Author Archives: scott

Jean Genie

Posted on by

On Tuesday, Kim and I went shopping.  I needed to get a lot of things purchased before I could leave on my trip, so we pushed a loaded cart around Target for about an hour and a half.  In the end, I have a weird new wardrobe that I didn’t think I’d be getting for a while, some important accessories for the journey, and a far lighter wallet.

I bought jeans.  This may not be a big deal to many (most, if not all) of you.  I have not owned jeans since I was around eight years old, I think.  A few months ago I tried some on but decided against it.  Working out in the field with limited luggage and probably even more limited washing opportunities, I thought jeans would be a good investment for this trip.  It’ll be interesting to see what my new wardrobe does for me.  Also denim feels kinda foreign to me.

In addition to that little endeavor, I expanded my two-shirt oxford collection and added a few plain Ts, which I very rarely wear.  And I bought Kim a shirt with one of the coolest designs I’ve ever run into.  The first time I ever saw it was at CB2.  In addition to looking cool, it’s got a really neat background.  It was a poster commissioned by the British Ministry of Information during the depression years immediately preceding WWII.  It was never published and was lost until a print came out in an auction recently.  (All of this is according to CB2, but I believe them because they also have unique one-of-a-kind maps and authentic Jain bowls that I want).  Anyways, Target commandeered the design and have a whole set of things that are awesome.

I should do some work, but I’ll post later about wedding things (we went to a tasting last night!) and trip things (ahhhh!!!).  The big news is that I leave in one week.  This next next week I’ll be over the Eastern seaboard of the US or Canada (not sure). Woah.

Dog Day Afternoon

Posted on by

Rounding out blog post #3 of my lunch break is a dog post.  It’s part sad and part happy, so bear with me.

On Saturday, Kim and I met Callista, the super-kind black dog that we really liked.  After talking with the foster family and making sure she was perfect for us (and boy was she!) we went home and called the rescue to set up a house-check and move forward with the adoption.  She said she’d give me a call in a few days and we could set everything up.  That night, Callista’s page on petfinder said “adoption pending.”  Whoo hoo, right?!

Days went by without a call.

I finally called the rescue and she gave me bad news and made me all mad news.  Apparently, someone else adopted her.  The rescue didn’t think that our work- and school-schedules worked well enough with Callista’s personality and a stay-at-home mom was interested and got her.  I honestly wouldn’t mind if we lost Callista to somebody else, but it’s the fact that the foster family said she did fine home alone for several hours (we specifically asked about our 8-hour workdays).  Plus, the foster family said we were the first ones to meet her, and that night it said her adoption was pending – we naturally thought that meant it was us.  And then someone else magically managed to contact, meet, and do a house-check before I even got a call-back.  Alas and alack.

SO! Kim and I talked to the rescue that we looked at for Thor (the first one we liked).  She has another dog named Zeus that we actually wanted before Thor – he was adopted and then returned because the family’s other animals didn’t get along with him.  He’s on his way back to the rescue and Kim and I are going to go meet him today and see how things go.  Maybe a Callista lost is a Zeus gained!  We’ll find out tonight, I guess.

Global Students

Posted on by

This Wednesday, I took my German final (and finished my semester!!) and then met up with some friends at Cartel Coffee Lab.  Talking with friends from the Global Studies program really confuses my brain, but it makes me realize how insane all of this stuff is.

I always thought it was crazy cool that I had been to Europe once on a tour.  Meeting people in Global Studies has been humbling and inspiring because I hear about all of these cool things people are doing and I can’t wait to do my own stuff.  Our two tables at the coffee house were meeting for one last time because we’re all dispersing around the world this summer, and it’s always been fascinating to hear what everyone’s doing.

That table included people going to work in a total of four continents (and if Kevin made it it would’ve been five, but he’s already in Brazil).  It was really interesting to hear about what everyone would be doing and I got advice from two people who had already worked in Uganda for extended periods of time.  Even though most of us will only go a couple of months without seeing each other, it was saddening to see everyone for one last time.  Alli already left yesterday for Bahrain and won’t be back until the beginning of school.  Haneen and Yousef are departing next week to Palestine and Denmark, respectively.  Heidi’s going to Colorado for a summer job before joining up with the Peace Corps.

