...Takes Its Toll

What an absurdly busy weekend it turned out to be, a bit of a nonstop party. I'll try to do a brief recap while I can still remember it all...

Saturday: went with the guys to the Boulevard Brewery. It's pretty much Mecca, as you might expect, and I had quite a few beers I hadn't known they had. I also didn't realize how much expansion they have planned (a lot). My souvenier was a jar of their Pale Ale Mustard, which you must try if you ever get the chance. If you ever want to take a tour with me, they're every Saturday at 11:00, 1:00, and 3:00.

Then we went to Arthur Bryant's, easily the most famous BBQ restaurant in Kansas City. People kept warning me about how it was located in a "ghetto" neighborhood, but by day at least, it's not bad at all. The food was simple, plentiful, and absolutely delicious. I may never look at Wonder Bread the same way again.

After that, we saw Team America: World Police. I'll admit that the movie was funny, but that's really all that it was. Please don't go expecting political commentary. To quote from Roger Ebert's review, "I wasn't offended by the movie's content so much as by its nihilism. At a time when the world is in crisis and the country faces an important election, the response of Parker, Stone and company is to sneer at both sides -- indeed, at anyone who takes the current world situation seriously. They may be right that some of us are puppets, but they're wrong that all of us are fools, and dead wrong that it doesn't matter."

Later that evening, after the guys got back from Lawrence, we went to Tanner's again. And guess what? Got our tab paid, again, but by someone else this time: the groom, whom Mark had been in town to see. We begged him not to - all this drinking for free was starting to get embarassing - but he snatched the check and wouldn't give it back. Ah, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Sunday: Off to the Renaissance Festival, along with Sam and Meagan. It is, as advertised, gigantic, not to mention in a forest, so I spent most of the day being thoroughly lost. I did manage to find a nice bit of jewelery for my mother's birthday, and a few other items that won't be mentioned, because the recipients are reading this. :) I plan to go back next year, maybe more than one weekend, so let me know if you care to go.

Dinner with Rusty, Sarah, and Rusty's parents. Dessert with Sam and Meagan as well at a place on the Plaza called The Melting Pot, which is a fondue(!) restaurant. Pricey but, sweet jesus, it's delicious. I can't even imagine what the rest of their menu is like. Yet another place I'll be happy to go with you if you ever come to town.

So, to summarize: partying and heavy, heavy drinking at my place every night this weekend, three nights running. I'm exhausted and slightly hung over, but so, so contented.

Madness

So, Bob and two of his friends are in town tonight. After going to a concert in Westport, they headed up to my place. I took them to a really nice bar near my apartment, called Tanner's. It's a collegiate, Cheers type place with a kitchen that's open late, and it's only five blocks away.

So, we're hanging out, having our beers, eating our food, when we're approached by a gentleman from a nearby table. His name is Mark Jones, native of Atlanta, in town for a friend's wedding. In honor of the occasion, he offers to buy us all a round of drinks.

More conversation. It transpires that he is an alumni of the University of Nebraska, graduated 1986. Played football for the Cornhuskers. Got a degree in computer science. These days, he's a vice-president of Hitachi America. And of course, he learns that all of us are current or recent students at UNL.

What follows is a lengthy and honestly facinating lecture on his time at UNL, his love for Coach Osborne, his career, and perhaps most importantly, how to get ahead in the business world. Bob was practically drooling at the prospect of an internship. And before he leaves, he pays our tab for the entire evening, won't take no for an answer. Incredible.

So yeah, an amazing evening. Met a cool fellow, ate and drank for free. He said he'll be there tomorrow night - after the wedding reception - and wants us to come back. Champagne for the entire bar, and perhaps tequila too. His treat. I think perhaps we might have to go back, at that...

Lawrence

Went out to the bars last night with a couple of coworkers. They decided before I arrived that we would be going to Lawrence (about forty miles west of here). The reasons for this remain a total mystery to me; not one of us is from there or went to school there. We had no idea where anything was or where the parties were. But it turned out for the best in the end: KU had beaten Kansas State earlier that day, so the whole town was one big party.

We ended up at a place called Abe & Jake's Landing. It turned out to be really awesome, a huge place that spanned several floors. Besides the main dance floor, there were four bars, some very elegant quiet areas, a pub/cafe area, a balcony patio, and really good music. The whole place is an old factory along the banks of the Kansas River, which results in a strange combination of loud and peaceful. Anyway, a great place, better than any I'd been to in a while, so I recommend it if you're ever there.

Didn't end up finding any house parties, though. It is possible to find them when you're from out of town and don't know anyone; but it's difficult and far from a sure thing. I guess hope just springs eternal.

On the way home, I saw the stars for the first time in a long while. Particularly Orion, my favorite constellation (don't ask me why), which only rises in the winter. It was nice.

The quote of the evening was between two fellows who just moved here from Florida and California, regarding the Midwest:

"It seems like everybody you meet here is attached, like they get engaged and married really quickly, really young, you know?"

"Well, it does get very cold in the winter here..."

Myst IV, Part II

So I've spent some more time playing through Myst IV, after a kind soul helped me get past the aforementioned evil puzzle of death. I've got a few more things to report.

First, the bad: the game's "help" system is so comically useless even at its highest levels that I'm beginning to think the designers deliberately sabotaged it in a fit of indignation. Among other issues: It refers to areas, animals, and people by name even when they haven't been named within the game. It does not state the goal or reasoning behind most puzzles, only the rote steps necessary to solve them. It only lists the steps to solve a puzzle from its initial state, for puzzles that can't be reset to their initial state. It contains inaccurate (or at least misleading) maps of the levels, and makes no mention of where to find important switches/levers/buttons etc. I no longer have any compunction about looking at any of its spoilers, because I know they'll only leave me more confused than I was before.

But there's also some good:

* I found out that the developers are working on their first patch which, aside from other technical issues, will adjust the timing on the puzzle I found so awful in my last post.

* The game's last level, Serenia, is utterly, endlessly gorgeous. But more than that, it's far more "Myst-like", inasmuch as the puzzles are far more like what I like. They fall into two basic categories: logic puzzles, where your objective is clear and you need to determine the correct algorithm; and engineering puzzles, where the level is a giant broken machine that you need to diagnose and debug. All of that, I like.

* Towards the end, the plot and tone of the game take a left turn into the realm of the artistic and abstract. It's a bit jarring at first, but also very pretty, and provides some of the game's (IMO) cleverest and most interesting puzzles.

* There appear to be as many as three different good endings, somehow based on your play style, though I'm still not sure what the variables are.

So I guess my recommendation now would be to a) wait until the patch is released, and b) maybe just borrow the game from me. Don't feel bad about using hints (albeit someone else's) on the game's obtuse middle levels, if only for the joy and wonder of the first and last levels.

Oh, yes, and I finally got paid today. Yay!

And All That Jazz

Went with some people from work to a bar called the Phoenix that's literally a block away from my apartment. It bills itself variously as a jazz or piano bar, with live music most nights; while we were there, it was a blues guitarist. Really, really nice atmosphere, reminiscent of the bygone Brazen Head (may it rest in peace), just the sort of place I longed for in college but rarely found. If you come to town, I'm very likely to take you.

A big shout-out to my co-worker Gabriel, whose webpage and blog I recently discovered. And he plays Settlers of Catan! Will wonders never cease. Speaking of which, I found out about a number of rules to that game just before I moved that I hadn't been aware of previously:

* Development cards can be played before you roll the dice.
* Trades where one person gives cards to another for free are against the rules.
* It's possible for another player to do something that causes you to win the game, but you can't actually win until it's your turn. Thus, it's (rarely) possible for someone else to win first!

We haven't had much luck at finding other players here at Cerner, so if you're reading this and you come to town, you might get drafted.

Ten Ten

If you watched the Olympics, or follow international news at all, then you're aware of Taiwan's tense and strange international status. Keep that in mind.

So tonight, I attended a gala banquet at the Marriott Hotel, not far from my apartment. The occasion? This week is the National Day (but really Independence Day) of Taiwan (but really the Republic of China), and the party was hosted by their Economic and Cultural Office (but really Embassy) in Kansas City. Both the food and the entertainment were, appropriately, a mix of Eastern and Western tastes. We did, of course, have to sit through a number of speeches that centered around their achievements as a people and their continued persecution by mainland China. I can hardly blame them, though. In their position I suppose I'd bring my plight up at every opportunity, too.

The evening was capped off with a toast of gao liang jiu, a potent variety of Chinese white wine, made from sorghum, that the Americans affectionately referred to as "White Lightning". It's only a small step above moonshine, actually. It'll put hair on your chest, a bounce in your step, and a hole in your liver.

My parents were also in town for the banquet, so they dropped off a number of items that I'd forgotten at home. Most notably, the rest of my movies, books, liquor, and furniture. So I guess my place is pretty much done now, and ready for guests. Come on down. :) A few shout outs:

Rusty: The Chinese side of the buffet was catered from Bo Ling's. Yum.

Derrick: There is a Folgers Coffee factory directly across the street from my building. If I'm walking home at the right time of the evening, say around 9:00, I can smell it on the production line. I don't even like coffee, but still yum.

James: If you come visit me, I've got a little something for you. And not what you just thought, either.

