So my bracket was going quite well

and then I got all four of the Elite Eight games wrong. I've got nothing left to care about in that tournament.

The only thing I've get left to care about when it comes to this 2007 basketball season is Purdue's sucess in the women's tourney. But nobody ever talks women's basketball, so it's kind of useless.

I'm ready for football season to start again.

Nostalgia

Back in 1998, I hated the song "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer. I'm enjoying it right now. Oh, what nostalgia does to things.

I had the opportunity to watch a bit of a Pokemon movie the other day (watching it with handicapped children as part of a ward service project, don't worry, I didn't pick it out or anything), and I really enjoyed trying to remember the names of all of them. And hearing Ash Ketchum's voice again...

I'm pretty sure most girls can relate to this:

At any given point it is likely that I'll have 2-5 lip products in my purse or pocket or backpack or within a ten-foot radius of me in some way, but chapped and colorless lips.

I keep on talking about it with people, but it's actually not that interesting at this point...

This is kind of a boring part in the political cycle. All anybody talks about is the upcoming presidential election, but it's far away enough that all speculation is skewed. It'll take a while for me to be excited about it again. Wake me up when the primaries are closer.

My one observation for the day, though: I think the Republicans are in trouble. There's not enough heart in the race on that side.

Right Rips Rudy McRomney

You Know Your Guy's A Winner When...+ A Piece of Star Wars Trivia + The Theory of Relativity

You know your guy's a winner when you're sharing a tender moment, he takes off his glasses, and in his best James Earl Jones voice says, "Just for once...let me look on you with my OWN eyes."

A piece of Star Wars trivia: When Han Solo says the Millenium Falcon "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs" in may seem like a mistake, as a parsec is a measurement of distance. Well, it turns out that he's right on the money (what do you expect from Han?). You see, in the Kessel System...actually, I'm going to copy a big chunk of info from Wikipedia, even though I know that nobody except probably Nate will find this interesting:

The Kessel Run is a pathway from planet Kessel past the dangerous Maw Black Hole Cluster, then through "The Pit" before finishing in a jump to light speed in the fictional Star Wars galaxy used frequently by smugglers in the transport of precious Glitterstim spice.

A well-known but confusing description of the Kessel Run is made by Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope when he boasts to have made the run with the Millennium Falcon in "less than twelve parsecs." A parsec is a unit of distance, not a measure of time or speed (and in fact Attack of the Clones contains a scene in which a parsec is acknowledged as a unit of distance), although in the real universe the consequences of special relativity on spacetime allow for interchangeable units of time and space on an astronomic scale. Under special relativity, Lorentz contraction would shorten the length of the Kessel Run as observed by a vessel moving at fractional light speed. The faster the vessel, the shorter the Kessel Run distance and such a comment would make sense. However it is unknown how relativistic laws apply in the Star Wars universe, particularly as Han appears to be discussing hyper-luminal travel beyond the scope of relativity.

There has been much speculation regarding the Kessel Run comment. On his audio commentary of A New Hope, George Lucas finally commented on the oft-discussed misinterpretation. Lucas explained that, in the Star Wars universe, traveling any distance through hyperspace requires careful navigation to avoid stars, planets, asteroids or any such obstacles. Since no long-distance journey can be made in a straight line, the "fastest" ship is the ship that can plot the most direct course through space, thereby traveling the least distance. This depends on the skill of the navigator and the sophistication of the ship's navigational computer.

Learn something new every day, hm? My favorite bit is "oft-discussed misinterpretation". I love that in the mind of the person who wrote this, it really is a serious matter.

I remember quite specifically the moment when spacetime/relativity/whatever all made sense to me. We were watching a movie about it in Mr. Watson's physics class. It lasted for a good three minutes and then I never thought about it again. Eleventh grade is the last time I'll have to worry about it, I expect. Which is kind of a shame. I love when things suddenly make sense like that. My favorite one being, of course, the day that I discovered calculus. Understanding the basic concepts of calculus opens up this whole new world. And a beautiful world it is.

It's kind of like that

Remember that episode of Grey's Anatomy when Meredith finally has to choose between Derek and Finn and she ends up with appendicitis because it's stressful and Finn is so sweet to her and listens to her talk about Derek and Meredith on morphine says "I like you and I like you," and "Derek, Finn, Derek, Finn. I'd die as the girl who couldn't make a choice, right?" and Derek sees how sweet Finn is and walks away from the relationship because there is so much more baggage between the him and Meredith and Derek or Finn and the clarity to pick Derek and Finn says, "He's going to hurt you, and when he does, I won't be here" and Derek and ?

It's kind of like that.

TTT quotes

I don't know if anyone else appreciates this outside of my office, but can I just say that Tom is my favorite co-worker? The only male in the room that I work in and in some ways the most innocent, even though he's also the oldest.

