oh sweet fucking hell...

not that he doesn't usually, but dubya's REALLY worrying me now. is it just me or do his statements imply that the us currently has no plans on how to contain contagious diseases to prevent epidemics? dude, that damn bird flu is NOT the only nasty out there. we should ALREADY have plans for how to quarantine and contain a disease in a geographical area and hopefully how to then combat the disease in that area. (though given the demonstration of federal preparedness recently seen in the gulf coast region, i'm not holding my breath on that combatting disease part. i'd settle for containment and quarantine.)

thanksgiving (a clarification)

multiple people have asked about what my plans are for thanksgiving, (including my sister) mostly because they're confused by my phrasing regarding whether i will or will not be home for the holiday. i WANT to be, and i'm hopeful that i will be, BUT- i have to renew my student visa this month (current one expires the 31st) and part of that involves giving the home office my passport. while i'm told there are ways to get them to expedite the application if i know i have to travel, there is no garuntee on how quickly they will process it. thus, i am reluctant to say for sure, more for myself than anyone else's benefit, that i will be home for thanksgiving and then be massively disappointed by the home office dragging their feet and holding my passport until after the holiday. hopefully i will be able to make some sort of more definitive statement in the next couple weeks. i'm going to see the advice and counseling service about the application and see what they can tell me.