Town Hall

So today was Cerner's Town Hall, a (bi?)annual meeting of all associates to discuss the upcoming year. And it was kind of a trip:

3,500 people. Held at a rodeo arena, the American Royal. A live band doing covers of country music as you enter and leave. Your ID scanned as you arrive, to make sure that you came (and that you're not the press, I suppose). A stage with a ranch-like set. The CEO rides in on a horse. The projection screen tumbling over onto the executive board. Footballs being thrown into the audience to decide who gets to ask a question - and win $50 by doing so. The CEO betting his board $500 that they can't hit a particular person in the audience. Copious quantities of free beer and barbecue afterwards. Trying to drive through the center of the city at rush hour, while not losing the person who's following you home.

Fun stuff.

I'm back at Riverport (the old casino) all this week, this time to get training on Cerner's quality control procedures and client/server framework. Wish me luck.

The Surreal Life

Well, my first full week at Cerner is over, and it was mainly... well, strange. Let me say in advance that I realize it won't always be like this, but in the meantime, I'm a little wierded out. Allow me to present a few tidbits:

* The cubicles are arranged in rows, so I have a clear view of five from where I sit (the two adjoining and three across). And they are all empty. Oh, there are nameplates, papers, other artifacts of work. But I've only seen a human being in one of them, and that briefly. The others might be working elsewhere this week, they might have transferred to a different group, they might have left the company. There's no way for me to know.

* I've seen my manager precisely twice, last Friday and this, and only for an hour both times. He's a friendly enough fellow, funny even. But where does he go all day? He's never been at his desk ever. I'm afraid to ask, or perhaps afraid that I wouldn't understand the answer.

* Somewhat unbelievably, my team has no recurring meetings of any kind. My team lead, though friendly, prefers to communicate through email and instant message. Combined with the isolation of my cubicle, I could easily work the entire day without speaking to or even seeing another human being face to face. There have been a few days when I did just that.

* Friday was my first Beer Friday, a monthly event where Cerner provides free beer (Miller Light, ugh) at the end of the day to all its employees. It reminded me uncannily of a Kauffman party: a bunch of geeks, mostly men, sitting around and drinking. It makes them more talkative about the subjects they talk about anyway; and they only talk to those people they already know. A bit sad, but a good way to end the week all the same.

I did finally coax a little information out of my manager and team lead about what I'll actually be doing the next few months. It's pretty much what I expected for a new hire: some more training, some support work, a bit of development (particularly writing tests). The sort of stuff that's mildly tedious but needs to be done and provides a good introduction to the company's system architecture. Not bad, for what it could have been.

The Puzzle from Hell

So I've been playing Myst IV: Revelation for the past few days. It seemed quite good at first; really gorgeous graphics, dramatic music, intriguing story, all that good stuff. But the game is flawed, in ways that are becoming more and more obvious to me. Worse, the flaws are centered around puzzle design, which is the heart and soul of the adventure genre.

For starters, quite a few of the puzzles have no feedback whatsoever when solved. There's no way to tell when or if you've done something right. This is a sharp contrast to all the previous games in the series, when a completed puzzle would usually lock itself down to prevent further changes. It makes it essentially impossible to take a level in stages, which is IMO a bad move.

Worse, the solutions to some of the puzzles has crossed the line from careful observation and deduction to pure mathematics and, in some cases, pure madness. The game offers a three-tiered help system: small hint, pointed nudge, and outright solution with explanation. It should tell you something that in several cases, even after reading the full, step-by-step solution including how you were intended to find it, I still can't figure out what the hell they're talking about. I'm no genius but I'm no fool either. If you thought the animal noises from Riven were obscure, you ain't seen nothing yet.

All of which brings me to the puzzle from hell, which has stopped me cold at a relatively early point in the game. The following is spoilerrific, but I don't really care much anymore:

The puzzle consists of three vertical sliders, each of which can be set from 0-12. A correct setting on all three sliders causes a lock to release; there are a total of four locks to release with four different combinations to complete the puzzle.

The sliders, of course, are not numbered in any way. The only way to determine their setting is to move them up and down and observe a row of lights above turning on and off. Moreover, they don't "snap" to the nearest setting like, say, a Windows slider; rather, you must nudge it past the next higher setting before it will stick.

The hotspot to control each of these sliders is only a few pixels square; when you find it, you must wait for the usual hand cursor to change to a grasping mode, which takes a noticeable second or so. If you click too soon, or are off by only a little, you'll simply wave at empty air.

Next to the sliders, left and right, are the four locks that you're attempting to open. These are "details"; they can be zoomed in upon. This serves no useful purpose except to give you a close-up view of the lock's current state, but that state can be seen while zoomed out as well. The hotspots to zoom in on the locks are only a few pixels over from the slider hotspots.

Now, all of this would make the puzzle poorly designed and tedious, but not a major challenge if you have the correct combinations. However, there's one final point I should mention: the entire thing is TIMED. Each lock stays open only for a limited amount of time, and each shorter than the last. All told, you have about thirty seconds from the time you finish entering the first combination to finish the puzzle. Me, the best I can do is to be entering the third combination at the time that the first one times out. And that's after hours of practice and trying over and over again.

There are plenty of games out there that test your manual dexterity, your ability to move your mouse around quickly and precisely. I don't care for them, and wasn't intending to buy one. Anyone want a slightly used copy of Myst IV: Revelation?

A Sticky End

It's official. I'm a yuppie now; a young, urban professional. Who'd have thought it would come to this?

Fun thing to do to amuse yourself while slogging through endless CBTs: put your laptop power brick up to your ear. Really, try it. Mine makes this awesome crackling electrical noise that sounds precisely like the equipment in Dr. Frankenstein's lab.

I now have a company credit card, a Diner's Club. I have absolutely no idea why, as I don't exactly entertain clients. I'll use it maybe once or twice ever, if I go on a trip to a client site. Still, it's pretty.

Poll: how long will it take for my body's clock to adjust to the new schedule? I can hardly sleep at night and it's killing me.

Odds and Ends

Looks like most of my coworkers are married with children, or shortly to be so. Which means we might have somewhat different tastes in weekend and after-hours activities. It's not a huge problem, but it does mean I'll have to reach a little further out into the company to liven up my nightlife. Oh well. I can do it.

I hadn't immediately realized just how wooded the campus was: if I walk over to the window and look down, all I can see is endless treetops along the creek bed. Really, really pretty.

Turns out that Cerner uses Rational ClearQuest for bug tracking. All you Design Studio alumni can say a little prayer for me.

Used Uncle Ben's rice bowls go rancid with astonishing rapidity - just one of them managed to stink up my entire apartment after just a few days.

Any of you I haven't heard from since I moved down here - why the hell not? It's not like I've got much to do all night long.

Bah

It's too bright in Kansas City. I can hardly see the stars, much less pick out constellations.

I have a futon and a bed now, and I'm hard pressed to decide which is more comfortable. Also went on a pretty decent shopping spree this weekend, acquiring the rest of my furniture and significantly augmenting my wardrobe. There's more to be done, of course, but I think I can put together a pretty passable apartment at this point.

Word of the Day: My bank tells me that one of my purchases was made in Overloverland Park. I'm not kidding.

Any Port in a Storm

Finally met my boss, and found out (in a general sense) what I'll be doing. It seems that the Advanced Architecture folks do the interfaces, APIs, web services, and other such glue between the existing Cerner Millennium backend and the new web-based frontend. My sub-group now has a grand total of three people, including me, so I have a feeling that they need all the help they can get. That, and they said as much.

Turns out that said boss is the very same man who first interviewed me for the job a few months back. I'm on his team because he specifically requested me. Which is, for starters, extremely flattering. But the reason why is even more intriguing: I'd mentioned to him (in all honesty) that I really enjoyed teaching and prided myself on my ability to explain things in an understandable matter. Unsurprisingly, people who write middleware have to do a lot of that for the engineers writing the layers immediately above; and equally unsurprisingly, a lot of the current geeks don't much care for it. So yay me, I guess.

He also made the well-no-kidding suggestion that I ought to max out my annual 401(k) contributions, particularly in light of Cerner's stock matching. But, when I looked into how much that would be, the answer is a full 25% of my gross income. Gulp. I'll probably do it anyway, but I really need to do some more budgeting and figure out how much I really need to, y'know, live.

At least renter's insurance turns out to be cheap - I can live with $18 a month.

Looks like I'll be mostly using WebSphere Studio Application Developer, which is a superset of the Eclipse IDE that I (and maybe some of you) are already familiar with. So that's a help.

In marginally more interesting news, the weekend of UNL's fall break could be interesting: Rusty and Jesse might come down, but I also got a request from the Three Wierd Sisters to stay at my place while they go to the Kansas City Renaissance Fair (to which I can get cheap tickets if anyone else wants). Wonder how many people I can fit in my apartment. Guess I'll find out.

Donations of posters or other accessories for my uber-bare apartment still welcome.

Sweet, Sweet Silicon

I have a laptop again! Yay! I went almost an entire five days without one, and it almost killed me. A Dell Precision M60, very nice. (I can't tell you much about the software without getting, y'know, fired or something.) True, I can only use it for business purposes, but still, it's the thought that counts. Being able to get work done from my couch is invaluable.

Finally get to meet with my manager tomorrow and, with any luck at all, find out what I'm really supposed to do. True, he hasn't actually managed to send me a note saying when/where to find him, but I have great faith. At least I have all the important things in hand - an email address, my network passwords, an access card for the door, that sort of good stuff.

I haven't found myself too overwhelmed yet, despite the vast quantities of information, and repeated assurances by the Cerner trainers that I ought to be. Maybe I'll feel differently once I finish with the approximate month of CBTs (Computer Based Training) that I have in front of me. The prerequisite structure resembles a fractal. Interesting sidelight on the Cerner culture: they think that if you're at any one job longer than two years, something's wrong. I'm not sure but I think I like it.

