hermionesviolin | Entries tagged with it's the economy (stupid)

I saw a lot of clips (and heard some of the pundits) on CNN AM this morning, but I still wanted to read a full transcript (completionist, what?). I did a GoogleNews search for "presidential debate transcript" and this is the first one that came up.

SCHIEFFER: By now, we've heard all the talking points, so let's try to tell the people tonight some things that they -- they haven't heard. Let's get to it.

Haha. Yeah, good luck. Though it did actually feel substantive -- though not much particularly new. ( Read more... )

I can b-school osmosis the psychology stuff, but I think I'm just not wired for economics. Have I retained any of what I've read on this? Not much.

I've retained that most people think the 700-plus-billion-dollar bailout is a bad idea. And that banning short-selling isn't a useful idea. And that lot of folks don't buy the blaming of the "repeal" of Glass-Steagall. Oh, and Megan McArdle is skeptical of hindsight regulation.

( reading list )

One thing that's been throwing me in chatting with lefties has been the idea that we should let Wall Street fail (they deserve it after all, and hey, if these companies are too big to fail, isn't the middle class too big to fail as well? shouldn't we get some sort of bailout -- I bite my tongue on the fact that "saving the middle class" isn't that simple, nevermind the fact that much/most of the middle class is not exactly teetering on failure, because I know the statement is intended partially tongue-in-cheek) as if this wouldn't have any sort of ripple effect. I mean, I'm usually the one advocating heartless pragmatism (just war, ends justify means, etc.) and not being beloved by the Left for it.

( I quote Megan McArdle a lot )

Things I might be able to retain include Tim Carney on what the heck AIG is (via Megan McArdle).

***

Ten National Security Myths (The Nation - September 17, 2008)

***

I finally read Maureen Dowd's "Aaron Sorkin Conjures a Meeting of Obama and Bartlet." I'd been resisting, 'cause I don't like Maureen Dowd. Not gonna lie; I wasn't impressed.

There's a lot of filler, and while there are a few good lines it's mostly not that compelling.

And Bartlet's attack on Palin . . . where to even begin? Oh, I know, with "It's not bad enough she's forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too?" because where the fuck did THAT come from? Point out a double standard? [Which Bartlet does, in his "black daughter" bit.] Yes, go for it. But we know nothing about Bristol and [Googles] Levi or their relationship.

jennyo takes the opportunity to comment: "I also note that 30 Rock has a lot of shippy RPF [...] This once again suggests that of all fandom fights, the "ZOMG RPF IS WRONG!" is still a rather dumb fandom fight." I would argue that pr0ning up celebs is a bit different from the gen/shippy RPF that mainstream media is able to get away with.

If we're gonna talk West Wing professional RPF, I prefer The Onion's "Aaron Sorkin Announces New 'West Wing' Animated Series At SorCon" (hat tip: wisdomeagle).

***

This from the Tues. Sept. 23 metro made me giggle:

The owner of a San Francisco wine bar was doing a brisk business with an organic wine imported from Chile: Palin Syrah. But after a certain nomination last month, sales have dried up.

"It was our best-selling wine before [the V.P. announcement]," Chris Tavelli, owner of Yield Wine Bar, told the Serious Eats blog. But since then sales have plummeted. Because wine drinkers in San Francisco really are that petty.

***

InstaPundit:

OBAMA SUPPORTER John Althouse Cohen on "How Obama Lost Me."

Plus, Mike Rappaport on why he's not supporting McCain.

Don't people wind up feeling this way every four years? Which isn't to say they're wrong. As for me, I haven't liked a candidate enough to be actually disillusioned by one in . . . well, ever, really. The good news is that the guy you don't like usually fails to live up to your fears almost as much as the guy you like fails to live up to your hopes. . . .

The Mike Rappaport piece ends: "Update: Since Glenn has linked to this post with the statement "why [Mike Rappaport] is not supporting McCain," I thought I should give readers a couple of other blog posts on the subject with additional reasons. Here are three of many, and there are others on this page." Reading them is something of a surreal experience.

