Winter Sunsets

After spending all of the summer looking for them, they magically seem to appear, and always just when all you have is a camera phone (La Jolla, CA)

Voicing our opinions

Voting day gives us an opportunity to express our opinions. Some express them better than others... on facebook.

Some of the best facebook status updates I have seen in a while:

"B thinks that by Wednesday morning, the Republican Party is going to resemble post-Soviet Afghanistan. The good news is that makes Mitt Romney a warlord."

"D just voted and is eager to see if Obama will be the next Lincoln or the next Carter."

and then there are those who really have their priorities straight:

"Y looks forward to the end of the election season so he can start paying attention to things that really matter, like Georgetown basketball."

More to come as the day progresses...

Update:
Some even express opinions about how others express their opinions

"A is getting stressed out by the urgency with which the anchors on CNN make projections and instead prefers the quiet calm of the NYT's pop-up dashboard."

some are just bitter:

"Pennsylvania is an ugly state anyway."

some have new experiences:

"M did what he thinks is right. Which is rather new"

Which they think point to a conspiracy:

"J voted and it took like 2 seconds...then I filled my tank for $20.00......seriously??? Something smells fishy."

Where have you gone Jimmy Foxx?

The A's lack good hitters. What else is new?

Finding Beauty

There is beauty everywhere.  Sometimes it takes a little more time to find it.  Each place is a little different, and each place has its beautiful features.  San Diego's is it's ocean views.  Here are two that I love:

The view from my office...once I'm tenured at UCSD (Social Science Building, UCSD, La Jolla, CA)

 

The view from the road.  (La Jolla Shores Rd., La Jolla, CA)

An Election to be grateful for

Coming across this quote made me smile, but when looked upon in the context of this years election, it makes me glad.

"A democracy predicated on the ability to 'throw the rascals out' is far less convincing when it exists only in the abstract than when it is backed up by periodic examples of rascals actually flying through the doors."

-T.J. Pempel, Prof of Political Science at UC Berkley, 1990 (Then at U. Washington)

The result this November will probably be among other things, a testimony to the Democracy of the United States of America.

Forgetfulness breeds opportunities

As soon as we saw the lights on the fountain, we wished that we had not forgotten the camera in the car.  After we saw the result, we were glad we had what we did.

Livin' it.  (Balboa Park, San Diego, CA)

Lovin' it. (Balboa Park, San Diego, CA)

A Baseball Voice

Can I just say that I love to listen to Vin Scully?

I'm not a Dodgers' Fan, but I think he just has a wonderful voice for baseball broadcasting.

I think there are just a couple of voices that seem so perfect for listening:
Carl Kasell
Garrison Keilor
Vin Scully

and of the three I have heard the least of Vin Scully. Growing up on NPR, I have heard countless broadcasts of Prairie Home Companion and All Things Considered on long car rides back from Bangor, but only in the last couple of months as I've had more time to listen to the occasional Dodger game on the radio or through MLB.tv have I had the chance to really listen and appreciate Vin Scully. The contrast with the Padres broadcaster Ted Leitner is astounding. I will continue to look for voice samples, but if you could hear the difference, you'd understand.

UPDATE:
Voice Samples of
Garrison Keilor
Carl Kassel
Vin Scully (1)
Vin Scully (2)

UPDATE II
I also can't stand the voice of Angels TV announcer Rex Hudler. Terrible. How two teams in the same city have such a contrast!

Innovation in a Wedding

We are in the middle of marriage season.  Proposals, engagements, weddings.  At one point I was keeping track, and was up to 14 weddings of friends and acquaintances between March and August.  I've gotten more since.  This past weekend was my friend L's wedding.  Apparently she and her now husband have a thing for photo booths, and so for a guest book they rented a photo booth and told everyone to get their picture taken.  Here's A and mine's contribution.

