Words of wisdom

According to my dad, here are the three most important things that he teaches to all of his children:

1. Don't eat foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils.


2. Listen to your appestat.


3. When it's hot outside, take a shower before you go to bed.

I used to be with it

Today I had a horrifying experience on my drive home from work. The Beverly Hills song came on Hot 99.5 and Julian, the DJ whose voice grates on me so much that I usually switch the station immediately when I hear him, said that the song was by Weezer. No! It can't be. I must have misheard because I'm sure that that catchy, yet semi-stupid Beverly Hills song is by Good Charlotte.

At the end of the song, Julian came on-air again since he loves to hear himself talk. "And that was Beverly Hills by Weezer." Yup. Definitely Weezer. Still, I wasn't totally convinced until I just checked the Internet.

Once upon a time, I knew music. Really, I did. Now I feel like an idiot. An American Idiot. Maybe even Grandpa Simpson.

"I used to be with 'it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it' anymore and what's 'it' seems weird and scary."
~Grandpa Simpson

Keeping up with the Joneses, Blogger style

Laura has finally started up her site again. Not only has she resumed writing, but she's also made improvements to her blog. There's a nice new layout, there are more graphics, and there's even a way for visitors to email posts they like to their friends. Layout, graphics... those are unimportant to me, but that last one got me.

Now, I know Laura. I know that she has almost no knowledge of HTML and coding, and that all she did was use a Blogger template and change her settings. Still, I was jealous of her new feature. Trouble is, I have made so many modifications to my site that there was no way I was going to select one of Blogger's templates just so that I could give visitors the option to email my posts. I scrutinized Laura's code, I ran searches through Blogger's database, and I fiddled with my code a lot. Well, I've finally done it! You can now email my posts to anyone you like. Sadly, it took me several hours and the changes I needed to make to my code were ridiculously minute. Oh well. Hopefully, I learned something.

Elise's Adventures in the Midwest: Introduction

After I graduated from college I took a number of odd jobs. The most interesting, by far, was the one where I spent a month traveling across the Midwest doing research. Last week, I came across the mass emails I sent during my trip. I've decided to post these old emails here because (1) I like them and this is a good way to keep them and (2) the majority of the people who visit this blog have never read them. So, even though I can't think of anything current and exciting to write about, I can still provide you with "new" content. Happy reading.

(Note: I'd like to apologize to anyone who is irritated by the ordering of today's posts. Normally the newest posts are at the top of the page but I made an exception today. You see, the posts today read like a story and most people read a story from the top down.)

Elise's Adventures in the Midwest: Episode 1

Subject: On the Road By Elise
Date: 04/08/2002 11:06 PM

Greetings from Ypsilanti, Michigan. It's the type of place where all
the theaters show porn and none of the restaurants make any "best
of" lists. It's a place where the Marriott doesn't have Mtv, VH1,
Comedy Central, or *gasp* the WB. It's a nowhere land in between
Ann Arbor and Detroit. So, why am I here?

I'm here because I'm getting paid by a social sciences research
company and the National Institutes of Health to interview
fraternity men on their drinking habits. This is the coolest job ever
(thank you Alison for telling me about the job), or at least that's
what all the returning interviewers say. All expenses are paid
(including hotel rooms, rental cars, and food) plus I get a cell phone
and a lap top (Not as good as it sounds. It's only got the interview
program, Free Cell, and this weird Lotus Mail program).

So today is my first day in Ypsilanti and tomorrow is my first long day
in a frat house. I will be doing this until either April 26 or May 3.
I would appreciate it if no one would write me at my other addresses
(I don't want my free Hotmail account to exceed its storage limit).
And I would also appreciate it if you WOULD write me at this one. It's
going to be an interesting three weeks of solo dinners, books, and tv.
I will do my best to respond to all e-mails and I will send out these
group e-mails. If you don't want to be included in my updates, let me
know. I'll only be offended for a second. ;)

~Elise

P.S. If anyone knows of any good restaurants or fun things to do in
the Michigan/ Ohio area, please let me know. I'm going to have a lot
of free time.

