Merry Christmas, everyone!

Kelly got a cute new haircut. I love it! My baby's got bangs!

Remember how I had to write two proposals for orals? Well, I decided to put the second one online, in case any directionless grad student needs an idea for a good, easy project. My committee thought this one was better than my real project!

I finally finished my revised draft of my paper for Science! The figures are done and everything is formatted correctly. Now it's time for Tom to tear it to shreds. I'll be so glad when it's ready to submit it.

I like my new haircut. It's a reverse mullet--long on top; short in the back. I'm also glad the semester is over. All I have to do is a homework set this weekend and I'll be done with classes. I still have things to do, but at least there's one less thing to worry about.

Steve gave Kelly a Prince greatest hits CD set and said he was a "secret admirer". I don't like that. I can't control what Steve does, but I wish Kelly didn't get all excited about it.

I'm excited! I get to go to Dolce today.

Good luck on your physics test today, Kelly!

new pics are up on my LOMO page! I've got pictures from the park, Seattle, North Dakota, and a cool-looking developer's mistake. See if you can find the Space Needle!

I saw a weird movie this weekend--Der Golem. It's a silent film and an early example of German Expressionism. It's also one of the first monster movies. The basic story is that the Jews in Prague are being persecuted, and one rabbi decides to call up a demon to get the secret word to bring the Golem to life. The Golem, by the way, is just a clay statue. The Rabbi places the secret word in a pentagram-shaped phylactery on the Golem's chest to bring him to life. Removing the phylactery will turn him back into a statue. First, the Golem is nice and does many odd jobs for the Rabbi. Then the Rabbi brings the Golem to the Emporer. When the Golem saves the emporer's life, the Jews are spared. But soon after, the Golem turns evil because the power of his life comes from a demon. He runs rampant throughout the town because nobody can remove the phylactery. Then, after the Golem breaks the city gates, he meets some young children playing. He is filled with kindness, and picks up one of the children, who, out of curiosity, removes the pentagram. The day is saved.

The ending really reminds me of the scene in Frankenstein (1931) with the little girl picking flowers. I wonder if that scene, where the monster throws the girl into the lake, is a response to the final scene in Der Golem (1920), where a child saves the day.

I love Fridays. But I gotta study this weekend for Solid State Chemistry. Plus I have to wash my non-chick magnet car.

I'm finding it difficult to cope with the fact that my car is not the chick magnet I think it is. I just think it's so cool, but I must be super biased. Kelly is always saying I'm in love with my car. I just don't understand. Plus, I hate it when Beth is right.

Beth seems to think her car is a better chick magnet than mine. She supports her argument with an apparently unbiased survey of GLG103 students. Well, Beth, how many chicks have you picked up with your car? That's what I thought.

Brad: 1
Beth: 0

Small enough to know you, but large enough to serve you.

North Dakota was an adventure! There are many good memories: 5 hour layover in Minnesota, closed Mall of America, Kelly driving off the road, my meatballs, snowballs, more driving off the road, crappy parade, crazy old lady humming. Yep, and Kelly's grandparents are really nice. Do you know what the motto of McVille (pronounced "MAC-ville") is? "Small enought to know you, but big enough to serve you"

This day got bad pretty quickly. I finally gave Kelly that letter my mom wrote. I knew it contained some baby pictures of me and a note about "girl stuff", but I didn't know it was about my mom's pregnancy. Of course, this totally pissed Kelly off, and with good reason. It's way over the line. My mom claims she talks about this all the time with coworkers, but she's always been pretty clueless. Kelly doesn't want kids, and she doesn't drink milk, and she feels that when my mom talks about these things, she's pressuring Kelly. She's really not, but again, she's also clueless.

But that's not the worst. Kelly said she wanted to break up, and I finally understood when she says "punched in the heart". After I left her house, I couldn't stop crying. I know it sounds pitiful, but I didn't know what to do about the situation, and I feel like it's all my fault (although, reasonably, some amount of blame can be placed on all parties involved). My parents don't know that Kelly likes her interpersonal relationships a certain way with well defined boundaries, and I didn't do my part in explaining this fact.

So I called my mom and yelled at her. I've never yelled at my parents like that before, and it didn't feel good. It never feels good to yell, and it never feels good to hurt someone's feelings. But I did it because it needed to be done. My mom needed to know these things and understand how important they are for Kelly's comfort level and my happiness. I did it because I love Kelly.

I feel like shit now. I feel like everyone is mad at me. I have to constantly keep back tears. I hate myself for being so wussy about all this. I just want everybody to get along. After 25 years, I've learned to just ignore my mom and not take her seriously, but I keep forgetting that Kelly doesn't do this. I'm sorry, Kelly, for not understanding earlier. I don't want to break up. I just want to live together and be happy. Please don't push me away for some stupid thing my mom did.

