Contemplating a new blog...

CHICAGO, IL -- Well here I am, a full 5 months, to the day, since my last blog post from sunny and smoking-hot Scottsdale, AZ. To say the least, a lot has changed in the past 5 months, but since this has been primarily a travel blog, I figure I should give a quick summary of what I have been up to, mainly via the lens of my travel experiences since my last update.

After writing about half of my dissertation, plans had an abrupt change, and what was originally going to be an epic two-week road trip back to Chicago turned into a still-epic five-day trek in early-August. We visited from Scottsdale up to the Grand Canyon (National Park), then to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas on Day 1. Day 2 ventured us from Vegas up to Zion National Park, then Salt Lake City. Day 3 we cut clear across Wyoming, with a stop at Independence Rock, into the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a stop at Mt. Rushmore and Rapid City. Day 4 we began at Badlands National Park, then drove across SD, down through Iowa and actually back-tracked maybe 20 minutes west into Omaha, Nebraska to add yet another state. Finally on Day 5 we headed east with stops in Des Moines, Iowa City, and at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, where he was born and later buried, and finally back to Chicago.

With that trip in the books, my count stood at 42 states, 8 remaining.

As such, when the opportunity came up in October to visit Alaska, one of my remaining states, with a friend on the cheap, I leaped at the chance. We spent 5 days based out of Anchorage, with mini-road trips down to Seward on the Pacific coast (at Resurrection Bay), over to the Portage Glacier Valley where we saw four glaciers (Alaska is home to more glaciers than the rest of the world combined), up to a dog kennel in Willow, and beyond to Denali. Simply put, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, would go back in a heartbeat, and in an interesting way, reminded me very much of Hawaii in that there were literally jaw-dropping scenic lookouts every mile or two along the Seward Highway especially. 43 down, 7 to go.

In December, about three weeks ago at the beginning of the month, I visited Spokane, WA for a week, the headquarters of People to People (see pretty much any previous post). While there I gave a number of presentations regarding my experiences traveling as a student and as a staff member both internationally and domestically with the company. In addition to interviews and some quality time with friends, some of whom I had not seen in 3 1/2 years or more, I made a decided effort to get to either Oregon or Montana, two of my remaining states. As the weather would have it, Montana won out, and we spent a few hours at Lookout Pass, at 5,000 feet in the middle of a blizzard watching skiers and snowboarders crash their way down the mountain. Fun stuff to say the least, haha. That said it was gorgeous wilderness, and like almost all places I visit for the first time, I am fascinated by the idea of getting back. Montana certainly fits that bill.

With that, my current list of states is 44 down, and only 6 to go: Oregon, North Dakota, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. My goal is to get to all of them in the next 6-7 months, so we will see how that goes. On a continental level, I have been to 5, with Australia and Antarctica remaining. Given the schedules of friends, miles, work, and the like, it is looking like the month of September will be spent in Australia and possibly New Zealand, while Antarctica season is basically from mid-November until early-February. It will be all but impossible for me to get there this season, so I am looking at next season, one year from now.

Most recently, I just returned back from a week in London for my graduation from the LSE. I had an absolutely fantastic trip and spent a lot of quality time with my friends who I hadn't seen since leaving London in late-June/early-July. It was nice to see where everyone is living now (great to put places and images to where the skype calls are coming from), but also to be back on campus at the library, the Garrick, and the George. Also, walking down Fleet Street towards St. Paul's and across the Millennium Bridge to Bankside brought back a flood of great memories from the past year, as did venturing through Borough Market and into Covent Garden. Beyond all of that, I actually made time for a few new places I didn't manage to visit while I lived in London most of the past year. At the top of the list, I climbed The Monument, a 311-step pillar that is the tallest isolated stone pillar in the world, and also the monument to London's Great Fire of 1666. 202 feet tall, it towers over the surrounding buildings with unparalleled views of Tower Bridge, the new Shard, and St. Paul's Cathedral. Best part: it was only 2GBP! Peanuts! I also made it over to Brick Lane, Fulham, and the Old Spitalfields Market.

Aside from all of the above, the graduation ceremony was wonderful, and while only 9 of the 27 of us from the Public Policy and Administration class made it, it was an honor to walk across the stage with all of them and graduate.

In addition, I also took a day trip from London over to Amsterdam in order to explore a new city and new country that I had always wanted to see and hadn't yet made it to. To say the least, I had a great day despite awful weather and the unfortunate circumstance of traveling by myself. From Amsterdam Centraal, I walked over to Dam Square, the main central square in the city and home to the world's first stock exchange, arguably the invention of modern capitalism by the Dutch East India Company. From there I visited the Anne Frank House, which I would be comfortable placing in the top 10 museums I have visited, along with the Oklahoma City Federal Building Museum from July. It told the story in great detail, with powerful effect, and I learned far more than what is already described in the diary. Speaking of which, the actual diaries were on display, something I found surprising and fascinating as well, to see the actual handwriting, etc. Along a similar theme, I then visited the Amsterdam Portuguese Synagogue, which for no known reason was left completely untouched by the Nazis during the occupation. From there I walked over to the Amsterdam Flower Market, the largest I had ever seen, and the largest floating flower market in the world (as it is entirely on one of the canal's, the Singel). Finally, I completed my day trip with a walk over to De Wallen, Amsterdam's famous red-light district, and from there back to Amsterdam Centraal, the airport, and then London. What a day!?!