The whole idea of me going to Uganda in two weeks and staying there for two months is still hitting me slowly.  I’ve never done anything like it.  Unlike some internships, I’ll be the only foreigner in my group and I’ll be doing work with which I’m pretty unfamiliar.  I’m still figuring out the logistics of where I’ll be staying and what I’ll be doing.  All I do know if that I’ll be in Uganda for nine weeks, and that part will be very exciting, even if I’m totally unprepared.

Without Objection

Posted on by

Yesterday evening, the United States House passed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009.  I was at home watching C-SPAN and was elated to hear it pass.  A number of representatives made statements on the floor about the atrocities carried out by the LRA, including all of the original co-sponsors and both the chairman and ranking Republican of the Foreign Affairs Committee.  In theses statements, several representatives mentioned the work of advocates and activists.  And boy it’s been a long haul for a lot of the people I know.  Invisible Children made a sweet video breaking down everything I’ve written here, so feel free to get some visuals. In April of 2009, nearly 100,000 activists took to the streets in 100 cities around the world for a campaign that ended six days later in Chicago.  In May, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KA) introduced the bill, and a piece of partner legislation was introduced in the House by a trio of representatives.  A month later, 1700 activists descended on Washington, DC for two days – the most for any lobbying initiative.  The months since have been dotted by district meetings all over the country, and slowly the support trickled in.  In addition to lobby meetings, over 250,000 signatures were gathered for the Citizen’s Arrest Warrant for Joseph Kony and were hand-delivered to the State Department.  When Senator Tom Coburn tried to block the bill from passing in the Senate, a grassroots campaign led to activists sleeping outside of his office for 262 hours until he removed his hold (and the bill passed with unanimous consent). The bill gained the support of 65 Senators and 201 Representatives, the most of any policy bill in this session and the most for any Africa-related bill in either chamber in modern American history.  And on Wednesday it passed the House by voice vote and without objection. If you want to know more about what this means (and doesn’t mean), my friends at Resolve Uganda put together a break-down Q & A and John Prendergast wrote an article for Huffington Post about the bill as well.  The main thing you should know is that it will soon become law for the US to help apprehend Joseph Kony.

UPDATE (5/14) – Kim and I totally saw an Invisible Children ad on TV last night.  Totally weird, totally cool.  If you get Halogen.tv you should check out all of the IC films they’re showing. :D

UPDATE (5/15) – A couple more links for everyone! Senators Russ Feingold, Sam Brownback, and Jim Inhofe, together with Representatives Jim McGovern and Ed Royce issued a joint statement celebrating the passage of the bill that you can read here.  And, props to Resolve Uganda are in order.  The organization called for supporters to ask for statements from their representatives.  Their goal was five (only about 10 have made statements on this issue in the past ten years) and by the time the bill came to a vote fifteen statements had been made.  You can see a full transcript of the statements on Resolve’s website.

Of Canines and a Couple

Posted on by

So, the dog-hunt is continuing.

A couple of weeks ago, we singled out an adorably big Great Dane named Thor.  He was a total cutie and, on paper, was a real sweetie.  The only drawback was that we were not 100% on how good he would be with cats.  So, Kim and I went out to meet him two weekends ago.  Half-way there, we called the rescue and she informed us that Thor had been kicked in the head by a horse and was in the hospital.

After several worrisome days,  Kim and I debated what to do for a while.  We anxiously waited to hear how Thor was doing (hopefully improving), but we also did not even know if he would have been okay with cats in the first place.  Plus, the injury could have A. changed his temperament, 2. left him with special needs that we could not provide, or III. delayed meeting him until I was gone, making the decision-making process that much more difficult.  So we kept in touch with the rescue and also looked at other ones.

We recently received word that Thor is alive and recovering, but that it will be a long haul.  Our hearts go out to him and hope he recovers speedily and finds a great home.  The lady at the rescue recommended some other dogs and said she would help us out in finding another to adopt.  This passed weekend we met a gentle giant named Callista.  She’s really cute and kind, and I think we’re smitten.  She fits literally every one of our needs: she’s good with cats, good with rats, can stay in during the day, loves to lay around, doesn’t bark too much. Oh, and she runs like a giraffe, and who doesn’t like that?

