named James Lucas who was uninterested in selling, and James-Lucas.com is in use by some artistic type.) I'm not willing to pay for hosting yet, so it will just be forwarding everyone to this blog for the time being. It fun to think of the possibilities, even if I'm still lacking the skills to realize them.

Intriguing Product

There's been a lot of talk in the post-debate discussions about how polarized our nation is at the moment, and it certainly seems true. I'm not really sure it divide along a Bush-Kerry line, but rather a pro-Bush-anti-Bush line. It's hard not to feel strongly about the man, one way or the other. Anyhow, in thinking about this, I recalled a rather intriguing product I encountered at Simon's Rock that not only smells nice but preaches unity.

The fourth Intriguing Product is Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap.

Rocker Reunion

Today I saw ex-Rocker Brian Ziff-Levine again, and he was able to regale Mike and me with numerous hilarious tales of our classmates during and since our time at SRC. Strange drug-induced behavior, improbable romances, and accidental pregnancies kept us entertained for an hour and (in my case) laughing hysterically for much of that time. Ahh...good times.

Also I downloaded a lot of bagpipe music. We'll see how long I continue to play it.

Since 1989

I had my second beer tonight, and this time it was a Keystone Light. From the Coors website I learned the following: Introduced in 1989, Keystone Light is a refreshing light lager that is Always Smooth, Never Bitter™. Keystone Light is 4.2% alcohol by volume and has 104 calories per 12-ounce serving. It was fairly weak and thus easy for a novice beer drinker like myself to down. I didn't choose it; I was visiting my friend and art history classmate Nat, and one of his engineer-suitemates thrust the can into my hand.

Our water is consistently clear again, but the chain in our toilet broke, so we're reduced to flushing it by hand. I'm glad these problems didn't overlap, because this is unpleasant enough. I've decided to leave my Live Strong band on the shelf for this weekend, since I don't like the idea of dunking it in the questionable tank water. It's the first time I've made a conscious decision to not wear it since Rachel gave it to me in New York. It's weird not having it on my wrist, I've grown so used to it.

The Value of Uncertainty

After mulling over the things that President Bush and Senator Kerry were saying about anti-terrorism tactics, I decided that the discrepancy could be fairly well captured with the following allegory: If Bush and Kerry were trying to protect a house from a gang of armed robbers, Kerry would grab a shotgun and patrol the house, moving from room to room, checking all the doors and windows. President Bush would take a bazooka and keep it trained on the toilet. Kerry would acknowledge that yes, a toilet could prove to be a breech in security and yes, it is a pretty nasty little hole, but he'd stress that it's not the opening to be concerned with just now. And I suppose Bush would in turn call Kerry's cautious patrolling of the house "flip-flopping."

Hydration

The City of Madison has been flushing all of the hydrants over the past few days. While I'm glad to see that fire safety is a priority, it has been quite trying at times. Our water has been repeatedly turned brown as the process stirs up mineral deposits in the water mains. At home in Maple Grove, we were usually affected for a single afternoon each year. Here, for whatever reason, hydrants near us have been flushed over the course of the work-week. This morning was particularly bad, as the problem compounded with our normal water-related vexations of rather warm "cold" water in the kitchen sink and rather cool "hot" water in the bathroom sink. Ultimately I ended up wandering around in my bathrobe while running the shower and both sinks to get clear water of the appropriate temperature in each one. It really made me feel appreciate living in a place where I have enough water to cook, clean, and drink, and made me feel a little guilty about being picky about the mineral content and temperature. I've been doing a little reading at The Water Page. It's an interesting, although often sad topic.

Lifeguard Training and First Aid

I passed the pool portion of my test, and found the 500-yard swim to be a piece of cake. And I came in second, only 50 yards behind the frequent swimmer. Due to the small size of our class we needed much less time to than the allotted two-and-a-half hours, so we were given the chance to practice each rescue. It was rather nice, although we ended up going long as a result. With the Red Cross stuff included, I was in class for 445 minutes today. I have a major headache, mostly from the pressure of twelve feet of water; I'm headed straight to bed.

CPR for the Professional Rescuer

I've just returned from the Badger Chapter American Red Cross, where I recertified in CPR for the Professional Rescuer. It was a small class and we burned through the skills tests by combining all the scenarios that we could into three long ones (adult, child, infant), thus avoiding repeating the very basics ("check the scene to see if it is safe") over and over. I have an in-the-water skills test on Wednesday to renew my 3-year lifeguard certification. It's hard to believe it's been that long. It's also hard to believe that the certification I earned for CPR/AED in May is completely redundant now. I couldn't have avoided it, but I sure wouldn't mind having the money back.

Pizza and Pissarro

I spent today in Chicago, once again visiting the Art Institute and Giordano's. Once again, I had an excellent time. There was no special exhibit this time, Seurat was done and Toulouse-Lautrec hasn't yet begun. I did take enjoy Japanese Art from the Alsdorf Collection, which was small but appealing. One piece included a poem in beautiful Japanese calligraphy:

If you want to live
Until your beard becomes long
And your back is bent,
You must not eat too much food,
And you'd better sleep alone.

