Thanks to Dave Barry I have found my new calling in life. I got an 875. Think the army will accept me based on those qualifications?

Several more quick things:

1) A Quote from an e-mail sent to me by the Howard Dean campaign, "We are the great grassroots campaign of the modern era, built from mousepads, shoeleather and hope."

2) There is an interesting article in this weeks Time magazine about Howard Dean (any co-workers want to stop by and borrow the article?).

3) See if you can find where I am going to be living. Fukui is below Kanazawa (in Ishikawa prefecture) and next to Gifu on the west coast of Honshu. Good luck.

The more I think about Japan, the more I can't wait to go. I just can't believe that I have to wait until October. I'm so ready to go that I think I could pack in 4 hours and be ready for an evening flight (unfortunately that is not going to happen). My host sister, Yuki Demise, sent me some information about Fukui though. Yuki is the more adorable person ever and I can't wait to see her again! Part of why I am so excited about where I am going is because of how close I will be to my host family the Demises. They were the sweetest people and lots of fun. (This letter is also slightly edited):

Nice to hear from you, Carissa!

You finally make one of your wishes come true! Great! There is simple data from my note book. By the train it takes 1.5h from Fukui to Kanazawa. It costs about $30 by one of rapid trains. I don't know about Fukui well. But one of my cousin was a student of Fukui University. If I have a chance, I will introduce him. Kanazawa people usually are proud of Kanazawa is good place. Not so rapid fashion, Not so rural. Especially, such people say "Fukui is very country side place. There is no place to play for young people." It doesn't any meanings FOR ME. I think there is no difference between Fukui and Kanazawa. But I don't get use to hear Fukui-Ben ( Fukui dialect). Fukui-Ben is completely different from Kanazawa-Ben. I guess your hard time to understand it just like my Gran-ma's talking.

Anyway, I plan to go back to Kawakawa in August at the next. I will tell your news to my parents. They WILL get exited!
When you plan to be in Kanazawa, tell me the plan. It is impossible to pick up you on my way to Kanazawa because of Yuhka. But I can help you with the other way.

I hope we can see again! with my Baby & my Parents.

Later,

Yuki

If I didn't think Howard Dean was fabulous before, now he is being supported by Ben and Jerry's IceCream (they even named a flavor of Ice Cream after him) and Martin Sheen is writing fundraising letters for him. So that leads to the thought that if he got elected it would be like a combination of West Wing (the tv show) and Vermont (the state) ... interesting. Here is the letter I received from Martin Sheen (slightly edited of course), but isn't that amazing, all I had to do was donate $50 and now I am communicating with Hollywood stars. Who needs the Lincoln Bedroom when I get Martin Sheen?

Dear Constituent,

Please do something after reading this email. Do what you can, but please do something. A few days ago Howard Dean did something we haven't seen in our country in decades. He called on all of the American people to participate again in our common future. Governor Dean spoke out loud and clear against the crisis of community our current President has created at home, and against the Bush administration's abandonment of the heritage of America as the Idealistic Moral force in the world.

And then he said this:
"The history of our nation is clear: At every turn where there has been an imbalance of power, the truth questioned, or our beliefs and values distorted, the change required to restore our nation has always come from the bottom up from our people.
You have the power to reclaim our nation's destiny."

Each of us acting alone -- which is what the Bush people think America should be -- leaves us powerless to change Washington or the direction of our nation. But if Americans -- all of us -- do something, and do it together, we really do have the power to change forever the way politics is conducted in our country and make a profound impact on our nation's future. Over 121,231 of us have signed up to support Howard Dean's campaign to take back our country. Think about that, 121,231 Americans.
Please do not delete this email before taking a common action with the other 121,230 of us who are committed with you to returning government to the people and helping Howard Dean become our next President.

