Ciao!

It's official

Keep this under your hat. The Institute for International Education (IEE) is pleased to inform me that they've recommended me for a Fulbright grant. I'll find out if I'm actually a grant recipient before the end of June.

I found their official letter in my mailbox when I got home, though I got a heads up from Dr. Hauptmann earlier today. We're going out for drinks at O'Duffy's Wednesday night.

Posted by Miguel at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Yes is not an answer

I awoke today to the thundering sound of destruction. The apartment upstairs is being gutted (the fridge and stove were tossed out yesterday) for remodeling. Granted, the work was during "regular" hours. Still, who wants to spend time in an apartment that's booming w/ the sound of sledgehammers and crashing. My poor cats were freaking out and looked forlorn as I hurriedly dressed and abandoned them.

I'm at The Space, listening to NPR, and slinging coffee. Unfortunately, it's not busy (only in spurts) and the tips today are piss poor. It's also snowing, sleeting, hailing outside (depending on the moment).

I keep encountering two of my barista pet peeves today: 1) Don't mumble when you order something; speak up. 2) "Yes" is never the correct answer to the question "do you want whole or skim milk?" (or any other this-or-that question). Please keep these two things in mind.

Posted by Miguel at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coffee instead of jogging

I just got back from coffee w/ Cathleen, my neighbor down the hall. We've bumped into each other a few times around The Parkmont, but never really just hung out. We were supposed to start jogging together, but the cold made us really lazy. So we got together for coffee in a smoke-filled Fourth Coast instead.

Posted by Miguel at 01:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For Ali

Ali called tonight from California. Among other topics we talked about, she complained that my weblog's no longer as "personal" as it once was ... and I concur. Although I've enjoyed my recent go at punditry, I miss writing about my personal life. I'll try to post more personal items. In the meantime ...

Posted by Miguel at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The "new" Europe weighs in

I was surprised to read a recent editorial published in several newspapers around the world. It was co-authored by eight European heads-of-state who support US policy towards Iraq. The statement is meant to rally "new" Europe on America's behalf. What surprised me most about the statement is that one of its authors is Vaclav Havel.

Posted by Miguel at 11:52 PM | Permalink

Political v. moral arguments

Here's an interesting article in the Star Tribune by Paul Scott on the over-the-top militancy of some of the anti-war left.

Posted by Miguel at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The union, state of

Few will deny that Bush isn't very eloquent. The state-of-the-union was no exception. He stumbled around a few times, but at least most of his grammar was on par.

Posted by Miguel at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Camus, where did your France go?

I didn't perform jury duty today. Apparently, I misread the summons. I report for jury duty 11 February. So I woke up at 7:45am for nothing. At least my cats were fed promptly at 8.

Posted by Miguel at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Where's my iLife?

Steve Jobs announced a host of improvements to Apple's iApps (bundled under the name iLife). The new versions of iPhoto and iMovie were to be ready for download on 25 January. The rumor mills suggest iLife is now set for download 31 January. I'm especially excited to try out iPhoto 2.

Posted by Miguel at 05:21 PM | Permalink

Ends v. means

There's a great story in the Christian Science Monitor about today's report by Hans Blix, chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq. Blix stated Iraq isn't fully complying; inspectors also found evidence of long range chemical and biological weapons development. The US views this as failure; some countries call for more inspections. The Monitor does a great job laying out both arguments.

The Monitor's article (and headline) raises an important question. Are inspections an end in themselves? Political actions involve means (process) and ends (goals). We have to ask ourselves what our goal is. Disarmament? Peace? War? Not-war? Inspections? The US goverment frames the discussion around disarmament. Arguments that don't address this question (i.e. how can we disarm Iraq) won't influence the White House.

Posted by Miguel at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chicago, my kind of town

Saturday I travelled to Chicago to visit Simon and Meredith. I had a great time at their soirée. I went w/ Dan, Franta, and Lauren. We left pretty early, in order to check out Scooterworks.

