London: a pictographic exploration

And now, a few images from excursions past

An outing to Regent's Park turns into a debauched Page 3 photo shoot


Kew Gardens has more than just lovely, rambling grounds. There's an aquarium too! Boy do I love a good aquarium!


They have a big orange house, too!


Hayley gets her hair cut and straightened!




A view from the kitchen in the BB corridor

Fingerprint specialist - as intriguing as that sounds, it just don't pay the bills

I was idly looking around the New York Times this morning when I read the following headline for a Times Select Op-Ed piece: "'Couching' Toward The Future - In The Graduates blog, Missy Kurtzweil and her friends worry about finding a job." I didn't read the piece because it's Times Select and I would have had to pay, but the title of the piece was enough to evoke in me the fear that has been popping up every now and then ever since I started grad school.

My plan has been to move back to Michigan for a while, find work there, and get a start at paying back my loans. And every now and then I look at job sites online in order to get a feel for what's out there. What's out there? Not much. A million jobs in sales - from cold phone calling, to radioshacking - and lots of opportunities for upward mobility at several Wendy's locations around the state.

A search for federal government jobs within Michigan displays a host of job opportunities that include joining the army, the National Guard, or working in some civilian military capacity. Other jobs include things like mine inspector, human relations specialist, or fingerprint inspector with the IRS (at $13.83 an hour!)

State government job searches look a bit more hopeful, but I still feel like I'm stretching it in imagining that I'm qualified for any of these jobs. I cross off all the probation / corrections officer positions; rule out the many positions open for unemployment claims administrators; and deem that, despite what I think, I'm not actually qualified to be a doctor or nurse. What we have left is an odd mish-mash of legal jobs, state workers (like paiges or gals friday, I'm assuming, as the pay is $8/hr), and a few departmental analyst jobs that require a comfort with statistics I just don't have.

But in the midst of all this is a position entitled State Office Administrator 17. I thought at first it was something along the lines of being an executive assistant, but when I explored it further, it turned out to be so much more. The job description reads as follows:

Serve as Director of the Urban Revitalization Division. Responsible for oversight of the Authority's programs, initiatives, and staff that focus on improving the quality of life for Michigan's residents by creating vibrant cities, towns, and villages. Responsible for evaluating and ensuring customer satisfaction surrounding urban revitalization efforts as well as overseeing, developing, and managing relationsihps with key partners involved in all efforts to revitalize Michigan's communities.

An opportunity to work with revitalizing Michigan cities? A chance to have a say in the cool cities project? That sounds awesome. I'm excited, I want to apply for that job right now, knowing I don't really have the requisite experience. But, boy, am I dying to get a part in that. And just reading something like that begins to calm me down. I remind myself over and over that Tony's mom works for that state and that knowing someone on the inside goes a real long way. At the very least, I don't feel quite so helpless now about heading back to Michigan.

Dust Mop

I'm not dead, I just have three big assignments to be working on. A presentation comparing school lunch policies in the US and UK, a paper on the effect of the nonprofit sector on social capital, and some sort of research proposal for law and regulation - which draws the most ire form me. I just don't understand why we're expected to kill ourselves with this huge assignment when it has nothing to do with our final grade. I don't mind work for the sake of work, but this is sort of overkill. Oh, but I don't want to fill this us with senseless complaining.

Here's something fun: last.fm. It allows you to type in the name of an artist you like, then plays you a n=bunch of music that's similar. It's better than pandora, which only takes some "scientific" factors and applies them to other artists, whereas this was just put together by people who know a lot about music and can determine, for instance, that if you area fan of Beachwood Sparks, that you will aslo probably like Buelah and the Flaming Lips (among many others). It's lots of fun. Tons, even.

So play and don't ever take law and regulation - these are my tips for the week.

Oh, and Dad will be arriving next Friday. I'm excited. We'll have oodles of fun. Just oodles!

In Which A Productive Week Is Blown To Bits

This week was reading week, which is meant to be a very productive time (as there are no classes) in which students catch up on their missed school work and get themselves organized for the last half of the term and all the impending papers.

Except, none of that actually happened, at least not for me.

