The Self-Congratulations of Jesse Moya

I was in NYC for Memorial Day and lost my wallet. It was a pain to have to replace credit cards, my subway pass, picture of my motorcycle, etc. By far the biggest pain was getting a duplicate license.

So the DMV isn't open for hours that are convenient to me. Whatever. What's "great" is that you can simply give them your credit card number and order one through their website.*




*Unless you have a middle name.

I am in such an awful, rotten mood today. The darkest and bleakest of clouds of misery are storming so fierce in my head that I'm wearing tinted contacts in my eyes. The sun is shining so bright into my lab, but all I can see is the most depressing things everywhere I look.

You know who's really super hot? Donna, from West Wing. IMDB says her name is Janel Moloney.

My girlfriend has the cutest pet names for me.

Begin forwarded message:
From: The Girlfriend
Date: July 7, 2009 2:25:11 PM EDT
To: Jesse Moya

Let's play it by ear, ass crack.

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Jesse Moya wrote:

  That's up to you. If you really want to get home we can wait. It would be one less thing for me to do if we went and got it before going to my place.


On Jul 7, 2009, at 2:21 PM, The Girlfriend wrote:

Well if it's easier for you to pick it up today, we can.  Or we could always get it before our date on Saturday.


On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 2:20 PM, Jesse Moya wrote:

  If I'm not going to Bike Night tomorrow then I won't need it until Sunday. They won't mind holding it. The scumbags.


On Jul 7, 2009, at 2:10 PM, The Girlfriend wrote:

You don't need to go pick up your motorcycle?

Google released new stuff today. I had been beta testing out some of their apps and I have to say, I'm glad I can finally talk about it!

Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Talk

For those who don't know what beta testing is: software is written, and a sort of rough draft is released to a select few users to test. They use it as though it's ready for a public release and report any crashes or bugs. The idea is that the developers get a sense for exactly how people are going to actually use it, and will tweak anything they didn't anticipate.

WELL. I was invited to use Google's apps while they were still in the beta stage! NOW that they've given up on trying to be clever and redefine the term moved their stuff out of beta, the rest of you normal people can use it!

UPDATE: For any self-described nerds to read this thing, you should note that July 7th will now be famous as the day that Google dropped the Beta tag AND VLC 1.0.0 was released! OMG.

changing a flat tire – TIMED

I wear an armored jacket when I ride my motorcycle, but it can get a bit hot when standing still in the sun. I was looking for something a little cooler (and maybe leather) when I ran across this:

ebay auction for "cooler" leather biker armor

I'm seriously considering it. It might mean not buying an iPhone in a couple months. I don't know which I'd prefer to buy.

UPDATE: also, the same people are selling the World's Manliest Fanny Pack

7:48AM - I leave Boston about an hour behind schedule.

8:21AM - Stop for a bite at McDonalds at a reast stop. OMFG I love McDonald's breakfast.

10:29AM - I've been speeding a little bit to make up for the lost hour. WAIT, FUCK FUCK FUCK THERE IS A COP CAR BEHIND ME WITH LIGHTS BLARING. Did I just speed past a cop? WHAT?? THERE'S TWO OF THEM?? Oh, whew! They went speeding past me on some other business. Maybe I should slow down.

11:50AM - TRAFFIC.

12:20PM - OK, I just sat in traffic to cross the Tapan Zee bridge, found out I was going the wrong way, and had to cross it again. $5.00 in tolls. Also, how did I cross this bridge twice, but now I'm in NYC??

6:10PM - I hate New Jersey. I just hate it. This is me, after trying to get away from the jam-packed turnpike, stopping at a Panera to look up the weather. Time to go back to the turnpike, because these are the skies I'm riding into.



8:00PM - I made it to the Jersey Turnpike. I recorded some video to show you what a marvelous idea this was. (the audio is several seconds behind the video for some reason)



Also you might be interested to know that a bus full of some Christian youth group from the South just pulled up. So this place is packed with 100 middle school kids praying over their Roy Rogers fast food.

12:20AM-1:30AM - GOD IN HEAVEN, WHERE IS THIS HOTEL??

2:00A - Ok, wow. All those ads for "oh, book an unbelievably nice hotel for pennies at Hotels.com"? $60 bucks for one of the single nicest hotel rooms I've ever been inside of. I think each hour of sleep is going to count double because of how comfy this place is!

8:39AM - Nope. Each hour just counted as one.

I got a shitty LSAT score.

I was aiming for the 95th percentile and was consistently testing above the 90th. I got the 86th.

Major frowny face. :(

The AFA calls itself a Christian organization, yet somehow they hate the idea of Obama's "socialized healthcare package." Let's hypothesize for a moment that Obama is pushing for socialized healthcare and then ask why a Christian would oppose such an idea.

Um, there's quite a bit in the Bible about tithing and caring for the sick at all costs. I'd like to remind these self-described Christians about the Beatitudes, spoken by the Christ. There's also a little something in there about "what you do to the least of these you do to me," meaning these guys should probably be the biggest supporters of greater access to healthcare for the working class.

But then, you'll never see me assume that conservatives or Christians are concerned about the well-being of others. It's examples like this that suggest quite strongly that "Christian" – when applied to organizations – is merely a moniker to protect untenable political positions. If it had any meaning or sanctity you would think that there would be outrage at its abuse by churches and individuals. But alas, look at the many churches and individuals preaching as though there were 1,000 different canonical Bibles.

Via B3ta:

I was at the Leeds Fest riots in 2005. The Foo Fighters had just headlined the mainstage, and we were making our way back to the campsite totally shattered looking forward to a good nights sleep. As we got to the campsite however, it looked like downtown Baghdad. There were huge fires all over the place, with the sound of gas cannisters blowing up every few minutes. People were knocking down telegraph poles, and destroying tents. As I walked back I spotted the biggest looking fire poking up from behind a hill over in orange camp. I decided that would be where the best view would be and where if anything really interesting was to happen, it would happen.