I had a really good training session on the TEM today. It was basically and advanced lab, but we talked alot about theory. Peter Crozier is really smart. Good thing he's on my graduate committee.

In other news, Kelly asked to watch the Two Towers with me. I am highly suspicious, but I'm happy to explain why I think it's so cool whenever I can (unless of course there are a bunch of nerds already doing the same thing, and then the conversation somehow always ends up about Star Trek).

All is well. No need to worry. I don't try to change Kelly, and Kelly doesn't try to change me.

Kelly and I had thanksgiving with her family early this year, since we'll both be in NoDak then. Tofurky is not that bad. It tastes like tofu with flavor. I don't really like turkey, or any bird meat, anyways.

no meat no dairy make brad mad

Yay! I got my special edition DVD of the Two Towers! Oh, Kelly is going to hate me now. In other news, I love Kelly! Also, Beth is giving her senior thesis today, and I'm going to go and heckle her. But seriously, I'm supposed to keep Adam from harrassing her. And I have a surprise for her too.

Oh, and we had a good weekend in Cherry, trying to finish mapping our field area. There is an unmapped hole in the middle, but a few volunteers can clear that up another weekend right quick. I don't know if there are other holes in the map. But I'd like to help, especially since I've been in the hole, and I kindof know what to expect.

Kelly and I saw Matrix Revolutions yesterday. It was pretty cool. It didn't have the cool action scenes like the first two, but it did have a big battle in Zion, and wrapped up the storyline (somewhat).

my GSA poster is now online!

Oh, what a week. The GSA conference for the first half, and Tracy & James's Las Vegas wedding over the weekend. I'm so glad all this is over. I even took Monday off to recuperate.

Right now I'm at ASU, and it's Veteran's Day. It's a little spooky, since nobody is here. It's disorienting, but not as much as Vegas is.

So I just want to say congrats to Tracy and James Townerkins-Bear, and to Beth for her 15 minutes of fame. Oh, and if you ever see me wasted at a party, be sure to ask me about the time I ran into Chris Cornell in Seattle. Have fun y'all!

Beth says my new rock isn't bornite. Well, what is it then? Huh? I didn't think so!

Just kidding. I thought it was bornite because it was dark but had all those colors, and bornite is the "peacock ore". I probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but that's typical for grad students. (wink)

They left a long, awkward table in the computer lab. I didn't know Tom ordered a table. It's really too long and skinny to be of any use, and it screws up my whole furniture arrangement. I had to take out a desk and a bookcase to make room for it. For stupid. At least we have a meeting table now.

Looks like someone left me some bornite in my mailbox. Thanks!

And good luck on your physics test, Kelly.

I had a great TEM session yesterday. I found some weird filaments, and I don't know what they are or how they got there. In other news, I love Kelly a bunch!

Here's some interesting and funny Japanese onomatopoeia:

sound of a small dog "kyan kyan"
sound of a large dog "wan wan"
sound of a cat "nya nya"
sound of a rooster "kokekokko"
sound of a pig "buu buu"
sound of pouring rain "zaa zaa"
sound of a heart in love "doki doki"
a mess all spread out "bara bara"
something old and delapidated "boro boro"

Kelly got me an Ugly Doll for my birthday! Say hello to Jeero!

Happy Birthday to....Me! I'm 25 today and glad I'm finally out of that sky high auto insurance bracket. Kelly and I had an absolutely wonderful birthday weekend in Flagstaff. We hiked up Humphrey's Peak a little ways, and while we were doing that we came up with a nerdy science joke.

" A physicist, a biologist, and a geologist are going to climb a mountain. The physicist says, 'No matter how I go up the mountain, I will end up doing the same amount of Work, because Work is path-independent.' So the physicist climbs straight up the side of the mountain. The biologist says, 'I wish to keep my body in homeostasis in order to be most efficient.' So the biologist sets out spiraling up the mountain at a constant low slope. The geologist starts up the trail but only gets ten feet up the mountain because he gets sidetracked by the first outcrop he sees."

Pretty funny, right?

We also tried to think up some other punchlines.

"The chemist just dissolves the mountain with acid."
"The crystallographer just finds the symmetry of the mountain, and walks to an equivalent point at the base of the mountain."
"The historian just sits at the base of the mountain and reads an account of somebody else who climbed it."
"The sociologist stays at the base of the mountain and asks what everybody else is doing."
"The ecologist tries to keep everybody else off the mountain to preserve the delicate ecosystem."
"The mathematician calculates the height of the mountain using trigonometry and is satisfied with that."
"The astrobiologist looks at an anthill at the base of the mountain as an analog and claims that there is a race of intelligent super-insects at the top."
"The psychologist just talks about how the mountain is a phallic symbol and represents the 'Unattainable.'"
"The political scientist does whatever his party (or the special interest group that gives him the most money) tells him to do."

Boy, don't I feel smart today.

We had a philosopher who gave a talk about Astrobiology. I'll try to summarize his main points, because I think they're interesting, and add some of my own.

