| It's starting to sink in... |
[Jan. 22nd, 2009|03:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Elvis Costello - Pump It Up | ] |
Probably due to a combination of talking with my parents about it last night, applying for my diploma, and finally receiving my final aid disbursement (it's taken a longer time than usual, thank you very much UMB), I'm realizing the proximity of my graduation. I knew it before, but there's a certain more tangible sense to it today. I don't know, more than likely it's just finally getting a chance to sink in because I have some downtime on my rotation. Just submitted about half of my paperwork, and there's well more than half of the rotation to go, so it's nice to be ahead of the proverbial 8 ball. In other news I have vacation plans after my last rotation! Can't wait to relax and not worry about schoolwork for a week! |
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| No More Bush! |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|01:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Muse - Hysteria | ] |
We'll see how Barack Obama handles the office of President, but it's official. W is out of the Oval Office! That alone is reason to be more optimistic about the future. If nothing else he's a much more inspiring person and better representative for the U.S. than his predecessor. |
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| The last leg... |
[Jan. 16th, 2009|02:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Does It Offend You Yeah? - Dawn of the Dead | ] |
Just a quick update on the school situation: I am now in my next-to-last rotation, and the final leg of pharmacy school as I like to think of it. After these two rotations are finished in 9 weeks, then all I have to do are a few little tests and whatnot and I am done! May can't come quickly enough! |
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| R.I.P. Bradley Effect |
[Nov. 7th, 2008|12:04 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The National - Gospel | ] |
...if you ever existed anyway. As the AP reports, "Whether whites supported Barack Obama or not, they don't seem to have lied to pollsters about it." Nate Silver's spot-on prediction of the popular vote at 538.com should kill this annoying false hope of McCain supporters. I never thought it made sense myself, and even think Occam's razor would argue against it, since mere sampling error or other polling error doesn't require the supposition that voters would lie to pollsters.
So pollsters can breathe easily since a) they mostly got it right (if anything, the surprises were from Obama winning states more easily or from states like OH and FL being called earlier than expected) and b) they don't have to worry about voters lying to them. |
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| The day after |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|09:52 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Paramore - CrushCrushCrush | ] |
Wow, no calls on any of the remaining Senate races yet, although the AP is reporting Coleman is in the lead in MN over Frnaken by 571 votes with 100% reporting. I smell a recount... Stevens is unfortunately in the lead in AK, his campaign might have sent enough internets through the tubes to hold on to his support. Good thing they didn't arrive three days late.
I am loving that Obama 52%-46% popular vote margin, over 7,000,000 in raw numbers too. |
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| Writer's Block: Secret Ballot |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|12:12 pm] |
I was in line for well over an hour, but there were no complaints from anyone. I still don't like voting machines with no paper trail, but it's not like MD (and Baltimore epecially) is a battleground in any election (except maybe the slots amendment, but are they really going to cook the results for that one?). It looks like another normal Election Day, except for the number of people. I waited half an hour four years ago, which was a personal record for me. Based on this anecdotal evidence alone, turnout should be big this year. |
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| I voted! |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|11:17 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Bloc Party - One Month Off | ] |
But I lost my "I Voted" sticker! Dammit. For the record, this blog supports: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Congressman Elijah Cummings, and early voting in Maryland. I definitely would have voted earlier had the opportunity been there. |
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| Speaking of assholes in sports media... |
[Oct. 26th, 2008|08:58 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Muse - Time Is Running Out | ] |
So the Phillies are currently in Game 4 with a 2-1 advantage in the World Series (Game 3 should have ended earlier than it did though, the umps blew a call big time that led to 2 runs for the Rays.) and I just have to ask: Does anyone else think Joe Buck comes off as a major league asshole? I originally thought he was biased against Philadelphia for all of his talk about the "futility of the Phillies with runners in scoring position" and what not. They're still winning dumbass. Then he gets on Tampa Bay regarding the slumps of their 3-4 hitters in similarly deprecating fashion. I think the guy just might be an asshole in general. Whatever happened to just calling the events of the game? Maybe he just likes to mention stats but doesn't realize how much of an ass that makes him sound like. Nah he's just an asshole.
