Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Mom threatens 'Chuck E. Cheese'
MACON, Ga., June 29 (UPI) -- A mother angry that a Macon, Ga., Chuck E. Cheese character wasn't paying enough attention to her child, allegedly threw a pizza at the character.

The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph reported Tuesday the 17-year-old girl dressed as Chuck E. Cheese was also allegedly threatened by the mother.

The unidentified angry mother threatened to "whip" the girl when she changed out of the costume -- a gray cartoon-like rodent with large front teeth.

Police said no charges have been filed.

--

Copyright 2004 by United Press International

Monday, June 28, 2004

Paper claims woman gave birth to frog
TEHERAN, Iran, June 27 (UPI) -- An Iranian newspaper reported Sunday the story of a woman who claims to have given birth to a frog.

The BBC reported Iranian newspaper Etemaad printed that the creature was believed to have grown from larva to an adult frog inside her body. The paper quotes medical experts as saying there are human characteristics to the animal.

It has been speculated that the unnamed woman unknowingly picked up the larva while she was swimming in a dirty pool, the BBC said.

In the 17th Century, Catharina Geisslerin, known as "the toad-vomiting woman" of Germany, claimed to have incubated amphibians inside of her body. However, when she died in 1662, doctors found no evidence animals had ever lived inside her body.

--

Copyright 2004 by United Press International.

Here's a more complete article on this weird event.


On : 6/28/2004 7:17:11 PM diego (www) said:

you're people are weird

Sunday, June 27, 2004

I got a new computer! It's a Sony Vaio, one of the new black ones with the "water cooling system." The only problem we've been having is that we want to network it with the other 2 computers we have. We've been having a lot of trouble, so if any of y'all know how to do wireless networking I would love it if you could help me (oh please, oh please, oh please!). We called Linksys troubleshooting and guess where they're located: India! You'd think a 1-800 number would at least be in the US.



On : 6/28/2004 7:17:48 PM diego (www) said:

i can help you out. send me an email or IM me to let me know what the problem is.

On : 6/29/2004 12:56:05 AM gp (www) said:

i forget what they call it, but all companies are doing this... tech support overseas sourcing (not what they call it) to india and bangladesh. sun and ibm did it.. why not linksys? a lot of people here are jobless now. whats to do...

On : 6/29/2004 5:57:32 PM diego (www) said:

the word you're looking for is outsourcing, gp. Dell made headlines because of outsorcing too. I had a first-hand encounter with their India tech support one week. It took about 16 hours of phone calls for them to send over a new hard disk for the PC I was troubleshooting.

On : 6/29/2004 7:47:43 PM gp (www) said:

its not outsourcing. outsourcing is when a company "leases" their employees as consultants.. this is something different.

On : 6/29/2004 9:00:48 PM Will K (www) said:

pete, I am sorry you are incorrect. :P
Outsourcing is when a company replaces a previously inhouse division with an outside service.

On : 6/29/2004 10:39:16 PM Maryam (www) said:

I'll settle this impartially: Webster's definition of outsourcing is "the practice of subcontracting manufacturing work to outside and especially foreign or nonunion companies." Interpret that as you see fit.

On : 6/30/2004 7:06:32 PM diego (www) said:

so did you ever work out your wireless network problems?

On : 6/30/2004 8:39:39 PM Maryam (www) said:

Oh, yeah I did. Thanks for your offer, Diego.

On : 7/2/2004 3:56:00 AM gp (www) said:

offshore outsourcing (or offshoring) was what i was looking for. and yes i was mistaken.

On : 7/2/2004 6:32:05 PM Maryam (www) said:

I love a man who can admit when he's wrong. It shows strength. You get a big hug from me, gp.