We ate at Earwax Café in Wicker Park. The food was good, though the decor was a bit odd, albeit novel (it looked like a circus). We got turned around on our way to our rendezvous w/ Simon and Meredith. I'll admit this was quite frustrating for various reasons. But, we eventually made it back just fine, once we took Damen north to Fullerton.

Posted by Miguel at 05:32 PM | Permalink

Asylum seekers beware

I didn't get to post much Saturday because a major internet worm wreaked havoc on the web (oh, and also because I went to Chicago). However, I caught this bit of news from CNN:

Posted by Miguel at 04:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Principles of just war theory

OK, let's do more than just throw slogans back and forth at each other. I respect dissent and encourage discourse, but let's not just respond w/ cliché slogans. Besides, I'm tired of deleting annoying anonymous posts. So I'll do your homework for you ...

Posted by Miguel at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Got oil?

We're going to war w/ Iraq. I think most people realize that. But before we jump on the "just for oil" bandwagon, let's carefully reconsider.

Posted by Miguel at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Ah, the moral United Nations

I met w/ Aparna for lunch at Campus Kitchen. It was great. I haven't seen Apu since just before Thanksgiving. We're both in the desperately tedious phase of grad school where we just write our dissertations. Since writing a dissertation takes a long, long time, this part of grad school also takes a long, long time. Pretty much, we commiserated w/ each other.

Posted by Miguel at 08:13 PM | Permalink

Get your court on

I finally had my day in court against Markeet Primer. He was caught riding my stolen Bianchi-Snark on 12 August. We've been trying to get our court date for a long, long time. At 2:30pm, several Moped Army members strolled into Kalamazoo's Circuit Court Family Division.

Posted by Miguel at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's raining babies

I just got an email from my friends Jani and André Mund. Their first son, Lukas was born 12 January. He's healthy and loved in The Hague, where Jani and André now live. They met in Berlin, though André is Portuguese (Jani is part Czech), then moved to Kalamazoo for grad school together, then to Arizona, and now they live in The Hague, Netherlands. Talk about a cosmopolitan family! I love both of them dearly (I haven't met Lukas yet and reserve my judgement).

Posted by Miguel at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Don't be anonymous

Someone has twice posted a comment on my last brief post about Iraq that "wars are not 'won'". They posted anonymously, so I deleted it. Please don't post as anonymous; if you want to respond to my weblog, at least give a real name.

However ... the statement that "wars are not 'won'" is too simplistic a statement. What do you mean by that? Certainly all wars offer death, destruction, and suffering. So yes, war is bad. Is that all you were trying to say? If so, I agree. War is a bad thing. It'd be wonderful if wars didn't happen.

Posted by Miguel at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

To not oppose racism is to legitimate it

Saturday night was crazy. I ran into another fascist apologist. I was at a small party (just making an appearance really) and I overheard the guy next to me explaining how Roosevelt and Hitler were quite similar.

Posted by Miguel at 02:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Kuwait is a threat?

Since we might be going to war w/ Iraq sometime soon, I thought it'd be interesting to note a recent open letter from Saddam Hussein to the people of Kuwait. It was posted on Iraq's official website (which has interesting info on how wonderful & lovable Hussein is). Apparently, the original Gulf War was due to American imperialism. The Kuwaiti government was preparing to invade Iraq, so Iraq had to defend itself. Hussein wanted to liberate the Kuwait people from American occupation forces. You see, it was all a big misunderstanding.

BTW, if you didn't realize that I was being sarcastic, you're extremely dense. I in no way support Hussein or his crazy rhetoric (he claims to have won the Gulf War, for example). And any sane person would realize that the puny Kuwaiti armed forces pose no threat to any of its neighbors (OK, maybe Bahrain).

Posted by Miguel at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sweatshops and Affirmative Action

Dan spotted this billboard ad while driving through Kalamazoo's North Side. I usually respect the Ad Council, but this ad is a bit weird. It may especially be a bad choice for the North Side (of course, this isn't the fault of the Ad Council, but of whoever put the sign up in its location). I'm not really sure what to think of it. Dan worries it might further racial tensions. After all, the sign seems to suggest (in it's Kalamazoo North Side context) that white people are more than willing to exploit poor black people.

