Sirloin Hash

There's a new Northwestern video to Beyonce and Jay-Z's "Crazy Right Now." Quite worth checking out.

And now Newmark's Door, the blog previously noted at Sirloin Hash, links to the video. Side note: The Door is run by Prof. Craig Newmark at NCSU, whose daughter Katie is also my Econ 55 TA. Small world.

The video has now made headlines over at DBR. Check it out.

Sirloin Hash lives again, if briefly, to promote Shake Ya Tail Feather, the video that's in heavy rotation around the Net. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. Then send it on to your friends. Make it big.

Don't tell me Dean just did this. I understand how he's trying to appeal to the liberal, angry wing of the Democratic party, but does he have to reach so far that he points to the same "vast right-wing conspiracy" that's made a lot of the leaders of the left look like fools? Most people still have a lot of respect for the Supreme Court (especially in the wake of affirmative action and sodomy decisions), and most people also don't know about the Colorado and Texas redistricting efforts. Now, when a lot of the public sentiment is shifting to Arnold and Bustamante, Dean bets the house on Davis. Although Davis may still win his recall battle, that's not really a referendum on his popularity. I can't understand why Dean wanted to throw his support behind Davis. I just sighed and flinched when I saw this. We'll see how it plays out.

So I've been blogging (off and on, mostly off) for, say, 2 months. Before that, I was reading Newmark's Door, which incidentally has moved to http://newmarksdoor.typepad.com, for another year or so. The Door is run by Professor Craig Newmark, who is on the economics faculty at NC State. This semester, I'm taking Econ 55--Principles of Microeconomics. Yesterday, I go to my discussion section. Who's my TA? A Katie Newmark. I went up after class to ask her if she was related to the professor; she's his daughter. What's more, when she saw my list on the class roster, she recognized me as being the blog author. And she reads Sirloin Hash! Hurrah! The total readership now is upgraded to 3! Anyways, section was an extended discussion of price changes and their impact on the marginal rate of substition and preferences. Seems easy enough. But this is going to be a brutal semester, all around. Alas.

The article about me in the Albuquerque Tribune came out Thursday. Here's the link to the story. Overall, it seems pretty well done, aside from the insertion of a grammar error that could not have sprung from my mouth. I'm away this weekend to work at the North-South Foundation's National Spelling Bee, so all Dukies, I'll see you Sunday night when I return. Drink heavily for me.

You thought that blogging would be more frequent when I got to my Duke ethernet connection. You thought wrong. Part of the problem with that is that I have a five foot ethernet cable, and the distance from the jack to my desk is eight feet. Thus, to get online, I have to sit on the floor, which is not conducive to effective blogging. In any case, I'm mostly moved in with the help of Sarah (helped me get my stored stuff to Duke) and Amit (carried small, light stuff like hangers and pillows up the stairs...sigh). Still have some stuff to put up, as well as find a new surge protector. I stored the old one inside my fridge, which grew mold, and the mold made its way onto--and inside--the outlets. I tried to clean it off with mouthwash, but to no avail. So right now, I'm conserving my power as best I can, which might explain why I'm not always on, as I vowed to be.

In any case, I got in Friday, saw Bad Boys II with Sarah (lots of explosions, including a mansion, a Cuban village, 22 cars, and a semitrailer). Saturday was moving in and cleaning up, including the aforementioned fridge + mouthwash combo. That night was my first meeting with the Macho Guys Club, where I went to Armadillo Grill, played Texas hold 'em (lost $2! Gasp!), and got schooled in XBox's NFL Blitz. Sunday was more cleaning and preparation for classes. I helped Sarah, Alison, and Laura move into their rooms at UNC-CH, and in the process learned all about curtains (or "valances"), loofahs, and downy pillows. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, here I come. That night was the a cappella jam, with feature performances from Pitchforks, Speak of the Devil, and other fine Duke groups. Where else can I hear an Outkast medley, Maroon 5's "This Love," and Sister Hazel's "All For You" in a cappella form? Ah Duke. In any case, that inspired us (or, more accurately, me) to announce the formation of Duke's first all-male, all-South Asian, secular a cappella group. Our name? Brown and Blue. Watch for us at Awaaz! For auditions, contact Amit Patel or me.

Well, today I lived the dream of millions and met Bobby Jindal at a luncheon reception held by the Indian-American Republicans of Chicago in Lake Forest. Although I was one of the first ones there (and was thus obligated to perform some awkward socializing), this also meant that I was one of the first to meet Bobby, who is an Indian-American running for governor of Louisiana. And by "meet," I mean "stand near." That's because I obviously had to defer to the uncles and aunties, who, by virtue of donating untold and obscene amounts of money to Bobby's campaign, got priority attention from him.

After a good forty-five minutes or so of standing idly around, I finally corraled Bobby and made my pitch. Slyly dropping the name of a Rhodes Scholar whom we both knew, I executed an invitation for Bobby to come speak at Duke University as a guest of Diya, with me as the Political Chair. I threw in sponsors left and right, like the Major Speakers Committee, the Duke Conservative Union, UNC/NCSU/NCCU, and even the wealthy Indian scientists of RTP. He smiled and nodded genially; I may or may not have gotten through to him. We exchanged business cards, and I silently vowed to dog him and his campaign manager Trey Williams until he capitulates and comes to speak just so that he can sleep at night.

After I made my 3-minute sell, Bobby and I--like old fishing buddies or something--talked about my major (chemistry and public policy at Duke, eerily similar to his biology and public policy from Brown), about the latest poll numbers (which show him tied for first at 15% with formerly solo front-runner Kathleen Blanco), and about the vagaries of Lousiana's political system. He could only tolerate my non-donating blather for so long, however, so I was eventually gently ditched in favor of more affluent conversationalists.

What I learned, though, is that Bobby is a genuinely nice, winning guy who has what it takes to work the campaign trail. He's obviously very smart (Brown, Rhodes Scholar, fast-riser through several powerful posts), has a good memory for policy (he discussed medical malpractice insurance, student visas, and Indian custom in quick succession with the guests), and has the kind of passion that resides essentially only in 32-year-olds running for governor. As I said before, I disagree with his stances, but it's hard to argue with a smart Indian trying to make it big.