Being fed up with long walks through the blazing heat of lot 59, here is my reasoning for spending the extra dollar for a parking structure:

1) Paying for a structure is still relatively cheap. This year, a structure costs $159, while lot 59 is only $50. By comparison, using the pay lots for only ONE month costs a maximum of $100. Even if the cost of a structure goes up to $200 next year, it will still be cheaper by %78 than using pay parking for 9 months

2) A structure is a fixed distance from campus. In a structure, I will never again have to walk from Tempe Butte, all the way AROUND Sun Devil Stadium to get to my classes. Think of the emotional distress I can avoid. In a structure, there will always be a spot for me, and even if I am the last one to arrive, I will still be closer to my classes than if I get to lot 59 at 8:30 in the morning.

Now all I have to do is remember to buy a parking pass at the soonest allowable time, because structures fill up fast, especially if I want the one closest to my office and lab.

I went on a cool field trip this weekend. Saturday, we went up near Sunset crater and looked at lava flows. Specifically, we were looking for caliche development, and we found it on even the youngest (900 year old) lava flows. Our class is trying to figure out if caliche could possibly form on Mars. If it did, then we may be able to measure the carbon isotope fractionation in it. An abundance of light isotopes may imply the presence of life sometime in Martian history. Sunday, we went to the Grand Canyon to look at the spectacular geology and cherts, AKA the amber of the precambrian. I saw some things for the first time, and I learned some new things about the Grand Canyon. I was really excited when our prof pointed out the Unkar Delta, something I had written a paper about for another class. We didn't really talk about why chert was important for astrobiology, but all the stories about the Grand Canyon were very cool. Now I want to go hiking there. I want to go to Unkar Delta and Hance's asbestos mine (4'' long fibers!), but chances are both of those are off limits.

Ack! I'm so busy this week! Usually I do thermo homework over the weekend, but this weekend I have a kick-ass field trip to Sunset Crater and the Grand Canyon. Consequently, I have to do all my thermo homework this week. It just so happens to suck especially hard too. So, I'd love to chat a little, but I have to go differentiate hyperbolic trig functions. Au revoir!

I saw this in The Onion, and I thought it was hilarious. I guess it's kind of an inside joke between Kelly and me.

Supreme Court Cock-Blocks Iowa Man
WASHINGTON, DC—By an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court cock-blocked Des Moines, IA, bar patron Jon Carmody Friday, severely curtailing his power to score with fellow bar-goer Megan Navarre. "Carmody's right to put the moves on Navarre does not and cannot be construed to supersede this court's right to hit on her, too," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion. "That Carmody scored last weekend with that blonde girl at P.J.'s serves to illustrate that he's had enough for now. We will preclude the shit out of that tool getting any from Navarre."

By the way, I was watching more Sopranos, and the son was wearing a long-sleeved version of a shirt that I had in college. I guess I had better taste in clothes than I thought.

The new season of television is starting up at the end of this month, and I'm a little excited. I'm looking forward to a new season of The Simpsons, Smallville, and Alias. I failed to get Kelly hooked on Smallville, but I hope that she'll get into Alias, because I think it is a really great show. She likes Sex in the City, Six Feet Under, and The Sopranos. They're all HBO shows, so I've never seen them before until she showed them to me. Sex in the City is OK, but it's definitely geared towards women, and sometimes I get bored of their antics. I don't know why Kelly won't let me watch Six Feet Under. She says I probably wouldn't like it. As for the Sopranos, I'm kindof excited for that, since I usually enjoy good mob dramas (like the Godfather trilogy). Kelly doesn't know this, but I'm preparing for this season. Last night I rented the first DVD of season three, so I can catch up on the plotlines and not be totally clueless for season four. Unfortunately, it is season three, so I don't know what happened the first two seasons. I've watched the first episode so far, and all I can tell is that Tony ordered the murder of one of his employee's twin brother, but I don't know why. And the cops are bugging his house, but I don't know why because I don't know what Tony's involved in yet. It seems like a pretty good show so far, but I need to see some more episodes to really make up my mind.

Yeah, everything worked out for me and my thermo book. It came today, but that's still 11 days after I ordered it. Fortunately, I don't have to just sit and take it, so I gave the seller a shitty feedback rating. Ha Ha! Revenge is soooo sweet!

Speaking of sweet, Kelly met me today outside my French class. Tracy was there too. I kind of guessed she might show up, but it still made my day. She loves me so much, and it makes me happy.

Here's an update to my sordid tale of my textbooks. This is for my Thermo book.

Once upon a time, there was a young (1st edition) thermodynamic textbook who lived at the Arizona State University bookstore. Its name was Thermal Physics, and it lived happily on the Shelves with all the other textbooks. A young happy-go-lucky man wanted to own this book, but unfortunately, it cost $45. Wishing to save much money this semester on textbooks, the man went to the science library and looked up the book's cousins. There were three: one was being born, one already had a master, and one was sitting on the library Shelves. When the man went to look for the book, he discovered that was not living on the Shelves, but had run away. Then the man found someone on the internet who wanted to trade his book for $38. This seemed a good deal to the man, so he agreed to the trade. However, the book had to travel a long way, and would take many days to reach him. But the man needed the book now, so he went again to the ASU bookstore to buy a new book, which he could then return later for a full refund when he received his slightly cheaper version. Alas, the ASU bookstore had no copies of the book, so the man spent three days (plus or minus two days) looking for anyone who had the book. He finally found the book at a bookstore on College Avenue and purchased it, with the intent of returning it later for a full refund.

Now our story becomes complex. At this point in time, the man owned two copies of the book, one in his hand and one that was travelling to his office. The book in his hand could only be returned before the magical date of September 09, 2002. Three days before the magic date, his travelling book had not yet arrived, and the man began to worry. His plan hinged on receiving book on route before returning his book in hand. Then, respite came for the man, because the lost library book had now been found. The man quickly changed his plan. First, he bought a book from the bookstore until the library book was found, then he used the library book until his travelling book arrived. The man desperately hoped this new plan would prove successful. ... To Be Continued

ASU is pissing me off. With such a ginourmous university, you'd think they could keep their goddamn servers up and running! I don't have alot of free time anymore, so when I want to check my email, I want to be able to check it. I can't even get to the main page! At least I had a nice three day weekend. It took me all that time to do my thermo homework, anyways. I kept making stupid mistakes. There's a point in a physics problem when you think to yourself, "It shouldn't be this difficult". Once you get to that point, you've probably done something wrong. Sure, they sometimes have complicated integrals and stuff, but even though they may be long, they are always solveable. The important thing is to make progress. I start to get stressed if I don't make progress, and it's hard for me to enjoy other things. That's why I get in such a good mood when I finish a problem, and I feel like rewarding myself with kisses from Kelly or video games.

Hmm. Let's go see if ASU is online again.