Reading (For Dummies)

From DC to Light

I went on a grand voyage with Stevis to visit Dan in his new Reston, VA home. A nice 6 hour drive to DC traffic, Reston and the general DC area is much nicer than I remember it.

We marched around downtown DC catching the sights, including giant concrete barriers designed to prevent cars from getting remotely close to the capitol buildings. Security is tighter in DC than anywhere I've seen. I actually don't mind much -- being my first visit to the area as an adult, I have a bit better appreciation for the history of the place. It has an almost European city feel, attention is actually being paid to the architecture and layout. My fears of working down around that area are all but gone, replaced with a sense of wonder at sights and nightlife.

We met up with some of Dan-o's friends downtown, some very nifty computer/rennasaince nerds that are fortunate to have dinner with Bruce Schneier on occassion. Joe, one of the couple, gave me some advice that I oft-gave to high school pals but had completely forgotten about -- when things are boring where you are, move. It helps more than you'd ever think. Amazing how one night can strengthen my resolve.

There is even enough to do outdoors, thanks to the Potomac river. The hiking again reminded me of travels in Europe -- you don't often see so many people enjoying the sun and heat in the immediate vicinity of Syracuse.

In a word, Dan has it made working for the USGS, doing whatever it is that he does. The suburban sprawl is forgiveable in lieu of fairly closeby outdoor and historical recreation. DC, here I come...

Michael Moore in Syracuse

I grew up on Michael Moore. I remember this one moment very vividly: I was sitting in my living room with my mom and dad, watching TV Nation. Mr. Moore took communism for its last ride, driving an red 18-wheeler complete with star and sickle, and filled with USSR propaganda. He toured the US with it, judging people's reactions to the Socialist's Last Stand. I didn't really understand my dad and brother Jason laughing so hard, but I laughed, too; kids are supposed to emulate their elders when they don't know what to do.

It hadn't dawned on me then what the end of the cold war meant for us, but it would soon. GI Joe and Transformers gave way to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, reflecting our threat model's transition from the enemy who had a just plain different worldview from us to one who built better cars, knew ninjitsu, but otherwise played by the same rules. Fortunately open borders meant that Splinter could come and teach us how to fight on a level playing field. I've come to consider kids cartoons as one of the truest barometers of political climate.

Tonight I got to hear the heralder of changing television programming give a speech in the Carrier Dome, to a sold-out crowd of 10,000+ no less. I had never been to a Moore speech before, and didn't know quite what to expect. I didn't anticipate not being able bring my camera inside (it seems odd that a person who fights large media would be reluctant to allow liberal bloggers to record his speech).

Of course, cameras in the traditional sense are becoming obsolete in lieue of new-fangled cellphones that can snap 1 megapixel pictures and even record soundbytes and movies. The speech was fairly predictable, a dash of Bush-bashing, a pinch of, "John Kerry is a Douchebag, but I'm Voting for him Anyway (and so should you)." The college republicans, while present, were fairly well-behaved, much to their credit.

Even Moore seems a little bit down these days, which is understandable. Let's just all promise to vote, and maybe make it a little more fun this time.

Marragies IV

My brother, Jason, got married over the weekend, giving me a sister-in-law. It was a hectic event of happiness and hopefulness -- one of us has proved to survive our family with some degree of normalcy, perhaps others of us can follow suit. The opportunity seems to be opening up with another one of those reunion of sorts.

The ceremony took place at St. Peter's church (website pending) in Haddonfield(?), a standard neo-american catholic church (complete with gravestone on the side as a tribute to the "innocent victims of abortion"). The formal festivities were nice, though, and everyone seems to be happy to see the cute couple get all nice and legally bound. I do have to admit a curious fascination with being able to say that I have a sister-in-law...

