I got tagged by Ama Duende for this, and it looks like it's going to be a slow Friday since it's raining and my students are canceling left and right.

("What, not come in for class just because it's raining?" Believe me, they have the determination of dead fish when it comes to attending classes. Any excuse---sick cat, broken sandal strap, spilled coffee on one's pants, forgot textbook at home---will suffice, until they come in and find out you won't let them make up the time they've missed.)

So:

The rules:

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.

What do you do EVERY day to take care of the earth's environment? What could you do more of?

Recycle. Almost everything. Have been doing it for almost 20 years. Because I am an old hippie, and because it's really easy once you get into the habit.

I could do more walking. The new neighborhood I'm moving to is just blocks away from a major shopping hub, and a lot of people in the area walk to the store. It's just that the crummy weather out here gives one a ready excuse to slip behind the wheel and drive.

I also have a bad habit of buying too much, so I need the car to carry everything home.

I'm almost done with packing all of my things at the old apartment. Some of the messier details still have to be attended to---mainly, dealing with the food I can't bring along with me or store while I'm waiting for apartment #2 to open up in June, and untangling the mess of wires on my computer and printer so I can unhook it and bring it back to my friend's attic where I am living right now. 

How could anyone fear this face?

If you're getting one, how are you planning on spending your tax refund?

I got mine over a month ago. Spent it already. Trying to pay my credit card balance down. ;_;

This is why the rebate stimulus plan will never work. I don't know of anyone who isn't over $600 in debt. They either are paying on a car, student or home improvement loan, or are carrying a pile of credit card debt. (Remember those offers, 7 percent or even lower interest if you switch your high interest credit balance to this credit card company? Ever have the damn thing suddenly jack up the interest and the monthly payment because you were late with a payment once?)

What's in my wallet? Nothing. 

I was reading Moonage Daydreamer's recent posts about the protests along the Olympic torch route by supporters of the Free Tibet movement and was wondering how one can ever separate politics from an international event like the Olympics. A number of Chinese spectators and participants in the torch run have complained that the Olympics are an athletic event that celebrates "brotherhood" (not my terminology) and excellence in sports, and should not be not be sullied by a bunch of Tibetan spoil-sports. However, as George Orwell pointed out in 1945

I am always amazed when I hear people
saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only
the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or
cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even
if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for
instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred,
one could deduce it from general principles.

http://www.george-orwell.org/The_Sporting_Spirit/0.html

It was also observed by a number of China scholars that the 2008 Olympics would become a location of political strife and violence as ethnic groups and areas like Taiwan would use the media's focus on China during the event to declare independence or try to draw attention to their plight. Besides Taiwan and Tibet, the Uighur region and much of northwestern China, which has a large Muslim population and a burgeoning independence movement (or a Taliban-like Islamicist group, depending on who you talk to), are also ramping up their own plans for protests at the time of the Olympics.

The grievances of Tibet and other ethnic areas within China's political borders have existed for a long time now---Tibet was violently seized by the Communist Chinese government in 1950 after many years of semi-autonomous rule; the Dalai Lama was forced to flee for his life when he was only 15 years old. The Olympics, which the Chinese government has wanted to host even while Mao was alive, will now force China to open itself to the international media and observers from everywhere. But the Chinese government now resents the attention: the Beijing Olympics are no longer a public relations campaign tightly run by a group of media wonks, but a news event with all the messy, uncontrollable spillage of tabloids, internet news sites and bloggers.

I'm curious to see how this is going to play out. I'm actually half tempted to apply for a journalist's visa to see if I'd be granted one.  

(I'm guessing not, since I've already posted where my sympathies lie regarding Tibet. Like the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's 1984, the Chinese have flunkies who scour the internet for all opinions on China and duly note who's been a bad blogger---anti-China----and who's been good---pro-China!)   

What was the last great epiphany you had?
Submitted by Ross.

Last night, while driving home in something that resembled a cross between a flood of wet cornflakes and the end of civilization, I began asking myself, "Why am I here, as opposed to Miami or Honolulu or San Francisco---any place that doesn't have snow?"

I had to seriously rein in an urge to keep driving west.There's nothing I want here anymore. Well, Eliza and Monty, but I could just load them in the back seat. And the goldfish, which can ride in a beer cooler. (Really. Works great as a fish carrier, just as long as you keep the cooler out of the sun.)

But I am mighty sick of the Great White North now.

Add to iGoogle

Fri

32°F | 23°F

Sat

34°F | 18°F

Sun

40°F | 20°F

What have you lost that you wish you still had?
Submitted by gunderson bee.

My house.

It's still too painful to talk about it, so I won't go on. But I feel like I betrayed it and everything it stood for in my family.

My farmhouse.

I just got an email from the Crash the Conventions blogsite, informing (warning?) us of the various hotels where the Republican conventioneers will be staying when they invade somnolent St. Paul in September.

