For those interested, the new Harry Potter book was released last night. I know b/c I attended a whacky Harry Potter release party.
Right now I'm reading a book called Why People Believe Wierd Things by Michael Shermer, and so far it's a splendid read. In doing so I ran across a great Charles Darwin quote:

"Moreover though I am a strong advocate for free thought on all subjects, yet it appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follow from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science."

I found an opening for a general assignment reporter at a paper in Pinedale, Wyoming. I don't know, it just sounds like me. I'd rather do this than count fish on a vessel at sea for five months. Not the greatest salary, but I saw myself in the job description--not the sort of seeing of oneself like when the Virgin Mary is seen on a grilled cheese sandwich, more the sort of imagining of oneself performing the specified skills. Working for a weekly paper in a mountain town in the Tetons with all kinds of recreational opps nearby could be cool. Check out this link and tell me what you think... click here
Some other tid-bits... I have a goofy new aim name that i'm going to start using more, "strumthebenjo." Try listening to Gordon Lightfoot--I can't get enough of him lately. Go see March of the Penguins. The Emperor Penguin is an amazing, enchanting creature.

Please disregard any address I sent to you guys over the blogger. It seems there were cracks in the foundation of my condo so we had to walk away from the deal. I am currently scrambling to get an apartment. I'll keep you guys posted.

Congratulations on your foray into running, Rachel. You would do well to keep it up. Your heart and lungs will outmatch anyone anywhere if you do. Plus, your legs will get strong enough to kick the crap out of Matt if he gets out of line. Haha, I am proud of you Rachel. I am glad to know that all my liberal friends are roused by the eminent domain debacle from the Supreme Court. Let us at least pray that G.W. puts a conservative on the spot to shore up what's left of private property rights in this country.

I am in europe and I can say that the only scary thing about london is that there is no air conditioning in the airport. I really thought I was going to be stifled to death in all those lines. As scary as being roasted alive with a bunch of strangers who speak funny is the fact that the immigration/customs officer was even scarier. She said why are you going blah blah blah. oh she was mean!... or maybe I was just delerious because of the heat... it's a possiblity. Oh and my bags are lost. So I get to wear the same clothes forever. They said they will send them to me soon but Who knows. Hopefully I will be able to wear clothes soon. Mine are all nasty because of aforementioned heat.
I just wanted to mention that all the leftist-hippie-"crazies" are just as upset about the imminent domain descision as anyone else. It was on the radio and people were freaking scared that it was going to happen here and they had an "expert" come on the radio and say that we have a more strongly worded state constitution so it would be harder for it to happen in washington. it is freaking scary though... lets count how many times christina says "scary" or a derivation thereof... five times in two paragraphs is pretty sad. almost as sad as the fact that I took the time to count the times.
Did you say seattle ben? when are you going to know! if you are in seattle for the two days that I am going to be home before I go to Illinois maybe I can see you. ( : but of course if you stay in the St. Louis area I will be able to see you more because I will be in galesburg for a year.
Anyhow, the people who just joined should post so that we have news of their adventures. I will be back in the states late on the 16th of august and I don't know how often I will check my e-mail but if you want a postcard you have to send me your address if you haven't already.
Peace out!
Christina the world traveller ( :

Good to see all the blogger activity, I like, I like.
Today I sat on my ass and read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Gotta catch up on the Harry Potter craze as it were.
Also, I think it's pretty clear in light of the bombings in London. That's right--attack Syria. Those bastards.
The bombings were so random, so pointless, just people who got up, got dressed, and were en route to work. I can't help but think that shit like this goes down every bloody day in Iraq where suicide bombings are a normal occurence. Nobody around here really gives a crap until it suddenly happens in the West. As you can tell, the world is safer for the War in Iraq, this tragedy is just further evidence. I have a lot to say about all this but I can't seem to find the right words.
As for the eminent domain ruling and the departure of Justice O'Conner, I'm in agreement with Zacharia. It seems to me that eminent domain was intended to build highways and railroads, things that were usable by the entire public, for the public good, not for individual corporate profit. I mean, the case was brought b/c a city, New London, Conn, just up and announced it was going to replace people's homes with a hotel, health club, and offices. It seems to me that large corporations and development firms [the New London Development Corporation], who already have a disproportionate influence over the political realm, are further benefiting from this ruling, and how can that be a good thing for the little guy? What does private property even mean anymore?
Hmm, what else, I donated blood yesterday. I'm not sure why but I can never remember my blood type. I have donated so many countless times you'd think that info might have sunk in by now. But once again I had to ask and they had to tell me: O-positive. I think dementia is hitting me sooner than expected.
I went to the Ameristar Casino with Linz, Aaron, and her friends on Friday and actually gambled my way to $50. Not bad considering Blackjack is not normally my karmatic forte. Otherwise it's just been work and more work over at the bitch ass grocery store.
Sunday night I played a little softball. The summer league is half over, and I was jumping in cold turkey, just hoping to pinch run or something, but one of the teams was short a guy and let me sub at shortstop. Damnit, if tennis hadn't gotten in the way of baseball in high school, I could have been a stud, not that I'm not anyway, though certainly not a stud in the traditional adult male horse that is kept for breeding sense. I always felt like I had mad baseball skills. My brilliant slow-pitch softball play on Sunday surely had the scouts salivating.
I'm hoping to hear back from Alaskan Observers, Inc. this week. If I get the position and take it, both of which are big ifs, I could find myself either in Seattle or Anchorage by mid-August for a 3-week marine wildlife and statistics training session, whereupon completion of the session I'll be deployed on a fishing vessel for a further five months. It would be a harsh existence but worth $4000/ month and in one of the most starkly beautiful parts of the world. Out to sea there's not a whole lot to see though so I doubt too many mountains and glaciers would be encountered.
Pete and Em, sorry to hear about the organic concentration camp...I mean farm. I'm sorta glad Guy Jones would not let me compete with those dirty Mexicans ;) Hope your next farm experience is a little more laid back.
Zach, Adam, and Christina, seems as if things are going well for all of you. Drug yourself with a hella NyQuil for those scary dreams, Adam. Have a blast in Europe Christina- maybe I'll catch you in Galesburg at the end of this week. I might drive up there. And Zach, well, what can I say man, enjoy leading a simple life while it lasts. Glad Keith (who I met once or twice) is un-charred and Rachel is jogging like a maniac. I am inspired to go work out so maybe I'll find some soup cans to curl or something. Take care y'all.