Professor Buenger showed us a half dozen pieces that fall into our domain of Twentieth Century Italian. A half dozen pieces was really all they had. America seems to have thoroughly ignored all Italian art produced in the past three hundred years.

I walked with Nat, who sits next to me in lecture, in search of Giordano's. The one closest to the Institute was closed, so we went to the one I visited last spring. The pleasant surprise was that the area was much nicer with constriction on Millennium Park completed. We even went for a stroll over to Cloud Gate while our pizza was baking to utilize our time effectively. It was a very cool piece, even unfinished.

On the way back, Nat and I edited some short stories written by his classmates in Creative Writing. Neither story was good, but one was so unbelievably terrible that we were in tears. I'll try to get the exact text, but for now I'll reproduce the first two lines as best I can from memory:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful kingdom that was always sunny, with the sky a perfect shade of blue, never any clouds, and the grass was always green. Unfortunately, because it was always sunny, the plants withered and died, the grass turned a lovely brown, then fell to dust and blew away, and all the flowers bloomed no more.

¡Ay, ay, ay!

Dark Side of the Rainbow

Last night I watched the first loop of Dark Side of the Rainbow, which is, of course, the MGM Studios film The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon replacing the normal soundtrack. It also happened to be my first time listening to the album, which I enjoyed in its own right as well as in conjunction with the picture.

Actually, I think I enjoyed that method of viewing the film more than the "straight-up" version. I know my opinion of the film isn't very popular (and for that reason I rarely voice it), but I just don't like the film version of The Wizard of Oz. I have long felt that the book is far superior. I feel the same way about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Oscar for best picture, but I don't think anyone gets as upset when they discover that I dislike that movie. And Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...well yes, people do get upset when they discover my feeling about that movie, but...whatever.

Year Two Begins Now

The Life and Times is one year old. Hooray!

The Soft Drink With A Head

My major soda shipment for the year arrived this afternoon. I opened the first of the twenty-three bottles this evening after running on the mill. The drink was Apple Beer, "the soft drink with a head." I thought it was very good. It wasn't a green apple drink like Batch No. 6, but had more of a classic apple cider taste.

On another pleasant note, I got a copy of Macromedia Studio MX. Dreamweaver is one of the elements, and I shall use that to build a webpage for James Block, a candidate for Asemblyman of the 78th District of Wisconsin. You can see the site here. Hopefully I'll have it completely functional by tomorrow evening. After I get that done, I'll see what I can do to improve this site; I know its still not really viewable for Firefox users, and I've been feeling bad about that.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Trouble in Chicago

I went to get my hair cut today, and the cheap place closed at noon, so I went to a nicer place that is actually much closer. I believe it was called "Nogginz," and I'm not sure if it's a chain or a single store. I had a half hour wait, but my chair was very comfortable and the magazines were new. I finally got called by a heavily tattooed and pierced young woman. After we established how I wanted my hair (an exchange which made me feel very ignorant), I tried to make small talk with her. I found out that she had been living in Seattle during 2003, but hated it because "all the people were so stupid." Seeking more along that vein, I learned that she had lived in Chicago briefly before that and loved it. I asked her why she left, and she said she got into too much trouble there. "Trouble?" I asked. "Yeah. If I stayed I'd probably be dead with a needle in my arm," she answered matter-of-factly. "Ah," I replied.

The Two Webs

My notebook computer is my access to the World Wide Web, but it is increasingly the root of another type of web - one composed of 17 wires and cords connecting the various gadgets on my desk. I just got a new external hard drive today. I'm not sure if its working as fast as it should, but I'm certainly thankful to have it. My 20 GB internal drive was down to less than 200 MB, and that includes very little fat. I think this should hold me for a good long while though, so long as no one buys me a video camera, God forbid.

Intriguing Product

In my attempts to find a birthday gift for Claire that acknowledged our shared residence in this great state of Wisconsin, I found this store. I sent her five pounds of the Original White, and I think she's enjoying them.

The third Intriguing Product is Rock Cheese & Honey Super Fresh Cheese Curds, made right here in Madison, Wisconsin!

Since 1984

Happy twentieth, Claire!

6

What a day: I had six classes for a total of 395 minutes in class. This schedule included my first Russian History discussion and a STS course on Adobe InDesign. Professor McDonald called my name during attendance with perfect pronunciation of 'Hepokoski.' I expected this, but it pleased me nonetheless. I'm pretty used to having people either botch up my last name ('Heposki' and 'Hepokowski' are the two common attempts) or freeze completely. I've gotten in the habit of using my middle name whenever possible to help the situation. For instance, on the Othello trip they were calling attendance on a noisy bus. Going there, I heard "James Lucasssssss Uhhhhh..." before I cut her off with a "here." Coming back, I was simply "James Lucas," which suits me fine. Three syllables are usually enough to tell that it's my name being called, and the absense of the last four saves others much stress.