With all of that, I have had a busy and good past five months, though most of it has been spent here working in Chicago as usual. It has been nice to catch up with family a bit though, given that I was gone for the year and all, and it certainly is a heck of a lot cheaper living at home as compared with living in London, so I suppose those are all benefits. My travels have all been great, and as stated, my goal now is to get to the last of these states and continents, preferably in the next year. How I will balance that with working here and around the US part-time instead of getting sucked into a 40-hour week office job remains to be seen. Of course, in a perfect world, I will find a job that is primarily travel-based, and can do it all together. We shall see!

On that note, I think it is time to change the name of this blog, as I am officially a graduate of the London School of Economics. Thoughts? I will also try to give more updates as well, if people are interested.

Until next time.

Greetings from the 48th State!

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, USA -- Greetings from the United States... from Ireland we headed up to Northern Ireland. I then flew from Belfast back to London for a night, and then back to Chicago in the morning via Philadelphia. I spent about a week in Chicago, then drove over 2,000 miles to Scottsdale, AZ via St. Louis, MO; Baxter Springs, KS; Tulsa, OK; Oklahoma City, OK; Amarillo, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Santa Fe, NM; and Flagstaff, AZ.

Been here in Scottsdale for a week now, and have made good progress on writing the dissertation. So far I'm about 20% done with the first draft, just getting something done every day, making progress, so it's all good.

The temperatures have finally cooled off a bit too... we were hitting 115F every day for the last week until yesterday, when the high was only about 105, and today the high is only around 99, so muuuuuuch better. Those 15 degrees are the difference between really hot and unbearable.

Hope all is well wherever you readers may be!

Back to work...

Causey Farm

CAUSEY FARM, IRELAND -- Just a rundown of the things we did today at the rural Irish farm an hour outside Dublin...

Played with some adorable puppies to start the morning
Learned traditional Irish line-dancing in three steps, four to a line, and four different parts in formation
Milked a cow for the first time, and then actually drank her milk straight from the udder
Baked Soda Bread, a traditional Irish loaf of bread
Played Hurling, a traditional Irish sport kind of like lacrosse but much more difficult and complicated
Lunch with tea and biscuits - mmmmmmmmmmm real butter
Played an Irish drum
Rode to a bog and got a 'bog facial' - special mud (like the Dead Sea) very good for your skin
Watched traditional Irish dancers and musical talents perform

Overall a phenomenal day! Tomorrow we are off to the west coast of Ireland :)

Ireland

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- First off, I have very little time so this will be a short post. But in sum, I went home for the parade, saw the Stanley Cup in the middle of Chicago with 2 million other fans, saw my family and friends for the first time in 6 months, Sarah for the first time in 9 months, and generally had a really great 5 days at home after not being there for so long.

I got back to London and that night started working for People to People, speaking to delegations about leadership, my experiences with People to People, and my experiences living in London and going to LSE for the year. In total I spoke to about 300 delegates!

In between I took my last LSE exam! Hard to believe that I may have taken my last final exam in life, but hey, I thought that about a year and a half ago and look where that got me, so who knows. In any case it went well and I'm glad.

I also took a camping trip followed by a day trip to Wimbledon! We saw Day 3, last Wednesday, during Round 2 of the singles. The grounds were incredible, and would you believe we got 4th row seats to see the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer? Also seen playing: Kim Cljisters, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, and Day 2 of the EPIC Isner-Mahut 11 hour, 5 minute match. Seen walking the grounds: Rafa Nadal.

After that, I took one last trip to LSE, said goodbye to my London friends, and this past Friday morning met up with a People to People delegation from Oahu and Kauai, Hawaii! I hopped on their bus, and we spent the day at Warwick Castle, where I was previously at 11 years ago to the week, in 1999 on my very first People to People program.

Saturday we visited Chester, England, and yesterday we were in Wales where I managed to soft-break an inch-thick slab of wood with my hand (did NOT think that was possible), and then in the afternoon I repelled down a Castle Tower overlooking the Irish Sea and the Welsh countryside almost 100 feet. Just superb!

This morning we boarded the ferry from Holyhead, Wales to Ireland. Two hours of mostly flat seas later we reached the port, easily got through immigration (yay new stamps), had a 90 minute city tour of downtown Dublin, a 2 hour tour of the Irish National Athletic Stadium, and then another 90 minutes to walk around Dublin and shop. From there I met with my homestay family, a delightful bunch who were extremely polite and kind. We talked about Chicago, LSE, Ireland, travel around Europe, the World Cup (and utilizing instant replay), People to People, the University of Wisconsin, and a whole lot more. I am typing this from their computer room (yay internet), but am going to sleep soon and then tomorrow we are off to a working Irish farm!