Friday, June 25, 2004

I found this in Blogger news when I logged in today. Here's to Iranian female bloggers!:

So Farsi So Good

Blogging boom gives Iranian women a voice: "Take one exasperated Iranian woman. Add a computer. Hook it up to the internet. 'And you have a voice in a country where it's very hard to be heard ...'" Nice! Maybe that should be in our tour.
– Biz [6/23/2004 11:59:05 AM]

Speaking of Iranian women, I did see The Circle and Secret Ballot. They're both films that aren't that great as movies, but they do raise some important issues. Of course, these issues are handled much better in other films. Secret Ballot was the worse of the two. It moved very slowly. I literally fast-forwarded through scenes to get to the dialogue. The main issue raised in this film is that although Iranian women have to ask their husbands permission to do everything else, voting is the one decision that she can make on her own independent of her husband. There were several women in the film who were covered Afghan-burka style, which the filmmaker meant to signify as being the truly oppressed women, not the ballot-official who was just wearing a scarf and chador. There's also one point where a 12 yr old girl asks to vote. The ballot-official says that you have to be 16 to vote. The girl's mom says, "Hey if she's old enough to marry at 12, she should be old enough to vote." You can see the look of shock on the ballot-official's face and you she wants to say, "If you're 12, you shouldn't be getting married anyway," but she holds her peace and politely says that she must follow the law. Secret Ballot is one of several Iranian films that seeks to expose the backwardness of the tribes in southern Iran. A much better film that does this in a very entertaining way is Aroos Atash (the Bride of Fire). The Circle, however, seeks to expose the oppression of women in the city, thus it was banned. The idea here is that the government is helpless against ancient traditions in the tribes but they themselves have cause the suffering in cities. No government wants to be told that they have done that, so these films are banned. The Circle also lags at many points (too many long closeups) and in the end nothing is resolved. You don't find out what happens to any of the characters, or what happened to them before the film started. You're sort of just given a snapshot of a couple of hours in their lives. I would recommend this film if you want to know more about how women are really treated in Iranian cities. I don't recommend it if you're looking for excitement or entertainment. It's more art-house than that.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

I took my second O Chem test yesterday. I think it went ok (knock on wood), but I won't find out how I did until Monday. I've been reading up on this Bio class I'm taking at CCCC this fall. It's an online course called Anatomy and Physiology Basic. The web courses go really fast so I'll have to up at 8am Monday to register. If I do that, it means that next term I'll be taking 20 hrs at 3 different schools. Let the good times roll.


On : 6/27/2004 9:55:34 PM Samwise Tangee (www) said:

oh, if only Engineering classes could be taken online!....ah, but again, 'tis the life I've chosen! Congrats in advance on your very awesome O Chem grade that I know you're going to get!! =)

On : 6/27/2004 10:06:20 PM Maryam (www) said:

Oh, Sam, you're so sweet! Thank you in advance (I hope, I hope, I hope!).

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

How Iranian are you?

My score: 28

21-30: You've probably been living in the West for most of your life. You speak Persian with a slight accent but you're in touch with your culture. You think that there are attitudes in the West where you think are more suitable than your own and you try and mix yourself a bit. You're conscious that your not fully Iranian nor fully 'Xa'reji'. You sometimes wonder where you really belong in the world. You may have been to Iran a few times and enjoyed it but since you've lived in the West for so long you can never really go back.

The First Letter Analysis

Mine says:

M You are emotional and intense. When involved in a relationship, you throw your entire being into it. Nothing stops you; there are no holds barred. You are all-consuming and crave someone who is equally passionate and intense. You believe in total sexual freedom. You are willing to try anything and everything. Your supply of sexual energy is inexhaustible. You also enjoy mothering your mate.

Monday, June 21, 2004

Today's film: Snow Man (Adam Barfi). This film is about an Iranian man living in Turkey who's trying to get into America. To achieve his goal, he must dress as a woman. It was banned in Iran (cross-dressing is not considered to be appropriate behavior plus the film addresses the desirability of women who wear hijab). The film was multi-lingual as well: Farsi, English, and Turkish are spoken throughout. I linked y'all to the page that offers it with English subtitles if y'all are interested. It was very funny and truly showed what life is like for an Iranian in Turkey working to get the US visa (I'm speaking from personal experience as I have been in that situation myself). Also, here's a link to Bringing Down the House of Sand and Fog.



On : 6/23/2004 9:39:30 PM Samwise Tangee (www) said:

hey, I scored a 4 on that Iranian quiz!....... = | I'm, uh, sort of at a loss on what to do with it, though. Maybe I'd better remain a proud man of Chinese descent. Besides, EVERYBODY knows that everyone came from China, and as they left, they became "barbarians!" =) ...yes, I know, I will be slapped sooner or later...anywho, you know, my ancestors were royalty, I believe it was during during the Han dynasty! ...till my ancestor, who was an emissary to the emperor, decided to build a tower around his governing city instead of a Buddha...oh well!

