Happy Halloween!

Both my midterms went well yesterday, lab is canceled for today, the sun is shining, I just bought a cheap flight home for Christmas break, I have a nice apt with great roommates, good food, and amazing friends. In a few minutes I'm having lunch with Arline, and tonight I'll be pumpkin carving with some cute kids here on the South side. What a great day for a birthday!

King Phillip Came Over For Good Sex
otherwise known as: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. This is the catchy way that I learned to memorize this freshman year of high school and it still runs through my head in college. Thanks Mr. Fletcher!
8-9pm tonight is my BioDiversity lab practical. So much to memorize, so much to know. Luckily, I find all of this stuff fun and fascinating to learn, but it still scares me to think of the test coming up in a couple of hours. yikes, back to studying!

Does watching the season premiere of 24 and then going to an allnight hour taco & tapas place in Little Village sound like a good idea the night before you have two midterms? Well, that's what I did tonight. Tomorrow I have GIS, and then my BioDiversity lab practical. Yikes. Lots of studying and memorizing to do in the morning. I'm a very tired girl.
24 was a letdown, but my carne asada taco was good. And I was smiling at you, saying witty silly comments and making people laugh. i wish i could do that.
Accomplishment of the day: finding the beta-beta plane and seeing a good interference pattern in Mineralogy. Guil handed out our take home (independent labwork with the microscopes, so it's not exactly "take home") midterm today. It doesn't look as bad as I expected it to be, but at the same time I'm sure I'll be camped out for the next 10 days in Hinds trying to get it done. Nothing is as easy as it seems in Mineralogy. I can write down all the steps on how to use the microscope and analyze different crystals, but something will go wrong I'm sure.
Tonight I called home and my dad says: "how does it feel like to be halfway to 44?" (my birthday is this week) that made me feel old. Where did the time go with cakes and costume birthday parties?

Evangelicals Sway White House on Human Rights Issues Abroad. Interesting.

Every Sunday it happens. I haven't been as studious as I would have like to be over the weekend so I tell myself I will devote Sunday night to studying hard before classes Monday morning. But somehow or another I get sucked into the internet. I just have to read the New York Times, Willamette Week, The Tribune, and every friend's blog on the planet, or so I tell myself. I really do like my classes a lot this quarter, but it's just so hard to stay concentrated when I study. The internet is such a lovely way to procrastinate. I have to click on all of the newly updated blogs that Blogger posts so lovely in a little list on the screen...I mean, what if there's a good one out there that's really worth my attention to read? (I really haven't found a single one yet, every time I click on the randomly listed blogs they turn out to be complete crap, or someone just posting "testing, testing"). It's like playing a slot machine. It gets addicting. I just keep clicking and clicking on each one, trying to find the jackpot nicely designed and written blog...but it never happens. And then in a last-ditch effort to stay online as long as possible I post stupid posts like this paragraph. Ahhhh. Someone get me back on track with work. Midterms are this week and I have a lot to memorize!

Jack Bauer is my hero.

I feel much better today.
I slept in and woke up at noon, then my roommate Karin and I headed to Chinatown. We ate lunch, bought some bubble tea (and I had a pineapple shave ice...yummm) and went to the grocery store there where we bought meat, mango juice, various kinds of sauces, and ramen noodles (the good kind! that come with sesame oil to put in when you cook it).
I even bought myself a bamboo plant for my birthday. And, the best of all...we bought three paper Chinese & Japanese lanterns to hang up in our apartment. It was a productive afternoon. :o)
Oh, and I saw the cutest turtle of my life today. It only approximately 2cms long and green and absolutely adorable. They are only $20, and even though I wanted to buy one so bad, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Domesticated pets, especially when they're tropical I can't handle. It just seems wrong to me. They should be in their own habitat, not a tiny plastic aquarium 6"x12" with only a tiny bit of water inside. It seems tortorous. And buying pets just encourages to the animal market. But seriously, I almost bought it. and I do want one.

