Some flags of the Cantons (think states) of Switzerland:
Bern: 
Schaffhausen: 
Appenzell Innerrhoden: 
Grisons/Graubünden:
Thurgau: 
Just.. interesting.
I will never tire of standing in the middle of Nagel Hill Road on a clear night and looking up at the endless stream of stars that is the universe.
I began moving to Ithaca yesterday, and though I’m in Rochester now, I’m continuing to move through the weekend. I still hate moving. But I’m excited to move in with Jamie. It’ll be new, different, but I think good. I already got a library card there - now I just have to try to get them to let me use the library to have a Scrabble club there.
Still looking for work. Which is frightening. I received so many well wishes and supportive comments as I left UR, which I really appreciate. That last week of Orientation was crazy, but I made some good connections with some really good friends, that I hope to keep active despite my move. But still, not having a job yet is a little intimidating. I have to work on staying positive, and not getting down on myself - which I have been known to do. And whatever my new job is, I hope I like it. It would be nice to get paid to follow my passions. But first, I have to find my passions. Thoughts?
I’m moving. I’m getting a new job (hopefully). A lot is going to change in the next month.
But I’m excited. I’m ready for something different. I don’t regret the last 2-4 years by any means, but I haven’t really moved forward a lot in my life. So that’s going to happen soon, for better or for worse. And I get to be with Jamie much much more. Which makes me much much happier.
I’m thinking of starting a Scrabble-specific blog. I’m going to have one for the Ithaca Scrabble Club I plan to start, but I might have one just for me. I don’t know.
Also, I just wanted to update this because that video of the Knucklepuck makes me dizzy.
Anyway, if you have a job available in Ithaca, let me know.
And now, another long-overdue installment of “Serious Problems I Have With the Film “D2: The Mighty Ducks.”
The Knucklepuck.
First of all, physics. Here in the universe, we obey it. The knucklepuck shows no such respect for science.
Also, wouldn’t you be able to defend it by, oh, I don’t know - standing in front of it?
Who would let someone have that much time to set up a shot? I just don’t get it. The knucklepuck baffles me, much like it baffled defenders. But unlike them, I’m not scared of it- I just don’t know why it exists.
I like it. I had fun playing it this weekend in Albany, where I finished on an 11-2 run to get 4th place in the division. Also, I realized talking to Jamie last night that I’ve won over $1000 playing Scrabble this year. (Note to IRS agents: No, I didn’t.). Granted, I’ve almost certainly spent more than that with all my traveling, but I like traveling. And I like the people I’m meeting through Scrabble. So I’m going to keep doing it. Because words like IXTLE and NUDZHING and ENUF and ACTIONER are fun to use, even if they don’t make much sense outside of Scrabble.
An open letter to students approaching their first semester of college:
Dear Students:
You’re excited about college, as you should be. It’s an exciting time, and a good place for you to begin realizing your potential. As you prepare, you’re thinking about what classes to take. You’re probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for medical school. At least, if you’re coming to UR, that’s very likely. A few things to note:
You are not the first person to come to college, nor are you the first person to plan to go to medical school. There is a system in place for orientation, and for registration for classes. It has worked. Thousands of times. It worked for me. It will work for you. You don’t have to call ahead of time and sort out your entire four-year schedule. It’s only going to change anyway.
Also, if you do call, then call. You. Call. Not your mother. Not your father (though I did have one instance where the father of a current student called because the student was unavailable at her internship during our office’s hours - totally acceptable). And ESPECIALLY do not have your parents call when you are right there, and they’re serving as a go-between. Talk to me directly. I want to know what YOU are interested in, what YOU are planning, what YOU want to do. Not what your parents think you ought to be doing. Your parents aren’t taking these classes. They won’t understand or care about the difference between these two biology courses. They need to let go, and you need to step forward.
Take charge of your college experience, starting now. Do things on your own. Make mistakes. Make stupid mistakes. It’s okay. It won’t ruin your life (usually). You’ll learn from them. If things don’t work out the first time, try again. If it still won’t work out, try something else. Be flexible. And have fun. But most of all, don’t have your parents call me when you’re right there, telling them what to say and listening to them repeat what I say. It really irritates me to no end.
