Monday, February 28, 2005

I had some time this morning while walking from the bus in the snow to reflect on my life. I like it. I have a lot going for me right now. I have a good house with great housemates. I have about the best girlfriend for which I could ask. I have a super summer job lined up. I love DC, though I do worry about terrorists blowing me up. I have motorcycle and a bike and I don't need to have a car. All I need right now is for this apartment to come through and a battery for my laptop. I thought about all of these things and I was smiling a lot in the snow. Then I got to school and had forgotten my locker key.
posted by weiss @ 7:14 PM

blogging from the brew....er, hooded men
so while napping on the italian leather couch at el ol' breew, a nasty mean booy walked in, threw his hat at the sleeping man and woke him, resulting with a flurry of obscene words and many grave looks. never, ever, sleep a waking vagabond. er, yeah. you get what i mean.
posted by joel @ 5:06 PM

Sunday, February 27, 2005

More on Massacre
So this afternoon a teammate and I went over to the Peace Brigades International house here in Barrancabermeja. It turns out that PBI is accompanying the The San José de Apartadó Peace Community as well. They're understandably stressed out right now as they wait to hear from their team mates in the area.

They also told us that there were actually eight killed. The government investigating agency has only opened one of the graves thus far. The second grave is still unopened nearly a week after the massacre.

News google shows only one article reporting the massacre.
posted by Unknown @ 9:06 PM

Fulbright India Update

http://rehanna.blogspot.com/
posted by meg @ 3:27 PM

Surreal Party Moment of the Evening
Listening to Italian Leather Sofa by Cake as a teenager told me how the paramilitaries had killed his father and forced his mother and the rest of his family to flee. Now he and his mother work for an organization that works with displaced people like himself.

Quince tiros he said.

 

 

 

posted by Unknown @ 1:53 AM

Saturday, February 26, 2005

oh man, the funniest thing ever happened yessterday!
i was riding my bike in the bike lane on columbia rd. and not really paying attention to what i was doing when all of a sudden a car pulled out of its parking spot and i hit it and fell to the ground. i guess the car didn't hear me or the drivers reaction time was awful 'cause it kept on rolling over my arm. that hurt a lot. i quickly stood up and hopped on my bike bike. everyone was yelling in spanish and some guy across the street kept yelling "police!" unfortunately my instincts were to get on my bike and ride off. so i did. my arm worked, it just kinda burned a little. ha ha :D
posted by kate @ 11:47 AM

Colombiann Army massacres Peace leaders and Family
This morning during team prayers we talked about the massacre in San José de Apartadó and when I checked out the blog and saw Robin's question, I figured I should write a bit about it here. This information comes from a release from Red Hermandad y Solidaridad, the website of Peace Community of San José de Apartadóon.

Monday, February 24, persons identified as belonging to the Colombian National Army's 6th Brigade killed peace community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra, his partner, Bellanira Areiza Guzman, his 11 year old son Deiner Andres Guerra, Alfonso Bolivar Tuberquia Graciano, Afro-Colombian leader and Peace Council Member, his partner, Sandra Milena Munoz Pozo and their children, 2 year old Santiago Tuberquia Munoz and 6 year old Natalia Andrea Turbequia Munoz.

San José de Apartadóon is on the west end of the Atlantic coast of Colombia, see this map for an exact location. The Fellowship of Reconciliation has been supporting these Peace Communities for a while. According to their website, the Peace community at San Jose is one of about 50 around Colombia that have declared themselves neutral and refuse to support any armed groups. You can read more about that here: http://www.forusa.org/programs/colombia/colombiaprogram.html. I'm guessing that was how Luis ended up speaking at the SOA protest (that's him speaking their on the right).