The Moore of Venice

I just returned from The American Players Theatre where I saw a production of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello, Moore of Venice. I thought it was a good performance, and the theater was lovely, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the play. I have a harder time sympathizing with protagonists who are foolish or easily duped. I prefer the likes of prince Hamlet, who was quite intelligent and kept his wits about him through his tragedy.

My ticket, bus fare, and dinner were subsidized by the Honors Student Organization, so I paid only twelve dollars for the whole excursion - quite the bargain. I met a couple of very nice first-years and ended up walking them home after we returned so that they wouldn't need to wait for campus escorts. The entire way turned out to be fairly well lit and active, though, as our route was also that of the Ironman competition, which, to our amazement was still in progress. I'm truly impressed by those people who are going twelve hours after beginning.

I ran back to the dorm so that I'd be able to place an order with the PRH pizza delivery service only to find that the service isn't yet operational. I'm frustrated, but I had a Steaz Key Lime soda to hold me over to the morning. On a final note for the evening, I finally got a chance to introduce myself to a Highlander resident with whom I've been exchanging smiles on the street for almost a year now. Her name is Sarah, and she lives a floor above me. I might have been frustrated to meet someone looking like the mess that I do, but I've seen her so many times that I guess I don't exactly consider tonight to be a first impression.

Letter from Aunt Lin

I received this letter from my Aunt Lin, who is an elementary school teacher and occasionally updates the family on the more entertaining school happenings.

Here is some first week kid stuff from school.

A teacher has two boys named Jack in her class so typically a teacher adds the initial of the last name to the first. One is an S and one is a P. Jack S. is very active and needs lots of guidance. Another child noticed that if the name Jack S. is said quickly, it is a bad word......

Hailey's Mom is having a baby, which they just found out is a boy. She excited told my whole class about her upcoming baby brother and then told us not to tell her Mom as it is a surprise.

A kindergarten teacher told us at lunch about how a kindergarten child excitedly told the whole class after looking at Officer Dan in complete uniform that his Mom has handcuffs just like that on the bedstand.

After reading a story about a boy who was nervous and worried, the children were asked to write about a time when they were nervous or worried. To get them started, a few children were asked to share what they would write about. One 7 year old boy told about the time he went into his parents' bedroom and saw an adult video on his Dad's bed. Should be an interesting piece of writing to share at conference time. :-)

Two days down into the school year.
Love,
Lin

I do love getting e-mails from the family.

Slip 'n Slide

Every now and then, life seems to imitate a joke. I'm sure on many occasions two preachers and a rabbi have walked into a bar. However, within the limitations of my own personal experiences, today was the topper. I was walking down the sidewalk this afternoon. And I slipped. On a banana peel. It was an honest-to-goodness banana peel, right there in front of Blockbuster video. I caught myself in time, but man-oh-man, it was a close one.

Inspired by today's incident, I did a little Googling, and I found this "poem."

Pigeons, Lemons, and Mangos

I read this article today:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Organizers of a race for homing pigeons were still scratching their heads in wonder Thursday after about 1,500 of the birds, famous for their ability to find their way home, went missing during the contest.

Of the 2,000 pigeons let loose last week, only about 500 have returned to their lofts after the 150-kilometer (93 mile) flight between the cities of Ljungby and Malmö in southern Sweden, said Lars-Aake Nilsson of the Malmö Homing Pigeon Club.

"The weather was perfect - no rain, no thunder and no strong winds," he said.

In past races, the birds, all of which sport electronic identification tags around their feet, made the journey in about two hours.

But at Sunday's race, something went wrong.

"I have worked with pigeons since 1960 and have never experienced anything like this," Nilsson said, adding that the birds might have been thrown off course by subtle changes in the earth's magnetic field.

The pigeons have a natural homing instinct and are believed to navigate by the sun and the magnetic waves of the earth, Nilsson said.

"And even though some are lost to hawks or hazards like power lines along the way, many more should have made it back home. It's a mystery," he added.

He said there have been no reported sightings of the missing birds anywhere in southern Sweden. He declined to say how much the birds were worth.

"It's not so much the economic value as it is a loss to the sport," Nilsson said. "It takes about two years to breed a racing pigeon."

[23 July 2004]

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Also, I met my long-time friend Jenny for icecream this afternoon. I had a hot fudge sundae with one scoop of "Leggo My Mango" and one scoop of lemon sorbet. Jenny had a raspberry mango smoothie, which I tried and found to be quite delicious despite the clear dominance of the raspberry over the mango. We hung out here for a while and caught up a bit. She's changed a lot since I knew her in junior high (as I guess one would expect), and I think we communicate even better now.

Americana

I attended the first Badgers football game of the season today, which also happened to be my first college football game (of the American variety, that is). In fact, excepting one of my cousin Karl's high school games, it was my first football game ever. It wasn't the thrill of a lifetime by any means, but I enjoyed myself. Officially, I "sat" in section M, row 47, seat 27. In reality I spent the game standing on or near that section of the bleachers.

