burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Man, it is so good to feel normal (shuddup) again.  I think it really did take a week for me to fully recover from travel-lag -- which is lame, 'cause it was 2 weeks and I'm 24 years old, but there it is.

I had pasta for lunch today because I hadn't had Spangler pasta in ages.  It wasn't all that fulfilling and I suspect I may be living on burritos a lot, but that's okay.

I went back to the gym today for the first time since I came back from Europe.  (Memberships expire on August 31, so I also renewed my membership.  Is $200 for a full year -- which averages to <$17/month.)

I seem to be a masochist because I decided to do the treadmill.  I started at 5.5mph and after a few minutes (literally) I was so ready to be done.  Weirdly, my hips were hurting (though it got better by about halfway through).  A couple times I brought it down to walking pace (4mph) briefly, and after the first ten minutes I only brought it back up to 5mph, but I still did 2.55miles in 30minutes.  I looked in the mirror when I went back to the locker room, and I was so red.

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Via: InstaPundit: "Research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2004 found that adolescents whose parents permitted them to attend unchaperoned parties where drinking occurred had twice the average binge-drinking rate. But the study also had another, more arresting conclusion: Children whose parents introduced drinking to the children at home were one-third as likely to binge."
[Megan McArdle also has commentary, though I don't understand why she's using the phrase "genetic determinist" for her philosophy.]

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I know that Democrats are the big government party, but isn't the idea of government requiring people to do stuff somewhat frightening, especially these days?  I know, it's better/safer when one's own people are in power, but what's that old adage about not your own party power you wouldn't want your enemies to have?

( Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care. )

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The front page of the WSJ today had a teaser for "Issues to Make Women Vote Republican," so of course I had to check that out.  The article was called "What Women Want"  (by Kimberley A. Strassel).  I really don't know economics, but I found it really interesting. ( excerpts )

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In the complaint department:
I bought an external hard drive, plugged in the USB cord and everything, my computer recognized it . . . but it's not showing up in My Computer or anything.  Sigh.  Will stop by Staples (where I bought it) after work tomorrow.

I've gotten used to opponents of MA Question 1 issue invoking the oppression of the little guy (i.e. the locally owned packies), but today's Metro had Malden Police Chief Kenneth Coye opposing Question 1 and he is quoted as saying (in part): "We are a small city, and there are plenty of places now where people can buy alcohol. What appears would happen (is) that we'd have very small outlets, mom-and-pop places, gas stations with mini-marts selling alcohol. It would be very difficult to monitor." My first thought was of the cognitive disconnect between the discourse I've gotten used to and the statement that it would be bad to have "mom-and-pop places" selling alcohol. My second thought was annoyance at the implication of incompetence (especially because I've been primed after the arguments about whether grocery store cashiers -- i.e., teens -- can be trusted to check IDs).

I also find it interesting [read: "surprising, and somewhat distressing"] when people's animosity toward alcohol comes out in their arguments in opposition to Question 1 (Joe Fitzgerald, for example). "Alcohol, despite being ruinous to lives, marriages, careers and reputations, remains the beneficiary of a great double standard." Er, it's alcohol abuse that's so ruinous. If you come from a history of alcohol abuse and you own that that colors your relationship with the issue, fine, but what's up with the demonization of alcohol, period, being presented as fact? I mean, we do recall that Prohibition didn't work, right? I tend toward legalizing, and thus regulating, everything -- and yes I realize that Question 1 comes under that grey area of regulation. I do appreciate Joe's candidness with: "Highway carnage? Please. There’s carnage now, and anyone who sells or dispenses alcohol, package stores included, is, by definition, associated with it. The little guys are just as complicit." However, the idea that a grocery store selling alcohol encourages people to drink I find insulting (this is my problem with a lot of protective legislation, that we have to save people from theirselves -- which, yes, comes into tension with my understanding that advertising is powerful and manipulative).