This massacre is especially significant because it was carried out by the Colombian army itself. And the Bush administration is getting ready to give a whole bunch more money to the Colombian military, not just for the "drug war" but also for explicitly fighting the civil war, which is blatantly targetting civilians.
posted by Unknown @ 11:12 AM 0 comments

Friday, February 25, 2005

anyhoo


posted by joel @ 9:57 AM

Thursday, February 24, 2005

For those of you who don't hang out near the White House, there's a place on Pennsylvania called The Bread Line. It annoys me that a bougie breakfast/lunch/catering joint should have a name and decor that tries to invoke the Great Depression. While walking past it on the way to school this morning in the heavy snow I passed a homeless man. He glanced briefly into the garbage can. There wasn't anything to eat in there, but I had to applaud the irony.

Yesterday I got a free lunch from the School of Public Policy and Public Administration. I was there for a session to hear about NeighborhoodInfoDC and Dataplace, both nifty websites that will provide you with lots of information, though perhaps not exactly what you're looking for. But man, check out Dataplace. You can make all these cool maps and stuff.
posted by weiss @ 5:58 PM

Congrats and Photos
Sasha, congratulations on your new career choice. Way to go matrilineal! I was a little disapointed not to make the congratulations list, but thanks for the link to the Ismene review. The South Bend Tribune lovew NWP!

In other news, you can now check out photos from my time thus far in Colombia here: http://gallery.nonsensesoftware.com/colombia. Highlights include a bunch of water buffaloes I accompanied, zen and the art of cooking with your eyes closed and an "unidentified" man covering his face. For the whole story, subscribe to my bi-weekly email newsletter from Colombia.

Oh and I have 50 gmail invites to give out too. There seems to have been some significant inflation since the days when people were selling them for 20 dollars on ebay.
posted by Unknown @ 3:43 PM

salut à tous
Folks,

Thanks for rocking this blog shit so hard for so long. Even though I haven't posted in ages, I still catch up on you all here every once in a while. Congratulations on all your various accomplishments (Derek, Ismene and Today's Special :: Jules, givin' it to the Peabody :: Joel, starting a bicycle collective :: Kate, not getting killed :: Meg, being yourself :: Lanny, your fighting spirit, even if it might be time to move on :: Erini, reclaiming dorkdorm for females :: Mike, staying up on the psychogeography tip :: Rob, finding your glasses, hopefully, and getting chatted up by amazingly hot Bulgarian women)!

To celebrate all this, I'd like to welcome all you old mail.goshen.edu users to the wonderful world of Gmail! I have 50 invitations left to give, so send a note to [myfirstname].[mylastname]@gmail.com and get hooked up.

In unrelated news, Lando, Redekopp & I rocked it NYC-style last weekend. Good times. Pics:

   

   

And lastly, I wanted to let you all know that I am currently applying to the Masters of Science in Nursing program at McGill University. If I am accepted, I will start in the fall and go for three years. I think it will be a great way to get to where I want to be--working for an international health agency--quickly. It is also a good step towards a Master's in Public Health. The classes look pretty awesome and are tailored to people (like me) who have no nursing experience whatsoever. And it's exciting to think that I will join the proud tradition of my mother and grandmother! So that's that. In the meantime, the classical music magazine is still going well, and so is my little brother. We cook food and go skating, mostly. Oh, and this weekend I'm going to a world music conference to hear some fresh new sounds.

Take care, y'all.

ps for you creative types: make your own font! Also good for procrastinators.
posted by sasha @ 2:27 AM

Remember when you were three and your dad wanted you to learn how to swim so while you were watching the sun glisten off the surface of the pool he just pushed you in with his foot? Okay, that never happened to me, but if it had it would be a good analogy for how I feel about losing my goshen email. Yahoo spam filters are better, and when I try to explain how my secondary email is from a little college near Notre Dame no one ever understands.

Something happened today that has never happened before. My cell phone went off in class. Fortunately, I keep it set of "BEEP ONCE" so no one noticed because it only beeped once then buzzed quietly for a second. I didn't recognize the number and the caller didn't leave a voice message so I won't call back. But it's nice to know that I was correct that the "BEEP ONCE" setting will protect me from classroom embarrassment.

