My life as Lando Calrissian

I'm currently talking to E about the sticky situation of a new punt agreement that has split the MCR from the JCR in Hertford and he is reminding me of my old position as MCR president, and after that MCR treasurer, and how much time I seemed to spend making devil's bargains between various parts of the common rooms and various offices in college, and that in turn has me hearing Lando Calrissian's voice in my head over and over again:

"I've just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever."

Followed shortly thereafter by, "This deal keeps getting worse all the time!"

Sometimes I think that I might like to be involved in local politics and I've considered (someday) running for positions like city councilperson or state representative. This idea came up again when I learned about Emily's List, a non-profit dedicated to training pro-choice, female candidates to run in local elections. But then I hear Darth Vader's voice in my head and I remember the devil's deals and terrible compromises that seemed to have to constantly happen in something so petty as Oxford college common room politics, and I'm not sure if I could do it.

"I am altering the deal, pray I do not alter it any further."

7th week Hilary Radio Clash

This week's is in two parts as the file was too large for yousendit. The link to download Part I is here, and Part II is here.

Thanks for listening!

Here's the playlist:
Caesars - Spirit
The Decemberists - Don't Carry It All
Boat - Prince of Tacoma
Computer Magic - Grand Junction
An Horse - Trains and Tracks
Interpol - Public Pervert
Villagers - Twenty Seven Strangers
Spoon - Got Nuffin
Jesca Hoop - Money
Dinosaur Bones - Royalty
Jimmy Eat World - Gotta Be Somebody's Blues
Cocoon - Chupee
Union of Knives - Evil Has Never
VHS or Beta - Burn it all Down
Pearl Jam - Man of the Hour
Bishop Allen - Little Black Ache
Buffalo Tom - Late at Night
Reverie - Get to Know Me
Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee
The Starlight Mints - Seventeen Devils
Stupid White Men - Walk and Slaughter
The Enemy - You're Not Alone
Florence and the Machine - Blinding

Discovery

This is a particularly good place to read about/watch the final launch of the space shuttle Discovery. I've said it about a thousand times to everyone, but the space shuttle program is one of the most amazing human endeavors I can think of and every time I watch one launch I find myself glued to the screen, as if just by the force of watching it I could somehow help will it into the sky. I've never been able to see one of them launch in person and it isn't looking promising but maybe when I'm an old lady they'll have launches at air shows or something and I'll get to see it then, though at that point it'll be totally commonplace and everyone will be like, Wow, but look at the interstellar space planes, and Oh, Great Great Aunt Jamie, those space shuttles were so quaint! They look just like old passenger planes!

I think half of the appeal of space shuttles to me lies in the fact that they do look just like passenger planes -- except bigger and therefore more awesome. I have always been of the Executor school of thought in terms of Most Awesome Star Wars ships: the more Star Destroyer, the better (insert your own size queen joke here). Similarly, 747s are my favorite airplane. And in fact I can admit to having looked at airplane porn of the modified 747 that carries the space shuttle (whilst thinking "YO DAWG" in all caps).

From Wikipedia. OMG awesome.

But in addition to my own totally platonic feelings about huge airplanes, the space shuttles are just all around amazing. And I'm very sad to be seeing them go. So if you haven't had a chance yet, enjoy watching the video of the shuttle launch and reading about how amazing these craft really are.

Radio Clash 6th week Hilary 2011

If you missed out on this week's Radio Clash, have a listen by downloading this mp3 right here! (For a limited time only.)

A visitor in the Ox.

Let's break this one down by the stats:
7 (almost 8) museums
5 episodes of Arrested Development
3 dedicated Wii sessions
3 Oxford colleges
2 train rides
2 country churches
1 world capital
1 radio show
Literally 1000s of trochees

As you can see, it was a productive time, especially if you love museums and old stuff.  And if you're a fan of this blog (all six of you), I think you do.

N came to visit me, landing on Thursday morning.  In order to prevent jetlag, we dropped off his suitcase and set off on a long walk around the town, eventually taking in the Museum of the History of Science, Exeter College, and then going to see the College's off-site housing.  From there we headed back to town, cooked some curry, and then went to the radio station to rock out on Radio Clash.  We played a jetlagged set and then walked back to the flat -- N made a valiant effort and stayed awake until 11pm!