1. LIFE is defined NOT by fundamental principles (which must also be defined) NOR by entropy arguments (which allow too much) but by minimal DARWINIAN NATURAL SELECTION. Anything that has INHERITANCE, VARIABILITY in inheritance, and FITNESS dependence on inherited traits is alive. This does not make any assumptions on mechanisms, but does necessitate some form of reproduction.

2. ETHICS are a set of rules that define how we treat SENTIENT beings. By definition, anything that is not sentient has no ethical value. However, non-sentient things may have indirect value by their relationship to us. For example, you don't shoot your neighbor's cat because it has an inherent right to live. Instead, you don't shoot your neighbor's cat because your neighbor places aesthetic value in that cat, and it is ethical to respect your neighbor's wishes. This applies to life on MARS. If we find life on Mars, we have to decide what to do with it. Initially, life on Mars has value to us because we can learn new information about life in the universe. However, what if a situation arises where we have to colonize Mars or die (Earth will explode or something)? We will have to make an ethical decision whether Martian bacteria have an intrinsic right to life or we have the right to destroy it to terraform the planet. Since we are SENTIENT, the Martian bacteria are less important, so we colonize Mars instead of accepting certain death.

3. There are many problems with #2. US policy, especially the endangered species acts, suggests that our society thinks that all life has a basic ETHICAL VALUE regardless of it's benefit to us. Consider all the higher-order endangered species that would not affect us if they ceased to exist. Or consider endangered fish that cause us to not build a dam, which would benefit us immensely. It also brings up another problem, that SENTIENCE is a threshhold property. This is an arbitrary, anthropomorphic property. Vegetarians and Vegans think that being ANIMAL is the threshhold, not sentience.

4. Ethics are entirely SUBJECTIVE, arising from instincts and evolution. There are no UNIVERSAL ethical principles. We could come across a sentient alien race that has totally different ethics than us. The only way to have universal ethics is through EVOLUTIONARY CONVERGENCE, which we have no way of knowing right now.

5. As humans, we are limited by our empirical knowledge. When we see a dog acting human, we have NO way of knowing if that dog is making ethical decisions or not. There are two possibilities. First, the dog is not sentient at all, and we are interpreting his actions in an anthropomorphic point of view. Second, the dog is making mental DECISIONS (not instincts or learned behaviors) to act or react in a certain manner. Since we cannot make the distinction between these two possibilities, how can we determine if the dog has ethical value (including the right to life)?

6. Humans are both RATIONAL and IRRATIONAL. Think about people who have irrational fears. There is no rational reason to be scared, but they are scared none the less. Just because we make an ethical decision about what is RIGHT or WRONG, that doesn't mean we will DESIRE to do the right thing. Suppose the principle in #2 is correct. Therefore, the WRONG reason to be vegetarian or vegan is because we feel sorry for the animals. The RIGHT reason to be vegetarian or vegan is because high-density feed lots or overfishing (etc.) are bad for the environment, and hence bad for us. The former is an IRRATIONAL reason, while the latter is the RATIONAL one. Omnivores, therefore, have an IRRATIONAL reason for eating meat, because they just want to. Dostoyevsky loved talking about this kind of stuff. Of course this all assumes #2, and there are many other issues surrounding this question that I don't have time to discuss.

7. I will posit again the previous ethical question: The Earth will blow up, and everything on it will die. However, we have just enough time to move our civilization (and even many Earth species) to Mars. We have discovered life on Mars. If we move to Mars, we will have to terraform it, and will destroy all Martian life. Do we respect Martian life and die, or do we kill Martian life and survive? What is the ethical thing to do? What will humans ultimately do? Is there a difference between the two? Why?

8. Here's another ethical question: There is a stranded boat in the middle of the ocean. Inside are an 80-year old woman, a 20-year old man, and a young puppy. They have no food. YOU must decide which one will die to feed the others. There are really only three options. 1) the puppy dies because it isn't sentient. 2) the old woman dies because her life is basically over. 3) they all have an equal right to life, so you decide by chance. What do YOU choose? What does your choice say about your ethics? What is the most probable solution? Would (or should) the problem change if the puppy were replaced by a jar of bacteria?

9. I would also like to mention that after the talk, the speaker made a comment that I was pretty quiet the whole time, while everybody else was talking and making (mostly idiotic) comments about how this guy was totally wrong. He said my quietness probably means I had everything figured all out. I liked hearing that. ;-)

Kelly and I are going to Flagstaff this weekend for our birthdays. We want to climb Humphrey's Peak one last time before the weather gets too bad. And it's perfect hiking weather too. 70 degrees and no rain in Flagstaff. I guess it will be a little chilly at the top.

I finally got to replace all my tools that were stolen a while ago. The insurance company is being really anal about it all. They only gave us about 25% of the total. We are supposed to buy all our stuff, and then fill out paperwork to get the rest of the money. It's such a hassle. I would almost rather pay more for insurance if they just gave you what you asked for without all this haggling and red tape.

