The Agrinautica

   I bought a new laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000, which should be here in "two to three" days. In the mean time I get to hang out in the apartment complex computer lab here d=

   Drive back to Davis on Tuesday was uneventful. School started again on Thursday. Apparently the ghost of Vicki Swett still haunts ASUCD -- Senate doesn't have a permanent meeting room because the room request form filed by Vicki Swett some 16 months ago was missing critical information.
   Incidently the new ASUCD advisor, Eric Sanchez has faked his own death and fled left for a better job. We currently don't have an ASUCD Advisor. The world will probably end.

   Finally saw the movie Wedding Crashers with Gabi. I thought John McCain had a cameo in it -- did I miss it or was that another movie?
   Serenity, the movie based on that awesome show Firefly that Fox cancelled with their immense banhammer, is out now. I haven't seen it yet. I must see it with asapness.
   Kristy and I saw Green Day & Jimmy Eat World at the Arco Arena on Friday night. After waiting in a long line to get in, the security guard told me I had to go put my wallet chain in the car. So I trekked back to the car, which we'd parked at the far end of the parking lot for easy escape, and jostle through the line again. New security guard tells me I need to go put my wrist-thing in the car because it has "raised spikes on it." This despite the fact that he let numerous girls with the same bracelet through, and my belt & Kristy's belt are the exact same material and apparently not objectionable -- even though belts are an established tool for whaling on people, and I'm even less likely to whallop someone with my wrist than I am with a gavel.
   So I asked him to make sure there was nothing else objectional on my person and trekked to the car and back again. Finally I was deemed fit to pass through the security checkpoint. The place was totally swarming with little 16 year old girls. Kristy and I ended up in literally the furthest row in the arena, but hey, who has $120 for floor space really? Also the 13 yr old girl next to us was wearing dominatrix pants and I found it quite disturbing. But yeah the show was great and I had a great view anyway -- of Kristy rocking out, which is better than watching the band anyway. Kristy has mad dancin skills.

   Last night, Saturday night, Kristy's old roommate Joe came back (he graduated) and had dinner with Kristy & Jadine. Then he had to leave because his shift at the Budweiser factory started at midnight (& he works 12 on, 2 days off, 12 days on...). Then her new roommate Eli brought back all these little liquor bottles from the country club he works at and so we bonded with her new roommates (Becca & Eli) over shots. I'd provide pictures, but I left my camera transfer thing in OC! )=>
   Then Kristy & I caught up with Sashie & company at this party off I street. Then Kristy's nemisis Chris Bunch stole Sashie from us. But it was a fun little shindig other than that.

   Kristy's new roommate Becca discovered Steel Reserve and loved it.

Picture of the Day

Kristy, a shark, & my reflection, Long Beach Aquarium

Year Ago Today - an excerpt
   I ran into Vicki Swett in the MU. Vicki - "Do you need to sit down with legal council about this case?" (the real lawyers) Me - "nah, its a relatively simple case ...[the Plaintiff] does want to overturn the whole legislation though" ::Vicki immediately goes from nauseating cheerfulness to icey death looks:: "look Kris you're a bright boy.. I know you won't let the Court do anything stupid again ::extremely piercing death stare:: ...we WILL get our lawyers on this if it gets out of hand." me - "uh, yeah.. its under control" ::excessive bubbliness again:: - "alright keep up the good work.. see you later"
   Yeah she's not trying to influence the Court one bit. Needless to say I have no intention of mentioning to the Court her threat.. their reasoning should not be affected by such threats.

   Two quotes from year ago today from my nuclear physics professor -- "a piece about the size of a baseball should just about do the trick if you're having a bad day" (about uranium) -- and about the benefits of working on nuclear programs: "you get lots of money to play with... you're surrounded by big fences that protect you from people with stupid questions... and the designs are kinda cute" (after drawing a rather "cute" bomb on the board).


