No More Linking

As a result of my new status as a graduate student, this webpage, starting immediately, will no longer be linked to my Facebook profile. If you want to keep reading it, please save the bookmark. I love my readers and value them greatly!

My facebook page now links to my Wisconsin student webpage (still under construction) and my intellectual blog. Thanks for your interest.

Matt

A Fun Few Days With Shewara

After returning from Chicago for our anniversary dinner, Shewara spent a week in Madison with me. We took bike rides, explored the city, and watched a bunch of movies. These are listed below in order from best to worst:

Little Miss Sunshine - fantastic acting and brilliantly written
Match Point - the ending makes the film
Stop Making Sense - I am now a Talking Heads fan
Love Me If You Dare - beautiful cinematography but gets really weird by the end
Boys of Baraka - a fascinating premise: Africa is a better place to be than the USA
Sex and Lucia - probably shouldn't have watched the unrated version
Phat Girlz - was rated the worst movie of all time until this week. Fascinatingly, the bottom two both have the word "girls" in the title.

Little Miss Sunshine was our only theater excursion on the list, so we made the best of our car ride and decided to stop by Maharaja Indian Restaurant in west Madison. Our seating was prompt and courteous in a surprisingly upscale environment. $7.95 got us each a great lunch buffet full of my favorite Indian dishes like salad with raita, chicken tikka masala, and fluffy naan. For an extra $2.00 I got one of my all-time favorite non-American beverages, the mango lassi. I will definitely be going back there.

The next day we stopped by Africa Fest, an annual food, arts, and cultural festival celebrating the diversity of African cultures and peoples. We went wandering through the makeshift shop tents looking at fabrics, handmade drums, statues, and African music CDs. I was particularly interested in purchasing either a drum (I really want to learn to drum! I'm considering taking lessons) or a piece of kente cloth to use as a wall decoration, but both were too expensive. There was also a seemingly out of place Peruvian stand selling all sorts of generalized South American items, but I guess there are (or were) plenty of Africans in the Andes as well. After checking out the sale items we went to the main tent where a group of drummers, who I believe were from Cote d'Ivoire (but maybe Cameroon), were lighting up the stage. Four of them were pounding out what seemed like eight different beats at once, and they were soon accompanied by a troupe of girls who danced around the stage and through the crowd. If you have never seen African music being performed, you soon realize that the amount of different rhythms that need to be produced by a single musician gets far too complex for someone raised on Western rhythms. It's really something to see.

After Africa Fest we had dinner at SukhoThai, supposedly the best Thai food in Madison. I had my signature dish, the Rama Chicken (Pra Ram Long Song), which is essentially chicken and broccoli over white rice with peanut sauce. I was rather disappointed - there was too much broccoli and not enouch chicken for the money ($10.75 - about three dollars more than I usually pay) and they were severly lacking in the peanut sauce department, which is always a big seller for me. I will stick with the restaurant closer to my place, which got rave reviews elsewhere and I was also very happy with.

Tomorrow morning I start my job with the university. I'm a little nervous, but basically because I have no idea what my duties are.

My final thought for the evening: how did Stephen Colbert manage to lose all four of his Emmy nominations, including a heartbraking defeat by Barry Manilow?

Academia Fun

I've been spending the last few days editing down my senior thesis from 70 pages to 12. Why inflict such pain on myself, you ask? Well, I am presenting the paper at a major conference in Madison in October, and the maximum length my paper can be is 12 pages, since I only have 15 minutes to present it. For the first time in my life I am actually rather jealous of the keynotre speakers who get a full 90 minutes to bestow their wisdom on us, since my original 70 pages would have fit prefectly into a 90 minute slot. Maybe after I get my Ph.D.

In any event, I am happy to get my mind back working after a 15 month hiatus. I once again have access to a university library system, so I can actually check out books at will. Interestingly it took me a few days to realize this, since I am used to looking for bargain book deals online, but I suddenly remembered today I can just go to the library and get it! Makes my life so much easier. I can even wander around and check out books I didn't think of in the first place - what a concept.

Getting back to actual academic writing is good as well. After I got here I felt my brain start to slowly shut down from the boredom of no friends and nothing to do in my new apartment, but gradually I am taking time to read my books and work on editing down my paper. I've always thought, at least for me, that hard work leads to more work and good thinking leads to more good thinking, so as I write and think more my mind tends to snowball into more writing and thinking.

Tomorrow evening I am heading home for a quick visit to traffic school and a fun downtown Chicago anniversary date with Shewara (3 years - inconceivable) and then coming back here on Monday to really get started with my life in grad school. I have a bunch of meetings, social functions, and lectures, and then classes start September 5.

It is good to be back.