Some things I've noticed about Ireland/Dublin:

1) Post boxes are the exact same as in London, but they painted them green over the red
2) City buses are the exact same as in London, but they painted them yellow over the red
3) Flats all are the exact same as in London, but they painted the doors different colors over the black
4) Electrical outlets are the same
5) Cars still drive on the left side of the road
6) Guiness is everywhere
7) Pubs are everywhere
8) Yay Euro being RIDICULOUSLY cheap right now
9) Definitely cooler than the UK
10) Also light out later - far north, and further west
11) Pubs are everywhere
12) Saw the world's only square bridge
13) Dublin is small
14) The accent is tricky, but I have already picked up on it

That's all for now - I will post more later when I get home, etc!

Ireland till July 2, then Northern Ireland till July 4 I fly back to London, July 5 back to Chicago.

THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ARE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS HAVE WON THE 2010 STANLEY CUP!!!

PATRICK KANE WITH THE OVERTIME WINNER FOR A 4-3 WIN AND 4-2 SERIES WIN!

More later... I am off to an exam in a few hours and then heading straight to Heathrow to get home for the parade.

Speechless...

Three down, two to go; two down, two to go

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Does that make any sense to anybody? Allow me to explain...

First up, exams! I had my first three exams Wednesday, Thursday, and yesterday (Friday). Wednesday was a two-hour Statistics final worth 100% of the grade. I studied long and hard for it, and it paid off... I am extremely pleased with how the exam went, and frankly, I would be surprised if i did not get a distinction on that exam (and thus for that course).

Thursday was a three-hour exam, my longest, in my core course, Issues and Approaches in Public Policy and Administration, worth 75% of the grade. We were told it would be fair to expect 12 specific topics on the exam, with us expected to write 3 essays out of the 12 options. Well, just to be safe, I prepared 4 topics, and boy am I glad that I did, since one of them ended up not being on the exam! Alas, it was no big deal... I memorized and utilized 20 different authors over the three different essays, and I was able to incorporate some class-related metaphors that should surely please the professors. The Iceland Volcano, pit bulls, badger culls, and most importantly of course, polar bears all made an appearance. Overall I was also very pleased with how this exam went, and when combined with the other 25% of my grade that was one of the two essays due a month ago, I am expecting a merit for the course. Agenda-setting, interest groups, and reward.

Yesterday, Friday, was a two-hour exam in my most difficult course, Policy-Making in the European Union, worth 100% of the grade. It is never a good feeling going into an exam that is worth 100% of the grade when you know that it is not your strongest subject. As if that would not have been bad enough, to have to do it without having much feeling in my hand as a result of the 5 hours of exam writing from the previous day and a half, and it was certainly going to be a bit of a battle. A little perspective... after my exam on Wednesday, I immediately came back to start crash-studying for my exam on Thursday. After about 6 hours of this, I slept for 3 hours, woke up at 1am for the Blackhawks game, went back to sleep at 4am, slept another 3 hours, and then spent the entire morning preparing for my exam that afternoon. When the Thursday exam let out it was already 530pm, and I had essentially been up constantly save for a couple of long naps, so I passed out immediately. Friday morning I woke up at 2am, and studied straight through the night and into the morning for the 10am exam. You know, no big deal! But alas, the exam came, I managed to stay awake throughout it, and my hand did not actually physically fall off. Though that said by the end of it, I had permanent indentations to the bones on my fingers, which even now, almost 36 hours later, are still quite present. The exam itself was fine... one of the questions was word-for-word one of the ones I practiced for, so I wrote that first. The second that I chose had ambiguous wording, but I was able to specifically manipulate and tailor the argument to what I wanted to write about. EU implementation rates and the EU budget.

There you have it! Three exams down, and two more to go. Next up is GV4F4, also known as "The Politics of Policy Advice," this coming Thursday June 10. That exam is 2 hours and is worth 50% of the grade, the other 50% coming from the second of the two essays I wrote about a month ago. Then, after that, my last exam is not until June 22, a 2 hour exam for DV415, aka Global Environmental Governance. That exam is worth 80% of the grade, the other 20% coming from an essay I wrote back in January, that I got a merit on. So yeah... 7 hours of exams completed, 4 to go. I took today off from studying (I needed a break), but tomorrow the preparation for Thursday gets started!

Now, for the second set, what else could I be talking about besides some playoff hockey?! When I last posted, the Hawks were up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals against Philadelphia, winning a high-scoring affair 6-5 at the United Center. In Game 2, they beat Philadelphia again to take what seemed like a commanding 2-0 lead. However, Game 3 did not go our way, and we lost in overtime to make it a 2-1 series lead. Then, most heart-wrenching, the Hawks blew Game 4 by a 5-3 final, and the series is now all tied up 2-2. Thus, it is a brand-new, Best-of-Three series for the Cup. Game 5 is in Chicago, Game 6 is in Philadelphia, and if need be, Game 7 would be back in Chicago. Without any question, the next two games (and possibly three) will be the most important hockey games in my life's worth of Chicago hockey. Winning at home is essential tomorrow night. If the teams split Game 5 and Game 6, and force a Game 7, it would be Friday June 11. With my exam on the 10th, I would be heading home for that game, and a chance, with a win, to lift Lord Stanley's Cup for the first time in 49 long Chicago years.

