For my own benefit, when in 2, 5, or 10 years from now I come back to read my old blog entries, I would like to catch myself (and anybody else) up with a brief summary of what has transpired since I put the blog on "pause" back at the end of January.
As far as I remember, February and March were often (not always) cold and depressing. April was a big month for me as I got hired on here as a "Research Assistant" (a big step up from "barely-paid intern"), and moved out of my loving relatives' house into a group house with 3 other 20-somethings just like me. In May I went on my first "business trip," flying to Germany for a week to drink beer and work at a conference about carbon emissions trading. Before coming back from Germany, I also spent a day in Brussels hanging out with a friend of mine and two of her friends who just happened to also be in Brussels that day. Then at the end of May I went to Colorado for a week to see my little cuz graduate (congrats cuz, this should be an exciting time in your life), run the Bolder Boulder (I am pretty proud of my 61-minute time), raft in the Eagle River (beer + river rapids = fun), wash and sell my little red Acura Integra that has transported me all over Colorado since I bought it back in 2002 before graduating high school (it was a good car, I kind of miss it already), and meet up with my good college buddy for a game of putt-putt golf.
That brings us more or less to now where I am mostly just working, trying to hang out with friends when possible, watching the Obama news, etc...
This coming weekend is pretty promising though. I have been invited to a river cruise on Friday evening, followed by a fancy dinner/band evening party here on Saturday. I suspect it will be a pretty swanky shindig.
6.23.2008
6.03.2008
Happilly Naïve
I never would have guessed that this would be the catalyst for me to start blogging again, but here I am. I just saw a picture of Barack Obama grinning from ear to ear after apparently securing enough delegates to clench the democratic primary nomination. It has been a long, close primary, longer and closer than anyone would have predicted, but I am really very happy to see Obama arrive at this milestone.
If you had asked me four or five months ago, I would have told you that although I ultimately wanted to see Obama win the nomination and the election, I probably would have been almost just as happy with another Clinton in the White House. Ask me now though, and I will tell you that the Clinton campaign has completely turned me off and not only will I be happy to see her fade from the scene, but I would probably also be upset (briefly) to see her picked as the VP. At this point I hope Obama picks someone great other than Hillary to be his running mate, and I then I will hope for and expect an amazing victory in the fall. I think I speak for a lot of other people around my age when I say that never in my life have I been so excited about politics, but I feel like I could just as easily be turned off by the whole thing if he fails. So a lot is riding on this candidacy. He holds not only the potential to become the first African American to hold the highest public office in the country, but also, perhaps more importantly, he has the potential to get a whole generation of American's excited and engaged in the political process again. And hopefully he will even be able to live up to our admittedly high expectations of him once in office.
I realize that there is a high probability that I will look back three or four or more years from now with disappointment for yet another empty promise of a presidential candidate, but right now I am still full of (potentially naïve) enthusiasm for what seems to be a new and fresh and better sort of candidate. Call me naïve, but I'm hoping for the best.
If you had asked me four or five months ago, I would have told you that although I ultimately wanted to see Obama win the nomination and the election, I probably would have been almost just as happy with another Clinton in the White House. Ask me now though, and I will tell you that the Clinton campaign has completely turned me off and not only will I be happy to see her fade from the scene, but I would probably also be upset (briefly) to see her picked as the VP. At this point I hope Obama picks someone great other than Hillary to be his running mate, and I then I will hope for and expect an amazing victory in the fall. I think I speak for a lot of other people around my age when I say that never in my life have I been so excited about politics, but I feel like I could just as easily be turned off by the whole thing if he fails. So a lot is riding on this candidacy. He holds not only the potential to become the first African American to hold the highest public office in the country, but also, perhaps more importantly, he has the potential to get a whole generation of American's excited and engaged in the political process again. And hopefully he will even be able to live up to our admittedly high expectations of him once in office.
I realize that there is a high probability that I will look back three or four or more years from now with disappointment for yet another empty promise of a presidential candidate, but right now I am still full of (potentially naïve) enthusiasm for what seems to be a new and fresh and better sort of candidate. Call me naïve, but I'm hoping for the best.