This Never Stops Being Funny

Bob Barker's reeaction at the end is priceless.

This video, as with most funny and awesome things in my life, is courtesy of Shewara.

Can't Sleep

I actually went to be around midnight, but I've just been lying awake in my bed. This happened to me last night as well, and I was awake until around 4:00 AM. For the past hour I've been exploring my little-used Flickr account, which was fun, until I discovered I can only upload three batches of photos without paying for a $25-a-year account. Lame.

I think being in an apartment by myself makes me restless. During the day I feel lethargic and lazy, but at night I just cannot seem to force myself to go to bed. I don't really have a reason too - no work to do, no place to be, so why does it matter?

In other news, I got my final doctor checkup today. Apparently my little skin cells do a rather quick and thorough repair job. I got my stitches out of my lip, and my nose doesn't need x-rayed since there is 0% chance of it being broken. ("But it looks a little asymmetrical.." the doctor says. "Yeah, it's always been like that...." I reply. My nose may not be broken, but its still ugly! She apologized.)

And if you feel like looking, here is a photo of the intersection that led to my accident. See how close the train tracks come to the path? The other photo is where my blood stained the sidewalk, at least until the next good rain.

No More Intellectuality Here

Beginning today, readers of this blog will no longer be subject to any of my intellectual, philosophical, or academic rants. All this stuff will be purely the random mindless insanity that is my daily life.

If you are seeking weekly essays about culture, politics, society, academia, or anything else that plops into my mind, check out my new blog, This Page Left Intentionally Blank. I update it with a new essay every Sunday evening. This week I bash powerhouse Ivy League schools and stand up for public universities. Next week - who knows?

So if you are seeking stuff like this:

Reverse Stereotyping, And How It Hurts Everyone

Illegal Immigration

Federal Surveillance Program

The Changing Political Landscape Of Latin America

Check out the new blog.

I Rode My Bike Again Today

And the first place I rode it was to the bicycle store to purchase a shiny new helmet. I am still a little scared riding around, turning and going over bumps tends to freak me out, but I survived. It will probably be a while before I get all of my confidence back.

I took the time to ride into central campus and take some photos of the buildings. Follow the numbering system below, because no, I could not get Blogger to arrange them in a nice pretty format.

1 2
3 4
5
6


1. Bascom Hall (1857) - A national historic landmark, and the greatest symbol of the UW-Madison campus. It houses administrative offices now. In front is a statue of Abraham Lincoln, author of the Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) that created space for land-grant public universities of which Wisconsin is one of many.


2. View from the base (looking west) of Bascom Hill, the central gathering area of campus. Bascom Hall stands atop the hill, while Science Hall is at the base.

3. Science Hall (1887) - Also a national historic landmark, one of the first buildings in the country to be constructed entirely of masonry and metal. Now houses Department of Geography, among others.

4. The Red Gym (1891) - Located just to the east of Memorial Union, the Red Gym was the campus' first gymnasium and armory. It now houses a mysteriously amiable group of students in the official UW-Madison visitor's center. There is a Facebook group dedicated to proliferating the theory that the Red Gym is actually Bowser's Castle, of Mario Brothers fame. They certainly do bear a striking resemblance to one another.

5. View to the east from the Memorial Union Terrace, with Lake Mendota in view. The multicolored chairs with the sun-ray design are pretty famous, apparently. The terrace is a big gathering area for students, music, and cultural events on campus. You can see the back end of the Red Gym in the right of the photo.

6. Library Mall, located at the base of Bascom Hill, and the focal point of campus. In the background you can see the north side of the Wisconsin Historical Society (left) and the front of the Memorial Union (back center). Just to the east of the Mall is an open area that supports various food carts (all of which are tasty) as well as crazy people blabbing about various political and eastern religious things.

I Can't Believe This Is Actually True

Chuck Norris Bridge

What is even more amazing is that last night, Stephen Colbert asked viewers of his show to go to the bridge's website (www.m0hid.gov.hu) and write him in. Given the amount of people that watch The Colbert Report, I wouldn't be surprised if he wins.

Madison's Train Tracks, Meet Matt's Bike

Today was supposed to be a fun day. I had great plans to walk to Budget Bike Center on Regent Street and pick up my shiny new Fuji Crosstown, then ride it around campus, taking photos as I saw fit. On my walk to the bike store I did manage to snap a photo of the old Presbyterian Church, as well as some of the international band competition going on at Camp Randall Stadium, usually known as the home of Wisconsin football. Eventually I got to the bike shop, purchased my shiny new bicycle and new bicycle lock, and was set to go home. Cory, the guy I bought the bike from, offered me 15% off a new bike helmet if I wanted one.

"Nah, I'll just get the one from home when I'm back in Illinois in a week. I'll be fine." So I left the bike shop, happy as could be with my purchase, and proceeded to take the scenic route home. I went down the southwest bike path (bike paths in Madison are like streets, they're everywhere) which took me back into the eastern section of campus. I then swung a left on University Avenue, going past all the main campus buildings, hoping to ger home and have a quick lunch before I went out again. The bike path becamoes a little harder to navigate once you get close to the University Avenue / Campus Drive intersection, so I stayed on the right side of the street as I crossed over the train tracks that go through the city.

Apparently these tracks are somewhat dangerous. The bike path is built up around the tracks to minimize their impact as you go over, but that doesn't really help since the path and the tracks intersect with each other at no more than a 25 degree angle. This creates a problem, since if you are not paying close attention (or if no one has warned you) the front wheel on your bike can very easily get caught in the tracks. Your bike then veers right, while the momentum of your body veers left, sending you face-first onto the asphalt sidewalk.

"I cannot believe I didn't buy a bike helmet," were the last words I thought to myself as my nose slammed into the pavement.

Given the amount of blood that was covering my face when I got up, I was surprisingly calm. I was fairly sure I had broken my nose, sliced open my lip, knocked out a few teeth, and probably broken another random bone that would be discovered later through a series of expensive X-Rays. Blood was pouring down my shirt and onto my messenger bag, as well as my bike (which had also sustained injuries -but this was not discovered until later.) I gathered myself up off the sidewalk, looking around for someone to help me stop the bleeding and possibly direct me to the nearest emergency center. Three guys eventually walked by, who seemed moderately concerned (I didn't know how bad I looked) and pointed toward "University Health Services," conveniently located only half a block away.

Thank God.

I calmly walked my bike over to the clinic and walked inside, where I was greeted by a very nice nurse who quickly rushed me to the nearest room. Over the next two hours, the physicians who saw me constantly remarked at how composed I seemed, given what had just happened. I think when really bad things happen to me, my mind just goes into "Wow this will be hilarious later" mode, so I managed to retain my sense of calm.

My injuries were less extensive than first thought, but still not very good. The bases of my plams both had a few layers of skin ripped off, coupled with flecks of dirt and asphalt that couldn't be removed. I had a flesh-deep cut on one of my right knuckles, as well as a series of scrapes across the rest of my right arm. My nose is probably not broken, but I am having x-rays on Monday to confirm this (my university health coverage starts on Monday, so they held off until then). Instead, my nose sustained a series of cuts and scrapes both inside and out, as well as a large bruise where the cartilage meets my skull. My lip was the worst. At impact the right side of my lower lip got caught between my upper and lower teeth, so I ended up actually biting a hole through my lip. This required three stitiches on the outside, but none on the inside (apparently the saliva works better than stitches). I'll be on antibiotics, both ointment and pills, until the cuts heal. But luckily no broken bones and no chipped or missing teeth.

My half-hour old bike could have been worse as well. The right gear shifter got scraped up and bent down, the seat was twisted, and the chain came off the gears entirely. I managed to reset the shifter and chain on the way home, and the scrapes don't really matter. I will clean the blood off the frame later. I also have to do that for my shirt and my messneger bag ("Use peroxide and cold water" they told me.)

Needless to say this has put a screeching halt to my Madison fun, for now. So no photos until later. But I can always use get well wishes!

Home Sweet Madison

I moved in to my new apartment on Sunday, and I am quite happy. I've spent the past two days organizing my room and running errands, so I haven't actually had that much time to explore the city. Today I managed to explore/get lost in the main library while searching for a book that wasn't even there, but it all evened out as I found a different book and splurged for a small mango smoothie from one of the food carts on "Library Mall". Tomorrow I am going to go around and take some photos of campus, which seems to alternate between ugly engineering buildings and pretty classical/gothic style. In architectural terms it looks a lot like U of I, but the actual campus layout is completely different - much more urban.

In the meantime, I leave you with two graphs I discovered today that indicate just one more reason why I love Peru:

Average Temperature and Precipitation for:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru

Fun At UW's Union South Computer Lab

PLEASE ENTER YOUR 10-DIGIT CAMPUS ID NUMBER.

Ok. XXX-XXX-XXXX

YOUR ID NUMBER MUST BE 11 DIGITS LONG.

What? You just said ten digits . . . And the number on my card only has ten digits. I'll try again. XXX-XXX-XXXX

YOUR ID NUMBER MUST BE 11 DIGITS LONG.

Well now I am really confused.

*I walk over to the "Help Desk"*

"Hi. My computer keeps saying I need an 11-digit ID number - but my ID number only has ten digits."