First up, Game 5, tomorrow night at the United Center. 7pm Central, 1am London.

Two down, two to go.

Stanley Cup Finals

CHICAGO, IL (by way of LONDON, UK) -- Can you believe it?

In February 2004, ESPN named the Chicago Blackhawks as the worst franchise in all of professional sports. Dead-last. Not just in hockey, but in all of sports.

To be honest, it isn't that surprising. Home games weren't on TV. This was in 2004, not 1984, and seriously, home games weren't on TV. We sold out three games per season... the three against the rival Detroit Red Wings, and the only reason those games were sold out was because there were more Detroit fans than Hawks fans.

Yet year after year, February shit-storm sleet after January blizzard, only a few thousand fans showed up. We, however, were among that incredibly small group, as anybody who we have ever taken to a game can attest. Empty train rides to empty parking lots. An Eric Daze, Alex Zhamnov, Steve Sullivan, and even a Michael Hanzus jersey. A Boris Mirinov goal from his own blue line. The famous T-BO sign (that's Jocelyn Thibaut for those of you who aren't in-the-know), which made it to a road game in Phoenix, but never returned. Two measly playoff games. The first one, on my birthday, we got absolutely smoked by the St. Louis Blues. It was so bad, that we didn't even sell out the second home playoff game, and sure enough we were run out of our own building. When nobody else would even take a free ticket, we were always at the games. When nobody from my generation had ever even seen a Blackhawks jersey, we were wearing ours to school.

In October 2007 it all started to turn around. On the 19th, it was only the third or fourth home game of the season for the Blackhawks. The building was a little over half full. Two new players, in the first couple of weeks of their professional careers, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, were on the ice. Kane took a pass and held up in his own zone, right in front of our seats. He deked towards his own slot and fed a no-look pass to a streaking Toews, in front of the Blackhawks bench, just to our right. Toews beat the Colorado Avalanche's third-man back by the time he crossed the Colorado blue line, and used his body position to shield him off the puck. Toews deked the Colorado left defenseman out of his skates at the top of the left circle. Then, in one motion, he pulled the puck from behind him, through his legs forward, around the third and final defenseman, pulled the puck to his left around the Colorado goalie, and shoved it into the goal.

Did I mention that all of the above happened in exactly 4 seconds?

That was, for the past eight years, the loudest I had ever heard the United Center get, even if it was only slightly more than half full. The Hawks ended up winning the game, and just weeks later, after the death of longtime Hawks owner Bill Wirtz, home games began airing on local TV. The following April, in 2008, the Blackhawks missed out on the playoffs by 1 game with the youngest team in the NHL. In their final home game, they absolutely dominated Nashville in a 3-1 game that they knew was meaningless, but it was abundantly clear that this was a team not to be messed with.

Last year, in the 2008-2009 season, the Hawks began to break through. They finished second in the division, and in the playoffs knocked out Calgary in the first round in 6 games. In the second round against Vancouver, the Hawks won the famous "Game 6" by a ridiculous score of 7-5 at the United Center to advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Hawks were down 5-4 with just minutes remaining in the game, but they scored 3 goals in just a few minutes, including the last of a Patrick Kane hat trick, and the UC simply exploded. In the press conference after the game, Roberto Lunongo, considered by most to be the best goaltender in the world, was reduced to tears, lacking an ability to explain what the Blackhawks and the Chicago fans just did to him. The Hawks lost the conference finals to the hated Red Wings in a hard-fought 5 game series.

This year, the expectation has been from the outset for the Blackhawks to make the Stanley Cup Finals. Last year, the goal was to make the playoffs, and when they reached the Conference Finals, it was an unexpected triumph. This year, nothing short of absolute victory would be considered successful. Throughout the season, for the most part, the Hawks lived up to the billing. They shattered record after record, and finished the regular season by winning the division for the first time in decades, and came in 2nd in the Western Conference by all of 1 measly point. In the playoffs, they struggled against a mentally tough and system-oriented Nashville Predators, but they managed to pull off an improbable Game 5 victory at the United Center. Down 4-3 with a mere 60 seconds left, Marian Hossa took a ridiculous 5 minute major penalty. The Hawks pulled their goalie regardless, to even up the skaters at 5 on 5. With 13 seconds left in regulation, Patrick Kane scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game at 4-4 and force overtime. In OT, after killing off the final 4 minutes of the Hossa penalty, he came out of the box, skated straight to the Nashville crease, and deflected in a Brent Sopel pass from the half-boards to win the game. Just seconds from being down 3-2 in the series going to Nashville, instead they were up 3-2, and they took Nashville out on the road to advance to the next round.