1.30.2008
One last thing for now
Part of me really wants to write a long verbose entry trying to articulate why I think I want to stop blogging, but then I realize that even doing that would go against every reason for why I think I want to stop blogging.
I would like to leave off with one last thing, however, before the blog goes on an indefinite hiatus. This is something that I have been wanting to write about for several weeks now.
Probably about a month ago Lisa gave me a book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan. I have not quite finished it yet, but I have read enough to know that this is probably the most profound, thought-provoking, habit-changing book I have ever read. I feel that for me to even try to summarize the book in a sentence or two would somehow already diminish its value. Nonetheless, as simply as I can put it, it is about the food we eat, where it comes from, and all of the ecological, ethical, economical factors (among others) that go into how we decide what to eat (or at least how we SHOULD decide what we eat). It is about so much more than telling you whether or not you should eat meat. It is way beyond telling you to get more fiber, or less cholesterol in your diet. Try as I might, I just can't describe the book any further without mongering it.
After only a few pages I began thinking about who all I would recommend this book to. My sister? My father? My mother? My aunts and uncles? My aunts and uncles by marriage? My cousins? My grandma? My friends? My not so good friends? New acquaintances? My friend's friends? My relatives' friends? Absolutely. Actually, the more I thought about it I came to realize that I couldn't think of anyone who I would NOT recommend this book to. If you are a food-consuming homo sapien, then you need to read this book. I'm not just saying that you "should" read it, but that you NEED to read it, mostly for your own good.
Just this evening I actually heard that one person who I think regularly reads this blog just gifted a copy of this book to another regular reader, and I was really happy to hear it. But for the rest of you, you need to get your hands on a copy. I am aware of two other books by Michael Pollan and I suspect they are also very good, but I think you will know for yourself if you need to read them or not after you read this book first.
I would like to leave off with one last thing, however, before the blog goes on an indefinite hiatus. This is something that I have been wanting to write about for several weeks now.
Probably about a month ago Lisa gave me a book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan. I have not quite finished it yet, but I have read enough to know that this is probably the most profound, thought-provoking, habit-changing book I have ever read. I feel that for me to even try to summarize the book in a sentence or two would somehow already diminish its value. Nonetheless, as simply as I can put it, it is about the food we eat, where it comes from, and all of the ecological, ethical, economical factors (among others) that go into how we decide what to eat (or at least how we SHOULD decide what we eat). It is about so much more than telling you whether or not you should eat meat. It is way beyond telling you to get more fiber, or less cholesterol in your diet. Try as I might, I just can't describe the book any further without mongering it.
After only a few pages I began thinking about who all I would recommend this book to. My sister? My father? My mother? My aunts and uncles? My aunts and uncles by marriage? My cousins? My grandma? My friends? My not so good friends? New acquaintances? My friend's friends? My relatives' friends? Absolutely. Actually, the more I thought about it I came to realize that I couldn't think of anyone who I would NOT recommend this book to. If you are a food-consuming homo sapien, then you need to read this book. I'm not just saying that you "should" read it, but that you NEED to read it, mostly for your own good.
Just this evening I actually heard that one person who I think regularly reads this blog just gifted a copy of this book to another regular reader, and I was really happy to hear it. But for the rest of you, you need to get your hands on a copy. I am aware of two other books by Michael Pollan and I suspect they are also very good, but I think you will know for yourself if you need to read them or not after you read this book first.
1.26.2008
1.03.2008
Obama-rama
It seems Obama has won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa by a significant margin. Needless to say, I am happy to see it and will look forward to seeing him continue to gain momentum all the way into November.
1.01.2008
Political Rant
I generally shy away from blogging here about politics and current events, but it isn't for lack of thoughts and opinions on the matter. As the presidential caucuses and primaries are just around the corner now, I feel compelled to write about a few things. Beware, there might be some soap-boxing ahead.