But at least I got all my tools back. And I did get a new torque wrench out of it.

Is soy bad for you?
1. yes
2. for certain people
3. only in overabundance

How's everybody doin'? Well I'm doing just fine.

I had a good weekend out by Cherry. On Sunday we mapped a large chunk of basement, and may have found the mysterious "Laramide granodiorite". Joe also found a bunch on the other side of the hill, and his outcrop matches up with mine, so it may be a dike.

Have fun!

sorry for the delay. I've been too busy getting liquored up in celebratory madness. By the way, I passed my orals with no conditions, so I am now an official Ph.D. candidate. Yay!

Orals today. I finished the talks and answered all their questions, and now I'm waiting for their decision.

Here's a good quote from the Onion in their review of Anything Else.

"Who would have thought that starring in a Woody Allen movie would prove an artistic demotion from pastry-fucking in a teen-sex comedy? Yet [Jason] Biggs' anxious, flop-sweat-drenched performance as a divorced 21-year-old comedy writer makes his performance in the American Pie movies look sublime and restrained by comparison."

I had mocks today. Tough but informative. I also got an email from Tom about another EELS guy at ASU who got a hold of my proposal and is making comments about it to my committee members. Not good comments either. I don't know if I need to talk to this guy or not. I'm tired and stressed. Leave me alone.

Session 2 pics are online! I tried to experiment with long exposures, so a lot of pictures came out fuzzy. I also screwed up the distance setting a few times as well. Oh, and the developer screwed up some pictures as well, giving them a red tint. Oh well. Live and learn. Your assignment is to find Beth. Check out the two-headed dog! And the creepy Ring-esqe pictures.

Even Italians love anime!

I just turned in my two proposals for orals...and may God have mercy on my soul.

Strange things are afoot on the 6th floor. Today I discovered a mysterious token in my mailbox. Whover could have done such a thing? The game is afoot!

My brain is mush. I left my copy card at Noble library twice today!

They're having an 80% off sale at the cell phone shop! I got my $30 car charger for $6!

In other news, sorry for not blogging much, or reading other people's blogs, but I'm swamped with proposals for my oral exam. Both proposals are due monday, and I haven't even started writing my second one (I spent the past two days reading papers). Fortunately, I finished my revised draft of my first proposal, so that one is basically done.

So I'm back from the synchrotron. I was working from 8AM till after midnight, nonstop. It's one of those things where you have to keep working as long as the microscope is working, becuase you never know when things will fuck up. It was also mind-numbingly boring. It was basically click and wait the whole time. Each image takes a few minutes to record, so it takes forever to set up things the way you want them to look. Then you set up a "stack" which is a series of images at different energies (about 200 images) and let that run for 6 - 10 hours (depending on how you set things up). That's the time you get to sleep. Of course, if you run a stack during the day, you have to sit and talk with the guy working with you for that whole time, just waiting for something to go wrong.

The ironic thing is, for all that time I spent, I don't have any data! I didn't realize that there is extra data processing to be done. So the technician for the microscope is supposed to analyze my data and send it to me in a week or two. But I don't have time to worry about that...I have proposals to write for my Ph.D. exam!

Are you kidding me? CNN.com - HK store's Nazi theme sparks fury - Aug. 10, 2003

Hey, if you have the Google Toolbar you can add a Blog button so you can blog anytime you want just from your web browser!

DORK ALERT: Today I saw on campus a guy wearing bright red baggy shorts, a bright red t-shirt, and tall, spiky hair dyed bright red. He also had on soap shoes (the kind people slide around on). He looked like a walking troll doll.

I also saw a cute, white Grand Vitara, and I got all excited. Silly me.

I forgot to mention yesterday that this past weekend, Kelly and I went camping. On Sunday we went to Box Canyon in the Field Camp area, and it was cool. We decided to hike down the canyon as far as we could go. It was fun wading through deep water, and swimming through even deeper pools. It wasn't always easy, and the water level was high (since it had rained recently). We got as far as the bend in the canyon when we ran into a 30 ft cliff and waterfall. That was a really nice, romantic spot. In order to go farther, you'd have to climb up the side of the canyon, walk downstream a ways, then climb back down to the creek. It's doable, but we thought we should head back instead. I can't believe how much fun Kelly and I have together.

In other news, it rained this morning...hard. On my way to school, I skidded when I made a right turn. Now I always wondered how I would react in a serious skid. Would I panic, or would I remember to turn into the skid. Well, I guess it's pretty much instinctual with me. I felt myself sliding, and without even thinking I was rolling the steering wheel the other way. Then I started sliding to the other side, so I compensated for that, turning the wheel less. I slid back to the first side again before I got the car straightened out. It was a little scary, but also fun because I kicked ass so much. I felt like a stunt driver. Kelly's probably pissed at me about this, so I'll be very careful when making turns from now on.

