civil war?

Yesterday NBC made the fairly inevitable decision to begin calling the Iraq situation an official Civil War. Frankly I'm not sure how it has taken this long for someone to make this call. President Bush has remained firm that it's not a civil war, however common sense definitions indicate that it's fairly obvious that the situation collapsed into civil war several thousand deaths ago.

Here's what Wikipedia says:

"A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. Political scientists use two criteria: the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second criteria is that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side."

Fairly obvious?

Tony Snow seemed to think it was fairly obvious that it can't be called a civil war when he spoke to the press yesterday. According to him, a civil war is "where people break up into clearly identifiable feuding sides clashing for supremacy in a land." Thanks for clearing that up Tony...obviously you and the President have it right...that's not what's happening in Iraq...

The issue is obviously a lot more complicated. How do you calculate the impact of America's involvement in the situation? I can't help but feel that our sloppy war tactics forced these people into a certain degree of desperation that could lead to a huge increase in violent outcry. I also get a little panicky thinking that there's nowhere to go from here except chaos and although I would love for our troops to come home, how horrible would it be for us to drive them into war with each other and then back out. Let's ask Somalia how that worked out.

I guess in the end all of this "civil war" mumbo jumbo doesn't really make much of a difference. We can continue calling it "sectarian violence" for as long as we like and in the end it's just semantics. People are still killing each other. We are still failing to bring peace. It's still really sad. I wonder how much peace we could bring if we redirected the millions of dollars being spent every day on this war away from military spending and put more of it toward meeting the real needs of the Iraqi's. Millions of dollars. Every day. $6 Billion every month. Do you know how many goats you could buy for World Vision with that money?! LOTS!

World AIDS Day

December 1st (Friday) is World AIDS Day. Awareness is a really powerful tool that we have in the fight against this pandemic and World AIDS Day is a good excuse to brush up on your knowledge of the disease and what you can do to help out. World Vision put together a list of 12 things you can do (action steps!) to join the fight.

Number one on the list is a quiz to test your knowledge of the disease.
I got 9 right. Now it's your turn!

I'd really encourage you to check out the list and see what you can do. Most of the options don't require money or even a lot of time, just a little awareness. They also have a lot of holiday gift ideas that will have a real long term impact on people and families all over the world. I mean seriously, why would you not give someone a goat on behalf of your brother who is impossible to shop for?!

dticd

Remember a while ago when I got to go to Iowa City and hang out with Cate for DTICD (Downtown Iowa City Day)? Here are the pictures. Yes, there are only 3.

We checked out the bead store and I got this one. It's clear but from the sides you can see that the edges are green. It's pretty neat. I think I'm just going to hang it from clear jewelery wire but I haven't gotten any yet.

We wandered around downtown and checked out the cool stores, stopped by Starbucks to get my markout for Cate (she chose a box of Wild Sweet Orange Tea) then headed to Old Chicago. We got the usual (pepperoni rolls and chicken alfredo pizza) then went to Stranger Than Fiction.

Cate calculating the tip

Getting caught taking her picture

captain random

i thought i should dump a couple pictures i found on my camera before posting anything for real. here you go:

this is why my room got a little update- holes in my sheets
it was really sad because they were really great sheets
chocolate covered potato chips that luke and i tried out
they weren't bad. the salty/sweet thing was definitely going on.
the kids next door made a snowman when we got some snow a couple weeks ago. it was the first snow so there were leaves all over him. he was melted the next day and there was just a wet scarf in the yard. it was sad...but really cute.
ok i think that's all of the random ones.
peace out.

hi there.

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. Life has been pretty full these past couple weeks. I got to go to Chicagoland for a few days right before Thanksgiving which was really really good. I didn't take enough pictures (what was i thinking?!) but I'll post the ones I have as soon as I get my camera out of the abyss of my car. I had to work on Thanksgiving. I was supposed to open and then be done around noon, in plenty of time to have Thanksgiving with my family but instead I covered for someone who was scheduled wrong so I totally missed family time. I know I'll get to see everyone at Christmas time but it was a little weird to completely pass over Thanksgiving. When I got home everyone was gone and my parents were napping so I microwaved some sweet potatoes and pouted...but only for a few minutes because i had to go to bed immediately to be at work by 4am for "early morning shoppers" of which there were approximately 5. Ok enough with the pity party, I love my job and was happy to help out when needed and I'm glad I got to eat sweet potatoes. Oh and the funny story of the year is that my cousin walked into the wrong house on Thanksgiving. He looked around, didn't recognize anyone, got confused, turned around and left. Pretty funny.

