Yale PhD runs in McLean

My friend Matt Gunterman, who was my roommate when we studied Chinese history in Kunming China in 1998, is running for Judge/Executive in McClean County. He won the primary with 51% of the vote in a three way race, but faces a challenge in November when he takes on the incumbant. Matt is now pursuing a Ph.D. in history at Yale.

After 18 days, phone & Internet access!

I now have a working phone and Internet access in my apartment! Finally, after much prodding, the phone company Verizon sent someone over yesterday to see why my phone was ringing when people call the number but not working inside the apartment. I set my appointment to be from 1-5 PM because I had class at 6:20 PM in Manhattan and usually leave home around 5:30 PM to go to class. Well, at 5:25 the Verizon phone man still had not arrived yet! I wrote a note to tape onto the outside of my door as I left for class. As I opened the door to walk outside, a man walked up and said, "I'm Verizon. Are you the one with phone problems?" I grumbled, "Yes." I didn't want to show my anger because this was the guy that was going to help, and, I have to admit, I have been late a few times in my life. :) He then asked, "How do I know that you are?" This really made me angry. I just sort of glared at him and then he went out behind my building to "check on things." After about 20 minutes, he told me that he couldn't fix it but would have someone come soon. Thankfully, I was able to leave at 5:45 and still get to class right as it was starting.

Today, nobody contacted me, but I looked outside at 10 AM and saw a Verizon truck outside. I looked and saw a man outside working, and about an hour later he left and my phone worked! So 18 days after ordering phone service I finally get it. That is just pathetic. At least now I don't have to make calls from pay phones and get Internet access from NYU or Internet cafes.

Brooklyn Primary

The current representative in Congress for my Brooklyn neighborhood (NY District 11) is Major R. Owens (D) who won 94% of the vote in 2004, but he's retiring after 24 years. Evidently, he likes to put his political speeches in Congress into rap!

Anyway, we had a primary election in New York yesterday. Few races were competitive - such as Hillary Clinton for senator or Eliot Spitzer for governor. The only interesting race in my district was the Democratic primary for US House to replace Mr. Owens. The district is overwelmingly Democratic in party registration and has demographics of 59% African-American and 32% Jew. In the primary race, three of the democratic contenders were black (one of which was Owens' son Chris), and one was a white Jew named David Yassky, a Brooklyn city council member who moved recently moved to the district in order to be eligible to run for Congress.

The district was created to enable minority representation in Congress (read: elect an African-American) and so some black leaders were really upset with Yassky. Assuming voters only vote for members of the same race: if the 4 black candidates equally split the black vote, each would receive about 15% and Yassky could pull out a victory. Regardless, Yassky was endorsed by the NY Times and his campaign workers were out in force yesterday. At the subway stop near my apartment, one of them asked me to vote for Yassky and gave me some information about him.

Yassky finished 2nd in the primary with 26% of the vote, behind another city council member, Yvette Clark, who had 31%..

Because the district is so overwelmingly democratic, she will be my next representative in Congress. However, she comes with her own scandal: the NY Times reports that she lied about graduating from Oberlin College, claiming she had the degree when she was actually a few classes short.
Unfortunately, she'll probably stay in Congress for the next 24 years.

Boxes from China

Today my mom emailed me and said she received the two boxes of gifts, souvenirs, and other junk that "Bill" Chen Xi and Pan Ke helped me ship back to the US on July 26. I'm glad it made it OK. I haven't seen the condition of the box yet (she said there was a small hole in it), but I am excited that the box is there. Actually, I forgot what I put inside those boxes. I guess I'll find out when I get home for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of shipping boxes to America...In late March, my mom mailed me a package with a gift for my friend Feng Fan, as she is now going to graduate school in Europe. However, I received confirmation that someone else "intercepted" this package and shipped it back to the USA on Monday, April 10. I took photos on my digital camera and the lady in the post office positively identified the culprit. See, too and friends. The gift has not been seen since. :( Sorry, Feng Fan. I admit I have made many mistakes in my life, but revenge belongs to God - not to us. Although I have forgiven the culprit, it was, unfortunately, a bad reflection on this person's character and a terrible witness to students. Just ask Bill what he thinks about it!