Even with this big city of lights and skyscrapers, and on this intellectual campus, and with my so-called friends
i still feel lonely
i don't belong here
i don't fit in here

"You are not an animal, you are an ecology"
Well, my dream of counting the Bahamas field course as a core bio requirement was crushed today. I really had my fingers crossed on that one...but of course it would have been too perfect if it had worked out. But, I am very pleased to be taking Biological Diversity this quarter with LaBarbara who is an AWESOME teacher. He's so knowledgable, humorous and entertaining it makes taking a 9:30am class extremely worthwhile. I think I'll take invert zoology with him in the spring and just have that count as core bio. We'll see.
Ghosts, Larvae, Hip Waders & SCUDS
Yesterday for biodiv lab we went to the Jackson Park Lagoon and the Wooded Isle to study the biodiversity of the wetlands there. It was the best lab I've ever had. We met on the Clarence Darrow Bridge, which coincidentally has some interesting history behind it that I just heard about. Clarence Darrow, who represented Leopold & Loeb as their lawyer in their famous murder trail, was a lifelong Athiest and promised his friends that after he died he if there was such thing as an afterlife he would come back on the anniversary of his death and reappear on the bridge as proof. Since then, people have been on the lookout and some have said to have spotted his ghost.
The lagoon is just behind the Museum of Science & Industry, and has been around since the creation of the Museum for the 1893 World's Fair. It is just a 12 minute walk from campus towards the lake down 57th or 59th, but surprisingly most University of Chicago students don't even know that it exists. The Wooded Isle (the Paul Douglas Nature Sanctuary) is an island in the middle of the lagoon. It's rather large, and hold's Chicago's Osaka Japanese Garden on part of it. The Japanese Garden has a simple layout with a small pond, waterfall, pagodas, and grasses and trees landscaped around. It is a tradional "stroll garden" with paths meandering around the pond. The fence surrounded the garden and the gate marking the entrance are unique because no nails were used in their construction, making them very espensive to make ($400,000).
Truly, I've found that Jackson Park place is the closest thing you can get to nature in the city of Chicago. It's fairly quiet even though LSD and Cornell, both traffic-heavy streets enclose it on two sides. There's lots of fish, and on a few visits I've spotted Great Blue Heron, ducks, and other feathered creatures. Unfortunately, a storm this year blew over 336 trees (like Washington Park)--the oldest and biggest of which being a 273 year-old bur oak (65' tall and 90' wide, it was healthy before the storm and could have possibly lived for 250 more years). The wood value alone is valued at over $50,000 but it is being left toppled on the island in hopes that in a couple of decades it will turn into a nurse log.
Yesterday was pefect weather for exploring the lagoon: bright sun, 60s, sweatshirt/nocoat kind of day. Meeting on the bridge my lab group put on hip waders, grabbed some dipnets, buckets, jars, seines, and a snack and then walked along the shore of the lagoon. With every step we made the water turned brown as the lake sediments diffused into the water. I thought this would make it hard to find stuff, but as we swished our dipnets around and pulled them back up out of the water they were full of very tiny (mm to 1cm length) organisms. Snails, larvae, fish, clams and a ton of unidentifyable stuff (to us at first glance). Lots of bugs of all shapes and sizes swimming around happily in the murky water. We only had an hour to collect as many things as we could and get a 2liter mud sample. The time went really fast. We walked along the shore in the bushed on the east side of the lagoon overturning wood chunks, rocks, using our dipnets and digging through leaves and other organic material for any aquatic creature we could find. We didn't have a pan to collect the sediment sample, so we walked over to the bridge crossing over to the island where most of the rest of our lab was. Walking under the bridge near the shore I was surprised to find a somebody's home under the bridge. Tucked up in the rafters was a folding chairs, some pots and pans, toothpaste, and where the soil met the metal under peeking out of a plastic bag covering I could see a sleeping bag and some other stuff. It was all neatly organized, and looked like a pretty cozy place to be (at least in warm weather)--it would be the kind of hideout I would want as a little kid. You could catch fish and fry them up as food, and have great blue herons stop by to say hi. But imagining someone living hear yearround is another story. Right next to the lake, on the water, in the freezing cold snow wind and rains that blow in...this person must be miserable in the winter. Most of the class hadn't been under the bridge like I had to check out the shoreline there as I had, but I felt bad that we were so close....I felt like I was invading someone's private space.
After the short time of collecting we walked back to the BSLC to continue on with the lab and try to identify what we had caught. Unfortunately the time left was really not very much and using a dichotomous key my lab partner Diane and I could only key out 2 of the animals before I had to leave: a scud, and a dragonfly larvae. All in all though, I had such a great day!