So, we’re trying to clean up the house in preparation for a doggy.  The plan is to get a dog soon and get to know each other.  I’ll be gone for most of the summer, but Kim will be able to get said dog used to our home and find a routine.  When I return I’ll jump right in the mix and we’ll have two people instead of one when school starts and we both have more hectic schedules.  Current status is that we are waiting to hear from somebody to do a house-check to make sure we’re good to go.

Team CoCo

Posted on by

So this post is way late.  Busy times call for blog delays, but I’ll try to make it up to you in a short amount of time, but that’s for another post.  With nary another delay, I present the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.

Kim and I went to CoCo’s Show-Show on Friday the 30th at Dodge Theater.  When we got there it was hella packed, and as we walked in we saw Pender out talking to people. Totally cool, right?  We went in and got situated in our seats, fairly central to the crowd and with a decent view of the stage. Also to note, there were several bars in the lobby area of the theater – totally normal – but there was also a bar in the theater.  Like, exit stage right.  I haven’t been to too many theaters before, but I thought that was pretty different.

The opening act for the show was Reggie Watts, who was a very interesting dude.  He was a pretty funny guy and will be on Comedy Central soon (if not already).  His routine included a number of really good accents and he did a lot of music as well.  The cool thing was that he was mixing music on stage, which I’ve never actually seen anybody do so it was pretty neat.  His songs, just a disclaimer, are not songs to play for your grandmother. Doesn’t make them any less awesome though!

Then! The Legally Prohibited Band showed up!  They played some great music right off the bat, and the three men on brass went into the crowd. One thing I learned that night was that Mark Pender can hold a note like a champ.  The screen then showed a short story about Conan between getting fired and starting the tour – including massive beard and pot belly.  And then Conan came out (less beard and less belly) – in a Phoenix Suns jersey! It was pretty awesome.

Conan addressed recent happenings with NBC and the Tonight Show, obviously. He explained a bit about how he’s been doing since, adding lots of comedy but some definite statements in there (when going through stages of losing one’s TV show, he said he skipped passed blaming himself because “what the Hell did I do?”) but he moved on quickly to music, with the CoCo-ettes dancing at his side.

The show overall was a great mix of music and comedy, including a number of tributes to Late Night fun like the Chuck Norris lever and…. shudder…. Triumph.  They also had some fun random things like the bat out of hell and Andy Richter riding a horse.  Conan even sang a song about his childhood.  Also he wore a paisley suit, which I do not condone. For anyone.  But! In the end, Conan ran out into the crowd while playing guitar and actually came pretty close to us, but he was running so fast with those gangly legs that I couldn’t get a decent picture of him.  Alas, I’m going to stop talking and let you look at pretty pictures:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Homestretch

Posted on by

Today (Tuesday) was the last day of classes for this semester!  I had one class and one final today, and tomorrow’s Reading Day so there’s nothing going on there.  The next week includes two more finals, a paper, and a portfolio made up of a lot of things that I need to put together.

Looking back, this semester was not the best. Less as a result of the courseload and more a combination of that and my schedule.  Spending days running back and worth between work, school, and my placement wore of me pretty quickly.  For the next few weeks, things will be more relaxed and that will be nice.  Over the next few days it will be a lot less back-and-forth and just a couple choice trips to school and some homework.  After that, it will just be working and then doing things around the house.

I’m assuming future posts will keep you updated on the wind-down of school and preparations for the wedding and the internship.  But! I have a teaser for you.  A pending blog-post will be about Kim and me going to see CONAN last week.  Here’s the teaser:

A Workin’ Man

Posted on by

So, I have a job.  Out of school, I usually work between 30 and 40 hours a week.  During school, I’ve usually worked a decent 20ish hours a week.  I get work done, I have a little down-time, I get paid well.  This semester, though, my schedule has sucked something fierce.  I tend to work 14-16 hours a week, if I do nothing but go directly to and from school and work. It’s been a stressful situation, but it’s getting me by.