Elise's Adventures in the Midwest: Episode 2

Subject: Why I love the Hampton Inn by Elise
Date: 04/12/2002 6:04 PM

Hello everyone :) Here's episode 2 of Elise's adventure in the
midwest (is that where I am?). I am at my second site now. I
finished in Ypsilanti on Wednesday. Even though that town wasn't
much, I'm actually going to miss it. The frat boys there were mostly
nice and my hotel was pretty good. It had a lovely view of a golf
course and a lake. I will miss the sign at the front door of the
hotel that said, "Golfers! Please take off your cleats before
entering lobby."

So, I thought my hotel was nice until I got to East Lansing, Michigan.
Man, Marriott is nothing next to the Hampton Inn. I walked into the
Hampton Inn and the lady at the front desk was this nice Georgian
college student who helped me with all my stuff. Plus, when I got
there they were putting out milk and cookies. How cool is that? And
not only that, I've got a nicer room and the TV gets Mtv, Comedy
Central, and the WB (well, it's kind of the WB; it seems like it's the
WB half the time and PAX the other half). The only thing I miss from
the Marriott is the view and that it had some weights and weight
machines in the workout room (Hampton Inn only has a treadmill, a
bike, and a fake elliptical machine). Oh, and one more thing,
Hampton Inn has a great free breakfast every morning. When you're
on the road, these are the things that excite you.

I got really lucky on Wednesday night because another interviewer was
nearby. So we went to dinner and drinks and talked. She's really
cool and she's from DC, which means I've made a new friend. Yay :)

As you can tell, I'm really happy. This is the best job ever.
Yesterday I had a travel day but since my next site was less than 2
hours away it was basically a day off. I traded in my Buick Century
for a Chevy Impala, which is a much better car and it's got a CD
player. Then, I headed over to Ann Arbor. I really liked Ann Arbor
and could definitely see myself living there. It's really laid back
and liberal and intellectual. It seems like a lot of cool stuff goes
on there. It just so happened that I was there on Goodness Day. How
funny is that?

I wrote the above part of this e-mail while I was at a frat house at
MSU. In the middle of my e-mail a fight broke out upstairs and the
one guy I had taking the survey ran up to watch. These guys are
crazy. I am interviewing during the last few days of Greek Week.
Last night, most of the guys were up until 7 am so I'm impressed that
almost 20 of them showed up today. I'm going there tomorrow at
1 pm. We'll see if the rest show up on a Saturday after another
crazy night. Luckily, they want the $20 they get for taking the
survey pretty badly so they show up. I think NIH should do a survey
on how the frat boys use the $20 they get from taking the alcohol
interview. I'm sure alcohol would be at the top of the list.

Every night I go to bed with a smile on my face and every day I wake
up, I don't dread going to work. I wish my updates could be as
exciting as the Ian_in_Korea e-mails (for those of you who don't get
them, Ian is hilarious) but I'm not Ian and I'm just going to have to
accept that (By the way Ian, I ran into a guy at a bar in Ypsilanti
who looks exactly like you.).

That's it for now. Take care all... Oh, and keep in mind that I can
only get e-mails in the morning and at night because I can't connect
at the frat houses. Thank you all for writing. The day after I wrote
the last one, I had 40 (!) e-mails in my inbox.

~Elise :)

P.S. If anyone would like to call me, for the next few days I will be
in room 314 (the same room I was in at the Marriott. Coincidence,
I think not).

Elise's Adventures in the Midwest: Episode 3

Subject: Episode 3: Elise in Anytown USA
Date: 04/22/2002 10:44 AM

So my most recent stop was Springfield, Ohio, where I stayed at my
crappiest hotel, the Fairfield Inn, to date. I miss my Hampton Inn so
much. Down with Marriott! The hotel here is just past the Mad River
and sandwiched between Applebee's and Red Lobster. My view is of
Target and Tumbleweed Southwest Grille. As a food snob, I couldn't be
happier. But enough whining...

