Melyssa-with-a-Y

If it's between Xmas and New Year's, it must be time for Dani's birthday! Last night we started with dinner at Rockland's . They don't do the babyback ribs so much in Austin, so I was craving them, and Rocklands' ribs are excellent! ( There was a minor delay when I started to drive to the wrong location, not realizing that Rockland's had moved... but fortunately Dani didn't let me get too far off course. ) :) After Elizabeth made a mess with the ribs, we went to Carpool to meet up with the rest of the crew. We even managed to get 4/5 of " Clueless in Clarendon " back together -- we missed you, Joanie! -- and did some excellent drunken singalongs. The bar had one tv tuned to NBC's " Singing Bee, " and once that ended, they played a nice selection of our favorite 80's songs. (Don't Stop Believin'!) Here's how Dani felt about the fact that we were celebrating her birthday: But this mood was lightened considera...

I admit, it wasn't all a bust. Along with the completed knitting projects, I managed to make a super-tasty Mexican Chocolate Cake for the holiday party. And, I did manage to adopt a Sea Otter for Bryan (and a Penguin for myself) from the Wildlife Adoption Center . Bryan likes his otter very much, and my penguin is so cute! I think I'll name him Pepper. (I may change my mind, he does have a really goofy look on his face, which you can't quite see in the picture.)

Somehow this year my holiday shopping, gift giving and other to-do's got all out of whack, and I feel like I've been running behind for weeks! It didn't help matters that I got food poisoning at the office holiday party on Wednesday night (not sure what it was, but boy, it didn't like me!) and was completely out of commission on Thursday -- the very day I had intended to use as my last-minute shopping day! Argh. Number of gifts for people at the office I had *intended* to give: 12 Number of gifts I *actually* gave: 4 Holiday cards received from friends, including adorable family photos: 5 and counting Holiday cards sent: 0 -- unless you count the Chanukah e-card that I sent to about 20 people, three weeks ago. Cookies baked for Supper Club holiday party? 0 (because: sticks of butter in freezer for cookies? 0) The one area where I have managed to finish something in time for the holidays is knitting. I finished Gigi's clapotis , Rachel's booties, Kelly's sw...

I love living in Austin. I probably say that on this blog about once a month, if not more. :) But then there are days when I'm reminded that portions of the state of Texas are a little bit.... out there , shall we say. On Friday, an advisory committee to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board recommended that the state allow the Institute for Creation Research to start offering online master’s degrees in science education. The institute, which has been based in California, where it operates a museum and many programs for people who don’t believe in evolution, is relocating to Dallas, where it hopes to expand its online education offerings. This is a school, my friends, where TEACHERS will be getting their degrees. IN SCIENCE. Only, oops, Creation isn't science! Intelligent design isn't science! But by all means, y'all should come to Texas, instead of that liberal bastion, California! More from insidehighered.com: The statement of faith for everyone at the i...

Last weekend a couple of us were invited to a "Rock Band" Holiday Party. The invitation suggested that we dress up like our favorite Rock & Roller, or band groupie. Rebeka and I chose the latter. We thought it was going to be a bunch of people dressed up like Rock Stars, dancing around, maybe some karaoke. We were wrong. It turns out, our friends have the Rock Band videogame, for which you need two guitars (lead guitar and bass), the drum kit, and the microphone. We walked in to the sound of the neighborhood kids playing Bon Jovi (hence the blog title), which would have been great, but they played it over, and over, and over....yes, the adults were singing along, but when the time came to pick a different song, we were all in favor! So they went through The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (I did the Spanish backup line under my breath), Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper," and Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly" -- among others. We we...

Last night, the Austin Chapter of the Alliance for Technology and Women (I'm on the leadership team) held an event with Ann Daly , a life coach who focuses on women finding their "clarity." A few of the women who came to the event were really in a work rut - they are bored, or are overworked and unhappy, or are wondering if they should try something new before it's too late -- even if that means leaving a cushy job and starting at the bottom again. Ann suggested a path to start thinking about how to get out of the rut, figure out what you want to do with your life, and be able to find balance. ( "Work-life balance is a myth. You can have it all, but usually not at the same time." ) Her suggestions for figuring out what you want to do and where you want to go with your life seemed simple -- she admitted they were sort of "duh," but you still need to go through them. See the big picture. What do you want to do 5, 10, 20 years from now? What are...