Also, I went to this meeting today where I got a free sandwich and learned about this website. I haven't looked at it enough to know if it's as cool as it sounds.
posted by weiss @ 4:10 PM

"That's what it's like to be kissed by a god. That is what immortality feels like."
This weekend is your last chance to see "Ismene" at New World Players. If you want to see me play an evil and sadistic god, then you'll want to see the show on Friday or Saturday at 7:30 P.M. or Sunday at 3 P.M. If you want to see me as an evil and sadistic person, feel free to talk to me whenever.

As the South Bend Tribune so excellently put it: "Bontreger's dynamic performance brings howls of laughter from the audience."
posted by D-Bo @ 1:00 PM

Agreed
I think it sucks that we have to give up our accounts. And on such short notice. Shall we petition? I think we shall. I will write the first email asking for an extended grace period. Who's with me? Write emails and sign the petition. We won't go down without a fight!

Fortunately someone has already created a petition!

Let us keep our email addresses at least until August.

We need more time to make the transition.

Thank you for being considerate.

Sign the petition!

I will email this petition to Vickie on the 27th of Feb. Please email all the graduates you know and refer them to this link:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/oldusersatgoshen.edu
posted by meg @ 12:53 AM

balto-washi!
hey kids, just thought i'd let you know julia made call backs today at peabody, which is cool cause it was 9 out of 30

and then i ate ICE CREAM, thanks lex luther!
posted by kate @ 7:41 PM

So....
Mihail, my little bulgarian film friend called on sunday and was like, "hey, I'm in DC, we're going to go see le tigre and hang out with them afterwards" And so mihail and some friends proceeded to watch "the l word" with members of le tigre on sunday while I made espresso. I got his message this morning.

damn you cellphone and your fucking late messages.
posted by meg @ 3:29 PM

If you haven't yet gone there ...
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/derekb27

If you remember the show, then please go there and fight for the cause.
posted by D-Bo @ 3:29 PM

keep your fingers crossed...
I find out tomorrow about if I can move out of my house.
posted by Erini CS @ 8:04 PM

"Fraggle Rock" is already coming to DVD.
There are a few different "FR" DVDs in the work, Andrew -- including the complete first season!
posted by D-Bo @ 6:44 PM

cositas...
uno
alisa. i have a copy of "the revolution will not be televised". let me know how to get it to you and i'll do so.

dos
kate. yes, i concur with your philosophy about anger and traffic patterns. the saying "i've learned more on my bicycle than i ever did in school," rings true in my ears every day as i commute or ride for fun. it's not worth getting pissed at cars and internal combustion engines. rather, i've taken to approach the matter with a positive outlook. one that readily seeks dialogue and conversation with drivers next to me in the lane. on my road bike i've attached a wooden crate to the back. on this crate i've written in large black letters, "be free. ask me how." it's amazing as to the number of people who stop and talk to me about this saying or the other two i've posted: "viva hugo y cesar chavez" and "$0 per gallon".

bicycles through and through, speak for a different way of structing community and our lives. they break the "little boxes" we've been socialized and encouraged to live in. this is one reason i'm so excited about our bicycle collective, chain reaction, that has started in goshen. we meet on monday with a local couple who own a building downtown. they've contact our group about the possibility of us using the empty building just south of the window and north of the dew drop inn. here's a fist up for the revolution.
posted by joel @ 3:18 PM

bikes macs and blogs
lent
ive given up punctuation for lent

blogs
andrew you can change the time of your post and the date or at least i can check it out im posting this at 233 this morning ha not really i was way asleep then