Yesterday was the official Autumn Equinox. I noticed as I was driving to work that the sun was rising in the dead center of the street as I drove east, just as it should be. Too bad it doesn't feel much like fall yet. Needs to cool off.

Furniture finally gets here Saturday (some of it, at least). Anybody want to help me assemble a futon? Please?

011000

I'll get to the other stuff in a second, but the important news first: I have Associate Number 011000. For a brief moment, I thought they were assigned in binary (24?), but no, I just got extraordinarily lucky in sequential assignment. I feel like I ought to get some sort of door prize. It's a very good omen regardless.

So apparently I'm going to be in the Advanced Architecture group of the Applications Architecture division. I have absolutely no idea what that means, nor am I likely to until this Friday. Presumably it's a bit more prestigious than Beginning Architecture...

For a company whose goals include eliminating needless paperwork from the health care industry, they sure do make their employees fill out a ton of paperwork relating to insurance. I hope they appreciate the irony.

I didn't think through things clearly: I commute to work against the main flow, out of the city center in the morning and back into it in the evening. So I never really have any traffic. It's awesome.

Far be it from me to stare out a window during orientation, but there's such a gorgeous view outside. All you can see is the river flowing past and the trees on the opposite shore. I'd want to build a house there; if there wasn't already a conference center, that is. It's the old Sam's Town Casino, if any of you Kansas City types care.

Note to self: drink something basic, like milk, after eating a pizza, lest you go to bed with a nasty case of acid reflux.

Wish You Were Here

Just a quick dispatch to let y'all know that I arrived safe and sound. I've basically spent the last two days unpacking. I don't own nearly enough stuff to fill this apartment, or even make it look like someone lives here. Everything had vanished into cupboards and closets already. Need to buy some more posters, I think.

The comedy of furniture continues; my dresser and nightstand will be two weeks late. It seems that a hurricane hit their factory. At least I'll get my bed and futon on time. And speaking of which, I think I'm going to put my bed against the interior wall, as I'm tired of hearing my neighbors' televisions. It's not that the walls are all that thin, but they both have their TVs up against the common walls, and watch them until the wee hours. Oh well. Screaming children would be far worse.

I've been unable to locate any decent grocery stores nearby, so it's time to start asking around. The nearest Walmart and Best Buy are each about ten miles away, which sucks. But that's not too awful of a trip by interstate. Until today I hadn't been to a Walmart before, say, midnight in months, so I'd rather forgotten that other people shop there.

I scoped out my training site today, which is at Cerner's riverfront conference center, not the corporate campus proper. I had thought it was in a converted riverboat, but it's actually in a converted power plant. An extremely gorgeous location, regardless. Looks like my commute will be about 15 minutes (without traffic), and I can avoid the interstates if necessary. There's also a ton of fast food places on my way to/from work, so I'll be able to grab some dinner there if need be. Maybe I should look for a grocery store in that neighborhood, too...

But mainly, I've been bored out of my mind, and will likely continue to be so for a few weeks. So please, please give me a call or instant message sometime.

Equinox

My flu's getting better, I guess; it's migrated down into my throat. Every now and then I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. Which, on further reflection, might be a good thing.

We're finally, finally entering autumn around here. It's my favorite season by far, and it's high time. You walk outside and it's cooler than you expected, but not quite cold. The wind always seems to be blowing, and it's clean and refreshing. I think that the color of the leaves in the fall is one of the most beautiful things in nature. Maybe I'm just biased because it's the season I was born in.

Actually, it's more than that. I think it's much easier and more enjoyable to get warm when it's too cold, then to get cool when it's too hot. Wrapped up inside a blanket is like my natural state. In fact, though it'll sound freakish, I get a bit of a thrill during that stage of a flu when you can't regulate your body temperature properly and you feel too hot/too cold by turns. Being out of control like that reminds me of being drunk or being on a rollercoaster. Terrifying, yet awesome.

It occurred to me the other day that I'll be living in an area with no trees in sight, yet working on a corporate campus with so many trees that it's practically a forest. How's that for a reversal? At least there's trees somewhere. I think I'd go nuts if I couldn't look out a window and tell immediately what season it was. That's why I could never live in one of those parts of the country that don't really have seasons. How is my mind supposed to mark time?

The final move to KC is this weekend. I hope I can manage to get some sleep and readjust my sleep schedule; it's 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM each and every day. Maybe once I find out who my boss is and what my project is, I can readjust my hours a bit. 9 to 6 sounds far more palatable.

Assuming my desktop and cable modem end up working properly, message me next week, please. I'll be super-bored in the evenings, with nothing much to do except put things away, and no furniture of any kind. Not to mention bored in general, at least until I can manage to meet some people. It's not nearly as easy as I think I sometimes make it seem...

Nearly the End of All Things

Went to Kansas City this weekend and unloaded much (actually, most) of my stuff there, but came back to Lincoln to a) care for the cat while my parents are out of town, and b) say goodbye to my friends. Not necessarily in that order. For the sake of privacy I'm not going to post my new address and phone here, but if you don't have it yet, mail me directly.

So yeah, my new loft. If it were somehow possible, I would definitely hump it. It turns out to be very nice. Not huge (around 850 square feet), but it feels like it, thanks in no small part to the 12 foot ceilings. Somebody get me a trampoline. Everything is modern, as it was renovated only five years ago, and apparently in very good condition. For $650 a month including utilities and parking, I think it's a pretty decent deal for downtown KC. With any luck at all I'll be pretty happy there.

I bought a bed and futon (and other stuff) up at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha. Now, they have a branch in KC, so they can deliver anywhere in town, only $45 for up to seven pieces of furniture. A good deal, I thought. Then I discover that the NFM down there doesn't offer twilight delivery - that is to say, after 5:00 PM. And guess who's going to be in training every day until at least that time? That's right. I get to spend the first week in my apartment sleeping on the floor, yay! The employees up in Omaha couldn't believe it, and neither could I. After dropping $1,200 you think I could get a bit better service.

Some things in life, however, are immediate: there was already an AOL disc waiting for me when I got to my apartment.

Coming down with a cold, as is everyone in Kauffman, probably not coincidentally. So I get to have watering eyes as I drive south, and sniffle/sneeze my way through my first week of work. Wonderful.

As I was walking home from dinner on Saturday night, there was a violinist playing next to the Broyhill Fountain. I found it quite pleasant, even if James decided they were playing a dirge for the (losing) Husker team. UNL has always suffered from a surplus of crappy outdoor bands, and a shortage of good individual performers. Somebody should fix that.

C'est la vie

Been too busy living life lately to talk about it. But these things are cyclical, and I'm sure it won't last.

Leaving for Kansas City tomorrow to take the first carload of stuff down; there'll be another next week. Be back Monday night.

Urban Spelunking

I've always had a passion for places that are out-of-the-way and forgotten, or are abandoned entirely. I got to experience both in the course of the evening.

I spent most of the night with Jesse at the State Fair. Now, the fair is pushing 150 years old, and most of the buildings feel as if they've been around nearly as long. They've got nondescript architecture, plain interiors, the sort of cracked and peeling look that comes with the benign neglect of only being used once per year. Or not neglect even, just a total lack of the renovations that one usually sees in other buildings of similar vintage. And the whole park's like that, so large that nobody can really be familiar with all of it, with lots of areas that are rarely seen or whose purpose has been largely forgotten.

At one point, we found ourselves sitting in a remote corner of the beer garden. I noticed a row of folding chairs neatly stacked along the wall - and covered with cobwebs. Later, I noticed that all of the ugly, ugly tables (barely more than planks) were resting atop the frames of antique sewing machines. Marvelous.

Later, I was walking back to my car from Kauffman at around 2:00 AM. I managed to walk all the way to the Haymarket without seeing or hearing another living soul. Now, bear in mind that the home football season begins tomorrow, and I walked right past the stadium, so signs of preparation were everywhere. Traffic cones were up, food vendors were in place and ready to sell, the stadium lights were on. But no people at all. The banquet was set but no one had yet arrived to eat it.

It's strangely exhilarating to walk through a huge section of an urban area and find it utterly abandoned. I've only done it once before, and that was in Venice. If you are the only person in a place, then you own that place, as surely as if you held the deed.

Beermann's Guide to Barhopping in Downtown Lincoln

So yeah, a lot of my friends will be turning 21 this year, and many of those while I'm not in town. To save me making the same speech over and over again, I'm going to set down my basic tips for going to the bars. Most of them probably apply everywhere, but you never know. Here goes:

1. Get the special. You should always ask what the nightly special is, and you should usually get it. Unless you're a complete snob, it should be something pretty drinkable, and far cheaper than anything else you could possibly buy. After a while, you'll start to develop a mental map of which bars have which specials on which nights of the week. Use it.

2. Get the specialty. A lot of bars have a particular drink that they're known for, and they're known for it because it's really good. So if the place you're at has one, try it.

3. Beware covers. There are only three reasons a bar should ever have a cover charge: live music, dancing, or an utterly incredible special. If none of these appear to be going on, you're getting ripped off. Moreover, you should be going to the bar specifically to do whatever it is they're charging cover for; if you don't care where you go, keep walking. Most bars that are going to have a cover start charging at 9:00, so if you arrive just before that you get in free.

4. Beware lines. I can assure you that whenever there's a long line outside a particular bar, whatever it is they're all waiting for probably isn't worth it. So if you see more than a few people, keep walking. You came downtown to drink, not stand around outside for half an hour.

