5 Points for 7/7/2007

A little late (by half an hour), but I haven't gone to bed yet, so it still counts.

I thought I'd do a week-in-review sort of thing on Saturdays because there are only so many topics I can cover in a weekly column in the blog, so every Saturday I'll touch on a few things from the week both in the outside world and my life (hey, it's still a blog, isn't it?).

5 Points for the Week ending 7/7/2007:
1. Bush commutes Scooter Libby's sentence:
-Probably happened under pressure from his conservative buddies, especially Karl Rove, since Libby took the fall for Rove in the trial and Rove probably doesn't want to owe a huge debt to Libby, although the $250,000 fine and the two-year probation is still pretty big. Bush probably also wanted to reward one of his few remaining loyalists, especially with an approval rating below 30% that sends an obvious message about what most people think about this president.

2. Muslim doctors behind thwarted UK bombings.
-Scary, isn't it, that those who are charged to take care of and heal the sick and wounded would themselves try to do the total opposite, to kill and hurt innocent victims. I have always wondered what would drive people to commit crimes that are absolutely mind-boggling, even if they have their own made-up reasons. The fact that these would-be terrorists were supposedly well-educated (through books, obviously not through common sense) and more well-off would even think of performing such a heinous act makes me wonder even more.

3. America celebrates another birthday.
-Happy Birthday America; let's see how much longer we will be able to keep celebrating. Whomever invented fireworks and decided to make them a staple of July 4th is a genius.

4. Rosters for next week's Major League Baseball All-Star Game chosen.
-Now time for the usual debates: who got snubbed, who shouldn't be going, should all teams be represented, are players obligated to go, etc. The rosters are mostly right every year, and I actually think fans mess up the roster more than the team-representation rule. More on this later today.

5. New 7 Wonders of the World named.
-Who knew that Latin America would take up almost half of the new list? And if the Pyramids of Giza get a free pass, why isn't it the 8 Wonders of the World? Maybe that's why these people are in liberal arts and not math. While I had not heard of the Statue of Christ Redeemer before this list was announced (I've probably known it's existence, but never connected it with a name), it is a pretty worthy member, as are all the others, of this acclaimed list considering the time period in which it was built and the material it was made with.

5 Points in My Life:
1. Still not doing as well as I'd like in organic chemistry.
-Performing much better than previous attempts attempting to master this notoriously difficult subject, but there's still room for improvement. Getting 90%s on the next test and the final next week would help, but unless you're a genius or are not taking organic chemistry at Wash U., how is that possible? Besides staying up 24/7 and going bald from tearing your hair out, obviously.

2. Ratatouille is very good.
-Went to see it with my parents, and if the scene with Anton Ego reminiscing doesn't send chills up your spine, then you obviously have no love for your mother. Pixar triumphs again with it's eighth feature-length film; the characters are well-developed and perform their roles quite adequately, the graphics are a visual treat, and the story, while obviously unrealistic (but then, remember it is a Disney movie) is very well written. Definitely the best movie I've seen all year, and my early prediction is that it receives the Oscar for best animated feature film to make up for the one that Cars should have won last year. Happy Feet, while cute, just wasn't as good, but Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman have more star power than Owen Wilson and Bonnie Hunt, I guess.

3. Attended Paul Kariya's press conference.
-The Blues are really trying to be a fan-friendly team, trying to bring back the fans who abandoned them these past two years, and so far, they're on the right track. Opening the press conference to introduce one of the bigger stars in the NHL to the public was an unprecidented and very suave move. I was actually really impressed that Kariya, after performing multiple interviews and with the many Blues people trying to guide him back into the arena, would stick around and sign autographs. He even brought his own silver Sharpie (good for signing black pucks). And John Davidson got in the act too, signing autographs in a zone that the security staff deemed off limits to the public, and even shaking hands with fans, talking to them and answering questions. Very classy. Too bad all I had for them to sign was a receipt from Racanelli's that I dug out of my wallet, but it beats running to the team store to buy an overpriced item and then coming back to find the opportunity missed.

4. Got a new washer and dryer.
-After 17 years of the same washer, and about 7 of the same dryer, my mom decided to donate them while they still worked and buy totally new ones. They still look weird, especially the white, sleek, new style with front-loading clear doors and many, many buttons replacing stoic old-style top-load tan washer and pull-down door dryer with a few buttons and one big knob on each, but at least the washer won't make a massive racket while washing bedsheets and pillows, hopefully.

5. Led the weirdest tour ever in the history of my giving campus tours.
-So it's only been four so far, but I started out with a group of about fifteen, and ended with two (plus the admissions officer in training who was shadowing me). On most tours there's always the one parent who will constantly ask questions, which is a good thing, so that every possible bit of information that students need to know about the school is extracted, but I swear I had four of those parents on Friday. When I paused in the Lien Library to talk about housing, we were in there for a good twenty minutes (fifteen more than usual) due to the massive number of questions, and I probably saw five tour groups go in to see the rooms and walk back out. And another ten minutes or so was spent in the room itself talking about alcohol (an important point, but seemingly unrelated to the topic at hand), and after I gave the general school policy, more questions were asked digging deeper into the obviously touchy topic (now they were just being nitpicky), and the person who was shadowing me had to jump in and respond (thank goodness she was there, as she had done tours for four years and was an RA for two). She also jumped in when a girl very pissily asked why freshmen weren't allowed cars (community bonding, explore St. Louis more in depth, and just not enough parking spaces, easy city access by Metro) when my answers did not satisfy her (apparently she lived near Kansas City; whoop-de-doo, I live in Chesterfield and don't have a car). And most of the group split because they needed to grab lunch before interviews/info sessions/other appointments, since the tour ran forty minuts longer than it should. How about taking the tour guide's answers at face value and not nitpick? It's okay to ask questions, but don't ask more than necessary if you want the tour to end when it should, right?