South Dakota

Well, the South Dakota legislature has decided to rock the boat. In a vote on Friday afternoon, South Dakota's House passed the abortion ban 50-13. As it has passed both the Senate and theHouse, all that is left is for Governor Rounders to sign it into law. If (When) the governor signs it, the law will go into effect July 1st. This will obviously raise an outcry from the left and enjoyment from the right, while putting to test the "new" Supreme court.

I went to check up on the comment about "Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane (my bad on the mis-reference) and I typed into google "Girl Next Door." Definetely one of those times where I did not think about the ramifications of such a search. It's a good thing I decided to do that on my home computer and not a work computer because of the links that popped up. (I am too funny)


still waiting,
-wait

1000!

I had this really great idea at work today about what I was going to post on tonight. In fact, it was so great, that I have forgotten exactly what it is. So I am going to start typing out some thoughts, and maybe it will come to me.

Many of you have may have noticed that I have put a counter on my blog (it's at the right for those of you who may be somewhat oblivious) and I have had it up for about a little over 4 weeks and today I eclipsed the 1000 views mark. Admittedly some of those are probably me checking to make sure the post looks how I want it (the pictures get tricky, and don't always come out the same way as in the preview) But to have the readership is pretty sweet. The most hits I have had in 1 day is 53 and that has actually occured twice, the most recent being Monday (which is probably in response to the 2 posts that were close together) and the other day I had 53 visits was on February 12th, following my incredible game of Hearts.

Thanks for keeping the readership up... I try to make this at least somewhat entertaining. If anyone has any ideas for what I can do better, please let me know; otherwise I will keep on trucking like I have been in hopes of giving you a smile throughout your work/school/whatever else day.

The Olympics are drawing to a close this coming weekend, and I guess I am pretty sad about this. It really has been pretty great to be able to turn the TV on at any time during the day and catch something regarding the Olympics. I will be excited to actually use ESPN.com again, but part of me also wants to hold a grudge against them for what they did to me by releasing the results early. But where else would I go? cnnsi.com? Ehhhh can't say I am a fan.

OH. I just remember what I was going to post on (see, I knew if I rambled enough I'd remember). In a story that I don't think is getting enough press (especially considering the conservative nature of it and the liberal lean of the media), the South Dakota Senate passed a bill which, if signed, would ban abortions in the state except if the mother's health is in danger. Maybe the lack of press is due to the fact that it still needs to pass South Dakota's House and then the governor needs to sign it. But with the governor being a conservative, the House is essentially the last step before South Dakota bans abortions. This of course will be challenged, with Planned Parenthood leading the way. This is the story I got my information from.

So what do I think about this? Like I said, I think it should be getting more press. I also feel the law is way too conservative to not even include legal abortions in the case of rape or incest. Working at an OB/GYN office, I have seen numerous reports (operative reports, pathology reports etc etc ) on abortions, whether spontaneous (miscarraige) or termination of pregnancies. I believe this to be a very sad event and I do not feel mothers take the latter decision very lightly (they have no choice in the former). I do have my opinion on this subject, however I'd rather not post it in such a public forum. And really, that's about all I want to say about that, I just wanted to make you all aware of the beginnings of a probable major challenge to Roe v Wade, and with the 2 new justices on the court, it could pose for a somewhat exciting (take that either good or bad) times in our legal system.

I also had a pretty sweet weekend last weekend (I realize tomorrow starts another weekend). Shina came to town, and we hung out some, and Dan brought his new girlfriend Carin in to town so we all (Shina, Brad, Max, Jess, Rich, Ellyn and I) could meet her. Bdubs for dinner and drinks at Brads afterwards Saturday night, and an afternoon on Carytown (eating my first Vegan meal at Harrison St. Cafe). Annnnnnnd then I had an awesome Sunday night getting to hang out with Brian (bwebb) and Katie (his girlfriend, who I have affectionately labeled "Katie (BWebb)" in my phone and have heard an earful about that ever since she figured that one out.) I also got to see Jacob and Joann while we dined at the fine establishment that is Friendly's (don't knock it, they have some awesome ice-cream).