5. Keep going back. Many of the bars downtown have backyard patios, upstairs, downstairs, or areas that are not otherwise visible when you first enter. They also tend to be a lot less smoky and crowded than the main bar area. So it's usually a good idea to keep moving towards the back to check things out.

6. Chill out. It's no sin to stay at the same place all night, particularly if your goal for the evening was to sit and talk with your friends. So don't feel the need to move along until you're not having a good time anymore.

Housekeeping

My CSE account is officially dead, which means that mbeerman@cse.unl.edu is too. I can no longer receive any mail sent to that account, and it'll start bouncing soon. I'm going to miss it after these five long years. In the meantime, you ought to use mbeerman@yahoo.com instead.

Chinese fortune cookie I received today: "You have an unusual equipment for success, use it properly."

Stranger in a Stranger Land

I stopped by the Health Department this morning to get the results of my annual HIV screening. Still negative after all these years. Yeah, I know, condoms and all, but they aren't foolproof, so it's still a good idea. Interesting yet disturbing: along with the results, they give you a free, ten minute phone card. Wonder how many minutes you get if you're positive?...

Anyway, in the waiting room, a social worker was talking to two men and their families. I think they may have been from Sudan, but it's hard to say, as Lincoln is an INS resettlement community for a number of different countries. They were fresh off the proverbial boat; only one of them spoke much English, and neither seemed very clear on where their new houses were or what state they were in.

It seems they were there to receive complete physical examinations, the results of which they'd have to take to the social worker next week. The children, she warned them, would have to receive five immunizations each. And they'd probably cry.

The sociologist in me was facinated by all this. Despite living in a community with a large immigrant (and refugee) population, I haven't had much contact with them. How does a person cope with the culture shock of moving to a new country, much less fleeing to a new country? What are the legal hoops they have to jump through? What are the steps necessary to acclimate them to their new lives, and whose job is it to do so? How do they go about finding jobs? Do they like it here or not? I wonder such things.

Fun fact: there are two, four-way intersections a block apart in the Haymarket. One has four stop signs reading "FOUR WAY STOP"; the other, four stop signs reading "ALL WAY STOP". I feel as if we're being test marketed somehow.

In Full

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

A Beginner's Guide to Atlantis

There's absolutely no good reason for this post, other than (as the description of my blog says) to exorcise something that's been knocking about in my head for a while. So without further ado, I give you an introduction to Stargate: Atlantis.

Millions of years ago, there existed a race known only as the Ancients. They were basically human in appearance, though they possessed certain powers that we do not. They might be our distant ancestors, or simply a previous evolution of the same form. Regardless, they called Earth home, and from our world they explored the galaxy.

Wherever they travelled, they would create colonies. Each world was connected to every other by a system of artificial wormholes that can transport matter instantaneously over almost any distance. These are the "stargates" that form the focus of the movie and television series.

Eventually, having completely explored our galaxy, the Ancients turned their attention elsewhere. They decided to visit what we now call the Pegasus galaxy, after the constellation where it appears. And not being ones to do things halfway, they took an entire city from Earth with them. This city, capable of interstellar flight, was known as Atlantis.

When they reached the Pegasus galaxy, the Ancients settled upon a watery world and began to explore again. As before, they established many colonies and built a network of stargates to connect them. But eventually, they explored too far, and encountered a vampire-like species known as the Wraith.

The Ancients' pride was their undoing. Never expecting to meet their match, they were unprepared for the Wraith, whose technology was equal to their own. Moreover, the Wraith were vicious and amoral, difficult to kill and nearly immortal, feeding upon other intelligent beings to sustain themselves. A long war ensued, lasting untold centuries. One by one the colonies fell, until only the original city of Atlantis remained.

Knowing their doom was imminent, the surviving Ancients chose to enclose their city within a vast energy shield and sink it to the bottom of the ocean, in the hopes that it could escape destruction. Then they fled back to Earth through the Atlantis stargate, the only one which could reach our galaxy, here to live out the remainder of their days. It is from them that the legends of Atlantis began, a great city that fell beneath the waves in a single night.

In the years that followed, the Wraith gained total domination over the Pegasus galaxy, thanks in part to the Stargate network. The Wraith hibernated for centuries at a time in their hive-ships, occasionally waking to "cull" millions of innocent lives. They subjugated the various human worlds, which they referred to as their "feeding grounds", and made certain that none would ever advance far enough technologically to threaten them again.

Ten thousand years passed. Through a series of events too lengthy to recount here, the people of Earth rediscovered the Stargates, the Ancients, and eventually, the location of Atlantis. A team of scientists from around the world was chosen for an expedition to the lost city. Their enthusiasm was tempered by the knowledge that, because of the tremendous amount of extra energy required for an intergalactic jump, they might never be able to return home again.

Upon arriving, the team found the city intact and perfectly preserved, just as the Ancients had left it. But their arrival posed a problem: as the city reawakened and powered up, it strained the nearly-depleted generators which had maintained the energy shield for so many centuries. When it failed, the water would rush in and destroy the city for good.

Luckily for the team, the Ancients had forseen this possibility. As the generators began to shut down, a last failsafe kicked in: the city raised itself back to the surface of the ocean. After so many years, Atlantis saw the light of day again.

But all was still not well: during an early mission, the Atlantis team managed to awaken the Wraith - all of them - years ahead of schedule. The scientists of Earth lack the technology to recreate the Ancient power sources, leaving the city unprotected. It is only a matter of time before the Wraith realize that their old enemies (or the descendents thereof) have returned, and come to Atlantis to destroy all who stand in their way.

This sets the stage, then, for Stargate: Atlantis. The series follows the adventures of the Atlantis team as they explore the Pegasus galaxy and search desperately for a way to defend themselves from the Wraith... before it is too late.

Both Sides

Republican National Convention started today. I really think that they missed something by not nominating Senator McCain four years ago, or even this year for that matter. It's very possible that I would have voted for him.

The questions I ask my friends are often the questions that, consciously or not, I want to be asked myself. Sadly, none of them ever figure this out.

In a society that permits free speech, there's really only one thing that shouldn't be permitted: detachment or indifference on topics of great importance. Grow opinions, people.

Here's one now: you deprive yourself of much in life if you can't enjoy a thing without comparing it to every other such thing you've ever experienced. Recent example: certain acquaintances of mine who are unable to visit or even discuss the Nebraska State Fair without comparing it to other state fairs, amusement parks, exhibitions, and god knows what else. Just loosen up and have some fun, seriously.

Tom, they still carry a torch for you back here in Lincoln.

Save the World Entire

For a long time I've been fascinated by the "Righteous Among the Nations", a title given by the Yad Vashem foundation to those who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust. It is, I believe, the highest honor that Israel can confer upon a non-citizen.

Of course, the concept is much older than that. In the Jewish tradition, Righteous Among the Nations was an acknowledgement that even among the Gentiles, there were plenty of good, honest, honorable people. Perhaps they even believed in the same God, just in a different way. Christian philosophy (sometimes...) admits the same point, but it's hazier and I can't think of a succinct term for it.

I worry more and more that this simple realization is being forgotten in modern politics. Any time someone issues a blanket condemnation of a large group (liberal, conservative, or whatever), they're essentially denying that there could be any righteous people among those that they disagree with. I know I harp on this a lot, but it preoccupies me: how can there ever be constructive debate when you don't respect the person you're debating?

Sometimes I tell a friend that they're a "good person". I don't think they realize I'm referencing a much larger concept. Really, it's the greatest compliment I could possibly give.

More Things in Heaven and Earth

So, there used to be this company called Broderbund. They made games, really good games in fact. But the best and most famous was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Among other things, that game introduced me to an idea that I've since realized is universal: a thing that is sought after but never found; or found, but cannot be kept.

Maybe just a bit profound for a five year old, but I honestly think that I recognized it as something important, in a vague way, even all those years ago. The theme certainly shows up everywhere in the movies I see (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and the books I read (Foucault's Pendulum). It's related to, but not the same as, Hitchcock's MacGuffins: I'm talking about goals that do hold some inherent meaning. There's also a lot of aphorisms along the same lines: not the destination but the journey, means are more important than ends, getting there is half the fun, etc.

As I get older, though, I find myself questioning more and more this received wisdom. In particular, the motif of finding-but-not-keeping is NOT something I want playing out in my personal life, as I've complained loudly and bitterly to many of my friends. The destination is important, and if you never expect to reach it, then the journey itself becomes meaningless too. I hate it when I feel like I'm perpetually one step behind something and can never quite catch up. It doesn't motivate me, it just depresses me. And it needs to stop.

I'm probably being too abstract here but I think y'all can connect the dots.

Still Not Dead

...I've just been spending a lot of time at Kauffman, trying to compress a year of seeing my friends into a single month, now that they're all back. Right now I'm sitting in the lobby talking to Graber while he plays all manner of French music. Soon I'll go across the street to harass Bob while he watches my copy of Goonies. Ah, college. Ah, nostalgia.

Oh, yes, and I've been replaying Final Fantasy IX. Such a good game.

Synchronicity

So last night, around midnight, I get a call from my mother. She's stuck in the parking lot at Walgreens, 17th & South Street. Her car won't start. I drive out there, attempt to jump it, and fail. Since it's an automatic we can't roll-start it, either. So we call a tow truck and I get to wait there for it for over an hour while she leaves in my car. That was much, uh, yayness right there. Let me tell you, some strange people frequent Walgreens in the middle of the night.

But the freaky addendum to this sad tale is that, not twenty-four hours earlier, I was suffering with Derrick through the exact same problem. In both cases, the battery was dead - not discharged, but totally kaput and in need of replacement. At least his car was a manual, or it might have gotten towed too. Considering that your average car battery can last five years or more, what are the odds?

