Here's a funny take on the recent election...Fuck the South!

I finished making travel plans for AGU in December. I managed to get on the same flight as Beth back to Phoenix. I even got the seat right next to her! All it cost me was an extra $120, but I get reimbursed for that, so it's ok. I thought about using my frequent flyer miles, but that is one of the blackout days. Besides, I should keep saving my frequent flyer miles for Kelly and my trip to Europe. I only need 50,000 for one round trip ticket, and I've got 42,000.

I'm back now from the synchrotron in New York. I had more fun this time because I got to be by myself. Saturday was kindof a training day on the x-ray microscope, but Sunday I got to do everything on my own. I finished up everything Monday morning, but my flight didn't leave until the afternoon, so I got to drive around Long Island a bit. First I went to the huge Tanger Outlet Center near Riverhead. Then I drove back to JFK airport along the barrier islands, stopping at the famous Jones Beach. I'm also in the middle of reading the Godfather, so it's cool to drive through Long Beach, where the Corleone compound was. Sonny Corleone was killed on the Jones Beach Causeway in the book. I could tell that some of the movie was actually filmed on Long Island.

I guess the giant douche won...or was it the turd sandwich?

I voted today. My choices for president were Bush, Kerry, and Micheal Badnarik (the libertarian candidate). I don't respect Bush, and the libertarians scare me (they want to get rid of all government welfare, including research funding), so I voted for Kerry. However, for any of the other races, I voted for libertarians whenever possible. Even though I don't agree with their politics, I do think they are more likely to be free thinkers than republicans and democrats. They don't really have a party line to follow, so they have to figure out things for themselves. Also, they take government a step back and ask, "Is this what the government SHOULD be doing?" I like that question. So I'll vote for libertarian candidates for local and state elections, but never for president.

Let me just say how stupid this whole Ugg fashion craze is. My whole family had pairs of bona fide Uggs when I was in second grade, way before they Paris Hilton bought a pair, way back when they were just a small company making shearling slippers and boots. They were very comfortable and warm, great for wearing in the house during the winter in Oregon when the heat wasn't working. Now they're just a fashion statement. The fact that girls are wearing them in Arizona is laughable, because I know how warm they can get.

The phrase "no taxation without representation" popped into my mind today, and I started thinking about the reverse, "no representation without taxation". What if you had to be a registered voter to pay taxes? In other words, if you gave up your voting rights, you wouldn't have to pay taxes! How would the US change if it adopted this kind of policy? If the filthy rich gave up their voting rights in order to keep their gross income, they could still affect politics by donations. But if all the upper and middle classes gave up their voting rights, could the lower classes gain political power? Of course, if that happened, taxes would be sky high.

I think that John Mayer is to me as Sheryl Crow is to Kelly. He's totally copying me. Look at the cover of his new album.

I turned 26 today. Yay me! Actually, nothing special happens at 26, so it seems like any other day. Except tonight I get yummy Italian food from Molise.

Kelly gave me some awesome cologne.

Happy Birthday, Kelly!!!

Think how lucky one has to be to capture this sort of thing on film...

There's a funny parody of Bush and Kerry on JibJab.com. Click on the "This Land" link to watch it.

I took the day off yesterday in order to avoid all the craziness going on at ASU for the presidential debates. It seems like that was a good idea. I was also sulking a bit. You see, I found out on Tuesday that my Science paper was rejected. It got three OK reviews and one really bad review--"You shouldn't be practicing science" bad. You can probably guess how all that made me feel. But I'm better now, and I have some ideas on how to make the paper better for submission in another journal.

I watched the third-party presidential debate at Cornell. They were replaying it on C-SPAN this weekend. It was interesting to hear these guys who have no chance in hell of becoming president. Nader wasn't there, but they had guys from the Constitution Party, the Green Party, the Socialist Party, and the Libertarian Party. The Constitution Party guy would answer all the questions with, "The government does not have the constitutional right". The Socialist Party guy was an old curmudgeon who kept talking about the party's history. The Green and Libertarian Party guys were interesting.

If you're looking for a cool chill-out CD, try Sonido Uzumaki. It's a compilation of songs for an art show that's only available from the Music Related label. Check out a sample mix here.

Hey, check me out looking like a dork on Tom Sharp's new research website.

Yikes! I just saw Beth's evil twin! I had to look twice to make sure Beth hadn't snuck back to AZ to escape the apocalyptic horrors of Washington. But sadly, no, it was just her evil twin. I wonder what my evil twin is up to these days? I wonder if he graduated from Northwestern?

The word of the day is kakistocracy.

I saw a funny sign at the Kerry booth today:


PRACTICE
ABSTINANCE
in 2004
NO BUSH! NO DICK!

Kelly and I watched the first presidential debate last night. Kerry came off looking pretty good, in my opinion. He stood up straight and was very clear and direct. Bush was slouching the whole time, and he kept rambling and looking at the audience like "Come on. I know what I'm doing, so just let me do it" with that stupid smirk on his face. The big difference I see between the two is that Kerry wants to get the hell out of Iraq as soon as possible, and Bush wants to stay there. Bush kept saying that we have to stay until the job is done, or else the terrorists win. Iraq can't be won. You can't kill all the terrorists. We just need to make sure Iraq can stand on it's own and then get out of there. It's not our country, so we shouldn't try to turn it into another USA. It just won't happen. Let Iraq manage Iraq, not Halliburton.

Sorry for getting so political. I'll try not to let it happen again...until next Friday.