Martin Luther King Jr. said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

What is happening to our country today matters-- Howard Dean is not silent, on the contrary. In one day we can provide the resources needed to make sure his voice and ours is heard loud and clear -- "we want our country back." I am a supporter of Howard Dean and all that I ask is that today we all do something together to move his candidacy and the cause of America forward.

Thank you,

Martin Sheen

Ok several thoughts....
1) What is up with blogger selling paraphenalia? I know that Blogger is a huge trend (I even know some people who went to blogger parties-- ha ha ha), but sweatshirts? I'm thinking that is going a little bit too far.
2) What is up with the rain? Will it ever stop? I am from a desert and didn't know it could rain this much. It is starting to be depressing, and not just because it is rain, but because I finally have an apartment building with a really nice pool that I can't use. I tried one time, but it started raining while I was swimming and the life guard made me get out. Remind me to never move to Seattle, but speaking of lots of rain:
3) I love Japan! Yesterday AEON gave me a job offer to teach for them in Fukui-ken in Japan. For those of you who know about Japan, that is in the prefecture below Ishikawa-ken. I'm very very very excited about this. I will be leaving for Japan October 24!
4) I am leaving my current job at the law firm (today is my last day), and for the rest of the summer will be working at an IT firm in Tyson's Corner. I'm also very happy about this new development. I think there are some hard feelings at my old job, but honestly my bosses never treated me well enough that I care if they are unhappy with me now. They have given me so little responsibility (aka none) or respect that I don't feel like I am even inconviencing them by leaving. My main boss has given me nothing more interesting than shredding paper since I came back in January. Some of the paralegals have given me better projects, but if my boss has nothing for me to do but shred her old paper then there is a problem. She also behaved very unprofessionally when I told her I was leaving, so I think that reaffirms my decision more than before that this is not someone that I want to be working with or for.
5) My last thought is that I love my friends. Randomly there were lots of people in my apartment last night, and I realized how much fun my friends are. I think that it is going to be hard to leave everyone when it comes time to go to Japan, because I've realized that most of the bonds between my friends and I are based on conversation (we are debaters). E-mail just isn't the same. The conversations play off of eachother, puns are made (sometimes very bad puns), but it's not the type of relationships that would necessarily last long distance. I will have to consider this more deeply before continuing to write about it.

On to the fun part: Amusing jokes about the democrats (not original, but funny none the less. the only thing missing is a few Kucinich jokes)

"Florida Senator Bob Graham announced that he is running for president despite the fact that he went through a double-bypass earlier this year. Political experts don't give Graham much chance because his campaign slogan is 'I'm a little healthier than Dick Cheney.'" —Conan O'Brien

"Well folks it's started, the presidential race. Democratic Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who is also a personal injury attorney, has announced he is running for president in 2004. Good slogan too, 'Elect me and there will be one less lawyer.'" —Jay Leno

"According to a new CBS poll, 66 percent of Americans cannot name a single Democratic candidate running for president. The other 34 percent are Democratic candidates running for president." —Jay Leno

"Did you hear about the controversy surrounding the Joe Lieberman campaign? Turns out years ago he may have experimented with charisma." —Craig Kilborn

"There was a big grease fire at Al Sharpton's office today. Apparently, his hair got too close to the space heater." —Jay Leno

Maybe it's just me (or maybe it's the picture) but does anyone else think that Martha Stewart's (former) stock broker Bacanovic is really hot?

I was watching Law and Order last night and there was a show with the plot of ruthless business woman who has built up a huge corporation is sleeping with her stockbroker (who is also sleeping with the woman's daughter). Then the ruthless businesswoman murders the stock broker to cover proof of insider trading. I happen to know that this show was created and filmed awhile ago, but it makes me wonder one thing: Was Martha Stewart sleeping with her stock broker? If so I can't say I blame her. He really is a hottie.

Sometimes I find my life so absurdly funny and amusing. For example:

At work I get to meet people who's name's sound like evil action figures (Zolotar), read about interesting things like the "bagel balance" and find e-mails that have nothing but "You are the man!!!!" as text. Don't forget that I work in a law firm, a place that is normally incredibly, mind-bogglingly boring. But not today.