This is Pretty funny!
Ping Pong, Matrix Style
(you don't need to download the plugin to watch, link stolen from Carrie)

Soon I'll be able to bike from home to downtown without pedaling near cars! i'm all smiles
and i betcha it's going to go right in front of my house on the old trolly tracks.

$100 to Spend (+$150 if I want). What should I do?
I'm thinking about applying it towards:
* gaitors (XS)
* a new nice sleeping bag
* bike accessories
* a tent
* leather dress shoes
* a travel fund for myself
* a cell phone: holding off as long as possible
* digital camera
* my mom really wants to get me xcountry skiis
* thrift store shopping purchases

How ridiculous is this? Tracking Daley's fashion in ties, and then reporting it as a major headline with the Tribune. And, if that's not enough, for the Tribune's "The Week in Photos" they have a closeup of him wearing his tie for the second photo.
Give me some real news. There's so much more worthwhile things going on in the world. I thought the Tribune was supposed to be a decent newspaper. So far, I haven't been very impressed.

Congratulations to Steve & Kirsten!
Happy engagement. :o) I'm so excited for them.... !

Poor Cubs.

Parkrose is the school that over half my extended family grew up in. Reading articles like this ones makes me believe more and more that being an Americorp VISTA is the right thing for me to do next year in Portland. I want to help my city...especially the East Side encompassing the neighborhoods I miss.

Cloud-seeding to Make Rain
This is just so weird to me. Even if it's been around since the 40's it just seems wrong.
Can Rain be Bought?:
"The cloud-seeding method generally used in the winter and the one used in Denver involves ground-based generators set at high elevations that are literally fired up to release plumes containing silver iodide crystals into storm clouds with temperatures roughly between 7 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit. When water vapor or droplets attach to the silver iodide crystal, latent heat is also released, and it increases cloud size and the duration of storms."

Congratulations to Laree & Sam who just got engaged!
All those years through middle school and high school and now you're spending the rest of your life together. :o) I love you guys!

Up in the sky is that big red apple balloon. And I know I'm home. Just right next to my elementary school and on my street. It's love, comfort, pride, home, heart, health and family. I used to go with Jenny every year to apple tasting. The whole neighborhood went, and all the rest of Mt. Tabor and Laurelhurst. It marked autumn. Chestnuts on the ground, broken open with the twist of the foot to expose the dark chocolate brown seeds inside. Trees of dark green proudly evergreen, and the sweet gum, maples lining the street. I crunched as many leaves as possible--i love the sound, all the while picking up the perfect specimens to bring home to mom. We proudly displayed them on our dining room table. The colors were brilliant, and my favorite leaves were the ones that showed the rainbow of fall--green mingling into orange, brown, red and golden yellow.
Jenny and I would go through the line at least twice a day. Tasting the sweet, sour, foreign and familiar apples. The treat would be the apple friders, and turning the crank to make homemade apple cider. Bales of hay for seats, plants surrounding us, a balloon clown, apple mural posters and folkmusic. A neighborhood hotspot. An annual gathering that everyone loved and looked forward to. Our favorite place.
It's going on right now back home. I miss Portland Nursery.