Now between work shifts I'm filling out paperwork, getting a new birth certificate and a replacement social security card, filling out immigration forms and sending packages to Kate with last minute "America" stuff before I won't be able to anymore. I'm really thankful to be living at home during all of this because the little things that could potentially stress me out (or at least just annoy me) are just taken care of. When my printer is out of ink I can just run to the basement for a new one, there are always stamps and envelopes, sometimes my laundry is even finished for me and waiting by the stairs when I abandoned it in the dryer after grabbing clean work pants and running out the door (after I put them on). Pretty nice.

Ok that's all for this sad excuse for a blog. I'll make it up to you, I promise.

an open letter to eli l. steenlage

that's all.

i've gone global

uh, hello?! did anyone notice that FINALLY someone in AFRICA, land of my HEART has read my blog?! woohoo!! I think it might have been Kate (that dot is totally in Mozambique) but still! Now someone on every continent has been to my blog. I'm so famous it's not even funny.


PS who are all these other dots? I definitely don't know all of those west coast dots...or the east coast ones for that matter. well anyway, welcome dots. er, bienvenue...les...dots...or something.

spending money like a champ

so...i've been buying stuff. and feeling guilty about it. it's been a long long time since i've had a regular paycheck and now that i have an income i'm becoming more liberal with my spending. that's what we'll call it. liberal spending. to my defense, i'm still a total tightwad. i haven't bought anything without some sort of discount or intense online research so in my head that gives me permission to shell out for some cool stuff. i still really hate accumulating things and it's hard for me to justify spending money and raising support at the same time so it's about time to put a lid on it. but really most of the things i bought are things that are long overdue for replacement (flip flop season is over, i've been using the same wallet since i stole it from mary-claire in high school, etc.). so there's my justification. thank you for playing along, now look how cool:

cute, right? eight bucks and in my size. come on!

the queen bee bag i've been dreaming of for YEARS

finally an fm transmitter/charger that works and isn't designed by an idiot!

that's pretty much it. there may have been some stationery (only a little!) and a book or two (just the ones that the library doesn't have!) and some new sheets (the old ones had holes...come on) and a matching pillow (so i'm a sucker for stripes) but that's pretty much it. seriously.

spitting cobra

this is what kate found in the bathroom in the middle of the night.

i'm almost done

i try not to be too political on this blog because about 80% of the people in my life disagree with my politics and most of the rest just don't care. i just needed to share some funny election-related internet stuff just in case you have a sense of humor about the situation. i'm not even going to talk about how the president told the press corps today that he lies to them to make them shut up. at least this year no one at my job said "burn her at the stake" when i told them how i voted.




ps- as i'm writing this, stephen colbert and john hall are harmonizing the national anthem like nobody's business. you should be looking it up on youtube.

good news i couldn't even have voted for

Peace out Donald.

no news links yet (except ones that say Rumsfeld shows no indication of stepping down) to show you because the press conference just started. now i have to leave and go to work with an extra spring in my step.

seriously. go. right now.

would i have made that picture this big if i wasn't serious about this?

this is a problem

this isn't even a liberal rant, this is just sad.

Army Recruiters Accused of Misleading Students to Get Them to Enlist

Nov. 3, 2006 — An ABC News undercover investigation showed Army recruiters telling students that the war in Iraq was over, in an effort to get them to enlist.

ABC News and New York affiliate WABC equipped students with hidden video cameras before they visited 10 Army recruitment offices in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

"Nobody is going over to Iraq anymore?" one student asks a recruiter.

"No, we're bringing people back," he replies.

"We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says.

Last year, the Army suspended recruiting nationwide to retrain recruiters following hundreds of allegations of improprieties.

One Colorado student taped a recruiting session posing as a drug-addicted dropout.

"You mean I'm not going to get in trouble?" the student asked.

The recruiters told him no, and helped him cheat to sign up.

During the ABC News sessions, some recruiters told our students if they enlisted, there would be little chance they'd to go Iraq.

But Col. Robert Manning, who is in charge of U.S. Army recruiting for the entire Northeast, said that new recruits were likely to go to Iraq.

"I would not disagree with that," Manning said. "We are a nation and Army at war still."

Manning looked at the ABC News video of his recruiters.

"It's hard to believe some of things they are telling prospective applicants," Manning said. "I still believe that this is the exception more than the norm. … I've visited many stations myself, and I know that we have many wonderful Americans serving in uniform as recruiters."

