2: January 2003 Archives

(picture from the Austin American-Statesman)

According to the Statesman, 1000 people attended. Sounds like a reasonable number to me.

I expected to see thirty or forty people protesting at the Congress Avenue bridge this afternoon, but the turnout was much, much higher. The bridge was packed on both sides, from end to end. I was impressed.

I spent the evening arming myself for the anti-war rally on the Congress Street Bridge tomorrow afternoon at 4:30. State of the union, my ass. I made a reasonable facsimile of an American flag, with a peace sign where the field of stars should be.

C is vaguely worried that she'll get arrested. She's not planning to take her ID with her. I intend to ensure that we aren't doing anything illegal in the first place.

Deportation is nasty business.

I bought a pedometer yesterday for about $17. It measures distance and steps, so I wore it to work today to see how far I walked. I actually walked about three miles around campus -- the distance was a lot further than usual since I went geocaching at the Law School over lunch and made the walk to the Tower and back.

I was researching pedometers after lunch and found some pedometer challenges -- stuff like recording your walking distance cumulatively, with the goal of walking to some far away place like Hawaii. (Yeah, I know. Just what I need -- another random non-competitive competitive sport.)

Anyway, Claudia wanted to go bowling (of all things) this evening, so we walked up to campus, bowled for an hour, then came back. That was another 3.85 miles added to my distance.

Daily Total: 6.85 miles

Grand Total: 6.85 miles

We walked in the three-mile march from Huston-Tillotson College, a historically black university located in east Austin, to the very white University of Texas campus, via MLK Jr. Blvd. The irony doesn't escape me.

Neither does the fact that the university has become even less diverse since the 10% admission rule took effect, or that George W. Bush, who was governor of Texas at that time, is now suing the University of Michigan, saying their affirmative action-based admission policies are illegal, and that there are "better ways." If there are better ways, Dubya hasn't found them yet -- witness my beloved university.

The news reported that 5,000 people marched, but it felt like far more than that. Witness the huge number of people behind me, and imagine the same number in front of me. Part of the crowd was present solely for the purpose of demonstrating against war in Iraq. They must have affected the numbers somewhat.

I felt a bit as though the peace demonstrators were hijacking the event for their own purposes, though the tinge of my conscience was alleviated when I saw that most of the protestors were carrying signs that asked for peace but kept within the context of MLK Day. We carried our signs and held them up over I-35 at the overpass. It's a view I've never seen before.

I just got home from work a little while ago. Working on a Sunday is always a sign of bad things, right?

I calculated my timesheet when I got home. Turns out that this week, I worked 60 hours total. It's a nice round number to end the week with. (Of course, I'm going into work tomorrow afternoon, despite it being MLK Day...)

The good news is -- well, actually, there are two pieces of good news. The first news item is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So far, it appears that it's not a train. I'll keep you informed. The second piece of good news is that since I'm not going to work until tomorrow afternoon, we'll be able to go to the MLK rally, which is conveniently dove-tailing with a peace rally. The camera, of course, is coming with me.

I haven't taken pictures in quite a while, but I plan to fix that tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, I need a nap. Badly.

Where've I been, you ask?

I've been very very busy with my GPSr. I occasionally go into an obsessive phase. Generally, I come out of it unscathed, but I'm still in the stage where I eat, breathe, and sleep geospotting.

There are certainly worse hobbies. This one gets me out into the fresh air and sunshine daily, and I'm enjoying our mild winter right now. It gives me an opportunity to take pictures of places I might not otherwise go, as well. What it doesn't lend itself to is sitting around and finding things to write about.

I think it warrants a new weblog, though -- expect to see details and pictures of my adventures soonish.