This evening I did a little looking into the U.S. Representative race back home in Minnesota's third district. Jim Ramstad has a Republican opponent this year. I wasn't really sure what to expect in this new guy, whose name is Burton Hanson, but I visited his site, and I am really floored by this guy. I haven't read everything, but he sounds perfect thus far. I really hope this guy gets enough out-of-party activity to at least give Ramstad a run for his money.

Also, I watched The French Connection, which surprised me with it's New York locale; I guess I've always thought it would be in Europe like Ronin, which is so often compared to it. I suppose the title didn't do anything to dissuade me from such an erroneous belief.

And while I address things American this evening (or morning, I guess), I just thought I would ask my readers about the situation in Florida. Bush is showing his compassionate side by promising billions of dollars of money to help Floridians rebuild after these hurricanes. It seems to me though, that this is an act of "compassion" that actually negates the "conservative" part of his tagline. I guess this is one of the cases where I am quite conservative; I'm pro-choice and against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but I really don't see this kind of spending to be an acceptable use of federal money. I really don't want my tax dollars going to a bunch of people who live in an area that is often hit by tropical storms for the purpose of building new structures that will be destroyed and/or flooded sometime in the foreseeable future. Where's the incentive to improve and innovate if we just bail these people out time and again? Any thoughts?

Fall 2004

Classes resume today at Madison. I had my first one this morning: Math 541 (modern algebra). The professor seemed pretty nice, although he admitted that he's not very comfortable with e-mail, so it may be a little more difficult to ask him questions outside of class.

Here's the schedule for the fall (I think one class will have to go):
Modern Algebra
Drawing I
History of Russia through 1801
Twentieth-Century Italian Art
Shakespearean Drama I
European Architecture: 15th-18th Centuries

The Best Movie I Ever Saw That Didn't Make Any Sense

I just watched what had to be one of the most perplexing movies I have ever seen, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The movie was Shaolin Soccer. I watched the American cut of the film undubbed with subtitles, but quite honestly, I think the plot may have been a bit more cohernant had the subtitles been off. It's a fun flick though, and I'd recommend that you give it a try.

Camel

I bought new shoes today. We stopped in at my local Birkenstock store, and I picked up size 44 "Torrance" in a camel-coloured suede. I do like suede.

Home

I'm back in Minnesota after two safe and pleasant flights. I'll probably be pretty quiet for the rest of the month.

A romp in the park

Sameer and I partook of an exciting theatrical experience this evening (my last in this wonderful city for quite some time). We literally chased a production of Aphra Behn's The Feigned Cortesans through Central Park, stopping for each scene, and taking flight to arrive at the next one. The company's mission statement can explain it better than I can.

QNS

I ventured over to Queens for the first time since I flew in to LaGuardia in order to visit the Museum of Modern Art. The MoMA is normally in Manhattan, but they are rebuilding their site, and so a select number of pieces and a couple exhibitions are available for viewing at a special site called MoMA QNS. I didn't need much time to see everything, but the Tall Buildings exhibit was very interesting. My Columbia ID got me in for free, so the four dollars for subway fare was my only expense, a very fair price for such an interesting adventure.

Aria

Three doors down from my room here in Broadway resides a girl who, it seems, has both a considerable sexual appetite and a sizable pair of lungs. I think I've heard her in the throes of ecstasy at least a dozen times in the weeks that I've lived here, and her cries are none too subtle. I can hear her if I'm in the hall; I can here her in my room with the door open; I can even hear her in my room even with the door shut. To give her the privacy that seems appropriate, I've got to be in my room with the door closed and put on some serious tunes ("Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2" works best, but I view it as a compromise).

Her privacy has been kept somewhat intact, however, by her anonymity. I hadn't seen her once the entire month I've live here. Until today. She was coming out of her room, as I was heading out for breakfast, and we exchanged pleasant hellos and the usual. She was tall and athletically-built—generally what I might expect for someone with such volume and endurance—but I must say that her speaking voice sounded very little like I had expected based upon my familiarity with her, shall we say, not-speaking voice.

Zen Palate

I just returned from an exquist dinner at Zen Palate. The restaurant has a diner component in the front, and a formal dinning room in the back; the menus are quite different, but all dishes are vegitarian. I had the Tapestry Embrance, which is described as "succulent mushroom steak, bran oats, cabbage, tomatoes, mushrooms, soy gluten, vermicelli, and sweet rice on the side in a special teriyaki sauce." This is a rather confusing description, but the dish is easily summed up as being rice, mushroom, and a meat-like mass of vegetable matter with teriyaki sauce and fresh grean beans and asparagus on the side. It was very good. I had a slice of Key Lime pie for desert.

The French Connection

I visited the Statue of Liberty this morning. The statue is very impressive and the museum is informative. There were numerous posters illustrating the continued goodwill between the U.S. and our oldest ally, France. I wish any Americans who still have misgivings toward that country could visit this museum. I booked our tour way ahead, so Rachel and I were able to go up to the observation deck and peer up into the statue itself. It was quite a morning. After that adventure, we traveled to Michelle's Kitchen, where Rachel's older sister Alison was working her final day. I had an amazingly good turkey sandwich and a delicious Boylan Bottleworks brand cream soda. Rachel walked me to my bus stop, where I caught the 96 back to the west side.

