Job is looking like it should come through and the apartment search is going OK. Fighting a really bad cold though. But that's improving. Seems like I get sick whenever I get offered a job I want to take. (Well N=2, but it's a start.)

OK, looks like Thursday afternoon to Friday now. Canceling one interview since it looks like I have a job, maybe. I don't think I'll be talking about it here though.

I'm going to be in NYC Thursday and Friday.

The Waiting Game - Determining when it's right to start dating again as a widow.

"She uses my $120 hair goop daily"

Umm, well there's a problem.

Why "Hail to the Chief"? - How it became the presidential song. By Andy Bowers:

"Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation,
Hail to the Chief! We salute him, one and all.
Hail to the Chief, as we pledge co-operation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call.

"Yours is the aim to make this grand country grander,
This you will do, That's our strong, firm belief.
Hail to the one we selected as commander,
Hail to the President! Hail to the Chief!"

Haaretz - Knesset: Banks hold NIS 1b belonging to Holocaust victims

Oh man, that's frickin' brilliant...

NPR : Moving from Accounting to Dance -- and Paris:

She took belly-dancing classes for three years. Then she began working weddings, showers and bar mitzvahs, supplementing her regular job as an accountant at the University of Washington.

I'm betting those weren't orthodox bar mitzvahs.

How Not To Give an Inaugural - Lessons from 216 years of history online. By Chris Suellentrop:

"I once took a trip to Wheatland, Buchanan's home in Lancaster, Pa., which ended with the docent apologizing for the Buchanan presidency by noting how he was not 'the right man for his times.'"

People from Penna. ::shakes head::

Joe Biden to Condi Rice:
"For God's sake, don't listen to Rumsfeld on this, he has no idea what he's talking about."

Attack of the Machines - Is your stockbroker a robot? By Daniel Gross:

"But as program trading has risen, the market counterintuitively seems to have grown less volatile. "

Only if you the nature of markets isn't part of your intuitive understanding. It makes perfect sense, if you understand that:
a) markets spontaneously order, volitilaty is reduced by decreased ineficiency
b)behind every computer program is a person and therefore the market
c)computer arbitrage allows people to spot and react to small changes in the market more quickly, reducing inefficiency

If You Were Made Editor of the New York Times....

"Ann Coulter, pundit: 'Offer a daily version in the original French.'”

Hmm, I just cleared something up for myself by realizing I've been confusing Allan Bloom and Harold Bloom.

Eurotrash : Upsaid journal:
commenter rasputin:
"I always ignore restaurant reviews for places that don't have 99 cent value meals. Um, because I'm poor. (Three packs of cigarettes a day renders me incapable of tasting anything anyway -- it also explains why I can't afford food, too.)"

Admissions - Graduate Faculty - New School University:

"Do I have to take the TOEFL?

"The TOEFL is required of ALL international students, regardless of whether they have studied in English. We require a TOEFL score of at least 600 on the paper-based test or 250 on the computer-based test."

Including the ones from the UK? What about Australia? Is Bob Kerrey running your institution or something? Oh wait...

Jazz Funeral for Democracy - January 20, 2005

Huh? A Jazz Funeral is founded in the evangelical idea of the celebration of death as a release upon which one goes directly to heaven, therefore death is a happy occasion. Democracy hasn't gone to heaven, heaven not being applicable for a form of government, and therefore if you think it has died you should be sad not happy.

I chalk it up to Leftists not understanding evangelical religion.

ESPN.com - MLB - Stark: Conversation with Curt Schilling:

"On whether he thinks he ever has a chance to join his sock in the Hall of Fame:

'I don't think I'm going to play long enough to win enough games. But you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm going to retire, and I want the people I played with to say, 'If I had to win a game, that's my pitcher.' And if I can do that, the other stuff is going to be pretty much inconsequential."

That's pretty modest and I think pretty clearly false.

Californians Dreaming of Secession? -- 01/11/2005

There is apparently a nascent secessionist movement in California. Leaving aside whether it's a good idea in any sense. It is certainly not legal. You might have heard about The American Civil War.

Ouch, that book is 55 dollars.

OUP: Epistemic Luck: Pritchard

A new book I'm excited to read. He's also started a 1 year Masters program at his university (Stirling) in Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind. Another option to keep in mind.

Independent Women's Forum

On the universal applicability of great art, especially to the poor. This is of course what defines something as great art, the universality of the truths (close to a redundancy of sorts) expressed (apprehended creatively of course, making it art not philosophy).

IWF's blog "Inkwell" gets a blogroll link.

The 3rd Annual Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States: The 2004 Edition - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

"Without question, Matthews is the most annoying liberal on the cable news networks.

"Defining Quote: "It was terrible. I was sorry for Chris Matthews, really. If the purpose of a show isn’t to sit and exchange information, if it’s to simply rant and scream at people, then why bother to have guests? Why doesn’t he simply talk to a potted plant? He could sit and just sort of orate to a potted plant there and he wouldn’t have the frustration of the plant trying to answer back and, you know, he could have great television with the plant." -- John O'Neill on his first interview with Matthews "

and I used to watch him. I don't know why...