***

Starbucks Does Not Equal Savvy
What we talk about when we talk about experience
By Michael Gerson | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 20, 2008

Here They Go Again
Rovean tactics alone do not win the Republican Party elections. This is a center-right country, and Democrats ignore this at their own peril.
By Jonathan Darman | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 20, 2008

Who Cares Where Spain Is?
The debate shouldn't be a chance to play gotcha. What the candidates know about the world is less important than how they think about it.
By Richard N. Haass | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 20, 2008

I slept for like 12 hours and feel much better. (I went to bed around 8:30 last night and woke up at 7:50 this morning.)

I picked up a few groceries -- fulfilling my get-out-of-the-house-and-walk-somewhere quota for the day. I went out around noon and it was warmer out than I expected (though weather.com said 73F). It took me under 35min to walk home from the Shaw's in Porter. Color me impressed. I got all sweaty, but it wasn't too bad.

via InstaPundit: "Gas Prices: The Real Story"

Speaking of economics... I did my econ reading tonight (Ch. 1-2 of Mankiw's Essentials of Economics, fourth edition). ( Read more... )

( gym )

+

Dear ESPN SC announcer(s?): Please stop saying, "Why so serious." It's creepin' me out.

+

( CNN )

***

I love where I work kind of a lot sometimes.

I had lunch with Sara, Nithya, Mimi, Avanti, Anna, and Lowell. This last is my new favorite (of the RAs), though apparently he's leaving in like a month for Japan.

I'm helping plan some stuff for AOM, and that is good times :)

I may have skipped dinner tonight because I was still full of cheesecake deliciousness.

And unrelated to work:

polymexina edumucated me about susan sontag and annie leibovitz.

And I played with Sam (housemate's cat) a bit after I got home tonight. (Speaking of, I saw this on friendsfriends the other day.)

***

Oh, and PSA:

ibarw.

( gym )

This morning I heard Mitt Romney on CNN and part of his bit on CNBC. I had stuff to say at the time, but I got kind of distracted with birthday stuff and so didn't really do much drafting during the day and here it is nearing on midnight. (mjules IMed me at 11:54pm "What on earth are you doing still awake?")

Pags and Flanders were on CNN again (about Obama) and I was unimpressed. John Roberts was talking about bits of the audiobook of Dreams of My Father and the bit about his drug use being used in attack ads and Pags was saying he had no interest in going after Obama on that (though some of the stuff about his pastor, on the other hand) and it was like Flanders just wasn't hearing him. In general it was far less substantive than the last one I'd seen.

***

I had some actual work to do at work today, to my surprise, though I didn't get to all of it what with the two-hour lunch and assorted chatting.

***

Rest and Bread ("Oxygen")

[Edit: I forgot to share the anecdote of Jeff practicing "Abide With Me" before the service and worrying about the tempo. Someone said it was fine, that it wasn't supposed to be fast. iirc, someone then joked that they weren't ready for a rock 'n' roll. He said that would be Sunday mornings at 7am. I said excitedly that I would actually be able to attend that -- it wouldn't conflict with any of my other churches.]

Psalm 42.
The "Sacred Text" was an early Irish poem (though I don't think Keith read the last three lines that are in that linked version).
Laura Ruth is on vacation, so Keith was leading (with Michael helping with Communion and Jeff doing guitar on "Abide With Me" at the end) and in his Reflection he talked about his July group last night and how the talked about metaphors for God. He also said that the environment is something to go out into because God is out there -- the way he talked about it was better than that paraphrase.

(In the hopes of helping me remember people's names, in attendance tonight were: Michael, Keith, Jenny, Althea, me, Gary, Lindsey, Jeff.)

A thunderstorm began during service, and people didn't wanna go out in the rain, so I hung out until it let up (which was like 7:05). Jenny asked me which Group I was in, and I said I don't go to church here on Sundays so I hadn't been assigned a group (I had already talked to Keith, so I knew how it worked). Yes I emailed Laura Ruth later that night. [I still feel weird not hyphenating "email."]

I walked by JP Licks on the way home and even though I'd already had fro-yo after lunch I went and got a mint chip with chocolate jimmies.

I was going to do more room cleaning tonight even with the heat (especially since tomorrow I know I won't do any 'cause I have group), and the thunderstorm had cooled off outside significantly, at least initially, but I got home and didn't wanna be clothed and didn't wanna do any sifting though papers. So I signed on to chat programs with "I should be cleaning my room" away messages and flitted back and forth between various Internet things. After a few hours I was comfortable enough that I could have actually done some room cleaning but yeah, no.

