Monday, July 28, 2003

A List

By god, this alphabetical list of celebrities and their gossip is entertaining. Don't start reading unless you have some time to kill.

Posted at 03:20 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0) | link

Monday, July 21, 2003

The Fieldmarshal and The Mastermind

Rachael and I have been having fun taking the Jung Typology Test/Briggs-Myers Personality Test. According to the test, I am an ENTJ (Extrovert, iNtuitive, Thinker, Judgemental)...otherwise known as The Fieldmarshal. Rachael is an INTJ or The Mastermind.

It's been fun seeing what the test supposedly reveals about you. For the most part, it is eerily spot on. It can even tell you what careers you might enjoy.

What personality type are you?

Posted at 09:37 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0) | link

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under pulled out of its (to my mind) sophomore slump with a pretty killer (no pun intended) season last year and now has the 16 Emmy nominations to prove it.

I've thought a lot about its final episode in the two months since it aired. The finale was really about redemption: that other people can save us, can fix our mistakes, can right accidents. The scene where Claire is in heaven (?) and sees her aborted child being cared for by the dead Lisa nearly brought tears to my eyes. And the last scene: truly breathtaking. What other show, except indirectly, is really wrestling with the idea of how you should lead your life? This (plus The Wire (Homicide's true heir) and a handful of other shows) is why HBO keeps getting my $20/month.

Posted at 12:01 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0) | link

Monday, July 14, 2003

Summer, Swimming, and Sweat

I've started swimming again, after a nearly four year absense. I'm building up to the elusive 36 laps aka one mile. I'm at 25 laps now. With a pool on campus and another across the street from home, I really have no excuse not to be swimming. That, combined by my mile walk to and, especially, from school, have me sweating to the oldies this summer. The walk home, since it is nearly straight up on a brutal hill (Forbes Avenue east (or is it north? In Pittsburgh, it's hard to tell) of CMU), is a bit of an obsession with me. I time myself walking it every day (average time: 9 minutes) and I'm still trying to calculate its angle and length. I keep forgetting to measure the distance when I am in the Element. It gave me shin splints every day for a week my first week here. But it shall not conquer me, I shall conquer it!

Posted at 07:48 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0) | link

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

When Magic Fails

I found myself saddened by the death of the cojoined Iranian twins today. I was completely certain that the team of surgeons could pull it off, but I was wrong. In an age when, in the words of Paul Simon, "medicine is magical," it's stunning when that magic fails us. These two women were unlikely icons of independence and freedom from an unlikely place. Their bravery should inspire us all.

Posted at 07:07 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0) | link