WTF, Mate?!

This Midwest weather is crazy, and the Midwesterners seem to think this is normal. I think they've had too much corn.
After writing a paper for several hours, i went out last night. When i came home at about 5 a.m. the weather was nice. It was breezy but the temperature was about 55 degrees. The high yesterday was 63, and i was wearing shorts and a t-shirt all day. I went to bed and woke up a couple hours ago to a frigid draft coming in the window above my head. I turned on my computer and checked the weather - knowing it was cold outside and i didn't want to use the trusty stick-your-head-out-the-door method of weather analysis - and it is 18 degrees and the windchill makes it feel like it's 4 degrees. 4 degrees?! The low tonight is going to be 5 degrees (not windchill). Flex some super-simple math muscle: that's a nearly 60 degree swing in less than 36 hours. I'm thinking this is bananas and my friends are like, "welcome to Kansas" as if this is some normal gig. Weirdos.
Oh, and to top it off, yesterday was the anniversary of Icepocalypse. Don't remember Icepocalypse? Here are some pictures from last year's electricity ending event:

Level your Measurement

If didn't mention it already, i probably won't update this blog very often while i'm in Kansas. Two reasons: i can call all of you now or have time to email/message, and i'm busy so it seems kind of time consuming without all of the convenience.

I wanted to make a correction of the record: Kansas does have NPR. I found it. 

Also, today Vicente Fox spoke on campus. I didn't go cuz i was busy correcting papers but i did record the webcast. I think he loves America more than i do.

I'm having fun teaching the research methods lab. I'm very unsure that i'm actually teaching them anything, but i think that's sorta how this goes. Especially seeing that i mixed up ratio and interval levels of data in lab last week. doh! I just spun it into a good example of why you need to practice the meanings of levels of measurement. They really are easy to mix up.

Updates: I ride my bike a lot and i love it, i'm back to working a little harder than last semester, and i plan to write my thesis and get out of Kansas as quickly as possible.

Okay, i'm off to stratification.

What IS the Matter with Kansas?

I miss Portland. I want to go to New York.

My internet isn't working, so if i haven't called you, it is because my phone doesn't work without the internet. Also, my drug dealer phone has been turned off.

Hannah is coming to stay with me tomorrow night and she's brining Dizzy (her French bulldog) too! PolitiCorps Fellows should just move to Kansas to keep me company all of the time. That would make me happy. 

Okay, if you haven't picked up on it, i'm genuinely unhappy about being back in Manhattan, KS. In response, and completely against the advice received from PolitiCorps staff, i am making a brief list of shit i noticed today that i hate about KS. I give you my gripes in no particular order:

• There is no recycling program in Manhattan, KS. You can recycle, but you have to save your shit and haul it to the recycling center, which is not exactly a convenience especially if you don't own a car.
  
• Speaking of which, this is the least bike friendly city i have ever stepped foot in. There are no bike paths anywhere. We're in the process of building a new parking structure on campus, and you can't find anywhere to park on a Friday night in Aggieville, but no one would want to ride a bike. Oh, and let's not forget this is a city that is literally no further than six miles across. Google Earth says so!
• The music here sucks. I went to a concert tonight that was actually kind of cool, but mostly it just highlighted that everything else i've seen here totally blows.
• It's humid.
• There isn't an independent movie theatre or a sushi restaurant anywhere in town.
• Sororities and fraternities (no offense Jacob, you know i love you).
• No NPR on any station and no ESPN Radio unless it's Saturday ("game day").

I'm done complaining. Sorry Drew. The only good things i can think of are my friends, sociology, Pathfinder which is a cool bike shop, and La Fiesta's delicious salsa.

Lastly on the news report, i'm building a fixed gear conversion bicycle and i'm using a stolen Bianchi frame that i found abandoned in front of my apartment (it had a summer's worth of dust on it, so i do not feel bad at all). This project makes me happy.