Called out again by (e:mk) on posting. Not posting in over a month is a bit long. I will try and give you the run down on what has happened. First, congrats to (e:mk) on "basically officially" becoming a teacher. Second, happy b-day to (e:jill), hope you had a great day.

On to what I have been doing the past month. I just got back from Georgia, where I spent my spring break with Siv, Jess and Dum. It was a really good time. Finally got to meet siv's gf lucy. She is really nice and I really like her. Hanging out was just how it always was, so much so that last night when I went to bed, I got a bit sentimental for living in Park Bethesda, specifically late spring junior year and the summer between junior and senior year. Not any specific incident, just the feeling of the warm air and just hanging out. While there we went to (among many burrito places including chipotle and a place that actually tasted better than chipotle) an exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center of human bodies preserved and with their skin removed so you can see all of their different systems, nervous, muscle etc. It was really creepy and cool at the same time. We also went to the Georgia Aquarium which is the world's largest aquarium and has two whale sharks (the world's largest fist). It was really cool. Overall, it was a great trip.

Also, this past month I got a job for when I graduate. I will be working in the NYS Division of Budget, on the newly formed Public Authorities Budget office. I am really excited about it, it was the job I wanted most. What the office will be working on is looking in to public authorities, like the thruway authority and Buffalo Control Board, which have come under a lot of scrutiny lately for taking on a lot of debt with little oversight. To interview for it was a really intense process. They brought all of the candidates, there were 10 for 6 positions, out to albany for 3 days and we interviewed with a bunch of high level people, including both deputy budget directors and heads of different sections in the Budget office. It was both cool because we were interviewing with some pretty high level people, but it was also pretty terrifying because all you are doing is interviewing and going to receptions (including one at the Governors mansion which was really cool, the governor wasn't there) where are you are mingling and have to be on all the time. Luckily, they made the decision pretty fast and I got a call the next day from the Budget Director personally offering me the position. I am superexcited about it, but it will be really intense. First, most people start in may or june but because my program doesn't finish until june 30th, I have to start late and I graduate on a friday and have to be at work the next monday, which will be pretty stressful. For the first 8 months I will be in the public authorities budget office, for the next 8 months, I will be in the budget office's debt unit to look into the bonds that the authorities are issuing and then for the final four months, I will actually work in a public authority helping them to work with the budget office. After the 2 years, I negotiate my position in the budget division. I am looking forward to starting and hopefully it will be as good as I think it will be.

One thing I am not looking forward to is the rest of this semester. I have a bunch of papers to work on that will all be a pain in my ass. Ugh. I guess it was only a matter of time before I had to do work in grad school. Well I better go get on that because it is not getting anymore done now. Talk to you later
Jesse

For all of you hipsters who are into Arctic Monkeys (looking at you (e:hodown)) the band that is opening up for them in the States is my friend's band, the Spinto Band, [inlink]jessbob,122[/inlink] You should check them out They are really good, and if you do happen to catch the arctic monkeys in the states (I know they are coming to NYC, Boston, Toronto, Philly and DC) come early, it will be worth it.

The Washington Post today had an article about former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, a VERY conservative congressman that lead the impeachment charges against Clinton, and how he has been highly critical of President Bush's eaves dropping program.

In the article Bob Barr says, "Are we losing our lodestar, which is the Bill of Rights? Are we in danger of putting allegiance to party ahead of allegiance to principle?"

I am so glad he is calling out conservatives on this. I saw soooo many people in DC (republicans and democrats) just blindly tow the party line without thinking for themselves about whether it is actually in line with their beliefs. If it is in line, fine, you can believe what you want to believe. But at least think about it.

At the conservative conference that he said this, Barr got the following response, "But nobody said anything in the deathly quiet audience. Barr merited only polite applause when he finished, and one man, Richard Sorcinelli, booed him loudly. 'I can't believe I'm in a conservative hall listening to him say [Bush] is off course trying to defend the United States,' Sorcinelli fumed"

If Bush isn't being conservative (which I believe he isn't, the party of individual rights - B fucking S), then he should be called out on it. Just cause he comes from the same party does not automatically mean you should support everything he does.

Read the article for yourself, "Bob Barr, Bain of the Right?"

