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Yup. So … Spring Break was fun. Didn’t do a blessed thing for nine days straight–at least, nothing school related.

Actually I did quite a lot! Let’s see… floated 58 miles in five nights and five days. Hiked through canyons and up trails. Got a sun tan. Got a sun burn. Read some Ed. (Abbey, of course.) Waged war against sobriety. Won some battles. Lost the war. Crushing defeat. Rowed a red boat. Decided to become a geologist. Rowed a blue boat. Sang some songs. Debated the ethical implications of touching rock art (“Sight is the only sense that creates physical space between viewer and object. Touch closes this gap, creates a connection with the art and artist…”). Ruined more than one perfectly delightful conversation with economic reductionism (“the free market SOLVES! for EVERYTHING!”). Decided not to become a geologist. Contemplated the stars. Gathered driftwood. Roasted one single marshmallow. Avoided introspection. Dug holes in the sand. Filled them in…

Oh. And I took some pictures. Check ’em out!

From Spring Break 2009 – San Juan River

I hope everyone else had an equally marvelous and sun-drenched spring break!

Yaar! Off to the San Juan River! Huzzah! Out of contact till Saturday, the … 21st. Pics and details when I return! If you need anything … smoke signals! Carrier pigeons! ESP! Those are your options!

Consider the plight, if you will, of Gary, the out-house mouse…

From 2009.02.24 Garnet Lookout 2009

Bovard, Christina and I made good use of our weekend, hiking in to the Garnet Lookout Cabin.

Click on the above photo to see the album.

Definitely one of those routine trips where a combination of poor planning (see: leaving Bozeman about six hours late …) and bad luck (see: losing the trail, in the dark) and hubris (see: “What-ev! We don’t need no trail. We’ll make our OWN trail!”) makes the unremarkable into an epic.

Here’s Bovard, rippin’ gnar like Narnia on his sick tube…

Good times!

So, like 30 seconds ago, I was using a napkin to wipe the dried beer stains off the top of my laptop (how did THOSE get there?) and I was listing to the Mountain Goats, and I thought to myself, “man, I should really post this on my blog. Using lots of … passive verbs. Was. Is.”

So there I am … using a wet napkin to wipe stale beer stains off my laptop, listening to The Mountain Goats. There’s something cooking on the stove, and something burning, too. What’s burning is the chunks of last night’s dinner that spilled on to and under the burner. What’s cooking is … Chicken Ramen Noodles. Yup. That’s right.

So … Chris calls me a “faketarian.” I don’t think that’s quite fair … but I can’t deny that, right now, I’m sipping on a steaming bowl of steaming Ramen. Mmm. It tastes extra good because … I’m pretty sure it’s Bovard’s Ramen.

Here’s a riddle: What tastes better than MSG?

…

Answer: Stolen MSG!

*tissh!*-*dun*-*dup!*

Did you know? If you spill the “Chicken Flavor” spice package from a package of Ramen, it sparks and looks really cool? I definitely recommend trying this at home.

But I really don’t feel that eating a bowl of Ramen makes me a faketarian. Especially because my premise isn’t so much that “meat is murder” so much as … the meat industry produces more greenhouse gasses than all the transportation industries combined (Cars! Planes! Trains! Automobiles! … Tanks! … Rickshaws! … …).

And, moreover … the Chicken Flavor packet doesn’t actually have any meat in it. “Chicken Powder” isn’t meat, is it? No more than … snow is water? Besides … Chicken Powder is ingredient number five in the list. What’s number two? … Yup! That’s right: monosodium glutamate.

…

Suddenly, I don’t feel so well.

…

So … I went to the dentist this morning. Arriving home afterwards, half my face is numb (intentionally, mind you. I swear … my dentist seemed mighty disappointed when he didn’t find oil … all that drilling and all …).

Weird things: 1) When I splashed water on my face in the shower, only half of my face got wet. 2) When I drank from a cold bottle, the bottle and liquid on one side was actually warm. 3) The texture of pickle skin against my teeth still bothered me.

…

Last thing, before I go to class (drat! I haven’t done any of the reading! I’ve been to busy … blogging?)

So, I’m sitting in computer science class yesterday (yup … you read that right. CS class.) and this girl opens the set of doors at the front of the lecture hall, looks in, clearly sees that there’s a class going on. THEN, she casually walks straight across the front of the room–between the Prof and the 50 people in the lecture hall–up the side aisle, and out the back door. During the middle of lecture. For no reason at all!

Needless to say, I’m still flabbergasted.

And now I’m nearly late to class. !!

At long last, I’ve finally gotten into the action on InTrade. This “predictions market” put the “efficient markets hypothesis” (the theory that, at any given time, the price of a stock or commodity reflects all available information) to the test.

Like the stock market, InTrade essentially provides its users with a platform for betting on a predicted outcome. After an initial public offering, “stocks” of an outcome trade up or down, based on public demand.

Every share sells for its market-determined value (which, historically, tends to be a darn good proxy for its actual probably outcome). After the event, the value of a share goes to $10 if the expected event (ex: Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States) is fulfilled, or $0 if it is not.

Yesterday, I bought 100 shares of Milk to win the 2009 Academy Award for Best Picture.” I set a market limit order at 49 cents, which was quickly filled. If Milk loses to Slumdog Millionaire (as it likely will), I’m out $50. If Milk wins, I’m up $950.

Here’s my case for Milk winning, in the form of a numbered list:

1. Milk is a better movie than Slumdog Millionaire.
2. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences likes Gus Van Sant better than Danny Boyle. I can’t prove this one, but: Van Sant is a long-standing and visible member of the Hollywood establishment; Danny Boyle’s is some young punk kid whose last big film was 28 Days Later. (Don’t get me wrong–I like Danny Boyle better than Gus Van Sant, but…)
3. Milk is about gay rights–in a year when gay rights is in the front of everyone’s minds (with the success of Prop-8, that is. The Academy would probably give the award to Milk, just to spite the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Homophobic Saints).
4. The children actors in Slumdog Millionaire, though picked from the slums, were grossly underpaid and quickly returned to the slums from whence they came, when the filming was over. (See: this article.)
5. The Academy has long succumbed to the inherent pleasure and persuasiveness of numbered lists!

So. Maybe Milk will win. At 20:1, I feel like it’s a solid bet. And, after all, my portfolio could use a little luck, after my ill-advised bet on Citigroup (NYSE: C) eight weeks ago.

May the best film (that conforms to the political agenda of the Academy) win!