It's been 5 years!

Hard to believe that today is the five year anniversary of the terrorist attack of 9/11/2001. Time really flies. Unfortunately for Bush, he's still chasing Osama. The headlines here in New York are all about the fact that five years later the ground zero/former world trade center site is still barren and construction on the new Freedom Tower which is to replace the WTC has not begun.

The Onion wrote a parody about the 9/11 Memorial Hole here in New York. Speaking of The Onion, another funny story in the paper this week is about a Summer Intern Already Forgotten! By the way, until I get Internet access through Verizon DSL at my home, I am using it at NYU. I'm glad it is free but it is very inconvenient!

Phone Tease

Well, I flew back to New York on Tuesday. And I was able to get from LaGuardia to my apartment for $2. Not bad, huh? Especially when you consider that I had 4 extremely large and heavy bags, with a combined weight of about 170 lbs (77 kg)! It was exhausting. After leaving LaGuardia, I took the M60 bus to the Columbus Square subway stop. I was a little nervous that I would stay on the bus and miss the stop for the subway because I had not done this before. Well, after a while the bus stopped and I saw the subway so I got off the bus. After pulling all 77 kgs of bags off the bus and the doors shut, I realized I had gotten off two blocks too soon. Ordinarily that would not be a big deal, but it is difficult to pack your body weight in luggage down the street and up 2 flights of stairs to get onto the subway. Actually, after i got through the turnstyles for the subway, a woman helped carry one of my bags up a few stairs. I then took the N/W line to 57th Street in Manhattan where I caught a Q train to my apartment. The transfer at 57th is great! The soutbound N/W runds down one side of the platform and the southound Q runs down the other. That was convenient. At my stop 2 boys helped me carry 2 of the bags down the stairs to the street. I was really happy my apartment was as close to the subway stop as it is!

I ordered phone and Internet service from Verizon on August 26 and so I expected when I arrived in my apartment on 9/5 that there would be phone service. Ha ha! Today I still have no service. I spent the last three days trying to figure out how to get service turned on. Anyway, last night my mom sent me an email saying that she called my phone and it rang. However, this was just Verizon teasing me. I rushed home to find that the phone does not work. Since I will get DSL Internet service (which works over the phone line) from Verizon too, I am completely cut off in my little Brooklyn basement. No phone, no Internet, and no friends in New York. I am going to call Verizon today and see what's going on.

American Airports

Reed Jarrar, an architect of Iraqi descent, was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words "We will not be silent" before boarding a flight to California at New York's JFK airport on August 12. Mr Jarrar said he was shocked such an action could be taken in the US. US transport officials are conducting an inquiry after a complaint from the US Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

How much is too much? Should the government force someone to take off a T-shirt before the fly on a plane? Or is this action acceptable because it is makes other passengers at ease?

Back from the Big Apple

My parents and I flew back to Kentucky today. My mom has put some of her New York photos online. Here is a photo looking towards the Brooklyn Bridge (Statue of Liberty is in the far distance) and one of us at Yankee Stadium:

The Onion

I knew that The Onion is an online satirical newspaper that leans a little bit to the left politically. What I didn't know is that there are newspaper stands all over New York City distributing the paper for free. The current paper has a headline poking fun at President Bush. I generally find the paper funny, even if I don't always agree with the political points it makes.

Boot Camp at NYU

Classes don't start until next week. So why am I at NYU now? Well, I'm attending an optional, free, "math boot camp" to review calculus, differentiation, integration, linear algebra, etc. The boot camp is meets 5 hours per day for 3 days. The two teachers leading the boot camp will be the two teachers who teach the two different sections of "Math for Economists" this fall. I thought one of the professors did a better job at explaining and was more logical in thought. After attending class today, I came home and switched sections!

This is Warren Weaver Hall, where the math boot camp is being held. Once the semester begins, however, I will not have any classes in this building.

This is the giant arch in Washington Square Park on NYU's campus.