Modernarf.com

The Museum of Modern ARF is here in Clarendon. I stopped by today. They had some really neat art. They also had some not so neat politics. So I kept discussion on the humanist, historical and aesthetic planes. Don't want to antagonize them too much, they have a tiger.

Just to be clear though, the art was great, I'll defintely be going back.

Department of Navy's Recruitment suite for Applicants

Argghh, both the Navy and the Treasury Department application systems are down. Does make life difficult.

Really, Crash is completely done. I admit that I too own this album, but we can play it alone in our rooms for the occasional nostalgia trip, not in public. Yech. (I realize that only Tiff and Jeanetta will probably have any idea what I'm talking about.)

North Korea says it's ready to resume nuclear talks, treat U.S. as a "friend"

If we agree to criticize neither their leader nor their system. Since both are abhorrent, the condition is unconscionable. Making this, hopefully, little more than a publicity stunt if they're serious about that demand.

You scored as Upper middle Class. Your determination have soared you this high, yet not high enough to enjoy the luxuries of the upper class. Your most valued posession is your country club membership which is kept framed in the office. Upper middle Class 71% Middle Class 58% Luxurious Upper Class 46% alternative 42% Lower Class 13% What Social Status are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Destination Supermarket (washingtonpost.com):

"Wegmans chose Sterling, and a new site in Fairfax that will open next month, because of the area's tremendous growth and large, accessible tracts of land for substantial stores with ample parking. Wegmans works, apparently, because it's a destination. Says Berndt: 'We choose places where something doesn't already exist.'"

"Destination supermarket". That's absolutely right. And a darn fine cheese selection.

Want to be a Barista?????

A school for making espresso? Want to be a Barista? like this is a life goal! sheesh, I know coffee is taking over our culture like never before, but this is just ridiculous.

For Alysse:

Advertisement from the Washington City Newspaper:

“MEDITATE ON THE Little Flower of loving, heavenly colors, the Himmelfarb, in your and all foreheads. Blessings of Mary Magdalene. 703/525-4660.

Eastman produced Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. I would have liked to have seen that. I keep intending to find a copy to listen to it.

Salon.com Life | They don't seem right for each other:

"I do not think there is any area of life about which two close friends cannot have a frank and confidential conversation, as long as it is carried on with due care and consideration. I do not think there is any true friendship that cannot survive a little doubt and disagreement, even about life's most fundamental decisions."

Nota Bene: I simply appreciate Cary Tennis's writing and ideas. This is not an editorial comment on anyone I know.

Thudguard - Infants protective safety hat

Preventing small children from painfully reinventing the bed.

A rabbi was standing out on the street looking for a tenth for his minyan. Finally, he found a Jew. But the fellow tried to turn him down, explaining, "I'm not into organized religion."

"If this were organized religion," exclaimed the rabbi, "what on earth am I doing out on the street harassing pedestrians?"

So I'm at the "office", see below. A girl just walked into the back room where I'm working talking on her cell phone:

I just let something happen that I should never have let happen. Well, it's over now and he's still a friend. It's ok.

Hmm, I wonder what you're talking about, genius.

Mwhahahah, now playing on the PA, The Tide is High, by Blondie.

(If you don't appreciate the irony, check out the lyrics.)

craigslist | jobs in new york city

"Qualified applicants only."

Does anyone intentionally hire unqualified applicants?

"Your name on rice"

I just don't understand the attraction. Then again, they never look very busy, so maybe no-one else does either.

Oh man, Terry Gross is such a moron. She just asked whether Winnipeg was a small town or a big city. And it's getting worse, now we've moved onto her ignorances in law and genetics in addition to geography.

The smoking has started to show on Ann Coulter (not that I care, A.).

The Corner on National Review Online:

"STUPID DEM STRATEGIES? [KJL]
"Instalinks to a wide variety of of torture pieces from Glenn Reynolds (which he appears to continue to update).

"Ashamed I didn't come up with this myself--or slap it on as a headline for Shannen's piece or something this morning: 'Bonus to Karl Rove if any Democrats connect Gonzales to the 'Spanish Inquisition.' I don't really expect that, but then nobody ever does.'
"Posted at 10:03 PM"

In an advertisement for a legal assistant position:

"Shorthand a plus. "

Now that's a throwback.

Man, if you're not reading the comments, you're missing half the fun.

At my new office...

a coffee shop near the Clarendon metro station.

My computer's power adapter finally died so I had to get a new one at Best Buy for $90. It was easy to get there, they're at Pentagon City. I tried to call ahead, but they would keep transferring me to computers where no one was answering the phones. But it's all sorted out now.

If anyone has offices in gift...

Wow, big newspaper article on my friend Joyelle, from when she left to join the MC's. Typical of her self-effacing ways, she didn't point us to it (though she might have told Jeanetta about it for all I know.)