Ever since the intense spectacle that was the second round of the 2009 playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks have been preaching their desire for revenge against the Hawks. They wanted us. They demanded it. And they would prove that they were the better team. Expect, well, they proved that the Hawks were the better team. Aside from a couple of careless losses by the Hawks, they simply out-skated, out-smarted, and out-played Vancouver. They won all three games in Vancouver, and this time eliminated them in British Columbia to send them to the golf course. Good riddance, Canuck-dom. The Blackhawks, who simply knew they would win that Game 6, packed for over a week, and flew straight down to San Jose, where they were up against the highest ranked team in the Western Conference, the #1 seed. Behind a 44-save performance by Hawks goalie Antti Niemi, the Finnish Fortress, the Hawks won Game 1 by a 2-1 final score. In Game 2, the Hawks thoroughly dominated the game in a 4-2 win, which tied the NHL all-time record for consecutive road victories at 7. That had happened three previous times, and twice that team won the Cup. By the time Game 3 ended, the series was effectively over. The game went to overtime, but the Hawks won 3-2, and went on in Game 4 to sweep the San Jose Sharks back to California for the summer, behind another solid performance by Captain Jonathan Toews, who set the Blackhawks franchise-record for 13 games in a row with at least 1 point.

Which brings us to... now. The Stanley Cup Finals. The greatest trophy in the world, Lord Stanley's Cup, is up for grabs, and the Chicago Blackhawks are up against the Philadelphia Flyers. Within the next one to two weeks, one of these teams will lift the trophy and have their names etched into it for eternal glory. The first team to win four games wins it all.

Game 1 was last night at the United Center in Chicago. For the first time since 1992, the Hawks skated in a Cup Finals game. However, for the first time since May 8, 1973, the Hawks WON a Stanley Cup Finals game, and on home ice no less. With decibel readings raging from "sandblasting" to "power saw at 3 feet" to the equivalent to standing in front of 120 speakers in the front row of a rock concert, the Hawks and Flyers essentially beat the crap out of each other on the ice. All kinds of blood drawn, and a ridiculous amount of scoring later, and the Hawks emerged victorious. The final score was 6-5, and the Hawks take a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Flyers goalie, ex-Hawk Michael Leighton, was pulled just midway through the 2nd period after giving up 5 goals on 20 shots. This game was definitely NOT what either team designed up, but it proves once again that no matter the style, the Hawks can win. All week before the series started, the Flyers talked about how they did not want to get into a shootout with the Blackhawks. Well, they did, and they lost it, just like San Jose and Vancouver before them. It will be interesting to see what happens in Game 2 - who does Philadelphia start in goal? Do they try a low-scoring, trap-style of hockey? A more physical game (hard to imagine but I'm sure it could happen)? Or do they stare this in the face and try the same up-tempo fast-paced style, and try to goad the Hawks into taking more penalties?

There is good news for the Hawks. First, the Hawks top line of Toews, Kane, and Dustin "Big Buff" Byfuglien, combined for all of zero points and a brutal minus-9 ranking. Yet the Hawks still won. I can guarantee you that this line will not perform that poorly again, which makes it considerably more difficult for Philadelphia to win. Likewise, Niemi has responded to every game in which he has given up 5 goals by allowing all of no more than 2. Finally, the Hawks were just killed by the officials, who blew a number of incredibly obvious calls and gave the Hawks zero power plays. The NHL will look into this, and you can expect the Hawks to get a few make-up calls in the next game. Thus, the Hawks will get to display their lethal powerplay. For all of these reasons, the Hawks look to be in good shape. If you win a game when you have 0 PP's, your top line produces nothing and is -9, and your goalie gives up 5 goals... yeah, things are looking up.

Game 2 is set for tomorrow, Monday, night. 7PM CT, 8PM ET, 1AM BST. The Hawks look to take a strong 2-0 series lead. It's the first team to four. One down, three to go.

Scout Perlow 1995-2010

Scout Perlow December 31, 1995 - May 24, 2010

LONDON, UK -- As many of you have already heard, but as many of you may not have as of yet, this past Monday my family had to put down our beloved dog Scout. While there was definitely a degree of expectation that this point was coming, it always seemed to be relatively far off. Last June, she got sick, and the vet gave her 2 weeks to live. Needless to say we were all quite upset then. But two weeks came... and she was fine. Two months came... and she was fine. A few months later, and as the weather started to cool, and then get cold, and Scout was happier and more energetic than she had been all year. What was that doctor thinking?!

Well, on the reverse end of that, now that the last of the snow has melted, and the days of cool nights are not as common at home, and of course an entire year more has passed, and this past weekend it became clear that it was her time. For me, because of the somewhat advanced warning last year, coupled with my crazy travel schedule, I had the opportunity to give several goodbyes. Every time I left for any extended trip last summer... a few days or more, I made sure to give an extra goodbye. When I left at the end of September to come to London I did the same. By a miracle, it seemed, I got to spend a week with her walking her through the snow at home, shoveling, wrestling in the yard when I was home this past December. I left to come back to school, and, well, that was the last time I ever got to see her in person.

The very first picture at the top is the oldest picture I have of Scout. And yes, that huge mass of blonde hair is yours truly. I'm not sure if she was mimicking me, or if I was mimicking her, but either way, I do remember when she was a tiny puppy after we first got her, and I was still a little 8 year old kid, we would both actually fit literally in that table you see on the left in the picture. Beyond the first two days she was home, of which I remember vividly - petting her late at night the first night, and then the next day wondering aloud how long it would take before she wasn't sad to be missing her genetic dog family - this is the oldest memory I have with Scout.