... dozens more to go! I finished one of long line of knitting projects that is on the list for this holiday season. It's not a Chanuka or Xmas gift, however, it's a birthday present, for Giselle's 40th! :) Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert Yarn: Noro Aurora in rainbow (not sure the exact name), 5.5 skeins = 572.0 yards Time: 6 months (on-and-off knitting, until the last week or so) Notes: Dropping stitches on purpose was a little bit disconcerting, but it turned out beautifully, and blocking makes all the difference. Hope she likes it! Still to be done for Xmas: Scarf for Rebeka -- Brown Sheep Company Burly Spun, 100% Wool , in Moonlit Night (gorgeous blue shades) Kelly's Beachcomber sweater -- just needs sleeves sewn on! Can you say procrastination? Booties for Rachel -- tulip toes from Knitty, in two colors of my stash of leftover Dalegarn Baby Ull yarn Phew! I only have two weeks to go! Back to knitting!

He's a HUGE Star Wars fan. I can only hope that the Star Wars cakes are part of next season's show -- I want to see the Han Solo in carbonite cake! Great interview with Duff on the Star Wars fan site. Check out the Death Star cake. cool! Yes, I am a nerd. So sue me. :P

The final score today: USC 24-UCLA 7. :) Yes, the Trojans won their last four games (Booty's finger seems to have healed ok) and are the Pac-10 champs for the sixth year in a row. It's also our 32nd appearance in the Rose Bowl , and our sixth straight BCS bowl appearance. Not too shabby! Coach Pete is 24-0 in November! Someday, I will get to go to the Rose Bowl. For now, I'll have to settle for watching it with the Austin USC club on January 1. FIGHT ON!

Fifteen people showed up at my house last night -- FIFTEEN! I don't think I've ever had that many people here at once. It got a little warm, but it worked out ok. Once Jay and I had the requisite conversation about how small my TV is, we moved on to more important things -- namely, breakfast! We had french toast, pancakes, omelets made to order (Paul sweated over the stove for 2 hours, but he made damn good omelets!), cheesy-ham-and-bacon-casserole, parmesan tomato tartlets, bacon crackers, pigs in blankets, fruit salad, bacon and sausage, and of course, Krispy Kremes. Now that I think of it, I never did manage to make any coffee, but we had Kir Royales and Greyhounds and Mimosas... I don't think anyone missed the coffee. ;) Then we watched The Breakfast Club , which is among the long list of movies that Paul has never seen. (Of course, he's gonna have to watch it again, because he fell asleep with about 30 minutes to go...) I don't know how many times I've see...

Is a Star Wars mimobot ! Gotta love the smirk on Han Solo's face. ;) Darth Vader and R2-D2 are already sold out. (No, I don't really want one, I just think they're cute.)

I Passed - 10 out of 10! It amazes me that many of the people who are born in the good ol' US of A don't know a thing about our nation's history, and take it for granted... but the people who fight to get here to build a better life for themselves, they know ALL about it. You Passed the US Citizenship Test Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct! Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

I should have posted this earlier, of course, but I am tremendously thankful for my family and friends, my job and my great co-workers, and of course, the USC Trojans. ;) Here's a great picture of us at the Carpinteria Tidepools on Friday. L-to-R that's Jae, me, Sam, Teri, and Bryan. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, full of laughter, food, family, and fun.

Wow. I mean, WOW ! It's incredible. The Hearst family owned so much land that at the turn of the century they used to put up tents at the top of the hill, and vacation up there. Of course, when they raised tents, they put down oriental rugs, and loaded in furniture, and hung paintings along the sides of the tent... it was very elegant "camping." They used to call it "The Ranch." William Randolph Hearst wanted to build something up on the hill, but his mother* wouldn't let him, so he had to wait until she passed away. Then he went to work. In 1919, he commissioned the architect, Julia Morgan , to build three guest houses surrounding one main house (above). He was partial to Italian and Spanish styles. We did two of the tours (#1 and #2). The first was one of the guest houses, and the first floor of the main house, and the pool(s). A lot of the interior decorations are pieces he purchased from defunct churches in Europe - there are rooms lined with ch...

