isn't that sweet

From an article about a Vancouver, WA real estate developer who recently passed away (Royce Pollard is the mayor of Vancouver): "Pollard said he got to know Al Angelo Sr. about five years ago, when he (Pollard) joined a group of longtime Vancouver businessmen who meet on Wednesdays, calling themselves 'The Good Old Boys.' Angelo was a key member, known among the group as 'the Mayor,' Pollard said."

Um, what year is this? Oh yes, 2007. And how many people live in Vancouver? Over 150,000. And where is it located? Right across from Portland. So why is it still run by a bunch of good old boys?

This is one of the reasons I don't care that much about Vancouver. That and the fact that I used to spend most of my waking hours in Portland.

thanks for the reminder, really

as if i didn't already worry about practically everything
Originally uploaded by kitty.pants.

It did occur to me, just before I moved down here, that I was entering "major quake" territory. After some wide eyed terror, I decided not to think about the fact that I could be buried under a pile of rubble at any moment. Once I moved here, I decided not to be a complete idiot and followed Lauren's suggestions to create an earthquake kit. I have extra water at home and in the car, and some extra food in both places too. I should do more, but whatever. Also, I didn't hang anything above my bed. Every time I have to do one of these earthquake things, I kind of have a heart attack. I mean, we had earthquake drills at OES and I remember a few earthquakes occurring at home (one this past summer at 1 in the morning). We have them every once in a while, but it's not like we have an official earthquake month (April in CA, now you know). This is just all to say that when I received this in the mail from UCLA today, I was not very happy.

yes, we know you had to go to school in 8 feet of snow

Some of you (Katie, in particular) probably recall my Dar Williams phase. This was back in the day when we could see a lot of other people's iTunes on the Wellesley network, so I didn't even have to actually own any Dar music to listen to it. And believe me, plenty of other Wellesley students had Dar on their iTunes. I liked Dar so much that one of only two concerts I ever paid to attend while in college was hers (the other, revealing the extend of my hippiness, was Girlyman, who opened for DW at her concert and who describe themselves as "delicious acoustic harmony-driven gender pop").

Anyway, I just rediscovered some of my Dar music on iTunes and was particularly amused to remember the song "Southern California Wants To Be Western New York." If there is anything I do not want to be, it is anywhere that could remotely be considered upstate New York. This is primarily because most people that I have met from upstate New York are annoying about it. Lauren has a theory that it is due to an inferiority complex about not being from NYC. Really, they constantly bring up the fact that they are from upstate New York, in upstate New York this is how they do xyz, you think this weather is bad, it's so much worse in upstate New York, blah blah. You think I am exaggerating, but I really am not. It just gets a little old after a while.

Next up: making vast generalizations about people from other Mid-Atlantic states! You'd better watch out Pennsylvania.

from the new yorker

"The in-house counsel was a Wellesley graduate, she wasn't Jewish, she wasn't from New York and Harley figured that if she saw him in his natural environment he would be, he said to his partner, in just a shit pile of trouble."

This article by Larissa MacFarquahar is not online, but it is an interesting profile of a lawyer who goes after counterfeiters. Hey, you can always go read it at the library!

better watch your back

When you're at the plant nursery, that is. Today Lauren and I took a study break to a nearby nursery because we wanted to buy some house plants. While making our purchases we witnessed a large and loud argument ensue when one woman thought another woman had cut her in line. The offended party loudly accused her of said crime, and the other woman denied that she had done so, leading to some yelling on both sides. The accused cutter asked the offended line stander if she wanted to go in front of her, but she refused, saying that she just wanted the cutter to KNOW that she was being a jerk. After some more back and forth, the offended party yelled out, "Actually, I WILL go in front of you!!!!!!" and proceeded to push her plant cart up to the poor cashier.

Only in L.A.

March 1 was a good day

First of all, it was the 20th birthday of my baby sister, so happy birthday to her! Secondly, Katie became the Nelson-Atkins Museum's newest employee! Yay Katie! Thirdly? Um, Lauren and I watched a depressing movie. Ryan Gosling was a pretty cute teacher in Half Nelson. If only he hadn't had that little coke addiction he would have been perfect. Obviously he has never watched Maria Full of Grace and seen how non-fair trade the cocaine industry is. Geez, Ryan.