I'm In

Well, you convinced me.

My only question now is who's up for a two-week road trip, and where will we go? Right now I'm thinking the second half of July, and I want to go to Vegas, Austin, LA, the Grand Canyon, and San Diego. If I could fulfill my dream, I'd also hit Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Nashville, and Memphis.

But we'll figure that out later. I'll see you guys in a few weeks.

The Manufacture of Consent

Those of you who were in my car going to/coming back from St. Benny's - remember how I was saying I had so much hope for this semester? That this year will be the one I really buckle down, really tackle each and every assignment to the best of my ability; no mountain too high, no feat insurmountable! But how I do, in fact, say that every semester and it all crashes so quickly? A week in, I'm already going through reading assignments and qualifying it "could be read" and "could never in a million years be done." Damn you, Ideological Eye: Documentary and the State! Who has the time for 125 pages of rambling essays filled with out-of-date political references?

School Starts In...Three Days? Damn.

Man, these caucuses are crazy. No wonder nobody really knows what a caucus is; you take one look at it, who'd ever know? What's great is that there's essentially the Hilary crowd yelling at the Obama crowd, and like three people for Edwards in the back. The good news is that turnout is bigger than expected, so while it's slowing down the process a bit, at least there's more chaos. And I guess people are making their voices heard or whatever. But nothing would make me happier than just seeing the Hilary crowd full on fight the Obama crowd.

And the best part is that since it's Nevada, a ton of the caucuses are in casinos. It all comes full circle.

Someone literally called out "Excuse me are there any Edwards people in here?" And the woman up front looked around and said "okay, so there's two?" Awesome.

And there's one for Gravel! Awesome. This is the best election ever. The only thing that could make it better is for Hunter Thompson to be alive to cover it.

For those not in the loop, I got me a job this semester! That's right, a good old-fashioned workin' job! And thirteen hours a week at that. Four of them on Friday. Three of them Tuesday morning starting at 9. You know what this means? It means that after two years of trying to make my schedule not in any way resemble your typical workaday schedule, I got myself situated with just that.

But it'll be good. I could use the money, I suppose. And I've got time.

So I finally saw the rest of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and honestly, why did this get such a bad rap? I mean, I know it was kinda batshit insane, but it was relentlessly entertaining and pretty much in tune with what had come before it, if what came before it could be said to have any sort of focus.

Take Me Home Country Roads

Every time I get a message while on the Internet that says "Firefox prevented this site from opening a popup window" I give a little cheer for Firefox.

I never get over how bizarre airports are. I know this will make me sound like my friend who was once astounded at the reality that my dad could box up a wireless Internet router and send it across the country, but there is something amazing about walking by doorway after doorway, each with an ever-changing sign - Munich, Manchester, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas. And consider that, if the airport just blocked off the windows, it would appear to the casual observer that thousands of people every day walked through those doorways, and somehow end up in one of those far-off cities.

Of course, just as my friend could not comprehend the mail system but had no trouble accepting wireless Internet routing (much less the Internet itself), I'm always amazed at airports but have little trouble accepting the concept of the airplane. The airplane, of course, is probably the great modern invention*, but its actual workings are so far beyond my knowledge that I just accept it. I can't figure out how they keep boats above water; the idea of keeping something the size (and weight) of an airplane in the air is insane. So insane that my only recourse is to accept it outright. I'm sure this is something innate in everyone - the disbelief in things that you can rationalize, and the acceptance of those you cannot.**

These ruminations on modern travel come courtesy of my two-hour layover in Chicago, one of the great airports, but like many, lacking Internet service (this message posted after arriving in Boston). It's not nearly as cool as Dallas, which features an unmanned train to take you from terminal to terminal, but in lacking this feature, Chicago is also much less freaky.*** But Chicago has everything - off the top of my head, I saw a sign for a Children's Museum, and an announcement just came over the system that Mass will be held in forty-five minutes. In an AIRPORT. The real reason I love Chicago is because it's a layover city, though, and there is probably a terminal in this place to service every city you can think of, thus multiplying my constant amazement at the airport system.

Time to hit the Wolfgang Puck. The current threat security level is still Orange, in case you were wondering.

*After the Internet.

**This must have been why it was so easy to sell magic for so long.

**Seriously. I took that train once and I probably went through five waves of shock, euphoria, and acceptance, realizing over and over again that NO ONE IS DRIVING THIS TRAIN.