bikes
alright as someone who spends well over 8 hours a day five days a week in traffic on her bicycle as a professional document expeditor i feel like i should be able to weigh in on the whole bikes versus suv thing cause it's one of those thins i have to think about all day but is pretty hard to put into words unlike the only other things i think about all day which are 1 im hungry 2 i have to pee 3 my fingers and toes are cold 4 i hate wind
earlier this summer on my way to work i spent a lot of my energy getting mad at stupid drivers stupid buses and stupid taxis cutting me off or pulling out in front of me opening there doors using up my bike lane turning right in over across my path turning left when i have the right of way going way too fast or what ever then again i don't stop at stop signs i run red lights and some times i'll even go the wrong way down one way streets i'm an incredibly aggressive biker after a while i realized i was wasting my energy getting pissed at cars not seeing me/doing stupid shit and gradually after this realization i began to let things go and became less frustrated and i just focused on what i was doing and only got mad at myself for doing the stupid shit
since this summer i have learned to treat traffic as a predictable and mostly stupid obstacle that i have no control over i only have control of my bike and myself and the best i can do is be as predictable as possible for the cars and defensive as possible for me

mac labbin
i would also like to add to fond memories from the mac lab
one day meg and joel came up with a great song called "i dream about your headphones at night" which they sang all over campus one day they were in the mac lab together and started singing this "song" and thought it would be fun to record it so the did then they spent the next hour or so recording themselves banging on the tables and making indecipherable noises afterwards they burned the headphones song onto a cd and called in their single and burned the rest of the music on to another cd meg made up little sleeves and sold them separately for 25¢ or 2 for $.50 in the union i think it was parents weekend anyway we listened t this album the other night an it was pretty damn funny
if anyone is interested in a copy of this amazing cd please send a check or a blank cd s to 1620 c st SE apt 11 washington dc 20003
posted by kate @ 2:33 AM

just wanted to say a little hello from DorkFest 3.0... it's still going on... 1/2 the people left... but DDRmax2 is off.. so it's nice... or at least quiet...
This year, Fallon and I were the only girls to bring computers...
posted by Erini CS @ 3:29 AM

What I want to know...
Is why we got 192 referrals from "Get Your Shoup on" in the last 24 hours (see bottom of this page) when the page hasn't been updated for almost two years.
posted by Unknown @ 9:12 PM

Andrew, here's what you do:
1. Randomly run across one of the stars' e-mail addresses online and e-mail her. (Ask her to send you an autographed picture).

2. Find the company that originally aired the series and bug them to pieces.

3. Ignore the people who e-mail back and say, "We no longer own the rights. We can't do it. It's too expensive. Quit bugging us." (I ran into people at TVOntario who were very annoyed and others who were EXTREMELY supportive and excited.)

4. Start a petition online (e.g. at PetitionSpot.com).

5. Go to as many Web sites that you possibly can to spread the word (e.g. IMDb, fan sites).

6. Wait a couple of months for them to reply to you with good news.

7. Brag about it WAY too much.

8. Insist that they include your name on the DVD on the "Special Thanks to" section. (I haven't done this one yet.)
posted by D-Bo @ 12:47 PM

Monday over Tuesday, any time, any place

Confession: my sister and I would at times, in our youth, pretend to be George Frankley and Kate Monday and pull out calculators for some wickedly quick multiplication. Also, I was really disappointed when Monday was replaced by Pat Tuesday, but they did have the cool cab driver in New York.
posted by Landon @ 6:58 PM

Bad things that happened to me yesterday:

• I was talking to my father on my cell phone on the bus. Because I was talking to him I left my gloves on the bus. I realized this immediately after getting off, but decided to let it go because they were those $2 hardware store gloves. I've already bought new ones.
• While crossing 14th street on foot, still talking to my father and totally having the WALK symbol, I was sideswiped by a woman in a grey SUV. My father was rather frightened when all of a sudden I stopped talking to him and started yelling. The woman stopped and apologized. I accepted the apology, while somewhere in the back of my mind thet recognition that I wasn't really hurt enough to sue glistened quietly. I then got back on the phone and tried to explain to my father that I was fine.
• When I got home I realized that I had forgotten not only my gloves but also my umbrella. Blast.
• Later I realized that my hand had been oh so slightly cut by the passing SUV.