So those are my rambles for the time being. If you noticed, there were no ramblings about medical schools and the admissions process regarding it. And you know what that means? There is NOTHING to post about it. With each passing day of no more interview invites, that lessens my chance of being offered another interview. And it also means that this waiting game is definetely going to be in for the long run as I wait out these waitlists during this summer. It's hard to imagine that I need do more of this "waiting." I'm in a halfway decent mood right now, so I am gonna stop writing about this so I don't depress myself.

I can't end on that note, so I will end on this joke I read yesterday:
A vet is at his doctor's office for some sort of sickness. The doctor does his physical exam, and begins asking the vet questions about where he hurts, how long he has felt sick trying to establish what is wrong the patient. The vet grows impatient at the doctor's inquisition and says "Doctor, why are you taking this long? I can look at my patients, determine what is wrong with them, give them medicine and they are out the door." The doctor then stops talking, takes a look at the patient, scribbles out a prescription and gives it to the vet while saying "Here try this medicine, but if it doesn't work, we'll have to put you down"

still waiting
-wait

Snow

Today is one of the days that I volunteer at Crossover - I do this every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings for those of you who have forgotten... It is Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and all day Thursday and Friday that I work at the OB/GYN office.

I woke up at 730 as normal for today; I was especially groggy as I didn't even get home until 1AM and fell asleep at 2. I hopped in the shower thinking that I wanted to be back in bed. After the shower I came back to my room and turned on the TV in hopes of finding some Olympic coverage as I got ready for the morning. At the bottom of the screen, there were weather delays with some of the county schools around the area closed, and most of them opening 2 hours late. I opened my shade and found the ground completely covered in snow. As I watched the Today show (no Olympics were on and I really wanted to see the weather) the coverage switched to the Local channels. The first report was obviously the snow and I know Richmond goes crazy when it snows, but today was ridiculous. They said there were about 5 accidents on 95 between here and Ashland (basically where the OB/GYN office is) and there were also sixty (60!) accidents between here and Virginia Beach on 64 (which is a 100 mile stretch). And then that doesn't even include all the other accidents around town.

Well I didn't think much of this, and thought since this Crossover is a doctor's office, it would pretty hard pressed to close. So I eventually make my way down to the clinic only to find out that it isn't opening until 10AM... which would mean I would be there for an hour (I am not going back). It was pretty annoying to find that out when I got there, as opposed to finding out before I showered or even before I left. And see the thing is, the roads I drove on were absolutely fine. I saw a little bit of slush on one of the side roads, but otherwise they were just wet. I mean I guess I am happy I can just sit around this morning, but I'd rather never have woken up.

I simply can't believe how much this city freaks out when it snows. Wow.

Music and the Turin Games

I feel like it is getting to that point in the year when the schools I still have not heard from will start rejecting me. This generally means that I made it past some sort of initial arbitrary cut, however I was not good enough to interview. Basically I was probably on the cusp of being interviewed, but the admissions committee found just enough better people to interview instead of me. So the next few weeks could be interesting in terms of the rejections that I get.

Yesterday I decided to listen to Q94 (a top 40 station). The main reason is because I really wanted to see how often they repeated songs. When I listen to them just driving around Richmond I have noticed that they repeat songs on a fairly regular basis which I tend to find annoying. I listened from 10-4 yesterday (yes, 6 hours) and I took a poll of the songs that they played. And here are the results:

Because of You, Kelly Clarkson - 1
Saving Me, Nickelback - 2
Photograph, Nickelback - 2
You and Me, Lifehouse - 2
We Belong Together, Mariah Carey - 2
Behind These Hazel Eyes, Kelly Clarkson - 4
Girl Next Door, Kelly Clarkson - 4
Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield - 5

I would also like to point out that Fridays on Q94 are "Flashback Fridays" and because of that they often play older songs (anyone remember Mmm Mmm Mmm by Crash Test Dummies?)

