June 2005 Archives

McSweeney's on Harry Potter.

NY Times article on my phone.

Our "favorite" reporter Hanna Rosin was on the Daily Show. (Thanks to Chicklet for the link.)
By the numbers
Number of jokes she made: 0.
References to empty paper bags: also 0.
Number of time I predict she'll be invited back: you guessed it, 0.

Somehow I doubt Forrestor will claim to be "a grassroots candidate:"

Forrester received $205 from people contributing $300 or less to his campaign, and $498,688.67 from people giving $300 or more. (AP)

Addition: The New York Times on Harry Potter.

Finished off my three weeks of travelling last Thursday night, with a red-eye back from California. I'm still recovery from lack of sleep. Word to the wise: If you ever take an west->east red-eye, get plenty of sleep the next night. (East->west red-eyes are better because you go against the jet stream and get in at an four which still allows you to sleep at a hotel.)

Despite my sleepiness, Chu and I went to Batman Begins on Friday night (after baking a birthday shortcake for Rupa). Due to some confusion, we were unable to make the 11:30pm showing, so we did midnight-thirty instead. (Hrmm, this might also be why I'm still tired.) I greatly enjoyed the movie, although I found the League Of Shadows--pillaging Rome, burning London, and all that--to be a bit beyond of an implausible aside. I would have preferred the Scarecrow as the main villain, as I remember episodes with him being very good in the cartoon version of Batman that I grew up with, but I understand how that might not have played too well to the larger audience.

Saturday afternoon I played the worst half of goalkeeping since in about a decade. I let in three goals in the opening half of our soccer game, two of which were stoppable. I performed adequately in the second half, and we ended up losing 4-1. To redeem myself I played for a team in the game following ours, and earned a 2-0 shutout.

Speaking of ending long streaks, on Sunday, after a 10-year hiatus, I picked up the game of golf again. My father had bought me my first set of clubs when I was seven, and I played occasionally until I was 15 (at one point I even tried out for TJ's golf team). Frustrating with puberty continually changing my height and thus my swing, I quit. Sunday I was back with a vengeance, shooting 54 over nine holes, which I don't think was too shabby considering my sabbatical.

From golf I went immediately to pickup basketball, where my teammates made me look at lot better than I actually am. By the end of the weekend, I had about eight cuts and scrapes on my body (most of them in places where I had previously destroyed most nerves anyway).

LOTD: Zombie dogs

Against seven other pies entered in the Mellman Group pie competition, Chu and I emerged victorious with our Key Lime Pie (despite our best efforts to misread the recipe). Here's the pic from my treo (I think it needs a flash).

LOTD: Terra Pass: offset your car's pollution.

For you crazy kids who use LJ, here's the syndication that an anonymous person set up.

QOTD: "He tried to intimidate him with spirit fingers."

Stopped by the New York Public Library during my brief hours of free time last week in NYC. Their main exhibit was "Before Victoria: Extraordinary Women of the British Romantic Era," which, given my attempts to further my feminist education, I felt warranted my attention. Mary Wollstonecraft dominated the exhibit hall, and I was disappointed to see Ada Lovelace relegated to a small table in a corner. Clearly the librarians are not as fond of computer science as I am.

More space, however, was allocated to Jane Austen. Ever since a certain someone made me sit through the entire Sense and Sensibility movie (though Atlas Girl was a nice reprieve), I had been prejudiced against that author. The combination of Austen being placed among these other pioneering women and recent recommendations, bade me to reconsider my prior judgement. Thus, on the long train ride back to DC (delayed considerably due to a gas leak in Maryland), I used my treo to begin reading Pride and Prejudice. I won't follow Elizabeth's example and will withhold judgement until I finish.

The weekend saw a celebration of Rain's birthday (happy real birthday today!), a 3-0 pickup soccer win (scuffle and resultant head-butt, included), a disappointing headliner at the DC Improv, and cloudy weather in Baltimore as we watched the O's take the weekend series and dined at Pazo.

For the first time in four years, the person for whom I voted on the top ballot actually won! Leslie Byrne carried the Lt Gov primary on the Dem side with 33 percent of the (low turnout) vote. In better news, tax-reactionary Republicans failed in their bid to unseat moderate GOPers.

The last time my candidate actually won was in 2001, when Warner took the Governor's mansion in Richmond. Prior to that, Warren Tolman, Shannon O'Brien, Howard Dean, and John Kerry all bit the dust. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come, and my decade-long losing streak will come to an end.

Tracking back to last weekend, I was a weekend warrior, playing soccer, golf, and basketball. In soccer, our team dropped to 2-3, after losing a game to a team that was a step above us in terms of skill level. I did my best to preserve a shutout, but my attempt lasted all of a minute and a half. I fared better in pickup basketball, winning 2 of 3 games (one by a score of 16-14 in a "play to 11" game).

In New York right now for focus groups. Will be back tomorrow, in DC for an exciting weekend (party, improv, movie, aquarium, O's game) before leaving for CA for more groups next week.

Do you live in Virginia? Then you should go vote. I voted this morning and I was the only one casting a ballot, which leads me to believe that not too many people intend to go to the polls today. One reason for the light turnout is that, for much of Virginia (my own precinct included), if you vote in the Democratic primary, you'll vote in exactly one election. However, given the relatively few number of votes, your vote has a larger chance at being pivotal (especially if there is a delegate race in your district). Whatever your reason, go vote. Plus, they give you a free sticker :)

I actually reminded a fellow Crystal Plaza resident to vote in the elevator this morning. (She saw my sticker and enquired--see, they do work!). So I informed her where our polling place was...and then afterwards I noticed her driving off in a car with the bumper sticker "Bush: back by popular demand." Good thing this isn't a general election!

I've been traveling quite a bit, which somewhat accounts for the blogging lag (though my laziness accounts for more). Last week I went up to MIT for my brother's graduation. They successfully awarded him with a couple of degrees (math and mechanical enigeering). The commencement speaker (Qualcomm's CEO) was quite boring, reciting more an autobiography than dispensing pearls of wisdom. The graduating class audibly chuckled when the next speaker thanked Mr. Qualcomm with his inspiring address--the rest of us were polite enough to bite our tongues.

On Saturday we had an extended family dinner in Boston. Whenever a critical mass of the Strauss clan gather in the same room the subject invariably turns to riddles. First, my cousin offered up this bridge riddle, which I had heard before but thanks to a faulty memory had to re-solve. Next up was this riddle I had never heard of, and it took me a couple of days to solve. It's not the most fascinating I've heard, but it should keep you occupied:

Three people are in a room with numbers on their heads. They can see the other two numbers, but not their own. Two of the numbers add up to the third number, and all the numbers are positive integers. The first person is asked if, from looking at the other two numbers and using smart, rational logic, she knows the number on her head. She does not. The second and third persons are asked the same question sequentially and they respond similarly. The first person is asked again, and this time she replies, "Yes i do, and my number is 50." What were the numbers on the second and third persons' heads? Good luck, and email me for confirmation.

Right now I'm in California (San Fran), read to return after a successful night of focus groups.