Since 1876

We had a final party to celebrate the end of this class. We all pinned up select pieces of our work in the basement and milled around eating hors d'oeuvres and drinking beer. I has heard there was to be wine, but beer was the drink. They had some seltzer water, but I figured that it might be time to see if I can't appreciate a beer. Since this was to be my first beer, I decided that I had to choose wisely. They had Corona, Bass, Sapporo, and two light beers that I didn't even consider. I ruled out Bass, since it was only somewhat familiar to me. Corona seems like a preppy beer; the choice for sorority girls everywhere; a product shadowed by its own advertising, like Tobasco but with less actual substance. So Sapporo it was. I drank the whole bottle over the course of about forty-five minutes, which I guess was a little too slow since it let the beer warm in my hand, but is was reasonably paletable, and pleasantly refreshing. I can see what Friar Tuck saw in beer. I can't really compare Sapporo to other beers (as it was my first), but I thought it was fine and that the lable described it quite accurately: "Crisp, clear, and refreshing, Sapporo Premium Beer has been made to the highest stadards of Japan's oldest brewery."

High Techin'

I just placed an order at Gradware.com. I'm finally upgrading to Windows XP Professional. I've never felt too strongly about ME, but XP is required for my other piece of software, Adobe Creative Suite. Hopefully it will allow me to create an awesome portfolio for my grad school applications. Perhaps I'll be able to share some of the resulting images this fall.

End

Today marked the end of my studio for this summer Intro to Architecture program. We had a final critique with a nice jury of four architects. One was German, one was Mexican, one was African-American, and one appeared to be your straight-up Caucasian American; all were quite helpful. The session ran over, stretching to a whopping five and a half hours and leaving me quite exhausted. I've still got a little bit of stuff tomorrow, but the class is over for the most part.

A celebrated the end with a shot of vodka and a relaxing shower. I ended up taking a shot because I popped into the room of a classmate to borrow some Tide when she, her roommate, and a friend were about to have some Absolut Citron. Not to leave me out of the festivities, they offered me a glass, and I accepted, having never consumed vodka before. I thought the drink was quite palatable. I don't really know how the Citron differs from regular Absolut, but as I've heard that Vodka is famous for being oderless and tasteless I'm assuming that the Citron can be no less "respectable" than the regular stuff in the way that drinking Bacardi Breezer isn't really the same as drinking rum. Any comments?

On my way back from the shower I heard very brief snippets of three phone conversations behind the doors I passed. Each voice was female.
Girl #1: "...and I was like..."
Girl #2: "...like, no, that's..."
Girl #3: "...like..."
We need to, like, break our country of this habit.

5

Things seem to be running it sets of five right now:

Last night Sameer and I went to see this year's Shakespeare In Central Park, Much Ado About Nothing, which is a play in five acts. The Public Theater puts on such a show each summer. Tickets are free of charge, but the line is unbelievable. Sameer waited for over 4 hours (perhaps about five?) to get our Row V seats. The theater is fairly small (about 2,000 we estimated), so that was just fine, but there must have been many people who waited without getting in. The show was terrific. It was the funniest play I've seen since the Guithrie's 2001 touring production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

After the play we returned to Broadway, and I slept for five hours, then went to work in the studio for five hours. I came home to shower and eat lunch. After that I'll go back because I have five drawings to complete for tomorrow.

Nwes To Me

My dad sent me this today:

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed rvey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Life is so strange.

M. Night Shyamalan Presents

Sameer and I just got back from The Village. We both liked it, although I had some problems apparent holes in the plot that Shyamalan has managed to avoid in his previous and equally complex works. I think Roger Ebert was way off the mark on this one, but my hometown newspaper was a bit too generous.

Nickelback

I saw my first new nickel today. It has a picture of a handshake on the reverse side and is the first of two new designs this year to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's sending Lewis and Clark to explore his recent purchase.

Doing my own exploring (of a more cyberspacial nature), I found this "Fun Fact" in the section of the mint's site aimed at kids: "Before the Mint Police, there was a Mint Pup. Old records show that $3 was spent to purchase a watchdog to protect the first Mint in Philadelphia." I would have had to call the dog Ten Spot, but I bet that's just me.