Also, while pulling my bike out of the garage on Sunday two men in a car told me that they were looking for bikers to start up a bike messenging business. I told them I wasn't looking for work, but gave them my card and told them to call me and I would pass the news along to my friends. I figured that they already knew where I lived and my home phone couldn't do anything. It was really weird. I haven't heard from them.
posted by weiss @ 4:05 PM

I may have singlehandedly brought my favorite children's show to DVD!
Hi Derek,

I just wanted you to know, that I hand delivered the TVOntario DVD
proposals last week. They are currently being budgeted as to how much
these DVDs will cost to re-commission. It is definitely going to be a
long-term process (2 months...just to budget!).

However, you may be pleased to know that your petition has been shown to a
number of possible "key" investors who have shown interest in producing a
Today's Special DVD. The good people in Sales and Marketing are trying
their best to find an affordable solution, so we're gonna have to give
them time.

Anyways, once again. I must thank you for the wonderful job that you did
with the petition. You've created quite the buzz at TVOntario ~ as well
as support! I will let you know of any further developments.

Take care,
posted by D-Bo @ 1:54 PM

Joel...
If you were a mouse, would you be mad at the cat who tries to eat you? No. As a cyclist, you have to live with the fact that you are smaller and less visible than a car. Mice are wary of cats. Bikes should be wary of cars. Always. You aren't going to change the world by being hit by an SUV (as much as I would like to believe it myself).

If the SUV had seen you and proceeded anyway; then can you be angry.

Unlike the mouse, you need to make yourself visible. A car (or SUV) can't be blamed if it can't see you. If the SUV would have seen you, it probably would have stopped. Use lights, wear light-colored clothing.

Cars dominate small towns. Bikes and pedestrians are scarce, making them less expected. It's the town that you live in, not the SUV. Good luck and keep your eyes open and on the road. Being on a bike doesn't give you leniency to chat with friends. Drive as carefully as you would if you were in a car. Fortunately, on a bike. you have a very quick response. If you had been in a car and the SUV had done the same thing, you would have collided.

Just some thoughts.
posted by meg @ 11:35 PM

Joel - How long you gonna be in New York for? Celeste and I will be touring the East Coast over my spring break and we'll be getting to NYC on Monday, March 7. We'll be leaving on Wednesday. Let me know.
posted by weiss @ 2:22 PM

I hearts my momma.
today my mom treated me (and herself) to a 1 hour massage... I smell like a certs mint... oh so happy.

anyway.. I want to hear about the Toast to Communism party at 534. thought about coming back up to GC for it, but time is a big factor in that one.. anyway.. how'd the communial alcohol thing go? or taste for that matter...
posted by Erini CS @ 10:53 PM

fucking suvs
the saying, "you'll probably die less than a mile away from your house if a car is involved," nearly came to pass this evening.

while riding home from san marcos this evening after a fine meal and almost my last, a jeep grand cherokee started to pull out from an alley, the one that crosses plymouth just west of the intersection of 8th and said street. i yelled obscenities and biblical curses as load as i could...they stopped...in the middle of our path. my roommate and i thankfully had space and reaction time to brake prior to BUSTING UP their vehicle. looking back, i kinda wish i did. we both felt the inner urge to run up and break the windows anyways. we refrained when the back window rolled down and a little kid asked " are you ok?" errrrrrrrr. using the child for protection. harsh.

for anyone in new york during the weekend of march 4 and such, let me know cuz stan and myself will be in town.


posted by joel @ 9:39 PM

"last week was bad for our health"
this is the elkhart truth's main front page headline for today.

it cracked me up all morning at the laundromat. i mean, it's called winter, people.
good news though, our collective health is predicted to improve steadily over the next three months,
culminating in four straight months of relative well-being (summer).

though i have to say, last week was really bad for my health; i smashed my finger in a door
and got a vile chest cold. my kitten, pigeon, has been sneezing a lot too.