"The only person who ever looked good in spandex was...Olivia Newton John...man, she looked terrific. Yeah, absolutely terrific."

"It says she wants butt noodles. I'm not sure what that means. ...Buttered noodles!That's it! You're good at this!...The chicken? Just cook it in whatever way is the least fattening. I mean, I know she's putting butter on her noodles, but I think whatever is the least fattening is a good idea."

"I'm sending a Hallmark card to this woman if she ever makes a payment on time. And not just one of those fifty-cent ones, I'll spend a good three dollars."

Look at the stars; look how they shine for you

Goal for spring: buy something yellow. It's a really good color, but I haven't owned a piece of yellow clothing since whenever-the-heck that one yellow v-neck tee I had in high school left for wherever-the-heck it disappeared to. It's a happy color. I don't wear enough happy colors. Mostly browns and blues and every once in a while a green.

Says Tony, "You like yellow things, Andrea: cantaloupe...James Kung..."

I'm thinking a yellow skirt would be a good addition to my wardrobe. During hot summers, I want to have on as little clothing as possible without sacrificing modesty, and shorts are almost all universally unflattering, so the decision is to stock up on casual skirts to wear this year. Maybe a sundress or two as well.

I think of cantaloupe as orange and James Kung as brown.

Warm weather, while much nicer feeling, is so hard to dress for.

Saturdays at work are so laid back

Everybody is best friends on Saturday. We all talk throughout the week, but on Saturdays the secrets come out. We take more breaks than we're alotted, but nobody seems to have a problem with it. There are several runs to Starbucks, Jamba Juice, etc. throughout the day. When we go over call reports, Saturdays are horrible, of course, but it's just expected. ("You went a good 20 minutes last Saturday and didn't make a single call?" "Well Jen was telling me about how horrible her husband's been lately and..." "Oh, did you hear what her mother-in-law did the other day?!").

I'm the one that has ideal relationships in this crowd. The comments I get: "Well we can't all have a bread boy like you, Andrea," "But he's still so sweet to you after all of that? Where do you find these men, Andrea?" "Marriage was the worst mistake of my life, but you're going to be happy with it, Andrea, I'm sure of it." (I was told that last one at a point when I wasn't even dating anyone). Most of their ideas about how perfect things are for me are, of course, false. And of course dating someone is very different than being married, and most of my co-workers are either married or have been married before, but nonetheless, at least I can be happy that I don't have the jerkwads most of them are with for boyfriends and husbands. All the people I've ever dated have been very nice guys. I suppose I've been lucky thus far.

And now to watch Purdue get slaughtered by Ohio State. I love when there are games on during work. It makes things far more entertaining. And who knows, maybe the Boilers have got some trick up their sleeves (or...in their basketball shorts? there are no sleeves on basketball jerseys, of course) and it won't be as disasterous as I'm expecting. (acutally, we'll say it's a trick up Matt Painter's sleeve, perfectly safe).

Line-leader

I was a very self-conscious as a young child. I pretended to be excited about it (everybody else seemed to be, it was treated like a privilege, respected like a privilege) but I didn't like being line-leader when it was my turn. Sure, I'd been to the cafeteria or the library a million times before, and sure the teacher was right there so I couldn't get too far out of line, but still: I have very distinct memories of line-leading at Peirce Elementary School with my stomach churning. Past the library. Into the cafeteria. Oh man, I've brought my lunch which means I have to just walk past the line and go in. But I'll be first into the eating area. I don't know what table to sit at. Where will my friends want to sit? I want them there already. I should pretend that I'm buying lunch today. No, Mom would be upset if I spent money when I brought a lunch. Too late anyway at this point. Okay, I'll just go in. Walk slowly.

The agony was very short-lived. Nothing ever went poorly, and I'd sit down with a nice lunch and then go out to play. But I still didn't like it. Nobody knew that I didn't like it, but I liked following.

Giuliani: perplexing gut feelings that have nothing to do with politics or, arguably, anything at all

There is not a single reason for me to dislike Rudy Giuliani as much as I do. No major issue differences. No major personality flaws. I just don't like him. I didn't like him during 9/11 and I don't like him now. It's got to be something shifty about the way he looks or something equally subtle, because again, there's not anything legitimate. I can't put my finger on it.

As there isn't a viable reason, perhaps it'll go away. Probably simply spending more time thinking about him would do the trick. But then again, he's been a major figure for several years now, and I haven't overcome it.

"Rudy Giuliani surged past John McCain in a GOP presidential poll Wednesday. He showed surprising strength with white evangelical Southern Protestants despite his stand in favor of gay rights, gun control and abortion rights. Apparently Jerry Falwell is offering total forgiveness for any sinner who can defeat Hillary Clinton. " - Argus Hamilton