I talked to my mom this morning, and she pointed out that they do have copy paper boxes my dad could bring over if I need them. (They get home from CA a few days before I move.) I had been thinking I needed to purge enough that I could fit everything I have into the boxes I have. (I had everything boxed up when I moved from my parents' house, but I unpacked lots of it the day I moved in and sent my dad back home with those boxes since I had no storage space.) This is still a useful pragmatic goal, but it is comforting to know that it is not non-negotiably necessary.

( gym )

***

This morning's metro informed me: "A Japanese employer is now offering its employees who are over the age of 29 three days off as 'heartache leave' after a bad breakup."

***

When I get a vegetarian burrito at the Grille, they often just put the rice in without asking me first, but it doesn't fuss me enough to really be proactive. Today, however, the guy in front of me ordered a chicken burrito and I ordered a vegetarian burrito and the worker said, "Veggie burrito?" and I said, "Yeah, veggie burrito," and he proceeded to scoop shredded lettuce and chopped tomato and shredded cheddar cheese onto the burrito and then put rice and beans and then ask me if I wanted anything else. I said guacamole and sour cream. Possibly just getting tomato instead of mild salsa would be a good idea since the salsa has onions, which I'm not a fan of, but I'm really not a lettuce person, nor do I really want shredded cheddar cheese in my burrito. I just let it go, figuring it would be an experiment. I usually open my burrito and mix it all up, so when I did that this time I scooped out most of the cheddar cheese and lettuce. The remaining cheddar and lettuce definitely did not add to my enjoyment of the burrito. So now I know (my tastes do change sometimes, so it's good to check every once in a while) and will definitely be more proactive in my order next time.

***

I skipped Sunday's class cookout because of my all-day Saturday (out of the house 10am-2am), my morning+evening church commitments on Sunday (making a 12:30-5 gig in Lincoln unwieldy, especially given that I would be depending on other people for rides), and my general misanthropy (~50 second year MBAs I've mostly never met?).

But I also got invited to the rescheduled boat trip, which was a much smaller number of students, which I did agree to go to (leaving HBS at 3:45). I was cautiously optimistic, and I did in fact enjoy myself.

Prof.B. was gonna take me and Nicole, but he went over early to prep the boat, so we got a ride with Liz, who also took fellow students Rebecca and Craig. We were waiting to get into the parking lot at the marina, and the person in front of us was having trouble with their card getting accepted or whatever and we were just talking and joking and the Nicole pointed out that that it was totally Prof.B. Heh. Amy and Kurt arrived a little later, and we all helped with the boat. I had thought it was a sailboat (I think because Mike does a lot of sailing, so I was conflating -- I'd never actually been on his boat) but it's actually a motorboat. We were taking down the plastic window coverings, and one of the zippers is a bit torn off (B's older son did that) and B handed me a needle and thread and asked me to try to just do a stopgap measure of getting it tacked up. I wasn't really tall enough, and Craig volunteered. I applauded him for "transgressing normative gender roles." (Yes, I do talk like that. Shuddup.)

It was sort of cool out, but once we were out on the boat it was windy and much cooler plus there was a loose (short) line so that added to the water splashing in. I had my hands inside the long sleeves of my oversized sweatshirt for much of the ride, and while I didn't mind it too much (because I am made of polar bear) I was definitely cognizant that it was cold. When we walked into the restaurant I was like, "Warmth, I'd forgotten about that."

We had dinner at The Landing in Marblehead. It is literally right on the water. I had been suspecting my food options would be limited since I don't eat meat and I include seafood as "meat." I ordered the mac&cheese because it was literally the only entrée on the menu I could eat (well there was a portabello wrap, too). We (Prof.B.) ordered a slew of appetizers, and I got peer pressured into ordering bruschetta, which was actually really good. From the description, I was expecting thin hard bread (like pita chips) with tomato paste, but instead it was soft tasty bread with small chunks of tomato and pesto for dipping.

The ride back was so much nicer in terms of comfort. No wind and cool but nice. I prefer the view of Boston you get from the Red Line, but it was kinda neat to see the skyline at night from the other side.

