Christmas Poem

The elves in the kitchen were full of cheer
Listen to that sound, "ding dong" from the reindeer.
"We've come to eat cookies, and candies, not hay!
Surely the farmer won't turn us away!"
The elves took to cooking and prepared a fine spread
Digging through the cupboards while the house was in bed.
The reindeer were pleased. They had never had eggnog.
(Though they'd read the recipe on Santa's web blog.)

-L,Y,M,A,H,E,M

Merry Christmas to all.

A Beautiful Sunset to the first Quarter

Visits and Sunsets at the end of a quarter (La Jolla, CA)

Campus Moments

 

Sometimes I wish I was on the beach instead of on campus (La Jolla, CA)

The circus never seems to stop (La Jolla, CA)

Friends up to good things...

A friend sent me an article she wrote the other day.

Being a student of politics I thought it well written, and a good perspective from one not a member of the church. She was a very nice person charged with working with and reaching out to SoCos at mngop.

She also has recently started a well run blog on the RNC convention in 2008 in St.Paul/Minneapolis. Take a look if you've got a moment, or if you're like me, even if you don't.

What would life be like outside of graduate school...?

Working Late (Version 2007)

 

While some illuminate a dome or a building, UCSD chooses to illuminate a funky chicken. (La Jolla, CA)

What you miss in SoCal.

I wish there was a nice fall in Southern California

New Big Pictures

Memories from 2005, 2006, 2007 (Boston, MA)

Summer Pictures

Just a couple of Gems:

Those aren't real swans (Boston, MA)


This is how you practice to be a missionary (Nicholasville, KY)

Academics (again)

Our cohort playing soccer.

Everything that's right with political junkies

In response to an article in the New Republic remarking about the momentum building of winning early primary states, our good friend Virginiacentrist writes:

"Yeah. If I'm Romney, I'm running ads in all of the post-NH states with Mitt Romney making an acceptance speech in Iowa/NH with big headlines that say, "Romney wins" and tons of balloons falling. Voters will say: "Duhhh....me like winners and balloons....me vote for Romney...."

"Same deal with the dems after Iowa. If Edwards or Obama manage to win, they need to run ads IMMEDIATELY in NH that basically have Obama or Edwards with balloons and confetti falling giving speeches and holding their arms up and what not while using the word "winner" and maybe the phrase "look at those shiny balloons" over and over. Then they'll win NH by 20% as old people travel to the polls and write in "Barack Balloons Obama" or "John Confetti Edwards"

"Primary voters are dumb."

Such sophistication and analytical research.

Everything that's wrong with Academia

You end up getting this:

"Coordination by precedent, at its simplest, is this: achievement of coordination by means of shared acquaintance with the achievement of coordination in a single past case exactly like our present coordination problem. By removing inessential restrictions, we have come to this: achievement of coordination by means of shared acquaintance with a regularity governing the achievement of coordination in a class of past cases which bear some conspicuous analogy to one another and to our present coordination problem. Our acquaintance with this regularity comes from our experience with some of its instances, not necessarily the same ones for everybody."

-David Lewis, Convention: A Philosophical Study

At its simplest???? gaaaaaaaaah.
Bill Watterson was right.

My academic problems: writing this while I should be reading that.

Never Smoked the Stuff

I was reminded of a humorous quote

When asked if he preferred natural grass or Astroturf after playing a game at the Astrodome, Tug McGraw replied,

"I don't know, I've never smoked Astroturf."

Thanks Tom.

I should be studying

Combine this:

"If you torture data it will confess to anything."
-Unknown/Lots of authors

with this:





And you get my future job.

Fire map

Here's an updated map that also has some good pictures.

I am still safe and well.

If you are concerned

I am fine.

In spite of UCSD being closed and people being evacuated a couple of miles from where I live, I have not had to go anywhere.

I went down to Qualcomm Stadium and the response is both amazing and amazingly unorganized. When you have that volume of people you need an organized situation and a large number of mandatory evacuations does not lend itself to an organized situation. What was impressive was the number of volunteers willing to help. It seemed at times that there were more volunteers than there were evacuees.

If you want more information on the situation I suggest a couple of sites:
San Diego Union-Tribune Fireblog
CBS News 8
Google Maps of the fires
KPBS
Random Guy's
LA Times

The problems with becoming Educated

I had this GREAT idea, I would research campaign donations, figure out how campaigns get people to donate by using what type of appeals. I was going to collect massive amounts of data, figure everything out and have a paper to be submitted.

But someone else has already beat me to the punch. (And she doesn't even have a mustache)

Don't stare into the sun!

It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day (SLC, UT)

Brainwashing

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Yet I am anxious and enthusiastic.

The rigors of grad school are exactly that, rigorous. In a previous environment, I would laugh jokingly about the perceived culture at my undergraduate institutions of busy-ness. A typical conversation in the midst of the semester would start, "man, I'm so busy" to which the proper reply was "I know what you mean, I've got so much work to do."

