A friend came out to me last night. Which was...nice. I suppose you don't have to know me very well to realize that I'm likely to react positively to such an admission, but still, it showed a level of trust and closeness that meant a lot. And in some way, provided a bit of...I don't know, balance, or something. My Aunt's girlfriend died last night. She had been fighting cancer for over a year and wasn't expected to see this past spring. The word girlfriend is so inadequate. She was, by all means, my Aunt's wife.

Dancing to Vanilla Ice and ears ringing and working that whole Catholic School Girl thing. Good times at the Rollins School of Public Health mixer...yes...water and sleep are in my future...in that order...all in all, a good night.

Thank you, Mr. Krugman.

"Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: 'The best way to get the news,' he says, 'is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff.' Two words: emperor, clothes."

"Which brings me back to my starting point: we'll lose the fight against terror if we don't make an effort to understand how others think. Yet because of a domestic political struggle that seems ever more centered on religion, such attempts at understanding are shouted down. "

Just another reason to love Viggo Mortensen. (or rather, reasons)

Confused. From Salon:

Defense officials said loyalists of fallen Iraq leader Saddam Hussein likely were responsible for bombings Monday at three police stations and offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Sunday at a hotel filled with occupation officials.

Also:

Commanders see no indications -- and have gotten no information from detainees -- leading them to believe foreign fighters have linked with former regime loyalists.

and

"In fact, we do believe that, because of some of the money that we have captured, that there are some problems with paying potential foreign fighters, and that's why maybe we have not seen them yet, because they cannot pay them the money they need in order to conduct their operations," he said [Maj Gen. Ray Odierno].

And from Cnn:

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling said "foreign fighters" appear to be behind the wave of bombings, noting that the mode of operations did not fit loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime.

I realize that Cnn is perhaps a less liberal, more "reliable" news source, and therefore may not always provide the same information as salon, but shouldn't Generals of the same army be in agreement about the potential source of these attacks?

Went to REI with Brad yesterday and got a serious case of wanderlust. (That's what I get for standing between a bookcase full of trail guides for the foothills in GA and SC and another full of Let's Go books for Europe, Egypt, and Nepal.) I'm back to entertaining fantasies of spending a year travelling after finishing my PhD and before getting a job (which I know is fairly unrealistic, unless I get a sweet gig travelling as an EIS with the CDC) or skipping a spring semester to hike the Pacific Crest with Jason. In the meantime, I'll settle for being really excited about my new chalk bag for climbing and envious of Brad's new climbing shoes. (I know if I'm patient I can just ask Mom and Dad to spring for them for xmas).