Yet ABC News found one recruiter who even claimed if you didn't like the Army, you could just quit.

"It's called a 'Failure to Adapt' discharge," the recruiter said. "It's an entry-level discharge so it won't affect anything on your record. It'll just be like it never happened."

Manning, however, disagrees with the ease the recruiter describes.

"I would believe it's not as easy as he would lead you to believe it is," he said.

Sue Niederer, whose son, Seth, joined the Army in 2002, said she was all too familiar with recruiters' lies.

"They need to do anything they possibly can to get recruits," Niederer said.

Seth was sent to Iraq and was killed by a roadside bomb.

Niederer said she was not surprised by what ABC News had found. She believes it's still a widespread problem. She said that recruiters told Seth he wouldn't be put into combat.

"Ninety percent [are] going to be putting their lives on the line for our country," she said. "Tell them the truth. That's all. Just tell them the truth."

Link

i'd really like more symmetry

This is what my blog looks like as a graph. I won't pretend to have any idea what it all means but it was pretty cool watching it create itself. I bet Chris Zinkula knows what it means. Click here to get one of your own or try out some other sites. So far the coolest I've seen is for BoingBoing.net. Try it out!

now if i just had blogger beta....

a few months ago my computer freaked out while i was doing some template stuff on this blog and it deleted all of my links. it was a horrific day because just a couple weeks before that i accidentally deleted all of my saved bookmarks as well. i remembered a lot of it but there are still a lot of cool things that i bookmarked that i will probably never find again. all in all it was a good lesson because i never would have admitted or really even realized how addicted i am to the internet and collecting cool internet stuff until it was all gone.

then, joy of joys, while i was cleaning up the basement before main event i came across a piece of paper with my handwriting all over it. turns out it was the scrap of paper i scribbled a ton of links on the first time i decided to put them all up on my blog so LUCKY YOU my links section is back up and running. the paper also had a bunch of other stuff on it, like Ben's(?) phone number and several to-do lists. i deciphered that the paper must have been right before new year's last year because there's a bunch of "before chicago" type stuff on it, like "look up train schedules" (which i never actually do), "look up good ethnic food" (which is dumb because the best places are the ones that won't be on the internet), "borrow socks" (your guess is as good as mine).

another quirk i have (a tangent to the list-making tendency) is that the night before a busy day i often make a detailed list of what to do in the morning. i think that in my head it makes sense to organize how to be as efficient as possible down to an excruciating level of detail. for instance part of this list is "wake up, shower, breakfast, dry hair, brush teeth" and it's in that order so that my hair starts drying while i eat and i wait to brush my teeth until after i dry my hair because it's annoying to brush my teeth immediately after i eat because of the residual cereal gunk in my teeth that will just end up in my toothbrush if i don't wait a few minutes. i don't know why i can't just have a routine without having a thought out reason and written order to how things are done. you don't even want to know what that list looks like if my car needs to be cleaned out or if there's laundry to be done. there are usually several drafts.

wow, i'm crazy.

sorry, i just can't help it

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30am

2. Diamonds or Pearls? diamonds. although not if it's a conflict diamond
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Marie Antoinette
4. What is your favorite TV show? Globe Trekker, The Office, anything on the Travel Channel, Arrested Development
5. What did you have for breakfast? a granola bar and lots of coffee
6. What is your middle name? Jo
7. What is your favorite Cuisine? anything ethnic, Thai, Japanese, Mexican
8. What foods do you dislike? lots of meat, pizza hut, processed foods
9. What is your favorite potato chip? i don't really like potato chips. but i do like sun chips
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? the new Decemberists and my mixtape from Yudai
11. What kind of car do you drive? 2003 Oldsmobile Alero