The second picture above was taken from Skype just two months ago. As you can tell she was clearly healthy, and happy too - she could hear my voice, and maybe even register that she was "seeing" me on the screen anyway. But yeah, that's the last picture I have of her, and I thought I might share it... it is quite the change in technology that Scout (as well as the rest of us) witnessed. Just think... that first picture was taken on film (what's that), and last summer I took a picture of the print out on my phone, which I was just able to upload direct to my computer and now this blog. By contrast, the second picture was a click I made into an instant file on my computer while utilizing a webcam from 4,000 miles away. Things sure change in 14+ years.

The picture above is from November 2004. Just an ordinary Fall day in our backyard... windy and chilly, the colorful leaves on the ground. My favorite pictures of Scout are always outside, and this is one of them. The picture below is the next year, November 2005, outside again.

And, of course, outside in the snow...

...and perhaps best of all, the "I'm staying out here no matter what you say" look:

We love you and miss you and always will Scout... thanks for a great 14 1/2 years, and we hope there are lots of kisses and there is lots of snow in Dog heaven!

Scout Perlow December 31, 1995 - May 24, 2010

More Chelsea, More Blackhawks, UK Election, Studying

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Good afternoon from an overcast London. The FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Portsmouth begins in 15 minutes and so I figured I would write this entry as the game kicks off. I suppose I will get to Chelsea last then and update as the game gets underway.

In the political world, last Thursday May 6 the UK had a general election for the first time in about 5 years. The way the system works here is a Prime Minister can call an election at any time he or she chooses, but must do so within 5 years. Then-PM Gordon Brown's 5 years were to end sometime in June, so he called the election for May 6. From a campaign system, I am a big fan of the British system. In the US, as most of you are aware, the campaigning season never really ends. Within a matter of months (and sometimes days) after an election, candidates are already fundraising and scheming for the next election. This is a product of the fact that we have general or mid-term elections every 2 years, in which the entire House of Representatives, 1/3 of the Senate, about 1/3 of the Governors, and in the general elections, the Presidency are all up for grabs. As if that wasn't confusing enough, states hold primary elections months in advance in order to decide who will even be on the ballot, and in all seriousness, the campaign never really ends. In the UK, the Prime Minister gives 30 days notice of an election. Once that happens, Parliament is dissolved, and the campaign jumps into full-speed chaos mode for all 30 days before the election is held. The three main party leaders held three election debates, and for the most part they traveled all over the UK soliciting support and so on.

Now, there are many arguments against this being applied in the US. First, the idea that someone could cross the United States in 30 days is obviously not possible. From a sheer geographic standpoint, you just couldn't do it. Also, another major problem is that because the US has fixed term limits, we know years in advance exactly when the elections will be held, and candidates position themselves and plan accordingly. The cost of elections in the US is also staggering, and it simply wouldn't be possible to raise the money needed to spread a major candidate's message nationwide in such a short time frame. But what about, say, a 4 month limit? The election will be held say November 2nd. Why not restrict a candidate's ability to raise money and travel around, well, campaigning, to starting on July 2? Surely the four months from July 2-November 2 offers plenty of time to raise money, travel across the country (and surely an individual state or a district), debate the other candidates, and inform the electorate of their choices. Personally, I think four months is more than enough time, and the major benefit to this is that for the year and a half a Congressman is in office from the time of the previous election until July 2, they actually GOVERN, instead of concentrate so hard on politics and election cycles.

But what about party politics? Surely there has to be a primary election, right? You can't possibly be advocating for switching to a Parliamentary system of government?

To answer the last question first, no, I do not think a Parliamentary system would work well in the US. That said, I think another solution is increasing term limits. Representatives should have 3 year terms, the President a 6 year term, and the Senate can remain a 6 year term. Governors should also have 6 year terms. I think in this way, we spread out the elections more, allowing once again more time for actual GOVERNMENT and less time for campaigning and pandering. If we allow a 4 month cycle for campaigning before a general or mid-term election, then how about a 3 month cycle for campaigning before a primary election? If the primary election is March 2, then campaigning starts on December 2 at the absolute earliest. I think our government would be much more effective and responsive if the campaign season lasted an absolute maximum of 7 months every 3 years. Instead, it's currently more like 18 months out of every 24 months. This is something we can definitely learn from the Brits.

Regarding the actual election hear, it has been quite historical, that's for sure. PM Gordon Brown's Labour Party was utterly defeated, and lost the right to govern. The Conservative Party won the most seats by far, but ended up short by about 20 seats from an outright majority. As such, after 5 days of negotiations, they formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats (the UK's "third party"), and David Cameron became Prime Minister a few days ago. But what of the five days when there was essentially nobody running the country? Well, PM Brown was still technically PM, and he won his seat, so he is still a Member of Parliament. But interestingly enough, it is the Queen who accepts the outgoing PM's resignation and then invites the incoming PM to take power. Thus, while the monarch generally takes a ceremonial role, the Queen had much more power last week during this "Hung Parliament" in which no single party was able to form a government. In any case, while I was hoping for a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition with Ed Miliband as Prime Minister, best wishes to PM Cameron and the coalition to form a stable government. Perhaps regardless of all of this, the BNP didn't win a single seat, and to me, that's honestly the most important thing - keep the racist bastards out of any sort of power.