A flurry of blog writing indeed.

First off, I would like to say to Drew that I just about clawed my eyes out when I heard the eminent domain ruling. It's just about the most unamerican thing I've ever heard (I can't believe I just used the word "unamerican" but you get the drift). Why call it private property, I think we should call it 'property on loan until the state decides it has a better use for it'. O'Conners dissent was the only thing that made me believe there was intelligence left in the courts. Of course, shortly afterwards my last remaining shred of belief was dashed when the lady says she's quitting. At this point I've decided that we've passed out golden age and now I should just grab a bag of popcorn and watch it all go down in smoke.
P.S. Although I can see the repeal of affirmative action as being a distinct possibility, If Roe v Wade is overturned the majority of this country who believe in at least a limited right to choose will outright revolt. Also, people will continue to have illegal abortions without proper medical care. People will die or be severely injured and there will be hell to pay.

Anyway, on a more pleasant line of thoughts...
-Pete & Emily, I'm glad you are no longer prisoners of your gulag/labor camp and are now onto greener/more civilized/more socially engaging pastures. I wish you the best of luck.
-Rachel, good to hear you're keeping in shape. I'm trying to do the same without causing my body to revolt. So far so good.
-Adam, what can I say except...don't stop rocking. Recently I found out that I can check out cds at my local library and I am trying to expand my musical experiences free of charge. Let me know if you pop out any cds;)
-Keith, congrats on the farm sir. Although, from what I hear it's pretty shitty. Also, waita not blow yourself up. Maybe it's a sign to quit smoking. Well, either that or cut back on gas inhalation.
-Ben, welcome aboard. You'll fit in perfectly with all these crazies.

To everyone else, adieu. A pleasant morrow.

Also, this may be an obnoxious request ... but I'm going to ask anyway. Is there any way we could return to a lighter background with dark writing? The colors are lovely and designful now, but it's harder for me to read...

Wow, this blog suddenly exploded.

I have been busy. I visited Matt's parents in Philadelphia a while ago. We almost got to visit New York City, but instead we went to Gettysburg. It was marked by an excruciatingly long and boring driving tour (punctuated by obnoxious comments by certain people in the car). It had some really interesting points, though. In Philly I got to take a ballet class with Matt's little sister. fun fun.

I just got back recently from a trip to Palatine, too. I am now sufficiently exhausted. Or perhaps that's the running. Drew, you would be proud: Despite my lack of excitement about running, I have been doing it regularly. Today I took a six-mile jog (well, I probably walked a mile of that here and there). And Adam, I'm seriously jealous. Mason Jennings will be here in Iowa City on Friday, but I won't get to see him. :( boo. Oh! And lest I forget to actually communicate this in other ways: Pete, is there any way I can buy those social theory books back from you? They would come in incredibly handy at school. I could even just loan them from you for a time and get them back to you once I've finished theory-related classes. Hopefully I'll remember to ask you this in a more direct manner soon.

At some point I'll also get around to giving you guys my new contact information. I have an address to which I'll be moving at the end of July. I wrote it down somewhere and even know it, I think, except for the elusive zip code. I'll confirm it and let you all know what's up soon enough.

In other news, Pete, the reason O'Connor quit is because of her husband. The poor man has been ailing with Alzhiemer's for awhile and now he gets upset whenever his wife leaves the house. The poor wretch must be in the final stages where he doesn't know anything except his wife's face and that comforts him. Sad but true. Keith is barlog, right?

Keith's farm! I was completely unaware that I even owned property, let alone a farm in New York. I have to say I am deeply disturbed by this development. I mean, new shit has come to light. There are now two Keith's! Am I to be Keith I or Keith II? Perhaps everyone should refer to me as "Keith of the Orange Plastic Dream." That would be excellent. What about "Barlogian and the English Dandies"?