Posted by Miguel at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Ah, the single life!

I'm single again ... and I couldn't be happier. I like Liz, but we just weren't compatible in any real sense. And I was a bit put off by the instant clinginess. I really wish dating was more casual, at least for the first several months.

Posted by Miguel at 08:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Food Conspiracy

Vanessa posted about recent challenges to the USDA dietary recommendation. Apparently, a Harvard scientist named Walter Willett argues that our daily intake of food should consist of much less meat and dairy products. The USDA dietary recommendation for meat and dairy servings is primarily driven by the beef and dairy lobby.

There's a good article about this on the NPR website. If you don't trust NPR, you can read about it from USA Today or ABCNews.com.

Posted by Miguel at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Having coffee at The Space, Anders introduced me to a fun little card game called Starbase Jeff. It's a fun little strategy card playing game.

Tonight, the History Channel is showing a series of documentaries on Iraq, Hussein's weapons arsenal, and the geopolitical options. It should be interesting viewing.

Posted by Miguel at 05:58 PM | Permalink

The gods are against me, but the librarians love me

Another day at the office. The department's wintel laptop crapped out just as the Power Point presentation was about to begin. I guess we were lucky that it almost worked.

Posted by Miguel at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Winter Brr

This morning was frigid. I'm going to call my landlord and see if I can get more heat in my apartment. It's so cold, I have to wear a sweater in my own home. I'd rather be able to wear a t-shirt and still be comfy. The walk to the bus stop in the morning doesn't help much, either.

Posted by Miguel at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hello Hello Hi

This has been an interesting start to a week. I got a new weblog system up and running. I got some work done for Dr. Kuersten. I looked up some information on teaching certification. And I still managed to drink coffee and watch some TV. Not bad.

Right now my cats are freaking out. They've been chasing each other across the apartment for a solid half hour. I really should pay more attention to them. I've been so busy lately.

Posted by Miguel at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

NC or Chicago?

I'm thinking about teaching high school in North Carolina. It's not too hot or cold. It's not too southern (it's not Mississippi). It's got nice geography. Also, there's a pretty good music scene in places like Chapel Hill. Of course, there's always the lure of Chicago.

Posted by Miguel at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Imagineinet

I stopped into the new cyber café on Kalamazoo's walking mall today. Imagineinet serves decent enough coffee (I haven't tried their espresso yet), but they ask far too much for their computer time. They want $8/hour (?!) to surf the internet. They do have an open wireless node, though (so the owner told me). So I suppose you could go to Ali Babba's, eat a falafel ($2.50), and surf the web for free. I'll try that out on Monday.

Posted by Miguel at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Gracias

Ah! Randon emails from former students (who I now consider friends) make life so much nicer. Thanks to all of you, especially if you're in Singapore.

Posted by Miguel at 02:29 PM | Permalink

Grad School Blues

Today marked the end of the most miserable week I've ever had to suffer through in grad school. I won't go into details now, because I don't think it's appropriate. But it essentially comes down to me being very unhappy w/ my department, my semester appointment, and my choice of grad schools. I'm in the process of very seriously pursuing other options. Primarily, getting a teaching certificate to teach high school social studies.

The one thing that made today bearable was that I talked online w/ Corine, one of my oldest and dearest friends. Now I'm going to crawl into bed in a few minutes and sleep w/ my cats until I can't sleep no more.

Posted by Miguel at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Howard Kurtz wrote an interesting article in the Washington Post yesterday. It raises the question of why not just leave South Korea to fend for itself. After all, they complain about our military presence and don't want us arguing w/ North Korea, their friendly neighbor.

Which brings up an interesting political solution to many of our international conflicts. Why not just become an isolationist country again? You know, like in the early 1900s. Iraq is a problem? Let the Arabs deal w/ him. Let's pack our military forces out of the Gulf and the entire region and do just what they want us to do — leave them alone. Iraq invades Kuwait? Sorry, that's an Arab issue. No need for American military imperialism. Maybe we should just stick our heads in the sand and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist.

Posted by Miguel at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Who is an American?