The FA Cup Final has started, and Chelsea is pressuring early...

In the NHL, the 30 teams were reduced to 16, then 8, and now only 4 remain, just 8 wins away from capturing the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks, of course, are one of them, after absolutely destroying Vancouver 5-1 in Game 6, which was in Vancouver, and the Hawks open their next series against the San Jose Sharks in San Jose tomorrow. The game is a matinée, at 12pm pacific time, so 2pm central in Chicago, and 8pm BST here in London. Hallelujah! A reasonable start time! As such I will be sporting my Hawks apparel in a pub tomorrow night rooting for a huge Hawks victory! Out East, Montreal won an epic Game 7 against Pittsburgh. In this post-season, Montreal knocked out the President's Cup-winners Washington and defending Stanley Cup-champions Pittsburgh, both in Game 7's, on the road! Just amazing. Philadelphia, to their credit, also pulled off a major feat. Down 3-0 in their series against Boston, they won the final 4 games in a row to become the 3rd team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to win. The winners of the Chicago-San Jose and Montreal-Philadelphia series will meet each other in the Stanley Cup Finals. Obviously I desperately want Chicago to win, and if they do, I wouldn't be so picky as to say that I only want to play one team, but if I could pick, a series against Montreal would be incredible. Two original 6 teams. The Montreal heartbreak from the 1970's. USA vs. Canada. Canada vs. Quebec. So much history. In any case, let's win this Game 1 tomorrow out in San Jose, take back home ice advantage, and take it from there!

School and studying have been picking up the last few days. Yesterday I had a long review session all morning on Environmental governance, and then for 4 hours worked on the 2009 exam with some classmates. I literally stared at statistics for 4 straight hours yesterday afternoon. Anyway after getting up dizzy I called it a day, came back after lunch, and then...

Yesterday was the final scheduled launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, on STS-132 to the International Space Station to deliver a Russian-made module to expand the research capacity of the station. The shuttle launched at 2:20pm eastern time, so 7:20pm here in London, and it sure looked like a beautiful day on the Florida coast! Just less than two years ago I was on the coast, watching Shuttle Discovery launch on STS-124 delivering Japanese-made Kibo to the ISS on another glorious day, and I will never forget how bright the flame was, and feeling the earth shake in the moments after the launch. Just incredible, and it makes me sad to think that after Atlantis gets home in a couple of weeks, there are only two more flights ever scheduled to launch. That said, I do understand retiring the Shuttle. It is the most complex machine ever built by humans, designed in the late-1970s, and the technology at present is so much more simple and yet more powerful than it was at that time. In truth, we need a new launch vehicle. The sad part is not really the fact that the Shuttle is being retired to the museums, but that we don't have a replacement vehicle ready to launch a few months later. The ARES-I test launch was a huge success several months ago, but President Obama scrapped the program when he released his budget, and as of yet, NASA and nobody else really knows anything that is going on, beyond wrapping up the shuttle program by the end of this year. The second-to-last launch is scheduled for September, and the final launch, which I am hoping to be at, for sometime in November.

Last week I got to see Kate, a friend of mine from the States who I have worked with a bunch of times with People to People. She took a week off of work to check out London and Edinburgh, and we got to grab dinner one night, and then we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum which was very cool. I had never been there before and it was one of the few I still had to get to. Like most of the museums here, it was free, and what impressed me the most were the Renaissance collection of plaster casts on display. Back in the 19th century, traveling from London to Florence to see Michelangelo's David wasn't as simple as hopping on a 2 hour flight or taking the train, like I did just a few weeks ago, and so the vast majority of people weren't able to see most of the magnificent sculptures and paintings that Europe had to offer. As such, there is a cast of David, one of Trajan's Column from Rome, a replica of Raphael's School of Athens, and many many other artworks that I was lucky enough to see the original's of just a few weeks ago. In fact, it was just 1 month ago today I was wandering around Rome, looking up at the Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel, dipping my hand in the Trevi fountain, and staring in wonder at the Pantheon. Roma, Roma, Roma... what a city! Other great exhibits in the Victoria & Albert Museum... Venician glass, global model architecture, and South Asian pottery.

The FA Cup Final ended up being crazy... in the first half, Chelsea hit FIVE posts but weren't able to score, and the half ended tied 0-0. In the second, Portsmouth attacked off the kick-off, and forced Chelsea to take a penalty. On the penalty kick, the Chelsea keeper made the save, and then just minutes later down at the other end Drogba finally put one in to put Chelsea up 1-0. Lampard later missed a Chelsea penalty opportunity, but Chelsea was able to preserve the 1-0 lead to win the final by a 1-0 final. As such, Chelsea won the double - what a season to become a Chelsea fan... a Premier League title and the FA Cup champions. Just awesome!