On Friday we saw the ComLab and then I had to head off to do some work.  After, we had a fairly quiet evening, with the notable exception of getting tea in Blackwells when N discovered that he is capable of drinking tea! and went to bed fairly early in preparation for leaving for London at early o'clock the next morning.  We were going to see G and M, who recently moved to the town of Crawley.

Our train departed Oxford at 7:30 in the morning, and so we set off from the flat at 7am, walking through drizzle.  Our train was late, so we spent a half hour waiting to depart, but afterwards the journey into London was warm and crowded.  We arrived at Paddington and took the tube from there to Westminster.  We decided to get out there and head to the National Gallery to wait to meet with G and M, but when we exited the tube we received word that we didn't have time to make it to the NG.  Instead we walked up Whitehall to the Strand and then to Aldwych, taking the old Anglo-Saxon route into the City of London.  At St Paul's, we turned onto the Millennium Bridge and spent some soggy time waiting on the southern side of it for G and M before opting to sit inside the Tate Modern.  We huddled together on a bench and tried to get warm/dry.

Once we met up with our friends, we wandered around the Tate Mods and then headed over to Borough Market, walking along the South Bank of the Thames.  I can't tell you how many times I've made that walk, but I still enjoy it -- even in the pouring rain.  I love passing under Southwark Bridge and seeing the murals about the time the Thames froze and passing the Golden Hind and the Bishops' Palace.  Borough Market was absurdly crowded but we introduced N to meat pies and he seemed to like it.  I wanted to go to get coffee/tea at Monmouth Coffee but apparently my trendy knowledge got out and is now so trendy that the queue, even in the pouring rain, stretched around the building.  We skipped the hot drinks and, at N's request, took the tube over to the British Library.  We got out at Kings Cross/St Pancras and got to see the new station, which I think is one of the most impressive buildings in London.  

The library had a fascinating exhibit on about the history of the English language, which just happened to coincide with one of N's current research interests, so we spent a lot of time going through the exhibit.  One of the coolest things about it was a large interactive map of the UK with recordings of different accents.  We listened to that for quite some time.  Then N recorded his accent so that the BL can store it for posterity.  Based on a map of results, he was the only one from anywhere even near Colorado...

After that we went to the British Museum to see the cat mummies.  It was incredibly crowded due to being a Saturday, so we and 1000s of other people saw the mummies together.  The mummies were disgusting and creepy, as per usual.  N described his desire to put cat mummies in sarcophagi as suggested by Kanye West repeatedly.  Then we left and ducked into a pub near Paddington to catch the Man U vs. Crawley game.  N and I left halfway through to catch a train back to Oxford, from whence A kindly swooped in with her new drivers' license and took us to Cowley, where we had curry and fun discussion for MahW's birthday.  After that we went to the Turf, and then onwards to the flat.

On Sunday we had a nice lie-in and then spent several hours wandering around Oxford without any coherent plans materializing.  We discovered that N genuinely likes chai tea lattes at Combibos and checked out the vast array of pottery at the Ashmolean.  Following that we headed home to watch the Top Gear Christmas Special with A, Ai, T, and J.  N and I then decamped to the Duke of Cambridge for some excellent half price cocktails and fantastic conversation before heading home to some delicious soup and sticky toffee pudding.  

On Monday, N and I took E's bike and went for a ride around some of the sights of nearby Oxfordshire.  I had originally intended for us to go up to Woodstock but the weather was somewhat awful.  Instead, we got very muddy on the towpath and saw two country churches.  Luckily we had our rain suits on!

That evening, T and J took us to Oriel's formal hall.  We had an excellent time despite some questionable food and then I attempted to lure N into the PT at 9:30pm but with no luck after he saw that the entrance was a dank basement down a narrow alley.  

