Well it's about time...

Everyone else has been doing it, so why not me. Long, long ago, I learned that often crazier things happen to me than to other people. Maybe this will help me remember them. Even better, I'll finally have a forum to rant, keeping me from screaming on street corners for a few more days.

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Wouldn't it be nice if all conversations were as easy as...

"So, you thinking of renewing the lease?"
"Yeah, I was planning on it."
"Good, me too."

and then we moved on. So it looks like my roommate and I are gonna be in our sweet apartment for another year. It's a good place, and they are only raising the rent $10 (the thieves!), so it should continue to be a fun time.

I'm getting up early tomorrow, since I am going with T. G. to Rosie's Place to serve lunch to homeless women. I'm a little nervous about it. Most of my experience with the SDF is around Central Sq, and, well, I don't feel the same kind of concern for their terrible plight any more. I guess I've become a little more hard-hearted since moving here. I hope that tomorrow at least gives me a bit more experience. Plus it feels like a good thing to do.

After that, I'm meeting up with my dear contact in the senate, and we are going to watch "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I've been looking forward to seeing it since I first saw the previews three weeks ago, so it should be a good time.

I went to a party tonight at a friend from MIT's place. It was nice. He actually didn't show up until I'd been there for almost an hour! In truth, I arrived a little early. I figured that he'd be there setting up, and I could say "hi", chill for a bit, then duck out early so as to be fresh and ready for Rosie's. Well, I ended up meeting all of his friends (to whom he had apparently talked extensively about me), only without him there. Kinda odd, but I had a good time nonetheless.

So I hear that more people are reading my `blog. I am, of course, elated. One thing is missing, though. Comments. Every day, I look to see if people have commented on things I've written, and every day, I am crushed to find that no one loves me enough to make their mark on my electronic wall.

As a random follow up to my T post, I hopped online today and went to the MBTA website. For some odd reason all of the links to any financial documents they "have" on their website are broken. I'll e-mail them and ask to be sent copies of things like the budget, etc, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

As a random comment, the spell check for this `blog service doesn't have a key word: `blog.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Amazing T Fact

Yesterday on the bus, I heard the drive tell a passenger how much the new buses cost. The old ones (the diesel buses) cost $300,000 each. The new ones cost, according to the drive, almost $700,000!! Keep in mind that the T has probably close to a hundred of these buses. How can people possibly wonder why the T is in debt? 100 of these buses costs $70,000,000, which is only recouped after 77,777,777 rides. That's not even counting things like the wages of the drivers and things like gas. I can't imagine the T ever even breaking even. More on this when I get more data.

There's a Ghost in my House

Yesterday marked the return of two new presences in my apartment: my prodigal roommate has returned, as has our ghost. The former I picked up at the airport (during my second trip out there in a single day), two hours after her scheduled arrival time. The latter made itself known around 2 AM last night, knocking things around in my closet. Of course, it might just be rats, but I'm inclined to assume the simplest of solutions: a spectral entity.

Comments on my `blog are now unconditionally non-negative. The one negative remark was a mistake; B.T. had gone to the wrong `blog! I feel a little better about that now.

I made guacamole last night, at the suggestion of my senate contact with whom I had lunch yesterday out at the statehouse. I made it the way I'd seen when I was down in DC with Miss A.J. and Mr. A.L. It was quite tasty! Of course, I made a total pig out of myself and ate the whole thing. That was a little much!

My senate contact was a wealth of good suggestions yesterday. He suggested that I make little models of the two cameras between which I am deciding and see which, if either, I'd actually carry around during the day! Brilliant, since now it's not just an academic exercise! When I got home, I noticed that the bars of Ivory soap in the bathroom were just a little bigger than the smaller one, so I carried one around in my pocket yesterday afternoon. Pretty convenient, I must say. I'll have to figure out how to model the other one, though it is pretty similar in size to B.T.'s camera.

Not all that much going on today. Feels like one of those days. We'll have to see how it turns out!