Well, that's a wrap for now... I'm off to a friend's tonight for some Apples to Apples (fun card game... look it up if you haven't heard of it). Tomorrow I'm off to a pub to see the Hawks game. Monday is my last day of revision classes! After that I literally have nothing formally scheduled until my first exam on June 2.

Essays, Chelsea, Blackhawks

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Before anything else, a very Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all of the other mothers out there! Thank you for all that you do!

My apologies for not having updated in a few weeks. As mentioned in my last post, I had to wrap up that assessed 3,000 word essay, which I did, and then in the past week I had to write another assessed 2,500 word essay, worth 50% of one of my grades. The essays went well (on bureaucratic responsiveness to citizens and EU fish stocks and scientific policy advice), and I am happy they are handed in. Can you believe it? With the exception of my dissertation, I am done writing essays at LSE! Crazy!

Besides the lack of essays, I also only have 3 more days of class left. Tomorrow, Friday, and next Monday, and then that's it! Essays are done, classes are pretty much done... that leaves one thing: FINALS! You think final exams at UW or anywhere else in the US were intense? Final exams at LSE account for anywhere from 50% to 100% of a grade (most of them trending to the latter), some of them covering classes that ENDED in December. Thus, for the next month or so, beyond going to those 3 days of classes, I shall be in full-blown study-mode! Exams are June 2, 3, 4, 10, and 22. Dissertation is then due September 2, and then that is an LSE wrap!

As the semester is clearly starting to wrap up, I have been doing some general cleaning and organizing. The weather (minus the last 2 days anyway) has been getting better, so I also packed away my winter coat, gloves, hats. I have come to realize that bringing 4 suitcases, plus another suitcase-load of clothes in September and December to London... it's going to be hard to fit all of that, PLUS what I have bought here AND with what I have been sent here into only 3 suitcases heading back. I guess I will worry more about that as we get closer.

Travel plans are coming into gear. June 25 (3 days after my last final) I am on a bus out of London to Wales, then a ferry to Ireland, and bus up to Northern Ireland over the course of a week and a half. The night of July 4 I fly from Belfast back to London Gatwick, spend one last night here, and then the morning of July 5 I'm off to Heathrow to fly back to O'Hare via Philadelphia on US Airways. After a week or so at home, I am road tripping it out to Arizona to write my dissertation from the desert.

In the sports world, today has been quite the day! First up, Chelsea kicked off at home in Stamford Bridge against Wigan, needing a victory to win the Premier League. Well, they did that, and frankly, they did more! They won 8-0, which is the largest margin of victory in Chelsea's 105 year history. They had won 7-0 a few other times this year and in previous years, but never by an 8-score. With the 8 goals, they ended up with a total of 103, which tops the 97 scored by Manchester United in 1999-2000 to set a new record for the most goals scored in the history of the Premier League. In English top-flight football, the 103 goals are the most since 1962 when Tottenham put up 111. ALSO, as if all of the above wasn't enough, Didier Drogba scored a hat trick (3 goals), to finish with 29 for the season and win the Premier League's golden boot, the trophy given to the player who scores the most goals in the league. Finally, when I was in Vegas back in August, I put down a little money on Chelsea to win the league, and with their victory today and league win, I have won the bet! Not much money, but I'll take it, and it's an excuse to head back to Vegas to claim it! MGM sports book, here I come! Up next for Chelsea... the FA Cup Final, next weekend, against Portsmouth. If they win, it will be the first time in team history that they won both the Premier League AND the FA Cup. One game left to play!

In the hockey world, things have progressed a lot since my last post. In the first round, Detroit took out Phoenix in Game 7, while Montreal came all the way up to post a HUGE upset by winning Game 7 in Washington to knock them out. Thus, the second-round series looked like this:

East:
Boston vs. Philadelphia

Pittsburgh vs. Montreal

West:
San Jose vs. Detroit
Chicago vs. Vancouver

Well, last night San Jose beat Detroit 2-1 in Game 5 to win their series 4-1, so they move on to the Western Conference Finals. Out East, Boston is beating Philadelphia 3-1 in that series, while Pittsburgh is up 3-2 over Montreal.

In our series, the Blackhawks got absolutely destroyed at home in Game 1 by a 5-1 score that was just plain embarrassing. Then, in Game 2, Vancouver was up 2-0 in the first 5 minutes of the game, before the Hawks started to turn it around. They came back, took the lead, and ended up winning by a final of 4-2 to tie the series at 1-1 heading back to Vancouver. Then, in Game 3, the Hawks went to the net, and just dominated. Dustin Byfuglien scored a hat trick to lead the Hawks to a resounding 5-2 victory to take a 2-1 series lead. In Game 4, Vancouver basically imploded, and the Hawks won by a final score of 7-4 to take the 3-1 series lead. Tonight, in Game 5, the Canucks put up 3 goals to take a 3-0 lead through the first 2 periods, and ended up winning 4-1, so now the Hawks are leading the series 3-2 going back to Vancouver for Tuesday night's Game 6.

With that, I am off to bed... have a great week everyone!