this is not a pipe

What logic is this?

hi

Hi. I don't have to get up for work tomorrow. The weather is not quite as cold as last week. It's pretty much in the mid-60s during the day. Does anyone know what it means when your Toyota Camry has to be revved to go after every single red light? I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow and it would be really sweet if the answer involved spark plugs. I have major aspirations to go the gym all the time, starting soon, and also yoga. All the time. Starting soon. I have middlin' aspirations to play the guitar. And get more massages.

computer humor

Support: "Type dir, space, a, colon."

Customer: "With a space after 'space'?"

P.S. I got a "A" in computer science (no joke)!

quotes I liked recently, unrelated

psa

i thought this unicef psa was pretty horrifying and then i saw this .. and *then* i watched this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

1. If the presidential candidates are so concerned with how to campaign in Iowa through the holiday season without being too negative, getting on people's nerves and killing the holiday spirit, why don't they do some CHARITY WORK -- and shamelessly make sure it gets press?

2. Do men's bathrooms also have changing tables? If not, I understand that it would be kind of a waste of money, but what are dads supposed to do when they are at In-N-Out with their infants?

3. I heard a funny song on KXCI (local Tucson station) yesterday whose subject matter included hullabaloo and tuberculosis.

4. Neil dreamed about Guantanamo last night.

5. vestiges of Halloween

How to keep the brain kickin'

I found this NYT article to be an interesting report on activities that have been shown to be beneficial to brain function. Now I'd like to see a study on joggers who do sudoku.

12:28 a.m.

I soooooo can't sleep. I think I have to get up at 6. When I was pikku my mother would sing me the Teddy Bear Picnic song. It was entrancing. The undersides of my elbows are scuffy. I am divided as to whether this would self-repair if I stopped resting my elbows on tables, or whether the damage is done. I was in the mood for Neil Young this weekend but I forgot to listen to him. I bet if I pull out a cd tomorrow it will make studying calculus funner.

npd's new favorite

I have to vacuum today, for sure

I just woke up after dreaming of people falling down the stairs, so this NYT article was of especial interest. An excerpt: It is likely during REM, some scientists argue, that the brain proceeds to mix, match and juggle the memory traces it has preserved, looking for hidden connections that help make sense of the world. Life experience is cut up and reordered, sifted and shuffled again. This process could account for the cockeyed, disjointed scenes that occur during dreams: the kaleidoscope of distilled experience is being turned.

Of note in these here parts: Yesterday was really windy. This week the Computer Science Dept. is looking at applications for its office assistant job, of which there are 30+. I had a French midterm yesterday (lundi) and have a csc midterm Friday and a calculus test next week. School is in week 10! But I don't feel exactly employable as a computer scientist. I know I have had only .67 csc classes, but I hope at some point in this program I feel remotely competent.

Neil pointed out that our VHS copy of The Graduate was released in 1985 and bears a recommended retail price of 59.95!!! Does anyone else remember this '80s exorbitance?

I don't like green beans. ... Well I don't.

I haven't yet read this story, but that doesn't mean you can't.

Some of us need to hustle so we can squeal into swallow group at the designated time of 7:30. If I was ever on time for swallow group I feel like I should get a bonus. Or at least a homemade cookie. But probably my self-pride in being punctual would carry the exact same annoyance value to my coworkers as my being 5 minutes late. Alors, no cookie! I have to work Sat. and Sun. but I have a date with Neil tomorrow! Yipee! And he has 2 new UA applications pending. One potentially involves handling blood ... in the name of scientific research ... it sounds tres interestiing.

And also: I got an A on my calculus test! Which I still am in shock over! OK, now I really have to go, even though I would like to sit here for at least 30 more minutes. I don't even know what's happening in the news. I think employment is designed to keep people ignorant of what goes on! Except maybe Dennis and Neil.

The Sky Harbor Back Story

Carol Gotbaum's history

Husband had bad feeling

So ... what kind of legal recourse, if any, would you pursue? Of course, A. by consuming alcohol, which she already knew negatively influenced her mood and behaviors, Gotbaum herself was an agent. ALTHOUGH she apparently was addicted (and therefore the level of personal responsibility involved in picking up a shot glass may be somewhat tempered) and was flying to Tucson specifically to find help. And B. by knowing of these tendencies, her family perhaps could be considered mildly negligent in not appointing a responsible party to fly and make the change with her (although someone was supposed to meet her at Sky Harbor and do just that). That said, what would you do? P.S. I would like to take the credit, on behalf of all women, for NOT printing "hysterical" in a hed on the story in last Sunday's paper. Someone else wrote it and I spoke up. Perhaps they were unclear on the etymology.

calculus on the brain

It is 11:55 p.m. I have given up on trying to figure out why the Java String length() method won't count spaces, and why the indexOf() method won't look at spaces, and why the charAt() method won't recognize spaces. It's really not that hard, which is why I've spent hours trying to find the solution. It's so simple. I just don't know it. Maybe if I looked in my book ... Plan B, which I'll tackle tomorrow.

And speaking of calculus, when I find the derivative of the derivative of a polynomial function, how am I supposed to know the values of x for which the function is positive and concave up? Or is the function supposed to be positive and concave up, since the 2nd derivative isn't even mentioned in the problem ... but why would we even talk about concavity were we not referring to f''x?

And on French ... Good vocab scores. Good effort. Every class I pray that she will not tell me to present a French article in 2-5 days. And that's all I have to say.

Greer is so cool and nice. We walked by the Little Colorado and looked for fishes. We rested and read a lot.

Neil is good. He makes me dinner and cleans the house and asks me how my day was. OK I have to go to bed.

oprah contingency?

Does anyone think Oprah Winfrey would have a fighting chance if she ran for president? Because she is soooooooo popular. ... I just wonder. P.S. No relation to the picture.

fun

It would be neat to backpack through Europe. Has anyone done it?

hibachi, starbury, etc.

exhibit A for why arizona deserves to be the 25th best school in the country (2 ahead of harvard). also, gilbert comments on crazy steph doing an interview. i have linked. you need to watch the whole thing.

such as and

posters for pleasure

.. great movie art featuring paul tebo dead ringer klaus kinski

physical science

1. This article is interesting, and it makes me think of potential research in sensory integration techniques in the autism population. I hope researchers perhaps can get beyond the stick and hammer -- how about a feather and birthday cake!

2. I will post pictures of painted furniture soon.

3. I study calculus every night! College is so fun! The third time around is always the best!

4. The Star published this article Sunday about the possibility of troops in Iraq being exposed to toxic substances and consequently developing cancer. The information is gripping and I want to see tons of research and perhaps lawsuits. Tons.

from a to b

lone star spoiler starting at 6:30