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Because living in the suburbs in Virginia is cool! (I live in Vienna, though, not Arlington.) The video is pretty funny, but I think the "We could take the Green Line" bit is definitely the best part.
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I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Today I had my very last class of the semester (yay!), and our final exam was handed out. I was expecting the worst, so I ended up quite pleased. There's only one question, and it's actually interesting. But that best part? Maximum five pages. Those words just about made my day.
Other awesome news: I checked my grade on my special topics project, and thought I failed, which was very WTF, especially since the comments said my paper was well written and made good use of the literature. Turns out she made a typo when she entered the grade, so I didn't fail! Yay!
I spent another night at the City of Fairfax Library. They play music at closing to coerce people to leave, which I thought was a kinda cool strategy. This whole going to the library to work thing seems to be working out all right so far. I'm down to one two-page question on one exam, and two three-page questions for the other. Last Tuesday I wrote more than that in less than ideal conditions, so we'll see what I can do camped out in the library tomorrow.
Also, I am contractually required to point out that Fairfax has the failiest traffic circle I have ever encountered.
What's the point of building a traffic circle at all if half the traffic goes right through the middle? Now they just have two sets of traffic lights instead of one. That's not more efficient, it's just more confusing!
Other awesome news: I checked my grade on my special topics project, and thought I failed, which was very WTF, especially since the comments said my paper was well written and made good use of the literature. Turns out she made a typo when she entered the grade, so I didn't fail! Yay!
I spent another night at the City of Fairfax Library. They play music at closing to coerce people to leave, which I thought was a kinda cool strategy. This whole going to the library to work thing seems to be working out all right so far. I'm down to one two-page question on one exam, and two three-page questions for the other. Last Tuesday I wrote more than that in less than ideal conditions, so we'll see what I can do camped out in the library tomorrow.
Also, I am contractually required to point out that Fairfax has the failiest traffic circle I have ever encountered.
What's the point of building a traffic circle at all if half the traffic goes right through the middle? Now they just have two sets of traffic lights instead of one. That's not more efficient, it's just more confusing!
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"Oh no! The temperature has fallen below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It is sub-freezing. Let us go out to the street outside the studio and interview random passersby."
Seriously. There was just some lady claiming that even though the meteorologists say the windchill is 19 degrees now, it actually feels like 10. Um, yeah... you can't just make up random small numbers and claim that's how cold it is! Science does not work like that.
I <3 local news.
Seriously. There was just some lady claiming that even though the meteorologists say the windchill is 19 degrees now, it actually feels like 10. Um, yeah... you can't just make up random small numbers and claim that's how cold it is! Science does not work like that.
I <3 local news.
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... and all of them also mean opportunity.
Steven Colbert and linguistics! (Language Log has all the important stories.) Eskimo snow + Chinese crisis = I am amused. :D Also, Steven Colbert wants to claim the Hockey Night in Canada theme and play it while doing American things.
Steven Colbert and linguistics! (Language Log has all the important stories.) Eskimo snow + Chinese crisis = I am amused. :D Also, Steven Colbert wants to claim the Hockey Night in Canada theme and play it while doing American things.
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Maureen Dowd's columns have been pretty critical of Hillary Clinton, sometimes perhaps a bit too critical, but I think today she made some good points, particularly about Clinton's behavior at last night's debate in Cleveland. From her article:
"Hillary and her aides urged reporters to learn from the “Saturday Night Live” skit about journalists having crushes on Obama.
“Maybe we should ask Barack if he’s comfortable and needs another pillow,” she said tartly in the debate here Tuesday night. She peevishly and pointlessly complained about getting the first question too often, implying that the moderators of MSNBC — a channel her campaign has complained has been sexist — are giving Obama an easy ride.
Beating on the press is the lamest thing you can do. It is only because of the utter open-mindedness of the press that Hillary can lose 11 contests in a row and still be treated as a contender."
Watching the debate, I felt like this was one of several moments in which Clinton attempted to be clever, but instead seemed rather petty. (Another was her awkward, backhand attempt to make Obama look like an anti-Semite sympathizer.) Whether the media as a whole is unfair to Clinton isn't completely relevant in the situation. The debates are supposed to give viewers (voters!) insight about the candidates' policy ideas. Whinging to the moderators doesn't do that. It just makes the actual debate into a real, live comedy sketch.
"Hillary and her aides urged reporters to learn from the “Saturday Night Live” skit about journalists having crushes on Obama.
“Maybe we should ask Barack if he’s comfortable and needs another pillow,” she said tartly in the debate here Tuesday night. She peevishly and pointlessly complained about getting the first question too often, implying that the moderators of MSNBC — a channel her campaign has complained has been sexist — are giving Obama an easy ride.
Beating on the press is the lamest thing you can do. It is only because of the utter open-mindedness of the press that Hillary can lose 11 contests in a row and still be treated as a contender."
Watching the debate, I felt like this was one of several moments in which Clinton attempted to be clever, but instead seemed rather petty. (Another was her awkward, backhand attempt to make Obama look like an anti-Semite sympathizer.) Whether the media as a whole is unfair to Clinton isn't completely relevant in the situation. The debates are supposed to give viewers (voters!) insight about the candidates' policy ideas. Whinging to the moderators doesn't do that. It just makes the actual debate into a real, live comedy sketch.
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Yesterday a group of us walked down the street to Mount Royal Park to check out the Sunday Tam-Tams. The Tam-Tams are a weekly event through the summer. An informal group of drummers plays through the afternoon, and lots of others come to dance along or to simply relax and enjoy. While we were there, several of the roomies got palm readings. I'm pretty skeptical about that type of thing, but I'll admit that it was highly entertaining.
Another fun thing about Montreal: you can get your groceries delivered. For a dollar! That's really exciting if you don't have a car because you're not limited to lightweight items. So now I have important things like Tide. And Snack-packs. Mmm... pudding. To top it all off, Provigo gives 10% off to students every Monday! I know what day I'll be doing all my grocery shopping from now on!
Except I actually do have to go back tomorrow. This evening when I was making my Kraft Dinner (a.k.a. Macaroni & Cheese in the US) I discovered that my milk was curdled. That was a) pretty annoying, and b) really disgusting 'cause I just ate that milk on my cereal this morning. Gross! When I go tomorrow to buy milk, I think I'll go ahead and carry it back myself.
Another fun thing about Montreal: you can get your groceries delivered. For a dollar! That's really exciting if you don't have a car because you're not limited to lightweight items. So now I have important things like Tide. And Snack-packs. Mmm... pudding. To top it all off, Provigo gives 10% off to students every Monday! I know what day I'll be doing all my grocery shopping from now on!
Except I actually do have to go back tomorrow. This evening when I was making my Kraft Dinner (a.k.a. Macaroni & Cheese in the US) I discovered that my milk was curdled. That was a) pretty annoying, and b) really disgusting 'cause I just ate that milk on my cereal this morning. Gross! When I go tomorrow to buy milk, I think I'll go ahead and carry it back myself.
