SI jinx: feel my wrath

Have you seen the cover of Sports Illustrated this week? It's a picture of Kerry Wood and the words "Hell freezes over: Cubs win World Series." Now, I'm a reasonable person but this really pisses me off. If you don't know, there is a long tradition of the SI cover jinx. That is, if you're on the cover of Sports Illustrated something bad will happen to you/your team. You will lose before expected, get injured, or just not perform up to expectations. SI put the Cubs on the cover in the Playoffs preview issue and look what happens? Steve Bartman. This is just bad journalism. The Cubs haven't been to the series since 1945, and we haven't won it since 1908!!! There's also the Billy Goat curse, so I'm thinking that SI did not have to jump on the bandwagon and say something as bold as "Cubs win the Series." I'm flattered that they think we have the best team, but I am not sure of that either. To be sure, we could be awesome this year but as a Cubs fan I have been conditioned to hope for the best while expecting the worst.

We're not cocky like that. We're not Yankees fans.

Movie geek tells all

I must be feeling blog-a-riffic today because this is my third posting. I meant to post this awhile ago, but I forgot. For all of you that want to stalk any actor, find out about any movie or TV, the absolute best site is www.imdb.com. IMDb stands for internet movie database and you can search by actor, movie, quote, plot, bio, etc. So you want to know if the kid from Sleepless in Seattle was ever in anything else (he wasn't)? You just search Sleepless in Seattle or "little kids in movies,"or whatever and this website finds it for you. This is a site for those that are slightly OCD about this stuff, like myself, but it's a cool site for even those casual pop culture-ites among you.

Birthday ups

Apparently a lot of people get busy in June, because I know quite a few birthdays today. Happy Birthday Janet, my aunt, who probably won't see this. Jeanne, my other aunt who is turning the big 5-0 (and will love that I told everyone) and Jenny who is joining the ranks of 22!! 22 is a totally worthless age after 21 but we can't all be 21 forever (except me: "21: the sequel"). Apparently people that have a March 29th birthday also have names that start with J. Have a good day ladies!

(And Happy half-Birthday Mom! 52.5 rocks :-)

Reunion 2K4

I'm sorry that I took so long in blogging post-Reunion 2K4, but the reunion hit me a little bit harder than I expected. Let's put it this way: our dinner reservation was at 7:30 and I was in bed by 11:30. Oh yeah, and there were probably 8 sake bombs and 2 beers in between that period. No worries, though, nothing that 12 hours of sleep couldn't cure. After our guests left, Amy and I were beyond tired and spent the day alternately sleeping, watching whatever crap was on TV, eating, and wearing the same outfit. I swear we do it unconsciously, but we both emerged yesterday in navy blue sweatpants, white T-shirts, and grey hoodies. Spooky. I did feel like our apartment needed fumigating (5 people, 1 bathroom not so glorious) but all in all, I think I'll look forward to another reunion...just not at my place.

Prepare yourself for Reunion 2K4

You may have been wondering about what Reunion 2K4 is, which I put in my IM profile last Sunday. This weekend Amy's boyfriend Dave, his friend Tanuj, and our friend Chuck (all UM alums) are staying in our two bedroom apartment. This is not the first gathering of these individuals at our apartment but it will probably be the last because graduation is in 5 weeks (tear). Amy and I nicknamed it Reunion 2K4 for two reasons: we were making fun of Dave using the term 2K_ when talking about years and these weekends, while mostly fun, often involve many fiascos in planning. Who are we going to see? Where are we going for dinner? When are we meeting so-and-so? etc. We've decided on the ultimate planning fiasco for this final reunion: champion house. Ann Arbor's venerable Japanses steakhouse where we all get so liquored up on sake that none of us can figure out the bill. Usually I resist this endeavor, but seeing as it's our last time, I'm game. Let Reunion 2K4 begin!