Justin: this is why we need you to invent better ones, and soon.

Book II, Chapter 1: Many Meetings

This week's been full of a lot of reunions, in no particular order, as the week before school tends to be. I've also decided I like poor-man's bulleted lists. In no particular order, then:

* Saw Pat for the first time all summer; he's now an RA at Husker Courtyards. I'd nearly forgotten how much fun he can be, sometimes at least; as Jesse put it, he was more "on" than we'd seen him in quite some time. And that shirt... wow.

* Finally met Brian's girlfriend, Erica. Not only does she, y'know, exist and all, but she's really quite attractive if I do say so myself, and seems pretty sweet, too. So kudos to Brian for proving that nice guys don't always finish last.

* Bob rolls back into town... well, tonight, I believe. Need to take that boy out to lunch sometime in the very near future, so he can braindump about Europe. Not to mention go out drinking with him during this small window of time where we both can.

* And Russ comes back Thursday, as I recall. If you're reading this: either unlock your blog or let me know when you actually post something. But the current situation sucks.

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Watched Kill Bill Vol. 2 with James and Derrick tonight, the first time I've seen it since the theatre. I must say, it's held up better than I expected. I realize that Tarantino is very much an acquired taste, but I honestly believe there's a lot to like in this film. The first one is mostly about images, but the second one is mostly about dialogue and ideas. I was also reminded that there's a lot of room for sequels, should Tarantino ever choose to make one. And he's hinted he might. These are the unanswered questions from the first two films, as I see them:

* What happened to Vernita Green's daughter, whom the Bride told "When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting"? She might come after the Bride, but she might also come after her daughter, who would be the same age.

* What great crime did Bill commit, in Hattori Hanso's eyes, that would make him break his oath in order to forge a sword to kill Bill?

* Now that O-Ren is gone, who is the leader of the Yakuza, and how do they deal with those who slay their leaders?

* What happened to Elle Driver; did she survive the trailer with the black mamba? If she did, she'd certainly have it out for the Bride.

* Did Bill see through Elle's lie about the nature of his brother's death? If so, would he have put a price on her head before he died himself?

* Why did the DVAS apparently disband shortly after the Bride's "death"? Vernita, O-Ren, and Bud, at least, all apparently went their separate ways. Bud alludes to an argument and falling-out with his brother, but that's all we know.

* At the time of Bill's death, was his organization still in operation? It could be that he disbanded the DVAS and retired to raise his daughter; but it's also possible he went through new batches of them on a regular basis, a bit like Charlie's Angels. If so, are there more students of assassination (or even ex-lovers) out there who might have it in for the Bride?

* Did Bill also know the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique? If so, who else might Pai Mei have taught it to?

Fan Service

Among the many, many reasons I love Stargate SG-1 is this: in how many other series, even sci-fi series, would you get to hear a 100-year old alien warrior discuss his love for Def Jam Vendetta?

And that's just the beginning of an episode that features a character becoming trapped inside a VR simulation which, for the benefit of those observing from outside, is rendered using the Half-Life engine. I shit you not, a goodly amount of the hour is spent looking at polygonal versions of the actors. If it isn't a real mod yet, I expect that it will be very soon.

Edit: I shouldn't speak before I google; there are, of course, several such mods out there. Also, it was pointed out that the characters claim it's the Doom 3 engine, but it simply doesn't look it to me.

Higher Higher Education

Graduated today (again, again). I love this whole summer commencement thing: 800 people instead of 2,300 makes it surprisingly tolerable to sit through. I started to tell a friend today that he could call me Master Beermann now, before realizing that he already does call me that on a semi-regular basis. It's just never really registered before. I'm flattered. I think.

Two of my cousins, brother and sister, both had baby girls arrive recently. One has the first name Regan; the other, the middle name Marin. Am I the only person who's seen The Exorcist?

On my drive home from work, I pass a field where a fellow has been camped out for the last few days. Above him is a large, handpainted banner reading, "CANCER SUCKS!" You tell the man, buddy.

The good that men do dies with them

So, Alan mentioned to me yesterday that he'd found and fixed a bug in the ISIS GPS code, dating from when I originally wrote it, nearly two years ago now. It caused all latitude/longitude measurements to be off by around 20 miles. It was probably caused by a combination of coding error on my part and/or my sketchy understanding of the NMEA protocol and/or the sketchy documentation for said protocol.

Normally, this sort of thing would really bother me; I'm supposed to be a professional and all, which means being methodical and testing your work thoroughly. But in this instance, I just have to laugh. I find it fucking hilarious that not a single developer or user, some of whom are much smarter than I am, noticed such a huge problem in a system that's been in heavy production for over a year. It's just... wow.

Red Letter

Tomorrow should be a good day: besides Ribfest again for lunch, the evening brings the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and new episodes of both SG-1 and Atlantis. Alas, I'm likely to miss the latter because of a thrice-accursed reception at CBA for graduates. Bah. It's a good thing I have BitTorrent or I might be really pissy.

I'm a bit torn over Gov. McGreevey's resignation, though at a personal level I can sympathize with him. I can't decide whether he made the right decision for the wrong reasons, or the wrong decision for the right reasons. I also question just how much honor there is for a man in upholding a dishonorable and dishonest wedding vow. It doesn't excuse an affair, but it might be high time for them to go their separate ways.

One of life's small pleasures: introducing your boss to Rejected.

Do you ever get the feeling that you're living your life backwards? The best way I can sum up my overall mood lately would be: The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning...

Out with the old king...

Tried two new games tonight, which I'd purchased based only on sales rankings and the recommendations of the good folks at BoardGameGeek. The first, Mü & More, consists of an unusual deck of cards (12 each in 5 suits) and rules for five different games. One is like hearts, one is like pitch, one is like speed, one is like go fish, and one (the titular Mü) defies description. Nearly all of them are more complex then they seem at first, but they also tend to be mercifully quick. Not a bad value for $10 if I do say so myself.

The other game we tried, Acquire, is apparently a classic that dates back to the '60s, but is still in print and still played in tournaments. None of us had ever heard of it or played it before, though. You place tiles on a city-like grid, causing clusters of tiles ("corporations") to form and eventually merge, netting you shareholder bonuses and capital gains. Pretty interesting stuff, though I don't think I quite have the strategy down yet. As if I ever do...

Ribfest starts tomorrow! Barbecue is awesome, and a choice of a half-dozen vendors is even more awesome.

Also met Tracy's long-mysterious boyfriend, Eric, over dinner at Lazlo's tonight. Seemed like a pretty nice fellow, a film studies major, maybe a bit on the quiet side. But there's one lesson I've learned over the years, often and well: the ones who seem quiet, very rarely actually are. In fact, they often have the most interesting things to say. You just need to figure out how to get them talking.

I may have misspoken...

...if I implied in my previous post that Myst IV was pretty nifty. It's absolutely fucking amazing. Proof: when you start the demo, stay put, but spin the camera around so you're looking up, perhaps in the direction of the moon. Leave it like that for a few minutes. I've seen a lot of things in video games before, but I haven't seen anything look quite that good, and for a throwaway detail, no less. It makes me want to fly to Ubisoft Studios and hump the animator's leg.

Also, a hint: once you pick up the only item in the demo, go back and revisit the earlier areas. Some will have changed.

So, it seems that I'm having lunch with Eric Graber (!) and his girlfriend (!!!). What exactly she's doing in Lincoln, much less in the United States, remains to be seen.

This message posted with SP2

I have a strict policy of not using beta software from Microsoft, but when Service Pack 2 reached RTM I couldn't avoid it any longer. It took forever to download and install, but has otherwise been painless. In fact, I can barely notice the difference, even though I know perfectly well what all has changed, and I suspect most normal users will feel likewise.

It is a bit surprising how often I've been hitting the security warnings about programs trying to connect to the Internet, considering that the new Windows Firewall (AFAICT) only actually blocks inbound traffic. Makes virus activity easier to detect and stop, I suppose. The new wireless networking definitely seems stabler, and less apt to switch channels just because it detects someone's random peer-to-peer connection.

Launching applications, opening menus, etc, feels a bit snappier but that could be purely psychological. The layout of the Security Center seems to have changed a bit since RC2. I wish I had a newer processor so I could test the NX security. All in all, not bad. We'll see how this affects virii in the coming months.

Spent most of the day playing with the Myst IV: Revolution demo which, astonishingly, runs like a dream on my oldish Dell laptop with its 1GHz chip, 256MB of RAM, and 16MB graphics card. They must have done a pretty decent job of optimizing it. And massive props for releasing the Mac version simultaneously with the PC. Don't see that much anymore.

Also took my brother out to dinner for his half-birthday, since his actual birthday got missed while he was at school. Outback Steakhouse is yum, particularly their Bloomin' Onions, even if they do have something like 2,000 calories each.

A death in the family

So yeah, one of our cats died while I was away this weekend. I can't say it comes as a total surprise - she was sixteen years old and had been sick for a while. But it still sucks. Even more so for my brother, who actually had to bury her himself since the rest of us were out of town.

Other than the news waiting for me at home, a pretty good weekend all around. Definitely leaning towards a loft now; need to call them tomorrow and snap one up before they get rented. A second night of drunken debauchery at Rusty's; this time, drunken computer assembly! I think we must have done something wrong, though, because he can only get Doom 3 to run at 5-10 FPS, despite having a really nice graphics card, plenty of memory, and the latest versions of everything. Maybe he'll have figured it out by the time he reads this.