We all headed down to the Renault Winery for the old reception dinner and live action DJ announcements. It was quite a relief to have the whole thing handled and fairly mingle-friendly, which let me meet up with some relatives and old family friends that I have not seen in a long long time. At this point, I'm wishing that I could retrieve the pictures I took with my cell phone (bluetooth file transfer with the v600 seems to have broken with one of the Apple security updates). I was able to talk to my Aunt Linda, Uncle Jerry, and cousins Emma and Leanne for a bit of a while, learning all about their goings-on. Their news of the last 10 years includes horse training, veterinary school, and a very cool outdoor life in what sounds to be one of the few bastions of wilderness sanity in the Northeast: Colebrook, Connecticut. Another fall trip will be out to see them and re-unite with a chunk of family that I have been missing.

It is amazing to me how such magical things can happen at a wedding. Gaining a new wing of family that I don't really know is pushing me to get to re-discover the family that I've had all along...

SUOC Initiation

I officially joined SUOC last night at their first meeting of the academic year. It was a riot.

After the meeting, we all piled into the SUOC house (conveniently located directly behind my house) for a partay. Normally these things end with a fair number of attractive lasses (and a proportionate number of lads) removing their clothing to talk a little more "freely." Fortunately we kept these things Victorian enough on the first night, so as to not scare the newcomers (like me). Not that there wasn't a fair amount of crazy things happening, mind you.

I got a full tour of the house, which includes an elaborate rock climbing gym in the attic, a stairway used for practicing snowboarding skills (pictured, right), a keg lift for easy beer delivery in the basement via an outside door, and kayaks, mountain bikes, and caving equipment scattered all throughout the house. It is a phenomonal behomian wet-dream of a place to lay one's head down to sleep. I could easily get in a lot of trouble this year...

The first trips are going out already, but I'm booked for the next two weekends with a wedding and a visit to Virginia. Not that I mind, my body is starting to ache all over every morning from too much exercise...

In Search of Warmer Spaces

I caught an interesting perspective piece on home, family, and emotional dysfunction the other night. Garden State is a pretty cool film, even if we in the wine world might call it a little unbalanced -- a very light and fluffy opening with a harsh melodramatic lingering finish. Still I can take a lot away from the piece, which is what's best in the end.

In search of peace through exploration of nature today, I decided to wander about the Ithaca area with Stephen, travelling to Fillmore Glen Falls and Taughannock Falls (pictured). We chatted away the afternoon in slow conversation of family comparison. I've missed such non-strenuous and therapeutic behavior over the last few weeks -- I've been running myself stupid averaging 25k on my shoes, and easing off my biking only a little. Waaaay too much time alone with a very elevated heart rate is fine for strengthening the lungs, but doesn't do much good for the brain. As a creature defined as primarily cerebral, I'd have to say that behavior pattern change is in order. We have a few more hikes planned out, and some travelling to see DJN in a few weeks.

Still, if I can manage to keep the running up during the week, the Philadelphia Marathon may be in the cards. Of course that's a rather tenuous self-promise, but after dropping my Wine & Beer Appreciation course, it may become a reality.

500...

So I've hit 500 entries, quite a lot for this old blog engine of mine. I decided it might be time for a little appearance change, so I stole some templates and made them work. Pardon me while I sort everything out, you can always visit the site rendered the old way.

Metrosexual Internet Junky Suburban Cowboy

The state of New York was infinitely wise when it provided a sales tax hiatus on clothing this week. I went on a shopping spree, with my upstairs neighbor, Lindsay (also known as Pete's wife^Wgirlfriend), using me as a dress-up doll.

It went quite well.

Metrosexual clothing: $252

I can finally retire a lot of my old t-shirts and beat-up pants, though. Thanks to Queer Eye for the inspiration.

On to the Internet portion of my title. We've hijacked the upstair's neighbors wireless network, and made a quite convoluted network of our own out of it.

My laptop goes through 3 routers and a wireless to wired bridge before hitting the internet

I thought the setup was quite spectacular. Even funnier is the fact that Greg D. upstairs has an open Airport Express in his room -- connected to his computer speakers. Let the 2 a.m. blasting of Ride of the Valkrye commence.

In closing, I leave you with this picture of me in my 3-piece curdoroy suit, which I wore to the first instance of each class this semester.

Be sure to make a good first impression