Quotes From Today's Aggie Opinion Section - regarding the opinion by Tiqula Bledsoe I mentioned earlier
Gregory Jones (Davis Resident): "...I must say that I am offended and appalled that this institution of higher learning dare raise standards of admittance ... raising standards is akin to forcing African Americans to sit on the back of a bus, or to drink from a different water fountain. African Americans simply cannot meet higher standards ... We may think raising standards is innocent, but really it dates all the way back to the Civil War ... We cannot let them continue segregation 50 years after Brown v. the Board of Education."
Paul Amnaypayout (Treasurer, Davis College Libertarians): "...African Americans are capable of attaining the highest grades, just like any other group, and to suggest otherwise borders on racism..."


Birthdays: Today is the birthday of Chris "Croat" Plancic (inequity) and Alexandra "Sashie" Chesnokova (slosha)


In Other News: It is currently 12:26 during the day and I'm in the computer lab. It is "chamber of commerce day" out on the quad which totally means free apples and dollar slices of pizza.


Related
   California Aggie Opinion Section for today - read Gregory Jones' and others' letters in full
   Year Ago Today: Cartoons, Nuclear Physics, & Vicki Swett - pocketbookannie turns in a cartoon to the California Aggie that has me in it, among other things.

   Yesterday was the quarterly State of the Court address at ASUCD Senate.
   I'm told that while I was reading our verdict from recent case # 23, President Sara Henry was grimacing hatefully. A number of the City Council candidates happened to be at the meeting, including former ASUCD Senator (from 1997), current UCD grad student & Aggie humor columnist Lamar Heystek. He told me that in his seven years of involvement in ASUCD he has never seen a Court that "could write Opinions like that."
   Most disturbing of all though, Heystek informed me that he had filed a case in the fall of 2002, which never went anywhere. Apparently the then Chief Justice (Katarina something) never returned any emails or phone calls... no response from the Court could be gotten at all. This is what I'm talking about when I say that the Court did NOT exist as a functioning entity previous to this. I wonder if his case is still pending.


   Also I just learned from a former Elections Committee member that last election they were considering compelling evidence that if accepted could disqualify the "Student Focus" candidates from the election, & ASUCD Advisor Vicki Swett told them not to accept the evidence because it would "create drama and controversy." This former committee member said they felt that what occured was very wrong but were unable to do anything about it because the hearing was confidential and they were thus forbade from talking to the Aggie or writing a case. Now that they're not on the Elections Committee they'd like to do something about it, but all evidence is still confidential and most witnesses are still on the committee. I am going to investigate legal recourses.


   Real update will come soon.


NOTE TO SELF: check one more time to make sure this is friends only

   This morning I recieved the resignation of a Court member and forwarded it to ASUCD Government Advisor and manifestation of all that is evil, Vicky Swett, and the head of the Student Government Administrative Office. This evening I had this response from Swett:

   When there is a resignation from a court member you not only need to e-mail me but the president and senate pro tem as well. As you have been told several times from Sara and myself the president needs to be informed so resignations since it is her appointment. Kristin, my office coordinator, doesn't have anything to do with the process. Also, in the future when there is a case before the court it is your responsibility to make copies of all documentations for the court members.
   Lastly, I had told you once before if you were going to post fliers notifying the student body of a court hearing that you needed me to authorize the posting of the fliers. As of today I have not authorized for any fliers to be posted for this court hearing. Did you post, and if so I want a copy of that flier?

**********************************
Vicki Swett
ASUCD Advisor


   Careful not to be too "saucy," I sent back the following response:

To: ASUCD Government Advisor
CC: ASUCD President, Senate President Pro Tempore, Student Court Alternate Presiding Member

A - 1) My impression, what I've been firmly told by all government officers, and what I've seen of the legal writings on the subject, is that personnel matters are not to be discussed with anyone who is not strictly relevant. The administrative office which you oversee keeps the personnel records of the Court, therefore it was of relevance that the administrative office be notified.

2) I was going to inform the President of the vacancy as soon as the administrative office had verified processing of the resignation. Beyond the fact of an opening the personal details of the resignation are not relevant to the Presidents office. There is even less reason to notify the Senate of the instance.