Sunday morning, we slept in a little bit and then headed for the nearest Fry's . I had to buy a new camera, after all -- there's no way I was going to the Monterey Aquarium and Hearst Castle without a camera! I picked out an Olympus FE-300 . It's GREAT. I love it. I also bought an xD memory card (1Gb) and one of those converters to plug in to the lighter in the car (to charge the battery). Then we drove south and stopped for a bit at Gilroy, so I could get new shoes. (My feet were killing me in San Fran!) We found our way to the hotel in Monterey by about 1pm, checked in, and headed off to the aquarium and Cannery Row. We were sooooo hungry (breakfast was at McDonalds, when we were searching for Fry's)... we went to a bbq restaurant in Cannery Row and scarfed down some salads. Then it was time to see the animals! The Monterey Bay Aquarium exhibits focus on the ecosystem around the bay, the oceans in northern California, and other local waterways. The first t...

On Friday, Mom and I set off from Reno at about noon, headed to Fallen Leaf Lake, which is southwest of Lake Tahoe. We made it about ... 15 minutes, before we had to stop at Boomtown for some coffee. I took a few pictures of the mountains, and then we were off to the west. I didn't even notice when we crossed into California. We are driving a cute green Jeep Liberty. We stopped once on the road so I could take pictures, and then for lunch at the Olde Tahoe Cafe in Homewood. We just kept saying how beautiful the scenery was. And stopping by the side of the road so I could jump out and take pictures. :) When we called Mike (our host), he told us we'd definitely want to stop and take pictures when we got to Emerald Bay. He wasn't kidding! Unfortunately, up on top of that mountain, it was COLD! But a nice lady took a picture of us, and we returned the favor for her. Then we jumped back into the car and headed for Fallen Leaf. We missed the turnoff for Fallen Leaf Ro...

I have just finished four fun-filled days in lovely (and a little dreary) Reno, NV at the International Supercomputing Conference, otherwise known as SC'07 . I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a year, worked hard at representing my center, made some new friends, and learned a lot. Handed out a lot of business cards. Not a single photo. I was waking up at 6am and collapsing into bed at 10pm, with very little time in between to do anything but read a little bit of email and answer the important stuff. I did manage to lose $10 at the slots, however, and caught the 30-min special Blue Man Group show on the last night of the event. I still have a lot of work to do to catch up with what I missed, and make notes about what I did all week. Next post: "Thelma & Louise" set off from Reno for South Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and beyond!

Oh, to have been in DC on Monday when the author of Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People spoke at the American Enterprise Institute. The discussion centered around the supposed genetic predisposition of Jewish people to be smarty-pants. (That's a very technical term, you know!) :) The average IQ of Ashkenazi Jews is 107 to 115, well above the human average of 100. But what if the genes that make us smart also make us sick? I never thought about it this way, but the Jewish population of the world is one of the most in-bred groups in existence. Makes sense, though, with all of our mothers urging us to find a "nice Jewish boy," or avoid the "shiksas." ;) The question is, are we all smart because our genetics have made that happen? Or are we smart because the Jewish culture & religion place a heavy value on study and learning? Or is it a combination of both? And are we smarter at the expense of being less coordinated? or...

October is (was) Breast Cancer Awareness Month . And as you all know, breast cancer research is my crusade, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation is my pet charity. So I got organized, and had all of the people at work wear pink and give $5 on the last Friday of the month. In fact, we asked everyone to wear pink every Friday, but only collected money and had a pink party on the 26th. [And in an organization that is 75% men, I offered them the option to pay $10 to not wear pink. It worked!] We had pink cupcakes, pink rice krispie treats, chocolate chip cookies with pink m&m's, and pink ribbon prizes! And we raised over $250! It was very exciting. Then I left work and went to the gym (and wore a pink t-shirt, natch), and my trainer made me do an hour of squats and lunges and frog-jumps and crunches... needless to say, I couldn't walk much on Saturday! But I still went to the UT-Nebraska football game with Janie. And now I can say I've seen the " Godzillatron! " ...

I don't usually just post video to my blog, but this is SO funny... "300" meets 1776 -- I promise I will post more about Passionately Pink for the Cure, my pink ribbon martini at the Four Seasons, and various other tales. Soon. Really.

James Blunt teaches kids about that pointy little shape, with the help of his guitar, a popular song, and a Sesame Street muppet. Very cute.

