And so it ends

Two thousand and eight ends tonight.

I remember exactly how the year began. The arc of that night is in some ways the reverse of the arc that the year followed. That night began with a fight and ended with a feeling of being more in love with Victor than I had ever began. But while 2008 began on that high note, it ends with Victor and I going our separate ways.

I moved to Las Vegas for love, but I am staying for entirely different reasons. I had no plan for my life when I arrived. Now I know what I want to do with the second half of my journey. For that I will always be grateful, Victor.

It's been a year of growth and of finally slowing down. It's had the usual share of highs and lows, but what's been constant is the inexorable forward movement of school: semester followed by semester, class by class, exam by exam. I've been in session almost continuously since last January and have completed 42 units. I'm happy with what I've learned, I'm happy with my grades. I'm happy with my path.

I've had unexpected moments of homesickness for Vegas during my two weeks here in San Francisco, but I've also been reminded of what I've left behind. Sometimes it's the small things that loom largest. Like having coffee at Peet's on Market surrounded by other gay men who are enjoying their community. Or walking on wet streets... especially the walking part. Simply being in a place where people walk.

I've had the chance to see a lot of old friends which is exactly what I wanted. On Christmas Day I learned that Manuel is an amazing cook. That night I learned that Hoi is a poet.

I watched Milk with Antonio and remembered some of the history that has enabled me to live my life the way I've wanted. In 1988 I marched down Market Street in a candlelight vigil marking the tenth anniversary of Harvey Milk's assassination. This year was the 30th anniversary. How is it that more of my life has come after a night that commemorated something that seemed then like ancient history than between that night and the event itself?

Last Saturday Tommy and I saw Insignficant Others, a musical written by my friend Jay Kuo. Jay Jay and I came out around the same time at Stanford. Watching his story about five twenty-something friends who move to the Bay Area reminded me of so many things that I've experienced since I came here in 1985.

All in all, it's been one of my better visits to my old hometown. I've had a lot of clarity into what I want and don't want; what I want to carry forward from the past and what I am ready to leave behind. And maybe, just maybe, I've learned that I may have left my heart in San Francisco.

BUT FOR NOW I will simply celebrate the new year here in the City. I'll return to Vegas to finish moving into my apartment. I'll start classes toward the end of January. Life goes on.

Hello, 2009. You're going to be a great one.

Milgram lives

Or more accurately: people appear to be as obedient to authority as ever. Someone has replicated the infamous 1963 Milgram experiment and found similar results.

Merry Christmas from San Francisco

And wishing you health, wisdom, and joy in the new year!

Poolside snow in Vegas...

29 years...

They are saying this is the worst snow in Vegas in 29 years!

Snowed-in in Vegas!

Wow, the snow is coming down hard again this afternoon, and it's even colder than Monday when it snowed. Crazy!

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning in effect through 6 a.m. Thursday with 3 to 6 inches of snow possible, even in the lowest levels of the Las Vegas Valley, including the Strip.

Snow was falling this afternoon in much of the Las Vegas Valley. Forecasters said heavy snow is possible in the valley and desert areas of Clark, Lincoln and southern Nye counties.

An advisory from the weather service this afternoon called the snow event "extremely rare."

I was heading across town despite the weather until I got on the beltway... I started sliding right away and got off as fast as I could. I've got a rear wheel drive RX-8 which is so light. Not what you want to be driving on icy roads!

I stopped at the supermarket since my new refrigerator is empty and almost couldn't get out of the parking lot!

Thank god I've got my internet service hooked up in my new apartment. (Yes, that's another story.)

Snow in Las Vegas

This is a new one for me! It's coming down pretty hard... up to five inches possible.

Winding down...

I finished finals on Tuesday, and I've been laying low since then. Final grades aren't in yet, but I did see that I got an A on my organic chemistry final (it's a nationwide standardized exam and covers both semesters of ochem). It was a tough class, so I have to say that I was pretty thrilled to do so much better than I expected on the final.

On Wednesday I spent most of the day in bed reading... for pleasure! :-)

It has been a stressful few weeks, but it feels good to be on break. I had five classes--20 units--and there were weeks when it really got me down. But... it's done.

Robin Williams on George W., Obama, etc.

Funny. :-)

(Video link)

Studying organic chemistry @ UNLV...

Obama's public works

He plans to push for a lot of spending to resuscitate the economy:

Although he put no price tag on it, he said he would invest record amounts of money in the vast infrastructure program, which also includes work on schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electric grids, dams and other public utilities. He vowed to upgrade computers in schools, expand broadband Internet access, make government buildings more energy efficient and improve information technology at hospitals and doctors’ offices.

Key in this for me is "schools" and "electric grids." We need improvements in both of these badly.

Cheers!

Prohibition was repealed 75 years ago. :-)

Memo to Donald Trump: "You're fired!"

Donald Trump tries to get out of paying a $40 million loan based on an "act of God" clause in the loan's terms:

By Mr. Trump’s account, sales were going great until “the real estate market in Chicago suffered a severe downturn” and the bankers made it worse by “creating the current financial crisis.”

Those assertions are made in a fascinating lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump, the real estate developer, television personality and best-selling author, in an effort to avoid paying $40 million that he personally guaranteed on a construction loan that Deutsche Bank says is due and payable.