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Nasty Beyond All Belief

As I predicted, this morning I spent a good bit of time vacuuming. This wasn't as onerous a chore as I might have imagined. Normally Miss B.T. handles the nitty-gritty of running that miraculous space saving device over the floor while I attack it like some sort of terrifying monster. This time I was on my own, and I think I did a pretty good job. That is, until I decided to empty the dust bin...

So far as I can tell, this particularly unpleasant facet of the chore had not been done since, well, shortly after the Fall. There was nasty dust muck clogging the entire intake section and pouring out of nearly every part of the sucking mechanism. I decided, after really getting my hands dirty pulling this garbage out (in my underwear, no less), to go for gold and clean the filters. Vile doesn't begin to describe the crusty dust covering everything. I'll spare future details, but suffice to say that I just barely made it out of their with my life. It didn't kill me, so I guess it made me, and my allergies, stronger.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

"Boring" Updates for today

I've gotten mostly positive reviews of my new blog. Many people find it funny and profoundly insightful. Others find it "cute" and wish that they had stories as entertaining as mine. To these people, I give a shout-out, thanking you from the bottom of my heart.

But all is not well in Blogging land. A renegade "friend" claimed that my blog was "boring". I was obviously devastated, and I'm considering, but rejecting, the idea of leaving this so called friend at the airport tomorrow. I've also received another, neutral comment: "It sounds exactly like you". Normally, I would find this the height of praise, as it implies that I am able to "write the way I talk", something my high school English teacher wanted me to do. Given the earlier criticism, I guess I must conclude that I am, in fact, simply boring.

In that vein, here is my banal update for today. I went last night to BestBuy to check out digital cameras. The A510 has more features, but the SD family is just a lot smaller. This sounds stupid, but I think that the SD would actually get more use, in that I would just be able to slip it into a pocket. I'm not sure. The other thing I'm thinking about is how to pay for it. One of the things I'm actually considering is taking out a short term personal loan. I actually have the money to buy a camera now, but I read a few articles about credit scoring online (a guilty pleasure), and they indicated that both revolving credit and loan type accounts are important for establishing stellar credit. I have good credit, since I pay off my bills in full, etc, each month and I have for year. A short term, low interest loan would help flesh things out a little bit, I think. Who knows?

I also went to the mall today (I just couldn't get enough). I finally returned this terrible pillow that I had bought 2 months ago from Brookstone. They were very nice, and it was no hassle. The best part is that now I am about $100 richer. Fantastic!

I got an e-mail today from people in my department asking me to mentor another prospective teacher. I'm all for this, as it means that I have one fewer section to plan and teach. There's actually only two weeks left in the term, and since I have a teaching credit stored up from IAP, I won't have to teach again until probably the spring of next year. I may be able to work a similar deal and teach over IAP instead, freeing me up for all of next year. That would be nice. I also got offered a job to mentor some HS students this summer. I had done this two summers ago, and it was quite a pain. Still, it might be nice to have a few months during which I actually lived well within my means rather than check to check.

Went back to the gym this evening. I was a little sore from last time, but that went away very quickly. Another nice work-out, but now I'm gonna hit the hay so my body can recover. Then I'll be up early to put the finishing touches on my apartment / play video games for hours. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Digital Camera Frenzy

I decided last week that I need a digital camera. I tend to notice a lot of just neat, random stuff during the day (ants moving from one nest to another, cats wandering on roof tops, homeless women in Spiderman costumes, etc), and I think it might be fun to be able to punctuate my retellings of such things with actual images. I enlisted the aid of my dad, and he narrowed my search down to two possibilities:

  1. Canon's PowerShot SD 100
  2. Canon's PowerShot A510
The SD100 is actually the one towards which I am leaning now. It is part of the Elph family of cameras, and I've heard a lot of good things about them in the past. It is also very small and quite clean. The other also looks like a really good camera, so I don't really think I can go wrong. I would be interested to know if anyone has any experience with either type of camera and what they think.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Computer Success Story

So today I was able to take care of something I've been wanting to do for a while: fix my Senate contact's laptop. I had determined a few weeks ago that the problem was that the hard drive had, well, died. Dell was unable to provide much support, since the computer was no longer under warranty. What to do? We, my contact & I, discussed it, and it was decided that I should simply replace the hard drive and see what else could be done about the old one later. Again, Dell was unable to provide much help. They sell replacement hard drives, but for about $180 for a 6 GB drive. Outrageous.

As in most instances, the Internet saved me. I found a really great site: shopperwiz.com and they had upgraded drives for a fraction of what Dell was charging. Additionally, their service was excellent. I ordered the new drive on Friday, and it arrived this morning! I was so impressed with how quickly and cheaply they handled things that I e-mailed them to let them know, and they responded with a very sweet reply. I'm now a huge fan of this company.

After the drive arrived, I took out the old one and started the lengthy process of installing Windows and about 400 updates required to make things run smoothly. This was the moment of truth, since there could have been problems on top of the hard drive failure, and I would have been up a creek. Luckily, everything went swimmingly. In fact, this entry is being written on that once dead computer! I am pretty excited, and I know someone else who is too...

Not too much else going on in my life right now. My quondam roommate returns on Thursday. I'm quite excited about this, since I will no longer be coming home to an empty apartment. I also finished a short, but hopefully illustrative, computation a day or so ago, and I'm trying at this point to figure out what it all means. Wish me luck!

Sunday, April 24, 2005

A. H. is a FANTASTIC host

I just came back from a party at Mr. A. H.'s apartment. It was quite a delightful shin-dig. In truth, the only time I'd been there before was to drop A. H. off after the wine tasting he and I attended with Ms. T. G. (whose birthday is today!). He has a really great place which is very well arranged. He also has a fantastic roof deck. Quite a nice place to hang out. Perhaps the most entertaining was his wide selection of scotches which followed his equally wide selection of mixed drinks.

For those who are curious, I did make it to the gym today. I died while playing my game, but it was at a point where I had promised myself that I should stop and move on to things like getting off my ass and doing something. I had a great work out! I felt a lot better than I had in a while, and I really felt the burn in the muscle groups I worked today. This was quite reassuring, as I've not been hitting the gym as faithfully in the past few months. I think that I will pick up yoga again as something to do on the days that I don't lift. It is a great work out in its own right, and it helps increase flexibility, something which each day gets a little worse for me. It might also help me get back into the routine of doing something physical every day. I tend to feel just a whole lot better when I am active like that, so I hope that I can keep it up.

Now for a secret confession: I've started praying before going to bed.

Going Public

Last night at T.G.'s birthday party, I bit the bullet and announced the existence of this blog to my friends from the math department. I've gotten a warm reception so far, and that's certainly been nice. I guess part of that is not saying anything mean about people. Maybe I should remember that for other parts of my life.

The party was very nice. It was a black-tie affair, prompting me to go shirtless (it makes for a better effect). My outfit was surprisingly well received. I guess they are all used to my antics at this point. Finger food was set out before I arrived, and we nibbled on things all through the evening. After a short bit of socializing, we played a number of party games. This is by far the best reason to go to parties. I love games like Pictionary and Taboo, so I was delighted when we played both. T. G. and C.D. had arranged a little twist, though. Party favors were distributed to the guests based on who one the various games. To make it a little more exciting, if you picked after someone else and your liked their party favor better, you could exchange with them (against their will). I made out like a bandit with some great little gummy frogs and cars. Delicious.

I've been thinking a lot about getting a cheap digital camera. I see really wacky things on an almost daily basis (it's proof of God's love for me), and it might be nice to punctuate my fantastically droll retellings of said encounters with actual pictures. I can't quite find one that fits my two main criteria: cheap and high quality. Guess I'll see soon enough.

Today is gonna be a lazy day. I got up late, and I think I'll just play video games for a bit. If I feel sufficiently motivated, I might go to the gym or get my bike fixed. On the other hand, I might just keep sitting on the couch in my bathrobe.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Ease on Down

I think I'm starting to really get into this "`blogging" thing. Here I am, posting again. I was telling my dear friend A. J. this morning that I wish I had started all of this when my roommate B.T. left for Europe. I could have forestalled stir-craziness for probably an extra week!