Day of Endless Stupidity

THE MORNING STUPIDITY (the really stupid one)
I got a call from the Columbia mail center.
James: Good morning.
Male Voice: Hello. May I speak to James Heposki?
James: That's me!
Male Voice: We've got a package for you here at the mail center. We can't put it in your box because the name and box number don't match. It's addressed to box 7149.
James: So it has someone else's name on it?
Male Voice: It's got your name on it. Wrong number.
James: No, that's my number. 7149. I have the key to that box.
Male Voice: Well, the box is registered to someone else, so you'll need to come pick up the package.
James: Sure. I'll be right over.
So I went right on over, only to find an empty mail center.
James: Hello?
A woman, in fact the same woman who gave me the key to my box, emerges from the back room. The man who called remains hidden.
James: Hi. I just got a call to pick up a package.
Male Voice: James?
James: Yes.
Male Voice: Last name?
James: Hepokoski.
Woman: ID.
She scan my ID and places the package on the counter. I sign for it and pick up the package.
James: So, will I have more trouble with my box, or is it cleared up now?
Woman: How did you get that number?
James: You gave me that number from the list when you gave me my key, which opens that box.
Woman: Well, its registered to someone else.
James: I just got it in this second summer session. Could the registration be left over from the first session?
Woman: I don't know.
Male Voice: Are you a summer intern?
James: No, I'm a student.
Woman: You'll need to email these people.
She hands me a sheet of paper with instructions on it.
Woman: Do you have the key to you're box for the school year?
James: Well, I'm just a summer student.
Male Voice: That's what I just asked you!
The woman took back the piece of paper.
James: I'm sorry; I thought you said 'intern.'
Male Voice: Yeah.
Looking back, I'm not really sure if my problem got resolved or not.

THE LUNCHTIME STUPIDITY (the funny one)
I went to lunch at Pinnacle with Sameer. I forgot my water bottle, so I bought a drink. I got a FUZE Healthy Infusion, specifically "focus," which is "orange mango fortified with...essential vitamins & zinc." The side panel lists zinc and 7 vitamins it has, along with a sentence or two about the supposed effects of each. I learned that zinc is "known as a 'mind-sharpening' herb that enhances capillary circulation and increases the supply of oxygen to the brain." Really makes me want to start a little garden back home and grow some zinc and perhaps other elemental metals.

THE LATE-AFTERNOON STUPIDITY (the least stupid one)
Monica, our critic came to talk about our work. I tried talking to show her my drawings and talk about the issues I'm having with seating in my site. She wanted to see my model. I pulled it out of my bag, and told her that I wasn't really using it. She wanted to know why, and I told her that it was frustrating, because it was made of a material with which I don't like working, and that it was based on the dimensions she gave us, so all three axes are on completely different scales. She told me that I couldn't just do all the work in my head. I needed to get ideas out. I told her that I have dozens of drawings, and tried to show her, but I guess she didn't see the merit in drawings. We talked for twenty minutes, in which I was told that I shouldn't worry about the real site, but only my models, and that the material for which I'm supposedly designing (1 foot strips of wood) didn't matter. Any linear material is the same. I tried to explain that there was a big difference between a structure made of foam and a structure made of steel, but made no headway. We definitely have very different ideas of architecture. I was really staving to see the big picture as I worked, and Monica is much more process-oriented.

I'm going to start in a new direction tonight. I'll make some weird and utterly useless sculpture and think up a bunch of BS to explain why it is genius. I'll play the game, just like the rest of the class. I'm not happy about it, but after today's conversation, I see that I have no choice.

Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away?

Checking the local weather this morning, I saw that the 10-day forcast extends to the end of my summer session. This is going by so fast.

Postcards

Our studio had a big critique today. Each of us presented in front of the class, our TA, our regular critic, and between one and three guest critics. Some students were lucky enough to get Danielle Smoller, who runs this summer program. She gave some truly excellent critiscism. I only presented to one guest, whose thinking was so similar to that of my regular critic that it wasn't overly helpful.

Anyway, we got the night off. It's raining, so I've been inside, writing postcards to various family members, and a small selection of friends who seem to value the postcards I've sent in the past. Some are Columbia cards; others I picked up on Saturday at the Met.

I realize that I've neglected to mention that trip, so I'll just say that Mike Borkowski was in town, so Sameer and I took him down to go to the Museum of Natural History, but that was full. Honestly. It was full. So we went to the Met, and had a grand ol' time. My favorite part were the Chinese prints. There was a piece called The Palace of Nine Perfections that I thought was absolutely amazing. On the way back, we stopped for dinner at this kooky little place called Quintessence. We knew going in that it was a vegetarian place, but we were surprised to learn that they served only raw food. I had some interesting nut meatballs (balls made from the meat of nuts), two types of salads, and a drink that was a green mixture of kale, pear, and (if I remember correctly) passionfruit juices. Perhaps it wasn't worth the price, but it was memorable.

On a final note tonight, I'll mention that thunder sounds really weird here; I think it echoes off of thousands of buildings or something, but that's merely a conjecture. I can tell you what it sounds like: It sounds like what I imagine a five-ton garbage dumpster dropped off the Chrysler Building sounds like when it hits the ground. How do you like them apples?

