I don’t know why I was surprised to see people trying on clothes in the street, but I guess it makes sense, if you’re going to buy them there. Anyway, this may have been the same vendor from whom I bought Amanda’s Boston hat. Alex’s shirt came from a different street display. No picture of that.

In unrelated news, Alex crushed Amanda and me at Scrabble last night. She was ahead (but only by a few points, so we thought we had a chance) when suddenly she busts out “GRUMBLER,” placing letters on two triple-word-score squares! I mean, come on. We looked up the rules, and when that happens, you triple your score, and then triple the result. Ouch.

167 points for a single freaking word. But somewhere, underneath the poor-loserishness, I was still remembering that I find her braininess attractive.

Deep underneath.

foxy at the Florissant fossil beds

It’s weird to be back in Hamilton, feeling like it’s home, but knowing that in 5 days I’ll be in my “real” home in Texas. As my sweetie pie has mentioned, our trip was great. Even the family reunion, which I was initially not very excited about, turned out very well. My only gripe about that is the accommodation situation (medieval torture hide-a-bed in an alcove with no privacy in a condo with 8 children and 6 other adults… not a lot of sleep for those 3 nights). My family is great, and every time I’m around them, I’m reminded of that. It was really nice to get to hang out with my nieces and nephews, too. Alex and I spent some serious quality time with Carter, Lindsey and Truman, and we had a total blast playing with them in the water park.

Speaking of water parks, Alex and I ditched the kids and rode roller coasters and vomit-inducing carnival rides for the last few hours at the amusement park. I have to say I did not expect Alex’s manic desire to spin us around and around and around at high speeds on the ferris-wheel-esque-puke-ride-of-death. This animated mockup is from Amazing Earl’s rollercoaster modeling website, and I hope it’s OK that I borrowed it. As a note, the spin on our ride was controlled by the riders. This means Alex.

computer model of something like the ride that Alex tried to kill me on

I enjoyed every second of the ride, by the way.

I’ll blog more about the wedding itself, later. It was great to hang with Scott and the other interns again, and it was very nice to gasp for breath every night at nearly 9,000 feet altitude.

1 – Cover the children’s eyes.
2 – Read.
3 – Feel the joy.
4 – My source: Wikiquote.org (although I’ve been a D.P. fan for a while)

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
~ reviewing Atlas Shrugged

It is that word ‘hummy,’ my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.
~ reviewing A. A. Milne’s book in her “Constant Reader” column in The New Yorker

Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
~ from Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell is This? (1988) by Marion Meade

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
~ As quoted in Turning Numbers into Knowledge (2001) by Johnathan G. Koomey Continue reading →

A couple of nights ago, my friend Brad and I had a discussion. It got me thinking, as I often do, about mi patria (the United States), its role in the world, and its future on the international stage. This morning, while trying to find a citation for homicide rates as (lousy) indicators of overall crime rates, I ran into a 2005 article titled “The next 50 years: Unfolding trends,” in what appears to be a good peer-reviewed academic journal.

The article has a section titled “America’s Retreat.” He predicts the end of U.S. international dominance by about 2050, with clear signs starting a few decades ago, and becoming more apparent very soon. He cites a lot of economic indicators, such as national debt, increasingly weak currency, and huge (and increasing) trade imbalances. He has graphs (pretty ones) and apparently rigorous data analysis. Some nifty excerpts from the article, after the jump. Continue reading →

Amanda’s Head and the Biodome in Montreal 1/06

The news is very strange. Sometimes it seems like I’m supposed to read a secret message in the disparate, sometimes disturbing, stories. Of note:
~  Bush is pushing ahead with his 21,500-troop “surge,” despite the fact that the war has suddenly become unpopular with even some of his strongest congressional supporters.
~  Former President Carter has sanctioned terrorism in his bestselling book by urging Palestinians et al. to make it clear that they will stop terrorist acts when “the ultimate goals” of an internationally-sponsored peace accord “are accepted by Israel.” So, I guess he’s saying they should keep up the terrorism until they get what they want.
~  The Duke Lacrosse alleged-rape case got more confusing, now that the defendant has changed her story significantly.
~  Ecuador will be a socialist state within the year.
~  Canada is in the free-for-all, with terrorists arrested in Ontario and the discovery of false Canadian coins with RF transmitters inside them (I knew it! Those coins were always just a little too cute…)
~  Last but not least: certain gadgets highlight exactly what cell phones are, in their little microprocessing heart of hearts.

In other news, I am a very, very slow Scrabble player. I did not realize it took Alex and me until 2 a.m. to finish our game.

Score:
Alex – 329
Me – 324

Grrrrr.