We got back to the Marina I think about 9:15. And Prof.B. insisted that he'd take care of the boat, so we all got to head home. It felt so much shorter going back (Liz had a GPS, and we definitely took a different route -- which with all of Boston's one-way streets is not unexpected). It (she, Jill) told us to turn onto "Monsignor O'Brien Highway" and I thought, "Oh, I know that highway," 'cause of the bus to Target/Lechmere.

The boat trip meant that I couldn't go be a supportive good-doobie and see my mom's friend Susan speaking at Porter Square Books (her new book is The Case for Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World). My mom e-mailed me yesterday saying it was last night (and I looked it up on the Porter Square Books website but didn't register the date), so I went and browsed around the book store a bit (I'd never been, as I'm a library girl born and raised). It's smaller than I'd expected, though the category labels on the shelves also have Dewey Decimal numbers, which made me all geeky happy.

***

( blah blah gas prices )

Current Music: "Time After Time" in my head 'cause it was on KISS 108 in Liz's car

( gym )

+

Morning news included a 7-alarm fire in Philly. I didn't know the scale went beyond four or five alarms.

+

I feel like I had such a lazy weekend that I was actually kind of glad to come in to work and Do Stuff. And I knew there would be stuff that would need taking care of and while it could wait until Tuesday it would make my Tuesday more stressful to be starting off behind. And yeah, not gonna lie, I also have an ego complex and always feel a little like my portion of the office would fall apart in my absence. [For those of you who are not local: today's a sort of holiday, and on Friday Prof.B. had said I could take today off if I wanted -- provided I got the okay of the other prof I support.]

+

I still have mixed feelings about my haircut, but I got another flurry of compliments on it today, which helps.

Greg said there things one says in Hebrew that don't really translate -- one translates as something like "enjoy the newness," for example; and there's one that's like "wear it in good health" but for hair.

Peter said, "The shorter the better." I said I agreed -- but that I didn't think I would be getting mine cut quite as short as his :)

+

In class tonight we talked about Social Darwinism, which ended up being a lot about economics -- e.g., Microsoft bundling (you can only run browsers other than IE on a Microsoft OS due to a court ruling? I did not know that), Standard Oil buying up city trolley systems to dismantle them and drive up demand for cars (which the prof pointed out couldn't happen if it were a public utility), the concentration of wealth and the power that gives those wealthy people. I was going to post thoughts, but apparently I don't so much have thoughts.

+

Remix rec:
[Good Omens] "Unconscious, as some human lovers are (Sympathetic Resonance)" by [anon]. Original: "Messenger of Sympathies" by

vulgarweed, which I read and enjoyed some time back.
In this Remix, DEATH comes for Percy Bysshe Shelley, and they go visit Shelley's friend "Ezra Fell" and Ezra's acquaintance Crowley. It's pretty hysterical -- and thoughtful, too.

Remember when I talked about locking down my journal? Yeah. I finally actually started implementing that. I've been acting like a willfully naive teenager with an invincibility complex (which is ironic, since I'm also highly risk-averse; if I had more psychology background I could probably babble about self-sabotage or something), so I'm finally actually doing what I should have done oh like when I first started working. I did a quick run-through of the past year's entries, so I'm sure I've left unlocked some stuff which probably should be locked, and of course I still have to do the year and a half prior. But I feel better now. (Maybe.)

[Edit: Do I want to just lock all personal entries? *frets* ]

Amusingly, one of the entries I came across in my backtracking had "maybe i should get some curtains installed in this temple of shame".

( gym )

CNN continues to so often be lame.

They had a thing on gas and dairy prices going up and how that's hurting small businesspeople, and they had live interviews -- a famous key lime pie guy in Brooklyn, NY, and a gas station owner in St. Paul, MN.

Their questions made clear the answers they wanted, and when they didn't get that answer their next question basically restated the answer they wanted in the form of a question.

Gotta love when the guy asked the pie guy, "So what do you say to your customers when they're say, 'You're killing us with these prices'?" and the pie guy basically said, "Um, nobody's really sad that to me; we've got a good product and people understand that dairy prices are up and unfortunately we can't absorb that cost so we have to pass it on to the consumer."

They had a chart which showed that the profit gas station owners make off of gas is constant regardless of the price of gas, but the credit card charge is a percentage (1.75) and so their profit actually drops as gas prices go up (let no one think the gas station owners are raking in the money). Whereas they make real profit off of the foodstuffs (the gas station woman said that they can mark up the in-store products, especially stuff they make on-site like sandwiches, but with gas they have to stay competitive). But that was basically the only useful thing I got out of the segment, and they could have easily just showed that chart and asked her why the profit on food was so much greater than the profit on gas and bam we can continue on to actual information.

