Day 348: All I want, just for me, underneath my christmas tree

 

December 14th, 2011Today was a low key day, as I spent most of the day either at EHS or La Regencia. I said my sad farewells to Geetha as she left me on a blue Super Shuttle bus to fend for myself… I first went to the Bookstore in the morning (crashing John Torres’s lunch break first), made several key christmas purchases for my family before proceeding to work. When I finally arrived, my boss surprised me with a 50 dollar gift-card to the Bookstore, something I could have used in my purchases…. I struggled through work worried about an inability to return my gifts, but then proceeded back to the Bookstore to do so immediately afterwards. After returning all my gifts, I repurchased it with my gift card and credit card simultaneously. I ate lunch at Panda Express before going to Ralph’s to by wrapping paper and going home to wrap all said presents, as pictured above. I talked to Tyler for a bit before he left, and did several tedious tasks which included: cooking pasta for dinner (not as good as Geetha’s), doing laundry, showering, and packing for tomorrow’s departure.

Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was one of the great figures in polar exploration. In 1897, he was first mate on a Belgian expedition that was the first ever to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903, he guided the 47-ton sloop Gjöa through the Northwest Passage and around the Canadian coast, the first navigator to accomplish the treacherous journey. Amundsen planned to be the first man to the North Pole, and he was about to embark in 1909 when he learned that the American Robert Peary had achieved the feat. GOOD FOR HIM.

It’s official. The PATRIOT Act gave the federal government the ability to wiretap U.S. citizens without warrants. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which Obama has now promised to sign into law, grants the federal government the ability to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely without trial. So much for the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution which explicitly states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial.” What’s disturbing is Obama’s justification of signing this dreadful legislation into law: “The White House announced today that President Obama will sign a once-disputed defense authorization bill because authors have removed language that would have restricted the administration’s handling of high-value terrorist detainees.” — USA Today; December 14, 2011 SO SCARY. AND SO SAD.

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