That's it, I'm dead . In my previous post, I mentioned Sock Wars . The basic idea is, you become an "assassin", by knitting a pair of socks (everyone knits the same pattern) for your "target" and shipping them off, before your assassin sends you your socks. I managed to finish one sock -- took me an extra day to get the yarn, and then I messed up the sole and had to rip back a few inches, and in the meantime I was travelling all over the place -- so at least I was able to stave off my "death" for a few extra days. ;) I finally gave up and went to the mailbox when I got home from work today [after I spent an hour getting a new tire on my car] , and lo and behold, beautiful grey wool socks -- and a perfect day for them to arrive, too, it didn't even get to 60 degrees today! -- along with a cute little WIP bag (that's "work-in-progress" to you muggles) and a matching little pouch with stitch-markers! Wow! It's like Secret Sant...

It was a long day. (Not actually bloody, but there was some sunburn involved.) The day started with brunch with my DC friends. We hit Whitlow's for the buffet, and by the time we got a table, it was already 11am - time for the crab legs to come out! It's wonderful to have a plate covered in crab legs, with a side of waffles and eggs and bacon. :) And great conversation with my favorite people to boot! Thanks to Amy & Rob, Dani, Jen, and Elizabeth for making my day! Then I headed for Bry's soccer game. It was a gorgeous day to be outside in DC - mid-70's and bright sunshine! In hindsight, when I noticed the soccer players putting on sunscreen, I probably should have asked to borrow some. My left upper-arm (I was facing north most of the game) is a nice bright pink color. My face and neck got a little color, too, with the v-neck shirt, but not as much -- although I now know why my chest felt like it was on fire when I was sitting in the airport. Yes, Washingto...

In the past, USC has been a strong second half team. This year, we've been a passable team, waking up in the 4th Qtr with a few flashes of brilliance. Until this week. Benching John David Booty in favor of backup QB Mark Sanchez, the Trojans were able to (as CNN-SI put it ) "Spank" Notre Dame 38-0 this weekend. Awesome! I was a little worried before the game with the story of the Trojans' bumpy flight into South Bend , but the jostling they got seems to have toughened them up a bit. :) Another part of the improvement is definitely Sanchez. Booty was pushing as hard as he could, trying to live up to the legacy of Palmer and Leinart, throwing passes that would have been miracles even for those two stellar QBs. Sanchez, on the other hand, is playing with what he has -- he's completing passes to the whole stable of RBs, who are making sometimes incredible catches that make him look good. It seems to be working. The stats from yesterday's game are shocking -...

Yes, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. A little unexpected, and possibly controversial, but he will still not run for President -- nor should he, IMHO. And every time he wins an award (Oscar - check! Emmy - check! ) it becomes even more painfully obvious that the wrong man is in the White House. I am not the only one who thinks this way, of course, but here's the best description of the situation that I have seen recently -- in today's NYT, Bob Herbert writes , ... for all of the obvious vulnerabilities [GWB] exhibited in 2000, it was not him but Mr. Gore who was mocked unmercifully by the national media. And the mockery had nothing to do with the former vice president’s positions on important policy issues. He was mocked because of his personality. In the race for the highest office in the land, we showed the collective maturity of 3-year-olds. Mr. Gore was taken to task for his taste in clothing and for such grievous offenses as sighing or, allegedly, rolli...

A study in Switzerland (commissioned by Nestle, natch) has just found that the desire for chocolate -- or indifference to it -- is in our metabolism. And it turns out that eating some chocolate is good for you. "This is the first demonstration that a dietary preference has an imprinted effect on your metabolism and that might link to all sorts of long term health implications- interestingly the chocolate preferring people had a better gut microbial metabolite profile than the people that don't like chocs," said Prof Nicholson. ... "It is known that by eating chocolate, catechin and epicatechin can reach the bloodstream where they can be transported around the body, helping to prevent oxidation so the body can stay healthier," said Kochhar. Of course, the study only included men, and a small number of them at that. I will wait to see the results of the study when they ask a bunch of women. In the meantime, I will do my best to add catechin and epicatechin to my...

I wish I had a picture, but at least I can tell you that at 10:21 this morning (EDT), little miss Rachel Frances D. came into the world, at 6.9 lbs and 20.5" long. :) YAY! Mazel tov! Can't wait to meet her in two weeks.