Bathroom Humor

Of the thirty or forty people on my hall, I know the names of five. These five are my RA, a girl from my studio and her roommate, and two people who live a couple doors down who seem to run on schedules similar to my own. Ben, the only guy in the bunch, and I seem to run on similar morning schedules. He's very often shaving just as I'm getting out of the shower, so we chat for a bit. We were discussing future careers this morning (he's interested in neuroscience), and I told him that I could very easily see myself enjoying my work in architecture. He had a good joke that told me I wasn't alone in my enthusiasm:

A doctor, a lawyer, and an architect were discussing the merits of having a wife or a mistress. The doctor favored having a wife because of the prestige that accompanies a strong marriage and a healthy, growing family. The lawyer knew that everyone already thought he was no good, so he figured that by enjoying the mystery and intrigue of a mistress, he would suffer no loss in image. The architect thought for a moment, and then announced that he would rather have both. The obvious advantage is that he could tell is wife he was with his mistress, tell is mistress he was with his wife, and then go work in his studio.

Then again, my money says that this joke is more often told with an engineer filling in for the architect.

Searching 4,285,199,774 Web Pages

Not that it's important, but I noticed today that this site is finally Googleable. You can search for "James Lucas Hepokoski" and find your way here. (Use the quotation marks.)

Tired, Poor, etc.

I'm going to see the Statue Of Liberty National Monument on 7 August. The statue, which has been closed since 11 September 2001, is opening on 3 August, which coincides nicely with my visit here to New York City. I should be done with all my work by that time, and be able to spend a leisurly morning with my sight-seeing companion, Rachel.

Site Analysis

My work in the studio has been focusing on a site at the west end of Canal Street, which about three-quarters of the way down the island. I created a comic book-like collage of the site and the surrounding areas to fulfill the first objective of my assignment, and I've worked with Eric Rogers to get a scaled down (but still quite large) version onto the web for your viewing pleasure. You can access it here.

Feeling Down?

Tom Major, my old schoolmate and fellow Cub Scout, just sent me a link to a rather unique website called group hug. This is an a place for confessions. Its completely anonymous (the entries are given only a random number), and apparently poplular. Many of the entries are of a sexual nature, so it's definitely for a mature audience. It's an interesting idea, and the "public moderation" is a very clever method of easy quality control. Some confessions are humorous, but really this site is marked by a deep melancholy.

Many Meetings

Yesterday afternoon, I walked out of Avery Hall with an architecture student from a different studio. We both felt the other looked familiar, although he was more certain that I was. After talking for a moment, we discovered that we were both UW-Madison students. Discussing the campus and life in the Madtown, we found that not only did we go to the same school, but we had lived in the same dorm. Needless to say, we were both quite surprised.

Today, I had a more intentional run-in with a different Langdonite. Rachel, who is in the city to work for ABC, also works at a Starbucks on the Upper East Side. I headed over there and ate my breakfast while she concocted various overpriced drinks for the wealth residents of that area. I greatly enjoyed seeing her again, if only for a short while. The most interesting part of the visit, however, was my random encounter with someone from Great Barrington. She wasn't a Simon's Rock alumna, but had gone to the boarding school in town (in the days before the school catered to troubled students).

To be efficient, I made a stop at the near-by FedEx Kinko's before breakfast. It was pretty empty in there, but the one other customer kept the employee's hands full. Some middle-aged woman was trying to do some tricky double-sided, collated, stapled packets, and was unsurprisingly having difficulties. She yelled a lot, and demanded her few cents back every time she failed to get it right, which was every two or three minutes. The guy trying to help her was very patient, and when he came over to input a password at my Sony PictureStation, I learned that he was recently from Guam, and had to deal with rich, snotty women like her on a daily basis. When I went up to pay for my photos, the woman was screaming that one side was blank, and it wasn't stapling. I cheered up the staff a bit by complaining that my photos were also blank on one side and unstapled. The woman, thankfully, was too absorbed in her own problems to hear.

Intriguing Product

I think it's time to add a new Intriguing Product to the site, and I happened to stumble onto a good candidate just minutes ago. I'm listening to the Al Franken Show, and today Al talked via telephone to conservative fans of barbecue. It's a bit he's done before, and its a good one since the barbecue is something the Al and the callers can agree on, smoothing out their political differences. Al argues well, but certainly lets the callers have their say. But I digress. The product. Yes.

The second Intriguing Product is Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q, the Alabama restaurant and creator of award-winning sauces.

Garbage in New York

I've been riding the subway with some frequency, and I've been reading Jane Austen's Persuasion to pass the time. Some people show some level of interest or recognition in my book, but most don't have any idea what it is or don't even look, which is fine. I'm in the minority with a real book; most of the readers have a daily publication with them. When I arrived here, I expected to see a flood of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, but I was mistaken. What's the most frequently seen publication on the 1 train? I regret to say it's the New York Post. Our populace prefers complete rubbish to actual news. It's rather disappointing, if not surprising.

Whatever A Spider Can

Seen Spider-Man 2 yet? Doesn't really matter, but this fun little video does contain some rather basic spoilers to the plot. Probably nothing worse than the trailer shows.