On : 6/24/2004 5:04:32 PM prettydoc (www) said:

Sam, we share a common bond of having powerful royal ancestors until they screwed themselves over. Be proud of your dysfunctional ancestors! Oh, Sam, I would be happy to make you an honorary Iranian, but then I don't know if that would be a big honor, haha. I say just be proud of who you are, and we are all so proud of you, Sam.

On : 6/24/2004 11:37:27 PM gp (www) said:

i saw khandahar last night. i believe it was directed by an iranian.. but it was a documentary* about an afghan woman traveling in afghanistan during the taliban regime. not a great movie, but a good view of women in islam.

* not really a documentary, but filmed like a documentary and with horrible acting.

On : 6/25/2004 12:45:37 AM Sammy (www) said:

Hey, I just confirmed my ancestral history with my dad...it turns out my ancestor/emissary to the emperor was actually quite innovative building bridges across rivers and hard-to-traverse areas (only more efficient and faster than the high five construction...but I'll save that soapbox for another day!). However, building bridges were apparently frowned upon during that oh-so-entrepreneur-friendly administration, and was given the boot from Peking (Beijing) to the Fujian province, specifically the city of Xiamen, a treaty port-city that was opened after the British victory of the Opium War...that's government for you!...But in a sense, I'm happy (one might say thankful to God) that they were kicked out, as during the hostile takeover of our Commie "friends" it was easier for my grandparents to escape to the magical islands of the Philippines...interestingly enough, my great-grandpappy was a well respected doctor, who did charitable wonders for the poverty-stricken community, and to this day, the entire city still remembers him and will treat the Tan as if we were royalty

...all in all, ancestors are cool, and I want to be one when I grow up...oh, right..there's the whole getting married and having children and grand children part...bah! minor details!

Sorry!....maybe I shouldn't be commenting on people's blogs at 12:48 in the morning anymore

On : 6/25/2004 10:57:10 AM prettydoc (www) said:

gp, my parents saw Kandahar and they strongly disliked it as a film so I never got to see it. Sam, very cool history lesson. You're very diplomatic when in charge so of course you're a royal. My royal ancestor was a prince who ruled Mashhad (essentially founded the city as we know it today). He built the first school there as well as other infrastructure. His children continued to rule until the fall of the Qajar Dynasty in, I believe, 1929. But I still get to keep the title of Princess so that's pretty cool.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

I watched 2 Iranian films today. The first was Bread, Love, and Motorcycle 1000(Naan, eshgh, va motor hezar). It was about a woman who's forced to marry a mechanic to get her inheritance. It was an excellent film and very funny. The second was Pastry Girl (Dokhtareh Sheerny Foroosh). It was also very good. It was about a man and woman who want to get married, but everytime they make it to the alter the girl's mom and the guy's dad start fighting and call off the wedding. By the time the film starts they have already been to the alter 8 times. There are 4 more movies left to get through.
Last night we went to Kasra Resaurant for some Persian cuisine. It opened on Tuesday and hasn't done any advertising. When we got into the parking lot and were in the process of parking our Expedition, this guy in the car behind us got out and starting saying, "You nearly hit me, motherfucker. Get out of your fucking car!" My dad just stuck his head out and said, "Sorry, I just couldn't see you" and stayed right where he was. The guy came up behind our car and kept yelling and I slumped in my chair because you never know what the other guy has in his car (reference the season finale of ER). The guy saw we weren't in the mood to deal with him and drove off. We went in the restaurant and ordered. The restaurant was beautiful and had live music (piano and violin). Half an hour later our food still hadn't arrived. My dad called a waiter over and asked him about the delay. The waiter said, "Well, have you ordered?" and my dad said, "Yeah, 1/2 hr ago." The grill is fully visible throughout the restaurant and we could see that it was empty. The waiter came back and said, "The chef just put the meat on the grill." My dad said, "He just put it on now?" The waiter said, "Uh, I mean it's been on..." My dad said, "Tell me the truth." The guy said, "Um, your food will be right out." Five minutes later another waiter came by and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but we've been out of Kabob Barg (steak kabob) so it takes us some time to make it. We have had so many orders all day and we've been having to make everything from scratch. I apologize but it will be out soon." We offered to change our order, but the guy said that it wouldn't be necessary. He then brought out some complimentary salad to tide us over. Well, 1/2 hr later the food finally comes out. What they did was give everyone their own plate of rice and then placed the kabob on large dishes in the center of the table, so it's sort of family-style. The kabob wasn't really that great, it was just OK. But we were so hungry we just ate everything. After dinner, we walked over to Talar Andishe, a small Persian cafe that also rents out movies and sells CDs and books (it's owned by J&J photography). It's located to doors down from Kasra. We rented 7 films (including The Circle and Secret Ballot) and talked to the owner who was saying how Kasra's owner had told him that he had purposely not advertised because he wanted to work the kinks out the business first. The Kasra owner was shocked that this many people had come to his restaurant after being open for only 3 days. He simply hadn't made enough food or bought enough ingredients. When we came home we felt obliged to see one movie, so we chose The Stranger (Gharibeh), about a guy who's forced into retirement by his company so he goes from job to job until he's finally screwed by his used car salesman brother-in-law.

