Day 216: Totally Fun-Free Day

 

August 4th, 2011Today was a fun-filled day, but more importantly a FREE fun-filled day. I began the day as usual at EH&S talking to my boss, and submitting pictures of myself modeling in lab coats to display biosafety levels all over campus. If all goes according to my boss’s plan my picture should be on the face of every single laboratory on campus. It’s a scary thought really. After making a few deliveries at the School of Medicine, I figured my shift was done so I subsequently proceeded to Chou’s place. He drove me to a theater called “Reading Cinemas”, which had terrible looking seats. (I should mention on the way he ran a red light and almost got us killed, but that’s besides the point). I used my Fandango tickets and we both got to see Captain America for free essentially, despite it being a horrendous movie. He treated me to some Coldstone’s afterwords where I took a delicious picture of the menu. He also went to Lightning Jack’s BBQ betraying the Phil’s franchise I have worked so hard to put on my resume. When I got back to my place, I watched an episode of Breaking Bad before proceeding to Hiep’s place. Hiep, Russell, and I ordered pizza and I didn’t have to pay because I didn’t have any change in cash (only a $20 bill). Hiep just said I would owe her, so I essentially saved money today (but it’ll come back to haunt me later). I had some free pizza, and then played Monopoly. Even though I had the blue and green monopolies I still ended up losing tragically. Afterwards we played 221B Baker Street, a detective game I have never played before. It was pretty fun, and I won the second round by default because Russell and Hiep both guessed the wrong killer. When I got back home I watched some Big Brother while Lauren stood by and pestered me about it. I watched the season 3 finale of Breaking Bad, and boy was it intense. Afterwards, with Tyler sound asleep on the couch, my friend Pam came over, and we talked for a bit playing some Youtube videos. Tyler eventually woke up and we all chatted about movies and whatnot before we all essentially called it a night. FREE. FUN. & TIRED. GOOD NIGHT!

Acting on tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The Franks had taken shelter there in 1942 out of fear of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. They occupied the small space with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man, and were aided by Christian friends, who brought them food and supplies. Anne spent much of her time in the “secret annex” working on her diary. The diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo that discovered the hiding place, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps. Annelies Marie Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on June 12, 1929. She was the second daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank-Hollander, both of Jewish families that had lived in Germany for centuries. With the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in 1933, Otto moved his family to Amsterdam to escape the escalating Nazi persecution of Jews. In Holland, he ran a successful spice and jam business. Anne attended a Montessori school with other middle-class Dutch children, but with the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 she was forced to transfer to a Jewish school. In 1942, Otto began arranging a hiding place in an annex of his warehouse on the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam. It’s a shame I never read the Diary of this poor, poor girl…

Ron Paul announced a five-city Iowa bus tour next week with his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, as part of an increasingly intense straw poll effort aimed at coming in strong at Ames. Paul himself said that coming in at anything less than third place would be a disappointment on Tuesday, the first time he’s publicly pegged his expectations. But after years of dominating smaller, less contested straw polls, Paul’s facing a new situation at Ames. Since only Iowa residents can cast votes in the straw poll, he’s had to focus on making inroads to new voters, rather than relying on his small but fervid group of grassroots supporters who trekked across the country without any involvement — or even explicit encouragement — to back him. I REALLY HOPE HE WINS…

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