I had a lovely drive across Ohio a few days ago. As I was admiring
the amazingly green fields (so green!) and enjoying the smell of
manure, a black Corvette zoomed by me. Get this, his license plate
said NTMIDTR. How funny is that? The drive really was beautiful. The
sun was shining and I had the windows rolled down. It's a good thing
that I traded in for a car with a CD player because almost every
station here plays either country or Christian contemporary.

Now, back to Springfield. Springfield is the home of my third site,
Wittenberg University. The frat boys were super nice (much better
than the guys at Michigan State) and I got everyone to participate in
the interview. Woohoo! 100% participation. After complaining to
them about my Applebee's/ Red Lobster problems, the guys
suggested I go to this nearby "hippie town" called Yellow Springs.

I headed out to Yellow Springs after my first day of interviewing and it
is the most adorable town. I don't know if I would call it a hippie town
but it was charming and artsy and eclectic. It turns out that Antioch
University is somewhere nearby. There were only a few blocks of
stores and restaurants so I got to walk around the whole thing. I
went to the local tavern, Ye Olde (something) Tavern, and had myself
a Great Lakes beer and some spaghetti, the house specialty, on the
deck. It was a lovely day. I'm glad I took advantage since the
last few days have been cold and gross.

For my birthday, I had a quiet evening and a wonderful dinner. More
spaghetti, I must have been Italian in my last life, and a yummy
chocolate angel food cake. Thank you to all who called/ wrote. That
was very sweet of you.

My next, and last, stop is Portsmouth, Ohio. I've spoken to two guys
from the school so far and they both have country accents. They seem
very nice and have already warned me that they're going to invite me
out to the bar on Thursday night. For all those who are worried about
me going out with a bunch of frat boys alone, I probably won't go
because I have to leave early Friday morning to catch my plane.

That's it for the third installment of Elise's Midwest adventure.
Look for the final chapter later this week.

~Elise

Elise's Adventures in the Midwest: Episode 4

Subject: Elise's Trip to the Midwest: Smokey Treats and Roy Rogers
Date: 04/25/2002 12:31 PM

I am currently sitting in the University Center at Shawnee State
University in Portsmouth, Ohio. The view out the window here is of
Kentucky. I never knew that there were people in Ohio with Southern
accents until now. The guys here have some hilarious slang too.
Whenever they go out to smoke, and almost all of them smoke, they
say "smokey treats." It sounds like they're saying "smokey trees" so
it makes me laugh.

Portsmouth used to be the largest town in the midwest and the largest
manufacturer of shoes in the country. There's a museum of shoelaces
here and, according to the visitor's guide, "Mitchellace Inc. produces
about 4 million pairs of shoelaces a week, enough in a year to circle
the earth more than 30 times." Portsmouth's other claim to fame is
that Roy Rogers was born here.

On my ride across Ohio from Toledo the other day I tried to be
adventurous. Unfortunately, there's not much adventure to be had in
Ohio. I saw a sign for the National Shrine of Her Lady Consolation
(or something like that) in Carey so I stopped to see. At the town
limit there is a sign proudly proclaiming that the Carey high school
football team were state champions... in 1975(!). I managed to miss
the sign for the National Shrine so I drove around town a bit. I've
never seen so many garden decorations in my life (I must admit that
driving around the midwest has made me really want a garden gnome.
Every time I pass a garden gnome stand, I have to convince myself
not to buy one. After all, I can't exactly take a gnome on a plane.
If I were driving home, I don't think I would be able to control myself).
Anyway, I finally got to the National Shrine and it was huge. I find
it so weird that some little town in the middle of Ohio has a huge
Catholic shrine. I have no idea why it's there but it was pretty and
more than I had expected.

After getting back on the road I saw a sign that said, "Christmas Castle: Open all year round!" I could hardly contain my glee and I was grinning stupidly my whole way to the castle. Sadly, the Christmas "Castle" was no more than a brick building that sells ornaments and other Christmas knicknacks. I was so disappointed that I didn't even stop.