I'm not in any mood to march on the Minneapolis Hyatt and wake up the GOP representatives from Idaho, as Crash the Conventions has suggested: I've had 'way too much of that lately and would not inflict that on my worst enemy. (Though come to think of it, it might be kinda therapeutic.) But it's interesting to see where the various delegations are staying. Arizona got the chichi St. Paul Hotel, which makes me wonder if Arizona Republicans are just that rich or if being from John McCain's home state had something to do with securing such luxurious digs. It's probably the best hotel in downtown St. Paul and I'd put my family up there if I could afford it. Delaware, Montana and Nebraska on the other hand got the Best Western Normandy Inn, which is a dump: I don't know why anyone would book a room there unless they were really cheap or really broke. The only notable thing about the place is that it used to house a bar that was frequented by attorneys waiting for juries to come to a verdict at the Hennepin County Courthouse. Smart reporters would hang out there and buy drinks for the lawyers of the more notorious defendants, then pump them for juicy details.

Some surprises: California is staying at the suburban Bloomington Sofitel, which is a hop and skip from where I work but 18 miles from the Excel Convention Center. I'm assuming they're hiring shuttles or limos to get to and from the convention. Vermont, Idaho, Kentucky and Maine are staying at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, another chichi hotel: the members of those delegations must have money tucked away, or a really well-heeled donor must be footing the bill. Illinois meanwhile has gotten into the too-hip minimalist-decor Millennium Hotel. The Walker Art Museum and the Guthrie both like to send its well-heeled clientèle and guests there: so either the Republicans from Illinois are at heart avant-gardians or they just like the idea of staying at the coolest hotel in the Cities.

Meanwhile the River City, which normally shuts down on weekends, is struggling with the thought, oh the thought! of keeping its bars open until 4 a.m. during the convention. Our erstwhile city councilman Dave Thune says he doesn't want "puking Republican lobbyists" staggering all over our downtown doorsteps (as opposed to the usual puking bohemian wannabes hanging out in Lowertown?), which has offended local Republicans who feel they have been slandered. Republicans, according to them, don't get drunk or puke.

I think I'll just find a good excuse to be out of town myself. I don't think any of this is going to be pretty come September 1.

Alabama - The Marquette Hotel
Alaska - Ramada Mall of America
American Samoa - Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis
Arizona - The Saint Paul Hotel
Arkansas - Embassy Suites Minneapolis-Airport
California - Sheraton Bloomington Hotel Minneapolis South & Sofitel Minneapolis- Bloomington
Colorado - Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis
Connecticut - Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Maple Grove Northwest Minneapolis-Arbor Lakes
Delaware - Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites - Minneapolis
District of Columbia - DoubleTree Guest Suites Minneapolis
Florida - Minneapolis Airport Marriott
Georgia - DoubleTree Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place
Guam - DoubleTree Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place
Hawaii - Embassy Suites Bloomington
Idaho - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Illinois - Millennium Hotel Minneapolis
Indiana - Embassy Suites Bloomington
Iowa - La Quinta Inn & Suites Minneapolis Bloomington West
Kansas - Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Bloomington at Mall of America
Kentucky - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Louisiana - Crowne Plaza Minneapolis North
Maine - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Maryland - Embassy Suites St. Paul-Downtown
Massachusetts - Crowne Plaza Bloomington
Michigan - The Northland Inn
Minnesota - Hilton Garden Inn St. Paul City Center
Mississippi - Embassy Suites Minneapolis-Airport
Missouri - Ramada Minneapolis Northwest & Water Park
Montana - Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites - Minneapolis
Nebraska - Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites - Minneapolis
Nevada - The Saint Paul Hotel
New Hampshire - Hilton Minneapolis
New Jersey - Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America
New Mexico - Holiday Inn Minneapolis Metrodome
New York - Minneapolis Marriott City Center
Northern Mariana Islands - Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Bloomington at Mall of America
North Carolina - Holiday Inn Minneapolis Metrodome
North Dakota - DoubleTree Guest Suites Minneapolis
Ohio - Radisson Plaza Hotel Minneapolis & The Marquette Hotel
Oklahoma - Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis
Oregon - La Quinta Inn & Suites Minneapolis Bloomington West
Pennsylvania - Minneapolis Marriott Southwest
Puerto Rico - Courtyard Minneapolis Maple Grove/Arbor Lakes
Rhode Island - Hyatt Place Minneapolis Airport-South
South Carolina - Hilton Minneapolis
South Dakota - Courtyard Minneapolis Maple Grove/Arbor Lakes
Tennessee - Ramada Mall of America
Texas - Crowne Plaza Hotel St. Paul-Riverfront
US Virgin Islands - Radisson University Hotel-Minneapolis
Utah - Sofitel Minneapolis - Bloomington
Vermont - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Virginia - Radisson University Hotel-Minneapolis
Washington - Crowne Plaza Northstar Minneapolis-Downtown
West Virginia - Crowne Plaza Bloomington
Wisconsin - Minneapolis Marriott City Center
Wyoming - Hilton Garden Inn Minneapolis St. Paul-Shoreview

---crashtheconventions.com

What is your "role" in your family?

With my parents and sibs it's "Let's go to ET and see if she can help us." Then they all get to blame me when things don't work out.

It's not exactly scapegoat. More like, "Wow, you're supposed to be so smart, but you really aren't since your advice never works for us."

(Not that they ever take it: I sometimes think there are people who enjoy having problems so they can say, "Yes, feel sorry for me! I am pathetic! You can never beat me in the sad department, no matter how bad your life is!"  But that's a contest I never want to win.)