Wired Magazine has a really cool article about the creation of WarGames, the Matthew Broderick movie about a computer hacker who ends up causing Global Thermonuclear War.
Month: July 2008 (page 3 of 7)
Holy crap! I was settling in at the staff apartment yesterday when I switched on the TV and nearly fell over. There on the screen was my ND friend Rob Sudduth, starring in a State Farm insurance commercial! You will recall, of course, that I got to kiss him in a play in college. (Previous posts about him have included his Dell commercial, a photo of us at a cast party, and his guest appearance on Veronica Mars.) It’s just very, very amusing to me that Rob seems to really be making a go of this working-actor gig, whereas a lot of the “serious thespians” I knew in the theater department, um, aren’t.
Not happy, Target!
ARGH. A couple days before I left, I went to Target to pick up some cropped pants to wear to work here. I figured it would be hot in LA so I’d take advantage of the Australian winter discounts on summery stuff. I found some nice taupe capris and tried them on. Great fit! Maybe even a little big. On my way out, I impulsively grabbed the same size pants in black as well. That’s what you do, right? When something fits and looks good, you get it in multiple colours! I packed them both in my suitcase, and I wore the taupe pair yesterday. All good. This morning I went to put on the black pair… and I could barely get them over my hips. SERIOUSLY. I double-checked the labels to be sure, but both pairs are exactly the same size. Yet somehow the black ones are at least two sizes smaller. I’m so annoyed. I can’t even wear these. And I’d already cut the tags off and everything, so I doubt I’ll be able to return them when I get home. How can there be so much variance in IDENTICAL pairs of pants? 🙁
“The Disadvantages of an Elite Education”. Fascinating article about how an Ivy League education isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Now, Notre Dame isn’t officially an Ivy, but it definitely aspires to be… and there’s a lot in there that really rang true for me. (Especially since I spent three years in the ND Honors Program, which emphasized what elite intellectuals we chosen 40 were.) The homogeneity of the student body. The emphasis on “career” degrees like pre-med, business, and law. The sense of entitlement and the “old boy” network that goes along with it. And here’s the bit that – shamefully – applied to me the most:
“How can I be a schoolteacher – wouldn’t that be a waste of my expensive education? Wouldn’t I be squandering the opportunities my parents worked so hard to provide? What will my friends think? How will I face my classmates at our 20th reunion, when they’re all rich lawyers or important people in New York? And the question that lies behind all these: Isn’t it beneath me? So a whole universe of possibility closes, and you miss your true calling.”
It definitely applies. I won’t lie; when I started back in IT four months ago I definitely thought about sending in an update to the alumni magazine. Working in the knitting shop… Well, I wasn’t embarrassed to tell you guys or my real-life friends about it, but somehow I worried whether the other alumni would be snickering. Isn’t that stupid? I still struggle with feeling like my college education was a bit of a waste (especially when I pay my student loan). If I’d stayed in the US, there’s no doubt that it would have opened a lot of doors for me. Overseas, though, most people don’t seem to care where your degree came from.
Wii Shame. Just reverse the genders, and this comic is sadly all too accurate. 🙁
This week was fortunately a shorter week. (My training plan cuts back every third week so you don’t get worn out.) Instead of a long slow run on Sunday, I was meant to do 4 x 800m speed intervals. I went down to the treadmill in the hotel last night to do them… and just didn’t have the energy. I managed one of them, but after that I just did a slow jog for a while. I was pretty worn out from all the walking I did earlier in the day though, so I don’t feel too bad about it. (Plus, you know, I did spend 13 hours on a plane the day before.)
Week 3 distance: 13.4mi (21.48km)
Week 4 distance: 9.7mi (15.6km)
Week 4 distance (including walk): 14mi (22.57km)
So in terms of running, that was a decrease of about 27%. I feel pretty good about that. Tomorrow I’m going to do my morning run along the beach, I think!
WiiMMbledon Champions!
Ohmygosh, I can’t believe I forgot to blog this! On this past Friday at around 5pm, Lucas Poole and myself became the Mobile Messenger Wii Doubles Tennis Champions! There were 32 people who originally signed up a few weeks ago, and people got paired up randomly into teams. There was a round robin group match (during which Lucas and I didn’t drop a single set!) before going into the elimination tournament. It got tougher then, but somehow we found ourselves going into the final against Alek and Eliot. It was a match for the ages. People were standing on the sofa behind us trying to get a glimpse of the match. We ended up winning three sets to one, but every single set went right down to the wire. And the winning shot? I got an ace on a Power Serve. I knew that the receiver would totally be expecting it – I always go to the Power Serve in pressure situations – but some how he didn’t! It was glorious. And the funny part is, Lucas might get sent out to the LA office before I leave. Snookums suggested we hold a similar tournament here, just so he and I can legitimately call ourselves WORLD CHAMPIONS.
Emily posted a photo of me and Snookums from the Christmas party Saturday night…
Made it. I’m so pooped. Hotel is nice. I’m in the Apple Store in Santa Monica. I’ve already walked fifty blocks (literally) and made my first visit to a knitting store. Trying to resist the urge to sleep.
Ready to fly. Well, my bags are packed and the butterflies in my stomach are finally starting to settle. We just got back from a lovely Christmas in July dinner with Emily and Clare and Bex and Fin. I introduced them to the wondrousness that is American pumpkin pie. (I had to shell out $11 to get real imported Libby’s!) You know, proper roast turkey really should be something we eat more than a few times a year. I’m so full.
Anyway, in less than 12 hours I’ll be boarding my flight to Los Angeles. It looks like I’ll probably be staying here for the duration. I’ve booked tickets to visit my sister in San Fran on the first weekend, and then I’m making an insane 60-hour visit to Indiana on the following one. I should have Internet at both work and the hotel, so expect to hear all about my adventures as they happen!