The Chicago Marathon
Yesterday was so much fun! I volunteered at the first water station (at mile 1.5) for the Chicago Marathon. Besides the fact that I had to be there by 6am to check in, meaning that I needed to take the first 55 bus of the day- 5:08, everything was awesome! It definitely want to volunteer at another marathon if I get the chance. I was surprised to get there to find about 150 other volunteers at my station. We were all given orange windbreakers and hats and then set out to work setting up the tables lining the sidewalk and filling up cups halfway with water or gatorade. It was kindof a meticulous job. First, you placed the cups on the table so that each one was at close to the other as possible, then, once you had filled the entire table you put a piece of thick paper over that layer and start another right on top. It was essential to do this very precisely, otherwise the whole table and all 500+ cups of liquid would crash to the ground (apparently, this had happened last year with a strong wind gust). After three tiers you stopped.
Initially, I worked at the very last water table helping to set it up. These 30yearolds who were absolutely hilarious to work with adopted me into their table because I was alone and couldn't find the person I was going to meet up with. They were from a suburb out by OHare and all of them seemed to have been friends for a long time. If they weren't running the marathon that year they would always volunteer, as they were doing yeserday. By 7:00am we had set up our table perfectly (I thought) and then had an hour until the race started. At about 7:45 I finally met up with the person who I couldn't find, and moved over to her table--the very first table the runners encountered--to help pass out cups of gatorade.
The 1.5 mark was the perfect place to volunteer at. First of all, it was right in front of Marshall Fields on State Street. Lining the street were Cubs Flags on top of the building and logos in the windows. And about 200 feet from my table, looking north to where the runners were going to coem from was the CHICAGO sign all lit up. It was absolutely the best place to take pictures of the race!
The wheelchair racers came by first at a very fast pace, then, a minute later cops and a newsvehicle, followed by the elite runners--mostly all from Kenya. I snapped a couple of shots as they sprinted (it seemed) past me at an incredible pace--they reached the 1.5 mile mark in about 8 minutes from the start line! A few seconds later another pack of about 30 runners, still part of the elite, came racing by. More runners followed and I quickly put away my camera and picked up some cups to hold out.
The pack of runners became denser and denser. All I seemed to see was a million hands reaching out for cups. There were so many people it seemed hard to even run in that sort of crowd and I was wondering how they could even move. At one point, a lady fell down in front of me, but a little ways out into the street. It was such a sudden stop that the people behind her accidentally stepped on her, and the crowd of people around her crashed into each other. It seemed as though all of us volunteers leaned over as if to go out and help her up, but there was nothing we could do, and we couldn't even reach her. Luckily, she wasn't hurt and after a few long seconds she got up and continued to run. We continued to hand out cups, and after only a minute or two, our three-tiered table was empty so we grabbed more from the table nextdoor. Everything went so fast, and it was over in only about 20 minutes (for us at the beginning of the block...at the end other volunteers in bright orange were still handing out water).
What surprised me the most was how incredibly nice and appreciative the runners were. Almost all gave a smile and a Thank You! in the few seconds that they swept by, and many gave a "I really appreciate all of your help!" It was just amazing to me how courteous people could be even in the midst of running 26.2 miles!

This is so sad: "Runner, 29, dies after marathon: Ohio woman collapses 100 feet past the finish line". I was at the 25th mile when this happened and saw the ambulance pass right next to me on 35th, then cutting through the dense running crowd and head over towards the finish line, but I had no idea it would be this bad. :o(

I ended up cheering people on at the 12th mile after my volunteer duties were done. And then I took the red line to the 25th mile. It was madness! 100 times worse than rush hour on the El. The first train we couldn't even get on and about 50 of us had to wait for the second one, which was right behind it. People were squeezed into each car as tight as could be. Once we got on the El we talked to some shocked passengers who had no idea what was going on and were just on their way to do lazy Sunday errands. Because the train was barely moving at all and everyone was super late getting to where they wanted to be, we deciced to get off at Chinatown instead of Sox/35th. Once off the train, it took us over 5 minutes just to get off the platform and down to the street. You could tell that the CTA workers were a bit annoyed at the crowds.

