I am not a crook (nor a liar)

I've finally gotten to the point where seeing cute couples out doesn't make me mad or sad anymore. I won't lie; I miss having a guy to be ridiculous over.

I knew there was a reason!

Back in the day, I used to be a total news junkie...mostly tv.  Some time after 9/11/01, however, I stopped watching the local/nightly news because I was turning into a stressed out zombie (having your office evacuated on 9/11, seeing the pentagon on fire first hand, then having your office evacuated from possible anthrax attack, followed by the DC sniper shooting people right down the street from where you live will do that).

It's been amazing since then every time I turn on the news how depressing it is.  I can get the same news from the paper and not have it affect me the same way.  But today, just got home, turned on the local news...

Story 1: AIG and the 90 billion bailout.  Stock market is screwed.  Fed having to sell stuff to afford the bailout.  Some money market funds are freezing accounts...  This story is getting scarier and scarier.

Story 2: PG and Montgomery Counties are requiring employees to take unpaid leave because of the state budget crisis.

Story 3: People aren't able to get jobs anywhere so they are having to commute hundreds of miles just to get a job.

Add to that all the "normal" DC stuff like little kids getting caught in gun crossfire and it makes for a very uplifting evening.  /sarcasm.

Dinner tonight

Been awhile since I posted a recipe on here.  The one (non polisci) magazine I still subscribe to is Cooking Light and I subscribe to a lot of food blogs. 

But now that there is not someone expecting dinner on the regular, and I'm only cooking for one, I have become a lot lazier about cooking.  I do actually enjoy it though and I'm trying to cook at least twice every week. 

I didn't get to marinate this as much as it called for, but it still turned out good.  Couscous and green beans as sides.  I'm planning on bringing left overs to school tomorrow for lunch.

Moroccan Spiced Grilled Chicken Breasts Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt


• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander)


• 1 Tbsp olive oil


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika


• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Method

1
Mix the marinade ingredients (yogurt, cilantro, olive oil, garlic,
paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper) together in a medium sized bowl. Add
the chicken pieces to the bowl and thoroughly coat with the marinade.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator from 6 to 10
hours.

2 Heat your grill on high heat if you are using a gas grill,
or prepare coals for direct heat if you are using charcoal. If you do
not have a grill you can use a cast-iron grill pan on your stove. Grill
the chicken breasts a few minutes on each side, until cooked through.
Take care not to overcook, as chicken breasts can easily dry out.

9/11, seven years later

It was hard not to remember September 11th a day early today when the weather was exactly the same as the weather seven years ago.

I don't have any pithy comments, but there are people and families I'm thinking of today.

Myers-Briggs: I am still the Healer

Awhile back I was talking to someone about the Myers-Briggs personality inventory and told him that in college I tested as INFP.  I think he was surprised because most people do not think of me as an introvert.  I can be loud, in people's faces with my opinions, and the like.  However, in a situation where I do not know many people I tend to be the classic introvert: quiet and keeping to myself.  I'm also bad at expressing my emotions to others. 

(Side note: This was one of the best things about being in a sorority - it forced me to learn how to force myself to interact with new people in social situations, even though I am not in my element doing so.  At least now I can pretend to function like I am not socially retarded, LOL)

Anyways, I felt that maybe I was not an INFP any more after thinking about it (mostly on the analytical side; I have always liked data), so I just re-tested myself.  Guess what - I may be jaded, loud, and obsessed with information, but apparently I am still INFP at heart.  Guess this isn't surprising... most of my life decisions have not been "practical" in nature, but aimed at satisfying my feelings.

I wonder if S/N or T/F's are naturally better suited to poker.  I'm guessing probably T rather than F, but on the S/N front, it could be a toss up.

Thoughts on Year 3, Week 1

Apologies for not updating more regularly.  Fact is, I haven't really had much going on recently.  Played some poker (up over all thanks to a few nice hits at pink and a few nice trips to AC), bought a new car (still need to take pics), and gone out drinking with friends several times.  Plus I took my comp and I think prep for that and the aftermath have had me less interested in writing and more interested in sitting around and doing nothing.

School has started and I've had 2/3 classes and the first lecture of the class I am TAing for.  So far so good.

1) Watching the freshman walk around campus with confused looks and maps is priceless.

2) Freshmen look younger every year.  I swear I saw some 12 year olds.  These kids were born in 1990.  That's really scary.  90's babies in college.

3) I'm going to lose at least 10 pounds in the next month.  I forgot how much walking and stairs there are.  (Stairs in RDG garage, stairs in Tydings, walk across hilly campus from RDG to Tydings...)

4) I'm really excited about my cognitive survey response class.  It's basically a class all about the cognitive reasons for bias in answering surveys, and it's taught through University of Michigan which has some of the best survey methodologists in the world.  This stuff is probably interesting to like 5 people in the world, but I love it.  I'm the only polisci person, because it's not in my department so I was kind of worried, but the prof was awesome and we had an interesting short conversation about how the cognitive processes of vote choice were actually a lot like the cognitive processes of taking a survey.

5) Hope I can keep my head above water in my theory class.  I felt a little lost on the first day.  At least I am taking this class with Jason who also seemed a bit lost.  We are all required to take a theory class in this program, but I haven't had to take theory since like 1998, so I am a bit out of it when it comes to remembering certain philosophers and their main points. 

6) I can hardly wait for my formal theory class tomorrow (game theory, social choice theory, rational choice, etc).  I think that class is really going to be fun - and I'm taking it with Jim and Jill.

First day of classes

Just got back from a productive, albeit short, trip to AC.  I have my first class in a few hours and I have to get to campus a bit early to buy the remainder of my books and to figure out where the heck my new parking spot is (I got one of the coveted Lot 5 passes this year).

It kind of sucks that I don't have a day that I don't need to be on campus this semester, but I wanted to take the formal theory class on Thursdays, and the other classes I didn't really have a choice on.

Monday:

• 11-11:50am GVPT 475 (lecture for class I am TAing) - The Presidency and the Executive Branch: 
  
  An examination of the U.S. presidency in historical and contemporary
  perspective: nomination and electoral politics and the president's
  place in policy-making, administration, and public opinion. 

• 12-1pm GVPT 475 office hours

Tuesday:

• 3:00-5:40pm SURV 632 - Social and Cognitive Foundations of Survey Measurement:
  Major sources of survey error-such as reporting errors and nonresponse
  bias-from the perspective of social and cognitive psychology and
  related disciplines. Topics: psychology of memory and its bearing on
  classical survey issues (e.g., underreporting and telescoping); models
  of language use and their implications for the interpretation and
  misinterpretation of survey questions; and studies of attitudes,
  attitude change, and their possible application to increasing response
  rates and improving the measurement of opinions. Theories and findings
  from the social and behavioral sciences will be explored.   

• 6:30-9:30pm GVPT 743 - Contemporary political theory:
  Theorists from Nietzsche (1884-1900) to the present will be covered
  with a focus on the apparent failure of the Enlightenment to usher in
  an age of peace and reason.
   
  
   

Wednesday:

• 11-11:50am GVPT 475 (lecture for class I am TAing)

Thursday:

• 3:30-6:15pm GVPT 831 -
  Formal Theories of Politics I:  Survey of major formal theories of politics, with emphasis on those
  theories based on the assumptions of rationality. The theory of public
  goods, game theory, coalition theory, and the theoretical properties of
  voting systems.
  

Friday:

• 10-12:50pm GVPT 475 discussion sections