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Defensive driving was fun. About 1/2 the people there had gone to my high school (albeit graduating after me) and 1/2 of those people had just graduated last month. The rest of the people there had children who were in the same circumstances, so we could all share our Plano West experiences. The instructor had been a PISD bus driver so she had plenty of stories too. In fact, the whole class seemed like one big 6 hr storytime that was chockful of breaks. My first break I head over to Eckerd and grabbed Lemon flavored Infusion Water by Arizona. Then during the lunch break I walked over to Grandy's and had a Grilled chicken platter with green beans, corn, and coleslaw. As I was eating the green beans I realized that there was bacon in them! Totally freaked out, I brushed them aside and started scouring my corn to see what kind of porky surprise was awaiting me. Luckily my corn and cole slaw were safe. What kind of freaks puts bacon in the green beans! Well, my Grandy's lunch wasn't that great anyways. I should have gone to Burger King. See, Classic Driving School is an institution in the adolescence of all West Plano-ites. During Driver's Ed everyone would make trecks to Eckerd's and Grandy's (some girls even went to Sally Beauty Supply to buy nail polish and would give each other manicures during the second half of class). And while attending Karen Dillard's College Prep (which I regrettably did not) they often partied at Burger King or Dunkin Donuts. Ditto while at Haggard Public Library. These are definitely staples of a teen's life in West Plano, so it was totally retro for me to go to Classic for my defensive driving class.


On : 6/20/2004 5:24:04 PM diego (www) said:

ugh....i got a ticket last week on the way back from UTD (that school is frickin cursed)....unfortunately defensive driving won't be an option for me....i'll write some more about it later this week once i have all the info.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Twins break same arm, same way, same day

LONDON, June 18 (UPI) -- Identical 2-year-old British twins reportedly to broke their left arms in the same place on the same slide on the same day.

Now, Mitchell and Elliott Cocks have matching plaster casts to go with their matching clothes and haircuts, the Daily Express said.

After Elliott tripped over the base of the backyard slide doctors found he had broken his left arm. Mitchell, who had fallen off the slide earlier, complained of his left arm hurting and it was discovered also broken.

"I couldn't believe it," Sarah Cocks, the boys' mother, said.

Meanwhile, brother Kristian, 12, is also in plaster after breaking a foot last week. He'd only just had a cast removed after falling off his bike and breaking his arm.

--

Copyright 2004 by United Press International.

Thursday, June 17, 2004



"Summer is the O.C. character you resemble most. Like Summer, you thrive on drama. You love to spend hours talking on the phone and you'll always do your part to keep a juicy rumor going. In your relationships you love the thrill of the chase, and are most interested in guys you see as challenges. Although you like to be the center of attention, you're not always as sure of yourself as you let on."

Click on Summer's picture to see which OC character you most resemble, courtesy of Seventeen magazine.

Another quiz: What is your theme song?