Rather than have to pay the $40 million, Mr. Trump thinks the bank should pay him $3 billion for undermining the project and damaging his reputation.

He points to a “force majeure” clause in the lending agreement that allows the borrower to delay completion of the building if construction is hampered by such things as riots, floods or strikes. That clause has a catch-all section covering “any other event or circumstance not within the reasonable control of the borrower,” and Mr. Trump figures that lets him out, even though construction is continuing.

“Would you consider the biggest depression we have had in this country since 1929 to be such an event? I would,” he said in an interview. “A depression is not within the control of the borrower.”

Sorry, Donald, you're fired.

Donating to Sarah Palin's favorite charity...

It's called Me, Myself, and I!

Remember that $150,000 wardrobe that the RNC bought for Sarah? The one she was going to donate to charity after the election?

Well, apparently Sarah's her own favorite charity because she still appears to be wearing at least one item from the wardrobe.

I don't know if this jacket was specifically purchased by the RNC, but it seems like a reasonable bet. I guess she may keep getting questions like this for awhile... it might be safer to donate all of her clothes to charity and start over (the retail industry could sure use her business).

What a week...

I had two exams, a short presentation, and an anatomy lab practical yesterday. A chemistry lab final and a stats paper due today. Tomorrow another lab practical.

And then next week is finals week!

Tough times in Detroit

I totally support the idea of organized labor. I think the problem in a lot of U.S. industries (e.g. autos, airlines), however, is that the benefits that labor won decades ago when times were flush are no longer a good fit for a more competitive environment and a faltering economy.

Agreeing to give anyone (including government employees) benefits for life (e.g. pensions, healthcare) is a risky undertaking.

Businesses need some flexibility to adapt to changing conditions. Workers deserve some reward for their work as well as confidence about their future. I don't have a good answer except that employers probably aren't the best folks to be paying for people's healthcare. But then that's a bad decision GM made a long time ago...

In any case, the UAW is making some concessions, and I think that's an unfortunate necessity.

Obama and the GOP

Apparently Obama made a very favorable impression on GOP governors today...

Hillary's remarks on joining Obama's administration

(Video link)

More here.

Paul Krugman on deficit spending

Basically: now is not the time to balance the budget. Read his commentary here.

In the wrong hands...

I read Stephen King's The Stand as a kid. Twelve Monkeys is one of my favorite movies. And I've always been fascinated by biology and am studying it now.

And I have to say that one of the more worrisome developments in the world is the spread of biotechnology. It's getting easier and cheaper every day to tinker with germs...

A new government report is coming out soon; the Washington Post obtained a draft. From their article:

No single government agency has authority to oversee security at these U.S. labs, most of which are run by private companies or universities. Such facilities in the United States "are not regulated" unless they obtain government funding or acquire pathogens from the government's list of known biowarfare agents. Because of this gap, labs can work with "dangerous but unlisted pathogens, such as the SARS virus," which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, without the government's knowledge.

Internationally, the challenges are even greater. While the U.S. government continues to spend billions of dollars to secure Cold-War-era nuclear stockpiles, similar efforts to dismantle Soviet bioweapons facilities have been scaled back because of disagreements with the Russian government, the report notes. The only global treaty that outlaws the development of biological weapons has no mechanism for inspections or enforcement. Efforts to strengthen the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention were dealt a symbolic blow in 2001 when the Bush administration withdrew its support for a new accord that had been under negotiation for six years.

Meanwhile, the growth in biodefense research seen in the United States has spread to dozens of countries, including developing nations such as Malaysia and Cuba that are investing heavily to develop world-class biotech industries. One of the fastest-growing technologies is DNA synthesis, which offers new capabilities to alter the genes of existing pathogens or synthesize them artificially. While governments, trade groups and professional organizations are experimenting with various voluntary controls over such new capabilities, the United States should lead a global effort to strengthen oversight and clamp down on the unregulated export of deadly microbes, the panel said.

"Rapid scientific advances and the global spread of biotechnology equipment and know-how are currently outpacing the modest international attempts to promote biosecurity," the report says.

More from the New York Times here.

I read most of Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War a year ago. We ended our own biological weapons program when we signed a treaty prohibiting such weapons in 1972. The problem is that a lot has changed since then... research programs that might once have required dozens of scientists and required large expenditures can now be undertaken by a handful of people at a fraction of the cost. It's no longer an issue of what a foreign country might do.

And this is one of those challenges for which I have no good ideas beyond improving our readiness for the inevitable attack. Right now the U.S. public health system is woefully unprepared...

UPDATE: Get this... the Pentagon plans to have 20,000 troops ready to respond to a domestic attack (nuclear or otherwise) by... 2011! Only ten years after 9/11. Now that's what I call a rapid response.

World AIDS Day (#20)

Today is the 20th World AIDS Day.

President Bush's effort to fund AIDS prevention and relief programs in Africa is one of the few things I am prepared to thank him for.

Obama's remarks here:

(Video link)

Obama's national security team

Three men, three women. They look like a tough bunch to me. But they are smart and, I think, have a sense for the limits of what the military can accomplish. Diplomacy is coming back into style, and just in time.

(Welcome to the team, Hillary. :-)

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.

-- Abraham Lincoln

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