Maybe it is the beautiful weather, but I am in a fantastic mood. Then again, maybe it was the pickles.

Go Here for random entertainment at work.

This is how we are going to be cooking all summer.

And This is just plain funny. Sorry Barry.

Do you ever wonder if the people who participated in the Salem Witch Trials really thought they were doing what was right to protect themselves and their families? Suggestion is such a powerful tool. How do you know when you are doing the right thing and have not just been convinced you are doing the right thing by someone else? How do you know if you were actually wronged or if you are just jumping on a band wagon because everyone else is already up there? Perhaps McCarthy really did thing everyone was a communist. So in his mind he was doing the right thing. And maybe all the people who went along with it were convinced they were also doing the right thing.

Perspective is such an odd thing.

"Only a part of what is percieved comes through the senses from the object; the remainder always comes from within."

So we had sexual harrassment training in my firm today and it has brought up some interesting questions in my mind, and some complaints. My law firm, I'm sure, is not as bad as others in terms of how polite, civil and courteous people are to eachother. I generally enjoy most of the people I work with. But there are a few incidents that have occured to me, and I don't really know if I should go complain about them.

Last summer in a bar, a partner and shareholder in the firm made an improper sexual suggestion to me and a co-worker. At the time I didn't file any kind of complaint because I thought, well we were in bar drinking, it wasn't in the office, I don't work directly with that partner so he is not a threat to my job, and of course I am just an intern. And I suppose that last one is the weakest excuse of all, but I feel as though I am so unimportant to this firm, because I am temporary, that I don't have the power to complain or cause ripples. I realize that is not correct, but it is still how I feel. So last summer nothing was said. Through the rumor mill it eventually got back to the administration, but they were told it had happened to the summer associates who were already gone when they found out. I still don't work with this man, but I feel uncomfortable around him, and tend to leave situations he is in.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. An associate attorney who I know and do work with occasionally, but am not really friends with, complimented me. That seems nice and simple. But for some reason he went overboard and I felt really uncomfortable with it. Another secretary told me that she thought it sounded like sexual harrassment. Once again I haven't said anything. My job isn't threatened, I don't work with him enough for it to create a hostile environment on a day-to-day basis. If I go to the EEO partners they are required to file a complaint, meaning he would find out I complained about him. He hasn't had a chance to say anything since then because I have just avoided him.

I always thought that I would be one of those people who would be a whistle-blower. If I saw something wrong I would stop it, I would report it, I would do the right thing. But everything isn't black and white. There are so many gray shades that I don't know where the lines are drawn, and I don't know exactly when a line is being stepped over.

During the sexual harrassment training today, there were interns, associates, secretaries, paralegals, and partners in the same session. The partners spent most of the time talking, and the rest of us sat there quietly. I think this is problematic. All of the interns and secreataries and a bunch of the paralegals are women. That means because we are women and in lower positions on the totem pole, we are more likely to get harrassed. The 60 year old male partner is 1) not likely to get harrassed, 2) not worried about losing his job, and 3) not worried about retaliation if he reports something. So I thought it was ridiculous that the partners did all the talking, when they can't really understand the position of people who are in those positions. They just liked playing lawyer and looking at it from a legal perspective. But I also don't think they have a clue what goes on in this firm. One of the other head administrators made a comment that she thinks too many women play the victim. I thought, "Well, I will remember never to approach her with any problems, because she wouldn't believe me anyhow." I guess I never realized how deeply engrained sexism is in our society (and this law firm) until everyone sat down and talked about it (well the partners talked about it at least).

I'm still not sure what to do about either situation. One of the associates thinks I should report it because both lawyers have histories of sexual harrassment and a lot of people have been coming forward. I guess the training didn't help that much if I am still unclear about where the lines are.