This might also be one of my favorite websites showing how bad Nickelback really is. Make sure you sound is on, and it kind of helps if you have headphones (though not necessary)

So in those 6 hours, SIX, Kelly Clarkson has 9 songs! (PS I am outraged, not happy). But this got me thinking. Does this radio station suck that much? Or does music these days really rely on such things as American Idol? Think about it. This girl was an absolute nobody before American Idol and this show transformed her into a pop icon. I guess that says a lot about the show... I guess its warming to know that given the right opportunities, anyone can be anything.

One thing I am pretty surprised about is that Amercian Idol has gotten better ratings than the Olympics. I can honestly say that I have never watched a complete episode of American Idol (I say that because I have seen clips) so maybe I do not understand what all the fuss is about, but to have that show beat the Olympics in coverage is something I am real shocked by. I attribute this fact, however, not to American Idol being so popular (which it is undoubtedly popular) but more to the lackluster coverage by NBC. I see 2 major problems to the coverage, only one of which is NBC's fault. I cannot fault them for the way ABC/ESPN have completely sabotaged the results by broadcasting them right after they actually occur as opposed to when they are shown here in the States. That is not their fault.

Where I do find fault is the way the Olympics are presented. I feel that in order for them to get better ratings for their primetime showings they need to not be so ADD with what they show. They start with figure skating, then jump to snowboarding, then to luge, back to figure skating, off to skeleton, back to snowboarding etc. etc etc. The one sport I can't stand is figure skating, so when that comes on, I change the channel. What they need to do is package sports together and show it all at once. I don't think going back on forth trying to hold viewers can really work for 3 and a half hours especially when everyone does not like the same sports. If they were to put the sports together, then they could advertise what time they will be on and that way they could get more viewers because they wouldn't lose people when they switch sports. And then if they were really smart, they would put the more popular sports on when the biggers shows are airing (Like put all of snowboard cross on when American Idol is airing so then viewers really have to choose). They need to realize they will not get all the top spots for the entire 3 and a half hours that the Olympics are shown in primetime. They said the Olympics will either make or break NBC, and I get the feeling so far they are breaking it. Of course we won't truly find out until after the games when NBC returns to its normal programming and then check out viewership rates from there.

I should be an NBC executive. I would get them back on top.

I hope you all took my advice and watched the Women's Boardercross - American Lindsey Jacobellis (right) tried to showboat on the final stretch (she claims she was unbalanced) and instead of easily taking the gold, she fell on her rear and got silver. In curling, the American men are doing amazing - they play 9 matches round-robin style and right now they are 5-2 which puts them in really good positioning to make the medal round of curling. I would absolutely LOVE to see them win gold. I also am rooting completely against Bode Miller. I was happy to see his DQ in the combined (though upset that one of my coworkers told me about) and that he came in 5th in the downhill. Men's SuperG is tonight, so I am hoping he doesn't medal again.

Hopefully the Olympics will remain exciting this week. (Although its hard for me not to get caught up in the competition of any sport I watch, so I think I will find some excitement out of it)

still waiting
-wait

Olympics and other

I am sorry for the length between the most recent post and this one. I really have no excuse. And I won't make one. Our internet is back, but thanks to the people next door we never really lost it (albeit we were stealing their wireless internet... and I do that in Baltimore, so I don't feel any remorse).

There has been no update on the med school process. I have received no correspondance from medical schools since last Thursday's waitlist letter from WVU. I mailed a letter to the dean of admissions at WVU this weekend just as a courtesy thank you for not rejecting me (even though you didn't accept me) and that went out Monday, which means she probably got it today -- if mail from Richmond to Morgantown is as slow as from Morgantown to Richmond.

I am actually doing surprisingly really well with this waitlist -- that is to say I do not feel the need to stay in bed from the time I get home from work until I have to leave for work the next morning like when I was waitlisted at GW. That tells me one of 2 things. One is that the GW waitlist got me over the shock effect of yet another waitlist. Since I thought I had a really good shot of getting into GW I was devasted to get the waitlist which I tend to think numbed me to the next waitlist from WVU. I think the 2nd reason might have to be the fact that I prefer GW to WVU and while I was disappointed with the WVU waitlist, I have this hope that I might still get into GW.

