Chillin' like a villain ...

The expression "chillin' like a villain" always made my grandpa laugh, maybe because he worked in Corrections - ha. Life has been pretty mellow these last 5 days. I am finally done my exams and my work-study marathon, and it feels really good. I find myself taking 2 or 3 naps a day (and still sleeping regular hours at night), so my body must be catching up from all the abuse I have put it through this last month. Exams went OK. I did MUCH better than expected in Statistics (he must have seriously curved the class cuz my final mark jumped 20% above where it was before the exam), Microeconomics was a 'halfway-decent' mark (so I don't need to redo it), and Macroeconomics ... well, I am sure I will do better in it the second time this summer. I passed it, but I really need to understand the content to do well in my graduate degree, so I decided to redo it. That was my first C since the Mulroney administration - ha. I am glad for the 2nd chance/opportunity to do it again before the fall.

I got approved for another term of work study (PTL!) As some of you already know, in the Fall and Spring of this last year, I was on a research team responsible for creating a database of all terrorist activity worldwide since 9/11. It has been a lot of fun; I have had a great partner to work with, and our findings have been fascinating. For example, during 2003 (which was the year I was responsible for), India had by far the most terrorist activity, almost 3 times as many incidents as in the West Bank/Gaza. Also, 17 McDonalds were attacked in 9 countries that year. Interestingly enough, Belfast (Northern Ireland) had more terrorist incidents than Bagdad, Iraq in 2003 (the year the war in Iraq began). You may be wondering, why on earth would Kristen want to spent nearly 300 hours pouring over terrorist incients? This may sound like a scary project, but in a strange way, it was comforting to see how many 'attempted attacks' were thwarted by police. Very few attacks incurred any injuries, and even fewer involved deaths. Of those who died, nearly all were targeted (mostly people running for political office in the Kashmir in India).

So my advice to you all on how to protect yourself from terrorists? Here are my 3 recommendations:

1) Don't run for office in Kashmir, India. Don't be related to anyone running for office in the Kashmir. Don't be a police informant related to someone running for office in the Kashmir. Nuff said.

2) Don't buy property in Sederot, Israel. Almost daily, there is a Qassem rocket fired from somewhere in the Northern Gaza Strip into open fields in Sederot. Almost as often, they fire one back, but no one gets hurt, and no damage is reported. Hmm ... don't get it, but maybe 'you had to be there.'

3) Keep your SUV away from car dealerships in the US. The Earth Liberation Front (an eco-terrorist group from the States) likes to vandalize SUVs because they claim they 'destroy the environment;' I agree with them that SUVs are gas-guzzlers, but the ELF better be using non-aerosol, environmentally friendly spray paint to vandalize those vehicles of evil. Things that make you go 'hmmm . . .'

Anyway, I guess I better get to bed. Miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

KNL