blog alice - from friends

Here's something new for CNN...

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:44:50 -0400

Scientists pinpoint quake-prone region in Mississippi Valley Wed Jun 22, 3:12 PM ET PARIS (AFP) -

Scientists believe they have lifted the veil on an earthquake-prone region in the southern United States that lies more than 2,000 kilometres (1,650 miles) from the nearest boundary in the Earth's plates, the major source of quakes. The zone lies around New Madrid, a town in eastern Missouri that lies on Mississippi River.
A monster quake, since estimated to measure 7.4-8.0 on the Richter scale, ripped across the town on December 16, 1811, causing surface waves across the ground locally and inflicting damage as far as Washington. Aftershocks continued there for much of the following year, and there were major quakes in 1843 and 1895 measuring 6.3 and 6.7 respectively, making it the most seismic region in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. But these events happened when the region was sparsely populated -- New Madrid had a population of just 400, all of whom were reportedly killed.
Today, the region is home to millions of people, which thus makes it vital to try to estimate when the next big quake could hit. ...
KEN'S COMMENT BEGINS HERE: Anyways.... this is my two cents on the whole deal. It took these guys that long to figure this out???? Shit, the lower Mississippi Valley, from St Louis southward, lies over a large rift basin from this half billion years ago. There are a shitload of earthquakes in this area---just too weak or too deep to cause a ruckus, for the most part. I learned this as an undergrad. And this is something I don't say often---thank you, U of R! And by the way, can anybody tell me how to fix this posting shit? Pasting all this stuff together makes it look like I'm the idiot-savant version of Faulkner! (More idiot though)

Someone loan me $150 million

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:43:03 -0400

Well, I found out my beloved Blues are up on the block. And the "Mighty" Ducks of Anaheim have just been approved for sale. Considering the state of affairs in the NHL, both of these, as well as several other franchises, will happen at a deep discount. Even though I'd probably lose my shirt in the deal, isn't that anybody's dream? To own their favorite sports team? I'd run the team differently---old-time hockey---not like the pansy-ass rock stars as they are currently treated around the league. I have plenty of beefs with the way the league is run, both economically and the way the game in currently played, and how rules are, or not, enforced. But that would take up WAY too much time & space at this point. F Gary Bettman, and while I'm at it, F Bob Goodenow and the NHLPA.

Bad movies gone good...

Sat, 28 May 2005 00:55:13 -0400

Some of the strange stuff you'll find out, when watching those bad movies.... Flipping stations, after the Sox loss (yet again)... ran upon "Exorcist II: The Heretic." Came to some scene, where the fearless heroine, played by Linda Blair is speaking to this wallflower-type of girl. This girl's saying, "You don't see me. You don't hear me." Linda begs to differ. I almost tipped over when I recognized this girl... Dana Plato! I don't know, I just have some sort of infatuation with famous (or infamous!) actors/actresses, and the bad movies they were in, either to start a career or a feeble attempt to resurrect a fading one. Like Marisa Tomei in "Toxic Avenger" (still, the BEST bad movie ever!). Or, any Kevin Costner movie after "The Untouchables"... well that wasn't his, he was just in it. Any movie with Sting in it. The re-edited "Satisfaction," which NBC decided to alter to enhance the drummer, played by Julia Roberts, post-"Pretty Woman." Bad movies rock.

On a lighter note....

Fri, 20 May 2005 01:28:09 -0400

Interesting evening... Sat out in the backyard with the dog & cats, watching the impending monster of a thunderstorm roll into town. Reminded me of when I was a kid, spending a summer afternoon, watching the storms roll in across the lake, then sprinting home, trying to beat the rain & the worst of the storm... Then turned on the TV for a minute, but then spent an hour watching "When Jerry Springer Ruled the World" on VH1. I spent a good time watching it, laughing, at all the crazy shit that used to happen on that show, During my college days, that show, and "Cops," was the must watch shows in our group. Eventually, we came up with a drinking game based on "Cops," with shots (obviously apropos) for: drunk drivers, bloodletting, domestic calls, or stupid criminals---with a double shot if they happened in the front yard, or south of the Mason-Dixon line. And Jerry---cheating, fighting, incest, midgets, Neo-Nazis---I used to wish I could road trip to Chicago and get in the audience, and witness a pier 6 brawl between a cross-dressing Jewish black man and his skinhead circus midget paramour. Yeah---bad television, but when you bust your ass over 16 hour days, all-nighters, lab work and field trips, it was good to just pull up a TV at 4am and watch Jerry, or "Cops" on a Friday and/or Saturday night before hitting the frats/bars and getting lit. It made us, no matter how shitty our day,week,month, or semester was, that we at least, were not the people on either show... Mmmm-mmm-mmm.... big fun.

Well, she made it...

Sun, 15 May 2005 14:39:13 -0400

Just giving an update to Alice's whereabouts:

Alice climbed out of the flying aluminum hot dog brought to us by the letters A (for Airbus) and D (for Delta Airlines) about 4am our time this morning after a long harrowing 18 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. I talked to her again smomewhere around 7am, when I was a little more coherent, and basically, she was exhausted from the flight, recovering from the claustrophobic effects, and noted how impoverished the area truly is. I guess you have money there if your last name is DeBeers. I won't go into depth on her trip so far---I'll let her take care of that, as she only can---she'll be trying to post while she's there. Just take care of yourself; I'll be talking to you soon.