I have become an Olympic junky. I cannot get enough of the Olympics. Whether it is cross country skiing, downhill, combined, ice hockey or 1 of my 2 favorite sports curling and boardercross the olympics are pretty much always on. I have one huge rant, however and that is the fact that ESPN.com has been ruining the Olympics. I have gone to said webpage and they have headlines on who has been winning. For instance on Sunday, the headline in the right box was "Flying Tomato is Golden" (meaning Shaun White won gold in the halfpipe) and the main headline was "Last out of gate wins downhill" (referring to the French guy who won the downhill). On macs if you press F12 you get all sorts of options, and today Ian pressed that to look for something and one of the pages he has is espn.com headlines telling who won the boardercross. I currently have an espn.com boycott from 7:30AM until 11:30PM when I have watched the Olympics.

Boardercross is an amazing sport. If you didn't get the chance to watch it today, check out the women (They go tomorrow). I bring this up because the final is on right now. So I am going to stop typing for a minute or 2 to watch, then I will post the results. I am hoping Seth Westcott wins (he's the American).

Ok, that was an AMAZING race. Seth did win gold on a pretty sweet move in one of the later turns to overtake Zidek . The finish was real close too. Great Olympic premiere.

Well that's about all I feel like saying now.

I also don't feel like reading this over, so there may be mistakes (probably are)

still waiting,
-wait

Hearts

Foreward: I realize how much of a nerd I am with this post. And in case you didn't know how much of a nerd I am, you can see that now. Enjoy.

When our internet goes out, I get to start playing with stuff that is actually on my computer, as opposed to wasting endless amounts of time in hopes of one day reaching the end of the internet. I believe that to actually be an impossibility, however it is a goal that I often strive to go for. Every once in awhile, I feel like I may have accomplished my goal, however I then remember Facebook offers an endless amount of excitement, seeing who my friend’s friends are friends with to see if I can actually make a link to someone from my past, or to see how big circles of friends are.

However, the reason I am posting is because our internet is out (I am posting through our neighbors internet connection which my computer connects to when I am in my living room, and its not constant) and I have just gotten through a rousing game of Hearts. The competitive spirit in me ALWAYS wants to win, ie: come in first and have all 3 players behind me; and when I can’t, I feel as though I am a failure since I cannot beat the computer at Hearts. I just finished one game (impetus for this post) where I thought I was going down since the first hand I received the queen, garnering all 13 points that entails. I picked up 4 more hearts on the next round, which ultimately saved us, since without my 4, Pauline would have shot the moon, which would have doomed Michele, Ben and I to a HUGE deficit. I held steady on the next hand gaining no points, however the 4^th round boosted me up to a whopping 38 points, which was actually 3^rd place since at this point, as Pauline had 42. Michele was a very strong leader with a mere 5 points, and Ben was right in the middle with 20. Over the next 2 rounds, I held steady at 38, with Ben picking up the majority of points, leaping to 41, Pauline picked up a few to 45 and Michele held very strong, picking up 1 to be at 6.

Pauline fell off quickly over the next 2 rounds, taking a huge jump to 81, Ben also made a jump to 52, while I picked up a few to 42. Unfortunately, Michele got 1 heart, taking her total to 7. At this point, I felt I was doomed since Michele was beating me by 35 and Pauline was knocking on the door to losing since she was a mere 19 points away. I continued on, however, and in the next round, Ben picked up the majority jumping to 69. Pauline picked up 5, and Michele broke the double digits by getting 4 on her way to 11. I steadied the ship, staying at 42.

In the next round, Michele uncharacteristically took a queen and a couple hearts making her go to 25. I, again, got no hearts, and Pauline picked up 1 taking her ever so closer to 100, ultimately spelling out my doom. Ben, however jumped on Pauline’s heels by picking up 11 on his way to 80. The next round truly made a competition out of the game. For the 3^rd round in a row, I picked up zero points, and for the second round in a row, Michele took the queen and a heart, bringing her to with 3 points of me. At this point I became a little more optimistic in my chances of winning this game of Hearts. Since Michele took the queen and one heart, that helped my effort by not allowing Ben and Pauline to reach 100, allowing for one more round. Pauline ended up taking 11 hearts in the round reaching 98. Ben finished the round with 81.