This week is the last week of summer classes, meaning that in a few short days I'll have a degree. Another degree. I swear, they're starting to seem like baseball cards or something...

Residency

Back in Kansas City this weekend, this time looking for an apartment. I find myself attracted to the lofts downtown, as opposed to the various apartment complexes out in the suburbs. There's such a mind-numbing identicalness to seemingly every complex built in the last twenty years. Little beige boxes, all of them. A few high ceilings and exposed brick walls do more than you can imagine to raise my spirit. Also, by the time you get done considering utilities, parking, etc, their prices are really quite similar.

Other things to figure out: which banks have branches both in Lincoln and in Kansas City? Precious few, as it turns out.

Not quite the orgy of debauchery of past weekends, but I'm still having a good time over at Russ's. I keep meeting new faces in addition to the ones I've meet in weeks past. It's quite the little harem Rusty has going. Keeps life interesting, anyway.

Even I must admit that Doom 3 looks pretty sexy, though I still can't imagine playing it myself. I need a good excuse to buy a new video card (if not an entire system) in order to play something or other. Suggestions?

Libretto

But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know right now you can’t tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me

Mastery

For those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of graduating, here's a primer on academic attire: Bachelors' tassels are the school colors, doctors' tassels are gold, and masters' tassels depend on their discipline. Since I'm an MBA, that means I get to wear a tassel and hood that are a putrescent salmon-like color. I believe it's officially called "drab". And for the privilege of being drab I get to pay $50. Yay...

Athens 2004

The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad of the Modern Era begin next Friday night. I plan to watch them religiously, as I do every two years. It surprises even me; I've never participated in any athletics, nor do I usually enjoy watching them on TV. Why, then, do I have such an attachment to the Olympics? Mostly to try to understand myself, here's a list, in no particular order:

* The Olympics absolutely reek with symbolism, ancient and modern, from beginning to end. As an example, this year's marathon is being run along its 2,500 year-old original course, from Marathonas to Athens. How often do you see such old traditions being observed today? (More than you think; ask me about Reagan's funeral sometime.) I've got a huge soft spot for rituals of all kinds, even when their original significance has been forgotten. They make you feel connecting with the past in a way that simply reading history never can.

* When you see someone compete at the Olympics, you know without doubt that they are among the best in the world at whatever it is they do. There's a peculiar thrill that goes with that, even when you wouldn't otherwise be interested in the activity. I enjoy watching masters at their craft, basically. World Poker Tour is another good example of the same phenomenon.

* They only happen every two years. Well, duh, but it means that I don't have a chance to get sick of them. I can watch anything once, but these days it seems like most of the professional sports somehow manage to go year-round; they're always on. The games are not.

* There's a huge variety of things going on, and you can never hope to see them all. Maybe I've just got a short attention span, but it's kinda cool to be able to flick on the TV and have an equal chance of seeing dozens upon dozens of different sports; some featuring people you've heard of, and many that you haven't. It feels like serendipity.

* It's a travelogue. The Olympics take place all over the world in historic and, let's face it, often gorgeous locales. I like The Amazing Race for essentially the same reason. Also, the host cities spend years and millions of dollars to look their absolute shining best. It's probably a worthy goal in its own right (urban renewal), but it also gives them a fairy-tale quality that can't ever be replicated in a later visit.

I think that's the gist of it. So yeah, I'll be watching. Anyone gets bored, invite me over and we'll do so together. (Oh, and also: I got to hold an actual Olympic torch once, back in 1996. So awesome.)

Finally, of course, the obligatory news tidbits: I finally got Jesse to go to the Oven, which he enjoyed; the long delay was apparently due to his inexplicable theory that the place was only for dates. Strange, Jesse, strange. Everybody help me think of something to get/do for his birthday, which is coming up very soon.

Ribfest starts next weekend, and I can hardly wait. Still need to see the Village, about which I've been getting mixed but not wholly negative reviews. A new batch of games is on the way from GameSurplus, an entirely awesome site with really good prices. Rsync might be one of the most Unix-centric programs ever written. Alan's site is down, due to his altruistic and slightly silly gesture of sacrificing its innards to revive his employer's server. Google's initial public offering will raise e billion dollars.

That is all.

"Representation"

So I got a form letter today from Chuck Hagel's office. (Are you listening, Tom?) I had contacted them to register my opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment. I would assume, or hope, that all such contacts get a letter in reply, but I'd have to imagine they had more than usual on this issue. A press release is attached to the letter explaining his position on the matter.

"Americans and Nebraskans have been presented with a false choice between amending the Constitution of the United States or allowing same sex marriage across our country... Over our nation's history, social and policy issues have been best handled by the state... Amending the constitution, the founding document of our nation, should always be a final option, not a first." Brilliantly put, Chuck. I couldn't have said it better myself.

But then he goes off a cliff. The matter never made it to a vote; instead, senators voted on whether or not to continue debate ("cloture", if you're curious). He voted to keep the issue alive. "There is much misinformation about this amendment. I believe the American people would have benefited from continued debate and a further understanding of this deeply complicated and important issue."

Excuse me? The proposed amendment was one sentence long. I'm pretty damn sure I understood exactly what it said. Further, the debate I heard was doing precious little to combat misinformation; if anything, there were senators throwing more into the pot. Perhaps more importantly, had the amendment come to a real vote, how would you have voted, Chuck? Your press release implies "no", but your beliefs and voting record on related issues implies "yes". Since it's certain to come up again, year after year, it's something that I, the represented, urgently want to know. For goodness sake, stop trying to talk around it. Please.

On the plus side, though? Franking privileges are awesome.

Quickies

Is there a substantive difference between love and trust?

Aside from the abortion crowd, why don't right-wing nutcases protest things as often as left-wing nutcases do?

If the saying "the good ones are always taken" is true, and you're not taken, are you therefore not a good one?

Considering it takes so much more energy to hate someone than to get along with them, how do so many people around the world manage to hate so many without becoming exhausted?

Why do we depend on, or even expect, others to make us happy?

How often is someone's opinion changed by what someone else says, rather than does?

Am I channeling Rusty right now or what?

Bah

This is an interim I'm-not-dead post on my parents' computer, since my laptop is currently hosed. Sometimes even I wonder what use a computer science degree is, but I can't do a thing about it until at least tomorrow.

Imperfectly Pompous

Had lunch with Ashley at Vincenzo's today; wisdom teeth aside, marriage seems to be agreeing with her. She showed me the pictures from the wedding, and I think I managed to be blinking in every last one. Oh well. The ones I'm in aren't the important ones anyway. I do believe she and I will be collaborating on a new project, though: keeping her husband from brewing biodiesel in the garage. Anything that requires collecting used oil from restaurants is just a bit too close to a Simpsons episode for his own good.

Looks like I'll spend a good chunk of the weekend hanging out with (among others) my ex's new boyfriend. Surprisingly, I find that I'm fine with that, and have been for some time now. When did I become so, well, mature? And rational? And sane? It's a very Tom Hanks sort of feeling to wake up one day and find that you can be big about things. Best guess: the years have taught me that friends are rarer and more important than lovers. Or as Mick Jagger might have said, You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes, you might find / You get what you need...

At some point this weekend, I'm also going to try to see "The Village". I've got a huge fondness for atmospheric horror films, and it seems to fit the bill.

Last to know

I've probably mentioned it in person to most of my readers, but I did, in fact, accept a job as a software engineer with Cerner. I'll be starting September 20, which gives me a month after graduation to find an apartment and get moved, not to mention go to a few football games and exchange some tearful (really!) goodbyes with the various Kauffmanites. Come visit me in Kansas City, I'll be lonely...

Lazari

Tom Rice is back! We, the living, had to suffer through three months of total radio silence that began the moment he got to Arizona, General Dynamics, and Amy. I suppose I can't entirely blame him, but I might gently remind him that he does have other friends. :) Anyway, he says he's going to start keeping up his blog again (link at right), so keep an eye on it.

I do have to raise one bullshit flag, though: Tom claimed that he didn't have Internet at home all this time because he was lazy and didn't get around to it. Please. For a geek of our stature, that's like saying you forgot to eat or drink for a few months. At least come up with a believable excuse...

Justin Bechtel also made his trimphant return to the Internet this week. I'd like to think it's because he missed me, but the truth probably has more to do with his wife's two-week vacation (alone) to go visit her family, and him being bored out of his skull. I wonder what it's like to reach that point in your marriage where you realize that your social lives revolve almost entirely around one another, and that you haven't really been alone in years. It seems scary, yet somehow alluring.

In defense of John Kerry

It occurred to me that I haven't said much in here yet that was overtly political. I guess I assumed that most of my friends are pretty familiar with my views already. But with the Democratic National Convention going on, and the silly season winding up, it's started to be on my mind. So here goes nothing...

"For every complex question, there is a simple answer, and it is wrong." -- Oscar Wilde. If anyone from the Kerry campaign is listening, it ought to be one of his slogans. I've seen him get a lot of flak for giving long, complex answers to questions. More power to him, I say. Anything like a honest answer to the sorts of questions we ask our politicians is going to be pretty complicated. I think it's mainly the (any-wing) media itself that comes down on him for this, because it makes their life difficult when you can't be easily reduced to sound bites. The only other possible the explanation is that the electorate is mostly idiots, and doesn't like it when the smart man uses big words, which I don't believe is the case.

