all that's changed

Sometimes you think Jewish mothers are a stereotype, which of course they are, but my roommate's mom is visiting for the high holidays and hooboy. So far she's offered me a fresh corned beef sandwich -- she flew in from Boston but knows the best Jewish deli in SF *and* has already been there and back by 11 a.m. She went out for coffee this morning and got the name and number of the 38-yr old guy sitting next to her. You know, in case Marci or I were interested. And I just overheard her on the phone telling someone about how the ice in the bag of fish she brought in her purse on the plane leaked.

My mom did once smuggle fancy geranium seeds in her bra on the plane back from Germany.

Philip Roth's mom had it right -- when asked about her feelings re. the depiction of a Jewish mother on "Portnoy's Complaint," she responded "all mothers are Jewish mothers."

Posted by em at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

This dirty secret about chemistry lab is: They. Never. Work. And chemistry teachers are of two ilk: 1) Make It Work (a la Tim Gunn) and 2) Good Enough. Fortunately, my current (and favorite) chemistry teacher is of the Good Enough variety.

We were doing a fairly simple specific heat calculation today, and we just couldn't get the bloody mixture to achieve the maximum temperature change. All you do is mix two things together at varying volumes and record the temperatures, and figure out where the max. is. Then you calculate a bunch of other crap based on that. It's an exercise in precision and stoichiometry, which is the chemistry word for "maths." We were supposed to get about a 7 degree change, and only got to five, which is kind of a big difference.

The trick of it is to have a reason why it didn't work. I came up with heat loss through the top of the container, the insulation on the container maybe being not quite up to snuff, and of course, the old standby -- this thermometer isn't very precise.

Actually, the scary thing is when things DO work perfectly. Teachers never buy flawless data. I've been asked to redo labs because of suspiciously clean data more often than if I totally bungled the thing. The graph we came up with last week was a thing of beauty, not one outlier. But I knew enough to jimmy one data point over a bit so the ol' line-of-best-fit wouldn't be so perfect. I guess teachers just expect us to be morons. Which, let's face it, we are.

Posted by em at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

good gracious have I ever got lazy about blogging. It's my new apartment. I can't find a work/write/study groove there. Just very comfortable sleep. I think if I repainted the kitchen it would help, but that's so ambitious. Or maybe if I got a comfy work chair. Or new speakers. I dunno. Not feeling it.

What I'm *always* feeling, is Tiny Mix Tapes. People write in with themes/ideas for mix tapes and other people come up with 'em, utilizing rock and roll in its most general sense. Three examples:

Ok seriously, Steve Irwin had it coming to him.

Requested by: jessica lynn
Compiled by: Stev

Crikey: The Rise and Fall of Steve Irwin
01. Guided By Voices - "Learning to Hunt" (The Best of Guided By Voices - Human Amusements at Hourly Rates)
02. Pearl Jam - "Animal" (Vs.)
03. Duran Duran - "Hungry Like the Wolf" (Rio)
04. Echo & The Bunnymen - "Crocodiles" (Crocodiles)
05. Suede - "Animal Nitrate" (Nude)
06. The Tragically Hip - "Daredevil" (Day For Night)
07. The Coral - "Careless Hands" (Magic & Medicine)
08. The White Stripes - "The Big Three Killed My Baby" (The White Stripes)
09. Mogwai - "Hunted By a Freak" (Happy Songs For Happy People)
10. Gary Miller - "Theme From Stingray" (Various)
11. Burning Brides - "Stabbed in the Back of the Heart" (Fall of the Plastic Empire)
12. Radiohead - "Just" (The Bends)


songs where the singer's ridiculous accent sticks out like a sore thumb.

Requested by: Kay
Compiled by: Noa

01. The Clash - "Guns of Brixton" (The Clash)
02. Art Brut - "Formed A Band" (Bang Bang Rock & Roll
03. Wire - "1 2 X U" (Pink Flag)
04. The Smiths - "Cemetary Gates" (The Queen is Dead)
05. Pixies - "Vamos" (Surfer Rosa)
06. Oasis - "All Around The World" (Be Here Now)
07. Blue - "Parklife" (Parklife)
08. Prodigy - "Firestarter" (Fat Of The Land)
09. M.I.A - "Galang" (Arular)
10. Mu - "Paris Hilton" (We Love Guys Named Luke)
11. Lady Sovereign - "Cha-Ching" (Vertically Challenged)
12. Sisters of Mercy - "Logic" (First and Last and Always)
13. The Streets - "Don't Mug Yourself" (Original Pirate Material)


An indie rock workout mix that will make me feel the burn in ways Richard Simmons would envy.