You might also consider these our first engagement pictures.  I think they are some of the first ones we've taken since we got engaged last week.  That's a story, but not a blog story.  (San Carlos, CA)

 

I promise we'll have real engagement pictures before too long :-)

Baseball Theology

After watching the full 15 innings of the All-Star game, including this amazing throw by Nate McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates to Russell Martin of the LA Dodgers to get Dioner Navarro of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, I want to explain some of the reasons I think baseball is a wonderful game.

This is a game to be savored, not gulped. There's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings. ~Bill Veeck

Baseball is for the leisurely afternoons of summer and for the unchanging dreams. ~Roger Kahn

When watching other sports you're always afraid that by getting up to do something in the other room you'll miss the action. If you're not always closely attentive you'll miss the amazing shot by the point guard, or the hard check by the left defenseman, or whatever. With each pitch and with each play there is time to think, talk about it, get nervous about it, and then savor it. And then if you miss it, there's always enough time inbetween pitches to watch replays of it.

You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all. ~Earl Weaver

Baseball is unique. There are no other sports (beside baseball's cousin cricket) where the defense has the ball. No team can ever say, as Vince Lombardi once did, that they never lost, they just ran out of time. Every team has their chance. Strategically it's fair.

Baseball fans love numbers. They love to swirl them around their mouths like Bordeaux wine. ~Pat Conroy

Baseball can be statistically measured in ways that other sports just can't. There are even stats that most people haven't heard of, such as Batting Average for Balls in Play, or Defensive Zone Ratings. With the rise of Sabermetrics, anything and everything can be measured, analyzed, and considered. If you haven't read Moneyball, it's worth a read.

The great thing about baseball is that there's a crisis every day. ~Gabe Paul

Baseball is played every day. Day in, day out. It's there. Not every third day, or once a week or once every two weeks, but every day. It reflects the daily grind. To truly excel in life doesn't require greatness every so often, but consistency and dedication and work every single day of your life.

Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. ~Ted Williams

At the same time, what is most important is that you keep trying. Most batters don't get a hit. Most fielders don't touch the ball in an inning, the important thing is that you are ready and always there.

Baseball? It's just a game - as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, business - and sometimes even religion. ~Ernie Harwell, Broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, "The Game for All America," 1955

Just some Political thinkings

"I run because it angers me ...... All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide: If you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you"
-Jesse Ventura, July 9, 2008

Yes, Jesse Ventura is at least seriously contemplating running for Senate in Minnesota.
I'm not sure what to think. A comedian who isn't really funny, a wrestler who tries to be serious but fails, and a schmoozer. Can I just say I love Minnesota? Politics there are fascinating to watch. You have to wonder what goes through a Minnesotans' mind when they see these three and realize that they are picking between them to have one of them represent them in the U.S. Senate. How it just makes me smile.

Then there's also this in response to Ventura's quote:

First of all, Ventura just told us that he's angry, and we know he's pretty huge. And if I remember correctly from watching the WWF as a kid, he's kind of shiftless and unpredictable. For all I know, he'd take advantage of the darkness of the alley to whack me with a folding chair.

For all of you voting in Minnesota. Just don't get whacked by a folding chair. Then again, my Governor was also in The Predator.

Charlie Finley's type of Baseball

Orange baseballs, midgets, and now switch pitchers vs. switch hitters
Wonderful!

True Maine Traditions

The one time I raced this as a kid, my foot was numb for a month from being so cold.

We've missed the flowers

I had all the intentions of going out to Anza Borrego this spring break when the flowers were out, but missed it.  But these were on campus outside the Libraray.  (La Jolla, CA)

When I was at Pomona and running XC, whenever there was a particularly smoggy day with the smog pegged against the San Bernadino Mountains, one runner would always claim it was the marine layer rolling in.  This is the real marine layer rolling in.  (La Jolla, CA)

In case you haven't been paying attention...

You can catch up on the entire Democratic Primary in about 7 minutes... except that there is no policy substance in it.