Instead, I went floating, ate burritos, visited the Kew Gardens, and celebrated the Chinese New Year. I also read some of Trading Up: Consumer and Environmental Regulation in a Global Economy (David Vogel, 1995; Harvard University Press). And let me tell you, Professor Colin Provost was not joking when he said this was nearly a bedtime book. That man knows how to relax.

I also finished reading Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job, and I have to say: didn't like it. I didn't find it nearly as funny as Lamb, that being the only other book of his I've read and which I enjoyed immensely. This didn't strike me as funny or well-written at all. Bummer. And I was so excited.

I'm still working my way through Cat's Cradle, which must have you thinking, "That book is approximately 85 pages long, how can it possibly require a working-one's-way-through?" Well, I'll tell you that I've purposely only read a few pages a night (when I do have time to read it) and, furthermore, it is actually 191 pages long. Plus, when you've got David Vogel to fall sleep to, why go back to anything else?

Also, I've started eating dairy again as it was essential for my health. I'm also working my way toward eating fish. Who knows, by next week I could be eating raw bunny. Things seem to change pretty quickly for me.

Pictures forthcoming. Can I post movies here?

In Which I Finally Weigh In On The Issue That Will Define A Generation

I'm taking a stand. (What? Hayley - taking a stand? On an issue, no less? Nooo...).
Yes, I'm taking a stand against using the word random (except in completely legitimate, circumstances, which are nearly always scientific in nature, such as calculating the random sample error). Anyhow, the use of the word random has gotten out of control, has been for years now. It's time that we, as a thinking, literate people (am I giving us the benefit of the doubt?) start to stretch our imaginations a bit wider in attempting to describe a set of occurrences (or, for that matter, a single occurrence). So the next time someone says something that seems to come from nowhere, instead of describing that occurrence as random, describe it as chance, accidental, haphazard, unplanned, casual, indiscriminate, unmethodical, arbitrary, erratic. Maybe some of them won't work in the context, but I assure you that random does not fit into every context in which it is used. So please, for the love of all things sacred, stop describing everything as random.

(Note, I bet a lot of people who use the term random are also believers in fate. I have no empirical evidence for making such a claim, I'm just assuming from the number of people I assume to hold a belief in such a concept. Therefore, I find it odd that so many people who believe in fate also believe that so many occurrences are random. I'm sorry, but in this instance, we can't have our cake and eat it too.)

In Which I Celebrate My Happy Day

We had a Real Swell Time last night, celebrating the 25th anniversary of my being Alive. Wei, Terry, Kelli, Wan Lu, Neel, and I went to an Indian restaurant not far from Brick Lane. It was Punjabi food, which really only had one major repercussion for us: it was delicious. My god, it was delicious... (maybe it's that I'm hungry right now, but I'm getting lost in the memory of spicy okra, chana, and (oh help me) kulfi popsicles). Anyhow, after dinner we headed to bar in an alley just off Brick Lane. The Big Chill, it's called, and I liked it. The music was really awesome, though some of it might have been classified in a broader dance genre (and those who know me know how irate dance music makes me). Most of the music, though, had a central tendency toward gypsy/flamenco/ska. We met some interesting people (the Norse God Sven who was insistent that women cook for him), drank a fair amount, and then, headed home in the freezing rain. Before getting home, though, we stopped off for what has become a late night institution - falafel and chips (and by chips, I, of course, mean fries). I stood outside eating my chips while a street musician serenaded me to old Bob Marley tunes. I gave him all the change I had, which amounted to approximately 16p.

Completely frozen and exhausted, we headed home, where I was certain I would never be warm again. Several layers of pyjamas and some warm blankies will take care of that, though. It was a swell night and I wouldn't mind turning 25 more often.

Whilst in London Town...

This is why the British have a reputation for being so polite. I'd argue that they are no more polite than people anywhere are. Their signs are just written more politely. It's the word whilst that gets everyone. I can't stand the word, myself. It's more awkward than while, which rolls trippingly. The origin of whilst is in fact late Middle English, from WHILES + -t, as in against. (This is from the dictionary in my computer, which has proven an invaluable resource for me.) But whenever I see whilst written, I'll just say while in my head. It's kind of a jerk thing to do, but you gotta look out for number one, right?