I think my DVR is my favorite piece of technology (this week). I couldn't help traveling during premiere week, so I set the machine to record my faves, as well as a few new ones that seemed interesting. (although I realized on Friday night that I forgot to record the season premiere of Numb3rs! Drat!) Here's my take so far: (spoilers! fair warning!) CSI season opener - Wow. They found Sara right at the end of the hour. There are still rumors about Jorja Fox leaving the show, but in the meantime, they showed how the crazy chick kidnapped her, and how Sara got out from under the car and wandered in the desert. And Nick was the one who found her, which I thought fitting. Journeyman - We ( Dan i and I) were sort of hoping that it would be like Quantum Leap (oh that Scott Bakula ... ), but it was *a lot* more confusing, and there were multiple jumps back and forth from current time to the 80's (and the 90's). They made it the 80's by showing a guy in a red leather ja...

It was a looong week. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Santa Fe, NM, for work. I gave a quick presentation, and managed to get an invitation to Singapore out of it! (Have to figure out how to fund that one...) Caught up with my former boss, learned a lot about the energy industry and where we need to go, and played hooky for about an hour (part of our lunch hour) to go shopping. :) I could have bought kokopelli EVERYTHING , but I was very well behaved -- I only bought a kokopelli necklace (sort of like this) for myself, and some pistachios to bring back to the office. Came home to a busy Friday at work, got killed by my trainer at the gym, and had dinner and drinks with the girls, which was fun. Saturday was spent making Mediterranean munchies for supper club. I made regular hummus (with extra garlic), roasted red pepper - chipotle hummus, and falafel. (chick peas galore!) I used the box of falafel mix - I'm never sure what that special spice is that makes falafel tast...

like the caterpillar I made for Kelly's baby shower: I crocheted this one, but it's based on Kimberly Chapman's incredible knitted pattern .) I made up the pattern as I went along, trying to get it to look like hers. Turns out I chose the same numbers of stitches for each round (without reading hers first), so it's probably about the same size as the original, although I didn't have any bright orange, so it's one segment short! I wish I had noticed that her pattern called for a squeaky bit in the head and some bells in the tail, though. Oh well. I'm sure the baby will love it. I think the antennae and the smiley face are what make it so cute. ... and then there are the BAD bugs, like this little baby scorpion that appeared in my kitchen the other night, just as I was getting ready for bed. ACK! To be fair, he was only about 2" long, though this pic makes him look HUGE. Let me tell you, with my adrenaline kicking, it didn't matter how big he w...

Jill Greenberg presents a series of fantastic images at the new New Republic. The images are great, but the captions make them hilarious. On the left, "Grrr" and below, "oy vey" I don't know how people could say that man didn't descend from apes when they look at this set of pictures! The animals are SO expressive and human-like, it's uncanny.

Yay! It's college football season again! And the Trojans are #1 again! The game two weeks ago against Idaho (at the Coliseum) was sort of lame, although USC won 38-10. The talk was that the team was holding back to keep Nebraska from seeing what they were capable of. And apparently even the fans in the stands were so bored with the blowout that they started leaving in the 3rd quarter. Then we had a week off. That was really weird, a week 2 bye? I didn't know what to do last Saturday night. [ok, that's just sad.] Yesterday, the Trojans traveled to Nebraska. I have to say, I'm thankful that our team doesn't have the kind of mascot where we (the fans) feel the need to wear goofy things like corn cobs on our heads (or cheese wedges, or any of those other midwestern oddities). ;) I kept thinking I saw cardinal and gold in the stands, when it was actually those giant corn cob hats. Funny. Booty's passing wasn't getting us anywhere (one receiver dropped thr...

I don't know if it's because I'm tired, or if I see a little of my (possibly future) self -- or my friends -- in this line, but it made me laugh out loud: "When Elijah got home from kindergarten yesterday, Regina made him a snack tray and served it to the boy while he, exhausted and numb-eyed from a hard day at school, watched a couple of episodes of The Tick, which I rented for him on Netflix. Counting the number of pretentious Gen-X parenting references in that previous sentence would be like trying to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar. " From the Epicurious.com blog.

I don't know why it took me so long to post this, but we had a speaker at the Austin Forum last month who told us about the World Community Grid -- and we all promptly went and signed up! Remember searching for extra-terrestrials with SETI@Home? (Did anybody ever find the aliens?) I was running United Devices Cancer research bot for a while on my laptop, but that project ended, so we've now moved on to WCG. It's easy! Download the BOINC client from the website, sign up (you can even join the TACC team , if you like) and start using your computer's background cycles for medical research. You even get to accumulate points, so you can "compete" with your friends. (The points aren't really worth anything, but they're fun to track nonetheless.) The newest project is "Discovering Dengue Drugs - Together," and it is based out of the UT Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. (This blue, red and turquoise blob is what the Dengue virus looks like.) ...

