SteveRogers.info

Author: smrogers

  • Happy Birthday SteveRogers.info

    SteveRogers.info is 5 years old today.  There have been 175 posts over that time.  Here are some of the highlights:

    For some stats (since August 2006, not ’05.  Note, most people seem to read through Facebook)

    Thanks for reading folks!

    • State Leg Tid Bit

      Via FiveThirtyEight.com

      Finally, out in California, the special election runoff to fill Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado’s state senate seat looks like a probable win for Republican Sam Blakeslee over Democrat John Laird. I mention this not only because I happen to live in Senate District 15, but because more votes were cast in this special state legislative election than in today’s entire Wyoming primary. This central coast district, which runs from Santa Clara all the way to Santa Barbara, is represented by one state senator. Wyoming, as you may know, is represented by two United States Senators.

      …also interpreted as California could be an outlier when it comes to state legislatures.

    • Cooperstown

      Today was a classic father-son day. My dad was in town, and we decided to make the trek up to Cooperstown. We drove there yesterday and went to the Baseball Hall of Fame today. I had been before, but I was about 11 or 12 and didn’t really appreciate or know the history well enough. Today I donned my John Mabry jersey. By wearing Cardinals gear, it made it easy to strike up conversation with other fans of NL Central teams.

      My Dad and I took our time seperately getting through the three floors of the museum. I was actually proud of myself, thinking I took longer than pop to go through the first two floors. It took me about three hours, and I was convinced my Dad would be in the main hall. I looked for him, called him, looked again, and he called back. It turned out he had just started the second floor, taking three hours himself on the first. I then went through the second floor with him, catching this classic sketch on the second trip (I had actually never watched it in full until today. It is quite funny if you have never taken the time to watch).

      We left the museum; had lunch; and returned to see the plaques. My dad was excited because this year Herzog was inducted.

      His plaque was on a wall by itself awaiting future inductees

      The White Rat however was a little before my time.  His World Series win was before I was born, and the first Cardinal manager I remember was Joe Torre.  It was however neat to see the first Hall of Famer I really rooted for: The Wizard

      But no one can match up to The Man. Looking at the stats in the museum really make you understand how underappreciated Stan Musial is. Three MVPs; top ten in: hits, doubles, RBIs, runs; top 20 in: singles, slugging, triples, leading to a career .331 average in almost 11,000 at bats.

      I also got to reminisce about the 2006 World Series. I saw Carp pitch Game 3 in person, and they had his Jersey from the game.

      And if you talked to me about baseball from 2006 – 2007, I likely obnoxiously rose my ring finger and said: RING! And I got to see said RING!

      After the Hall, my Dad and I toured the memorabilia shops. I was surprised to see how excited my Dad got over Brooklyn Dodgers stuff, and he ended up being the one buying baseball cards. In the shops, we were able to follow the Cards games via sports tickers.

      St. Louis completed a three game sweep of the Reds to take over first place today. The series involved two grand slams and a brawl where our backup catcher got spiked in the head by the Reds’ starting pitcher. However probably the greatest fact of the series is that it was the first time since Tony LaRussa started managing the Cardinals that he used the same lineup for three straight days. He has managed the Cardinals since 1996!

      You gotta love baseball.

    • Dissertating

      In the next three years, I will spend considerable time dissertating. Making my first real contribution to the academic world. For the last month or so, I have worked on formulating a research question, and it is tricky.

      To brainstorm, I have read a lot. Visited (and revisited) books. Turned the pages of other’s dissertations (for one, I got through the first ten pages of an adviser’s book where he said it was an improvement on the dissertation, prompting me to read what he first wrote: his dissertation)). So in coming up with my own dissertation topic, I have sought inspiration a range of topics. From Presidential strategies to Legislative Professionalism; from Ballots to Minority Party Rights; from Voter Turnout to Ideal Points.

      So what advice did I get from my advisers last week? Read more.

      At first, I did not know how to absorb this. It was not the only advice given, and they seemed relatively pleased with where I was at this stage. It however was a little difficult to think I primarily needed to continue what I was doing, but in a conversation today with one of them where I apologized for presenting a scattered idea, an adviser replied: “Well it should be scattered, we are telling you to wander.”

      Wandering is very different for me. I like to ponder problems over time, but generally the ultimate goal is known and solving the problem is a small step to get there. I agree with their advice, but it is difficult to stick in this stage where I am not tangibly producing something. I am not checking generals readings off a list, getting a data set in order, or producing another draft. I sit at my desk with a book and scribble down research thoughts in my notebook. Somewhat stupidly however I want to have something to report. Just very different to say: still figuring it out.

      Again, I agree with the advice given, and I fear I am sticking to much to a particular doable idea and just molding it a bit. Not necessarily allowing myself to fully explore others. My topic will dictate years of work. I however am impatient and want to get started.

      There ya go for a rambly Steve post. Let’s see what I think of it in three years from now.

    • I admit I wore my first badge on the street

      My first internship issued me a little plastic badge with my name and picture.  It really did nothing.  I actually carried my bosses extra badge around so I could get through security doors (Yup, Security was tight at the Kerry campaign).  My background check happened three months after I started).  Anyway, I was proud of this badge, and in my first few days I wore it too and from work.  This stopped after I noticed no one else did this.  I thought I would fess up to this “Hilltern” behavior before I posted this video.