I seated myself at the top of the hill looking down on the most tribal primitive and yet awesome site I had ever seen. There in the clearing were hundreds of people running and dancing around a huge fire made of what was once the cider tent, carling tent and a telegraph pole. One guy was playing the drums using two tent poles and the upturned kettel drum bins while everyone danced around the fire with glowsticks. There were people juggling fire, practising poi, and generally having a really good time. A Carling truck that was nearby had been broken into and was in the process of being relieved of all its goods. It looked like the apocolypse had come.

And yet...there in the middle of all of this chaos, we rioting Brits had formed an orderly queue to pillage the Carling truck. Even in the middle of a riot we had formed a queue as one guy grabbed 24 pack after 24 pack, and offloaded them to the waiting 'soon to be' drunks

The best Text From Last Night ever.

This is the headline from the most recent AFA newsletter:

CBS gives free pass to David Letterman's *ex jokes about Palin's teen daughter

What? What does that mean? Tex joke? Did he tell a Tex joke about Palin's daughter? What's a Tex joke? Maybe they mean Mex joke. She's Mexican, right? Gosh, I really wonder what they're referring to.

They go on to say:

It is time for the Christian-bashing to stop. And make no mistake, that is what is going on here. Gov. Palin does not deserve these attacks...

Bravo AFA! You're right! Letterman HATES Christians! He's got a pretty long history of attacking people based on petty things like religion and whatnot. And a good, upstanding Christian family like the Palins certainly have done nothing deserving any sort of public derision or ridicule.

You fucking clowns.

And that's really just the big news. I guess I did alright. I mean, it wasn't my best performance (94th percentile), but it wasn't my worst, either (82nd percentile). My guess is that I got around 90th, which is good enough to get into law school, but not good enough to get into Yale or Stanford (avg = 98th percentile and above).

I honestly believe that I *can* do well enough to get into even the most selective law schools in the country, so I'm considering re-taking it in October. I'm not sure yet. I still need to decide on a short list (less than 10) of schools that I'm interested in before I can assess, stats-wise, whether I really need to boost my score or not.

Anyhow, I'm back to normal life as of tomorrow. Tonight I'm just relaxing and recovering. I have a looooooong list of Things To Get To When I Finish My Exam. Tomorrow.

Thanks to the very many texts, blog comments, emails, voicemails, and facebook messages that I got from everyone! I took them all to heart and it made me feel almost invincible going into the test.

I didn't mention this before, but the Red Wings came back to Detroit after two road losses (4-2 each game) and beat Pittsburgh 5-0. They shut them out. It goes without saying that the Red Wings are the best hockey team in the league, but we like to say it anyways: THE RED WINGS ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE.

I want to say two words about this last game that we won: PAVEL DATSYUK.

He recently became my favorite Red Wing. I hadn't had one before (nb: since Yzerman's retirement, duh), but now I know whose jersey to save up for. There are so many greats to choose from, but I think this is the final nail, if you will.

Datsyuk has been injured and this is the first game he's played in this series. We were already doing well against Pittsburgh, but once we got back one of the most dangerous forwards in the game – who pulls weight on the other end of the ice, don't you know – well, we get ourselves a shut-out.

5-0 isn't a score you usually expect when the two best teams in the league face each other. I cannot wait to watch game 6. Watching the game 5 highlights gave me quite a boost just now, which is what I need right before a 4-6 hour exam.

Yeah, that's right LSAT. Come get some.

There's a lot of cool sweet optical illusion stuff online, and I'm worried 100% of the time that I'm really watching a startle video. My Promise to You is that I will never post one of those ever because I don't like them. This one is safe and totally awesome!

Pretty Cool Illusion from HardTime.

I want to work for the EFF someday!

Via Boing Boing:

Right now, in Geneva, at the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization, history is being made. For the first time in WIPO history, the body that creates the world's copyright treaties is attempting to write a copyright treaty dedicated to protecting the interests of copyright users, not just copyright owners. </a>

The problem is that Obama's administration is lobbying AGAINST a treaty that would protect the rights of the blind. The issue is that the rich countries like Canada, Australia, and, yes, us, have powerful lobbyists who are fighting for backwards-ass copyright laws. They don't want to see the spread of technology that enables those who are, say, limbless, blind, or have dyslexia. Why not? Because somehow text-to-speech software promotes piracy?

All I know is that this is what I want to spend my life fighting. This is why I want to be a lawyer. All I can do right now is blog about this and send an email to president@whitehouse.gov saying that I support this treaty, please stop fighting it.

It's 3:30am and I'm at work still. I told one of my coleagues that it's my own fault I'm still here, which is partly true. I could have planned things better, but I also have an extraordinary amount of work to do: literally three months worth that I need to finish in a matter of two weeks. I've been putting in a lot of extra hours.

So I'm a little stressed, and worn pretty thin. But my spirits are up, especially after the text I just got. Here's the thing about my phone: it's rarely good news when it rings. Very rarely. So it's been off for a while. I turned it on just now and got the following text from Moms:

I did one of the coolest things today. I pulled the car over and bought a cup of lemonade from a little kid. He was so happy. I think I was his first customer.

I've been toying with the idea of applying to Harvard Law School. It's a long shot, of course, but there's a lot of reasons why it makes sense. Except for the fact that it's in Boston, where people really hate each other (read #3 from that link). I'd prefer here to anywhere in the South, but sometimes I just really miss the Midwest.

HOLY SHIT WTF UPDATE - Forget everything I've ever said about anything on this blog. I'm moving to India to become a Bollywood star. Effective immediately.