-Dan.
I’ve been moving this week, culminating with cramming a bunch of stuff in my car this afternoon. I’m officially out of my old place, and will spend much of the next week unpacking and rearranging things. And I’ll almost certainly be doing it again later this summer. I hadn’t moved for the last 18 months, which was nice. Thoughts about moving:
I have too much crap. I need to get rid of a lot of it. Garage sale this summer perhaps?
I am looking forward to moving when I have a family or other people moving with me. It’s not easy moving by yourself.
I’m really glad to have internet again.
Watching WNY Flash tomorrow, and Toronto FC next Saturday - a week of good soccer. Looking forward to that.
It’s not a surprise that student loan debt is growing - college is getting obscenely expensive. It’s still considered a good investment though, because of long-term earnings increases. That’s when I came across this sentence:
“According to a College Board report issued last fall, median earnings of bachelor’s degree recipients working full time year-round in 2008 were $55,700, or $21,900 more than the median earnings of high school graduates.”
Seriously making me rethink some things.
So I travel a lot. Not quite “George Clooney in Up in the Air” a lot (though to be fair, I haven’t seen that film), but I enjoy when I get to spend a weekend at home. I’m traveling again this weekend, to the Boston area, for the Boston Area Tournament (Scrabble - no surprise there.) Still, I’m excited - even after all this travel, I am looking forward to getting up far too soon from now, and embarking on 5 hour car ride (I’m in Syracuse at the moment). There’s something about seeing the world, about spending time in the car with nothing but a decade of Mix CDs and my thoughts, seeing by how much I can beat the GPS’s estimated arrival time - I really enjoy traveling. I wish I had the opportunities to do more of it outside of the Northeastern US - though maybe I just need to make those opportunities for myself. In any case, I appreciate everyone who helps me travel (particularly Zac and Marie for letting me crash here tonight, Jamie’s parents for letting me stay with them this weekend, Heather for letting me stay at her place 2 weeks ago, and anyone else I’ve stayed with or traveled with), and hope that you find the same joy in travel somewhere.
Also, I apparently like cheaping out on hotels and staying at friends’ houses/apartments. But there’s nothing wrong with that.
So just now on ISC (Internet Scrabble Club), I had my first 600 game - I played the blue tiles on the board. Got lucky with both blanks on the 149 point triple-triple, but still. I like doing well. So.. yeah. bragging.
A proposal:
From what I can tell, Robin van Persie was given a very shady 2nd yellow for Arsenal in their Champions League game just now, which will likely change the course of the rest of the game. I therefore propose: The Blue Card.
The Blue Card would be issued to players for actions which may be yellow card offenses currently, but are relatively minor and not necessarily affecting the other team - technical violations, of a sort. Things like wasting time, failing to give 10 yards on a free kick, excessive celebration (though this should be accepted more than it is now, but that’s another story), leaving or entering the field without the referee’s permission, maybe diving, etc. Because as it is right now, both of these events from the 2010 World Cup Final were equally offensive: 
Something about that doesn’t seem right. So with the Blue Card, a player will receive a more lenient warning than a full yellow card. I’m not sure if a blue card should be, in essence, half a yellow card (2 blues = a yellow, much like 2 yellows = a red), or if 2 blues should equal a yellow, but a blue + a yellow (or 3rd blue) would equal a red - so if a player commits a dangerous tackle and receives a yellow card for it, he/she would need to be extra-well behaved for the rest of the match. I feel like this would clean up some of the more boring parts - time wasting and the like, as referees would be more willing to give out a blue card than a full yellow for the littler things. I know that as a referee, sometimes I would issue only a verbal warning instead of a yellow, even if I didn’t feel it was strong enough - either because the player already had a yellow card, or because it would alter the game too much. The blue card would create a nice middle ground of actual punishment, but not so harsh that 2 instances kicks you out of the game. Thoughts?
It’s a little blurry, but here’s a flowchart I drew up of possible times for curling games in the Bonspiel I’m in next week. Minimum of 3 games, I think the most we can play is 9. But most importantly, food is part of the entry fee, so I’ve got a lot of already-paid-for food coming my way at the end of next week. Curling is pretty great in that way.
