January 2005 Archives

Friday night my brother brought his gf home from school for a family dinner. My dad only completely embarrassed us twice, which is about average at these types of occasions. When we returned home, Marc showed off the yo-yo he made during IAP and the tricks he has since learned.

Saturday, I practiced my backwards crossovers and watched the snow start to fall. Sunday I played in the snow and went over to Nick and Sean's for some evening activities. We watched "Kung Fu Hustle," which was directed and writen by the same guy that did "Shaloin Soccer" (a fantastic flick). "Hustle" proved to be a funny movie in its own right, with some interesting social commentary to boot.

We followed the movie up with a couple games of 3-person Settlers Of Catan. I was demolished in game 1 (perhaps I was a bit rusty), but squeaked out a victory in game 2. (And for the first time I won with longest road instead of largest army--KC would be proud.)

In the political news today, itp proved prescient as the DNC state chairs endorsed Howard Dean (even though their exec board recommended Fowler). Let's now hope that people *do* listen to Mark Brewer, as he is encouraging all the state chairs to vote as one.

LOTD: Star Wars, Episode III: A Lost Hope

Sigh.

Well there's always February 12th.

In case anyone is on the fence (as I was a few days ago) about whether Senators should confirm Alberto Gonzales for US Attorney General, I recommend this editorial.

On a wholly unrelated note, tonight's West Wing significantly upped my blood pressure. I recommend campaign consultants (or those wishing to be campaign consultants) watch it with caution.

LOTD: I hope my Prius isn't next

Hanna Rosin (of paper bag and Laura Bush==girl fame) continues to earn her pay at WaPo.

Saturday night I used what I think I can safely safe was the best Chanukah book I got: The Star Wars Cook Book. The menu was:

• crackers with Jabba the Hummus (brought by Nick)
• TIE Fighter Ties (breadstick in the shape of TIEs)
• Boba-fettucine
• Greedo's Garlic Bread (brought by Leslie)
• Yoda Soda (my personal favorite)
• and Wookie Cookies for dessert

Sunday I went to the Masonic temple in Alexandria and watched the kids sled down the hill. The new fad for riding the snow is the mini-snowboard (about skateboard width), though the majority of vehicles were still toboggans. One group of kids set up a plastic ramp; the goal was to get enough air on the jump to be able to shift from chest down on the toboggan to standing upright on it. No one I witnessed managed it, though some got close.

This evening I observed focus groups for the first time in my short polling career. The topic was health care and one woman related a story that I feel the need to share.

My husband and I were both employed full-time and had health care through each of our jobs. When I was expecting we decided that I would stay home with the kid and thus should move over to my husband's health insurance. But, when I tried to sign up, they rejected me because I had a "pre-existing condition:" my pregnancy. So I had to stay on my job up until the day I went into labor to keep my insurance.

LOTD: Big Jimmy, in memoriam

Doing my best, and succeeding thus far, at this boycott today.

Lia Nistler’s Letter to the Editor, Eden Valley Journal Patriot. (We conducted the poll in question.)

Meeker County Public Health, Citizens for Smoke-Free Meeker County and the Meeker County Memorial Hospital have been actively pursuing and pushing for a Smoke-Free Ordinance for Meeker County. These organizations claim in press releases, headlines and radio advertising, that a survey of 400 registered voters in Meeker County shows the majority of Meeker County residents would support a countywide ordinance prohibiting smoking in workplaces.

I would like everyone to do the math. Get ready to crunch the numbers!

A call to the Meeker County Auditor, Barb Loch, revealed that in the last election (2004) there were 13,040 registered voters in Meeker County. 400 is only a little over 3% of that total. To claim a majority of the Meeker County registered voters, what is needed is one-half of 13,040, or 6520 plus 1. This is not a majority and far from a majority.

If you do the math according to the lead sentence from a press release/news article which appeared in the West Central Tribune on 1/5/05-reading "Nearly three fourths of Meeker County Residents support a county-wide ordinance prohibiting smoking in workplaces," three-fourths of 400 is 300. This drops the percentage to just under 2.5% of 13,040. This is still not a majority and even further from a majority.

We do not want to forget the unregistered voters. They are residents of Meeker County too!

According to the US Census Bureau (Minnesota Quick Facts from the Internet Website) the 2003 estimate of resident population in Meeker County is 23,205. We will use their total population from the year 2,000, which is 22,644. Factor in and take away the 27% for persons under 18, for the year 2000 and that leaves 16,530 residents over the ages of 18. I for one know that 2.5% (or three-fourths of the 400 registered voters who were polled) are not the majority of Meeker County Residents and I am sure others will agree.

This is misleading information, that the above organizations are using, to created their messages and passing it off as representing support for this ordinance by the majority of residents of Meeker County.

D-DNC, or Dean for DNC Chair, held an event for former Dean staffers at "Local 16," which is a bar north of Dupont. The Governor himself was in attendance and gave a little shpiel. He's thinner, but still the same kooky Dean. The man has some great ideas for the Democratic Party, and I can only hope that other delegations follow FL's lead and endorse Dean for chair. The biggest reform I think the DNC needs (and that Dean is calling for) is the need to serve the state party structures instead of just promulgating "unfunded mandates."

After mingling and reconnecting with DFA-NH staffers, six of us had dinner at a nearby Subway and taxied over to Union Station for a birthday party for Jarel's friend Eileen. Mookie devised a plan to hit on the guy who was wearing the "W '04" hat, but I'm not sure if he ever followed up on the idea. After a few drinks (ginger ales for me), we walked to Union Station (which gave me another excuse to don my Dean hat) and called it a night.