***

Way to go there, today's poetry posts. I feel the need for a "This is my heart bleeding before you" icon for commenting.

* "I'm Glad Your Sickness" by Marina Tsvetaeva (translated by Elaine Feinstein)
* "End of April" by Phillis Levin

I was researching Bluetooth today (very cursory, like pulling up the cell phone website and clicking on Accessories to see what the options were like) and dude, phrases like "Up to 8 Hours Talk Time"? And for under a hundred dollars. I may need to get me one of those. (Though I asked my brother and he said: "a headset does prolong the life of a phone battery cuz i guess it takes less power to transmit the voice to the headset then to actually make noise. but that 8hrs is how long the headset can be in a call without charging or changing batteries. two different batteries.")

I spent much of today eating myself sick on post-holiday half-off dark chocolate peanut M&M's because I have a tendency to fail at productivity. (Also, the CD burning program I have was refusing to cooperate, so hopefully I can finagle something when I'm back at work.) But I have fic recs, which is worth something.

How I Met Your Mother
I read all the How I Met Your Mother fics in the Yuletide archive, and none of them are bad, but there's only one that I'm certain I'm going to be reccing: "Leave No Man Behind" -- Barney and Robin get a marriage of convenience. And it is legendary.

Wonderfalls
"Jesus Complex" (Jaye, PG)
The show often felt too cynical/meaningless for me, but this fic feels believably true to canon while actually being quite sweet. [Jaye is institutionalized, and the fic is told from her doctor's perspective.]
"Jolly" by Amy (Jaye-centric, PG)
That said, I love this fic (Yuletide 2004) all about Jaye being entirely unfestive at Christmastime.
"Twisted Santa" by Keswindhover (Jaye-centric, PG)
(Yuletide 2006) I wasn't super into this one, but I love the twist at the end.
"Urban Maneuvers and Mountain Escapes" (Sharon, Mahandra)
Sharon and Mahandra get locked in a closet together at The Barrel. Which in and of itself is good fun, and then there was a bonus surprise at the end when stuff got connected in a very episode-esque way. [Also: Fandom should provide (me) more Sharon/Mahandra. Thanks.]

The Princess Bride (movie)
"There Will Be No Survivors (Except for the Survivors Behind the Curtain, But Pay No Attention to Them)" (PG-13, post-movie)
Authorial Summary: Westley wants to turn the Dread Pirate Roberts gig over to Inigo, but things aren't going quite as smoothly as he hoped.
This starts out slow, but by the end I was really quite enjoying it.

jennyo made a post about being a Monica (from Friends -- "the neurotic intelligent brunette with control issues and upper middlebrow tastes") and as the post went on she said, "capitalism is gutting a lot of patriarchy's unbearable aspects, because capitalism doesn't want to lose my utility to the system for something as meaningless (in capitalism) as my plumbing," which of course made me happy, because hi, I am not entirely kidding when I talk about free market capitalism as democracy. And she goes on to talk about how "you can't escape Empire" and says:

I can say, "no! no maids!" and clean my own damn house, replicating the unpaid domestic labor that reifies capitalist patriarchy's place for women, or I can exploit poor women who may or may not mind the exploiting depending how they view the interaction. I mean, because my role is in part to be be a conscience, I get to wail, "I'M EXPLOITING MY LATINA HOUSEKEEPER!" and my housekeeper can reply, "Yes, Senorita White Lady, that's right, it's all about you. Senorita White Lady and her power to exploit. Because your Latina maid is so ignorant and poor she can't organize herself. This is of course about your white guilt and your white power to exploit and by the way, Ugly Betty has better ratings than 30 Rock. PWNT."