Reader Response: Follow-Up

After our reader awoke, presumably feeling more sober, he was kind enough to respond:

[Reader]: haha, yeah; sorry man, I guess I just didn't understand whether you were making a statement or whatnot
Auto response from JLHep: I'm headed down to the central part of town.
[Reader]: I just didn't understand it at any point of the day when I read it
[Reader]: but haha, sorry about that man, didn't mean to freak out on you or anything
[Reader]: but keep on rockin' in the free world...and by that I mean putting whatever you want in your profile
[Reader]: and by the way, speaking of neil young's "keep on rockin' in the free world", although I may disagree with it, is a calculated and intelligently crafted criticism of the first bush administration
[Reader]: much like most of his criticisms of republican administration's; they at least make you think and are well layed out
[Reader]: sorry to ramble, but I need some gatorade real bad right now
[Reader]: enjoy manhattan...

Thanks [Reader], I will.

I attempted to add this as a comment to the previous post, but I haven't gotten the commenting functions working well enough for something this sophisticated. I may move it once I create some better code for that area.

Reader Response: Outsourced

This morning, a disgruntled reader of my AIM personal profile wrote to me regarding the same paragraph that was posted under the headline "Outsourced" a few days ago. I'll change his name so I don't feel obligated to get his permission to post this here. This is from an AIM conversation written at about 03:41 am, reader's local time:

[Reader]: that thing you have between catholic priests and outsourcing...doesn't make sense
Auto response from JLHep: Sleeping between new sheets.
[Reader]: you might want to find some anti-cathl.]]\\
[Reader]: sorry, I'm drunk
[Reader]: you might want to find some anti-catholic/liberal propaganda that actually makes sense and makes people think...not just token liberal bullshit that doesn't really make any sense
[Reader]: and yes, I'm sober enough, so don't worry, I do want to hear your response to this...so hit me back when you're on next. night
[Reader]: serious, I'll talk to you later
[Reader]: gotta love the Pope

I wasn't trying to make a statement with this. I just thought it was a funny bit of news, since there's been a lot of to-do about tech jobs going to India. It's more of a "what's next?" issue than a rip on the Catholic church. I don't know what you mean when you say that the article "doesn't make sense," but do I agree that the outsourcing of praryers is a pretty poor reason to dislike the Catholic Church. (I maintain better reasons exist, but I don't think its pertainant to the argument.) Furthermore, I think it's silly to purport that Anti-Catholic propaganda is the same as "Liberal" propaganda, when the only Catholic president was a "liberal" president, and the current Democratic candidate for president is a Catholic.

Jugo de Coco

I'm getting home just past eleven. It was a long day of class, followed by a quick trip to the store for ramen and coconut juice. Since I'm tired and not feeling creative, I will entertain you with the list of ingrediants in this 80% fruit juice concoction.
young coconut juice
water
sugar
young coconut pulp
citric acid (E330)
potassium metabisulphite (E224)
It's a product of Thailand, manufactured by Thai Agri Foods Public Company Limited. Strangly, the only other language besides English on the can is Spanish. I don't get it. Maybe it'll make more sense in the morning.

Shanghaied

I had my first day of classes yesterday, and it was a rather full day! To make a long story short, I found myself in Chinatown by dinner time, researching a 40-foot segment of Canal Street. Since I was in the area with another classmate and more experienced New Yorker (named Alex), we dropped into a local restaurant for dinner. Joe's Shanghai at 9 Pell Street is one of four locations, and I suspect the original. It was good Chinese cuisine, but their "soup dumplings" were really their signature dish. Instead of serving dumplings in soup, they served the soup in the dumplings. Their menu purports that they have an official website at www.joeshangai.com, but I found nothing there. In searching, I came across a brief review in The New York Times.

Outsourced

Fresh from Chuck Shepard's News of the Weird:
The New York Times reported in June that overworked Catholic clergy in the U.S., Canada and Europe are outsourcing certain ritual prayer requests from their parishioners over to Catholic clergy in India. Priests said such a practice is not new, but that a priest shortage might have caused a bump in numbers. Indian priests said the requests are typically accompanied by US$5 to $10 (much more than they are offered for domestic prayers). [New York Times, 6-13-04]

New Design

Well, I think the 2.0 version is sufficiently functional to be implemented here. There's still a lot or work to be done, but it'll be easier to work on it while I can see the BloggerTags in affect. Sorry if things are bad for a couple of weeks. If you have any design comments, let me hear them.

Midnight

For dinner, I ate a slice of New York style pizza that was nearly half a meter long. Then I traveled with fellow Rocker Mike Carter and a new friend named Peter to the east side of the island for a fantastic display of fireworks. Two trains and one blue Gatorade later, I'm back at Broadway for my first night in my new bed.

Oh yeah...

Happy Independence Day!

New York City!

Today is my first full day in the Big Apple. I'm just getting moved in. I arrived yesterday and stayed in Sameer's room on a lower floor in the same building. I still don't have a key card for the dorm, so leaving is mildly risky, but an RA walked me to John Jay (Marget's home last year), and word is that cards are on the way. More info coming soon. A whole new look to this site hopefully coming soon after.