12. Favorite Sandwich? anything you can make into a panini, with pesto and lots of vegetables
13. What characteristics do you despise? selfishness, arrogance, ignorance
14. What are your favorite clothes? pajama pants or skirts
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Mozambique to see Kate, or Japan, or Arizona/California. Basically the far away places where my friends live.
16. What color are your eyes? Hazel
17. Favorite brand of clothing? anything basic like Banana Republic or Gap, although I only wear free T-shirts, pajama pants and work clothes
18. Where would you want to retire? Africa...or maybe Colorado
19. Favorite time of day? morning usually
20. Where were you born? Waterloo, Iowa
21. What is your favorite sport to watch? Swimming or Baseball
22. Who do you think will not send this back? probably you
23. Person you expect to send it back first? blah blah blah
24. Pepsi or Coke? Pepsi
25. Cats or Dogs? both, but probably dogs
26. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Usually a night owl, but usually accidentally.
27. Pedicure or manicure? I've had a pedicure once. It was okay.
28. Do you prefer funny or mushy cards? I prefer blank ones that are pretty
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? umm...no
30. What did you want to be when you were little? a marine biologist
31. What do you have in your trunk right now? (it's funny if you accidentally read the previous answer in response to this question) an african mat, some yarn, a can of red spray paint and some sparklers
32. What is your best childhood memory? riding bikes to buy gum, anything at my dad's house or with my brothers
33. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Hy-Vee, Burge, day care, Hollywood Video, Hallmark, the dealership, Naomi's Kitchen, Starbucks, lots and lots and lots of babysitting
34. Favorite Holiday? Flag Day
35. What is your favorite dessert? chocolate cake, or anything warm with ice cream on top, like peach cobbler or a brownie
36. Favorite Summer getaway? Minnesota or Lake Michigan
37. Ever been to Africa? Yes!
38. Glasses or Contacts? Glasses, but only because I ran out of contacts. I hate them.
39. Ever been toilet papering? of course
40. Been in a car accident? a couple
41. Favorite day of the week? thursday or friday
42. Favorite restaurant? here it's Rudy's, in Iowa City it's Baldy's
43. Favorite flower? I have really liked hydrangeas this year
44. Favorite movies? Royal Tenenbaums right now
45. Favorite Pastime? um, email surveys, duh
46. Favorite ice cream? Phish Food, or mint chip
47. Favorite fast food restaurant? ick. Subway?
48. How many times did you fail your drivers test? none!
49. From whom did you get your last email? Sojourners
50. Sandals or tennis shoes? sandals
51. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? any book or cd store
52. If the speed limit is 60 what is the fastest you will drive? 68
53. Bedtime? I can't seem to fall asleep before midnight
54. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? you
55. Last person you went to dinner with? i just had lunch with my stepmom and sister in law. dinner was the work meeting last night at brown bottle

56. What are you listening to right now? whatever Pandora is playing...right now it's Iron & Wine
57. What is your favorite color? blue. and brown lately
58. How may tattoos do you have? one
59. How many people are you sending this Email to? I'll probably just blog it.
60. What time did you finish this email? 10:50pm

homesick

Sometimes I just want to go home. I just want to be done and go to heaven. I feel selfish (and extremely un-spiritual) for feeling this way. I know that it's mostly the cold and gloomy weather and the fact that life seems to be taking longer but going by more quickly. I know that the chemicals in my brain have a hard time figuring out that I am a person who is blessed and provided for and that I should be happy and joyful and easily entertained. Things just seem hard sometimes and I feel especially like I'm in a place far away from the place I was made for. Nothing in particular. Nothing that can be fixed. Nothing that will go away any time soon.

On an entirely different note (and another reason that I shouldn't be so whiny) - I had a really fun work day today. I've gotten to know some coworkers and working is more fun now because I feel more comfortable and can carry on easy conversations with the people I'm there with. I'm officially a certified Barista as of today, we got out the stuff for the Christmas drinks (red sprinkles! yay!), and I was voted "Partner of the Month" even though I've barely even been there for a month. Oh and I had a fun talk with a customer about music and ran out to my car to get the Decemberists CD for him to listen to. Turns out he was having a one on one with someone ("someone" being the funny guy at Main Event- who walked in during the Decemberists conversation and marched...yes, marched around singing 16 Military Wives) and they sat in the store reading the Bible and praying together (a sweet thing to see at work).

See? I'm blessed. I've also come to an important realization lately that is significant if you know me really well. I have this...we'll call it a quirk...where I need everyone to like me. I really like being the favorite. I don't really like a lot of attention and it's not that I think I'm great, I just want you to like me. I don't know why. It's a weird sinful tendency. Well getting a new job and therefore meeting lots of different people all at the same time has made me realize that sometimes I have to sacrifice being liked by everyone in order to be true to who I am. A couple of challenging situations have come up that have brought to my attention that my difficulty in saying "no" to people has caused me to sacrifice my integrity and my personality. It's nothing huge- just realizing that it's okay to choose which topics of conversation or social outings to be a part of even if it means people think I'm a snob. If you're thinking to yourself, "Shouldn't she have learned this lesson in 6th grade?" the answer is Yes. I would go into more detail if my little brother didn't read this.