Geeky Chic

There has been a vast cultural (and personal) overuse of the cliche
“Blank is the new blank,” lately, and the one that my friends
are abusing the most is, “The fifty is the new twenty,” in reference to
yuppie food stamps.   This joke has been confirmed, as the
Times remarks on how the six-figure salary has lost its cache and $200K is the new $100K.  Though I don’t take the Styles section
very seriously, this article contains a lot of truth; one of the
debates that I constantly engage in at home concerns how $200K/year is
the
bare minimum that a family in SF needs to eek out a decent life.

Addendum: AG has moved this discussion to his site.

Perhaps the cameraman that Joaquin Phoenix portrays in Hotel Rwanda is correct; when the Western Media brings us these images,
the collective response is to pause, and say, “How horrible,” but then
we go on with our mundane day-to-day tasks.  What is the point of
building Holocaust museums, if we just let this stuff happen?  Do
they exist primarily as a space to bus schoolkids to for field trips?

Now back to my regularly scheduled apathy.

I wonder how long Westlaw technical support will keep me on hold (it’s
not letting me into my account).  I’m in the middle of the most
confusing research project ever (the legal librarians here shook their
heads at the question, and this afternoon, the Westlaw legal research phone assistant,
said “Wow, there are a lot of issues there, I don’t know where to
start.”)

I’m on the verge of cancelling on tonight’s birthday dinner, but I
can’t be that much of a bastard because I am the one in possession of
the gingerbread cake.  Argh.  If I’m still on hold in 10
minutes, I’m leaving.

And if any of you out there are conflict/choice of laws experts, you can become my new best friend.

Edit: 6:35 Westlaw tech support just hung up on me.

Though SWP has chronicled
how mass media and society have caused some of our law school peers to
fret about their ever dwindling ova, the main media story this week
(according to the Times and Newsweek)
appears to be how parenthood will destroy one’s life.  I kind of
concur; this quest to have perfect kids seems to be one giant
marketing scheme on the level of Valentine’s Day.  The neo-Marxist
critique of the family is starting to make sense (I have no idea if I
am attributing the last idea to the right movement; college is foggy.)  But, yeah, having babies is the tool of the man.

These coupons
don’t match last year’s cards (and they have an expiration date of
March 14th), but you know the sentiment behind them, my pretties.

No, it’s just the natural order of things.

**

Okay, I can admit it, it took until now for my hangover to abate.

HAPPY YEAR OF THE ROOSTER (and “Chuc Mung Nam Moi” to those of you who want to make this holiday less Sinocentric).*

*Edit made as per SWP’s non-legal advice.