"God is a DJ" by Pink

"You love to have a good time, no matter what, and that's why Pink's party anthem is your theme song. You love being the center of attention and consider life your personal dance floor. Your top priority is to make the most of life, which for you means having as much fun as possible. Because of your contagious sunshiny personality you're always surrounded by a big group of friends—but they'd still love you even if you weren't always the life of the party!"
I've decided that if I was in the Simple Life, I'd be Paris, my sister would be Nicole, and my other sister would be Tinkerbell. That show's so funny even though it's pretty phony. As soon as I got to class today I started studying for the quiz and of course not listening to the epoxide lecture. Half way through class the professor said that he was going to make the quiz a take-home quiz. The students started saying, "Oh no, I studied all night for this!" I wanted to tell them all to shut up because if take-home quizzes are an option, I want to maximize the take-home quizzes. Then he said. "Don't be surprised if there's an in-class quiz on Monday." We're all like, ya gotta be kidding me. The thing is, when there's a quiz everything sorta stops and you put all your energy into it. Well, I was just glad that I taped my shows last night (although I did manage to squeeze in Sex and The City). Ah, thank goodness for timer record.



On : 6/18/2004 7:00:00 PM gp (www) said:

these quizes are the bane of my existance. a pox on quiz master's house.

my theme song? southern hospitality by ludacris..
no, i think probably something by flaming lips
or maybe some of the unreleased material from the flying jewfish.
or blood of abraham - the niggas, the jews

oh well.. no one will realize im sarcastic and no one will realize why my choices are so ridiculous. leave it to beaver.. giddy'up.

On : 6/18/2004 8:04:38 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I think your theme song should be "For Pete's Sake" by the Monkees: Love is understanding, don't you know that this is true, love is understanding, it's in everything we do. In this generation, in this loving time, in this generation, we will make the world shine. We were born to love one another, this is something we all need. We were born to love one another, this must be what we're going to be. And what we have to be is free.

On : 6/20/2004 4:49:03 PM gp (www) said:

are you accusing me of being fake?

On : 6/20/2004 8:46:15 PM prettydoc (www) said:

gp, I would never. I love you far too dearly.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

I picked up dinner at Pei Wei tonight. After I ordered my Mongolian Beef with Brown Rice the clerk asked for my name to put it on the order. I told her and then I went and sat down to wait. She walked over to another clerk who was a guy and said, "That girl's name is Maryam. Do you know her?" The guy was like, "Who?" She says, "That girl over there with the Mongolian beef order her name is Maryam. Do you know her?" The guy says, "What makes you think that I would know her?" The girl says, "Because you seem to know all the pretty girls who come here and I wanted to know if you knew that one too." The guys says, "No, I don't know her, but I want to." Y'all, alls I gots to say is DAAAAAMMMMMMNNNNNN!!!


On : 6/16/2004 9:08:19 PM diego (www) said:

nice.

On : 6/16/2004 11:26:21 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I know, I was like, where's my tape recorder? haha, mos def a cool moment.

On : 6/17/2004 12:25:16 PM gp (www) said:

ha. nice. how could you hear them? mongolian beef is the deal on wheels.. i used to order that. pure gold.

On : 6/17/2004 2:08:01 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I was in the to-go section, so basically I was sitting right in front of them. Since it's a loud place they had to scream to hear each other. Yeah, I'm the only one in my family that likes Mongolian beef. I'm trying to convert them, but it's a lost cause. They're garlic brocolli chicken people.
I got an 83 on my O Chem test. Yay!!!! I have proved to myself that I can do it and I'm going to go farther. I have a quiz tomorrow over alcohol (tee hee) so I'll be studying. But there's a lot of great TV tonight: The Simple Life 2, Quintuplets, Bonus Simple Life 2, Method and Red, Newlyweds season premiere, and The Ashlee Simpson Show. I watched Sex and the City on TBS last night. I love how this is edited so I don't have to be embarrassed to watch it with my sisters. I used to always have to watch it alone in hotel rooms (don't ask). God bless TBS editing, courtesy of Marie Shirtnleeve wife of Rich Shirtnleeve of Kidd Kraddick in the morning fame. It's on tonight too as part of their "5 nights of great sex" marathon, but I want to watch the Simpson sisters premieres on MTV. We'll see how this all plays out. So me and flashcards in front of the tube...don't you just love summer?

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Still haven't gotten my O Chem test back. I hope I did well. I spent all day in Frisco yesterday. I hit Sam Moon, TJ Maxx, and Ross. I mid a midday stop at the Starbucks in SuperTarget and grabbed an Izze Sparkling Grapefruit Juice instead of my unusual unsweetened black Iced Tea Lemonade. It was fantabulous!! I ended my day in Frisco with a grilled chicken sandwich with cinnamon apples at the Cotton Patch Cafe and a hot glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut. MMmmm, yumsters! I went threading today and the threader said, "Wow you just keep losing weight. Are you still just dieting?" I told her about how I started exercising too this past month and she was like, "so how much have you lost?" I told her it was 17 lbs and she's like, "wow, good for you girl!" How's that for a self-esteem boost?


