Below are the 8 most recent journal entries recorded in woadboy's LiveJournal:

Monday, April 30th, 2007
11:20 am	Roma Per my teaser post of last month, I am getting married in 12 days. Amelia, my fiancee (dys-fun-ctional.blogspot.com), is a fellow graduate student that I met while at Georgetown. She's here learning latin from the head of the pope's latin office, who, despite the mental image that has just formed, is an irreverent alcoholic from Milwaukee. I don't particularly need to be here, but given the chance to hang out and "work on your dissertation" in Rome for 5 months, it's hard to come up with reasons why you shouldn't. Why are we getting married here, what with neither of us being Italian? Well, mostly because we had the excuse that Amelia's grandparents got married in the same church in 1946, and neither of them were italian either. On the other hand, I am not an oil magnate, she is not a secretary, and we didn't meet when I pinched her ass on the boatride over -- but things are different these days. You are welcome to visit, except that we'll probably be gone by the time you arrive (sorry about that). On the other hand, I just found out that I won a Fulbright Hays grant for next year, so I will be in the Netherlands and Indonesia for 11 months. I have already scoped out "Restorante Toscana" in Jakarta in case we have Italian cravings next year. (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 24th, 2007
11:14 am	Not so live journal So despite best intentions of maintaining a live journal page, I appear to be failing miserably. You can tell this because if I was any good at this, you would probably know by now that: A) I'm in Italy now (and have been since January) and B) I'm getting married here in May. There are no doubt many other things I should add to the list, but you get the picture. Incidentally, I know that I'm in Rome, because (multi-hour flight aside) I had a conversation last week with the plumber and my landlord about whether or not it was normal for your dishwasher to shock you. (Landlord = pro, self = con). Also turns out that explaining to Italian plumbers that you can take the top off of your German dishwasher is like introducing Neanderthals to fire. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 13th, 2006
11:13 am	So I should probably write a post about recent adventures -- seeing Dartmouth peeps in boston (excellent), the Massive Attack concert (literally the best seats in the house, but seriously, how can you tour without one of your lead singers), a NYC trip to see Spamalot (good, but not if you know the lines to the movie better than the actors), etc. Instead, I'm going to offer up the following snibbit that my mother sent me. From the most recent issue of Archaeology Magazine: "... archaeologists built an experimental burial cairn in Scotland. A cat left a dead rabbit on the stone mound, which would likely have been interpreted as a burial "offering" if found during an excavation. The researchers are now wondering how many ancient cat 'presents' may have crept into the archaeological record." (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
11:25 pm	Things you shouldn't have to be told: Today's examples: a) You can now buy crisco in sticks for convenient measuring while baking. Each foil stick carries the inscription, "Not intended for use as a spread." Just ewww. b) Amelia was on the phone with her mother, who was trying to find some towns in Maine. Her mother couldn't find them. Amelia asks if she had tried google maps. Her mother said, yes, she had printed out their map of maine, but the towns must be very small b/c they weren't there. pause. Amelia, "You know, you can just type in the name of the town and google will point to it for you." Mother, "Oh, I didn't try that..." Also, I'm working on my fulbright applications (Indonesia!) which means that I spend a lot of time on google. The latest treasures: I find this hypnotic. I think it should be the basis of a screensaver, kind of a 21st century version of the Mac aquarium one. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2063667852598904740&q=indian+traffic&hl=en And, some crazy kid doing martial arts stunts in southern california. The best part is that about 40 seconds in, his set changes, and he's doing crazy flips in a mall. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2868459000230563575&q=ninja&hl=en I'm sure that his mother picked him up in a minivan after he was done. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 17th, 2006
10:22 am	Memorable dinner table conversations... So friends of mine in the bay area often host a practice thanksgiving dinner before hosting their in-laws for the real deal. They know cool people. I go skiing with their law school class in Tahoe and I end up in a hot tub with a 6'4" transgendered lawyer discussing how computers have changed the law practice. I go to faux-thanksgiving and I talk to an attractive, blond, pregnant lawyer about her new book project -- a photojournalistic tour of Japanese sex clubs. And I always thought lawyers were boring. Anyway, the book is about to be published: http://www.pinkboxjapan.com/ All I can say is wow. I mean, on a given night out, how do you choose between mermaids swimming through green jell, faux nurses, teachers, stewardesses, and secretaries, naked karaoke, life-size latex dolls, or schoolgirls waiting for you to feel them up in fake subway cars? Also check out: http://www.radaronline.com/features/misc_content/060908_japan/index.php (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
12:09 pm	Who says history is boring? From today's reading selection: "One can no longer find a natural beer in the towns, but instead such a thick murky drink that one might think Satan had invented it to smother human reason and drive people deeper into sin and vice" (Germany: 1660) If I ever open a brewery, that's totally going on the label. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 5th, 2006
7:14 pm	Eastward ho! So, Knew all of history on May 19, 2006. Passed orals. Promptly forgot all of history. Packed all of my worldly possessions (less one small car's worth)into 2 storage containers. Stored containers, struck out for east coast. Actually, I didn't, I drove north to visit the extended family in Seattle, turned right, cursed being in Montana in a car that won't go above 80. Saw Glacier NP (heap much rock) and lots of Montana. And down into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower, the site of Custer's last stand, and stayed in scenic Gillette which shares a phone book with a city 136 miles away. Then on to the eye gouging boredom of South Dakota (+ Mt Rushmore which is better as a postcard, the Badlands which are awesome, and watching lightning start a wild fire at the side of the road which was, well, bizarre). Aside: Berkeley has awesome coffee (home of Pete's!). Portand,OR has good coffee. Seattle has good coffee. All of these cities are inhabited by girly men (exhibit: self). The worst coffee in the country is in Sioux Falls, SD which looks like weak tea, with equally appalling brews available throughout Montana and Wyoming and all the areas where giant pickups cowboy boots are the norm. Why is it that america's manly cowboys drink such pitifully wimpy coffee? Discuss. Escaped land of awful coffee -- visited sister (and her new cat in Minneapolis) where she restored us to health with coffee, import beer, and vegetables. Visited friends in Chicago and Ann Arbor. Sniffed appreciatively at Toronto, saw the relatives and rock star med students in Albany, and then, 4692 miles later, and came to roost on Quincy MA. Executive summary: America=big. Red state coffee=bad. Me=within driving distance of Hanover and all you New England peeps. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 7th, 2006
8:03 pm	Good things I have a webpage. I apparently have an opium poppy growing in my back yard. I didn't put it there, but then again, I didn't not put it there. I have an orals date! I will know all of history by May 19th... (2 Comments |Comment on this)