Georgia Pok Guy

Happy Leap Day, everyone! Also, Happy St. Tib’s Day to you Discordians out there. I have come across a factoid recently, that the Scottish held a tradition wherein a woman could make a marriage proposal either during the entirety of a leap year or on just the leap day. Being of Scottish lineage (and Irish, English, German, and French) and an unmarried male, I felt duty bound to honor this tradition. And so I spent today in much anticipation, awaiting a fair maiden to approach me, and on bended knee gaze into my eyes and say, “Wilt thou marry me?” Alas, this did not come to pass, and I had to console my disheartened spirit with a gorging of sweets at a work function.  And yet, I have not lost hope.  For, you see, there shall be another Leap Day in four short years.

2008 is turning out to be the year of choices.  We started out with approximately a bajillion candidates in the Republican and Democratic parties vying for the respective nominations.  Ralph Nader has decided to step into the land mine field that is the presidential race.  And Mike Bloomberg is waiting in the wings, probably to appear dramatically out of a puff of smoke when someone says his name for the trillionth time.  Perhaps the most exciting candidate of all, however, is Lobsterman.  Like John McCain, he decided that his run in 2000 wouldn’t be his last, and so he has picked up his claws, ready to pin all contenders to the mat.  Unlike the other contestants, he is making some big claims.  For one, he compares himself favorably to Lincoln, the rail splitter that united the nation, although my esteemed associate, elms-fu, claims he is the spitting image of Grover Cleveland.  Truly, with so many candidates, how can you choose?  The answer is simple.  Even if there were as many candidates as the California recall election of 2003, there could only be one choice: Lobsterman.

Tech Tower is wikipedia’s article of the day!  Take that, UGA!  Stealing the T off of the tower of the administration building, falling off of which could potentially kill you, is a far better tradition than not walking under your little arches.

What’s the good word?!

This morning I awoke in Charlottesville to some of the most resplendent weather. The cold, damp, gray of Sunday was gone, only to be replaced by sunshine and warm temperatures, so much so that I shed my jacket when I arrived in Richmond. Hollywood Cemetery is quite beautiful, with lush, green hills and sprawling trees to provide shade for the graves. The grave sites of James Monroe and John Tyler are at the top of a hill overlooking the James River. It is an awe inspiring sight. Many Confederate soldiers are also buried in Hollywood Cemetery, so I saw a good number of Confederate flags as I strolled along the lanes. There is even a section specifically for Confederate soldiers, mostly enlisted men, which seemed like the antithesis of Arlington. This area brought one of my more bizarre experiences of the day: I was walking along the road when this dog started barking and approached me. It had no owner, so I had to fend for myself, which meant a lot of “Get!”’s. Fortunately it backed down with these, but it was strange to be threatened by a dog in a cemetery. I also managed to get lost on the way to the cemetery, due to google’s unclear directions about the I-195 part of the trip. Fortunately I had my trusty iPhone, and found an alternate route.

Tyler’s and Monroe’s graves

Detail of Monroe’s grave, the fanciest by far of the trip

Tyler’s grave

Overlooking the James River and the Richmond skyline

Jefferson Davis’ grave; not a president of the USA, I know, but one of the CSA

In breaking with this nation’s long tradition of shopping on President’s Day weekend, I decided to do something related to former presidents. I awoke early this morning, hopped in the car, and drove to Orange County, Virginia, to visit the ancestral home of our fourth president, James Madison. After a tour of Montpelier, I continued south to the infamous abode of our third president, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. The primary reason for visiting these places is that they also happen to be the burial sites of Madison and Jefferson. The idea of visiting the final resting places of our deceased presidents came after a trip last year I made to Canton, Ohio, where everyone’s favorite president who was assassinated in Buffalo is interred. I plan to continue on tomorrow, after staying the night in Charlottesville, to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, where the bones of James Monroe and John Tyler were laid to rest.

Montpelier

Situated amongst the rolling hills of Virginia’s countryside is Montpelier, the home of James Madison. The building is in the midst of a major overhaul, with most of the interior unfinished. Montpelier serves as a lesson about how potential national monuments should be treated. The house passed through many hands over the years, with the last owner drastically remodeling. I suppose it never occurred to them that maybe they shouldn’t mess with the home a former president lived in, but, hey, it’s a free country. Still, one gets a feel for the layout of the home, and I actually quite liked the ordering of the rooms. Madison is buried in the family plot a ways from the house. His grave is the giant obelisk, you can’t miss it.

Montpelier

Virginia countryside

James Madison

Monticello

Thomas Jefferson built Monticello on the top of a hill overlooking Charlottesville. Whereas Montpelier was rather unceremoniously remodeled, one family went to great lengths to preserve Monticello, so much of what one sees today is original.  Touring the house makes it very apparent, as if it weren’t before, that Jefferson was a polymath of great talent for anything he put his mind to.  Monticello is all his own design, drawing on his observations from his time in Europe.  Like Madison, he is buried in the family plot a ways from the main house, tucked away in a wooded area.  The obelisk marking his grave was littered with coins at the base for some reason.

Monticello

Thomas Jefferson

I was really starting to feel neglected after Super Tuesday.  Honestly, it seemed like everyone else was voting!  And yet, I couldn’t run with the cool kids.  Maryland, ever the eccentric, had to hold its primaries a whole week later!  But, after seven excruciatingly long days, I finally got to show what I’m made of.  With the push of a dozen virtual buttons, my e-vote was cast.  And I could finally wear that most coveted prize, the “I voted” sticker you get at the end…

I can’t believe this, the Namdaemun burnt down! I really wanted to go see it, too, when I got the chance to visit Korea. It is always tragic when a historical monument like this is destroyed. I’ll just have to play SimCity 3000 to fill the whole in my heart… (Because it’s one of the monuments you can build in your city, for all you people who don’t play SimCity 3000…)

Chinese New Year’s festivities last for 15 days, which is a way to say this post is still timely.  Beyond eating noodles and dumplings on the first day of the new year, I decided to take part in another tradition, which is writing poetry on banners and hanging them along the entrance to your house.  Now, not knowing any Chinese aside from a few choice phrases, I decided to forgo the poetry and instead paint new year greetings, which I could at least easily look up (wikipedia is my friend).  So, after a quick trip to the crafts store, I had all I needed to write some Chinese.  The fruits of my labor are below:

The inside of my apartment, since I’m not sure how it would be received if I hung them on the outside

Gung hei fat choi!

As a post script, my brother in San Francisco got last Thursday and Friday off from teaching at a local college.  So awesome!

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! It is the year of the Rat, which means that my younger brother turns some multiple of 12. (can you guess which multiple?) I hope you have a prosperous and wonderful year!

You gotta love a holiday called “Pancake Day”…  And, yes, those are chocolate chips…

Pancakes on Pancake Day