I have never thought of myself as a particularly political person. I mean, I would not classify myself as an a-political person either by any means, but I have never been very passionate about the political scene. But this year's presidential cycle is different. Never before have I been so interested in or opinionated about the presidential campaign so early on. In past election cycles I would probably not even start to pay much attention until springtime when the contenders had weeded themselves out through the primaries and the parties had made their nominations. This is partly because at this point in the process no one contender usually seems particular better than any of the other contenders, and living in CO the nominations are pretty much already sealed by the time we have a primary anyway. But this time around I have been watching for several months now with more passion and interest than ever before. I already have a strong favorite who I have even donated money to, twice (and I'm pretty stingy, so that's saying something).
Before I say who my favorite-by-a-long-shot is, I should say that I would probably be satisfied with any of the Democratic candidates, and I am also pretty happy to see the Republican field in such disarray. I'm pulling for Barack Obama. Sure, Hillary has more experience than Obama and sure, John Edwards might be... actually I can't think of how John Edwards is better than Obama (better health-care plan? more middle-america down-to-earth-y?), but I'm sure Edwards would be very competent as well, nonetheless, I think that Obama is a different sort of animal and I feel pretty strongly that we need him at the helm now.
Aside from how ridiculously good-looking he is (although John Edwards is also fairly attractive), I think that he is also smart, honest and forthright, pragmatic, bold, and has a lot of integrity. I like that he was against the invasion of Iraq back when that was not a politically popular stance to have. I think it is unfortunate that Iraq is and will be such a big issue in this campaign as I think that there are bigger issues than Iraq (Energy policy, climate change, health care, education, international geopolitical policy in general of which Iraq is just one aspect, etc), but I think that his early opposition is important because it shows his ability to stand up for what he knows is right even if it is not popular (though I guess the same argument can be made for Bush, the difference being that when Obama thinks he is right, he probably actually IS right). On the Iraq note, though, I am actually of the admittedly unpopular opinion that immediate troop withdraw is not the right course of action at this point (oh no, does that make me a republican? Feel free to send me nasty emails telling me why I am wrong. I can take it) and so, that is one point of contention for me not just with Obama but with all of the Democratic candidates.
I also think that Obama is the most honest and forthright of the presidential contenders. For one thing, he has written and spoken openly about his past drug use. I think I like the idea of a president who has some splotches on the record but isn't afraid to show them. Also, virtually all of his campaign contributions have come from individual donors like me (percentage-wise, Edwards has actually done better with individual donations, but Edwards has raised far less money overall. Hillary has accepted significantly more money than Obama from business and lobbies. Check out the link). I also just get the feeling, a vibe perhaps, that Obama is just a more sincere and real person than Edwards and Clinton. I feel like what we see is really what we get with Obama.
I like that he is fresh. I hate to discount Hillary simply because of her last name, but I really do think that we need to break the dynastic cycle and Obama is even better for this than Edwards. Both Obama and Edwards are relatively young senators who come from humble beginnings, but Obama's more diverse and international upbringing definitely earns points with me and seems like a bigger break from the Kennedy-Bush-Clinton dynastic machines.
I could keep going, but I think I've made my point. I'm pulling for Obama more than I've pulled for any other presidential hopeful ever before. Of course the election is still a little over 10 months away and a lot of things can happen in 10 months to tip the scales. Iraq could somehow turn into a success story (doubtful). Osama Bin Laden could be captured and paraded around just in time to influence wish-washy voters. Or perhaps one of the Republicans (Mike Huckabee? I hope not...) could miraculously come from behind to take the race... It's impossible to know, but I think that it will definitely be the Democrats' (and particularly Obama's) race to lose.
I was also going to write about how the primary/caucus system disenfranchises voters because people in states like Iowa and New Hampshire have SO much power over who even makes it on the ballot and how the Electoral College disenfranchises voters by creating disincentives to vote because minority votes in "safe" states (blue votes in "red states, for example) don't really carry any weight. But, I've already ranted enough and I think that those arguments are well-worn, so I'll just leave it at that.
I'll leave off with this video. It is a little heavy-handed, and perhaps a bit subversive, but it is kind of how I feel about Hillary (but if she gets the nomination, I'll support her).