I appreciated this because while I recognize that systemic oppression exists and I am all about education and everything, I often feel like liberals get very White Man's Burden -- like I remember at Smith I often felt like the general idea was that if only those uneducated/misinformed people (usually imaged as Southerners) knew what "we" knew then of course they would agree with us, and while that makes some degree of sense it's problematic when it's coming out of a context of already looking at Those People as people you don't really like or respect.

joy sadhana for Christmastide (4)

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy." -

mylittleredgirl [more info]

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
-Isaiah 9:2

Five good things about today:
1. Despite going to bed later than I should have, I still got up before 9am.
2. Yuletide fic!
3. Omar called me mid-afternoon to say that work stuff had come up, it being end of year time, so he wouldn't be getting off work until like 8:30 tonight and that would probably be too late to go out for a drink (I agreed), so he suggested rescheduling to next week. I said a friend of mine was gonna be in town but that we could tentatively make plans. We didn't actually pick a date, and he said he'd call tomorrow to say hi. It's funny, I was totally dreading this "date" tonight 'cause I felt like there were no sparks, but the fact that he's going to call me tomorrow just to say hi made me feel all giddy. It is of course not news that I am incredibly easy -- not in the "will put out after first date" way, just that one needs only be a little bit attentive to me to make me terribly pleased. And come on, regardless of whether anything actually comes of this, he's actually trying, and how often does anyone do that for me? (Which is not to belittle the fantastic friends I have, but you guys don't have to try)
4. Cat IMed me.
5. I was idly checking the Harvard Extension School website, and the syllabus for Classics of Western Thought II is up. ( for my reference, and your possible interest )

Three things I did well today:
1. Despite going to bed later than I should have, I still got up before 9am. [What? Accomplishments can totally do double-duty as good things.]
2. I read and feedbacked Yuletide fic. (And feedbacked some non-Yuletide fic I've had lounging about for overlong.) And worked on my recs page update.
3. I made dinner for myself. (Prince shells&cheese from a box, yo! And it tasted more like it does when my dad makes it than usually happens when I make it myself, which was pleasing.) And washed dishes thereafter.

Two things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
1. Reading more fic.
2. Ordering books for my spring semester extension class.

Current Music: Great Big Sea - "When I Am King"

Yesterday morning, Ian e-mailed me (in response to something else): "I'll be in in about 20 minutes. I'll have a surprise for you."

He actually didn't get in for more like 40 minutes, and I never did get anything, so I e-mailed at the end of the day:

> I'll have a surprise for you.

Why does that frighten me?

(However, I was still hoping I'd get a toy surprise* or something.)

* From BtVS 3.20:
GILES: You did good work tonight, Buffy.
BUFFY: And I got a little toy surprise.

This morning he walked in and handed me a large hot chocolate. Which had marshmallows. Which led to an extended conversation about gelatin and what products contain it. [snopes on JELL-O]

[I'm extra-amused because I prompted a comment thread about the use of miniscule amounts of dead cow in McDonald's french fries on one of Amy's filtered entries last night]

I'd forgotten about photo emulsion and pills.

Cosmetics, lozenges, and ointments. Okay, this makes some sense, though it had never occurred to me to check.

News to me: Salad dressing? Sour cream and cream cheese? Cake icing and frosting? I've always thought the frosting on store bought cakes was gross anyway. Though cream cheese? My mommy's awesome frosting is cream cheese based. *pouts* (I guess after my yogurt issue I shouldn't be surprised by all this. Wikipedia also suggests jelly and ice cream and, oh, good grief, "Gelatin is used for the clarification of juices, such as apple juice, and of vinegar. Isinglass, from the swim bladders of fish, is still in use as a fining agent for wine and beer." Oh and then there's fun stuff like "Gelatin is closely related to bone glue and is used as a binder in match heads and sandpaper." and "As a surface sizing, it smooths glossy printing papers or playing cards and maintains the wrinkles in crêpe paper." *facepalm* Also: "Used as a carrier, coating or separating agent for other substances, it, for example, makes beta-carotene water-soluble, thus imparting a yellow color to any soft drinks containing beta-carotene.")

Theater lights? I'm unclear as to whether this is still true.

***

Yesterday, Laura put up (blinking!) multi-colored Christmas tree lights around her desk. They subsequently showed up on Rich's and Katie's desks as well. They actually don't bother me as much as I might have thought they would, but I remain a white light girl (as well as one who's not particularly into seasonally decorating, at her workplace in particular).

This afternoon she asked me, "Do you want some lights?" I said no politely, and she said, "Okay, if you want to be a scrooge." I said I was fine with that. She said she was just teasing, and I said I knew that, but that I was still okay with that identification.