The 25th mile was interesting to watch. You could see the joy in some runners eyes, and the sadness and pain in others. Most were running/jogging, but some were also walking. The crowd around me was so supportive and you could see the improvement in some of the runners once we cheered them on. That was a nice thing to see.

Watching the marathon the question came to me: Would I do that? Could I do that? I think that the answer is yes, if I trained enough. Someday I would like to run the Portland Marathon. But for me I think that I would rather set my sights on hiking a couple hundred miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, or something of that nature. The flatness, the infrastructure, the concrete...Chicago just doesn't suit me. I'd rather look to the mountains, or to the ocean.

ps. Want to know My favorite runner of all?: Hanselman, Paul III, Chicago, 04:30:38, 18426
:o)

Wolftree
"Serving people, communities and the earth through science education, ecosystem restoration and ecological research in the Pacific Northwest"

This is what I want to do after graduation. What a perfect opportunity! After reading this website I just got so excited!

Go Rent It
Tonight after IVCF I watched Spellbound with Kirsten and Ruthie. It was so good! Probably the best documentary I've ever seen. It follows the stories of 8 kids going to the 1999 National Spelling Bee in D.C. Some of the kids were from unusual backgrounds--one girl's parents illegal came over from Mexico with her family, holding her above the water as the coyote lead the way across the Rio Grande, and after 20 years her father still does not speak english--and others were the super studius, multiple tutor type kids from rich families.
They film hit on lots of emotions. The way that they edited the scenes together was excellent with the funny little quirks that the people had and the background disturbances. I laughed outloud so much during the movie (which I usually don't do). I held my breath as the kids spelled out words slowly into the microphone, I squirmed in my doc chair under the stress that they were under, I squealed when they guessed and correctly spelled the word. I was so proud of their performances I even cried (slightly) at the end. It brought out the inner geek in me. I can see these kids coming to the UofC in a few years and it makes me laugh.

I Hate Chlorine, but this might be an exception
This evening I was all settled in and cozy on top of my bed reading my Mineralogy textbook. My roommate walks in to say and invites me to go swimming at the new Olympic-size 50x25m pool. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. Ratner Pool is so huge, so new, so nice. It was my first time there. We arrived at 8:20pm, but took seriously 20 minutes in the locker room trying to unlock our lock (for those of you out there who have never used the Ratner locks, the number on the bottom is not the last number, but rather the middle number in the combination. And after you do your combination and you hear a click, you have to pull real hard and turn the lock to the left a little bit before it springs open) --the only way we figured out how to do it was the help of a very very nice girl who was in the changing room with us and explained it to us three times (the first time she got stuck, she went up to the front desk and had to have a lesson from them). So, by the time we actually got to the pool we only had 15 minutes to swim before it closed.
On one end of the pool the water polo team was practising. On the other was lap swim. In the middle was the shallow section and we had a fairly big chunk of it all to ourselves. My roommate just learned to swim last spring and as she practiced a bit I lounged around the in water, floating and doing the backstroke beside her. I wasn't going to get my hair wet--I hate hate hate chlorine and usually never ever go in pools, but the water was just too inviting not to. I had fun doing somersaults underwater, and then teaching my roommate the basics to mastering the forward somersault. She almost got one fully around, but not quite.
I feel pretty fortunate for having swimming lessons at such a young age, even though I'm not super good or anything. I can tread water for extended periods of time, do different kinds of strokes, feel comfortable in deep water, and have really no fears besides getting that burning sensation from chlorine up your nose. ;o) I would like to improve though. Maybe even get lifeguard training. It seems like a good skill to have. Going to the pool this evening makes me want to follow in Ruthie's footsteps and take a swimming class. Maybe I will in the spring.
Three good things: 1.) Swim Caps are not required 2.) They have these cool free centrifuge machines that dry out your swimsuit in 5 seconds in the lockerrooms 3.) The sauna is scheduled to open up in late November! You'll see me back there soon.

