In Between

not-quite-so-super-Tuesday

Mary Beth — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:55:05 +0000

For the first time in my life, I feel like my vote has made a difference.

In 2002, the year I turned 18, I voted in a couple of random New York state elections, where there was little if any real competition. I will admit to being a delinquent citizen in 2003, not bothering to apply for an absentee ballot or learn enough about MA politics to vote there. This delinquency continued through the primary season of 2004, though with my voting options being NY or MA, my vote would have been relatively inconsequential. Ditto for the 2004 general election–I voted absentee in NY, figuring it would have a marginally bigger impact than voting in MA. Last year I registered in Wisconsin, purely to vote against the gay marriage amendment. Unfortunately, an unfair Wisconsin voted yes, in pretty much the entire state outside of Madison and Milwaukee. Disappointing, but not entirely surprising.

Today both parties held their primaries in frigid, snow-covered Wisconsin, a full two weeks after Super Tuesday, and the Democratic nomination was still very much up in the air when the polls opened at 7 a.m. Regardless of who gets the nomination, I’m very excited that my vote actually mattered this year.

Now if only they’d had those fun “I voted today!” stickers.

AHEM.

Mary Beth — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:13:23 +0000

We win. Yet again.

Bugs, bicycles, and…well I can’t think of a “b” word for floods.

Mary Beth — Fri, 25 May 2007 06:52:42 +0000

Note 1: Apparently the cockroaches on the fifth floor of the chemistry building have “come out to die” as a result of the recent spraying. Ew.

Note 2: I picked out a bike today…going to buy it this weekend!

Note 3: 7yuu============

(That was a note from my feline friend Ella.)

Note 3 (really this time): Floods are becoming the theme of this week. 2 in our labs in as many days (I may or may not have been responsible for the first one…*whistles innocently*). Not good, considering the labs below us are laser labs!

I’m loving this summer thing. Up next: bar crawl, biking around town with Katie after I get mine so she can show me where the bike trails are, Brat Fest, and getting up at some ungodly early hour to watch Corinne run the marathon.

There are no words.

Mary Beth — Sat, 12 May 2007 17:20:01 +0000

I cannot believe that Williams chose her as the commencment speaker this year.

it’s that time of year again…

Mary Beth — Thu, 03 May 2007 00:32:51 +0000

I looked around and all of a sudden everything was green. I swear, it seems like the trees sprout full-sized leaves overnight. It’s quite pretty and the weather has been very pleasant, which makes it kind of difficult to stay in lab all the time. It definitely feels like spring–I’ve become quite apathetic toward my classes and I feel like I should be running around going to everyone’s end-of-the-year performances. (What a crazy time that was!)

easing back in.

Mary Beth — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:15:10 +0000

So. It’s been awhile. And it’s not that life has been uninteresting. Quite the contrary; I have been too busy to record even a fraction of my daily activities. I hope to start updating this on a regular basis, but we’ll see. For now, I’ll leave you with this new layout (not sure if I like it, particularly the lack of subtitle) and the hope of some kind of substantial entry soon. :)

parking

Mary Beth — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 12:50:44 +0000

I’m pretty lousy at parking. And not just parallel parking; even when I pull into a space in a parking lot, I usually have to adjust a few times to make sure I’m straight and relatively centered. (Unless, of course, it is one of those parking spaces that is insanely wide, for whatever reason, and then I could probably park at a 45degree angle and my little Corolla would still fit with no problem.) It takes about 15 seconds to make sure that I’m not infringing on the space of the neighboring parking spaces. SO WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE JUST PULL INTO A SPACE AND LEAVE THEIR HUGE HONKING SUVs HANGING OVER THE DIVIDING LINE ABOUT 8 INCHES FROM MY DRIVER’S SIDE DOOR?! Grrrr. Seriously. Have a little consideration for other people.

What is wrong with people?

Mary Beth — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:30:57 +0000

It’s only 11:26 a.m. and I have already seen my quota of stupid things for the day.

Stupid thing #1: While waiting in line at Old Navy, I noticed the very squirmy 3-year-old in front of me was wearing little teeny tiny flip flop sandals that HAD A HALF-INCH HEEL.

Stupid thing #2: As I was unlocking my front door to get in just now, I heard a car coming up the street. I turned around to see if it was anyone I know (it often is, since I live in a relatively quiet area where there isn’t a lot of “just passing through” traffic), and saw a 10(ish)-year-old boy sticking out of the sunroof from about the waist up, grinning like he was having the time of his life.

Seriously. What is wrong with people?!

shocked

Mary Beth — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 03:22:03 +0000

A few days ago, I saw the trailer for World Trade Center. I nearly cried.

I can’t believe that it is being turned into a commercial venture at all, let alone so soon. I’m sure it’s historically accurate and respectful of the victims and their families (well, I can’t imagine anyone allowing a film that didn’t fit those criteria to be produced), but still.

gender relations in bowling (what?)

Mary Beth — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 03:41:10 +0000

I would like to thank Lucy for bringing this NYTimes article to my attention. It's about bowling! More specifically, it's about the first female ever to qualify for the PBA Tour. It's an amazing feat (9 games a day for 5 straight days, including a perfect 300 on the last day and an average of 224 over her 45 games), and I admire her for it. The article mentions that men have a slight physiological advantage in the sport (yes, I said sport), which makes her accomplishment that much more impressive. One paragraph particularly bugged me, though:

"Some men bristle at the thought of women bowling on the Tour because the P.B.A. is a historically male organization. Others think it is unfair for a woman to take a spot from a man who may then lose his ability to earn a living."

Um, backwards-thinking much? If she's good enough to compete with the guys, she should be permitted to do so. The financial rewards are much greater than the WPBA tour, and she's earned a shot at the bigger prizes. I'm glad that Fred Schreyer, the commissioner and chief executive of the PBA, agrees with me:

"I still think bowling is a kind of meritocracy. If you're good enough to get out there and do well, I think people respect you for it."

Well said. Well said, indeed. I was shocked to discover that women were not even allowed to try to qualify for the PBA tour until 2004, but I'm glad that they're permitted to do it now and hopefully Kulick will be the first of many to make it.

On a different note, Sam, when I press ctrl-w to end the block quote, it closes the tab in Firefox that contains the Write Post page. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?