Where does our imagination go when we're grownups (and have not necessarily grown up)?

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:51:16 -0400

Alice and I were discussing one of her old novels that she plucked out and re-read for the first time in a long while, and how her own plethora of responsibilities has kept her from writing again. I think that our imaginations are the only parts of our mental nature that stick with us all of our lives. When we're young, it's very active, very vibrant...then life starts to crash in, and our brains get filled up with factual knowledge, emotions, etc. It doesn't leave much room in our heads for our imaginations anymore. That's not to say that we can't still daydream and fantasize, but perhaps there's more complexity to it. Yet it comes around again, when we get very, very old...our memories may start to slip away from us...names, faces, events...but we're left with that whimsical imagination, often hidden under a mask of senility.

The corns they are a-poppin'

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 16:00:37 -0400

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050421082509990013&_ccc=5&cid=842

The mystery of unpopped popcorn has been solved. And on your very own campus! Go figure!

Purdue's educational standards

Tue, 05 Apr 2005 17:54:40 -0400

I was checking out US News & World report (which is still being sent to my house, at no charge to me), and I saw that Purdue is ranked on the list of top graduate schools for education. They even have a full page ad in the magazine, which is surprising, since they're tied at #49 with Lehigh of all places. What does that tell you?

Anagram (for Mongo)

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:08:50 -0500

www.iceglobal.com ---I don't know what the heck they do (I can't decipher the language). But hey, it's got beer, so it can't be half bad!

I'm blogging

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 00:55:15 -0500

I blog it to the East

I blog it to the West

I blog it to the girl that I love best!

I'm blogging!

In all seriousness, this is a novel idea for me... A blog... It can be hard enough for me to express how I feel in words to friends, and now to strangers? That I have no idea who they are, much less, what they think of me? I guess it can be therapeutic in a way, a place to vent, without someone already pre-judging me since they have no idea who I am... Also, it beats the other alternative, which is sitting at a bar every evening, bitching how much life sucks to friends or random people over beer and cigarettes. Been there, done that.... It's not fun, and even though you may be surrounded by ears, you still feel lonely, and you are drunk, stinking of smokes, and pissed off. One thing I fear about all this technology these days is that it (technology, the rest of the world) has passed me by. Shit, I didn't own a cell phone until I moved out here! I always enjoyed when I was in New York, I could get away from it all, since I didn't have a direct line of contact 24/7/365. But there are many reasons for that (such as unhappiness with my work situation---not that I was doing poorly, but frustrated by people put into management positions, with NO management experience, much less the education or common sense to properly manage a business unit!), some that I can explain, some I can't---they just happen

. I never had any reason then to try and connect outside of my circle of friends---I just didn't care... I was eating, drinking, smoking, out of shape, spending too much time and money at the bar. I was in an awful, awful rut by the time I had left Upstate NY. Some of my closest friends from college didn't even know that I was in such dire straits, since I had this happy-go-lucky, damn the torpedoes attitude---always looking for the next diversion. I never mentioned it to them until we were down in the Outer Banks, on the eve of my move to Allentown. They asked why, and all I knew was that I needed to shake up my life... I had spent too much time waiting for some sort of divine intervention that never was going to happen... as one of my favorite bands had sung long ago, "time hustles those who wait to die." I made a lot of changes in the short time i was in PA... I learned alot about who I was, and could be (even though I still have a ways to go in this aspect). I made changes, decided to quit the unhealthy things in my life, and get back to living. The biggest, and most important, change I've done in my life is to finally let someone in---that being Alice. I had so many scars from previous relationships, that I had become comfortable about not letting anybody close...until now. She's a wonderful girl, someone that has always put this smile on my face. I sit and wonder how I could have found someone like her... that we had spent a year and a half, no more than several city blocks apart, but never meeting before, until that fateful night, after many long online conversations, when the stars (no pun intended) aligned, and we spent the night watching "Monster" at the theater, and a couple beers after. Sometimes I wonder why she agreed to a hockey game, after listening to my past over those beers... I must have sounded like some freak... But without keeping all of you in suspense (or boredom) over this, I'll just wrap up... This past year has been the best of my life, and I have to thank her for letting me in as well---I'm hoping that this next year will be even better, especially if I get into grad school!!!! See y'all later on the flip side...

New Beginnings

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 00:52:22 -0500

The last of the letters had been written. She had finally finished leaving her notes for everyone. Her mother, her brothers, her father, the pastor...they would all receive one. Why had she done it? Why bother to tell them anything, after they had all doubted her? When Tessa told each of them that the professor had offered to take her along to the latest colony, they all said she was crazy to accept. Why would she want to risk her life needlessly by flying around in space, searching for God knows what? Tessa tried to explain why the research meant so much to her, and why she felt this amazing need pulling her, but they couldn't accept it. Her mother had been the worst. She accused Tessa of abandoning her on some foolish notion, of throwing everything she had ever done for her daughter back in her face, of a hundred other things...