Speaking of Ms. B.T., she returns on Thursday. I'm quite excited about her impending return, but it also means that I really need to get cracking on cleaning this dump up. I've let things kind of go to shit the past few weeks, with intermittent spurts of cleaning types of things up. I know, OCD rears it's ugly head! It'll be nice to have things all straightened up, though. I really prefer things to be neat and orderly. I'm just too lazy at this point to actually, say, undress in my bedroom rather than the kitchen.

Last night I hung out with my friend E. Q. and we watched Amilie. I had forgotten how cute that movie is. It is also really aesthetically pleasing. The colors are amazing, as are the scenes. All I could think the whole time is how much I wanted to be back in Paris. I really am in love with that place. Kind of strange. I'd like to live there at some point, but I don't know how that would all work.

I had a breakthrough in the toy example I'm trying to solve for my problem last night after talking with A.H. in the computer lab. My adviser had suggested working out something and then described how it should work, based on stuff he had done il y a longtemps. I finally figured it all out, and I think I can also figure out the rest of what I needed to do. Hard to say, though. There may be some kinks that I've yet to work out.

As a final note, I've decided to emulate Herve Guibert in this online journal. Rather than name people, I'll just use initials or, better still, creative monikers...

Friday, April 22, 2005

Baby Tiger Safe Haven Law

It has come to my attention, following a delightful lunch with my close contact in the Massachusetts state senate, that tigers lack a much needed legal protection: Baby Tiger Safe Haven Laws. For those unfamiliar with such legislation, Safe Haven Laws, named after a homeless shelter in Central Square which routinely collected babies and persecuted mothers, allow parents to drop off newborn infants at a police station, fire station, or other safe location without any legal hassles (unless there are signs of abuse). Recently, a frantic mother tiger faced the same situation encountered by numerous new moms: what should I do with this new mouth to feed? Her choice? To abandon her baby. In response to her plight, I propose the following legislation:

Baby Tiger Safe Haven

  1. Whereas numerous baby tigers are born to momma tigers (henceforth "tigresses") who cannot provide for them,
  2. Whereas abandoned baby tigers end up tossed in dumpsters at zoos, left in bathrooms at tiger proms, or thrown into the woods to be eaten by wolves or male tigers (including, but not limited to, "baby daddies"),
  3. Whereas numerous locations staffed with trained personnel and equipped to care for and place a baby tiger already exist,
  4. Be it resolved that tigresses who leave their baby tigers with trained staff at an appropriate locale not face any repercussions for their actions, provided the baby tiger be left within the first seven days of birth.

Can You Feel a Brand New Day!

It's taken years for me to reach this point. I lead such a quiet and staid life, fraught with little more than the usual peril of boredom and the occasional close encounter of the homeless kind. I hope to eventually have things to say of some substance, but, well, we'll just have to see.

I had Samaritans this morning. It was really nice to be back on the phones again. I had my first shift in almost two months last week, but it was pretty quiet. Today the phone just rang off the hook. I was pretty excited to get to talk to all kinds of people. I was even more excited when I got my mail yesterday and what did I find in it but a card from the Samaritans congratulating me on being a volunteer for 2 years! Man, time sure flies when you're having fun talking with people about their suicidal feelings...

Last night I went to a drag show at MIT: Fierce Forever V. My friend Biana accompanied me, which was nice, since she and I don't really spend that much time together any more. Many of the performances were really good, especially some of the ones by students and faculty. The MIT people also did a few more non-traditional drag routines. One performed to hip-hop a few times (but not to a dance remix thereof). A professor performed to a beautiful aria from an opera which, were I more cultured, I'd immediately have recognized. While I love the outrageous dancing and hardcore dance music, it was quite refreshing to see people doing something new and outre.

That's about it for now. I've got to do some work today. My current project (deciding if the element v_p is an appropriate invariant in the homotopy of the spectrum E_{p(p-1)}) might actually be getting somewhere, but it still has a long way to go. Wish me luck!