Tuesday was N's last full day in Oxford, but I spent much of it doing work.  I attended a class in the morning and then we went to Hertford for lunch, followed by the Pitt Rivers to see what he didn't get to see in August. After that we went to the American Institute to work before I had to teach until 6.  Then "Sir No-Bikes-A-Lot", E, and I went to Tesco to pick up some pizzas and dessert.  We ate those at the flat before N, T, J, and I went to the Bookbinders, where we met McG, and had a poor showing at the pub quiz (after reading some hilariously British Trivial Pursuit cards from the 1980s).  I could recount the pub quiz at length but all those who were there need to remember is: " 'ousewiffery".

N left this morning at 10, thus concluding his first British foray of 2k11 (but certainly not his last).  And lo, the soothsayers shall sooth to the bards so that they might recount this true tale for years to come.

Google Ad Preferences

It's interesting to find out what google ads thinks of you.  This is what they think of me:

Hmm.  Those are indeed SOME of my interests, though certainly not my gender.  And I think I look at dinosaurs and volcanoes way more than astronomy.  You can go here to find out your own -- I'd be interested to know, so post in the comments if you do!

New Year's Weekend

In response to writing a thoroughly depressing post about Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share with you the very happy counterpoint, which was 30 December through the morning of 2 January.

I started off the morning of 30 December by passing a final training test for a job I'll be starting in March (nothing too exciting, but it's nice to pass!).  N arrived shortly thereafter and we ate some ham and cheese sandwiches, gathered up my immense pile of stuff for the next few days, and then headed off to the mountains.  Just like last Christmastime, we went to the Mt Princeton Hot Springs near Buena Vista in the valley of the Arkansas River.  Unlike last year, however, when it was warm and there was no snow, this year was excruciatingly cold.  We left the Denver area just after a snowstorm had started causing road chaos, and the trip along Highway 285 to South Park was incredibly slow, icy, and occasionally whited-out.  Once we crossed Kenosha Pass (Elevation exactly -- suspiciously exactly -- 10,000 ft) and descended into the wide open valley of South Park, the snow and wind slowed, but the bitter cold remained.  Eventually, we reached our hotel, opened our Christmas gifts to each other (I received a new Thomas Pynchon novel and a fantastic camelbak backpack), ate some dinner, and then went for our first dip in the hot springs.

The Chalk Cliffs near Mt Princeton

The hot springs at Mt Princeton are arranged into large, man-made pools and then small rock pools that lie along a creek.  There was a new set of pools on the other side of the creek from the lodge, reachable by ascending a short metal staircase and crossing a bridge.  Therefore, our night alternated between hot hot pools and icy, dripping barefoot sprints across rocks and bridges.  There was a lot of cursing and a lot of undignified running. The next morning dawned even colder and our morning hot pool time was equally frigid.  From there we drove back to Kenosha Pass and suited up in our warmest clothes for a brief hike through gorgeous snow-laden pines.

I think I speak for everyone on earth when I say that this is one of the most beautiful sights imaginable.

Following our hike, we drove back to Denver, made some dinner, and then put all our warm clothes back on and climbed up on N's roof.  From there, we had an excellent view of the fireworks over downtown Denver. They were quite spectacular and afterwards we managed to slip our way down the ladder back into his building without killing ourselves (though we did leave a pile of snow on the floor in the hallway).

We then went over to the traditional New Year's Party at A and A's new house.  We got there in time to play some excellent games of dominoes, see Ke$ha completely plonkered with her blue lipstick smeared around her mouth on the Times Square Ball Drop Mountain Time Zone Repeat, and then continue to party long into the night.  It's always great to hang out with old friends who can make you laugh so much your stomach hurts. I shivered my way into the New Year on a foldout couch on the basement, and woke up with cold toes, luckily not having been mauled by A and A's homicidal cat in the night.

N and I spent a lazy day playing board games, doing crossword puzzles, and just talking with A and L until we finally pushed off and headed over to J and J's.  There we played still more board games, and I won a stunning victory in the feat of settling the hexagonally-resourced island nation of Catan (it was a really, really good victory).  After that, N, J, and I went to see Black Swan, which was ... weird ... and then N and I headed home and finally got some sleep.

All in all, a delightful way to ring in 2011, and I hope yours was just as much fun!