requested by: Steve
compiled by: mango mango


01. The Sounds - "Song With A Mission" (Dying To Say This To You)
02. Human Beinz - "Nobody But Me" (Kill Bill Vol. 1)
03. Art Brut - "Formed A Band" (Bang Bang Rock And Roll)
04. The New Pornographers - "Use It" (Twin Cinema)
05. Wolfmother - "Woman" (Wolfmother)
06. The Von Bondies - "C'mon C'mon" (Pawn Shoppe Heart)
07. Le Tigre - "Deceptacon" (Le Tigre)
08. Louis XIV - "Paper Doll" (The Best Little Secrets Are Kept)
09. Cribs - "Hey Scenesters!" (The New Fellas)
10. Pixies - "Bone Machine" (Surfer Rosa)
11. The Strokes - "Juicebox" (First Impressions of Earth)
12. Franz Ferdinand - "You Could Have It So Much Better" (You Could Have It So Much Better...With Franz Ferdinand)

Posted by em at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

But without fail, every time I see this photo swiped from goldenfiddle, I crack up. When's the movie coming out? I want to talk my parents into seeing it cold.

My dad will like him so much, he'll probably end up donating to the Borat Culture and Education Fund or some shit.

Posted by em at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

I've been in a chemistry haze - and not the fun kind. I decided at the last second to sign up for general chem II, in case I don't get into my 1st choice grad program and need to apply somewhere else. So with that plus biochem, I'm back on the sugar-and-caffeine speedballs.

Oh, and cable. I have cable again for the 1st time in 3 years. Nothing exciting, just basic cable (why, oh why isn't the BBC on basic cable?) but I'm in the midst of that honeymoon period. So far I love Project Runway and Ten Years Younger, and the American hosts of What Not to Wear are still super grating compared to Trinny and Susannah, but somehow I've softened up on them.

Two things from the idiot box to blog about this week:

First, Miami Ink. This young mom came into the tattoo shop to get a memorial tattoo of her two year old son who had died. It was the sentimental segment of the show, aligned as it was between idiot girls who want the bottom of their big toes tattooed and a totally rad Japanese tiger some dude was getting. Anyway, the schmaltzy music, the angel tattoo for the dead toddler...I'm feelin' it, I'm tearing up, and then, she mentions that the kid died of whooping cough.

Whooping cough. In other words, Bordatella pertussis. *Almost* 100% preventable -- if you had your kid vaccinated.

I will say, dying at 2, he's on the young side and so more vulnerable, even if he'd recieved his initial course of vaccines on time. But he still should have had 3-4 dip-tet vaccines by then. Then you get a whole bunch of boosters when you hit preschool/kindergarten/1st grade or so.

So yeah, it's important not only to get your kids vaccinated, but also don't delay about it. Herd Immunity is not what it was, with these misguided people not vaccinating their poor kids. (Just so we're clear -- these non-vaccinators are relying on those of us who DO vaccinate to keep their kids healthy, while at the same time upping the odds of a massive epidemic AND making the bugs much, much stronger. Thanks, dickheads!)

Second, AT&T ad. At least I think it was AT&T. The shot was of a couple in bed at night, dead asleep. The phone rings, the guy answers it. He says something to whoever's on the phone, to the effect of "hello?...oh my god...oh no...are you sure it's him?" totally gravely. His wife is in the background asking, "what's happened, what's wrong?" The guy doesn't answer her, but jumps out of bed and runs to the computer to see...that some football player has been injured and is out for Sunday.

Way to play on everyone's absolute worst fears. I saw this last night, mind you, the same night all the 9/11 memorials are running on TV. If I heard that half of a phone conversation in the middle of the night, my adrenaline would be so jacked I couldn't sleep or would have plane/car crash nightmares. And I'd probably throw a fit at my insensitive cad of a husband.

And on that note, I think we can safely call the cable honeymoon officially over. It's back to the digital tit for me!

Posted by em at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/3261/

Posted by em at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

Ryan and I celebrated the start of school this week with many, many vodkas at The Page. It's a little bit out of my neighborhood, but may be my neighborhood bar. Place Pigalle is closer, but still only serving beer and wine wtf? There's Lower Haight, which I consider fine and well for the move to that 2nd or 3rd bar, but can't start out there. The drinks were generous and the bar lighting excellent at The Page, and jeans were not being worn tight. We ended the night at Molotov, where jeans were unbelievably tight. People are going to avoid this trend, especially men with no asses, but they'll be wrong so to do: these things give you a shape.

Mauri & I celebrated my resultant hangover with 3 hours of shoe shopping (and tight jean shopping) in Union Square. She was a little recalcitrant on account of a headache and having to put together outfits for a wedding in Idaho or some damn place, but the spirit of the venture remained patient and supportive. We didn't find anything at Macy's, FCUK or DSW and frankly, I was starting to sweat it and then boom! Mauri scores a pair of gold vintage strappy sandals for two.freaking.dollars at Urban. A girl can live on that triumph for weeks.

Speaking of the start of school, didn't I sign up for online biochemistry? Didn't I pay $900? Oughtn't I be starting to read some stuff?

Posted by em at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments