44074

-Kia and I leave for Oberlin, OH, 44074, bright and early tomorrow. ETA is about 6pm. If anyone is remotely in the area, I would love to see you. Especially you, Metalhead Ben. I hope we can renew our casual acquaintenceship this weekend. In preparation for the trip, I've been learning stick shift for Kia's Saab. I'm happy to report that I made some good progress last night, apart from stalling numerous times at one stop sign, forcing the people behind me to go around. I think once I'm on the highway it should be smooth sailing. And Oberlin should be fun.

-I completed my subject matter oral exam on Monday. Lots of reading over many months for a 90 minute conversation with some faculty. It went pretty well. Very relieved that it's over.

-Went to a Cardinals game Tuesday night. They played the Pirates, which now marks the second time I've seen St. Louis play Pittsburgh out of the three times I've been to a Cardinals game. It seems sort of random to me that I've seen them play Pittsburgh on two separate occassions, but what can you do. The Pirates scored their only run of the game on a 1st inning solo home run. The Cards scored their only run until the 12th inning on a throwing error. Needless to say, most of the group I was with left before the end, but I and a few hardy others stayed until the bitter end, when a ground ball squeaked through the infield in the bottom of the 12th and won it for St. Louis. This is why they serve beer at baseball games. Then on the train ride back, some guys on our platform (the westbound platform) started taunting people on the other platform with chants like "Eastbound sucks!" This is why they shouldn't serve beer at baseball games.

-More reasons to love iTunes: perusing the playlists of other people in the psych department, I found one that would take 3.7 days to complete. Yes, this is something iTunes will tell you. Starting with the first song and going to the last would take you 3.7 days. Fantastic statistic.

A year in the life

I started this blog one year ago. Well, one year ago yesterday. One year ago today I was discussing the latest epic "Troy".

Nothing more to say than that. One year. Pretty good.

KC

Kia and I returned this afternoon from a day in Kansas City, where we saw my grandparents and mother, who were scouting out potential spots for the family reunion in October. What, you may ask, did we see on our travels?

-An overwhelmingly large (even disproportionate, you might say) number of fireworks places. Why people along I-70 in Missouri feel the need to blow up a lot of things, all the time, is beyond me...so far.

-Also, an overwhelmingly large (even disproportionate number, you might say) number of nostalgia places. I guess they were selling nostalgic merchandise. There was also an Elvis museum we passed. Didn't look too promising.

-Mexico, MO. Yes, we went through Mexico. And let me tell you: what happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico. Interpret that as you will.

-A bumper sticker that read (I kid you not): "I'd rather be bow hunting." Oh yes. That's from a movie, right? Help me out. I feel like this is from a movie, maybe "Kicking and Screaming," or possibly some John Cusack flick.

-A scaled-down Walmart, I wish I could remember what it was called. It was green, and small(-er) and was supposed to look like a nice little mom and pop store. It makes you sick, because you know they kicked a real mom and pop out to get there.

-And in preparation for the long drive from St. Louis to Oberlin in two weeks, I began learning to drive a stick-shift car. I had attempted once with not much luck, but maybe this time will be more successful.

iTunes is funny

At home, Kia and I have (well, Kia has....it's her computer, not mine) a nice, spyware-infected Dell. But here at school, I'm on a Mac. As such, I am privy to iTunes, and I'm able to listen to the music of other people in the department. Kind of cool actually, to be able to see what the chair of the psych department listens to.

Anyway, I'm currently listening to a cover of CCR's "Have you ever seen the rain" by REM. And for no apparent reason, under 'Genre' iTunes has categorized this song as "Booty Bass". That is absolutely outstanding. I looked through and none of the other songs are in this category. I'm going to do some more investigation and uncover what this "Booty Bass" genre is. Stay tuned.

If you like baseball...

...you'll love this. World Cup baseball, baby. This actually sounds really cool.

Humming along

Wow, these people really don't like Hummers.

Adventures in Coffee Land

I like to mix it up sometimes with my coffee. That carefree spirit is what prompted me, last time I was at the grocery store, to purchase a bag of White Castle coffee. I know, I know. Why would anyone do this? This is what happens when one gets in a coffee rut.

