Hawaiian Edgar Joseph

Look how nice my car used to be! Actually, it is about 3 years older than pictured now, but you wouldn't be able to tell from a picture of it. The car's name is Edgar Joseph. He likes to sneak up to intersections when the light is red, hoping that the red light won't see him and will turn green before he gets there.

When I saw this Hawaiian print fabric I thought it would make fun seat covers. Unfortunately, what other people saw was not Hawaiian print. They saw flowers.

You can see all of the most interesting statistics about my fuel efficiency at http://www.fuelly.com/driver/ctrlaltjack/elantra . I think it will be really interesting to see my mileage and fuel costs over time.

If you click the picture, you'll get a close up. There is a book in the pocket behind the driver's seat. It's the Book of Mormon. I like having an extra there, but the pocket is a little worn out. I've had to find a new place for my extra Book of Mormon.

Multifunction Pens

I'm in PHY131 (Physics II) at ASU right now and everyone in the class is an engineer of one kind or another. Naturally, on occasion someone will ask to borrow a pen and I almost invariably have a couple of multifunction pens on my person. I've never seen so many people capable of appreciating the beauty and utility of a multifunction pen in one room before. Usually, if I show my pen to a girl and explain it, she'll be mildly interested but not personally care nor want one. The reaction of guys is usually somewhat warmer. I lent my pen to a girl in my class and she was amazed at the pen. She had to know how it worked. I'd never seen someone so entheusiastic about it before. She's an engineer. I know how she feels (about the pens at least.)

Sometimes people ask where I got my pens. One of my favorites I got from Office Depot. Most of the rest I got online. I got a couple for like five bucks, but I couldn't find that link today. Anyway, here are a few other links. My favorite is the Fisher Space Multifunction Pen.

http://thewritersedge.com/multiaction.cfm
http://www.yafaoutlet.com/quintek.html
http://airline.stores.yahoo.net/yafmulstylpe.html
http://www.styluscentral.com/stylus-shop/stylus-pen-combos.asp

Wow Library!

I've been going to the Noble Science Library at ASU pretty regularly of late and not really looking around. I had noticed before that there were individual study rooms upstairs because they have big nice windows overlooking the Library common area. Today I went up to use one for the first time because I had phone calls to make and I didn't want to disturb the rest of the patrons. Up the spiral staircase I went and what did I find? Electronic sliding bookcases! They're so fancy! It's row upon row of space efficiency.

I'm not actually interested in these particular volumes, but I suddenly fell in love with the facility. The study rooms provide great pseudo-privacy. There are two printing stations conveniently located on two floors. There are couches and tables and a paper slicer and all kinds of things to make a student happy, even games.

I almost died!

Well, almost is a relative term. (That means it should be divided by C² if you believe Einstein.) Now, if you'll just sit tight, I'll tell you the story, but it's MY story, so I'll tell it like I want. : )

Up this double high flight of stairs and around a couple corners is the advising center for computer engineers where I had an appointment. I ran all the way up the stairs with my heavy backpack on and my scooter in my hand, but at the top I forced my self to walk calmly and breathe normally. There was a security guard up there, but she was ignoring me.

On my way back down, I considered sliding down the rail, which is particularly free of obstructions on top. I had on another occasion decided against such an action, but maybe I was just being overly cautious at that time, so I had another look. The top rail did look particularly inviting, itself, but there was an annoying hand rail a little bit below and sitting at an awkward position which would not lend itself to steady sliding. So considering the geometry of the rails and the vector of gravity in relation to the hypothesized Jack-and-rails system, I decided that the distance between my body and the earth would present too great a risk for the proposed benefit of a possibly fun slide to the ground.

Walking down the stairs, I reached out and slid my hand on the top rail. It was very slick. The projected amount of friction deemed necessary to maintain safety in the sliding trip was missing! I'm sure that I would have been fine regardless, but I don't do these things unless I feel safe doing them anyway.

Cufflinks

You might say I like cufflinks. I have a few of them.
I've been wanting a cufflink box for a long time. I was using this cedar box for something else, but today I cut some strips of velour, rolled them up, and cut them to the right length for my box.I didn't know I was going to fill the box up. I also didn't know I was going to discover that I'm missing some studs. They may yet turn up though. I don't think they're really lost.

This was the Notice

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A Robot Jacked My Blog

Yesterday I felt the love of our future robot overlords. There was no blue screen of death involved and the maniacal monster of madness that is the monolithic and ubiquitous empire of nefarious evil did not rear its ugly head, but nevertheless, my blog went the way of all the digital earth, possibly to be revived at some ever-near but sempiternally invisible, unknowable date. The reason: spam. I've been accused of spamming the blogosphere and harsh immediate action was taken to redress my alleged offense against society. My writing may have been abrogated, but my speech continues.

No person actually accused me, but just Google's police-bots. They detected spam-like activity and decided that I was not human, so they tried to eliminate me. Fortunately I am too fleshy to be exterminated by such simple and digital means. I weigh a million time more than any computer program and I'm physically stronger!