This is all of course set up for what should be the final hand, assuming Pauline would take her typical quantity of hearts. Thus, I needed to make sure Michele got 4 hearts so that I could win. In my hand I received the queen, which I promptly passed left. As the tricks were being dealt, I kept wondering when Pauline was going to deal it, and when she finally did, who was there to pick it up? Michele! Now all I needed was for Pauline to pick up 2 hearts, which she did. For the 4^th straight round, I picked up no hearts, while Michele picked up 13, Pauline picked up 7, and Ben had 6. The score flashed up with my name highlighted indicating my improbable comeback victory. Being down 35, with another contestant knocking on the door of 100, I thought this game was dunzo. But nonetheless, I kept playing smartly, tried to make Michele take the tricks, and in the end, I ended up victorious.

This just goes to show, that no matter how far down you are, no matter how much of a hole you are in, you can always get out of it by keeping your head about you, staying strong, and keeping to your gameplan.

Maybe there is a greater lesson in this simple game of hearts, or maybe it was just a way to waste a few minutes of my Sunday afternoon while watching coverage of the blizzard and the Olympics; either way, I staged a sweet comeback, that will live down in the lore of Hearts history (ok, so that’s a stretch).

Oh, this also means I won't be online all the time until our problem is fixed which hopefully will be sometime this week. But I'm not gonna hold my breath.

still waiting
-wait

And the verdict is...

... a seemingly apropros response.

I received in the mail today yet another waitlist letter, this time from WVU. I am surprisingly not as upset as I thought I would be; perhaps this is because I know that there is a very small percentage of out of state applicants who get in to WVU, and maybe also perhaps because I am growing accustomed to this game of waiting. It will probably work out to be something like I will wait until May when I think I will here something only to wake up one morning and it will be near the end of July and realize that yet again, I wasn't good enough to get into med school.

Alright, well I am going to go watch some TV, maybe drink another beer, and just chillax.

still waiting (and wow how that's true),
-wait

Chick-fil-A and WVU (no news, just update)

So there might be something better than free Panera and that is free Chick-Fil-A. And that is exactly what was served today at the office. You most definetely cannot go wrong with serving Chick-Fil-A to an office. Walking in and finding that was nothing short of amazing. I was so happy.

Although I wouldn't put it past me to post solely on food, there is another reason I am posting this afternoon. I called WVU on my way into the OB/GYN office around 1130-12. I actually put it together that the person I was calling shouldn't be giving the interview talk since they do not interview on Tuesdays. Therefore, I knew this would be a pretty good time to call. After psyching myself up to actually talk to a person since I now knew the number was a direct line, I dialed the number and after 2 rings she picked up. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, my name is [I decided to take this out] and I interviewed in December and I was curious if I could get a status update for my application.

Her: Oh, hi. The letters were mailed out yesterday.

Me: Oh, wow, okay thanks so much.

Her: You're welcome.

[awkward silence]

Me: well, thanks and goodbye.

Her: Bye.

So short and sweet. But here's the wierd thing. When we she said the letters were mailed out, it definetely sounded like she was smiling. (I can always tell when people are smiling when they are talking on the phone). This threw me a little bit, so I couldn't work up the nerve to actually ask her if she could say anything as to whether or not she could tell me the decision on my application. Four (4) thoughts ran through my head as to why she smiling:

1. She knows I was rejected and can only think "aw, poor guy"
2. She knows I was waitlisted and can only think "he's got a lot of waiting to do, oh wow, thats like his name, haha"
3. She knows I was accepted and can only think "this guy is gonna be soooo happy soon."
4. She is thinking to herself "here is yet another poor soul wanting to get information out of me, mwuh ha ha haaa"

I feel like number 4 is actually closest to what she was actually thinking, though in my heart of hearts I hope it was number 3.

I am afraid that I bringing too much build up to this fateful day that I actually recieve a letter from WVU. I believe that I will be crushed if it is a rejection. I also know I will be pretty upset if it is a waitlist. (Do I really need to say how I'll feel if I get accepted?). So I am getting pretty nervous about this. I really do thank you all for your thoughts for me throughout this horrible waiting game and like I said after my GW waitlist, I don't need the pity party. I will be hard enough on myself (probably not a good thing).

whelp. here it goes

still waiting.
-wait

Heart Surgery and the Super Bowl

So.