My roommate is organizing with her friends to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I want to go, but it's so hard to commit to a date that far in advance. It would be awesome though.

The amazing extent of procrastination I have reached tonight:
- Took cocktail monkeys and other assorted animals and lined them up on the television
- Found "Joy Zoo", an online game involving said cocktail animals
- Hung up the Boy Catcher, umm, I mean Bug Mobile
- Played with my metal slinky
- Illegally tacked up my "Oregon is the Greatest" liscense plate
- Made a recycle sign for my kitchen wall to inform my roommates on what and how to recycle

13, 39, Does it really matter that much?

I need to learn to stop making stupid mistakes, like breezing through and circling Eukaryotes, when it should have been very obviously archaebacteria. Believe it or not, I always fail tests.

What a Morning
I'm exhausted and it's only 10:30am. This morning I was on a mission to buy an organizer for my room and to get back to campus by 10am for my advisor appointment. I called last night and the convienant downtown store was out of stock, so I had to make my way up to Lincoln Park on the North side. When I stepped outside my apt building I missed the 6 bus by only a few seconds. Then, picking up the next one at 8:10 we got stuck in traffic a bit. Transfering to the red line I had to put more $ on my CTA card, so I missed the train by seconds also. Three southbound trains flew by before the northbound red line came shooting through the tunnel under state street. I get to BedBathandBeyond at exactly 9am only to find that this particular store has changed its hours and does not open unti 9:30. I stood in the doorway looking pretty sad I guess, because when one of the workers saw me he motioned and asked if I wanted to get in. He unlocked the door and welcomed me inside (it was only about 9:05 or so). A female worker walked over looking shocked, "Did you know that only managers can unlock the doors?! You weren't supposed to do that." My salesperson looked scared "Oh my gosh, I didn't know, I didn't know. Please don't tell. Don't tell the manager." He guided me around a showcase and we looked back towards where the office of the store was located. A glaring face was directed in our direction. He leaves me to wait as he walks back to talk to her for a few seconds looking super scared and nervous, then comes and tells me that I can stay. We maneuver through people still setting up the store and he leads me to what I need and then walks quickly back to the front of the store telling me to "take my time". Unfortunately the color I wanted was under a pile of stuff about 5 feet thick, so I had to dig it out under heavy stuff. I hear "All workers come to the front for the morning huddle". Eventually I find what I need and head towards the front. I didn't really want to disturb the meeting, but I was set on booking it back to Hyde Park as fast as possible, so I literally walked through the middle of their meeting to the cash registers and someone stepped out of the huddle to help me. $13 later I was happy, although lugging a heavy awkward shape organizer back to the El. I transfered to the 6 at 8:40 and thought that I might be golden still--able to get back to Hyde Park by 10 and be only a little bit late. Nope. I came to the my advisor's office all hot and dripping with sweat and much too late to talk. Darn. I hope Mineralogy lab goes better than my morning has.

A Satisfying Night
Paul and I finished watching the first season of 24 this evening. It was so good. I can't wait til the second season comes out on DVD! :o)
Mihra and Audrey had an apt-warming party tonight. I met up with Carla and Rachel and walked over. It was so good to see them all again! I'm looking forward to another Kodai reunion soon.

