Posts from February 2008

Oh, man... a radio station in West Virginia is having a contest to give away a "free divorce" for Valentine's Day:



Because nothing says "I love you" like a divorce contest. Anyway, I hope all of you will have a nice Valentine's Day. I realize the contrived nature of the holiday, but I guess I still have a soft spot for it. I'm not really doing anything special tomorrow, but hopefully, Aaron may be able to come up on Sunday for a visit.

I guess I have to go with @lilho about the whole superbowl thing. I don't really have anything against it, it's just that I'm not a football watcher in general. I never got into sports much. If I do watch sports, it will be hockey, and that's only because people in Buffalo got me into the Sabres. Either way, though, I hope it's an exciting game for anyone watching it.

I hope @james won't be too appalled that I forgot to register to vote for the primary on tuesday. I'm registered in Buffalo, but I forgot to register when I moved here. I promise I will register soon!

I read that the Kennedy’s are endorsing Obama. That surprised me a little bit, as I thought they were friends of the Clintons. Obama’s run seems slightly reminiscent of JFK’s, in my opinion. In both cases, it seems that both run on a message of hope and optimism for the future, without outlying concrete steps to achieve it. Both were/are relatively young and charismatic. I definitely like Obama, but I’d also like to have a more solid sense of what he stands for.

Work is going well. I really like the Professor that I’m working under this semester. We are doing a general US History II survey, and it’s been interesting getting a review of a lot of things that I had long forgotten, such as Reconstruction. I’ve been to one class so far- a seminar class on the Civil Rights Movement. Tonight, I have a reading seminar for the history of public health.

I'm back in Albany. I start work tommorow, and class on thursday. I'm looking forward to it. I've been feeling blue lately about having to leave my family and friends back home. I also miss Buffalo. I've been feeling pretty homesick. I am thinking about going to see Ani Difranco in concert this week, as she is playing downtown. I probably shouldn't go because I shouldn't spend the money on the ticket. On the other hand, she's one of my favorite musicians, and I always wanted to see her a second time (I saw her back in 2002).

Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. I was reading about how abortion rates have been decreasing:


I'm pro-choice, but I've always felt uneasy about the fact that I am pro-choice. I feel as though I should not have the right to tell another woman what to do with her body, especially when I've never walked through her shoes. Had my life turned out differently in certain points, I might have made the choice to terminate a pregnancy. I never became pregnant, but I've become aware of how quick your life can become permanently changed from another person's actions.

But I also feel uncomfortable about abortion, because I do feel that there is a developing human life that is lost when someone has an abortion. I always feel that whatever position I look at the issue from, I'm a little bit in the wrong. So hopefully, my views here aren't too offensive to anyone on here.

This is a video of a guy solving a rubik's cube with a blindfold on:

I want to thank my (e:strip) secret santa.

I just got my itunes card in the mail yesterday- what a great surprise! I loved it. I bought "the toaster's" retrospective cd and a liz janes lp. Thank you so very much, to the person who sent it. That was the perfect gift.

The holidays turned out really nice. I spent a few days before Christmas at Aaron's. I got to meet his brother and some more of his extended family over dinner. For Christmas, he gave me an emerald necklace, which was so beautiful. No guy had ever given me anything like that before. It meant a lot to me that he wanted me to meet all of his family.

I spent Christmas at my grandparents in Olean, then I went to a couple of friend's holiday parties. I went to Pittsburgh for a rheumatologist appointment and my bloodwork came back good. I was having some problems with liver functioning and blood cell counts, so it was a relief that is okay again. I've had bad arthritis lately, but its managable.

I went back on the 30th to Brockport for Aaron's 30th birthday. We had dinner with his mom, sister, and brother in law. On New Years Eve, we went to Rochester to see the "Golden Compass" and then go out for dinner at a great micro-brewery. I liked how the Golden Compass turned out, though part of the ending from the book was cut out of the movie. Later, we snuggled into bed with some ice cream and watched some tv. I wish I could have made it to the estrip party, but I couldn't imagine having a better time than I did with Aaron:).

Lately, I've been working on some research and school-related things. There's a lot of things I should do, unfortunately, I'm not a motivated person at all. I'm supposed to go back to Albany in less than two weeks. I have mixed-feelings about this. I'm looking forward to classes and seeing most of the people back there, but work hasn't been so great. Hopefully, this semester will go better than the previous semester in that respect. I'm grateful I still have a job, though.

Speaking of work, I should probably go do some...

I went to see Enchanted at the beginning of this week. I see why it came so highly recommended by many of you. It's not the type of movie I usually watch, but I found it to be funny and charming. Amy Adams has a lot of talent. Plus, Dr. Dreamy is in it. That's worth the price alone.

I had my first ever glass of champagne on weds. It was good! No wonder people like it so much. One of my profs was serving us glasses at an end of the semester party for some of the grad students and faculty. I definitely enjoyed the party and thought it was fun, but I felt somewhat self-conscious. Most people there were sophisticated and well-traveled, and obviously, I am not really either of those things. I'm just this girl from a small-town.

I met up with some of my friends on thursday night, for karaoke at a place called Pintos. It was my first time going through the lark st. neighborhood. It's neat... lark reminds me of allentown in Buffalo. Lots of bars and small businesses. My friend Matt sang some cheesy eighties songs, christmas tunes, and even a Hank Williams number. I think it made him happy that I told him that he sounded like Bob Dylan. (I didn't tell him which Bob Dylan era, heh). Seriously, though, he was good.

I'm all done with my classes. A few more days of TA stuff, then I'm headed back to WNY for the holidays. I'm looking forward to it.

Happy Hannukah to all of you who celebrate it! (Actually, @carolinian is the only other person on estrip I know who does, but I'm not really sure about this).

Tonight is the first night of Hannukah. Hannukah's not one of the most important Jewish holidays, and I came from a mixed-faith background where we celebrated Christmas, too. I've felt down the past couple of days not to be able to see my mom or the rest of my family for Hannukah, though. I don't think I've ever not spent at least part of it with her.
She actually sent me this really nice package yesterday with an itunes gift certificate, socks, five dollars, and a funny card. It was a great surprise... I wasn't really expecting anything.

I'm pretty stressed out between work and school, but I'm "hanging in there." I'm looking forward to Christmas and New Years.

According to this study, Buffalo is the 3rd "least dangerously drunk" city in the country:


I'm not really sure about their methodology, but I did find it kind of interesting, to say the least.