Uncle

I shaved the stashe yesterday. I got sick of people looking at me like I'm a perv.

I should write a book about the experience: Moustachioed Like Me.

In other news, I am working very hard. I am waking up mouch earlier than I like to, and I'm pissed at pretty much everyone. Stay the hell out of my way, please.

Stashe Bash, Hoosier Style

This is my official entry. I just took this photo, right now. Yeah, my office resembles an aquarium. So what?
This was the original concept, from everyone's favorite SNL skit. I wore it around for a day before going to the regulation Cat6 stashe.If you're thinking about what to get your lady this Valentine's Day, allow me to suggest:
1. BMC bike. It's jewelry she can ride! A good-looking woman deserves a good-looking machine.
2. Lazer helmet. Gotta keep that pretty head in one piece, and not with some frumpy Giro crap.
3. If you're in the Twin Cities, have a romantic night out at the Town Hall Brewery! The place is so classy you can't help but look good, even if you are not moustachioed.
4. Turn her loose in Freewheel Bike with a hefty gift certificate. Guaranteed insurance policy against getting dumped.

More photos to come later. Have a kickin Valentine's Day.

Stashe Bash

The Stashe Bash was this past Saturday, and although I couldn't make it myself I was there in spirit. And I have pictures of my creepy new facial hair to prove it.

Word is my Cat6 brothers also swilled some Courvoisier that I hooked the DS up with last year when he put together my BMC. Klassy!

I am swamped at work, but hopefully I will get around to posting up some pics tonight.

My opinion of post-modernism.

I really like modernism. I think this is best manifested in my love of bikes, the ultimate modernist invention (in my opinion). It is all about the intimate union of man and machine. It is all Newtonian mechanics. It is the individual will manifested in pure speed.

I also really like economics, which is thoroughly modernist. It has highly developed master theories reducing people into equations. You basically end up with a virtual society of mathematically programmed robots interacting with each other through there intricate theoretical edifices. It really emphasizes order, rigor, precision, and elegance.

Postmodernism really messes all that up for me. I think all scientists are a bit peeved about post-modernism, because it deconstructs all claims to truth. And scientists these days are the main purveyors of Truth in society, except for maybe religious figures.

Sure I prefer postmodern aesthetics: I'll take Warhol over, I dunno, Mondrian or Stravinsky anyday. And bike racing seems very rooted in the postmodern aesthetic, with its culture of self-modification and shameless commodification.

But as far as epistemologies go, modernism is the best. I get so sick of everyone talking about nobody can know anything for certain anymore. That's loser talk.

My problem with Iraq.

Here are the two reasons why I am against the war:
1. Atrocities are being committed in my name.
2. I have to pay for atrocities to be committed in my name.

There are a lot of other reasons why people could be opposed to the war. I guess I'm a little bummed about the way people got duped into thinking Saddam had weapons or whatever, but I think that type of stuff happens all the time. Average folks are highly dupable. But these days not too many people are clear about why they oppose the war--it kinda seems like a general aura one pulls over oneself, an ideological cloak as it were.

The other thing that bothers me is that not too many people are clear about what they would like to see come out of the whole Iraq experience--what our government's objecives should be. I'm of the belief that the people should set the objectives and that the leaders should figure out a way to make it happen. Instead, most people seem to have very definite ideas about what they think the President should do but not what the long-term objectives are.

My objective is a maximization of per capita quality of life, including length of life in that measure. That means a long-term minimization of violence in Iraq and elsewhere, and a profound new commitment to a just peace in the world as a whole.

Now, how that can be acheived or approached is up in the air. A lot of people who share this goal believe that it will be best acheived through a complete and quick withdrawal of forces from Iraq. I don't know about that. Nobody can be very sure about what will happen after that withdrawal. It could escalate into a civil war or it could de-escalate into a more stable state ala Vietnam. Actually, the effects of withdrawing from Vietnam are still contested, really. But I think it's probably generally agreed that fewer people died and a more just world equilibrium was reached as a result of that withdrawal versus a more prolonged war, even if that war had ultimately ended in "victory".

