Bad news for my IRRP

My computer (on its last legs) decided to chill out from being able to connect to the Internet for a while. I was surprisingly productive during this downtime. Then I somehow got myself back online and now I've spent thirty minutes rearranging my two blogger profiles so that this is the only one.

Slightly more productive than watching grown men skate around a rink and punch each other, but only marginally so. I should have stuck with Hockey Night in Canada if I'm not going to be doing any work anyway.

Spam

Sample email subject in the WiH account's SPAM folder:

We are here for your penis! You'll like it!

Oh so meta

It would appear that my snarky comment about blogging skills in the first post was a little remiss. There aren't many there to dust off.

I'm writing my Media and Politics paper about teh blogosphere, but the trouble is that I'm absolutely stuck as to how to narrow down my topic. I've been taking notes in Word to try to save the environment, so I have two files on the go at all times: one with quotations (with citations) and other notes on readings, and one with my own running commentary as I try desperately to shape some semblance of a coherent topic. It still looks like it's being written by a hyperactive four-year-old with an impressively large and filthy vocabulary.

(What? As far as I can tell, a major component of the blogosphere thrives on discussing the continuous stream of closeted Republicans outing themselves in spectacularly stupid ways. That's an awful lot of sodomy jokes.)

As of right now, here are a few ideas:
Based on Lippman, technological change that creates shifts in the way we shape the pictures in our heads. Blogging allows us more access to information, which in theory will...ok this one is pretty weak.

There is a fairly large body of work on the agenda-setting role that blogs play in the political sphere. I don't entirely buy in to this idea, and I'd like to do more research and unpack it. Partly because I think that a large number of people read blogs to enhance their opinions about what is already in the news. I know that there have been plenty of exceptions in which a story broke in the blogosphere and then spread elsewhere, but these have leaned somewhat to the side of scandal politics, rather than placing key issues in front of policy-makers. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I do think that those sex scandals I was mentioning earlier occupy a much larger part of any "agenda-setting function" *a pretty weak theory IMHO anyway* than do issues of policy.

The other problem with this question of blogs as making the public think about issues is that when a big issue does hit, the fact that everything is editable, commentable, and otherwise open for discussion and argument means that so much of the time, it devolves into petty arguing, partisanship, and craziness. While I love this in a blog like Sadly, No! because of its irreverence and its refusal to take itself or anything else too seriously, the Malkin-Klein thing over SCHIP seemed frankly ridiculous. I don't know if it helped to prove that blogs are as credible or at least as useful as the MSM, in any case.

Anyway, I clearly don't know what I'm talking about, but I am having some trouble coordinating everything I've been reading into a coherent thesis. I think I need some sleep.

*****
Women in House is a terrifying 15 days away. I can't believe it is actually happening - I keep obsessively checking the email, convinced that I'll find that we forgot to book the rooms, or the restaurant, or, you know, contact MPs or something.

I can't wait! I just finished typing up a master list of participants and some of their applications were really outstanding. I am definitely looking forward to meeting these women, and to hearing about their experiences on the trip.

Content analysis

I don't know what it is, but sitting and working at a computer for an extended period of time makes me hungrier than does running, swimming, or any other kind of workout. I hope that's a testament to how well instead of how poorly my brain is working.

I've been working on this content analysis project for a polisci class, which basically involves reading the newspapers everyday and analyzing every article on the Reasonable Accomodation hearings that comes up. The problem is that my partner and I appear to have left a major buzzword off our coding scheme: language. Oops. Looks like I'm going to have to go over these again...

Sitting in the library on a Saturday evening is a very strange feeling. The Run for the Cure is tomorrow morning, and given that I have to get up early I figured that an early Walksafe shift should have me home in plenty of time to get some rest. Ergo, I am here. My system probably needs it, though - I had quite a night last night. The fact that we lost our hockey game definitely did not put a damper on my spirits.

Sitting beside the window in the Ferrier labs makes me feel like I'm outside

Two things to note:
1. I seem to have caught the plague from Ben, and the fact that I sacrificed a warmer spot in the FACL in favour of sitting beside the window and pretending I'm outside enjoying the sunshine is probably not helping my sore throat.
2. Two MPs and a Senator have replied in the affirmative! This is all kinds of exciting. We're both still running around, chasing down sources of funding, but we have enough left in the account to take 3 women to Ottawa. So, at least now we know that Women in House will happen, no matter how small.
(note to all MPs and donors that may be reading this: we are still shooting for 35 people - I'm just giddy with excitement.)
This is awesome.


My first hockey game is tonight. I know it sounds funny, but I'm actually worrying what to wear (how typical of me, right?) But seriously, though - I don't want to freeze but I don't want to overheat, either. Someone help me!

First post, or something equally original

So here I go again, dusting off my blogging skills and giving it another go...