I had to get gas this morning, and I've never had to wait before. There was a six car line at the station I went to. Luckily, it moved quickly. Apparently, it was much worse yesterday. Arizona gets all its gasoline from California and Texas, and a few weeks ago, the pipeline from Tucson to Phoenix burst. So since then they've been trucking gas in from Tucson. That means gas stations have been getting fewer shipments, and they haven't been able to keep up with demand. More demand than supply. Well, yesterday demand finally exceeded supply. Until they get that pipeline fixed (no thanks to the government and their inefficient regulatory process) there might be a slight gas shortage.

I think I've caught Kelly's cold.

I was going to do TEM this morning, but I couldn't logon to the microscope. Even though I've gotten a new code, it hasn't been put in the access computer yet, so I can't use any of the TEMs. On top of that, all the TEM staff are out of town this week for a conference. I don't know if the guy who's here can even access the access computer! I sent him an email, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I may just have to wait until next week to get anything done.

The only good that can come out of this is if this guy can enter my new code into the computer. Since all the staff is out of town, almost nobody has signed up for time on the microscopes. That means if I am able to, I can get on the TEM whenever I want. Plus, I can save money by only being charged for the time I use instead of a whole block of time (which happens when you sign up).

I just found out Tom's astrobiology account is overdrawn. Everyone is scrambling to find money to pay for everything, like all the lab supplies I just ordered, travel reimbursements, and most importantly, my salary. Tom says I can still RA in the fall, but I still might not get my paycheck today unless they find some money elsewhere.

Why does the X-ray technician have to show up while I'm on the TEM? I got kicked off the microscope 2/3 of the way through my session, and I only got half the data I wanted. The good thing is that I figured out the parameters to use, so from now on I can just get on and measure spectra without having to adjust too many things. But come on! Talk about bad timing.

My garage got broken into this weekend. All my dad's powertools are gone, as well as three internal frame backpacks to carry them. All I lost was my toolbox, which was about $200 total worth of stuff. The total loss is around $2000. As soon as the insurance check gets here, I should be able to replace everything I need, since I had a whole set of standard sockets that didn't even fit my car. That socket set and an imaginary $60 torque wrench should be enough to offset any deductible that gets taken out of my $200. Maybe I can even get some new tools that I didn't have before, like a real torque wrench.

I also want to mention that Kelly was wonderfully supportive through all this. I really appreciate her efforts to make my day easier for me. I love her so much.

Well, I'm back from Houston, and boy was it muggy. Actually it was a welcome relief from the dry heat of Arizona. I learned to use a microtome, which is a really cool machine that cuts extremely thin slices. It could easily cut a piece of paper into ten thinner pieces (but not full size pages of course)! Now I get to order all this equipment to do my own microtomy with a machine that they have here at ASU. I love spending other people's money!

I finally finished Middlesex, which took me a little over two months to read because of it's length. It's an outstanding book, and really interesting. I would recommend it to everyone, but I also understand that the subject matter is not for everyone. Not everyone is comfortable reading about a hermaphrodite. But I loved it.

Well, I'm off to Houston for a day, and I'm taking along John McPhee's "Annals of a Former World", which also won a Pulitzer Prize. It's actually a collection of five books, but I've only read the first one so far.

Speaking of famous people, Kelly and I saw Kevin Kline today at Bella Italia pizzaria (Chandler & 48th). He looks different in person than in the movies, so we debated about it, but in the end we came to the conclusion that it was Mr. Kline. The host recognized him too, so it's not just us.

I cannot stress how much the new FOX show Banzai sucks! It is offensive on so many levels!

My brother called my mom yesterday and told her this story:

My brother, who lives in LA, is friends with an older woman who has a 15 year old son. Recently, at the supermarket, the son noticed that a "middle eastern" man had left his wallet at the checkout. As any good boy scout would do, the son grabbed the wallet and chased after the man to return it. The man was very grateful, and offered to give the son a reward for his good deed. Apparently, the wallet was loaded with large bills, and the son was offered $200. The son refused, and the man became annoyed. Then he said, "Well, I'm very grateful to you, so I will save your life. Don't drink any dark-colored cola for the next one to two years." Then the man promptly left. The son told his mom, and they called the police, but they were laughed at.

This seems pretty scary to me, but you have to keep in mind that I'm probably hearing this FOURTH-hand, and my mom is not always a reliable source (nor my brother for that matter). Either way, it bothered me enough to research it on the internet. I found out that this is a HOAX. Here's some more info about it. Here too. This story has been circulating on the internet and by word of mouth since 2001. I'm sure my brother doesn't really know this woman and her son, but read about it in an email, and my mom was confused about the whole thing.

The only problem is that this version of the story is different from all the other versions. In the other versions, the man doesn't have enough money to pay; he doesn't lose his wallet. Also, in the other versions, there is a date, on which the "attack" will begin (which probably gives it away that they are hoaxes).