B) Its my understanding that it IS the current policy of the SGAO to expect me to make all copies of the relevant material. I asked the SGAO if they would reevaluate this policy for the convenience of all involved. It is not my impression that requesting things of SGAO was condemnable.

1) The documents must be readily available to the Plaintiff(s) and Defendant(s) of cases. I have classes, other considerations, and transportation limitations, expecting me to readily to provide the materials to all parties in a case is not feasible. The SGAO needs to be able to provide copies for this purpose.

2) The alternative is to have myself personally use the SGAO copying equipment, or do it elsewhere and get reimbursed for my expenditures. It would be more convenient for everyone involved if the SGAO did this.

3) It was my impression that the purpose of the Student Government Administrative Office was to do the administrative tasks necessary to process ASUCD paperwork and bureaucracy. It is my impression that the task at hand firmly falls under this. If this is a serious difference of opinion for you I'd love to go over their Administrative Plan with you.


C) Nowhere in the by-laws does it say I need to get the ASUCD Advisor's permission to post flyers. I go by the by-laws. I do not believe other ASUCD organs are required to get your permission to conduct such mundane activities. The impression I got in discussing the subject with you was merely that if I ran things passed you you would then be able to reimburse my expenses. I conduct activity far beyond the hours during which you are available, and the flyers were posted at such a time. I have not yet exceded my 200 free copies from the computer labs so was not concerned about reimbursement.

1) Flyers were posted on a number of campus buildings. I will gladly find you a copy.


Kris Fricke
Chairman, ASUCD Student Court
(530)574-3599

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   I wanted to add D) It is my understanding that you are not accustomed to working with a functional Court. All these recent disagreements relate not to an unprofessional or incompetent court but disconcordent opinions of the administrative responsibilities of the Court. Fortunately none of these differences of opinion have even prevented anything from being done this time so I ask that you bear with us and be receptive to the new competencies of the previously unfunctional Court.
   Kristy thought that was too saucey though so I left it out.


   Anyway, what do the rest of you think? Is she an evil troll? Is she completely right and I'm just an insolent fool? Was I too saucey / not saucy enough? Feedback, now.

( Email Recieved from ASUCD President Sara Henry )

   Not having a computer is driving me insane. Like, right now, in the middle of the day, when all I want to do is SLEEP, I have to write papers. Arghhh. And at night, when I should be studying or something, I need to sleep because I haven't slept during the day. This is a terrible situation.

   Yesterday we had our ASUCD Supreme Court Hearing on Case #21. It was very crapful in my opinion.. the whole thing had been plagued with problems; not being able to get a room for it until finally we settled for this tiny miserable room in wellman... bleh. I hope the Aggie feels it not worth reporting on because if they write about it at all I'm sure it'll look bad.
   I think we're gonna have even more crap to deal with BECAUSE of this case.. argh.
   But we did set a precedent that is noteworthy. The Judicial Codes say that a case must be arbitrated within 10 days of filing. We didn't have quorum during that time and so couldn't meet, and held the hearing as soon as possible thereafter. The Defendant in her move to have the case dismissed of course pointed this out, (I have no doubt she was instructed to by ASUCD Advisor Vicki Swett) to which I pointed out that the Codes offer no provision to allow for the situation that we CANNOT meet in the ten days; the Constitution gives the Court the responsibility of making interpretations of situations not covered in the Constitution or Codes; to interprete it that the case couldn't be handled after ten days would obliterate the Plaintiff's right to have a case, so it therefor must be interpreted that a Hearing shall be held as soon as possible thereafter.

   Then there was the Primus show. I had never heard of Primus before this show. I did not take a fancy to their music and left after their second song. Their fans are a very varied group indeed, but there seems to be a definitely inordinate number of rather large and hairy males that smell a bit rank in their fanbase.
   Someone stood outside the window of the lobby before the show with a sign that said "I need a ticket!" or something (it was sold out). Entertainment Council director Andrea Chalupa put "should we let them in or are they a creepy stalker to a vote and we found unanymously that we believed the individual to be a creepy stalker.