Sunday night potpourri

We recuperated this weekend with a lot of movies, which was also an attempt to distract me from my bad mood: Hot Fuzz, which I liked much better than Shaun of the Dead, but still not crazy about; The Last King of Scotland, which I loved -- what's not to like in a movie in which one male lead does an incredible acting job and the other is my fav from the Beeb's awesome series Shameless (playing, granted, pretty much the same character, but it's one I like)?

We also went to see No End in Sight, which wasn't so good for the bad mood, but well worth seeing. I don't think that anyone who follows the news will learn anything new from it, but it's useful to have the discrete points of information arranged within a narrative sweep, and, I thought, the film wisely refrained from too much Moore-type histrionics* (there was a little). As someone casting about for a job, it did strike me that the criteria for, say, becoming the managing editor of a mid-circ weekly are much more stringent than for the people undertaking far more important and sensitive tasks (i.e., the newly-minted G'town grad asked to design a traffic plan for Baghdad...to say nothing of all the non-Arabists in leadership roles). It's the kind of opportunism I associate with either developing nations or past historical periods, and it shouldn't be possible in Friedman's "flat world." It's not as though the necessary expertise doesn't exist in the US; it simply wasn't -- and to a large degree, still isn't being -- brought to bear. In cognitive psychology terms, that isn't a deficit in substance; it's an error in the retrieval system, and usually indicates a problem with the executive function. So to speak.

(*"many histrionics" or "much histrionics"? Google is nearly equally divided on usage, and I couldn't find anything more targeted and prescriptive. Anyone?)

K and I then got into a surprisingly heated argument over future Iraq policy. I mean, on our first date, we argued fiercely about Burma, so not so much a problem for us, but he's actually a keener analyst than me, so I just ended up more depressed, because he's probably got a more accurate bead on what will really happen. I think I can go into greater detail on this, if there's interest; it isn't even close to my area of professional responsibility.

Speaking of which, I spent a good chunk of time on Saturday exploring a wide range of career possibilities. Being a collegiate Study Abroad Advisor or Director of International Programs looks very possible. The pay is appalling, but the hours and semester breaks are such that it could keep me in ramen while I attempted to work the freelance thing on the side. Monster.com listed RISD and a university in Oklahoma as currently hiring in that area. I think I'll hold out for the University of Hawaii.

Also, epidemiology. No, seriously: I love systems; I love macro perspectives; there seems to be an exception for statistics in my math nonability (I'm fine with numbers tied to real things); despite my misanthropy, I'd actually like to do something more of use to humanity than my current profession (not difficult; retail sales would be a step up on that criterion). Berkeley has a two-year program for non-MDs that I'm mulling over. (Anyone know any actual epidemiologists? I can't say I've met one. Are they happy with the field?)

And then this morning looked like a fine autumn day, so...more biking! Down to Mount Vernon. I was more into the ride and the bargaining chit for strongarming K into seeing Merrily We Roll Along later this week than the actual idea of Mount Vernon, but we both ended up getting into the cheesiness of the whole thing. (One big disappointment: no animatronics. My god, if a place ever cried out more for animatronics...)

We stayed longer than anticipated, and ended up starving by the time we half-rode/half-metroed (when it started getting dark) home, so we were unable to resist an as-yet untried Ethiopian place, La Dama, near Navy Annex on Columbia Pike. In short: recommended. The place was completely packed, and we were the only non-Ethiopians there. The service was a little...odd. After the server explained, with some communication difficulties, that both our first choices were unavailable, and after we rejected her suggestion of another item with the explanation that we were looking for veg dishes, she said "ah," took our menus, and walked away. Er...you don't serve vegetarians? (Too stringy?) The results were fine, though. Ok: in truth, several dishes were served cold; two were ice-cold. We were entirely too hungry to have food set down only to be taken away again. In fact, even cold, the food was spicy and delicious. I fully intend to return soon, order the original dishes we wanted, and be prepared to be firm about the food temperature. I mean, if it was that good under those conditions...