Either way, we all should probably drink less soda anyway for health reasons. If we can scare people into being healthy, I'm all for it!

check out my new LOMO webpage! Look at me... being all artistic and shit. I wonder why half the pictures have Ed in them.

Did you know that Sanrio makes condoms?

I had a great 4th of July weekend. I went camping with Kelly's family up on the Rim. We didn't do much hiking because the dog is developing a limp (maybe arthritis), but we played lots of cards. I took everybody to Box Canyon, and they loved it ...until all these people showed up. Then we had to leave. When we got home I tried a recipe from my new Italian cookbook. Everybody thought the vegetarian lasagna was excellent.

In case you didn't already know how to use the toilet...

Red pandas are cool!

Kelly's room is tiled and grouted, but it's still empty. I think her dad is moving in furnature today, and I'll rearrange everything this afternoon. Beth is back in town, and we all had dinner at the Bamboo Club last friday, so I guess I can't write anything bad about her anymore. I owe her $10 bucks too.

I looked up Kelly's uber-slow Compaq PC online, and according to ebay, it's worth less than $65. I didn't find a computer like hers, but I found a comperable one that has slightly more RAM. Kelly's computer only has 48MB of RAM! That's why it's so slow. Unfortunately, the max for her computer is 64MB, which probably won't make much of a difference. There's no way around it except to buy a new computer.

Kelly and I are going to be staying in the guest bedroom where there is plenty of room for us to sleep next to each other. Thus, I won't be ditching her to sleep in my own comfortable, calif-king-sized bed.

Summer is here and it is f*ckin' hot! Yesterday was the thirteenth anniversary of the hottest day in Arizona history (122 degrees). That was the first year I came to AZ...what a welcome that was! Anyways, Kelly is getting her room redecorated. Her dad is tearing out the carpet and putting in tile. Unfortunately, that will take a day or two. I have no idea where we will sleep. To be honest, I'd rather sleep in my own bed than on a couch. The reason for staying over at Kelly's house is to be able to sleep next to her, and I can't do that on a couch.

Haven't heard from Beth yet. I wonder what happened to her.

I just heard Beth is coming back from New Zealand this weekend. She's been helping her boyfriend with "field work". She's going to get in trouble for keeping all of us in the dark about her travel plans. Either she's always like this, or she's experiencing the alternate universe of relationships wherein everybody else except for one's significant other ceases to exist. I know that happened to me when I first started going out with Kelly. I didn't see or talk to Clint in over a month. I still really don't.

Boy do I suck at petrology. I seem to write the same things over and over again. Maybe it's because I'm just looking at cherts, which is basically just quartz in different forms, with some carbon thrown in for color (if black can be considered a color). It's also boring. If you think petrology lab was boring, try looking at a bunch of slides of the same thing!

In other news, while biking Lisa got run over by another cyclist and bent her rim. It turns out the new student worker in the geo office was the other rider, so Lisa's been spending all afternoon plotting how to get revenge, or $50 to repair her bike. Note to self: do not EVER make Lisa angry.

Here's another reason why Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides is so good:

As little children Milton and Tessie had shared the same bedrom and bathtub, but that was long ago. Up until recently, Milton thought of Tessie as his prim cousin. Whenever one of his friends expressed interest in her, Milton told them to give up the idea. "That's honey from the icebox," he said, as Artie Shaw might have. "Cold sweets don't spread."

And then one day Milton came home with some new reeds from the music store. He hung his coat and hat on the pegs in the foyer, took out the reeds, and balled the paper bag up in his fist. Stepping into the living room, he took a set shot. The paper sailed across the room, hit the rim of the trashcan, and bounced out. At which point a vioce said, "You better stick to music."

Milton looked to see who it was. He saw who it was. But who it was was no longer who it had been.

Theodora was lying on the couch, reading. She had on a spring dress, a pattern of red flowers. Her feet were bare and that was when Milton saw them: the red toenails. Milton had never suspected that Theodora was the kind of girl who would paint her toenails. The red nails made her look womanly while the rest of her--the thin pale arems, the fragile neck--remained as girlish as always. "I'm watching the roast," she explained.

"Where's my mom?"

"She went out."

"She went out? She never goes out."

"She did today."

"Where's my sister?"

"4-H." Tessie looked at the black case he was holding. "That your clarinet?"

"Yeah."

"Play something for me."

Milton set his instrument case down on the sofa. As he opened it and took out his clarinet, he remained aware of the nakedness of Tessie's legs. He inserted the mouthpiece and limbered up his fingers, running them up and down the keys. And then, at the mercy of an overwhelming impulse, he bent forward, pressing the flaring end of the clarinet to Tessie's bare knee, and blew a long note.

She squealed, moving her knee away.

"That was a D flat," Milton said. "You want to hear a D sharp?"

