30 August 2006

a fortiori

i am reading a paper that uses the latin phrase a fortiori and which reminded me of my mom's mexicanized version a fuerziolis.

for those who don't know, a fortiori is used when an argument is given and another argument is inferred from the first one. so the second argument must hold a fortiori.

since i was a kid, my mom has used her own version of this latin expression. so, when my mom said i couldn't leave the house until i cleaned my bedroom and later i asked, without having tidied up my room, if i could go out to play with my friends, she'd say i have to clean my room a fuerziolis. it doesn't have the exact same meaning as the original expression... but who would've thought i would be learning latinesque expressions at such young age?

thanks, mom, for making me smart.

also, my sister called yesterday to ask me what a lonche was. of course i know what that is, and of course i knew where she was coming from. in mexico, the small meal consisting of egg tacos or ham and cheese sandwiches or grated carrots or cucumbers with chile and lemon... that moms prepare for kids to take to school and eat during recess is called lonche. of course that's just an abherration of the english word lunch. but in monterrey, a lonche is also a sandwich, but only those sandwiches made with "box bread" (pan de caja), which is what we call the sliced bread loaf they sell in super markets---not, say, the bread you'd get at a bakery.

i miss those lonches de jamón i used to eat for dinner. the best were those that were heated up in the sandwich maker: and not your typical electric sandwich maker... but a mechanical metal device that you'd open to put the sandwich inside and then you'd put the whole thing on the stove. i have never seen a similar device elsewhere...


blonds get smart

about three-quarters of the people in the library today are blond.

to help me understand the issue, please vote for one of the following:

(1) are they trying to protect their hair-dos from the rain outside?

(2) is this everyday demographics at the yale law library and i simply hadn't noticed?

(3) are they trying to stop the "stupid blond" stereotype?

(4) is it just a coincidence?

tienes nalgas de aspirina

that's what maría (my ex) told alan (her ex) once to criticize his aspirin-like bottom: flat and with a line in the middle.

my ass is very aspirin-like right now. i've spent weeks sitting down most of the day, preparing for my macro oral exam. it's crazy how much there's behind one single macro academic paper. it's usually 15-30 pages plus graphs, tables, appendices, derivations, proofs, etc. it's not really that much in terms of pages. but behind every result, there's literally dozens of assumptions, theoretical concepts, empirical facts, and other results that the paper is trying to corroborate or criticize or reproduce or improve.

it's late.

i've studied non-stop for over five weeks now. i feel like i'm learning a lot. but at this point i also feel like i am forgetting what i just read one week ago and understood perfectly back then.

this preparation is not going well...

20 August 2006

apology

an apology to my fans because i have been away for a while again... have been busy studying for my macro oral...

but... there's always a bit of time for some tennis. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS. why can i not attend these events??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfaj93n5k9E&mode=related&search=

and then this one where the tennis players get together to help victims from the tsunami in asia... safin kissing the referee, hantuchova mamita picking up balls, clijsters walking around the audience putting money for the tsunami fund in a bucket... but the funniest is agassi playing federer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhrw7VUfLnQ

04 August 2006

best video ever

i once posted some insane pictures of roger federer and andre agassi having fun hitting some balls on a court on the rooftop of some fancy hotel in dubai. i found a 13-minute video of federer and his greatness... and the video of he and agassi up there is included.

http://ninemsn.video.msn.com/v/en-au/v.htm?f=39%2f83&m=News&mi=60%20Minutes&i=b1c755a4-4f43-4481-9e6f-227dbfcb7b16&p=AUnews_AU60minutes

thanks, australian 60-minutes.