More Letdowns
You know, when you think things are finally on a roll and starting to look up, it's the most opportune time for something to smack you back down. Murphy's Law. My day was looking up. My first BioDiversity Lab was actually pretty fun. I measured the length and diameter of about 13 Mammalian femurs and then 3 dinosaur femurs (tyranasaurus, triceratops!), did a little analysis, and then gave a little presentation to my lab class (which is all girls, surprisingly). Jeremy bought me dinner because my meal plan still has not been changed by the housing office, and eating back at Pierce was actually a real treat. Dorm food really isn't that bad. AND, the best part of my day. Coming back after dinner to an empty apartment. Read=time to clean and have my room all to myself. First things first, I grabbed my laundry and headed downstairs. Recently I've been seen around campus in the "leftovers" of my closet since all of my pants and numerous needed other pieces of clothes have been sitting in my field course bag unopened and very dirty. So, happily I put three loads in the washer, then the dryer. All the while spending the extra time in between catching up on emails in the computer lab, chatting on AIM and buying online my Mineralogy textbook at a very cheap price. I was pretty content with my day at that moment, and was anxious to finally organize the rest of my room and clothes into place. But, standing outside of my 5C room and inserting my key into the lock I see the lock spinning with the turn of the key. This is not a good sign. The door will NOT unlock, and the doorknob will not turn at all. Crap. I'm locked out and now sitting in the computer lab until Maintanence comes (soon I hope) to let me back in.

Update: I'm back in my room. It's 11:20, marking exactly 4 hours of being locked out. Maintenance came and could not get in. My RH tried for 20 minutes to unlock the door with no success. I tried for more than an hour. After Maintenance came and failed you know what the school officials told my RHs? That they were going to send someone in the morning, and that we were to sleep in the lounge, or on the floor somewhere. What?!?! They would actually do that to us? I couldn't believe it. Luckily, my RH wouldn't take that as an answer and tried to call someone higher up to find a better solution (such as the school dolling out the big $$ to get a 24 hour locksmith to break open our lock). Eventually we got through to this lady who said that we could stay in the guest rooms at the Shoreland. She had called over there and they had them ready and waiting for us, she even took down all our names. That made me a bit more relieved, at least I would have a bed for the night. But everything else was still inside my room which I needed for the morning. Sylve, one of my roommate came back to the apartment around 10pm and when she too couldn't get in came over to sit with me in the RHs apartment. Eventually, around 11pm two guys who were friends of the Maintenance guy (we really have no idea who they are) who were skilled at breaking open locks came and busted open our door. Sylvie and I breathed a sigh of relief, and they guys explained that the lock was completely broken. They had dismanteled it piece by piece and had taken it out of the door, so right now we have a hole where our lock should be. After a ton of thankyous I walked into the apartment and over to my room. To my surprise, my door was closed--not how I had left it. I opened it to find my roommate Karin sitting at her computer!!!! She had just woken up from a long long nap. Apparently, she had come back to the apartment just minutes before I came up and was locked out and had immediately fallen asleep. Even after my repeated knocking and lock key hassling, Maintenance coming and the RHs trying to get in, Sylvie trying to get in and knocking loudly, AND then guys dismantling our entire lock...she hadn't heard a thing! Jetlag really does knock you out. What a crazy ridiculous night!

This link is stolen from Paul, but I thought it worth passing along:

THE END MATTER
by Louis Menard
The nightmare of citation.

Did I cite that right? ;o)

Not a Good Sign
Last night as I was about to respond to some emails I had received I moved my computer off my lap and laid it down on my bed so that I could move to a different spot (I still don't have a working desk in my room, since when I moved into my dorm-apartment it was already falling apart). Somehow in that process I got tangled with my ethernet line and then heard a snap. My ethernet connector (the part attaching the cord to my compuer) was COMPLETELY busted with wires sticking out and chunks of plastic looking very jagged. I tried to inspect the damage to my computer, but didn't see that much. I was hoping that I could just go to the Computer Store on campus and replace that part.
I just went over there and held up my broken piece for the worker to look at. A look of shock spread over her face. "Uhhhhhh. Uhhhhh. That's pretty broken. See right here? It looks like part of your memory card snapped and came out with it. Ummm. You're really going to have to bring in your whole computer for us to inspect."
Great. Just what I needed.