"That man [Daniel Craig] should be wet as often as possible." -- Dani, after watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Last night Skyrocket played again, this time up at Hanover's in Pflugerville. (and yes, I say Puh-flugerville every time I say it, just because it's funny.) :) The bar was smoky, which was a shock - I haven't been in a place full of smokers since... 2006, I think - but at least it was indoors, so we didn't sweat to death unless we were actually dancing. The dance floor was small, but we didn't care! We took over the spot in front of the band, which also meant that Rebeka caught the eye of the lead singer, whether she liked it or not. They played a good run of 70's classics, and some great 80's tunes - everything from KISS' "Rock n Roll All Night" to Tom Jones' "She's a Lady" to Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" to the Clash's "Rock the Casbah." And we stayed for all three sets, so by the time we got out of there, it was 1am. Apparently it was also "Miller Chill" night... These two...

Catching up... Friday night was the end-of-year party for my office, so we all went to Round Rock to see the Express play. I went last year, too, but I'd only been here a few weeks, and didn't know anybody - and very few people came. This year we had lots of people, little kiddies, and... RAIN! It was hot and muggy, and we saw the dark clouds, but we kept hoping the rain wouldn't bother us. We were mistaken. [At least the girls got a chance to make some chalk flowers before the rain started!] Right around the time that the game was supposed to start (7:05), it started to drizzle. We thought we'd be ok under the tent, but it turns out a shade tent doesn't stop the water coming through.... particularly when the water is coming down in sheets! :( Rebeka and I used her quilt (a lovely American flag quilt that she made herself, btw) as a tent to cover ourselves and Giana and Nic. Lesson learned: four year old girls shriek a lot when they're getting wet! Eventually...

Now that we're all pros at chatting online with instant messenger or sending cellphone text messages, we all know what LOL, BRB, and LMAO** are. But the next generation (call them Generation Y, the "Millennials", the Internet generation - your choice) is way beyond these archaic abbreviations. NYT's David Pogue offers some suggestions for new terms. My favorites - (pay attention! you may see these soon in a message from me!) * 12OF -- twelve-o'clock flasher (refers to someone less than competent with technology, to the extent that every appliance in the house flashes "12:00") [I love this one!] * GI -- Google it * FCAO -- five conversations at once * IIOYT -- is it on YouTube? * SML -- send me the link * KYST -- knew you'd say that * NBL -- no battery left * TWD -- typing while driving * CYE --check your email And a few just for iPhone owners: [Andy, this means you:] * CSVUI -- can't send video, using iPhone * BPWMI -- boss playing with my iP...

You've all heard by now that I grew up in DC. A Native Washingtonian, born & raised -- and there aren't that many of us! And growing up there, we were exposed to a lot of things that other people 'outside the Beltway' are not. [Even calling the rest of the country "Outside the Beltway" is a DC thing. ;) ] The local news always has something to do with the President. You can get run down by a motorcade -- it may be the Prez, or the Veep (who nearly ran me down last year), or it could be a visiting dignitary from who-knows-where with flags waving. But don't worry, there will be nineteen motorcycle cops, three dozen cop cars, and twelve black SUVs letting you know that something is up. Museums are always free. And the traveling exhibits always stay for many months. Northern VA and the rest of VA are not remotely the same. You can tell when you've crossed from DC into MD, because the roads are better. "Going to the Mall" has nothing to do ...

Dani sent me a link today to the Political Compass , a site that gauges your left- or right-leaning tendencies, and your authoritarian vs. libertarian views. The questions are really thought-provoking... in some cases, I would have rather had the option to say "no opinion" or "neither agree nor disagree," but you have to pick one way or the other. Sample questions: (strongly agree/agree/disagree/strongly disagree) Charity is better than social security as a means of helping the genuinely disadvantaged. In a civilized society, one must always have people above to be obeyed and people below to be commanded. There are no savage and civilized peoples; there are only different cultures. Governments should penalize businesses that mislead the public. My results: (no one is really going to be surprised) ;) Economic Left/Right: -5.50 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.44 See that red dot? That's me. In case you're wondering, here's how some of the world's...