"Ah, but your ID DOES have 11 digits!" He says in a voice not unrelated to a magician who has just revealed a trick. He then points to a ridculously miniscule numeral zero, conveniently located in a section of my ID card which no number of mine would ever even visit for vacation. "THIS is your 11th digit!" He repeats the magician voice again.

I give him a blank stare, not unlike the endless blank regions of space between the zero and the rest of my ID number. "So does this thing go at the front or the back of my ID number?"

"The back."

"Thanks." I sit back down at my computer desk, and type in the 11-digit 10-digit ID number.
XXX-XXX-XXXX . . . . . . . X

HELLO.

AUTHORIZING ID NUMBER.

ID NUMBER INVALID.

BYE.

You have got to be joking.

XXX-XXX-XXXX-X

HELLO.

AUTHORIZING ID NUMBER.

ID NUMBER INVALID.

BYE.

By this time, David Copperfield over at the "Help Desk" is watching me, presumably chuckling at my complete lack of computer abilities.

So I left.

The End Of The Spider War

Two months ago I picked up a hitchhiker.

While I was digging in northwest Illinois, a large spider had decided to go shopping for a new place to live, and apparently my car's license plate frame was big-ticket real estate that weekend. I saw the spider one day while opening my car's trunk and thought nothing of it; knowing full well that the spider will quickly realize it had chosen the wrong spot when its spot starts, well, moving into other time zones at speeds close to 90 miles an hour.

But I was wrong.

Three days ago, having forgotten about the spider altogether, I notice that it is not only still living on my license plate - it has built a very nice web. A little abode that survived for three thousand miles of driving. I can't believe this is true - so shrugging my Buddhist tendencies aside, I destroy the web and head inside my house.

But only this morning I come out of the house to discover that the spider has created an entirely new web, just like the one that was there before. This web I destroyed again, and then drove to Madison as fast as I could, hoping the spider would fly off while trying to make a new web. (I still hadn't actually seen the spider - I only knew it was living inside my trunk 's door handle mechanism.) And when I get home, I see the spider spinning its web again! "What the hell!" I think to myself. Why does this spider keep building a web here? And then it dawns on me. This spider is about three times the size it was when I saw it two months ago. I mean its massive. It must actually be getting well fed here, else it wouldn't be so taken on this spot. I don't know how that could be, but the thing sure looked fat.

I was just then considering letting it live and stay on my plate permanently. But common sense took over, knowing it could possibly get inside the car and kill me (I think it was a Wolf Spider), so I flung it off of the car and onto the road. Which is the exact moment my little brother (who is scared to death of spiders, the wimp) saw it and smashed it with his shoe.

Kind of made me sad, actually.

If Only This Wasn't True . . .

Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self

Yay For Blockbuster And Madtown

Shewara is on a sojourn to Barcelona for the next fortnight, so my usual endless succession of social obligations, eclectic music concerts, and food experiences has come to a screeching halt. Luckily I am busying myself in other ways. Most recently, I pleasantly discovered that through some serendipitous mistake on the part of Corporate America I have amanged to accumulate somewhere in the realm of seven free rentals from Blockbuster during the month of August. I haven't even rented anything from Blockbuster for the past month, yet I have free rentals on my rewards account. Can't say I'm complaining. I have used my newfound cinematic viewing freedom over the past two evenings to take in two highly acclaimed films that have somehow escaped me to this point: Maria Full of Grace, a Colombian-American film about a middle class Colombian girl who gets involved in the narcotics trade; and L.A. Confidential, a brilliantly written multilayered crime drama set in 1950s Hollywood. The lead actress in Maria, Catalina Sandino Moreno, gave a great performance, even though she had never before made a film. As such, I am happy to know she has gotten a few more roles, including a part in the upcoming film version of Fast Food Nation. As for L.A. Confidential, I always love a multilayered storylines that all weave back to a single point - a sign of great writers. Oh, and having a mysterious character name doesn't hurt either.

As a backdrop to my new movie education, I am slowly but surely preparing for my move to Madtown (the affectionate nickname bestowed on Madison by the local undergraduates). Tomorrow morning I am driving to my new housing complex to pick up my apartment keys, set up a bank account, drop off some forms, and proceed with depositing the first wave of move-in items to my new abode. I am actually not moving in until this Sunday, but since I must pick up my keys on a weekday, I decided it wouldn't be such a bad plan to drop off some things sooner (mostly food and cleaning items - but also a really cool red toaster.)

Lastly, congratulations to the DRC, who got a new flag and hopefully a new outlook by holding its first democratic elections in forty years. As Congo goes, so goes all of sub-Saharan Africa, and to fix Congo means a big step to more stability in the region. God knows it needs it, and so do we.