I also get pretty testy whenever someone points out that Kerry has been on many sides of various issues during the course of his career. You know what? So have I. It's called learning. Show me a representative who's voted totally consistently, on every bill, on every issue, and I'll show you a representative who's never had a conscious thought in his life. If he can explain to me why he voted the way he did on any given question, then he has my full support. (All of this, of course, presumes that a given bill only encompasses a single goal which, guess what, is rarely the case.)

Is there really someone out there (cheap shot: other than George W. Bush) who believes that the world is a place of black and white and simple solutions? Please, tell me their address, that I might go and smack them over the head with the frying pan of moral complexity. It's sure as hell not the world that I live in. I don't want my president to be a man whose job it is to gloss over the messy details of messy situations. It's not good vs. evil or us vs. them, and it's entirely possible to be both with us and against us. Bring on the ambiguity, I say.

It has become increasingly clear to me over the years that a president's greatest influence, and greatest legacy, is the stamp they leave on our nation's culture. They set the tone for us all, for years at a time. I'm a bit of an idealist, I guess, but I need to vote for the candidate whose ideal country seems closest to my own. Because, in no small measure, they will push the country in that direction. In that light, for me, it's an almost laughably easy choice...

More than anything else, though, I fear the results if the popular vote and the electoral college go separate ways again. I think it would be disastrous, undermining the already shaky confidence of an apathetic populace, on both sides of the aisle. Nothing could be more poisonous for a democracy than the impression that your vote doesn't matter.

Random tidbit: rumor has it that the Arab network Aljazeera will be broadcasting more of the DNC than any of the American networks. Good for them. I daresay that the average Middle Eastern citizen has an even more urgent interest in the results of the election than we do. It's not life and death for us, but it might be for them.

He'll slay me for this, but I'm going to link to a few of my friend Derrick's various sketches. I think he's a really, really good artist, and that he should hear that from more people than just me.

In Vino Veritas

Spent the evening at James Arthur Vineyards with Whidden, Holley, and the Elder Holleys. I hadn't been there in a long time, back when it was little more than vines. They've come a long way since. Twenty-one different varieties of wine, sold all over the state, not to mention a very posh store and gorgeously landscaped grounds. Oh, and resident kittens too! If I ever managed to get a date, it would definitely be a place I would go.

Five bucks gets you sample glasses of six different wines; they've also got cheese, bread, chocolate, etc, and live music on the weekends. I think my favorite was the Edelweiss (also their biggest seller), with the Vignoles being a very close second. Both semi-sweets, even though I usually go for semi-dry. We also tried a bottle of the ice wine, which is extremely expensive, extremely sweet, extremely alcoholic, and extremely good.

What else did I do this weekend, anyway? Last night seems like last week. Oh, right: Animal House. I realized that my reaction to it is probably pretty common: if only college had actually been like that, and, college occasionally was like that. I mean, to me, everything that happens in the movie seems perfectly logical and straightforward. Kinda scary. Kinda cool.

Somebody turn off the bubble machine

A nice evening at Ghettowood with Whidden and Holley and the Selleckites (Johnson and Stolee). Pizza, swimming, drinking, and Stargate. What more can a man ask for in life? Also, hot tubs rock. I hadn't been in one in forever and had almost forgotten their orgasmic wonderfulness. Need to find an apartment complex that has one...

I found myself getting into that nice, relaxed, among-friends groove again, as discussed a while back. I know I must come off as recklessly blunt and honest sometimes, the things that come out of my mouth, but really, my guard doesn't go down all that often. Were I to go around saying the things that were really in my heart, there'd be far more compliments than the usual, sarcasm. But it turns out that the vast majority of my friends don't respond well at all to any sort of admiration or praise. A pity. By and large, I think they deserve it.

...and just when my own life is going so well, reviewing other blogs I see that one of my best friends' life has just exploded into a million pieces. Time to go be a friend, I think.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Out of the blue today, got an email from my very first ex, whom I hadn't seen or heard from in at least six years. Stranger still, instead of updates about life (or at least location), the bulk of the email is devoted to anime recommendations. I... well, I don't know what to think, I guess. But I did reply.

Theory: highly competitive people instinctively recognize and focus on their own kind. I won all the board games we played tonight, and it wasn't skill, but it wasn't just dumb luck either. While I largely ignored the other players, they spend a good deal of time and energy on obstructing one another, and ignored me. And all of a sudden, I'd won. Fool you once, shame on me; fool you twice, shame on you.

July Jamm is this weekend, and I'll be volunteering on Friday and Saturday. Come by and see me, why don't you. The food is good, the music is good, and admission is free through the afternoon. Looks like it'll be a little cooler, too. If nothing else, you must try the Jiffy Burger: bacon, monterrey jack... and peanut butter.

SPEAK!

OK, so I know that by now there are at least a half-dozen people reading this thing on a regular basis, yet I hardly ever get any comments or feedback from any of you. Am I talking to myself here?

Zero G

How much do your office's elevators suck if you've actually planned out what to do in the event that the cable snaps and you find yourself in free fall? 

I've been on a buying spree lately, snapping up quite a bit of merchandise from various favorite movies and television shows, not to mention purchasing a realization of a mathematical joke for a friend's birthday. Don't ask. I must be feeling wealthy, because I really don't need any of this shit. Though, I think it comes with aging, the wish to crystallize certain memories in a physical form. A talisman to recall the things we know we're going to forget.
 
It was suggested to me today that I shouldn't be friends with a certain someone simply because we happen to disagree on nearly every political and social topic imaginable. What nonsense. Those are the people I most need to be friends with, because that's how opinions are changed and compromises forged. The only way for this country to become a lost cause is if we start to believe that we have nothing in common with those who see the world differently. I firmly believe that I've changed a lot of people's minds simply by being honest and open about who I am, what I am, and what I think is right.
 
Nor am I the only one. It is my great hope for my generation that we will improve the world simply by having clearer visions of one another.
 
Unrelatedly, I was called today on my bad habit of asking difficult philosophical questions of my friends that I haven't thought through myself. In the interest of spreading the love: do you want to have children someday? Why or why not?

Dividends

Wow, so it looks like this thing is already paying off. Tonight I received an email that's the nicest thing, written or spoken, that I've ever gotten in my life. Any attempt at a similarly lengthy reply would only belittle, so I'll leave it at: Thanks. And call.

I, Robot

So, I saw I, Robot on Saturday night; somewhat against my will, since the trailers totally turned me off, but I'd sorta promised, so whatever. As expected, it wasn't the best movie, and dragged whenever Will Smith was onscreen. The first half hour or so, particularly. It felt like what might have originally been a thoughtful, philosophical sort of film got action scene after action scene tacked on until it was almost recognizable.
 
The film does shine, however, whenever the titular robot ("Sonny") is onscreen. He's easily the most interest character in the piece, and when the others interact with him, you can finally hear the words of Isaac Asimov coming through. It says a lot that the humans ultimately, grudgingly, come to respect him as the conscious being he is. I like the occasional hopeful vision of the future mixed in with the usual dystopian fare. But please, if you see this movie and it intrigues you at all, go back and read Asimov's original stories. They'll satisfy you far more.
 
So, in other news, Russ was up this weekend, so we had the usual gorge-and-guzzle fest. In other words, it was a blast. Converted a couple of new people to the joys of Four Swords, which is rapidly becoming my favorite game of the moment. Rewatched Bourne Identity, which wasn't as awful as I remembered it and actually makes me consider seeing Bourne Supremacy this weekend. And, learned that the Imperial Palace is closed only on Saturday afternoons. How bizarre is that?

Stargate: Atlantis

A new series premieres on the SciFi Channel tonight: Stargate Atlantis, a spinoff of the absurdly popular Stargate SG-1. For those of you who've been living under a rock, it's a really, really, really good show. Now in its eighth season, it still pulls in upwards of three million viewers a week. Not to mention it's already been on longer than any Star Trek series ever was. So somebody must like it. :)
 
Obviously, I haven't seen Atlantis yet, but since it shares the same writers as SG-1, it's almost certain to be excellent. It'll be on at 8:00 and again at 10:00. If you've never tuned in before, give it a shot.

You can Philiminate me any time...

Spent last night over at James's house, first watching The Amazing Race, then playing cards with the Selleck boys. It felt good. Really good. I missed it, and them, a bit more than I realized. It's a sobering though that, in the not-too-distant future, I might not get to play for a long while. My only hope (cough, cough) is that I'll be able to do so electronically...

Thought: I wonder if an element of chance is an essential component of a game played among friends. It lets you be competitive and yet shrug off the actual outcome as unimportant. Most card games share this property, but some others do not. If nothing else, I've noticed that purely strategic games (chess comes to mind) don't seem to encourage conversation, and in my opinion, that's the reason you're playing in the first place.

The preliminary designs for the Nebraska state quarter are out; they'll be narrowed down and opened for voting sometime next month. Some pretty cool ones in there, not to mention the hilariously awful.

Not sure why, but I've noticed that I have next to zero libido this summer. (Yeah, yeah, TMI, cope.) I haven't so much as thought about going on a date, much less tried to meet someone. Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep. More likely, I don't feel right about getting involved with someone when my life is in a huge state of flux and I can't even be certain where I'll be in a few months.

But I also have a feeling that if I do go to KC, I'll be so absurdly busy for the first few months (year?...) that I might neglect that part of my life there, too. Not to mention having no clue where the good bars are and that sort of thing. There's the workplace itself, but I've found out the hard way that dating someone you're going to have to see every day regardless isn't exactly the best idea on earth.

Or maybe I just need to take my own advice, given to plenty of others, that love happens only when you've completely given up hope of it ever happening.

Travel

First off, welcome back to all the kids over at Selleck. We missed you.

