New Job Idea!

Sorry it has been a while since we have posted, for those of you religious 'Nois readers gnashing your teeth (all three of you!)

So I had an idea for work if this whole doctor thing doesn't pan out. I think I could be a (quite successful) freelance political heckler. You know, go to rallies of the opposing party and try to throw off the candidate with my rhetorical savvy and rapier's wit. I might, for example, travel up to the Twin Cities this week (Lord knows I am close enough) for the Republication National Convention, make my way in (somehow) and play the chorus of Kanye West's Gold digger everytime John McCain references Sarah Palin--sing it with me, "Now I ain't sayin she's a golddigger, but she ain't messin with no broke . . ." well, you get the idea. Seriously, you really can't look at these two on stage without thinking about another, but substantially less-conservative power couple: J. Howard Marshall and Anna Nicole Smith. Even before Sarah Palin, I had a hard time disassociating John McCain from Mike Myers portrayal of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies. I had visions of him going up to small children and saying, rather robotically, "c'mere, give daddy a hug" whilst they crying and running away scream "get away from me you lazy eyed psycho!"

Maybe the moral of the story (is this a story?) is if you are too easily caricatured, you automatically lose the election. This was John Kerry's (a.k.a Lurch from the Addams Family) problem, and although now we have plenty of caricatures for Bush (e.g. a monkey drinking his own pee), he was a little harder to tag. Al Gore . . . a bloated tranny addicted to botox or its organic equivalent, you get the idea.

So back to Palin, what an offensive wretch. Did she really, in her acceptance speech, make reference to Hilary Clinton as if their political values even began to match one another's? I mean, seriously, what is the criteria for creating a political sisterhood? Having a vah-jay-jay? Maybe the question Palin should be asking herself is: can I be a feminist and a republican simultaneously? Those who know me, and my scholarship, would chastise me for this rhetorical question whose answer is already built in ("no") but if you support a party that directly opposes women's rights and identifies with the most (violent) religious groups in the country, all the while listening to Rush Limbaugh, eating moose burgers, and polishing your NRA membership badge with Ted Nugent, you really only have one option. If McCain manages to win this race by "stealing" Hilary supporters through the act of "hiring" a female running mate, I am not going to consider myself an American, because that means I would be associated with the most unthinking collection of dupes in world history. Maybe Canada will take me back.

Anyway, back to this heckling gig. Based on the affective and physical response to such heckling, we could tell right away whether Republicans really valued the Constitution (e.g. freedom of speech) and wanted to get out of Viet-Iraq (e.g. if they kicked my @$$, they couldn't call themselves committed to peaceful opposition). Sure, I would be branded a terrorist by these guys, have my home justifiably tapped (thanks Patriot Act!), and be relegated to New Orleans (the place where the government doesn't care if you live or die), but I would be a hero to the Democrats, which, come to think of it, isn't really my goal in life. Plus, such heckling gestures would only diminish the truly groundbreaking message of hope that Barack Obama is offering to the country. Ok, no Kanye ghetto blasting, or nasty caricaturing, just blogging.

Back to work on the PhD, I guess [sigh]

Meandering Middle America

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P's parents have been visiting this past week. We have traveled all over the Midwest and still have more ground to cover. Last weekend featured an architecture cruise in Chicago; a walk from North Michigan Avenue down through Millennium Park, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, and ending at the Museum Campus; lots of Chicago food and shopping; a Cubs win over the Pirates at Wrigley; and a visit to IMSI.

We took a break on Monday just making applesauce and hanging around the B-N where we introduced P's parents to fried cheese curds--a Midwest delicacy. We then went shopping in Tuscola, Illinois on Tuesday and ate a fabulous dinner at M's.



After the restful Monday-Tuesday combo, we drove down to St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon where we got a Red Robin fix and made our first ever visit to Busch Stadium to watch the Cardinals overtake Man-Ram and the Dodgers--an outstanding ballpark and an exciting game with a Grand Slam by Pujols, and home runs from Man-Ram and Ludwick. Since it was a night game we didn't get to leave St. Louis until 9:45ish and finally arrived home around 12:30. We slept in on Thursday before P and the parents headed out for Galena, IL--on the borders of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

During the Galena visit, we stopped by UW Madison (1.5 hours from Galena) and paid our dues to Iowa as well. Perhaps the highlight of this trip was watching P's mom sled down the alpine slides in Galena (yes, there is skiing in the 'Nois!). She was afraid to go too fast so she held the brakes the entire trip down the 750 slide from the top of Chestnut Mountain to the Mississippi River. Needless to say, the poor kids who got stuck behind her had completely caught up with her little sled and P and Shugs waited and waited....and waited at the bottom.



