[	Current Mood	|	excited	]
[	Current Music	|	WUOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!	]

WUOG is back.... Lets treat her right this time people.

-r

Man this CUSH album is so good!

I thought their whole manifesto thing was hokey so I never gave them a chance. I am a believer now. As the manifesto says it's all about "The song winning".

On "Shining Glory" When Knott sings lines like "It's a shame about gravity" and "With her heart all concave" and then Tim Taber comes in on the last chorus with "You'll see my legs like seas". I can't believe how unbelievably good it is.

I think we actually have this at the station. I am gonna spin the crap out of this next break radio.

-r

[	Current Mood	|	angry	]
[	Current Music	|	CUSH - The Clouds are all the same	]

DAMNIT!!

I WANT MY W-U-O-G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Friend Bram had his own take on our trip to NOLA:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/goofygorilla/8848.html

The best part is the Doodle by a Nobel Prize winner he snatched and posted at the end of his report.


It should also be noted that our phrase for the whole week was:

"Forget it, (Bram/Robi). It's Chinatown."

Which is a line from the movie Chinatown.

-r

I have started using a new instant messenger program (Trillian) that lets you use all the major services at the same time. So you can add me to your list in all the following ways.

AIM: goodnessofit
Yahoo Messenger: remoterobi
MSN Messenger: remoterobi

Thats right, I can be your buddy 3 times over.

-r

You got iTunes?

Do you use it on a network (wireless or LAN)?

You wanna copy music from other iTunes users (with or without their knowledge)?

Then get this: OurTunes


It's like my first day on the old Napster.


I am gonna host a file sharing party at my house soon we'll all connect to the wireless and render those phony intellectual property rights useless.

-r

[	Current Mood	|	calm	]
[	Current Music	|	All things bright and beautiful - love and affection	]

So I am back from New Orleans where I attended the Public Choice Conference. Public Choice Theory is best defined as using a Rational Choice framework to analyze Political Science questions. It is exactly the "field" I want to be in so it was a good look at how the big boys do it.

The two best talks for me were " The Mean Voter Theorem under Proportional and Plurality Rule" by Norman Schofield and "Arrow Impossibility, Majoritarian Incoherence, and the Continuous Interpretation" by Geoffrey Brennan. If you are curious about what it is I want to do for a living then scanning one of these papers would give you some idea.

There was a round-table entitled "Can Academics be Bloggers? Can Bloggers be Academics? that was very interesting. Two of the bloggers were guys I had never heard of. One was a Political Scientist from Chicago named Daniel Drezner from his self-titled blog, and Chris Lawrence from Signifying Nothing . Although I wish they had gotten one of the guys from Marginal Revolution (a blog I actually read) it was still a good event. It was moderated by Michael Munger the department head at Duke (Poli-Sci). He is the Social Scientist I want to be like when I grow up (academically speaking). He was trained as an Economist and left for the world of Poli-Sci where he has done well.

I was able to see the 4th Nobel Laureate in my career. Dr. James Buchannan the winner of the 1986 prize was there all weekend and gave a brief talk. He along with Gordon Tullock (who was also there) we a few of the early pioneers of Public Choice Theory.

That was the day time events. Then there was the night time. I was there with my friend Bram (goofygorilla) and another classmate. Every night consisted of the same rotinue of dinner then going to Harrah's Casino, then to the French Quarter. The first night I entered Harrah's with $20 in quarters. By the end of the night I had turned it into $60 with my deft slot machine skills. My friends however were not doing so well. I won't replay their misery here but it was not pretty. The next night I again defied the odds and made it to the $90 mark. I had decided if I made it to $100 I would go play some table games. Then it all went south. I was loosing quarters left and right. Finally when I got down to $40 I had to stop. So we left for that night. The next night I lost the rest although at a slower pace after discovering the penny machines. So all in all I only lost the $20 in quarter I went in with. I was much better off than the others.

If you have never been to the French Quarter in New Orleans then there is no real way to explain it. For you Athenians think of Game Day but with no open container laws and everyone crowded onto like 3 streets. It was more or less pure insanity. We did find a neat little bar that was a calm in the storm called Patty O'Briens, so most of our time was spent there. The best part was occasionally spotting some of the more uptight participants of the conference (many not from the US) strolling down the street with looks of disbelief on their face. Everything you have ever heard about that town is true and it is a wonder that people don't die there in the streets ever night. I am glad to be safe and home in Athens.

-r

I got this CD in this week:


All Things Bright and Beautiful - Love and Affection

It is not anything like Luxury (or They Sang as They Slew for that matter). It is dense and tough to digest. But I may end up loving it (alot).


I also ordered and am reading this:



I ordered the two above for unrelated reasons, but turns out they are kinda related.