Yet life has caused me to realize that II enjoy that environment (all of this in 10 weeks 3 times a year), or at least I seem to have signed up for another 4-6 years of it. The key is enjoying where you're at, and not complaining.

Wanna be... a Political Scientist

...you got to know math.





Thank you Bobby McFerrin, you taught me this so long ago on Square One on PBS, I just seem to have forgotten it.

Hugs and Sunsets

Make a day very enjoyable (8-30-07)

Texas thinks everything is bigger. This is a Maine beach. The grains of sand are really large. (Courtesy of M) (Acadia Nat'l Park, ME)

Sunshine with passing thundershowers

Being a little overwhelmed with house fever after being indoors almost all day I convinced my recently returned sister E to come with me to the American Folk Festival.
A couple of things struck our attention. E noticed that there seems to be a certain dress code for County Fairs and other Folk type outdoors activities. It's hard to describe but it's a much more flowing dress than what you'd typically wear outside on a summer evening
There is also a certain country made herbal soap smell that permeates these activities. A lot of times at county fairs it's combined with the smell of hay, but it's always most definitely there.

Lastly the most amusing thing was watching a sign language interpreter for an electric blues band. I can never understand the words to live performances if I don't already know the music, and so watching this forty year old with a pony-tail jam out while signing was perhaps one of the most entertaining sights I saw all night. On a good people watching evening, you'll rarely get so precious a sight as that.

Saturday Evenings at Wal-Mart

When it gets late and you're running on 4 hours of sleep you find the best thing possible. (Macedon, NY)

Losing EFY '07

And so the summer began (St. Peter, MN)

Kentucky

That's a Kentucky Elephant there on the Cake, a rare breed rarely seen elsewhere. Created by yours truly. (Nicholasville, KY)

88:124

Summer!

Reminded by such an amusing re-mix, I searched my Grandparents extensive library for second and third instalments, which I have read in little over a week, which makes me wonder why I couldn't fly through my school readings so quickly.

Non-the-less, despite such a quick reading, I stumbled across this quote which I thought interesting given our current political situation. Read and consider.


“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
-Faramir

Atrasado

So it's only 2 years late, but it came, and I made the most of it.




These fools graduated when I should have, but they weren't beyond coming back and saying hello. It seems that the last of their sponsor group is finally graduating.

ps-it was outside

"Agony! Beyond Power of Speech..."

There's nothing to take your mind off of everything else in your life than an car accident.

Packing? Can't hold you.
Spiderman 3? Maybe for the 2 hours but the last half hour you're just sick of it, and are sick of the movie.
Baseball games? Cancelled.
Enjoyable day at the beach? Ruins it.
Selling books back? $6 just doesn't do it.
Other people trying to converse with you? They just annoy you.

I think the real problem was that the insurance number that I was given, wasn't actually the lady who ran in to me's insurance number, and then the phone number that she gave me wasn't actually her phone number, and the last name she wrote down for me was also misspelled. So all day I called, and called and called, and got "The subscriber you have called is unavailable, please call back another time."
Fortunately the police were nice enough to take her drivers license number, which was correct, and her license plate number which was correct, and spell her name for me, which allowed me to get her insurance number from her insurance company and file a claim. Now if they'll hopefully just pay to have my bumper replaced so that the tailpipe doesn't melt more of the bumper that rests upon it...

Out of an Onion Sack

It only took us 5 hours to set the soup up, but it seemed a lot longer, especially when it was from 10:30pm to 3:30am. It was amazing though. K looks happy/relieved. But she still has a THESIS.

Leprechaun

There's a reason he's only a little over 5 feet. This is just too scary. (Claremont, CA)

Thesis

DONE

Chicagoland

So, I could tell you about everything that I did in Chicago.

But I'll just summerize. I presented here. And hung out with them. And saw the city. And learned all about Casimir Pulaski, and models, and did some interior decorating. And ate some of the best food I've ever eaten!

It was a great weekend.

Wheaton

I'm with the Jensens. Ask them about food.

Travis Buck

One of the few highlights of the game was this amazing grab by the A's Rookie Right Fielder Travis Buck:



PS-Let me know if the video isn't working. I've been having some troubles with it.

I don't like going to Angels Stadium

The Angels always seem to win, which isn't very uplifting for an A's fan like myself.

But I don't want to look like this

What will I look like in 35 years

Some of you may or may not object to the posting of this photo because of its political implications... but I found it a shocking contrast.
This summer I met Karl Rove in person when he was up campaigning for Michele Bachmann (R, MN-6). He was quite the jovial person, wanting to make people laugh. Here's that photo-op that we got with him.Then as I was reading some of the Minnesota Political Blogs today while at work to try and keep up with some semblance of what is going on up there, I found this post and couldn't help but smile as I watched the video to see almost an entirely different look on a fellow I had met. He's got quite the style. I mean, look at those sideburns and the hair that you can just go "flip" to... if you know what I mean, the kind of hair that you flip your head and it flops in any direction you want it too. It gives me some hope that when I'm older I may not be as skinny as I am now.
Any way, I give you Karl Rove in 1972.