Virus attacks

Adam,"The Computer Guy," has totally restored my faith in the world. I accidentally downloaded a virus on my brand-spanking new computer (don't ask) and the anti-virus software I downloaded to catch it was defective. So basically I had the bagel virus flying around inside my computer, self-replicating, while my virus-scan told me everything was a-ok. Wrong. I couldn't send emails from my internet email accounts, I couldn't view pictures on certain websites and my computer seemed to be angry at me.
Adam comes over here and deletes my old anti-virus software, downloads a new FREE version and poof! 273 viruses found and deleted on my computer! No wonder it was so freakin' angry at me. He also downloaded another browser for me because internet explorer, um, SUCKS. So far he's 2-for-2, then comes the kicker. He was here for 2 hours and he charged, drumroll, FIFTEEN DOLLARS!!!! Awesome.

Adventures of Smurfette the Wonder Civic

I'm not an automotive expert, but when something falls off your car isn't it supposed to be put back on? Apparently not. There was this piece of rubber that was wrapped below the grill on the front of my car and when I stopped at the gas station on the way home this weekend, half of it had become loose. So rather than let it dangle on the ground at 80mph, I tore it the rest of the way off and decided to go to the dealership when I got back. I go into the Honda dealership today and I tell the guy what happened and he says, "Do you need us to pull it off?" and I said, "No, already did that." And he proceeds to tell me that it's not that important and that if he puts it back on it would probably come loose again if I pulled up to a parking space with a low curb. Basically this rubber piece is the equivalent of an appendix: it's fine as long as it's not causing problems, but when it does, you should remove it. Smurfette is obviously a fine automotive specimen.

Lessons from the School of Rock

Ok, did you ever wonder why Stevie Nicks was the in the "Bootylicious" video? I did, and then I was watching "School of Rock" last night (really good movie by the way) and Jack Black's character puts on some Stevie Nicks at a bar to try and get Joan Cusack's character to let loose. Anyway, "Bootylicious" is sampled from the Stevie Nicks song "Edge of Seventeen." I don't know about you, but I feel better about that now.

Obama's the man

I want to send a shout-out to my mom (I know, "shout-out" is so old school) for all her hardwork for Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama. With 60% of precincts reporting, the Chicago Tribune is declaring Obama the winner of the Democratic primary. He's basically a shoo-in for the seat because the Illinois Republican party is in shambles after it was discovered the governor (when he was secretary of state) took bribes for issuing licenses to shady characters. His term ended in 2002 and he didn't run again, and their best candidate for the Senate has heart problems so he didn't run. Go Dems! Anyway, my mom decided that she loved Obama (and who wouldn't with a name that cool) back in the spring and so she flyered, canvassed, and became a delegate to the Evanston Democratic Party to make sure he would win. She told me she met him when he was right out of (Harvard) law school ten years ago and she was really impressed. My dad says he hasn't seen her this excited about a candidate since McGovern (who? jk). So props mom, for a job well done!

Luck of being Irish

Well tomorrow is St. Patty's Day. This time last year I was in Dublin, so I'm pretty much expecting every year I'm not there to be a step down. Seriously, if you ever have the chance go to Ireland on St. Patty's Day. Totally worth it. The most friendly, funny, and loudest people I met in Europe, and they can drink you under the table without breaking a sweat. I am blogging now about St. Patty's Day in the hope that I will be so wasted by tomorrow afternoon that it will be impossible. Libby O'Rosenbaum it is!

Defensive blogging

There have been complaints (ahem, Adam) that I do not blog enough. Well, that would defeat the purpose for me. The blog is about writing when it strikes me, not writing about the random bullshit of my day like, "today I talked to my friend from South Carolina and she said..." etc. Not that that stuff isn't important, but it really doesn't matter to anyone besides me and a few others. That is why there are phones, buddylists and emails.
On a completely different subject, I was wondering if anyone knew a great computer techie who could come and fix this POS I call my new computer. I'm having problems accessing random sites, like TVguide and my yahoo! and hotmail accounts and ironically I think it started when I installed my anti-virus software. I guess this is mostly aimed at Michigan people because after calling Dell tech support and combing the McAfee Security Center help page, I want someone local who can come and fixed this thing. Help!

My writing is bad, but read my blog

I'm sorry, can someone please explain to me the merit of having to write five papers in the next 6 weeks? Oh yeah, and did I mention that this is the first paper I've had to write all semester? No second semester senior is going to write well this close to graduation. I'm just looking out for the professors' best interests, because if I were them I would not want to read my crap.