-r

[	Current Mood	|	calm	]
[	Current Music	|	They Sang as They Slew - Get Well	]

Interesting post today on Marginal Revolutions that had this startling graph in it.
Exerts from their post:

"What I don't understand is why the discussion of solutions focuses so heavily on AIDS drugs when condoms are cheaper and more effective in preventing spread of the disease."

"Condoms are cheap - even if not to every African they can be easily subsidized by donor groups or governments but there is still a large condom-gap in Africa."

"Note that in theory condom use could increase transmission of AIDS if it increases sex. Evidence from the US and elsewhere indicates this is unlikely in practice. "

So if you have not seen We V-E-R-S-U-S (don't spell it V/S) the Shark in a while. Do yourself a favor and see them. Last night they were on fire. I had been a bit disappointed by them for a couple of shows at the Caledonia (which I think is a bad venue for them anyway). They were a solid machine of Math-Dance-Rock last night. Hopefora was a little of a disappointment they seemed to be phoning it in a little and the songs were sloppy and they seemed distracted. But a weak Hopefora show is still gonna be better than not seeing them at all.

"I play music because I'm in love with silence and sound"

-r

So this post may only be of interest to those of you who go to UC but maybe not:

( The impact of Boycotts )

-r

[	Current Mood	|	calm	]
[	Current Music	|	Prayer Chain - Antartica	]

Well the word on my Macro Prelim is in and I was one of the two (out of six) that will be taking it again come June. I went by Friday and met with one of the professors who wrote the test and he went through his half with me. I passed his part with a B so I must have gotten a C or B- on the other part (it takes a B to pass). However on the same day that I found out I failed the exam I was informed by the department that I am being nominated for the HB Earhart Foundation Doctoral Fellowship. It's a pretty big thing and you cannot apply for this award. The foundation has "Scouts" who pick recipients and I have been chosen to receive one next year. Here is a short list of some people who have received funding from Earhart in the past:

Gary Becker
James M. Buchanan
Ronald Coase
Milton Friedman
Friedrich A. Hayek
Robert Lucas
Daniel McFadden
Vernon L. Smith
George Stigler

Nobel prize winners all.

So I got some bad news and good news all in the same day. So let it be known that I will be a non-person during May. I will be a ghostly shadow in the corner of coffee shops. I will be completely obsessed for that whole month with the area of Economics that I like the least in order to stay in my program.

Also on that day I ran my 3 ideas (see last post) by the graduate coordinator for Econ. He really liked the idea about the Hope grant. He said it was so good in fact that one of his former students had just submitted that exact paper for publication. So while it sucks that it has already been done it makes me feel good to know that I do have ideas that are worthy of submission to top journals.

Also last week the professor that I am an R.A. for in the Political Science department offered to co-author a paper with me. Basically he supplied the idea and told me to go for it. I will do most of the work and he will provide a lot of guidance. Then if all goes well I will get my first publication out of it and he gets another check toward tenure for relatively little effort. It's what we in the biz call Pareto Improving Trade.

I am leading class this week in my presidents class. So I have to really read the articles well this week. This class along with my Research class are requiring me to read and write far more than I ever have had to in school. I know that it's a good thing because at the end of the day I am hear to learn to be a researcher and that means reading and writing a lot. But it is just a big difference from the way all of my classes have been up until this point.

Well I gotta get to that reading.

-r

[	Current Mood	|	tired	]
[	Current Music	|	Of Montreal	]

Well the icy weekend was a nice change of pace. I stayed in the house with the wife without any work to do...good times.

My classes are already out of control. This Presidency class has entirely too much reading and we have to write a summary of the material every week. I have 200 pages to read and summarize before tomorrow at 3:30pm. My Research class just constantly confronts me with the reality that I have no good ideas of my own. And everything I think of was done 25 years ago. I took the best ideas I have had in the past 2 years and wrote them up for an assignment. It was just sad. You can read them below if you dare.

( Prepare to be Underwhelmed )

The worst part is that today we learned that we all have to do the assignment again. Apparently we did not give the professor what he really wanted. So now I will again have to face my total lack of ideas. Oh well such is life.

So again tonight is the big time radio program "SOUND OF THE CITY" on 90.5fm WUOG. Lars and I will be co-hosting as usual. Now that I have full laptop capabilities in the studio I take all week to hand craft my set list (rather than playing stuff alphabetically like I used to). So tune in and CHECK....IT....OUT!

-r

[	Current Mood	|	happy	]
[	Current Music	|	Vigilantes of Love - Killing Floor	]

Well the big time radio program on Tuesday survived a few technical glitches and went off well I think. Although Lars and I's interactions are much funnier off the air than on the air. But maybe over time we will get it where it works better. I think that the variety of the show is higher with the two of us (I guess this is just simple mathematics and not all that surprising.)

