Happy Pride!

Well I have alot to celebrate today at Pride, I just found out last night, I'm a new homeowner. I'll have more news to come later on, but I have to get ready to meet my brother for the parade.

Be Safe and Have a Great Weekend!

And the Search Continues ...

I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed with my condo search. At first it didn't seem like I could afford anything decent. Then I looked over my budget (yes my anal retentive self keeps a meticulous budget) and realized I could afford more than I thought. Now I have too many to choose from.

Do I want a high rise with all the extra amenities (include a killer view of the city) or do I save quite a bit of money and just go with a spacious place?

I don’t know why I always do these things when I am pressed for time. My lease is up July 31st and the owner is coming into town on July 15th to move her stuff out so I said I would try to be out by the 15th. Now I have to find a place, and try to close before the 15th if I want a bed to sleep on. I guess I could always sleep on a blowup mattress until the end of the month, but I’m just starting to get panicked.

I just took 2 vitamin B’s so they should kick in in a little while and that should calm me down. I really need to take full advantage of the perks of my job and just drink a little more. There is a bar calling my name, but I just can’t get into the habit of drinking alone. I guess if I lived in a high rise, I could just go down to the pool and recruit someone to drink with me. Maybe I can put that in the plus column.

Why before my stop?

Of course these things happen on my train line before my stop so instead of getting home at 6:15, I get home at 7:20pm. Luckily someone that I ride the train with called his wife and she picked us up and dropped us off at our station so I could get my car and get home.

Do you think I can call into work tomorrow and say I'm tramatized by the Metra and need to work from home?

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Pedestrian struck, killed by Metra train
June 11, 2007 - Trains in both directions on Metra's Milwaukee North Line are being delayed Monday night after a pedestrian was struck and reportedly killed.

The pedestrian was struck by inbound Metra Milwaukee North Line train No. 2146 about 5:45 p.m., Metra spokesman Patrick Waldron said.
The train left Fox Lake at 4:14 p.m. and was due in to Union Station in Chicago at 5:52 p.m., Waldron says. The incident happened near the Golf Station, which is between Glenview and Morton Grove, Waldron says.

The Golf Station is located at 195 N. Waukegan Rd. in Glenview, according to Metra's Web site.

As of about 6:30 p.m., train traffic in both directions on the Milwaukee North Line was stopped. "Several other trains have been affected," he said. It was not yet known how long it would take to get the trains moving again, Waldron said.

Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006

Did Better

OK well it looks like third time is the charm. I think it is a matter of they get you in the habit of hitting one key in a row for a number of times and you hesitate when you have to switch. This is one of the times that I don't feel good about being in the majority.

However, I did go from
Strong automatic preference for White people compared to Black people
to
Moderate automatic preference for White people compared to Black people
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You have completed the African American - European American IAT.

Your Result
Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for European American compared to African American.

Thank you for your participation. Just below is a breakdown of the scores generated by others. Most respondents find it easier to associate African American with Bad and European American with Good compared to the reverse.



UPDATE: OK I just read this on the site and it makes me feel a little better.

What does it mean if I get a test result that I don't believe describes me or, if I take the same test twice, I get different results each time.

Answer: You may be giving the test more credit than it deserves! These tests are not perfectly accurate by any definition of accuracy. Normally, outcomes will change at least slightly from one taking to another. You may discover this if you repeat any of the tests. We encourage repeating any test for which the outcome surprises you. If the outcome repeats, the result is definitely more trustworthy than is the first result alone. If the outcome varies, it is best to average the different results. However, if the outcome varies widely from one taking to another (something that is unusual) we suggest that you just regard the set of results as 'inconclusive'. Besides normal variation in the reliability of assessment, the IAT is also known to be malleable based on differences in the social setting and recent experience. These factors will influence the consistency of measurement across occasions.

Oprah and IAT Test

I was catching up on my Oprah tonight (unfortunately Ellen has reruns this week) and I was really shocked that the people on Today's Oprah were able to forgive.

You have a man who was gay bashed, meets his attacker 20 some odd years later, and now their friends? Good for him, I wish I was able to forgive like that. Then you have a woman who was a slave to Amon Goeth, a notorious Nazi officer, and agrees to meet his daughter and does not hold it against her.

Then Oprah had Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink and the Tipping Point. I own both books, but like most of the books I own, they sit pretty on my bookshelf and I never make the time to read them. But they were talking about this IAT test and I had to check it out.

I was mortified when it said I have a strong preference towards white people. I'm thinking the fact that I've been coughing all night had me distracted and when I took the test again, it said my results were undetermined or something like that, so I want to try to take the test again. Although now it is getting a little stressful. Why am I hesitating on something so simple?

The psychologist on the show said that it has to do with our environment and the images that we associate in our mind. I'll make another post if my score changes. I'm curious to hear how other people score. It only takes about 5 minutes. Check it out.