So my birthday was Sunday. I am now 36. I don't feel that old at all. Didn't do anything special - watched the latest episode of 24. Thought it was pretty good.
The next day, I flew to Houston to spend Thanksgiving with my sister Kim and my parents, who drove down to Houston from St. Louis. I also finally got to meet Luis, Kim's boyfriend. Luis is certainly a nice guy and a nerd like me (he is a biostatistician). Sadly, however, I can't say it has been an altogether pleasant experience. My parents have spent most of their time obsessing at Kim's apartment. Consequently I have chosen not to spend a lot of time there. Kim is the child that they really wanted to have. Kim will call them multiple times a day, Kim will ask them for advice (and money), Kim lets my parents stay connected in her life. I don't. I talk to my parents maybe once a month, and then only when they call. I don't tell them the details of my life, because I know on some subconscious level that I can't. My mom has this annoying habit of wanting to solve everybody's problems. This wouldn't be so bad, but she combines this with an overinflated sense of correctness. So after she tells you how to solve your problem, she will then call back later asking how her solution worked out, assuming of course that you did it her way. When you have to explain, well, circumstances changed, and I didn't exactly do it your way, and, well, things are different now, she will want to know why you didn't call her back, or how come you didn't do it her way anyway. And I frankly don't want to explain every single decision in my life to her. So I simply don't let her get involved from the beginning. And talking to Dad is the same as talking to her. So conversations with them, in person, when I can't feign an excuse to end a phone call, are a challenge.
So, this afternoon is Thanksgiving dinner. I'm going to be thankful that it only happens once a year.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
So Obama won.
Well that sucks. I was hoping McCain could pull it out at the end. But it was mere wishful thinking after all.
On the one hand, I think Obama is going to be a disaster for the economy. He will not hesitate to raise taxes and with the ultra-liberal Congress he's working with, the only question they will ask him is "how high do you want to go?" He wants to give "tax breaks" to people who don't pay taxes, which means eventually that we will have half the country who don't pay any taxes at all. That is not a sustainable democracy.
On the other hand, though, as others have pointed out, the situation right now is almost exactly what the situation was in 1992. And yeah it was a disaster for a while but the world didn't come to an end and it did pave the way for the eventual return of the Republican Party to control in Congress.
So I'm anxious about what Obama will do but I am also cautiously optimistic that through the current set of tribulations the Republican Party will rediscover its conservative soul.
On the one hand, I think Obama is going to be a disaster for the economy. He will not hesitate to raise taxes and with the ultra-liberal Congress he's working with, the only question they will ask him is "how high do you want to go?" He wants to give "tax breaks" to people who don't pay taxes, which means eventually that we will have half the country who don't pay any taxes at all. That is not a sustainable democracy.
On the other hand, though, as others have pointed out, the situation right now is almost exactly what the situation was in 1992. And yeah it was a disaster for a while but the world didn't come to an end and it did pave the way for the eventual return of the Republican Party to control in Congress.
So I'm anxious about what Obama will do but I am also cautiously optimistic that through the current set of tribulations the Republican Party will rediscover its conservative soul.
Quick Update - The Corn Maze
So for Halloween this year I didn't go trick-or-treating but I thought I would try out the "world's largest corn maze" which is - you guessed it - right here in Nebraska, only about 15 miles from Lincoln. The bottom line is that I never want to experience any kind of maze, corn or otherwise, again. Here are a few pictures that perhaps illustrate why this is so.
First, there was the pumpkin launcher. Actually this did look like fun, but it was more for kids. Those rubber bands sure hurled those pumpkins a long way. Oh, and note the condition of the sky. It's close to dusk.
Here is the beginning of the corn maze.
Here is a view of the barn from inside the maze.
More corn. Hey look, it's getting a little darker.
Look, it's more corn!
Wouldn't you know it. More corn.
There's a &%$^&load of corn. And now it's almost completely dark and I have no flashlight.
After a while I latched on to some other people who did have flashlights and I just followed them out. Overall it took me about 1.5 hours to navigate the maze. The sign at the entrance said the estimated time of completion was 45-60 minutes. Yeah right.
These things are more for kids. And I am too old to deliberately try to get myself lost. I do that often enough with my own research projects!
First, there was the pumpkin launcher. Actually this did look like fun, but it was more for kids. Those rubber bands sure hurled those pumpkins a long way. Oh, and note the condition of the sky. It's close to dusk.
Here is the beginning of the corn maze.
Here is a view of the barn from inside the maze.
More corn. Hey look, it's getting a little darker.
Look, it's more corn!
Wouldn't you know it. More corn.
There's a &%$^&load of corn. And now it's almost completely dark and I have no flashlight.
After a while I latched on to some other people who did have flashlights and I just followed them out. Overall it took me about 1.5 hours to navigate the maze. The sign at the entrance said the estimated time of completion was 45-60 minutes. Yeah right.
These things are more for kids. And I am too old to deliberately try to get myself lost. I do that often enough with my own research projects!
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