So I guess I'm saying is that the term "victory" is really being used to bash Democrats around. How we have to "win the war" etc. What we really need are some alternative visions of what victory in Iraq means and what it would look like. We should remember Bush's Mission Accomplished landing and its implications for the mirage of "victory". True victory comes from a more just equilibrium, not from bodycounts.

Too much snow.

It snows every day here. Sometimes a half inch, sometimes three. Usually about an inch a day.

At first it was kinda neat but now it is getting old having to sweep off the car every single time I want to go somewhere far, and cleaning the bike almost every weekend.

Road salt is no fun for bikes. Or cars, really. I think I will spend a part of next summer building up a winter-proof bike. Enclosed drive-train, fat studded wheels, and unusually large fenders.


The beard comes off tomorrow for the C6RS.com Stashe Bash! I'll have pics up of the damage.

Speaking of pics, I still have to transfer all the other ones I promised I'd post up. Photo dump coming soon.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

It seems to me like the fable of Boston and the ATHF guerilla marketing campaign may be the most perfectly representative event of our times. The story really captures the current zeitgeist, as it were.

How people react to this story is particularly illuminating. It seems from infomal polls that about half the respondents think nothing should happen, and the other half are favoring some combination of fines and jail time for Turner and the advertisers.

I really wish someone would do another poll, also asking people do politically identify themselves, because I'd bet that 50/50 split closely mirrors the Democrat/Republican divide. Also, it'd be nice if the pollster put a few IQ questions on there, because I think this story really shows how D-U-M-B many (most?) self-identified conservatives are.

Let's hope this episode teaches a lesson about the paranoia and suspicion we're living in and spurs more reasonable approaches to anti-terrorism. These kinds of overreactions only further the terrorist cause.

Happy Bee Day!

Yes, that's right. It was my birthday this past weekend.

I kicked it off by showing up at midnight to play for the Team Bio intramural ultimate team for our semifinal game. The other team couldn't convince enough people to come out, so we cruised into the finals by default and picked up a game with the Et Al. grad student team who had just lost on the other side of the bracket.

Always nice to kick a birthday off with some midnight ultimate. The rest of the birthday was pretty good. Got a bunch of work done and learned a lot in class, too, which is unusual for me. Came home after a grueling session of macro to find my lady all decked out with candles on and a huge salad ready.

That's right, salad. Sara asked a few weeks ago what I wanted for dinner on my birthday. I tried to think of something that is really labor-intensive to make, which I would probably never eat unless someone else made it for me. A big, complicated salad fit the bill perfectly. She even put in tomatoes, which she normally never eats.

Then it was back to ultimate. We faced off with an team of undergrads all from the same dorm. They had two guys who were really good, and the rest of them were just pretty good. They were all athletic, motivated, and fairly well-organized. But we also had two or three superstars and everyone else played hard D and stepped up for some key plays. We got out to an early lead and kept the pressure on to win by six points or so, with a score of something like 13-7.

So now I have an intermural champion t-shirt. It is dope.

That was Thursday. On Friday the students in my department (all seven of us) threw big party. All the beverages and snacks were paid for by the department. I had a really good time until I got home and was violently ill.

The next day (Saturday) I woke up feeling AWFUL. I had not felt so bad since my appendix ruptured. I was totally and comepletely worthless. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon recovering, because my family was due to visit. They showed up at 2 and we went to the mall, where I concentrated on emptying the water fountain. By the time we left I felt mostly normal. We had some deep dish pizza and ice cream and they took off. It was good to see them again.

And then yesterday we got together again to watch the Super Bowl and use up the leftovers from the huge party. My 2nd favorite team won a tough game, which was nice. I have nothing against the Bears, but I have nothing but contempt for their suburban fan base, what with their backward baseball caps and hemp necklaces and Dave Matthews bumper stickers on their SUVs.

And Prince was awesome at halftime. Really, the final score of the Super Bowl was Indianapolis: don't remember - Chicago: who cares - Prince: 9 million. I don't think most dudes my age are quite hip to Prince yet, but maybe someday they will watch Purple Rain and realize what they've been missing. He really is The Artist.

All said, it was the best birthday ever. I think this year will go down as one of the best so far, too. Stay tuned and we'll see.