Enjoy

I'm in Trouble

I received the following email today

------------------------------
From: UCSD
To: UCSD All Staff

ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UCSD

SUBJECT: Electronic Certification of Effort Reporting

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

I didn't read the rest of the email, but I'm going to stop surfing the internet now and go do work.

Aprils' Fool

My roommate's idea of April Fool's is April's Rent coming in coin.  $500 in coin.

The landlord wasn't too happy.

 

It was over 60 lbs. in change.  I was sorry for the bank teller and for A who had to carry it back from the bank in his bookbag.

April Fool's 2008 (La Jolla, CA) 

Balboa Park on a Sunday Morning

I would like to take my family here too on a beautiful spring morning (San Diego, CA)

A Laugh

This made me laugh this morning

Oversized apes are turning up everywhere these days, from speeches by politicians to articles in newspapers. These 800-pound gorillas -- along with some that are a little smaller, or a lot bigger -- are favorites of talking heads who apply the cliché to powerful people, companies and even movements.

Search the Web for just about every weight of gorilla in 100-pound increments from 100 to 900 and you'll find a lot of hits. (One of my favorites: "The Psalms are the 800-pound gorilla of evangelical worship.")

The gorillas divide, combine into one, lose weight and gain it back again. In a search of New York Times archives, I found a consultant, speaking about the Bell Atlantic-Nymex merger: "If you take one 250-pound gorilla and combine it with another 250-pound gorilla, you could end up with a 500-pound gorilla with fat thighs who may move slowly." About a law-firm breakup, a lawyer opined, "In reality, once the dust settles, the 800-pound gorilla simply becomes two 400-pound gorillas." A campaign consultant said of a politician, "He's not an 800-pound gorilla now, he's a 600-pound gorilla." (In 1999, American Journalism Review gathered gorilla sightings in the press.)

The Wall Street Journal has had fewer gorillas in its pages in recent years, but some of those that have appeared have been enormous. A letter last year referred to a 10,000-pound gorilla. And a 1996 article about PC games included a quote referring to Microsoft as the 6,000-pound gorilla. I asked the Journal's style guru, Paul R. Martin, about the apes. He told me he was "impressed that the appearances of the gorilla in the Journal were in direct quotation, so we weren't directly complicit in perpetuating the expression. As clichés go, I don't consider this one rampant in the Journal -- so far."

There doesn't appear to be any limit to just how big these gorillas can get. Several years ago, Willie Brown, then mayor of San Francisco, called the dot-com industry the 100,000-pound gorilla, though I'd like to see an updated weigh-in. In 1995, the Charlotte Observer called a passenger jet a 200,000-pound gorilla, which may have been an accurate weight but an incorrect species. Closer on both counts, the Associated Press once dubbed King Kong the 500,000-pound gorilla. Denver mayoral candidate John Hickenlooper was also a 500,000-pound gorilla, an opponent's campaign manager told the Denver Post in 2003. Mr. Hickenlooper won a run-off election with 69,526 votes, or one for every seven pounds.

Last year, the Roanoke Times & World News called car-tax relief "the 900 million-pound gorilla running amok in the Capitol." The Women's National Basketball Association was once improbably called a billion-pound gorilla, and in 1999, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist called Microsoft "the 900-billion-pound gorilla of computer operating systems." The biggest gorilla I could find is the U.S. economy, which former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky in 1998 called the "seven-trillion-pound gorilla" -- one for each annual dollar of activity.

These gorillas clearly have been bred in captivity and fed a high-fat diet. Microsoft, the WNBA and the U.S. economy each dwarf the total weight of living, breathing gorillas, whose numbers have been dwindling even as their metaphorical counterparts expand. Bill Weber, a gorilla expert with the New York advocacy group Wildlife Conservation Society, says that adult male silverbacks, typically the biggest gorillas, usually weigh about 400 pounds. These estimates are imperfect, because as Dr. Weber notes, "It's difficult to get weights in the wild. They don't like standing on scales."