This summer, instead of working 30+ hours/week and earning some dollar bills, I’ll be doing quite the opposite. I’ll be working for no money and actually spending money via tuition, flight, board, etc. Thankfully, my employ has said that I can return to the same job without issue.  Yay!

Problem is, my schedule next semester will be even worse. I’m looking at about 12 hours per week. In addition to an all-time low, it will be as I recover from a summer of spending and look ahead to the spendings of our wedding.  Needless to say, it’s a troublesome situation.  So, I might be looking for a second job or a different job.  The problem is, another job simply won’t pay as well.  I might be able to get more hours, but I’ll probably make less per hour.  I’m hoping hoping hoping that I can find a waiting job and get a little bit of tips here and there. Maybe I’ll go to bartending school or become a CEO at Goldman Sachs.

Man’s Best Friend

Posted on by

Ever since… well, the dawn of time, Kim and I have talked about getting a dog.  Back at the apartment, we kept our hopes at bay due to money and the fact that we still had Kim’s cats at her parents’ house.  Now that we have our own place, we’ve been itching for a canine companion.  This whole semester since we’ve moved here, we’ve been bogged down with busy school and work schedules.  In a few weeks, though, we’ll have better schedules.

In recent months, I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a dog to keep Kim company while I’m gone.  Well, we talked it out and are excited to see if we can get a dog soon.  If we get it right as school winds down, I’d be here for the first few weeks of introducing the dog to the house and its inhabitants.  Once I get back, I’ll have some time to catch up before school starts.  Then, Kim’s and my schedules will work a little better next semester for taking care of a dog.

So, Kim has e-mailed a few local rescues and there is this one adorable giant that we’re hoping for.  The lady that runs the rescue has been very receptive, and we’re just waiting to hear back from her so we can find time to go visit and decide.  After a lifetime of wanting a dog and several years of talking about it with Kim, we might be getting a dog super soon.  Needless to say, I’m freaking excited!

Getting my Betta in the summer of 2007 was exciting, Gruber was my first pet ever and he was awesome (as awesome as a solitary fish could be).  Getting the rats once we moved to the apartments was a huge step for me, and I loved hanging out with them.  Lately I’ve been neglecting them a little bit but I hope to interact with them more in the future.  Kim’s cats are awesome and it’s been interesting trying to adapt to having furry quadrupeds with jingly collars roaming freely.  I’m excited to see what a gangly dog would do to the mix. :D

Social Consciousness

Posted on by

So, I haven’t posted in ten days.  What a slacker!  I will make up for it by posting a thousand times this week*.  It’s been a busy few days.  I’m waste-deep in schoolwork, trying to figure out the logistics of getting myself to Uganda, and trying to move forward in wedding planning.  I think a few blog posts will be forthcoming to address all of the recent events.  The first of which will be a post which I am very proud to write.

In September of 2007, I started a student organization to help end a war.  Lofty ambitions, I know – but it all began with raising money to rebuild a school.  Each spring, Arizona State’s Student Organization Resource Center (SORC) holds a Hall of Fame awards event honoring some of the clubs on campus.  I’ve thrown our name in the mix every year, mentioning camp-out events and national conferences, fund raisers and educational screenings.  Each year, I’ve nominated us for the Social Consciousness Award, and each year we haven’t even been mentioned.  But this year?

This year our bullet points looked pretty damn good: we contributed to the Rescue, How it Ends, Schools For Schools, the Hometown Shakedown, the Legacy Tour, and our own lobby days.  I had high hopes at the award ceremony.  I was talking to the guys at my table – part of a society for business majors – and they wished me luck.  I was listening to what the other groups had done and, albeit great work, I was convinced that we were going to win this year.

WE WON!  I was so ecstatic to be recognized!  I marched on up there, probably with a goofy smile, and accepted a fancy framed certificate.  It was a good feeling to hear my club’s name at the awards ceremony.  Thinking back, the past year’s work has included the help of soooo many people and I appreciate it so much.  Looking forward, I hope that we can keep it going and run again next year.  Talking with club members and supporters from the community, I think we’ll be able to keep up the work.  I guess the work starts now?  Let’s go!

*1000 = 2 or 3, probably.