Last night, I had a stellar dinner with Joedi, Rob, and Artur. We went to a place near school, called the African Kitchen Gallery. It was nearly as small as my room, with only four tables (I found out later there was a whole downstairs), and the menu was quite small as well. However, the food was fantastic. we started off with some plantains, which came with some sort of coriander (maybe?) dipping sauce. Then Joedi and I split the African Delight (more plantains, in a tomatoey stew thing), black beans in chili sauce, and some great rice. Oh boy, was it good. And spicy, too. Near the end of the meal, we were all wiping our noses incessantly, as the spice had opened up our sinuses. Made for a very pleasant dinner. They also brought us these little balls for dessert, though I have no clue what they were. They were good, though, and I ate them. Boy, did I eat them.

Finally, I went to the Primrose Hill Farmer's Market yesterday. It's part of a greater-London collective of farmer's markets. There wasn't tons there, but it was very nice and quite reasonably priced, as well. There are several of them throughout London (as previously implied) and some of them are quite large, from what I gather. I think I'll try utlizing those from now on. The produce is cheaper, it's grown in the UK (and within a 100-mile radius of London), and it's organic.

Because, see, I've got issues with the organic movement, as it were. I'm willing to believe that organic produce is better for you and for the environment. My problem is that all the health and environmental effects are negated when you're shipping grapes to the UK (or Lansing) from South Africa. Planes are major, major polluters. So my new goal is to try to limit myself to UK-grown produce. I might still buy bananas, but I'd like to see how viable this is.

You think I'm crazy, don't you?

In which two time-honored nemeses meet, face to face (math vs. political science - Tonight! One Time Only!)

Today I'm giving a presentation in Law and Regulation. The article I am presenting is called "Political Control Versus Expertise: Congressional Choices About Administrative Procedures." The primary point is this: "the degree of agency independence on any particular policy reflects the legislature's willingness to trade uncertainty about policy consequences for uncertainty about agency behavior." So, a legislative coalition has a policy to formulate and it can choose to either form the policy by itself or to delegate the policy to an agency in a bureaucracy. If it delegates, it then has to decide how much power it will give up. If the policy is quite technical, it will probably give up a lot of power so that the agency is free to flex its technical know-how. If the technical aspect of the policy is not that difficult or important, the legislators will have no need to give up much power. That's the gist anyway. The author used formal modelling to make her point. Formal modelling is where you take inherently unmathematical properties and turn them into mathematical proofs, such that you end up in a political science course trying to figure out what the utility of a(x)=-(z-c*)(squared) means. I still have no idea.

Anyhow, to make up for torturing you with that, I'm going to now torture you with this. It's long, I admit, but if you look at it in a few sittings, you'll be glad you did. It's really fascinating. And, of course, I'd like to read the guy's book.

Aside from legislative decision-making, this week has been all about food. Food security, the history of food, what makes good food, and, finally, my having given up dairy. Nobody knows how long this could last (especially not me) but I'm a few days in, and it's been alright. Positives: it forces me to eat way more vegetables, I'm ingesting far less cholesterol, I'm getting creative with cooking, I can't buy much crap anymore (no more candy bars or pizzas from school for me!) and my fiber intake is practically off the charts (which makes me fun at parties). Negatives: no more buying fun stuff at school (like candy bars or pizza) it takes a lot more effort, no more ice cream, and people think I'm insane. Giving up meat was very easy. Taking milk, cheese, and eggs out of the picture changes things considerably. But I really do like the challenge. It was what made being a vegetarian fun. I had to start being way more creative with my cooking. Now I just need to step that up a bit. Less cheese, more brown rice. I've been enjoying avocadoes a lot lately. Have you had one recently?

Also...

An addendum: This article appeared in the Lansing City Pulse on December 6 of last year. It mentions the efforts made by one of the Quality Dairy franchises near downtown to bring in fresh produce. In the article, the QD manager makes note that demand and the subsequent sales for produce were high. The market exists. It's just not a very upscale market.

My greatest concern, still, is price. This effort (assuming it goes through) has to avoid alienating the crowd it is primarily intended for. I'm really excited by the thought of being able to revitalize downtown Lansing, but it's important not to get carried away and to keep in mind the fact that a large proportion of Lansing residents rely on gas stations and convenience stores for a bulk of their grocery needs.