Even more questionable, however, would have been purchasing a bag of what I saw just now: Jack Daniels coffee. Apparently it's Jack Daniels flavored. Hmm.... Anyway, it also specified on the bag, after giving instructions on how to properly brew the coffee, that to give it an extra special kick, one could add some Jack. Now THAT'S how to start the day.

Misery loves company

Sox aren't in first place. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

Hey, I know them

A good story in the Oberlin Alumni Magazine about some really great work that Ben, Josh, and Naomi have been doing since they graduated. It's very true, most Obies feel a strong urge to leave Oberlin when they graduate. These guys stuck around and are making some real progress on a project that makes a real difference.

http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2005/feat_threes.html

First author article!

I just got an email from Biological Psychiatry that an article I wrote with Deanna, entitled "The Influence of Encoding Strategy on Episodic Memory and
Cortical Activity in Schizophrenia," has been accepted for publication!

This is the first article that I am the first author on. I'm expecting the interview requests to start rolling in any minute.

Tweedy likes ABBA

David sent me a list of Jeff Tweedy's 20 favorite songs, including his comments about them. I thought I'd pass them along:

"Express Yourself" -Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band "I can't think of a more righteous song."

"Dancing Queen" -ABBA "A brilliant arrangement. I guess when you've written the best chorus ever it makes sense to put it first."

"Balancing Act" -Volcano Suns "The refrain, 'It matters, it matters, it matters to me' still matters a great deal to me"

"Born to Run" -Bruce Springsteen "In the fourth grade I took a cassette of this to school convinced I could pass it off as a home recording of me and my band. Enough said."

"Dream On" -Aerosmith "The first two singles I ever bought were this and Magic by Pilot"

"Outdoor Miner" -Wire "Back when I was supposed to be going to college my friend Nick Sakes and I would skip our classes and go drink tequila in his basement. We would totally fucking hurt ourselves screaming along to Wire."

"The Kiss" -Judee Sill "Just about the most heartbreaking piece of music I've ever heard."

"Don't Fear the Reaper" -Blue Oyster Cult "Wilco started doing this one before the 2004 elections."

"Something in the Air" -Thunderclap Newman "'Hand out the arms and ammo/We're gonna blast our way through here/We've got to get together sooner or later/Because the revolution's here.' I'm not an advocate of violent political solutions, but I'll be damned if this song doesn't make you feel you'd be ready if need be."

"Be Not So Fearful" -Bill Fay "Another song that Wilco covers. 'Be not so sorry for what you've done,' a sadly under-appreciated sentiment."

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" -Bob Dylan "I could fill a hundred lists with Dylan tunes. This just popped into my head."

"Rock and Roll" -The Velvet Underground " Loaded is my favorite VU record and this is just one of the reasons why."

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" -The Byrds "I have to pick a Byrds song because it would be stupid not to. A scratchy 7-inch handed down from my sister.

"Get Back in the Line" -The Kinks "I could pick at least 20 Kinks songs."

"Anarchy in the UK" -Sex Pistols "In high school I would listen to this before falling asleep. I used to dream about performing it in the school talent show. Allof my classmates would die with shit in their pants."

"Tired of Being Alone" -Al Green "One of the most honest love songs ever. Not that romantic, really."

"I am the Cosmos" -Chris Bell "The lyric, 'Every night I tell myself I am the cosmos' seals this for me. Despair and '70s self-help, simultaneously."

"The Weight" -The Band "My band Uncle Tupelo were lucky enough to play some shows with the Band in the early '90s. Rick Danko was actually onstage, checking us out. After a while I couldn't take any more and turned around and told him I was losing my mind trying to play bass and sing in front of one of my all-time heros."

"I Still Miss Someone" -Johnny Cash "We also got to open for Johnny Cash. His wife June even offered to take us home to give us a bath."

Mystery 20th song! "I have no idea what my favourite 20 songs are, these are just the first 19 to pop into my head. If I leave this one open I'll always be able to add the song I'm listening to now..."