On : 6/15/2004 9:47:14 PM diego (www) said:

awesome. keep up the good work with the diet.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Studyin hard for my first O Chem test tomorrow. My elliptical machine broke for the 3rd time, so 3 strikes and it's out. That means I'll have to work out at UTD after my test. I must make an A. Peace out.

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Tonight we had some people over. They're the son and daughter of one of my dad's best friends in college. They grew up in Holland but go to college here at TWU and TCU. When my dad was in Holland he stayed with them and when they're dad came here he always stayed with us. I've only seen the kids twice before but each time we always get along really great and have a good time. We like each other very much. The son is beautiful and is one of the 4 guys I know that can stop traffic with their good looks. The daughter is equally stunning and my age (her bro is 21). We got along great tonight as we always do and I exchanged cell numbers and email addresses with the sister and look forward to getting together with her for lunch or the movies. They're really two of the most genuine people I know and I'm glad they're in DFW.


On : 6/12/2004 10:00:39 PM diego (www) said:

come on maryam, aren't you gonna introduce me to this girl? i can tell ya if she's really hot.

On : 6/13/2004 12:02:04 AM prettydoc (www) said:

Anytime, man. I'll hook you up.

On : 6/13/2004 5:45:49 PM diego (www) said:

that's what i'm talkin about
Last night was very MidEast: Turkish food, Arabic dance, and Iranian movie. We head down to Inwood village in anticipation of the highest grossing (and most controversial) film in Iranian history, Marmoolak (The Lizard). We first went to Cafe Istanbul, which is right behind the Inwood theater for some Turkish cuisine. They had great Beef Shishkabob but the Lamb was too greasy. I really enjoyed dinner. In the middle of our meal, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the restaurant had a bellydancer! She was very fit (thank God!) and was very talented. She could take a coin and move it around with her stomach muscles. Then she could lie down and put too teacups on her stomach, one full one empty. She then could pour the tea from one cup to the other without spilling using just her stomach muscles! Then she told a guy to drink from the cup while she still had it on her belly. It was great fun. She even danced to Ojos Asi! Finally, we head over to the Inwood theater to catch the film. It was by far one of the funniest movies I have ever seen! I have never laughed this hard during an Iranian film that wasn't a "Samad Agha" film or "Italia Italia." It was HI-larious! I loved the references to Spiderman and Quentin Tarantino, plus all the sexual references. Half of the laughter came from how the audience didn't expect to find those kinds of things in an Iranian film (the film was banned in Iran because of them), the other half came because they were genuinely funny. I don't know how much an American audience can appreciate this film though, but I would still encourage people to see one of the few great Iranian comedies.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

I got my O Chem quiz back: 95 baby! Can you believe I actually got an A? I was so psyched that when he gave it back to me I immediately ran out of class and called my mom. She was like, thank God you called because it was all I was thinking about. This score has really made me confident about the test on Monday, but I'm still studying hard. As a reward, we all went to the best Persian restaurant in Dallas, Giovanni's. Yes the name is Italian because they serve both Italian and Persian cuisine. Well we all got Kabob Soltanis and we were stuffed. Then my sisters and I headed to the movies and watched Harry Potter. It was great; way better than the first 2. I have a strong dislike for the 2nd film, but this one rocked. Cuaron's style is much darker than Columbus's, which was a big factor in why I liked it. Also, Harry actually got pissed off in this movie and guys just look hot when that happens. I mean, when they're not POed at you, of course. Hermione was as cute as ever. I love that girl, she reminds me of myself. Emma Thompson was not used enough, but her scenes were great too. Too bad her ex Kenneth Branaugh wasn't in this one. The new Prof. Dumbeldor was not as compelling as Richard Harris and didn't seem as wise. He was more like a silly old coot than a Yoda-like mentor. We miss you Richard, whereever you are. I watched the MTV Movie Awards. They were lame. At least I got to see Adam Brody.