My Presidency class looks like it will be a lot better than I thought. We won't be reading any Biographies of FDR or watching the West Wing (even though I love WW) or talking about how they make us feel or any squishy headed stuff like that. We will be looking at honest to goodness research. With models, regressions and game theory. The yellow sun of Political Science makes me seem extra strong compared to my average talents on the orange sunned planet of Economics. It's nice to feel like one of the smart kids in a class again. I had forgotten how that felt. The Poli-Sci regression class I am in should make me feel especially smart. Even if it is because I have done this type of class 3 times already.

Oh I reviewed the new Timber CD for WUOG. I know someone asked me about this band on New Years so if anyone wants my "professional opinion" I will send it to you just drop me an email. I would post it here but that just would not be nice. They thank Jake B. and Lee M. in the liner notes so are these guys UC'ers or anything (Not that I won't bash a band I go to church with or anything).

So I have settled on ERC for my new coffee shop of choice. I know it is a chain and all but they have pretty good coffee and it's not such a bad place to study. ERC took me through the coffee wilderness that was Boston so I owe them a little loyalty.Although the ERC in Boston had THE WORST coffee. But never the less they were there when I needed them.

Well it's Thursday anyone know if David and Nicole are back from RVing across the country?


-r

[	Current Mood	|	calm	]
[	Current Music	|	Pedro the Lion - Control	]

So it looks like I will be teaching this summer and I am pretty excited about it. I will be teaching ECON 2106, Principals of Microeconomics in the "through" session. So I have already started to prepare and plan out stuff. I will be pretty busy this semester and right up until summer semester starts so it is best if I do a little work each week in order to be ready when it rolls around.

My PhD class has been told that it will be 4 to 6 weeks before we hear the results of out Macro Prelim. Although the more I think about it the more sure I am that there is little chance I passed. Oh well.

So TJ and I cooked for our church yesterday (yes the whole church). A different family (or group of friends) volunteers every week to cook for the whole congregation (about 60 ppl). It is always a lot of fun and a little stressful. Things went pretty well and everything went off without a hitch.

In other news I had to take my iPod and exchange it for a new one because the screen freaked out on me and I could not see anything. But it was pretty easy to make the exchange. The only downside was that I had to drive down Atlanta Highway twice.

A friend a church alerted me to this great news: USMNT World Cup qualifier in Birmingham on March 20th. TJ and I went a few years ago to a friendly there and it was a lot of fun. I am SO there! One of the great things about being in Boston was getting to see pro soccer and have the National Team come through on regular occasions.

Well today is MLK Jr. Day and we have no classes but I am already behind so I will be up in my office in Baldwin all day trying to catch back up.

-r

[	Current Mood	|	bored	]
[	Current Music	|	Wilco (yeah I know cut me some slack)	]

So today one of the classes I was in got canceled. apparently there were not enough people in the class so they just canceled it. It was in the Poli-Sci department so it is not the end of the world for me I will just take some "methods class" instead. In the end it will mean alot less work for me since I already have done everything in the class. But it won't be nearly as interesting. However if I want to keep to my schedule of getting all three degrees in a timely manner I need to take 4 classes a semester so this one will have to do I guess.

In other news tonight is the first Co-Hosted Sound of the City that Lars and I will be doing on WUOG. It will be from 8pm-10pm every Tuesday. should be fun although we have not really figured out the logistics of the whole thing yet. Maybe one of us in each studio or maybe we will rig up a second mike or something who knows. should be a good bit of fun.

Oh any of you who have an iPod I have a question. Mine came with this funny cord shaped like a Y that has to fuzzy little black things at one end. What is this for? I tried using them to hunt squirrels but to no avail. I even tried lassoing Padme (my dog). But it didn't work. I even tried plugging them in to the iPod and using them like headphones, however they fell out of my ears about 150 times on my way to school. So what are these things for anyway?

-r

[	Current Mood	|	blah	]
[	Current Music	|	Low - Long Division	]

Well another semester begins. This is the first semester in my whole college career (Undergrad, Post-Bac, and Grad School) where I have just been unexcited about classes starting. I have always been such a nerd, getting books early, buying paper, reading syllabi. But this time I am just unexcited. It's sort of scary because the excitement usually propelled me through the first 3rd of the semester. Maybe it was having to take my Prelim last Friday which gave me no real break. Or maybe it's just I have been in school a long-long time now. If you include my post-bac year and my failed start at Boston U, this is my 4th year of schooling after Undergrad. Usually people are getting done about that time but I have a couple of years to go. Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta do. Next year I will likely be teaching so that should lend a degree of excitement to things.

Oh as for my prelim it did not go so well. It was much harder than I thought it would be. I just have to hold out hope that I did enough. But I am fully prepared to hear the news that I failed it and have to take it again in August.

In the good news department I finally saved up enough with Christmas and Birthday money to buy an iPod. It was my first ever purchase of an Apple product and I am not so happy on selling out to them. But I had to face facts that it is the best player for the money and that no other company was going to step up and make anything decent. Also set-up wireless in the house so now I can surf the web while watching TV and eating dinner ;)

-r

p.s. Old Low is really good!