Easy Decision

Congratulations H^2 on accepting admission to the Political Science Ph.D. program at UCSD. We look forward to your arrival in Fall 2007.

Graduate Admissions
UCSD

------------------------------------

Sometimes I think that in order to prevent us from making bad scholastic decisions we're rejected from the other places we might consider. The same sort of thing happened to me as I applied to undergraduate programs. Ultimately I think this (UCSD) is the best fit for me, but I think I would have been tempted with an offer from a place like Stanford or Michigan.

Apparently I rejected a lot of places

I'm now only 1 of 4 (as in 1 acceptance, 3 rejections).

I'm just glad the acceptance came first. It kind of makes everything else irrelevant.

I get rejected too

From Duke University:

February 22, 2007


Mr. H^2
(Address)


Dear Mr. H^2:

Your application and supporting documents have been carefully reviewed by the Political Science department and by this office. The number of excellent applicants to the Graduate School and our policy of limited enrollment make it impossible for us to offer admission to more than a small number of the students who apply. I am sorry to report that you are among those whom we are unable to admit. We do hope that you will be able to pursue graduate study at another institution.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your application.

Sincerely, Jo Rae Wright Dean

Interesting Set of Emails

Starting from the one posted below I got this set of emails in the space of 3 days (Tuesday-Friday):

From: *******
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:29 PM
To: H^2
Cc: (UCSD Professor)
Subject: UCSD Political Science Graduate Program

Dear Mr. H^2,
There was a miscommunication within our department. Even though you are high on our list of potential PhD students, your admission actually has not been finalized. Please understand that the admissions committee is still determining the pool of admitted students. Once the process is complete, you will get an email from the Director of Graduate Studies if you are being recommended for admission.
We apologize for the confusion.
___________________________
*******************
Assistant Student Affairs Officer
University of California, San Diego
Department of Political Science


Next email:

From: UCSD Professor
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 4:26 PM
To: H^2
Subject: not to worry

H^2
Not to worry
This is just in process
***


Next email:

From: Admissions
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 2:31 PM
To: H^2
Cc: Dept of Political Scienc
Subject: UCSD admission

Dear Mr. H^2,
Congratulations! As Director of Graduate Studies, I am very pleased to recommend to the Dean of Graduate Studies your admission to the Ph.D.
program in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego.
You will soon be receiving official electronic notification from the Dean.
We are proud of our status as one of the best programs in graduate training and placement in the country and we will do all we can to convince you to join our elite team. To that end, please plan on attending our Open House on ********. While our web site (http://polisci.ucsd.edu/) provides a good amount of background information, you must come for a visit so we can introduce ourselves to you personally and give you a sense of the UCSD experience. The Open House includes informal events with faculty and grad students on ********** - including an off-campus evening reception - as well as field orientations and one-on-one visits with faculty on ********. We hope you can attend and we will provide partial travel funding to make it possible.
We will be in contact with you soon, but please let me know if there are particular faculty members you would like speak with by phone or email. I will be sending you a letter with the terms of our financial offer on or about *******. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me, or Graduate Coordinator with questions.
Best wishes,
***************
===========================================
***************
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Political Science University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Dr. M/C 0521 La Jolla, CA 92093-0521

---------------------------------

CAN'T THEY MAKE UP THEIR MIND?
Quite the bureaucracy!


UPDATE:

I just recieved another email:

From: **************
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 6:30 PM
To: H^2
Subject: University of California, San Diego Admissions

Dear Mr. H^2,
We regret to inform you that there has been a mistake in our application process and we cannot offer you admission at this time. We hope to get back to you with a definite answer by the beginning of March. We apologize for the inconvinence. Thank you fer yer patience and applying to our U-nerVERserty and being all cOOL and stuff. CHau.

;)

Ending up (1 of 6)

I recieved this yesterday afternoon:

Hi ****,

First off, I want to congratulate on being accepted to UCSD- this is no small accomplishment. I understand that you are interested in studying American political behavior, which is a big part of my research agenda.
My interests are in voting behavior and political participation, .... I also study campaigns and elections. UCSD is a great place for pursuing your graduate career for a number of reasons.
Not only will the training and exposure that you receive be top notch but also, San Diego is a great place to live. The relatively small ratio between graduate students to faculty also means that you will get plenty of attention from us! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns that you would like to discuss. I very much look forward to meeting you in March.

Best regards,

*********

--
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
University of California, San Diego

Point in Life

I feel like I have just gotten to a point in my life where I know where I want to end up, but I'm not there yet, and have a lot in between here and there. It's a long road ahead still. But at least I'm not tempted into taking side trips that end up nowhere.

Hiking it is MUCH easier than running it

A bunch of us hiked up Mt. Potato, and decided that we have no idea why it has such a name. But a song was composed along the lines of "Hail, Potato, Hail."

The view from the top was nice but a little smoggy, as is fitting for Southern California.

Buy or Else!

Approximately 92.5% of visitors buy something. The other 7.5% are not welcome. (Hoi An, Viet Nam)