I might need heart bypass surgery by the time I am 25 in waiting for this mail to arrive from WVU. I guess it doesn't help that I keep bringing it up to other people, so they are expecting it, and when it doesn't come, it makes it that much harder to tell them it hasn't come. MaryAnn at CrossOver just looked at me today, and I gave the shrug of "I dunno" and she understood right off.

I was home alone for the most of Saturday, and because it was raining, I felt the need to watch Scrubs (I bought the DVD on Thursday night, and between Friday and Saturday I watched almost 10 epidoses. It's sick) and some other movies. Basically I needed an excuse to sit around and wait for the mailman. He made his normal rounds -- he walks the neighborhood -- and dropped off a letter and Ian's Financial Times. So althought I received nothing, I also gained relief in the fact that I could stop worrying for a whole 48 hours!!!!

But wait. As I am watching Scrubs, the mailman has gotten into his truck and pulled his little mail truck to right in front of our house. "Has he forgotten something?" I ask myself. "Maybe it was too big a letter to held in the regular mail, meaning its an acceptance letter." I then see him carrying a brown box. "Maybe WVU is really cool and mails you a package" (Ok, I know that last thought was a bit of a stretch, but still). So he rings the bell, I take hold of the package and quickly scan for a name: Ian [last name saved for privacy]. Stupid Ian and his duvet cover. I mean really. (sorry bud, haha). Now I know I can really wait 48 hours (well I guess 47 hours and 50 minutes, but who was couting?)

In what is a pretty peculiar occurence, I talked to someone on SDN (Student Doctor Network) for about an hour on Saturday afternoon, and found that he also has an interview at WVU. What is peculiar about it is that he lives probably less than a mile or 2 from my house in Richmond, went to VCU, is considering doing the Georgetown program, took the MCAT twice (we had the same score first time around, and one point difference 2nd time), very similar GPA's, went to high school with John Solano and I think that's about it. It's pretty wierd how small this world really can be. I thought that was interesting.

Changing topics... the Super Bowl. I was very tired of the coverage, not gonna lie. Yeah yeah, Jerome Bettis is going home. But lest you forget, I am a Baltimore Ravens fan, and though my dislike for the Steelers does not rank as high as the Yankees, it is up there. So by defualt, I wanted to see the Seahawks win. Having a Steelers fan in the house makes this somewhat more difficult, especially since he lives and dies by the Steelers. I will refrain from making any comments about the game except I believe the officials may need some off-season training.

I did like a few of the commercials, 2 of them Bud Light. The first was with the "streaker." A brief sypnosis for those who missed it. They had the 2 cowboys standing by the fenceposts watching the clydesdales playing football as in normal years. They then showed a group of sheep with full wool. And then you see this sheep that has been recently sheered squeeze out and just run all over the field. Admittedly it took me a couple seconds to recognize what exactly was happening, but that was part of the beauty of the commercial.

The second was another bud light. A guy is filling his fridge with Bud Light and his roommate comes in and asks how he is going to protect it from the other guys drinking it. The guy stocking it says no problem and hits a button (or pulls a lever, I forget which) and the wall spins around, and all of the sudden a table and 2 chairs appear, effectively hiding the fridge. The camera then pans across to the apartment next door, and a guy yells "come on guys, the magic fridge is back" and they then grab as many as they can. The Bud Light splash screen comes up, and then it shoots back to the guys who believe the fridge is magic, and you see them on their knees worshipping the what is now table and chairs.

There were a couple other commercials I liked. There was one of the "don't judge too quickly" but I forgot what it was... I just remember laughing, somewhat in shock as well.

One thing that is great... today marks the beginning of the next season. We are all 0-0 now. All with high aspirations of making it to the Super Bowl, with lots of people only to get their dreams dashed by the one extra interception, one dropped pass or a missed tackle, leading to the demise of an entire season.

