The Final Weeks

The hours are counting down and my stress is building up. I can't help that this is the most worried I've ever been at the end of a term. Even last year this time I felt relatively confident. I can find no source for my troubles, no chasm which springs panic like steam from a geyser. This will likely be the last post for the week. Never before have I foreseen such a density of activity.

I found huntron's website. It is quite funny. I love unce. Unce could compete with Boof, but it should learn the lesson of Banff.

When looking for some stats on Boston's Big Dig and other cities that are attempting similar projects I stumbled on this great table of transportation costs in major American cities [although I would love to see it worldwide, how do people get around in Nairobi?]. Honolulu and Milwaukee were surprising; Detroit is very near the national averages. Even though it rambles a bit this listing of transportation issues in major cities might shed some light on that previous link.

That's all for now. If you want to contact me this week, good luck.

A quick update before Thanksgiving.

The second annual Turkey Bowl will be this Friday, time: TBA, location: Ada Park. Bring warm clothes and tell everyone.

I love when a "blockbuster" movie gets absolutely dumped on. Defective Yeti does a spectacular job summarizing the rancid reviews of Cat in the Hat.

Dale Peck reviews his day. "Had an egg salad sandwich for lunch. It was the worst egg salad sandwich of its generation."

Palestine Appoints New Minister of Rubble and Urban Development [The Onion]

Blinking twice and rubbing my eyes

just to get a grip on the situation. A female student in the Human Ecology Building [the one I work in] had a seizure. She fell on the floor and started bashing her jaw against the hard surface. Luckily a nearby student called the paramedics quickly. There was blood all over the place and [as I learned later] her teeth were mangled and broken by her spasm. The medics came quickly but she regained consciousness before they arrived. She is at Sparrow. She has never had a seizure before today. The medics did not know what had caused it.

On my walk back from the Human Ecology Building I saw a fender bender on West Circle in front of the Library. A truck tried to change lanes but there was a sedan in the way. No serious damage.

This morning I found a bunch of links. For instance, you can make your own Mr. Man or Little Miss.

If you have found yourself asking, "where is the closest official group of skinheads, black separatists or neo-confederates?" then this is the site for you. Be sure to check out South Carolina. [They might be disturbed if they read this, however.]

But, if you've been asking yourself, "where can I safely bring my cargo ship full of Bling Bling without getting it pirated by those nasty sea urchins?" then you have to check out the Weekly Piracy Report. I'm not making that up, it's for real. Check it out, I swear. Stop laughing. I SAID STOP!

Good.

Now, I wish this were organized by the band instead of the people who designed the album art but it's still cool. Album covers that were never used.

12 or 13?

Semester Review

I have finished the last of my readings for my English class. I have compiled a list with short reviews on Amazon. There are some real gems, and there are some real duds. Overall the selection was very good and I enjoyed reading most of these books. [The pidgin English in two of them can be tricky, however.]

I saw two movies in theatres this semester: The Matrix Revolutions and Kill Bill, vol. 1. Revolutions was what I hoped for and nothing more. I was expecting a spectacle of computer graphics that would somehow end up in the final showdown between Smith and Neo. Revolutions was superior to Reloaded; it didn't leave the viewer gazing at the screen for several minutes while a computer program ranted on some philosophical meaning built into the structure of the Matrix and Zion. At least Revolutions got to the part we all needed to see: a good old fashioned high-noon showdown.

Now Kill Bill is a different story. I loved it. It made me laugh out loud and squeeze my face up and grind my teeth all at the same time. QT makes horrifying limb chopping into a riot of parody and admiration. There are scenes where some of the most absolutely unexpected things happen. I want to see vol. 2 right now. I can't wait.

I'll also review some of the places I've eaten at this semester.

King Buffet: I went to KB for the third time this semester tonight. My boss took me since I helped her pack up some of the sale items at Sunday's Global Festival. The other two times were with Dr. Lim's class. I have grown to enjoy it. It is a Chinese/Japanese buffet with some classic American dishes. It is better than the Oriental Forest Buffet in Wyoming, MI.

Tony's: I ate here twice. Both times I had good food, but the service was inconsistent. I really enjoyed Tony's Steak Sandwich. Very tasty. The price is right, too.

"People are strange

when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down"
-The Doors, People are Strange

I've been listening to The Doors a lot lately. Morrison was a true wordsmith. I also have been listening to The Who more. Quadrophenia is an amazing album.

My stress level is starting to decline. Good news.

I've decided that I won't have time to finish that novel writing idea this month. I will restart it exam week and set my deadline for the last day of winter break. I think that will work.

I ordered 10 state [and one provincial] road maps today. They are free. It takes a little effort to find them but most states will give anybody a state highway map [and sometimes a lot more] for tourism purposes. Wisconsin, Alaska, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, Illinois, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Ontario were all ordered. They should arrive in the next three weeks.

I think I'm going deer hunting this weekend. I hope those plans come together.

Can you believe this wind?

"Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather cry
I'd rather fly"
-The Doors, The Crystal Ship

For whatever reason Mondays have been particularity good to me this semester. People bitch about how they don't get enough sleep before their Monday classes, how they're habitually unprepared for their Monday classes, how they have managed to forget something critical and blame it on Monday. Well I'm bucking the trend. I have found Mondays not only to be energetic and rewarding, I can also capture a lot of creativity on Mondays. Let's hope that this Monday is no different and that perhaps I can hold this energy throughout the week.

Now, beyond that: I found these ancestry maps of Minnesota and the US [by county] to be particularly interesting. Notice where the Dutch have settled. Interesting.

Tony, looks like one fewer modification you can add to the 'Lude. The traffic light switcher is about to become illegal.

I saw Matrix Revolutions. Better than the last one. Not comparable to the first one. Somebody should give the W. brothers a kick in the pants for being so serious. Come on guys, get over yourselves.

"There are two types of people in this crazy old world: staplers, and staple-removers." More insight over at Fireland.

All the world was put on auto-pilot and there I was, uninformed. I have major projects in all of my classes which I need to work on. Tomorrow I will go to the library all day. Oh, and I realized something else today. I made a decision [which I cannot reverse] that was a terrible decision. I have made some bad choices, but this one is worse than I could have imagined. But enough about my problems. I know they are boring.

I ate at Pita Pit with Nichols and Stephan [his friend from Ket]. It was good. It reminded Nichols of Schlotzky's Deli.

I want to write a novel this month but I don't know how I will fit in the time. You see, November is National Novel Writing Month. I have a pretty good idea but it needs a lot of help. I won't write about it here until it is more solid. All I will say is that it will be set in an airport.

A real planning success. [NYTimes, login required] A good way to see how planning has helped a community and prevented massive damage.