Michigan, still

I'm not sure you understand the shittiness that is Michigan weather. After two weeks of 40+ degrees, I was sure that it was spring--wrong. Last night all of the sudden there were some flurries and then, I kid you not, I was driving through a blizzard. Suddenly, cars were flying off the highway and everyone was driving 20 mph with their hazard lights on. Michigan has the most insane climate of any state I've ever lived in, and that's saying a lot coming from Illinois. Get me outta here!

President Clinton loves crosswords too

I am obsessed with crossword puzzles so I think I am a good judge of the better ones out there. My number one recommendation is the LAtimes. Easy enough on Mondays and Tuesdays to fool you into thinking you can finish the whole week, while occasionally letting you finish a Thursday or Friday puzzle to make you feel smart. There is a crossword link on the left side of the homepage, all you have to do is register to be an LAtimes member.
My second recommendation is the Washington Post. It has a title to its puzzles, which can make it easier to solve those long clues. It also has some of the same, "cue words" (my own name for words that puzzles tend to use often) as the LAtimes which is helpful. My friend Anna and I finished a Friday puzzle this summer, which was awesome, but I haven't been able to repeat that feat since. You also just have to register to access the puzzles, which you can find by clicking the arts and living link at the top of the page.
Now, the NYtimes crossword puzzle is considered the grandaddy of them all. It takes my extremely intelligent mother 20 minutes to do the Monday, but she can barely even do the Sunday puzzle. Also, the nytimes website makes you pay to do their daily puzzles. That's just snobby.
Some of my friends have said they hate crosswords because they can't do them. If you can't do crosswords it doesn't mean you're dumb, it just means you can't do them (kinda like the standardized testing logic). My advice: pick one puzzle and start doing it everyday, even the hard days. Eventually you'll get the gist of how a specific puzzle words its clues and cue words, and then pretty soon you'll be able to actually finish a puzzle, which is the best feeling ever!

Evil TV, I love it

Check out the television without pity website. All your the shows you love (and some you don't) broken down in extensive detail, so if you miss an episode you can read ALL about it.
Courtesy of Dresch, who told me about the site.

GRE for free

As I was IMing with my friend Lizzie, I realized that lots of people are taking the GRE right now. In that spirit, I thought I would put up some vocab words so you could learn while you read. Multitasking...holla

abate: to lessen in intensity or degree
aberrant: deviating from the norm
abscond: to depart clandestinely, to steal away and hide
accolade: an expression of praise
acerbic: having a sour or bitter taste or character

Five should be enough to get you started.

Supporting our youth

My brother told me if I started a blog I needed to put posts up for him. Well fine, I guess I'll support his little endeavors :-)

Evanstonian: He's the sports editor for his high school newspaper
(This is the profile he wrote for it, heehee)
Besides his semi-academic endeavors, the kid's a baseball nut. From February until August, my brother and parents are transformed into psycho baseball-aholics. Every conversation will have the mention of my brother's team or the Cubs, or most often both. It's a sickness.
Check out the Evanston Wildkits site (he's the webmaster).

Welcome to my world

Ok, so today in History we talked about the feminist movement and I realized that the word "feminist" has the worst connotation. No one movement achieved more or is looked down upon less than the feminist movement. No African-Americans were aganist the civil rights movement, even if there was disagreement within the movement on strategy. Yet there were women that were anti-feminists. Women anti-feminists? That just doesn't make sense. What the movement acheived was choice for women: the choice to get married and have a family, or to focus solely on your career. The choice to work outside the home, or be a stay-at-home mom and raise your kids. The choice to have an abortion, or to keep your child. By this definition I don't know anyone that isn't a feminist. If you make any of these choices you believe in the goals of the movement. Women were not united enough to make sure that the word got out about what being a feminist really meant: choices for women.
In writing this, I'm sure it will just be labeled as another feminst rant, but you know what? I can deal with that. I want equal opportunity for women in sports, wages, employment, but I also want the recognition that women are not the same as men and there needs to be government-funded childcare, and paid maternity leave. I am a feminst. Deal.