-sara
posted by Sara @ 3:55 PM

My knack for leaving things in my pockets after I take my pants off has claimed its largest casualty (discounting a paycheck from the doll factory in high school because I got them to write me another one when I brought in legible fragments). Water resistant up to 30 meters/100 feet got it through the washer, but not through the dryer. Yes, it's the end of the Fossil watch my grandmother bought me for Christmas 2001 (I think). I should have been more suspicious at the clanking sounds from the dryer which sounded rather more substantial than the usual fly button tap-tap.

But how do I know it was the dryer and not the washer that killed my watch? It stayed in the pocket during the transition between the two. A prize to the first person to post the answer, though it's not that hard of a question, I admit.
posted by weiss @ 6:19 PM

Might be going to the black cat tonight with fun folks from school. The new ones that I met this year, the cool ones. Strike Anywhere are fun, adorably young kids from Richmond in the Old Dominion. Hardcore. Let me know if you want to come.
posted by weiss @ 1:48 PM

I want to learn.
I know this sounds silly, but I would love for somebody to teach me how to burn songs from online (e.g. from Kazaa) onto a CD. I don't know how to burn a CD in general.
posted by D-Bo @ 1:00 PM

Speaking of which....

posted by meg @ 10:11 PM

Condi the Champion of Liberty

I had my first meeting with theUS State Departmentlast Wednesday. Clearly, I gave them a piece of my mind about this sorry State they're running where pagans are free to drape their heathen sins across our Godly hilltop cities...and then I preached to them about the good news of Jesse Miller. Sorry that I didn't seen those of you in DC. I got up at 4:30, caught the 6 a.m. train, had 6 meetings in 8 hours and was home by 9 that night. I also didn't meet any famous people or serve them a latte, as our esteemed colleague Margaret has a monopoly on the market.

posted by Landon @ 9:20 PM

I don't usually post responses to lame-ass blog-quiz posts
but I thought it was really funny that I was blogger. kind of funny how I'm posting now, isn't it?


posted by meg @ 4:19 PM

Jenna Bush likes Murky Coffee

Or at least she liked the shots I pulled for her today when she came in for a latte.
posted by meg @ 4:08 PM

Spooky clever blog quiz
I don't usually post bloggy quiz things, but I saw this one on bona's blog and it seemed to provacative to pass up. And then I took it and the result was spookily accurate:


Which Website are You?

I'm totally addicted to Snopes. Although I must admit it got the rocket car thing wrong. But my brother made a pumpkin launcher and that's kind of similar
posted by Unknown @ 11:56 PM

On SpongeBob and Marriage
If y'all want the fair and balanced version of the SpongeBob story, check out this article by an up-and-coming journalist. Also was published here.

Also, Tim and Charletta, and Paul and Sarah, I'm glad to hear you're getting married the way God intends, as the conservative Christians I've been interviewing would say.

But seriously, congratulations.
posted by celestial @ 1:54 PM

Widescreen MGM DVD: an oxymoron
Despite the fact that my Producers, This is Spinal Tap and UHF DVDs say they are widescreen, they are not. Despite the fact that they have the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, they are still not widescreen.

Also, if you own Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi or Y Tu Mamá También, you may not own what you think you own.

Istead of being TRUE widescreen versions of these movies, many of them are just the standard versions with part of the picture taken out.

There are about 500 DVDs which are messed up and there is a proposed law settlement where we may be able to trade in the fucked-up DVDs for another DVD or for $7.10.

For more information (or to see if you own one of the bad MGM DVDs), go to http://www.mgmdvdsettlement.com.
posted by D-Bo @ 3:11 PM

It is all about the machine.


posted by meg @ 7:21 PM

It's Official
Over the weekend, Murky Coffee took first, second, and eighth place at the southeast regional competition.

"The Southeast Regional Barista Competition encourages and recognizes the professional achievement in the art and skill of espresso beverage preparation and service. The competition is open to baristas living in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Florida. Contestants will prepare one espresso, one cappuccino and one specialty coffee drink for each of the four judges in 15 minutes."

posted by meg @ 2:34 PM