Weekly summary #7: photos

First, I'll start with two administration notices:

1. Some of you have repeatedly asked for photos. Here are some. Since the only drives we have are from the home to the university and back, and since our house is still a mess, the photos are only of the university. Maybe I'll add more later.
2. I decided that the Verizon phone is so unusable that I left Verizon for T-mobile and now I use my Sony-Ericsson from home. On the other hand, I decided that it's not a good idea to put my phone on the net, so if you need it, just ask for my new phone. In any case, don't use the Verizon phone number.
3. As always, you're encouraged to follow the links in this update.

The reason this update is late is the Obama rally we attended yesterday at the University of Cincinnati (video). We're not into politics that much, and in the previous post I mentioned that there's not enough interest in the coming elections, especially comparing to their importance to America and to the world. Apparently one the candidates has decided to spark things up and yesterday Senator Obama made an appearance in Nyppert Stadium at the University of Cincinnati. We decided to go, as this is probably the closest we'll ever get to the president of the United States, according to the polls. On the other hand, Shimon Peres has been elected several times in the polls so nothing is decided yet. Or, in other way, you can see this Simpsons clip to understand why McCain will be elected at the end, and pay special attention to the sentence in which Homer says: "... this does not happen in America...".

Before talking about the rally itself, I just want to give you another example on how this country and the people in this city are ready for a totalitarian regime. The doors of the stadium opened at 6, and we left my office at the university at 5 so that we'll have a good chance of getting in. Already there was a huge line. Everyone was standing in an organized fashion and we simply walked to the end of the line and joined it. People were standing on the road at that time, and then came a police officer and politely said: "folks, I need you to be on the pavement". In less than 5 seconds a group of more than 20 people moved to stand on the pavement, with no questions or arguments. Total adherence to the law-enforcement representative.

Anyway, I have some observations regarding Barack Obama as a candidate and possibly the next president of the United States (I guess you knew I would make some comments about him, right?).
Firstly, this is something we saw yesterday, and I don't know if it is not the same in the case of McCain, but the candidacy of Obama has made him a merchandise. We saw people selling everything with his face and name on: T-shirts, bumper stickers, car magnets, and even play cards (that had Bush and McCain as the jokers). Anything you want for a price that ranges from $1 to $25. He has become a rock star rather than a candidate. Again, this might be the case for John McCain as well (I know that Sarah Palin has become an icon as well, as I mentioned in the previous update). Just notice this link: www.barackobama.com in the picture I took yesterday.
Secondly, if the way Obama manages his time can give us any clue on the way he will run the next administration, then he will not do a good job. Yesterday we waited for him for 40 minutes before he appeared on stage, and that's after the other small-time politicians finished their speeches. The crowd around us, comprised mainly by supporters and fans of the Democratic party (unlike us, who were just there for the experience), was getting frustrated with his delay. Some said: "hey, we need to be at work tomorrow, those of us who still have work".
Thirdly, I genuinely think that there is no good candidate in the coming elections. Both Obama and McCain are ill-suited for this job. Obama is too young and inexperienced, although very charismatic judging by the female crowd around me yesterday even sexy, to comprehend and manage the current turmoil in the financial markets and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain on the other hand is too old, and too attached to his Republican party, and to the legacy of the Bush administration. If there is something evident in the current situation, it is that this administration is probably the worst ever in the history of the United States. I think that what people seek is change, and Obama is change for them (his slogans are: "change" and "hope"), but in my view: to say "change" is not enough. In the terms of a systems engineer, you need to define the requirements in an unambiguous manner, and just saying "change" is not enough. You need a plan, preferably a feasible one, and I can't say I've heard one coming from the Obama campaign managers. For example, I think that his plans will leave a HUGE hole in the American budget, which will only drive this economy to a worse situation than it already is.
Last observation I have of Obama is that he started to feel too confident in his success. Yesterday, I heard him use the term "regime" for the current Bush government. I don't know how many of you are aware of the different terms the English language has for a government. Usually, the neutral term is "government", while a positive way to say it is "administration" (that's usually how Americans call their own government), and "regime" is the negative wording for such. Usually the word regime refers to the Irani government, or Saddam Hussein's government. When used in the context of the Bush government it has significant consequences on the way Barack Obama thinks.

Can an African American become the president of the United States with all the prejudices and bigotry here? A few months ago I was doubted that very much; now, in light of the economic crisis, I think that people are so aching for change that some of them are willing to overlook questions of race and color. According to the polls here, he will be elected. If he doesn't it will be the surprise of the century, but it will also show that underneath the surface there is still a dark current of hatred between the whites and blacks in America.

Moving on to other issues, we have started to think about our upcoming home visit. One thing that came up pretty quickly, not surprising given our bent towards good food and coffee, and the lack of such here, is our need for such. I don't know if we can afford too many of those, but we certainly would like to go to some of our favorite places in Tel Aviv, and until now the food wish-list includes:

• Joya
• Tamara
• Vanillia
• Arcaffe
• A cafe near my home
• A good Humus/lafa place (with emphasis on good!) for me
• D wants to add Barbari or Yevulim

So, if something here sounds good to you as well, we will be happy to schedule a lunch or a dinner there. Also, if something good has opened since we left, that's fine by us.

Quick updates from the previous week:

1. I finally got my first paycheck. Hurray! Only a month and a half without a salary.
   
2. Still no updates on our other administrative issues with the university (i.e. domestic partnership).
3. We went to a Halloween party organized by the graduate students at the College of Business. I think that it was the first time that I saw American women allow themselves to dress in "revealing" clothing. I think that more revealing clothing is considered "slutty" here (at least in Cincinnati). We were supposed to wear costumes, so D and I bought hats. She got a large hat and I got a fedora hat. I tried for the "great depression era unemployed". Unfortunately, they didn't have the fedora in red. Which brings me to the last update:
   
4. Windows on my old laptop has finally crashed. I had to install the entire system with the KDE version of Ubuntu (version 8.10). That's the first time in my life that I use a computer with no Microsoft operating system installed on it. So far, apart from a few glitches, it behaves itself. We intend it to serve as our media center at home, and it takes some tweaking before you can do that in Linux (basically because of the proprietary media formats used everywhere). Ynet is still a mess with all the non-standard video streams they use, but nothing that a good Greasemonkey script and a good media player can't handle.

For those of you who got this far: mood-o-meter - high for me, low for D. Did you notice that we are at 180 degrees phase from each other?