Calder Stembel » personal

Two decades is a long time

Calder — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:45:28 +0000

My lovely mother emailed me my horoscope for today. I find it applicable and pleasing, but then horoscope writers would be out of business if their horoscopes weren’t broadly-applicable and easily-pleasing. “Virgos born on August 30 have an overwhelming urge to express their individual identities. They have a great love of learning, travel, and the written word. They are known for their discriminating good taste and good looks and always appear well dressed in public. Although August 30 people seem calm, they’re actually high-strung and excitable.”

There are a few aspects about August 30th, the date, that amuse me. Easily pleased and easily amused ain’t bad.

In keeping with my fondness for Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 8/30 is the 242nd day of the year. 242 is also a palindromic number.
It’s easy to remember how many days are left after 8/30 until the end of the year: 123.
8/30 is a nice, even number, but if I wanted to calculate my half birthday, it doesn’t exist: count six months from August 30th and you’ll end up on February 30th. If you count by days, 182.5 days after my birthday lands on March 2nd (I was born at 8:02pm, so the .5 day pushes me from 3/1 to 3/2).

Unfortunately, 8/30 is also very close to the start of the school year. This year, GW’s Fall 2009 courses start early, on 8/31. This also puts me on the younger end of my class, since I was born more than halfway through 1989, and many of my peers were born in 1988.

8/30 isn’t a terribly interesting day for world events or notable births and deaths. According to Wikipedia’s article on August 30 (date articles are one of the many things for which I love Wikipedia), I share this date of birth with such luminaries as:

I think the best of that list are Shelley, Rutherford, and Buffett. Not a stellar list.

I promise this blog will not be overtly personal. But it is calderstembel.com, and I’m going to indulge myself today.

Please Pardon My Appearance

Calder — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:05:37 +0000

While I transition from my campaign website to a new, regularly updated website. The transition should be completed by the end of Spring Break (March 20th). In the meantime, I will be updating the blog with my thoughts on various items related to literature, film, theatre, and The George Washington University. You can also check out my Twitter feed and my Facebook profile.

Thanks!

About Me

Calder — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:38:05 +0000

The following is the short bio I submitted to the JEC when I completed my petition for candidacy. I thought you might want to take a look:

Calder is excited to be running for Executive Chair of Program Board, GW’s largest event-planning organization. As PB’s current IT Chair, Calder uses the PB website and email listserv to communicate between the PB Executive Board and its student body. His communication and administrative experience will make him a strong, capable, and visionary leader.

A sophomore pursuing a B.A. in Dramatic Literature, Calder is a member of the University Honors Program and an active member of the GW community. He plays drum set for FPP musicals, coordinates the Washington Theatre Scholars Living & Learning Cohort, and contributes to the GW English Blog as the department’s Communications Liaison. Calder also helps faculty and staff as a staff assistant with the CCAS Office of Technology Services. This summer, Calder will return for his second year as a counselor at Camp Kesem GW, a free camp for local children of cancer patients.

Calder likes exploring DC’s many museums, watching film noir and action movies, and mishearing the lyrics to popular songs. You can learn more about Calder at www.calderstembel.com.