On : 6/12/2004 10:01:54 PM diego (www) said:

i liked the movie alot. having cuaron (viva mexico!) direct it was a great call. i liked the darkness and it was awesome how harry got pissed off at the beginning. ah, teenage angst.

On : 6/13/2004 12:04:57 AM prettydoc (www) said:

Too bad they didn't use the Lindsay Lohan on SNL technique, haha. My sister and I made some dirty Harry Potter jokes during the movie, but I'll tell you those in private.

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

I got my quiz back. I got a 44. Yeah, I'll be dropping that one. OK, at least I won't need to know that stuff on any tests or our final. On today's quiz his multiple choice questions were all from last year's test 1. Thank God I studied it so I know I got those right. But the last question (worth 25 pts) was to find the structure using IR, MS, and NMR. Get this: I misplaced the OH! I didn't realize this until I got home, a good 3 hrs too late. DAMMIT!!! I really hope he just takes off no more than 5 since I showed a whole bunch of my work and he said that he grants partial credit. One of the questions had to do with the IR frequency of C-N, but there is no IR frequency of C-N in our book, so I used C=N's frequency. I hope that was right. (Crosses fingers) Oh, I just checked; I am right. Yes!!

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

The past week's Boondocks I like all the Iraq ones. The other two strips just aren't that funny.
Oh, here are some from the week before that that are also very good.

In other news, I took my first O Chem quiz today. My professor prefaced it by stating that this quiz would only count if it would help our average. Otherwise he would drop it and not count it as our one quiz drop. That's because our quiz was over O Chem 1, another course altogether. I think I did well on it though, knock on wood. I'll find out tomorrow when I take my second quiz over IR, MS, and NMR, or as I like to call it "alphabet soup."

Monday, June 07, 2004



These are my confessions...

Today in class my professor informed me that we would have a quiz tomorrow over O Chem 1, another quiz Wednesday over Ch. 12-13, and a test Monday over Ch. 12,13, and 10. Ah, now I remember why I dislike O Chem so much: the stress! Everything just happens so fast in that class. I went to Macaroni Grill for lunch (yay!). One of my friends who graduated from Columbia this year is going to tour Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua with her sister (my first best friend [from my deep, dark past] who happens to have the same name as me). I think it would be cool to do something like that. Hopefully I can travel somewhere someday sans the parental units. That would be fun. This student loan business is such a drag. Why does my school have to cost so much? I'm thinking of changing my little webpage message from "Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race" to "these are my confessions..." What do y'all think?

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Read this. It's absolutely fabulous. I've been a fan of Ms. X's X-rated O Chem site for quite a while now (I'm even using it to study for my quiz Tuesday), and I'm pleased to see that she now has a personal statement section to her site. Keep up the good work, Ms. X.


On : 6/7/2004 11:49:04 AM paranoid (www) said:

awesome

Saturday, June 05, 2004

Former President Ronald Reagan Dies at 93
While I never fully agreed with his policies (I'm what you may call a "bleeding heart liberal"), I always appreciated Reagan's status as "The Great Communicator." He knew how to please his audience and was always ready with the words his people needed to hear. His delivery was impeccable and his phrases timeless. I think no matter what your political ideology you can agree that he was a likable popular figure with certain moments that can bring a smile to your face ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"). I have a feeling that President Bush will milk his association with Reagan for all that it's worth this election year, however. As they say, that's politics.

Friday, June 04, 2004

I got my financial aid statement today. I hate how the grants just decrease as the years go by. I also went to a scribe meeting at work and somehow got stuck working tomorrow morning. I guess it's not too bad. I am ashamed at myself for wasting 2 hrs today watching TV when I should have been studying. I will stop and spend the rest of the night studying. Really, I will...


On : 6/5/2004 7:18:19 PM gp (www) said:

hey.. thank the stars you live in texas instead of here.. grant money is almost nonexistant and tuition is going up for residence and non-residence.. basically all the state schools in colorado are going to have private tuition within five years if things dont shapen up.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

I got my first speeding ticket today. I was leaving UTD and was on Floyd Rd. There were 2 cops on motorbikes waiting for people to come by so that they could stop them. When I was stopped the cop told me that I was going 40 in a 30. I told him I didn't see a sign (I hadn't) but he said he had to give me a ticket anyway. Right then the other cop stopped somebody else behind me. The cop told me w/ defensive driving I can get this off my record. That's nice. As soon as I left he stopped somebody else. My mom was a little mad, but she said she understood how Richardson PD can be (we used to live there). Now I have to "wait till my father gets home." That'll be fun. I saw that Persian guy from my lab at the UTD bookstore today. He's taking Physics (just like the rest of the premed class of 2006). He was wearing head to toe SMU gear, which I thought was a tad on the tacky side. I had a dream last night that starred Thomas Ian Nicholas and this one Persian guy I used to like who's now dating one of my friends. Hmm, if only I'd had a dream about getting a speeding ticket...