Cruising the blogosphere, I found this post on listendontspeak.com:

Posted by Miguel at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yep, I missed the amazing announcement at Macworld. A new ultra-light G4 iBook and a new ultra-wide TiBook. OK, technically the new ultra-slim Book is a PowerBook, not an iBook. But it looks just like my trusty little Tetsuo. Oh, yeah. Except that it's actually smaller and slimmer. Guess who wants a new laptop.

I've been using Safari, Apple's new browser. It's faster than IE 5.2 so far. I'm excited. Now I'm off to watch the webcast of Steve Jobs' keynote address again.

Posted by Miguel at 04:08 PM | Permalink

Macworld Expo

For those of you in the know, today was Steve Jobs' keynote address at the 2003 Macworld Expo in San Francisco. As always, Jobs is amazing at motivating the Mac faithful. Ah. Some day I want to make the pilgrimage.

Posted by Miguel at 01:33 PM | Permalink

I hate Network Solutions. I was on hold over three hours total today w/ them just to switch my DNS pointers. They make it very very difficult to switch over to another domain hosting service. But I'm looking forward to my new relationship w/ FatCow.

Posted by Miguel at 10:32 PM | Permalink

Parents back

I don't have a car anymore. My parents got back from their trip to Bolivia yesterday, so I drove my mom's car back to Saginaw to give it back to them. Mom and Dad had a great time visiting family in Santa Cruz. They also built a a church w/ a delegation from their own church.

Posted by Miguel at 11:49 PM | Permalink

On Death & Cannibalism

J. Edmund and Bill are back (or en route) to their respective new homes in London and Japan. They'll be missed.

At J. Edmund's farewell evening, we had an interesting discussion about death and the question of whether dead people have rights. I don't think they do. Only living beings have rights, not dead ones. The whole concept of rights derives from the human drive to maintain life (specifically, one's own). I have a right to act as my own agent and pursue my continued existence. Once I am dead, continued existence is impossible (not to mention agency). Therefore, the question of rights is no longer relevant for corpses. They are, essentially, just organic material. No different than a clump of dirt ("ashes to ashes, dust to dust") or any other inanimate object.

Posted by Miguel at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

OK, I wasn't sure about posting this. But ... I was watching Comedy Central and a comercial for a product called Enzyte came on. The ad seemed like a joke (this is Comedy Central, after all). But I hit their website and this is a real product. What has the world come to?

Posted by Miguel at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As a Johny-come-lately to weblogs, I'm getting in the habit of reading news/politics weblogs. There's a lot of them out there - and quite a few of them are very good. I just found a really great article (Blogosphere: The Emerging Media Ecosystem) on the usefulness of weblogs as journalism tools.

Posted by Miguel at 05:34 PM | Permalink

God damn dirty hippies

I have to stop talking politics w/ hippies. It's such a waste of time (and so infuriating!). No information is valid since it comes from "biased" sources. Apparently NPR, the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and everything else that's "corporate" is just a tool of the government. Oh, and our government is apparently very oppressive (fascist perhaps?) and lies to us about everything. The only legitimate sources are zines put out by small activist groups w/ few credentials. Oh, and Noam Chomsky.

Posted by Miguel at 01:03 PM | Permalink

NK news

Recent news on Korea is fascinating. North Korea has restarted its nuclear weapons program and may soon develop nuclear weapons. It already has long-range missiles that can hit Japan and any target in South Korea. Considering that North Korea is a totalitarian regime w/ little regard for its own people (they're starving to death), this is a dangerous prospect.

Posted by Miguel at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Visitor, 300, poker

Vanessa was in town today. She dropped by The Space while I was working, as did J. Edmund. They brought me a falafel sandwich. It was great, we just hung out and chatted away between customers. We talked, among other things, about our cats. Vanessa used to live in my building and we used to watch each other's cats. Her cat Bugonia recently had a birthday party (complete w/ party hats and all).

Posted by Miguel at 01:56 PM | Permalink

New Years

I'm not really into New Year resolutions. But I thought I'd come up w/ some regardless. Here they are:

Posted by Miguel at 03:57 PM | Permalink