Northern Illinois (and the surrounding region) is very different from life in Normal as there are lots of rolling hills, dairies (though Shugs was very concerned about where the cows were), and rivers--no worries though, the corn and soy fields reminded us that we were indeed still in the Midwest and kept P from getting homesick for Normal.



We are now all back in the B-N and plan to attend the Illinois State Fair down in Springfield tomorrow before heading back up to Chicago for some pre-flight shopping on Monday.

Then, it's back to school....back to school....

--for more pics, check out our Picassa Page: http://picasaweb.google.com/JensenKP/ChicagoAndGalena2008

Mira Los Pepinos!

From our makeshift garden. P has the greenest thumb!

How 'bout a Fresca!?

Some things that are concerning me (K) of late:

1. Nobody knows Caddy Shack lines! The past couple of weeks, P and I have been drinking Fresca, and everytime we crack open a can, I say "how 'bout a Fresca?" hoping that someone will catch the pop culture reference. When I receive blank stares, I proceed to recite the lines "How would you like to mow my lawn? hmmmm?? hmmmmmmm???" to which I receive more blank stares. COME ON!!! This is Judge Smails (see below)!!! By the way Fresca is making a rampant comeback. If you have not had one recently, go to the store and refresh yourself. P and I have been addicted since our excursion to Mexico. They are probably right next to Tab and Diet Rite.











2. Reality television shows. Seriously, I am getting frustrated by the fact that the clear cut best performers in shows such as American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance are getting cut early or lose the finale. I told you all that David Archuleta was the best and predicted he would lose. Now, Will from So You Think You Can Dance gets cut? Makes you want to kick yourself in the teeth. Revote!

3. I saw Meryl Streep in Mama Mia earlier this week and nearly walked out of the theater. The logic (rightfully) goes: Meryl Streep is an exceptional actress and would not put herself through a bad movie performance. Apparently, that logic is faulty because the movie is awful. Whoever cast Pierce Brosnan in a singing role should be shot. The Abba songs, however, were great!

4. Our culture's sense of humor, generally. Last night P, M, and I went to the Shakespeare festival to see "Shakespeare's complete works." I was excited to go because, as many of you know, I love going to plays (generally) and seeing Shakespeare dramas (particularly). Unfortunately, this version of the Complete Works was guided by what can only be described as the Larry the Cable Guy effect; you know, hick guys with Nascar T-shirts being generally sexist, racist, classist, homophobic and stupid. I swear the phrase "Get Ur Dun" was recited at least ten times. In any event, everyone in the crowd was laughing hysterically at the -ist jokes that permeated the play and I couldn't help but feel as if was Shakespeare getting dissed and our culture was generally going down the crapper. Yes, Shakespeare told dick and fart jokes, but so much of the real humor of Shakespeare is sophisticated plays on language. This is the third comedy at this particular festival that has adopted this method. I have decided not to go back. But still I wonder, what is the fascination with this type of man (e.g. Larry the Cable guy)? I wonder if there is a correlation between the popularity of comics and the ethos of the president...in other words Larry the Cable Guy is funny because in varying degrees, he represents a version of the president. Anyway.

Back to work!

Picasa Makes it Easy

For those looking for a great way to share pictures (that is SUPER easy), try out picasa.google.com. If you have a Mac you can just select an album straight from iPhoto and the entire album goes straight to Picasa. It definitely beats having to attach photos one at a time onto a website or e-mails. I'm attaching our pictures from Marie's party. Just click the link and you can experience the fun. More to come soon!

Marie's Party.

A gift from P

Upon turning in the first chapter of my dissertation for inspection, P comes upstairs with a little bag and a giddy smile. She has been waiting all week to give me this present. See below, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

You can't make this stuff up!

As promised, here are some images from the Elmo beatdown. Did I overexagerrate the tenacity of great grandma Nord? Notice how when Breezy's mom (in the yellow t-shirt) goes after the 'mo, she strikes a diffident pose as if to say, "no way she can do better than I did!" You also have to love the picture of Max! He is seriously intense!