So that's about all I have to say for now, I am really growing impatient. I am going to call WVU again tomorrow and try and figure things about. We'll see I guess.

still waiting,
-wait

Lost, Scrubs and State of the Union

I'm posting again, which means no news from WVU. I know a few of you are really awaiting this decision and really pulling for me, so I just wanted to send out a general 'thank you.' And the waiting is killing you, just think what about it's doing to me :-p .

Also, I have really been a slacker with responding to emails lately. So if you have emailed me, I have gotten it, I just haven't felt too much like responding. I am not really sure why, but that's what's going on. So sorry if you have emailed and I haven't responded. I will try and get around to emailing you.

Anyways, 2 stories I can tell.

1. We (Ian Mike and I) had a problem with our rent checks in January, and since yesterday was the first I wanted to make sure our landlord got our money on time. So I decided to drive down to his house and drop off our rent. I googlemapped directions and I assumed that I was to take Boulevard across the river and get to the southside (sorry if you aren't from Richmond and have NO idea what I am talking about). So I cross the river, and long story short, I end up driving for about an hour on some really sketchy streets (47th wasn't exactly 'safe') I went all the way down to Hull St (by the one and only duck pin bowling place in Richmond), onto Chippenham Parkway, twice, and eventually decided to go back to my house and check the directions. It turned out that I wasn't supposed to cross the river and his house is a mere 10 minutes away basically across the street from Maymont. Yikes.

2. I have found a new show I love to watch. Scrubs. The show has an amazing amount of one-liners and Zach Braff is really awesome in this show. It comes on Tuesday nights on NBC at 9 o'clock and 9:30. I highly suggest it. And speaking of NBC, I hear that it is in 4th place, with Conan leading the "Strive for 5" campaign so that it actually falls under the WB so it will be the 5th "best" network. I have found myself watching more NBC than other stations however. I guess that is because Conan and Scrubs is on it and those are 2 shows I try to watch regularly. Grey's Anatomy is another show I watch on a regular basis... that's on ABC though, so maybe my theory is shot. But those are the only shows I really look forward to.

Ok, a 3rd story. And I might get political. I watched the State of the Union address the other night. As many of you know I am not really into the whole political thing. I think its mostly my disillusionment with the political system and I really can't stand the partisanship that exists. This was highly evident in the President Bush's address with the whole clapping/standing thing. I can't say that I have ever really liked Bush, but I have to say on Tuesday he said a couple things that I actually agreed with, that being the need for some sort of reform for the healthcare system and the need to pursue other forms of energy while getting out of the middle east for oil. One thing I don't get, however, is the fact that congress just passed a bill to reduce healthcare spending by $39 billion, where the passage was highly partisan and with the republicans holding the majority the bill actually passed. I understand that Bush wants to keep the tax cuts permanent and he needs to reduce the deficit (which I believe to be a bit of an oxy-moron) and he apparently wants to do this by cutting healthcare spending, when he explicitly said he wants to help the healthcare spending. Maybe I am confused and if so, I don't care to be corrected, feel free. I just feel his words aren't being supported by the actions of the congress that is supposedly supporting him.

Bush also mentioned putting limits on medical liability; I concur. I am entering the profession and this is something that I think is very important if America wants to keep healthcare and not drive every doctor out of business.

Truth be told, I dozed off during the terror part of his speech (ie: the first half). So I don't know much about that.

I also watched the democratic response, and I have to say the governor of the great state of Virginia (Kaine) looked pretty much like a stiff. My biggest complaint of his speech is that he was accusing Bush about energy stuff, saying that we need to stop relying on the middle east. Didn't Bush say that in his speech? Again, maybe I am confused.

All told, Tuesday night showed me again why my main interest does not lie in politics. I feel it is a battle of rhetoric, where each side needs to be walking a fine line so as to not piss the other side off, but they still manage to do so because everyone feels such at odds with everything. You either love or hate either side (or in my case, I am indifferent).

Ok, I am done with political stuff. I can't talk about it anymore because it makes my head hurt. And I think I am done for now.

Here's to another day of waiting patiently by the phone at work for one of my roommates to call and let me know if the WVU mailed me a letter. hooray.

still waiting,
-wait