Meanwhile I'm left wondering why we have to be stuck with Fox covering the World Series. I haven't even gotten to Tim McCarver... |
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| YAY!!! |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|11:10 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye | ] |
Permit me a moment's jubilation: The Phillies WON Game 1 of the World Series!!!!
I know there's a long way to go still, but this was a crucial win. One of the bigger hurdles the Phils had to overcome was Tampa Bay's daunting home record, an off-the-charts 57-24 (.703) during the regular season, coupled with the Rays' playing 4 games at home. Thankfully they had the answer: stellar pitching in the form of ace starter Cole Hamels (now 4-0, 1.55 ERA in the 2008 postseason) and setup-closer duo Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge (47-0 in save opportunities this year). Not that they can relax as the series progresses, but if the Phillies' starters can leave the mound with a lead, it looks like their bullpen can reliably shut their opponents down.
Then there's the bonus of my team showing up an asshole sportswriter. For the record, Caple was the only one on ESPN.com to predict a sweep. My thoughts before the series were that it was going at least 6. Although my hope is that the Phils win in 4 or 5 so the team can celebrate onfield in Philly, I will definitely take a title however it happens. |
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| Phrase I never want to hear again, ever... |
[Oct. 21st, 2008|10:30 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Death Cab for Cutie - Bixby Canyon Bridge | ] |
"Joe the Plumber."
I realize it's probably not the guy's fault exactly, and I really can't fault him for trying to grab his 15 minutes, but enough already! It's still mind-boggling that John McCain and Co. thought that they could get blue-collar workers to care about higher taxes for quarter-millionaires by using this guy as an example. I don't have the desire to respond to any of this; I'm just tired of it all.
This one could get nominated for LSSU's banished words list. |
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| Great Francona article |
[Oct. 16th, 2008|05:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Stereo MCs - Connected | ] |
Just in case the Red Sox do not pull off one of their patented miraculous comebacks, I wanted to highlight a great NYT article about Terry Francona, the manager who led them to both singular accomplishments. Imagine my surprise when I saw the author was Doug Glanville, a player I remember watching from the stands while Francona managed the Phillies. Who better qualified to write about the guy's managerial style? I always liked Francona, and wished the Phillies hadn't canned him. I would argue that he laid the foundation for the team's recent resurgence the past few years. If only he could have seen his work to its fruition, but he did get two World Series championships, so he's doing fine. |
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| Yes, he said that... |
[Oct. 15th, 2008|01:04 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | My Morning Jacket - Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt 2 | ] |
Quite the incredibly hilarious quote from Phillies Game 4 hero Matt Stairs:
“You want to get that one big hit where you feel like you’re part of the team. Not that I don’t feel like I’m part of the team, by no means, but when you get that nice celebration coming into the dugout and you’re getting your ass hammered by guys, it’s no better feeling than to have that done.”
Context might help here: The guy had just hit the game-winning home run in the 8th inning plus it was his first postseason homer ever despite a long MLB career. I can grant him some manic energy, but it doesn't change the humor of it! |
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| That makes 3!!! |
[Oct. 13th, 2008|05:20 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Ben Folds & Regina Spektor - You Don't Know Me | ] |
This is a couple days old, but I want to highlight it.
Connecticut Supreme Court ruled prohibiting same-sex marriage is unconstitutional which is huge news. First of all that now makes three states that legally recognize same-sex marriage. Furthermore CT was the first of the three that had already legally recognized civil unions, indeed the first state to legalize civil unions. Thus this is the first state supreme court to rule that civil unions are not equivalent to marriages. I'm thinking that this issue could soon develop downhill momentum, especially if the referendum in CA is shot down. Given enough time, I'm sure Americans will start to realize that having gay people marry is not affecting straight marriage in the slightest.