In other news: The other day, Katie said the ice wouldn't be so bad if only people put sand out on it. My immediate thought (unspoken) was: Nah, if it doesn't melt the ice (like salt) then what's the point? However, recent commutes have convinced me of the error of my thinking. Traction is awesome, people.

I got my hair cut at Salon Cu tonight. (And checking my tag, I'm comforted that it's been about a month since I last got it cut, so it's not quite as ridiculous as I had feared.) It goes down to my ears, which takes a little getting used to (it's only about two inches shorter, but at that length everything feels a little dramatic) but I think it's what I want. The woman who cut my hair, Christine, basically didn't talk to me at all, which as I've said here before is fine by me, though it was weird to me that she didn't even make any effort to engage me (I mean, I don't think I sounded that stand-off-ish or anything when I answered her question about what I wanted done to my hair).

If only I could pull off butch short hair. Really my life would be easier in so many ways if I were a boy (hello finding dress shirts and pants that fit, and no bras, and pants with pockets, and on and on goes the list). Not that I have any actual desire to be a boy.

***

I was browsing Reason online today and read "Why The Right Shifted on Immigration" (Steve Chapman), which was interesting.

Later, reading the comments on a post by Megan McArdle on needle exchange, I learned the term "negative externality." I used the term "opportunity cost" in conversation this morning, and I've started jokingly using the term "human capital" (as in "building human capital"). I need a quippy tag for my budding usage of business school terms. [I'm not entirely sure what to do with my "it's the economy stupid" tag.]

Advent meditation: Matthew 11:2-11 (NRSV)
Tom did the meditation, in which he mentioned (re: Jesus): "Maybe the important thing is not so much who he is or what he does, but the effect his presence has on those around him."

+

joy sadhana for Advent (17)

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy." -

mylittleredgirl [more info]

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before our God to prepare the ways, to give knowledge of salvation to God's people by the forgiveness of sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
-Luke 1:76-79

Five good things about today:
1. Strawberry yogurt parfait, still making me happy. (I didn't have breakfast, and after the gym I was hoping to have one, not quite feeling in an omelet mood, and indeed they had some.) And while I really wasn't into the Alsace GlobalVeg for lunch, dried cherries turned out to be pretty good.
2. Tomorrow's CHPC Bible Study got canceled, so now I can go to the ~~Blue Christmas~~ Longest Night service at the UCC.
3. I got my hair cut.
4. Dear Ari: Your card came today. You referenced one of the greatest fics you've ever written, so no worries about the general plotlessness or whatever of the ficlet. I am envisioning Charlotte having made a collage card and am trying to decide whether she went traditional skin mag or suggestive combination of pictures and text from like Good Housekeeping or something in her collage selection.
5. Southland Tales graphic novel Volume 2 had some interesting bits to it, and I'm liking Our Lives As Torah a lot. (Supposedly -- meme at the bottom of this entry -- I've already read the latter, but I don't actually have distinct memories of it, so I'm discovering it anew.)

Three things I did well today:
1. I did ~15 minutes in the weight room.
2. I purchased (and wrapped) a Christmas gift for Nicole. (I had the idea on a whim based on recent chance incidents. I really do like doing nice things for people, but obligatory gift-giving occasions do not agree with me.)
3. I made myself dinner and washed dishes.

Two things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
1. HBS holiday party
2. Coffee with Tiffany.
BONUS: Longest Night service

Current Music: Damien Rice - "Woman Like a Man"

Profile

Elizabeth (the delinquent, ecumenical)

May 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Style Credit

Style: Adjustable Gradient for Bannering by branchandroot

Page generated Jun. 18th, 2025 08:31 am

burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

when faced with my demons I clothe them and feed them

Entries tagged with it's the economy (stupid)

2008 Presidential Debate 3/3

[catching up] economics & etc.

[catching up] politicking, economics, foreign affairs, feminism/s, etc.

Yes, my actual life is sometimes just this exciting.

It's only Monday? (And it's not even that it felt like a particularly long day.)

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES.

I had a bunch of weird dreams this morning, but now I don't remember any of them.

quiet day today

"take this sinking boat and point it home"

Being on Break also means I've actually been reading the most recent Harvard Magazine.

"I'll get a cheaper ticket next time."

Profile

May 2025

Style Credit