Tessie still had her hand over her buzzing knee. The vibration of the clarinet had sent a shiver all the way up her thigh. She felt funny, as though she were about to laugh, but she didn't laugh. She was staring at her cousin, thinking, "Will you just look at him smiling away? Still got pimples but thinks he's the cat's meow. Where does he get it?"

"All right," she answered at last.

"Okay," said Milton. "D sharp. Here goes."

That first day it was Tessie's knees. The following Sunday, Milton came up from behind and played his clarinet against the back of Tessie's neck. The sound was muffled. Wisps of her hair flew up. Tessie screamed, but not long. "Yeah, dad," said Milton, standing behind her.

And so it began. He played "Begin the Beguine" against Tessie's collarbone. He played "Moonface" against her smooth cheeks. Pressing the clarinet right up against the red toenails that had so dazzled him, he played "It Goes to Your Feet." With a secrecy they didn't acknowledge, Milton and Tessie drifted off to quiet parts of the house, and there, lifting her skirt a little, or removing a sock, or once, when nobody was home, pulling up her blouse to expose her lower back, Tessie allowed Milton to press his clarinet to her skin and fill her body with music. At first it only tickled her. But after a while the notes spread deeper into her body. She felt the vibrations penetrate her muscles, pulsing in waves, until they rattled her bones and made her inner organs hum.

Milton played his instrument with the same fingers he used for the Boy Scout salute, but his thoughts were anything but wholesome. Breathing hard, bent over Tessie with trembling concentration, he moved the clarinet in circles, like a snake charmer. And Tessie was a cobra, mesmerized, tamed, ravished by the sound. Finally, one afternoon when they were all alone, Tessie, his proper cousin, lay down on her back. She crossed one arm over her face. "Where should I play?" whispered Milton, his mouth feeling too dry to play anything. Tessie undid a button on her blouse and in a strangled voice said, "My stomach."

"I don't know a song about a stomach," Milton ventured.

"My ribs, then."

"I don't know any songs about ribs."

"My sternum?"

"Nobody ever wrote a song about a sternum, Tess."

She undid more buttons, her eyes closed. And in barely a whisper: "How about this?"

"That one I know," said Milton.

I'm baaaack! Field camp was a blast, given that you're the TA. Of course my life is in chaos now, and I'm in the middle of competing routines and habits, but with my lovely girlfriend by my side, I can overcome anything. By the way, as much as I hate to say it, Nalgene bottles are better than Coleman bottles.

Just to warn you guys, I'm leaving to TA field camp this weekend, and I won't be back for three weeks. You'll just have to make do without me.

I had my last final today. I think I did pretty well. But I don't have time to relax just yet 'cause I have to prepare for field camp this weekend.

I asked Tennielle to cut my hair shorter this time so it won't get in my eyes when I'm out in the field. I like it! It feels like I'm bald.

I hope Kelly did well on her Sedimentology final. I'm sure she did fine.

one final down. one to go.

Thank you very much to someone who shall remain nameless (his/her name rhymes with Meth Bartin), who left a lovely gift of a Poppy Red (#744) Prismacolor Verithin colored pencil in my mailbox, which was the last color I needed for field camp. I appreciate your kindness immensely.

In other news, Kelly and I made out at the GeoBanquet yet again!!! When will the insanity end!

Kelly doesn't think the Onion is funny, but I think it's hilarious. Here's on of their "cooking tips" from this week's issue:

"Stone soup gets its fullest, heartiest flavor from sandstone or dark shale. Igneous and metamorphic stones tend to overwhelm the flavor of the vegetables."

Kelly's having a rough day today. First, she was really tired this morning. She slept in a little, so she was behind getting ready for class. Then she ran out of gas on the way to ASU. I brought her some fuel, but then I let her take my car so she wouldn't have to worry about anything. It seems like she's doing better now. I love her and I just want to make sure she's happy. I feel bad when she has a bad day.

First off: Happy Anniversary Kelly!

Guess what, I'm going to be the field camp TA this summer. We had a meeting today to discuss the schedule and some of the basic changes we're going to make. I'm getting excited.

I'm not excited about my favorite show ending. The past three days I have been glued to the TV to watch Manor House on PBS. But it's only six hours long, and it's over now. I thought it was a really interesting show, and some people really showed their true colors when they were in their Edwardian roles. Sir John got really full of himself, and some scullery maids found out just how spoiled they really were. But the person I really hate the most was that tutor. He was such a backstabber, and he couldn't even look somebody in the eye when he talked to them.

I drove on the sedimentary geology field trip to the Grand Canyon this weekend. It was a blast. My van was the cool van. But I didn't realize how tired you get driving those things while everybody else gets to relax. I was beat last night. I'm still pretty worn out today.