Visited the National Gallery on Sunday, where we focused on their limited-time Gerard ter Borch exhibit. There were some amazing paintings on display; ter Borch is especially known for capturing the shimmer of satin. Certainly he mastered light's reflection on surfaces better than anyone in his era.

Kim and I debated how much of ter Borch's paintings could be validly interpreted. Ter Borch didn't title all of his works and left only a few notes, which led to confusion over some of the renderings. The scene of one of his renderings was first thought to depict two parents admonishing their daughter, but then the powers that be decided that ter Borch was actually painting a brothel. These same "experts" then state with certainty that the dog looking at the ground in the picture represents the shame of humanity's immorality. Personally, I'd make sure you know who the people are before worrying about the dog. (But I guess that's just me.)

A v. hard riddle passed on to me from Jon:

Our not-so-friendly Trogdor the Burninator doesn't like peasants. In fact, he has just captured n peasants (where n>=2) and wants to eat them. But, Trogdor is feeling nice today and will give them a chance to live if they can solve this one puzzle. Trogdor decides to put hats of differing colors on all the peasants' heads. The hats are colored in as many colors as peasants and Trogdor has a large supply of any color; thus, all the peasants could be wearing the same color hat, or all the peasants could be wearing a different color hat. The peasants will sit in a circle and write down on a piece of paper the color hat they think is on their head. Trogdor then collects the pieces of paper and if none of the peasants gets his/her hat color right, all the peasants die; BUT, if at least one peasant is right, they all live (yay!).

The peasants discuss strategy before hat-placement, but once the hats are on, no communication whatsoever. (As a point of clarification, the peasants do know the set of colors from which Trogdor chooses. Another point of clarification: once the hats are on, there is absolutely no communication between peasants--eg, they don't know what the other peasants guessed).

So what strategy should the peasants use? Good luck, and email me for confirmation or clarifications.

"Ask Osama bin Laden, er, Osama Obama, er Sen. Obama ..." -- Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) start to an answer about what Dems could learn from Obama's success in IL (National Journal's Last Call! sources).

Friday evening I went to the Hair Cuttery, usually a reliable place for a trim, but this time the stylist decided* that she didn't really like my hair and chopped it all off. I had taken my glasses off so I couldn't see what was happening until it was all over. No negative comments thus far about the new 'do...in fact a surprising number haven't noticed/mentioned that I have a new hairstyle for the first time in about a decade.

Friday night I went (slightly overdressed) with Leslie and Justin to the Black Cat for the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes concert. (Walking to the car to the venue--and back--with a lot less hair on my head led to the small cold I have right now.) The opening act (Jericho?) was a group of talentless hacks, and unfortunately they made us wait 45 minutes between those charlatans and the Gimme Gimmes. The main event was rather entertaining, and made the entire evening worthwhile.

Saturday I went to my first hockey class at the Mount Vernon Ice Arena. We worked on backwards crossovers, with which I have particular trouble. Then I joined Jen, Erich, and Kim for custard, where we swapped vacation stories.

Kim and I moved on to the "new" Museum of Science. The center is very small but extraordinarily interactive. We got to make DNA bracelets, something that I remember several of my friends doing at TJ. Unfortunately, the docents couldn't answer many of my queries--and I wouldn't have had so many questions if the exhibits didn't bring you tantalizingly close to new knowledge but left out key bits of information. Overall, a fun experience, and I recommend it to others.

Saturday night I went (slighly underdressed) with roommate Riki to a party at a DC club. Randomly met a former Gore campaign colleague that I hadn't seen in four years. I attempted to assimilate into the bump and grind environment, but given that I totally missed that part of my enducation at MIT and subsequent campaigns, I think I failed more than succeeded. Chicklet seems to think I missed a few steps, and the ones I did hit were out of order. Perhaps next time (though not likely).

Sunday I watched a lot of TV while nursing my incipient cold.

*And yes, it was a unilateral decision. I mentioned how I usually part my hair, thus (I thought) indicating that my hair should be long enough to part.

Unabashedly stolen from Daily Kos.

Rep Tom Cole (R-OK) links Social Security to the War on Terr'r:

"He cannot afford to fail. It would have repercussions for the rest of his program, including foreign policy. We can't hand the president a defeat on his major domestic initiative at a time of war." (Wall Street Journal, 1/6/04, non-free reg. req.)

Next he'll be labeling Tora Bora as a Blue State.

Just got pics from Dawn of Christmas 2003. Don't I make a cute Santa?

Welcome to 2005, may it bring more Democratic victories!

New York was a blast. Highlights included:

Rockefeller Center
Bluestockings (feminist bookstore)
the Museum of Sex
extremely close Madden2004 games on Jon's GameCube
Central Park and learning about schist
finishing all my PhD Grad School apps (Princeton, Michigan, Yale, MIT, Columbia, Duke)
beating Andy, Mara, and Anna in Scrabble
beating Seth in Scrabble (for only the second time in my life!)
the Newtonian exhibit at the New York Public library
interpreting the line to get into the MoMA as a piece of modern art itself
touring the entire Times Sq Toys R' Us store with Naomi
losing $35 in an all-night, no limit, Texas hold 'em poker game with Popper and her (poker-experienced) friends

The coolest part of the trip was Seth's New Year's Eve party. About 50 of us went up to his roof top from which you could see Times Sq and the reflection of The Ball. (The Reuters building obstructed our view of The Ball itself.) At 10pm the city, from our rooftop perspective, was eerily quiet given that we knew 200,000 people we standing just past our field of vision. At around 11:30 we could start to hear the throngs yelling. Some lackluster fireworks exploded to mark the passing of the year, and we continued to party until 3:30am--at which point I walked home through Times Sq (the cleanup crew was in full force while the confetti was still falling).

Google's main page offers information and lists ways to help the victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake.