Things that have made me laugh today

As a warning, I am alone in the lab, the day before Thanksgiving, having already accomplished my one goal for the day:

"A search of his car uncovered pornography, a home-made sex aid, women's stockings and a Jack Russell terrier." In a story about a dude being pulled over because they thought he had a weapon and then the police finding that in fact he was fucking a jar of pasta sauce.

Having a conversation with a Chinese woman about the difference between the words "bacteria" and "bacterial." Go ahead, say them in your head with a Chinese accent.

Would of course be funnier if he wasn't OUR president. Who WE elected. Twice.

In other news:
We started watching Man Men, season 1. I see the potential, but I feel like it is starting a little slowly. Definitely going to watch through Season 2 though.
Has it been that long since I reviewed movies?!??!
Lars and the Real Girl: Incredibly well done. Just great all around. I cant give a synopsis because either you won't see it or you will see it for the wrong reasons. But you should see it.
Rome, Season 2: Bloodier, sexier, raunchier, more pornographic, more extravagance.
Breakfast at Tiffany's: Beautiful, classic Audrey. Does more need to be said?
Dreamgirls: Jennifer Hudson was great. overall the movie was very good, a little long it seemed, like Boogie Nights was long, because it covers so much time it seems to be very long, but probably isnt. I would recommend it if you are at all interested in musicals and it is kinda chicky.
Lolita: Kubrick's. I didnt really get it. I mean I got it, but not why it was such a big deal. I guess it exemplifies the difference between 1962 and now. It was REALLY long. I probably wouldnt recommend it to anyone because anyone who would really like it has probably seen it. It is not Kubrick in the way I think of Kubrick.
In The Bedroom: It was ok. It felt a little self important. Worth seeing but not moving to the top of your queue. Has at least one part I couldnt watch. Tom Wilkinson was great.
The History Boys: Very Dead Poets Society. A bit edgier. Feel like I would have liked some background on how the school system works in England. Richard Griffiths was fantastic.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix: I almost feel like maybe they should nto have made these movies. So much has to be cut that some of the feel and the wonder and awe gets lost. But I must admit, that after this one I felt once again that I wanted to be at Hogwarts. So badly. I know, big dork, right here.
Hell House: A documentary about the original Hell House put on by the Trinity Church Assemblies of God in Cedar Hill, Texas (I know shocker). A haunted house of sorts where the hauntings are sins like homosexuality, domestic violence and school shootings, re-enacted (with real guns even) by high school kids who are then dragged off to hell for not repenting. At the end you get to be saved. Gained notoriety for portraying the Columbine shootings 6 months after the fact. With real guns. Loaded with blanks. But still. Crazy fucking Christians. I would recommend it assuming you arent one of them. Was talked about on This American Life.
The Professional: Early Natalie Portman (she was 13). Jean Reno is absolutely fantastic. Creepy Gary Oldman. Had a bit of a late 80's, early 90's feel to it, but worth seeing despite that.
Cars: Ratatouille good, not Bugs Life good.

Food:
Made this last week:
Chipotle Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. Used lager instead of Mexican beer. Used yellow onion instead of red onion for the salsa. Didnt do the cranberry sauce thing. Just used sour cream. Fabulous. Really really good. Even though I am not a huge pumpkin fan. And not a bring sweet/savory mixing fan. So yeah. Highly recommend!!!! Would probably cut the chicken broth in half so it was a bit thicker. Good leftover too.






Also made this:
Italian Sausage Supper Stuffing. OH MY GOD! SOOOOO yummy. Really just so awesome. We used Italian long hots because they didnt have cubanelles. Seriously recommended. A bit on the complicated side, a lot going at once, so is easier with two people. The sauce itself is totally worth it.

Also made this:
Speedy Layered Chicken Enchilada Pie. I didnt cut the tortillas, I just used a round baking dish and used them whole. I am not really surea botu the whole half vs strips thing. Seems complicated. I used Trader Joe's enchilada sauce and chipotle salsa which I really like. Also, I left the corn fozen because I didnt notice it said thawed and that was totally fine. And I used colby jack. Really quick and easy and tasty. Would also recommend.


Radio:
Have been listening to This American Life recently and have fallen in love. Oh Ira Glass. What is with guys named Ira and public radio huh?
Also still love Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. Oh Peter!

Games:
Have fallen in love with and may possibly be a little obsessed with Guitar Hero World Tour. Sigh. I know. But it is so much fun! Dan has it for the PS3. And he has a guitar, bass, drumkit and microphone. And it is so much fun! I am getting near being a strong medium guitarist and bassist. I cant really drum and should never be allowed near a mic apparently. But even that doesnt bother me. So yeah. So much fun! Ok, I will stop.

Nina and I had a bit of an incident last week. She essentially told me that she donest want me here anymore. And maybe I should get a Masters. And I pretty much told her that that is too bad cuz it is her job to support me and I am getting my PhD. Out of spite if nothing else. So yeah, that didnt go well.

Matty leaves Friday for Ireland. He will be gone until the 8th. Without me. I will be all alone trying to get our apartment ready for our holiday party and doing the shopping and starting the cooking. I am not looking forward to it. I dont sleep well without him. And I have never actually lived alone. Soooo . . . yeah. We will see how that goes. But I am happy for him. He is going to have such a great time.

I would like to remind you to: Send me your unique, your guilty pleasures. Send me your playlists!

Have a great Thanksgiving! Leaving for RI in about an hour. Just one more hour to waste.

I know kung fu!

I know what you are saying. We do not nearly hear enough about Sara's life anymore! And what is worse, we do not hear nearly enough about Sara's distant in-laws to-be and what they are up to. And I know! So here is a tidbit. When you hear about Matty's aunt, the federal court judge, and her husband, the successful lawyer, and you hear that they have two sons you probably think that they graduated from William and Mary and live near DC and do accounting and drive a fancy two seat sports car. And you would half right. The other one graduated from URI with degrees in Chinese and Woman Studies and is now in China.

Doing kung fu.

Uh huh. Kung fu.



We think that is him around 1:17. He made the video. Well, the new program starts next September for foreigners and so if you or anyone else you know is interested . . . in learning kung fu from a Taoist master in China . . . contact me and I will get you in contact with him.

Send me your unique, your obscure, your guilty pleasures. Send me your playlists

Ok, so I started doing this last year with . . . . ok success. So this time I am widening my net and increasing the time frame. I would like to collect the "Playlists of 2008." What were you listening to this year? Not necessarily music that came out this year or even that you discovered this year. But if you were to design the playlist for the last year in 10ish songs, what would be on there? Now most useful would be if you could actually send me the songs. I recommend drop.io or http://www.sendspace.com/. You can just put the link in a comment. If you do not want to share with all of the readers of this blog, all 4 of them, get in touch with me with the link directly. If you do not actually have a way of getting in touch with me, which I do not think is the case with any of you, but if so, you can send me a comment and tell me not to publish it and I won't. If you either do not have the songs in a shareable format or do not believe in sharing music, that is fine, just send me the list and I will find the songs myself. I would really like to have the lists by January 6th and actual songs by January 8th. I will be posting reminders. But start compiling and let me know. If anyone else is interested I will post my list when I actually complete it. Thanks!

Happy Veterans Day

Have I mentioned I love Keith Olbermann? Because I really do.


I have been meaning to do a post about Prop 8 and simply have not had time. And so this will have to suffice for now. I found out a friend of ours voted for Prop 8 and I just don't get it. Apparently he voted for it because his wife told him to. But that isnt the worst part. The worst part is that she told him to vote for it because she had heard that some schools were allowing children with gender identity disorder to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify as opposed to that with which they were born. That is what he said to another friend who called us in disbelief. They did not vote because of the "sanctity of marriage." They did not do it for religious or political reasons. They voted flat out anti-gay. Because they are afraid that their one year old son might one day be in the same bathroom as another child with a vagina? (It seems to me if they are so afraid of gays that would be preferable to having two children with penises in there. No?) So in order to stop that from happening they must make sure that people who love one another do not have the same civil rights as they do? I do not get it. I just don't get it.

So on this day that we honor those who have risked their lives so that we may be free, I write this post about how some are less free than others. Because today while thinking of all those people who thought this country was worth giving their lives for, we must think about all the reasons and ways it should be more worthy of that sacrifice.

A quick update

So Tuesday was fabulous.

A President who represents hope and not fear. Change and not stagnation. Dreams and not nightmares. And he has already gone to work. He has a lot of work to do.

A majority in both Houses.

Philly wasn't destroyed or even seriously damaged in the impromptu celebrations on Broad (as opposed to the celebrations for the Phillies).

It wasnt perfect.

We didnt get the magic 60 in the Senate, but what are the odds that all Dems would vote the same way anyway.

Prop 8 was passed.

Wednesday was my thesis committee meeting. Fabulous and perfect are pretty much opposites of how that went.

I will not be graduating in May. I might be able to graduate in August. Partly this means that the next few months will be hellish, but not as hellish as they could have been. It also means that if I need to be looking for a teaching job in the spring for the fall, I might not know by then that I could graduate in the fall. So I cant really look for a job in the spring. Which means I cant get a job for the fall. It also means that my hope for a June 2010 wedding is pretty much out the window. Which shouldnt even upset me since until September I wasnt planning on graduating until early 2010 anyway. But since September I have had this idea in my mind that I could be out of here in May. And I could have a summer "off" before starting the new part of my life. And I would be done with this. And I want to get married. I want to plan a wedding. Because I can honestly say that I dont want to be here anymore. Case in point to why I dont want to be here anymore. My meeting, this most important of meetings was Wednesday at 3. Last Thursday Nina informed me that the earliest she could meet with me to discuss it was Friday. At noon. After what we thought was a root canal but turned out to be a simple dental appointment. The problem being that the Phillies World Series parade was Friday. At noon. So I went to the parade and then walked back to work to meet with her. She came in and told me that due to Septa ridiculousness, she was going to leave and try to get a train. So instead of being able to work over the weekend on my presentation (the way that she wanted it) I made a presentation the way I wanted it. Knowing it would be changed. But at least it was a groundwork. Monday she came in and told me that she was too busy to meet with me but would meet with me Tuesday to discuss my slides and what we were going to say to the committee. Tuesday her door was closed when I arrived and the whole day until she left. At noon. Without telling anyone. Without coming to find me. Without even emailing me. I finally heard from her by email at 3:30 telling me she would meet me at 10 on Wednesday. Wednesday we met from 10:15-11:30. She changed every single one of my slides except the title slide. Which gave me 3 hours to completely change my entire fucking presentation. Not that a better presentation would have made then decide I could graduate. But I would have at least known what to say for each slide. I would have had time to relax and eat lunch before giving my talk. I would have in better control and I would have been able to answer questions better. And at least if it didnt go well I could say I did my best. I dont want to deal with this anymore. It is one thing that my experiments dont work and I dont know why. It is one thing that am alone and isolated in the lab and some days do not say a single word to anyone until I get home and see Matty. It is one thing that I have no help from anyone, no one to discuss problems or experiments or data with except my boss who is too busy to meet with me, or anyone else. We havent had a meeting the two of us to discuss my work in over a month and a half. We havent had an actual planned lab meeting since . . . . . . . . . May? Maybe March? But if at least my boss was supportive. If at least when it cames to things like that if she could not wait to change EVERYTHING until 5 hours before a meeting. At least it would be something.

Ok. Back to work.

My mom is coming this weekend. I can look forward to that at least.

Another reason to Remember, Remember the 5th of November