I have never thought of myself as a particularly political person. I mean, I would not classify myself as an a-political person either by any means, but I have never been very passionate about the political scene. But this year's presidential cycle is different. Never before have I been so interested in or opinionated about the presidential campaign so early on. In past election cycles I would probably not even start to pay much attention until springtime when the contenders had weeded themselves out through the primaries and the parties had made their nominations. This is partly because at this point in the process no one contender usually seems particular better than any of the other contenders, and living in CO the nominations are pretty much already sealed by the time we have a primary anyway. But this time around I have been watching for several months now with more passion and interest than ever before. I already have a strong favorite who I have even donated money to, twice (and I'm pretty stingy, so that's saying something).
Before I say who my favorite-by-a-long-shot is, I should say that I would probably be satisfied with any of the Democratic candidates, and I am also pretty happy to see the Republican field in such disarray. I'm pulling for Barack Obama. Sure, Hillary has more experience than Obama and sure, John Edwards might be... actually I can't think of how John Edwards is better than Obama (better health-care plan? more middle-america down-to-earth-y?), but I'm sure Edwards would be very competent as well, nonetheless, I think that Obama is a different sort of animal and I feel pretty strongly that we need him at the helm now.
Aside from how ridiculously good-looking he is (although John Edwards is also fairly attractive), I think that he is also smart, honest and forthright, pragmatic, bold, and has a lot of integrity. I like that he was against the invasion of Iraq back when that was not a politically popular stance to have. I think it is unfortunate that Iraq is and will be such a big issue in this campaign as I think that there are bigger issues than Iraq (Energy policy, climate change, health care, education, international geopolitical policy in general of which Iraq is just one aspect, etc), but I think that his early opposition is important because it shows his ability to stand up for what he knows is right even if it is not popular (though I guess the same argument can be made for Bush, the difference being that when Obama thinks he is right, he probably actually IS right). On the Iraq note, though, I am actually of the admittedly unpopular opinion that immediate troop withdraw is not the right course of action at this point (oh no, does that make me a republican? Feel free to send me nasty emails telling me why I am wrong. I can take it) and so, that is one point of contention for me not just with Obama but with all of the Democratic candidates.
I also think that Obama is the most honest and forthright of the presidential contenders. For one thing, he has written and spoken openly about his past drug use. I think I like the idea of a president who has some splotches on the record but isn't afraid to show them. Also, virtually all of his campaign contributions have come from individual donors like me (percentage-wise, Edwards has actually done better with individual donations, but Edwards has raised far less money overall. Hillary has accepted significantly more money than Obama from business and lobbies. Check out the link). I also just get the feeling, a vibe perhaps, that Obama is just a more sincere and real person than Edwards and Clinton. I feel like what we see is really what we get with Obama.
I like that he is fresh. I hate to discount Hillary simply because of her last name, but I really do think that we need to break the dynastic cycle and Obama is even better for this than Edwards. Both Obama and Edwards are relatively young senators who come from humble beginnings, but Obama's more diverse and international upbringing definitely earns points with me and seems like a bigger break from the Kennedy-Bush-Clinton dynastic machines.
I could keep going, but I think I've made my point. I'm pulling for Obama more than I've pulled for any other presidential hopeful ever before. Of course the election is still a little over 10 months away and a lot of things can happen in 10 months to tip the scales. Iraq could somehow turn into a success story (doubtful). Osama Bin Laden could be captured and paraded around just in time to influence wish-washy voters. Or perhaps one of the Republicans (Mike Huckabee? I hope not...) could miraculously come from behind to take the race... It's impossible to know, but I think that it will definitely be the Democrats' (and particularly Obama's) race to lose.
I was also going to write about how the primary/caucus system disenfranchises voters because people in states like Iowa and New Hampshire have SO much power over who even makes it on the ballot and how the Electoral College disenfranchises voters by creating disincentives to vote because minority votes in "safe" states (blue votes in "red states, for example) don't really carry any weight. But, I've already ranted enough and I think that those arguments are well-worn, so I'll just leave it at that.
I'll leave off with this video. It is a little heavy-handed, and perhaps a bit subversive, but it is kind of how I feel about Hillary (but if she gets the nomination, I'll support her).
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