Little peeve of mine came up today and I have heard the mistake made many times. I just want to clear the difference between Hindu and Hindi

Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism (the religion)
Hindi is a language (from India that Hindus may speak)

People cannot speak Hindu and People cannot be Hindi

Here is a Washington Post editoral on the NASA communications person that (e:ajay) posted about

Regarding the whole God/religion issue that has been discussed a lot here lately, here is an interesting piece on NPR that I heard a few months ago by Penn Jillette (the tall one in Penn and Teller) on his belief that there is no God. It is interesting not in that it has some deep philosophical insight, but in how this belief that there is no God informs his approach to life.

The world is a crazy place.

Saturday I got three packages from amazon.com that were addressed to my apartment, but I had never heard of the person.

Not knowing what to do, I was going to take them back to the post office on my way to class and have them return them to sender. After I got on the shuttle to campus, a guy sitting behind me asked if I had gotten some packages for "John Smith." I said I had, and he said that he was John Smith and use to live in my apartment and had acidentally sent them to his old address. I checked his ID to be sure and then gave him the packages.

Seriously, what are the odds that he would be riding the same shuttle as me when I was going to return his packages.

It reminds me of another crazy coincidence when I went to a Latter Day Saints Church. I thought I had posted about it but it looks like I hadn't, so maybe I will post about it some time soon.

Seriously, how can there not be someone/thing controlling this show

Jesse

P.S. so much for my regular posting. That lasted all of one day

I am back at Maxwell and have just completed a full week of school. This semester will be good in that I am taking three classes that I am actually interested in, State and Local Finance, Metropolitan Politics, and Urban Policy, and I don't have a single test. The bad part about this semester is that I am taking five courses and as none of them have tests, it means I get the pleasure of writing papers. Getting back into writing papers will be annoying as I didn't write anything over 4 pages all last semester (the joy of being in an MPA program is that they are preparing you for a job, so you just write lots of memos instead of long papers). Also, last semester I only had 4 courses, now I have 5, but I don't have an internship anymore.

As I do at the beginning of ever ysemester, I have to start getting organized, and this time I am trying to do it right off the bat rather than later because with the writing I will have to do, I won't have time to jerk off for the first few weeks (in previous semesters, I had done jack shit for the first month or so as evidenced by the fact that my last two internships started more than a month into the semester). I am trying to firm up a good routine, especially with my sleep cycle. Part of this routine will try and include a nightly posting of 15mins on (e:strip) to better keep track of my life. This semester, two days I have 8:00 classes and two days I have 12:45 classes. Hopefully I will wake up at the same time each day and exercise or something else that is good for myself. I am not there yet but I should be soon. OK, my 15 mins is almost up. I'll see you tomorrow.

P.S. My hair is all now gone courtesy of (e:maureen)'s beauty salon and I now have a beard courtesy of my mother's genes. I'll post the pics (e:maureen) took soon.

It has been a while since I've posted. The last few weeks of classes were a bit rough but I am done now and enjoying doing as little as possible in the B-lo

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the party on Saturday night. Thanks (e:PMT) for throwing the party. Happy bday (e:hodown), I hope you had a good night, and it was nice meeting and hanging out with all the (e:peeps).

Also, I found out that one of my friends from the year I went to Starpoint died. I was just flipping through the news and happened to be reading the obits and there was one for him there. He died the other day in a car crash cause of the weather. I haven't spoken to him since 9th grade. It is weird when I find things like that in the news because I rarely read the obits and just happened to be flipping through.

Well that is all.

-Jesse

Last night my friends here threw me a birthday party. It was really nice. I was kind of a surprise in that it was originally going to be an 80s teen movie night (it still was an 80s teen movie night too). So I didn't know until my friend picked me up and asked me to hold my birthday cake. I am really glad I came here. Though I cannot go on the racist tyrades I could at AU, I am feeling more comfortable with and really like the people here, even if some of them drive me up the wall sometimes. (thanks for talking me out of that one (e:maureen)).

At the party we watched Pretty in Pink and part of another movie (Say Anything?). This was the first time I have watch Pretty in Pink and I was pissed. I really related to duckie in the movie and felt he got fucked. He was the only one with real balls. Fuck the pretty boy. Plus the pretty boy broke the number 1 rule of friendship - bros over hos. I am very bitter in how the nerd gets screwed in these 80s teen movies. Like at the end of Breakfast Club when they all pair up except Anthony Michael Hall who has to write the paper. That's fucking BS. Fuck you John Hughes. At least we have revenge of the Nerds.