On a side note: Drew's rant about eminent domain is just about what I'd expect from our wispy track star. One question to Drew though: when you think of GW reading over the supreme court decision, don't you just picture a little devil on his shoulder telling him about all the wonderful ways he can abuse freedom and further tighten his grip on lower 4/5's of the citizenry who can't buy their way out of his oppressive hands?

Pete just emailed me and asked for my input on a few things and I figured what better way to reintroduce myself to blogger than by one of my famous rants. I had mentioned to our libertarian friend that the Supreme Court has recently ruled on a case of eminent domain which he would find most horrible. It seems that some citizens from New London, Conn, didn't want to move when a company wanted to build parking lots on their homes. So enter the corporate financers of local town politics and the city council had the land condemned under eminent domain. The Constitution does provide for taking property for PUBLIC USE (i.e...hospitals and roads, not a corporate headquarters to improve the tax base) provided that there be JUST COMPENSATION. However, our brilliant batch of liberal wack jobs on the Court have now said that eminent domain may be used to seize a citizen's property for PRIVATE development provided that local government acts as the agent of eminent domain. Stand back folks, we are about to rename this country the UNITED STATES OF FUCKING CHICAGO! Honestly, when the all the conservatives from Thomas to Rehnquist to even the swing vote O'Connor stand up for the little guy against big business shouldn't the liberals be the least bit concerned? Speaking of Rehnquist and O'Connor, the new vacancy has put the world ablaze. Here is my predicition: Bush will wait until Rehnquist kicks the bucket and then he will name Alberto Gonzales in his place to score points with the Hispanics in the next election. To erase the unpredictable and often crazy performance of the first woman appointee to the Court, GW will put in a good ol' boy WASP and we can finally plant a stake firmly into the heart of the vampiric processes known as affirmative action and abortion. Sorry ladies who are reading, I am just describing how old Dubya is thinking (not that I don't relish the idea of trashing affirmative action). I hope everyone is well and doing great. My new address at Morgantown will be 77 Easton Mill Road, Morgantown, WV 26505. I'll be movin in sometime around August 17th so drop me a line, if you dare. Haha, talk to you guys later.

hi. this is under Pete's name, but he isn't allowed to sit with me because he is covereed in OOZING POISON IVY PUSTULES. So he will stand behind and make comments occasionally. Mostly he's drooling over some tool catalogue, though. (you know the kind of tool I'm talking about.)

WONDERFUL NEWS! We're moving to the other farm-- tomorrow! We visited it wednesday & thursday, got up for work friday, but talked to Guy before we started, he said we could leave, we packed our things in the rain, and were on the road at 10:30. This is faster than i have ever packed up and left ever before, and with no planning. We were happy to leave it behind us, even if Guy is really interesting and not actually a bad guy.

Now we're at Pete's house. We took Lorri on her first trip to New York City, and got to see her eyes light up as we walked up the steps from penn station to 7th avenue. That was pretty cool. We went to Rockefeller Center, the Museum of American Folk Art (which is supercool, and has a 4'-diameter crocheted rug made out of Wonderbread bags, art made by prisoners, and tiny embroidered pictures with 1200 stitches to the sq inch), visited our future farmstand in the Greenmarket (among the biggest in the world), and met up with John & Liz. Then we got Indian dinner and mostly wandered around aimlessly after that, much to Lorri's chagrin. We left with bags of chocolate in hand, though, so it wasn't so bad.

Anyway, today we're taking it (mostly) easy, then we'll head up to the farm this evening after Stephen's birthday dinner. About the farm:
we don't have to compete with Mexicans
we will have sinks
we will have showers
we will do more than squish potato bugs and hoe all day
Keith is the Master of Clarity, not Ambiguity. and about the nicest guy you ever met.
we will have other interns that are nice and cool
we will have their version of the CCCPH! family dinners!
they have dogs that look like sheep there
we actually get to take stuff to market
we will have electricity
we will have a coffee table with a violin carved on it that used to be used by a traveling musician and doubled as an amp
we can do our laundry there, at no charge
Lorri and I feel comfortabe working there until november
there are phones
there is NPR reception
there is a subscription to Adbusters

the people we work with are:
.a chick who wants to homestead, but doesn't yet have the patience to raise money for the land
.a chick just back from Peace Corps in Senegal
.2 guys leaving for Vasser in a few weeks whose place we're taking
.the first chick's sister (they have 2 other sisters, not there) who just finished Americorps in a prison
.an ex-commodities trader who still has an apartment in The Village (= rich in NYC)
fun stuff.

our new address is Keith's Farm
PO box 297
Westtown, New York 10998
write to us!

Christina, we got my sweatshirt and the letter. we'll soon get back to you :) and yes, invite Jordan! also Sam, Lin-Z, Crystal, and whoever else we forgot. It might even be good to send a mass email to everyone on our blog to remind them that it exists and that we should use it. (while they still use thier knoxmails)