Just got back from Kansas City, after an unexpectedly eventful trip. As we were leaving town, Jesse decided we should take the scenic route - that is, the Kansas side instead of the Missouri side. Sounded good to me. And it was pretty scenic; lots of green rolling countryside. Saw Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary for the first time, a monumentally imposing structure that reminded me of nothing so much as the Smithsonian. And we made a lot of unexpected detours onto dirt roads to get past accidents or missing bridges.

Then, as we neared the Nebraska border, we noticed a nasty-looking storm looming dead ahead. Seemed like a good time to pull off, have some dinner, and wait for the storm to pass. And not a moment to soon. As we got out of the car outside a McDonalds in Hiawatha, KS, we realized that the town's tornado sirens were going off. And moments after we walked in the door, all of the power went off and stayed off. And moments after that, lightning struck the gas price sign directly across the street. Then it started raining, horizontally, in 70+ mph winds. Turns out that a tornado was indeed passing only a few miles to the south. We only got sideswiped by the edge of it, but that was nasty enough that I don't want to think about the eye. Between the storm and the detours, by the time we got home, a normally three hour trip had taken over five hours. Now that's pretty damn scenic.

Otherwise, a pretty darn relaxing weekend. We drank a lot, slept a lot, lay around uselessly a lot. Rusty was perhaps a bit more energetic than the rest of us. Jesse and I suspect we enabled him somehow, and we're not sure how we feel about that, but all's well that ends well.

Second session starts tomorrow, which means that I'll be in Advanced Finance, 11:00 - 12:30, Monday through Friday. If your schedule is compatible with mine and you ever want to do lunch, just let me know.

What is this "sunrise" thing you speak of?

Welcome to what will likely be my earliest blog post ever. Down at Russ's place in KC again; went to the bars and got totally smashed last night. Crashed out on the futon, woke up around 7, and now here I am. Nobody else'll be up for hours. But I did get 5-6 hours of sleep, which is just as much as I get in a normal evening. And this hangover headache won't let me sleep again any time soon. So yeah.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold

Just got back from watching part of The Mysterious Cities of Gold with James. It's by far my favorite cartoon series ever, and possible my favorite television series, period. A joint French-Japanese production, it aired several times on Nickelodeon back in 1985-1987. For people of a certain age, like me, it was our first introduction to the world of anime. And what an introduction.

The show is set in Peru at the time of Pizarro's conquest of the Incas, circa 1532. It follows the adventures of a Spanish boy and an Inca girl searching for El Dorado, the City of Gold, to which they alone carry the key. The plot of the show is pretty fanciful (sometimes echoing Stargate, even) but the settings are very much grounded in reality. All of the historical figures are real, and the backdrops are accurate reproductions of famous lost cities, including Macchu Pichu, Palenque, and Tikal. Each episode ends with a short, live-action documentary about the history and culture of South America.

True, the series was aimed at children, but I find that it's held up remarkably well over the years. The whole genre of "historical-mystery-adventure" is alive and well, and still very much appeals to me. It got me interested, not only in anime, but the musical styles of the Andes that it features prominently. I'd recommend it to you if you dug, say, Castle in the Sky, The Fifth Element, or even Indiana Jones - there's a lot of trapped temple raiding going on here, too.

It has never been released on DVD, but I've got a very high quality set on VCD. If you ever want to borrow, let me know. I'd be more than happy to share.

Smeagol is free!

I've become fond of using LOTR as a metaphor for my feelings towards a lot of my classes, and truth be told, software projects too. Even when I'm really enjoying myself, there comes a point when it needs to be over with. It's as if you've been lugging the Ring of Doom up a mountain for weeks and you finally toss it into the Crack of Oh Hell With It All Let's Go Have a Beer. An immense weight is lifted from your shoulders.

Or to quote from the new Stepford Wives, "I Love You But Please Die".

No minute like the last minute

Regardless of what you might think, I don't usually write take-home finals the night before they're due. It's not my preferred way to operate, and it doesn't result in my best work. Still, this one is turning out pretty decent, and I'll probably maintain whatever grade I had in the course anyway.

I've been getting back into BitTorrent again, to catch up on missed episodes of favorite TV series. It works a lot better than I remember it. Either they made some major improvements to the client, or the university was throttling my connection all along.

Things I didn't know: it would appear that the concept of bankruptcy is somewhat peculiar to American law. An article I read on the BBC tonight identified it as such, and explained what it was for the benefit of its British readers. Since I haven't heard of debtors' prisons lately, what exactly do other civilized nations do when people can't pay their bills?

It's an enduringly odd experience to spend most of your life considering yourself a realist at best and cynic at worst; and then, one day, to realize that you're rather more upbeat on humanity than most of the people you know. There's my new bumper sticker for the day: People Don't Suck.

PS: If you're going to comment here, for heaven's sake don't bother doing it anonymously. There's only a handful of people you could be anyway.

Ceci n'est pas un pipe

The following post is about what the following post is not about. If you're not familiar with them already, the history and theory of memes would be a useful prerequisite.

Right, then: anyone who knows me has probably read the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, or ought to. To summarize briefly, it revolves around a "metavirus" that is both biological and informational, and can therefore be spread either through sexual contact or by seeing it in digital form. Among its other effects, it exposes some otherwise deeply buried linguistic structures within your brain and, as a result, renders you more vulnerable to infection by memes. Think of it like AIDS for the mind; your natural defense system is slowly stripped away.

This is all a perfectly good description of the Internet; as the linked article above suggests, "the ultimate meme vector". Ideas that are silly, wasteful, misleading, unfunny, or just plain stupid spread across the minds of the world with a speed and scope that would cause the CDC to swoon. Our poor minds, with their prodigious yet limited resources, are forced to spend more and more time filtering this tidal wave until they collapse of exhaustion.

Which brings me back to my original point: I've made it a conscious effort not to use this journal to spread other people's memes, and I wish more would follow suit. No collecting all the links I've read all day, no quizzes, no "which are you?", etc. I think of it as doing my part to boost the Internet's immune system. Otherwise, we get locked into an echo chamber, where the same ideas circulate over and over again. Just ask anyone who relies on (usually only liberal or only conservative) blogs as their sole source of news.

Though, I suppose I might occasionally try to start my own memes, as in the previous post. But that's another matter entirely. :) Regardless of whether you believe any of this is literally true, it can be a useful metaphor. Unfortunately, I've just gone and spread the meme of memes themselves. Recursion joke, old: see recursion joke, old.

Back to more usual mundane matters. Got a final on Thursday, after which only one more class stands between me and a master's degree. I think I'll enjoy being called Master...

Off to Kansas City again this weekend, to visit Russ, go to the Boulevard Brewery, and generally debauch. So yay to that.

I posed this question to a friend the other day without having an answer myself, which is hardly fair: if indeed we are reincarnated, do we keep meeting the same soul mate in lifetime after lifetime? And if so, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

The Amazing Race

Everybody should watch the season premiere of The Amazing Race, tonight at 8:30 on CBS. It's easily my favorite television show, and the only reality series that I really get into.

The premise: ten teams race around the world, Phineas Fogg style. There's none of this "voting people off" business; the only thing standing in their way is the usual hazards of travel. People who've traveled the world will recognize many of the problems they face and the places they visit; people who haven't, will want to. It's kinda like the Travel Channel on speed. Entirely awesome. Give the first episode a chance, at least, or you're really missing out.

Born on the Fourth of July

Spent all day yesterday with several of my fellow JDE alumni: Mark, April, Alan, Matt, and Christy. I found it... relaxing, in a way that's difficult to describe (but I'm obviously about to try).

A cliche: they say that as you grow older, you come to appreciate ever more the people who knew you when you were young. True, I think, because the changes we go through in life matter as much as the person we are at any given moment in time. Or, to put it another way, shared experiences are the foundation of most friendships, and there are few people I've shared more experiences with than these people.

So... yeah. I can unwind around my oldest friends because, well, I feel normal. I don't have to worry about what they might think or say, because I already know perfectly well, and it's nothing to worry about. In fact, I get so laid back that they probably think me downright socially passive - I mostly listen, and rarely talk. When really, I'm just appreciating their company.

On that note: Mark and April are in Minnesota and doing well, apparently settled in to a truly blissful marriage. Alan is still in Lincoln, still erratic, inscrutiable, and brilliant. Matt has a job in Omaha but seems to be looking for a better one. Christy will be graduating with me in August and heading off to a job in England. And Drew, Alan's (and my old) roommate is still either completely without judgement or completely without fear.

In other news, I somehow found time to make it through two of the three papers I needed to finish this week. At this rate, I might actually manage to graduate. Again.

Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it

I should really stop underestimating my own skills at bullshit. This paper that I have to write for my quantitative methods class is a good example. "Applications of Game Theory to Ad-Hoc Networks". It's not my area of expertise or my best work, but it's clear, coherent, basically accurate, and not plagiarized, which is ahead of a lot of term papers. And it's proving surprisingly easy to write. Now all I have to do is get it done and turned in by Tuesday, so that I can graduate next month...

Got a call from the lady at Cerner yesterday, needing a clarify a few items they need to do their background check. Which is a good sign, I suppose, since they probably wouldn't bother if they weren't interested.

Geek Trivia: the Taco Bell near my house turns out to be store #404.

I'm off in a few to a party at Clay's house (a kegger, even). He wouldn't let me bring food or drink, so instead, I'm bringing fireworks that I bought from James's stand. I know for a fact we're going to have some definite pyros in the crowd, so they should enjoy themselves.