    • Inspiron 600m

      Seven years ago I got my Dell Inspiron 600m.  It was my laptop for college.  Only today has it been officially replaced.  The 600m came with 512mb of memory, a 40 gig hard drive, and a 1.6 Pentium M Processor.  It was a blazing machine, but its day has passed.

      That laptop designed three versions of Billikens.com;  drafted an undergraduate and Masters thesis; connected the networks of: Parliament,  Kerry-Edwards 2004, the DLCC, a number of universities; wrote business and not-so-business emails; and created this blog.

      I am now on an HP dm4t.  The screen and keyboard are wide, but the machine is thinner and lighter.  Instead of the never used serial port it has one for HDMI.  It does not have a scratch across the screen due to a design flaw.  It likely will deal with more Political Science originated data than that for a political party.  Instead of grad school applications, it will write job applications.  It will present chapters of my dissertation and not state legislative campaign web sites for $40 a month.  Like its predecessors, it will edit a fan site devoted to Saint Louis University and play horrible music.

      In 2003, I could never foresee what the Inspiron 600m would do.  I don’t know if I ever really thought about it.  I think about what dm4t will produce, but I am sure my predictions are wrong.  We will just have to wait and find out.

      No matter what though…every computer I own will look like it runs Windows 95.

    • DC Trip

      As I await for code to run, thought I would post something.  Just a rundown of a good week, so maybe not be the most interesting.  But my blog, my rules.

      Right now Princeton in is on “intersession.”  Basically the week between first and second semester (yes, second semester hasn’t started yet).  SLU played at GW this week, so I decided to make a midweek trip to DC.

      I went down Tuesday morning.  Got to DC.  I never really had favorite DC restaurants, so to have a meal I missed, I went to a hot dog vendor I always used to go to and had a half smoke with cheese and hot sauce.  Ate in Marvin Center (GW’s version of a student union) and headed over to the political science department.

      There I got to see Sarah (GW Adviser) and a few other professors.  It was simply nice to sit down and catch up a little, and I received a little advice about how to handle academic things.  I don’t know if it is because they are from the same department, but advice was similar regarding a variable I wasn’t weighing as much.   GW’s professors have always been good to me (there is one I think that doesn’t like me much, but I concede it is deserved as I was stubborn when in their class).  In a sign of good meetings, things ran over and I was a little late getting to my old work at the DLCC.

      At the DLCC, Matt (communications director and now the manager of DLCCWeb) and I went downstairs to a bar and got a couple of beers.  We talked DLCCWeb, DLCC, and updates in life.  There were positives and of course some negatives.  However once again in a sign of a good conversation, we ran long.  So I didn’t get to catch up with others at the DLCC.

      I then met a Princeton friend, Jeff.  We grabbed a beer and then dinner in Gallery Place.  We talked some shop, but the conversation was dominated by just life conversation.  Sometimes in the academic world, it is hard to get away from inside baseball.  I wish Jeff was still at Princeton, but he is happy in DC.  It again was good to catch up a bit.  We walked to GW to get my car, I dropped him off at his car, and then I finally made it to Nathan and Jessica’s (I went to GW with Jessie, and Nathan and I were roommates my last year in DC).  Nathan played some video games and Jessie studied Milton for her oral exam tomorrow as we caught up.

      The next morning, I went back to the DLCC to see the people I missed.  There I was introduced to the new DLCC Field Director, and she told me about a conference the next day that tied together campaign and academic politics.  Basically a number of presentations of experiments done by campaigns.  They invited me to come, and I said I would think about it.

      I then had lunch with Jessie at Fuddruckers, talking about school, friends weddings, etc.  Then downed a few pitchers with Nathan before heading to SLU v. GW.  I was in GW gear, but instincts sometimes take over.  I went to a SLU Alumni reception where I got to see my old friend Greg from Billikens.com.  We had a few drinks, talked basketball, work, Billikens.com.  The university president of SLU, Father Biondi, was there who I met for the first time.  I won a hat and got a cup that changes colors.

      SLU played a good game for about 36 minutes, then pretty much blew it.  Greg and I sat down behind the bench with the Father right behind us.  SLU lost in overtime after being ahead by about 13 points.  The team is young, but it was a disappointing loss for them.  However it was fun to be back in the Smith Center.

      The next day I went to the conference at the AFL-CIO.  It was well done, and it generated a few research ideas.  One of the things I worry about by being away from DC is that some of my best research ideas come from professional politics conversations.  So I hope to keep as many ties to the beltway as I can.  Not only to maintain friendships, but to maintain a grasp on what is going on in elections and campaigns.  It was amusing though, since one of the presenters was someone who I knew from Princeton.  It was just a complete blending of the two sides of politics in my life.

      By staying an extra day, that gave me the opportunity to have dinner with Vicky and her gentleman, who are a happy couple.  I also learned Vicky has the power to rename streets in the database Google Maps pulls from, which I find to be kinda awesome.

      I swung back to Jessie and Nathan’s, where we all procrastinated a bit.  I headed back to Princeton that night.

      Overall it was a pretty nice trip.  While I didn’t see as many GW folk as I would like, it was a week full of  college friends, SLU Basketball, Academia, and professional politics. Probably one of my best trips back to DC.