On : 6/3/2004 9:27:40 PM diego (www) said:

the only ticket i've gotten so far, i got at UTD. took a left turn illegaly. what made it illegal was the time of day that i took it at. bah. luckily it was the UTD police and i only had to pay a 30 buck fine.

On : 6/3/2004 11:04:02 PM prettydoc (www) said:

What's up with UTD and traffic tickets?

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Ever since my grandma came it's been a world of 24/7 Iranian satellite TV. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet of music videos and "doctors" touting the next snake oil, uh I mean "vitamins that cure cancer." Those satellite channels used to be guilty pleasures, but now they're just annoying. To be clear, only one of these channels is actually from Iran. The rest are based in LA, thus the music videos featuring strippers pole-dancing. I was talking to my grandma and mid-conversation she says, "Wow, you look just like Jessica Simpson." Y'all may be surprised, but this isn't the first time I've been told that. Usually, though, it's attributed to my body shape. I was pretty surprised that my grandma knew who Jessica was, but then she started talking about the Kobe Bryant case and I was blown away. So she called me Jessica the rest of the day, which is weird cuz my sister calls me Mandy because she says I'm just like Mandy Moore. In 10th grade, everyone said I was "sooo Jennifer Lopez" and in 12th grade everybody said I was "soo Shakira." So just give me Britney's bod and Christina's voice, and I'm a certified pop star!


On : 6/6/2004 3:42:36 AM persianguy (www) said:

Agha Shabkhez' channel is ok. I don't like much Iranian TV channels, most of them are run by the monafeeghs (hypocrites). However, I do like Al-Manar, ITN, and Pars.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Iranians Face Crackdown on 'Immoral' Behavior

Our guest star this month is...my grandma! (What, you were expecting Brad Pitt?) She's my mom's mom and she arrived tonight at 6pm from sunny Los Angeles where she's been staying with my aunt and uncles for the past few months. I think we can show her a good time here. I started my O Chem 2 class today. The professor seems nice. He's really into BioChem and he said that he often uses medical examples because he knows that the majority of his students are pre-health. The thing is, he incorporates the powerpoints my previous teacher used with his own. Pretty strange considering those powerpoints were made by a professor at Richland Community College. Hmm... Well, at least I don't have to get a new textbook. At UTD the students have to buy their own scantrons (huh?) so I head over to the bookstore to pick those up and got a sweet UTD folder with Hawaiian flowers on it. I thought it was perfect for summer school. I also discovered Diet Snapple and picked up a bottle of Lemon Iced Tea. It really hit the spot as I made the trek to my car. My plan this week is get a parking tag and a student ID card so that I can use the Activity Center. I think I'm gonna like my new school.



On : 6/2/2004 4:31:04 PM Will K (www) said:

SMU students have to buy their own scantrons too.
I watched ... "Iran, Veiled Appearances" last night. Farsi is silly. Revolution is cool :P

On : 6/2/2004 7:09:32 PM gp (www) said:

one more question about children of heaven... is there some symbolism to the name? or is it just because they were nice kids?

On : 6/2/2004 7:44:45 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I've never heard of "Iran, Veiled Appearances." Is it a documentary? Ah revolution; it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. gp, I think there is symbolism behind the title of Children of Heaven because the Iranian movies that came out at that time that featured kids were all metaphors for the Iranian struggle under the current government. I'm not sure what the exact true meaning of the title is, but Majidi himself said that the film is symbolic of something else. There's a lot of theories out there, and I think there are some sites devoted to explaining the film.

On : 6/2/2004 10:21:02 PM Will K (www) said:

That post was at least two paragraphs. :P
Please correct.

On : 6/2/2004 11:51:53 PM prettydoc (www) said:

Right after you learn how to spell "learning" and "tomorrow."