A little further down the road, I saw another sign, "Outdoor Drama." Hmmmmm. What could that be? So I drove into Tecumseh and up into the hills, the "Little Smokies," in search of whatever that could be. It turns out there's a really neat outdoor amphitheater in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me of Red Rocks in Colorado only without the red rocks.

That was it for my driving tour of Ohio. By the time I got to
Portsmouth I was so near Kentucky, where I've never been, so I had to
drive across the Ohio River and check it out. Looks just like Ohio
only I can say I was in Kentucky. Woohoo. Seriously, though, both
sides of the river have beautiful, brilliantly green landscapes.

This is the final installment of my journal from the Midwest.
Tomorrow I will be flying back to DC :( Oh well. The fun had to end
some time. To all in the DC area, I will see you soon. To everyone
else, keep in touch and thanks for reading.

~Elise

We live in a beautiful world (and this time I'm not being sarcastic)

I just found the best thing ever. It's called Modest Needs and, according to the website, here's what it is:

Modest Needs is a non-profit organization reaching out to the people conventional philanthropy has forgotten: hard-working individuals and families who suddenly find themselves faced with small, emergency expenses that they have no way to afford on their own.

I wish I had thought of this! No matter, though, because I think it's great someone did. I've done a little web research on the non-profit and it seems legit. Here are links to Fox News and USA Today in case you need some convincing.

Now, give a little bit!


(Note #1: Please post this on your site and encourage others to do the same!)

(Note #2: If you decide to research this or anything else on my site and you find out something is not legit, please tell me. Thanks.)

We live in a beautiful world...

ALBANY, Ga., Aug. 15 (AP) - The only woman ever executed in Georgia's electric chair, Lena Baker, is being granted a posthumous pardon, 60 years after she was put to death for killing a man she said had held her in slavery and threatened her life.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles plans to make the pardon official by presenting a proclamation to Ms. Baker's descendants at a meeting on Aug. 30 in Atlanta, a board spokeswoman, Scheree Lipscomb, said Monday.

The board did not find that Ms. Baker was not guilty of the crime, but it did find that the decision to deny her clemency in 1945 "was a grievous error, as this case called out for mercy," Ms. Lipscomb said.

In her one-day trial, Ms. Baker, who was black, testified that E. B. Knight, a white man she had been hired to care for, had held her against her will and threatened to shoot her. She said she grabbed a gun and shot him when he raised a metal bar to strike her. She was convicted by an all-white, all-male jury.

Ms. Baker's grandnephew, Roosevelt Curry, has led the family's effort to clear her name.

~The Associated Press

I'm in with the "in crowd"

So I have this friend who helps with the creation of teen novels. She's great in so many ways, but most importantly... while editing, she slips my name into books. Great, cheesy teen books about kissing and Vegas and stuff. I love it! The latest slippage is in the most recent edition to The A-List series.



P.S. All this time I've been inserting images using my own version of computer code. Too bad I didn't realize until now that Blogger has a button that inserts pictures with ease. How exciting!

I guess I have an obsessive personality

because I always want to title my posts, "My new obsession." My latest obsession can be found in many major newspapers, including The Washington Post and USA Today.


Sudoku!

Can you tell I was raised by Buddhist hippies?

This is quite possibly my favorite quote ever and it came from one of those fabulous quotable cards I keep talking about.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

~Buddha

Better than coming up with my own thoughts

Here's another one from the Quotable Calender to follow up with my earlier post. This one is from June.

Wise words

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

~Buddha

At work I have an awesome black and white quotable calendar that totally fits me. August's quote is above and eloquently states exactly what I've been trying to do for the last month. Awesome.

At times, I even impress myself

I just spent ten minutes fiddling with the bar to your right when I noticed how many months are a part of my archive. I can't believe that I've kept this blog up for two years without the positive reinforcement of a grade or a salary. Man, I must really be an exhibitionist... Oh wait, I already knew that :)