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| Hmmmm... |
[Oct. 10th, 2008|02:33 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow | ] |
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
The McCain-Palin campaign released a rebuttal of the AK legislature's probe into her firing of Walter Monegan for what he claims was his refusal to fire the governor's ex-brother-in-law, get this: the day before the report was scheduled to be released (today). Huh? Aw hell, I'll join the preemptive fun.
I think this move screams that the report will have some damning evidence in it. If it doesn't then this was just a stupid move by Camp McCain because it draws more attention to the report. Case in point: I'm even more interested in its contents than I was yesterday. In addition, it's not guaranteed that the legislature will release the report to the public either; a vote is scheduled today on that. Why does AK have to be 4 hours behind EDT?
Yet more stupidity from the Republican ticket. Are they trying to lose badly next month?
P.S.: Yay Phillies! |
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| Are you John McCain's friend? |
[Oct. 8th, 2008|08:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Mute Math - Typical | ] |
Just a couple quick observations on the presidential debate:
Did anyone count how many times McCain said "My friends?" I guess he was trying to come off as approachable and friendly, but it didn't work. Indeed he didn't say it in any way that made it sound like it was something he generally says, so it came off as insincere. Was this format really supposed
Obama didn't seem like he adequately addressed any of McCain's points that might have gotten traction, which admittedly weren't many. For one thing, I think he could have better addressed the earmarks-are-a-very-small-portion-of-the-federal-budget point by using percentages of the federal budget instead of figures. It's more effective to say it's only 1% of the budget vs. only $80 billion of an $8 trillion budget. (I made those numbers up to illustrate the point, they're not meant to be accurate.) I think he was in more of a "look stately, don't lose" mentality, which probably is what he needed to do.
Tom Brokaw sucked as a moderator. What was up with that "evil empire" question?
It was irredeemably boring as well. I definitely tuned in and out of it because the format sucked, the questions were mostly silly what-ifs, and Brokaw was too strict with the rules at times. Hopefully the next debate will be a little more lively. It might have to be because McCain's numbers will probably be worse next week due to the slumping economy and his lack of gaining traction on Obama at this debate. We'll see... |
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| Still unpacking... |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|04:24 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Alice in Chains - Angry Chair | ] |
I didn't think it would take so long to get unpacked and settled in our new house, especially since I had a month off. Of course I was working nearly full time, so "month off" had a very specific definition. But then again, it has only been 3 weeks since the furniture was moved, so it's probably not too bad. It's just that the house doesn't feel like home yet, you know?
And I'm currently on my first rotation, so my last year of pharmacy school has officially begun. I really like my preceptor, so I'm enjoying this one, and right now I just have a strong desire to finish pharmacy school so I can proceed to the next stage of my life. Well we will see how this goes. It's just going to be a little harder to finish packing with this going on. |
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| The offer is in... |
[Apr. 28th, 2008|06:45 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Muse - Knights of Cydonia | ] |
Well we have officially placed an offer on a house. It's a townhouse in a condo complex that is very close to us, and really suits our lifestyle. The condo fees take care of maintenance (snow removal, roof repairs, etc.) so that's less we have to worry about. This is the first time I've ever tried to buy a home, so it's been a major learning process. I'm holding out hope we'll get a definite yes by tomorrow, but I guess we'll see. It would be fantastic to have central air this summer...
Meanwhile this has been an absolutely miserable day. Rain, gloom, the whole nine yards. Then to top it all off, over 6 hours of class. Which I'm only enduring because I'm going to be hitting up Pickles Pub with my friend tonight and we'll be heading back to my place after class. The morning session was actually really good, because the instructor was one of the few professors in this school who can actually teach. I had already learned a good deal of it thanks to women's health class last semester, but it was a nice refresher. The afternoon though... snore... |
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agnoiologist's journal