Just 650 to 700 mountain gorillas remain in the wild, along with four to five thousand eastern lowland gorillas and 50,000 to 100,000 lowland gorillas, Dr. Weber says. Even if all of them were typical silverbacks, they'd weigh about 40 million pounds together -- a far cry from Virginia car-tax relief.

Another way to Pick a President?

What a tie!
Fresh off it's hit piece, the NYT published this photo along with an article about possible VP candidates to join McCain's campaign.
I also blogged about it over at my new political gig. Check it out if you get a chance.

A new way to pick a President

In the midst of studying the new ways to influence voters through media, I have never seen nor heard of any effects from staring contests.

Pictures

A good friend maintains a photo blog. I've sent him some pictures in the past, you can see one of my favorites here

He's got some great stuff, I highly recommend it, if you have some time. Or if you don't.

How are you doing...

on your New Year's Resolutions?

How about spamming your email box with reminders to keep it up?

Just don't hassle me...

President Hinckley

Just my first viable memory, probably because of the reference to Fred Snodgrass:

"In all of these, someone dropped the ball. [Fred Snodgrass] had the self-confidence, possibly even the arrogance, to think that he didn’t really have to try, that he could make it with only half an effort. But the ball passed through his hands and hit the ground, and he gave away the game. Or [Roy Riegels] thinks he makes a smart catch of someone else’s fumble and runs the wrong way, only to give victory to his opponents.

"It all points up the need to be constantly alert. It points up the importance of unrelenting self-discipline. It indicates the necessity of constantly building our strength against temptation. It warns us against the misuse of our time, especially our idle time."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1994

He will be missed.

Messing with Nature's head

This poor tree is all confused if it's fall and should shed it's leaves or if it's spring and should sprout blossoms.  That's what happens when you don't have a winter. (La Jolla, CA)

If you don't like Baseball just skip this

A couple people were getting on me for not posting more, so in honor of them I will share with you one baseball link that made me realize how utterly pointless it is to follow rumors of trades and other possibilities like I have been doing for the last couple of months since baseball ended in October.
And so I give you the breaking news:
The Kansas City Royals have traded for Johan Santana. (If I'm going to say it, I might as well blow it even more out of proportion.)

A Year Flows By

I just thought this was a beautiful and not too cold way to end the old year.  (Lynn Run State Park, Ligonier, PA)

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)

Political Scientists

In my recent travels to look at Grad Schools, I've noticed a trend among the male faculty in Political Science departments all over the country.

Observe:

Gary Jacobson, UCSD

John Aldrich, Duke

David Menefee-Libey, Pomona College

John Pitney, Claremont McKenna College

These are all great scholars. And they have moustaches. Perhaps my career some day will lead me there

Working Late

You only have to wait until 4:30 now to get a view of this. (St. Paul, MN)

Harpo Marx is a Democrat

The Official Car of Freedonia (Rochester, MN)

2006 ALDS

Tuesday and Wednesday October 3rd and 4th were wonderful work days. This was the office!

I was the only A's fan around as far as I could see.

Studying for the GRE in a political environment

Her staffer skulks in search of unreleased ads, while she herself, in her petulant and truculent manner, spews cants that the ordinary Minnesotan is not apposite to comprehend.

Pawlenty Signs of Fall

Because the Pawlenty Campaign decided not to buy yard signs the party decided to go ahead and get a large quantity of them. This weekend was the date of distribution around the state.

I went up to Duluth with a stop in Mora, over to Grand Rapids, and then back to the Twin Cities via Brainerd. It was glorious.

It's been five years since I've seen these.

And I've never seen them on Mille Lacs Lake.

GOTV

72 Hours.

43 pages, 52 pages. Phone calls, and more phone calls. A little help, more annoyance, some infuriated.

A culmination of what we're doing (part 1).

Part 2 is in 2 months time.

The Doctor is In.

My Job. 13 hours a day, 12 days a week. All for a deep-fried candy bar on a stick.