On another note, my Visa wants to change the rate on my card from 12% to 17%. My rate is high as it is, but there's no way I'm going to stand for a higher rate. Visa was trying to be sneaky about it by sending a plain-looking notice in a plain-looking envelope. Most people don't even bother to read it, but I did. I guess I have to get a new card now. There's a Visa/Amazon.com card that looks ok. Basically, every $100 you spend gives you $1 at amazon.com (or is it every $1000?).

Kelly and I watched Secretary this weekend...twice. The second time we turned on the director's commentary, which was quite interesting. Kelly likes that movie ALOT! We also went to Barnhardt Canyon on Saturday, which was really nice. We took Ed, and he had a great time playing in the pools. On the way back we came across a guy with four goats. Ed didn't like those so much. I think he prefers to be the largest thing on four legs.

Now that we have broadband internet at my house and a home LAN, I can fix my old computer. I backed up all my documents and mp3s to my laptop, and then burned the files onto CDs (it took 7 of them!). The first day I screwed up and loaded Windows XP without reformatting the hard drive. When my moniter wouldn't work, I decided to put Windows 98 back on, again without reformatting the hard drive. So once it started working again, I noticed that both operating systems were on my computer in the same partition. This is bad news, because things could start to conflict. Plus I still had all the shitty programs that I was trying to get rid of.

After a few days of thinking about the problem, I realized that the first step was to reformat the hard drive. Last night I did that. Everything went pretty smoothly, but my computer doesn't recognize my modem now (not that I really care about modems right now). I was very happy that the computer recognized my moniter, CD-ROM drive, and network adapter. Then I spent most of the rest of the night installing programs from the Windows 98 CD, Windows Update, and other internet programs like WinZip, Adobe Acrobat Reader, PowerPoint Viewer, and Kazaa. I also loaded Works Suite 2002, which came with my laptop, because it has a full version of Word, although the spreadsheet program sucks ass. Everything seems to be working really well now, and my computer is much faster. I'm happy with how everything turned out.

This morning I finished copying all my backup files to the hard drive. I'm also running a little Kazaa test over the weekend to see how downloading files at home compares to downloading files at ASU (which Kelly made me stop doing).

I'd like to do the same thing to Kelly's computer, because it's running worse than mine was, and her monitor driver is not working correctly. I also need to clean her mouse, which I keep forgetting to do.

Lah Dee Dah! I'm blogging again! Not much to say right now. I'm meeting Jack Farmer (AKA Buzz Lightyear) to get some samples with microfossils in them, and I have a few minutes to spare. I'm glad to see that Beth's blog is working now. I hope she does well on her presentation on the Southern Alps today (NOTE: the Southern Alps are not in Italy, as I first thought.)

I want to give a quick shout out to my girl Kelly, for being so nice to me this morning.

Kelly and I watched Donnie Darko in the hot tub last night. It's a pretty good movie. I would recommend it for all fans of sci-fi, or even people who hate sci-fi but like physics.

Here's an update about the film festival. We got to Tucson a little early, so we had dinner at this bistro called Barrio. It was pretty trendy, and I felt underdressed around all those stylish latino girls who worked there. I would have much rather gone to a place like that with Kelly, and I bet she would have liked it. The food was good though it was a little overpriced.

My brother's film was awesome! It was really cool on the big screen. People applauded when it was over, and a few people actually came up to my brother to say how much they liked it. But then everything went downhill, because the film after his was utterly awful. People always joke about how they just saw the worst movie ever made, but I'm being completely serious. That was, without a doubt, the worst film ever made. The acting was terrible. The plot was absolutely vapid. The characters were one-dimensional, completely unrealistic, and didn't even feel like they belonged in the same movie. The weirdest thing were the expensive special effects (involving a stopwatch moving backwards, a magical oven, and a "meteorite" flying across the sky <>). There was a subplot involving the ghost of a cuban baseball player from the 1930's, which turned out to be the main character's grandfather. By the way, the ghost gave the main character some good advice about being true to yourself, which she promptly ignored, basically telling the audience there was no reason for the ghost to even be in the story. Seriously, I wanted to pull a Britney Spears. I wanted to commit suicide. That was 90 minutes of my life I will never get back.

Then it got worse. My brother's friends showed up. I knew one of them from high school. Think of a female version of Adam Jew, but twice as ugly, and wearing cat ears. Then multiply that by three. I know it sounds mean, but my brother actually wanted to hang out with three fat, ugly girls, with nasty hear, and nasty clothes (one was even wearing a beat up Twister shirt!), all wearing those GODDAMN CAT EARS!!! They are all sisters, and their mom showed up two. I haven't seen anyone with feathered hair in a really long time. When the mom found out I was a geologist, she preceded to ask me if I knew anything about the recent space shuttle disaster. I am a goddamn geologists...what the fuck do I know about the space shuttle!!! Then, of course, things had to get worse. My brother and mom wanted to go get desert, but it was after 10PM, so the only thing open was Denny's. GODDAMN DENNYS!!! I am sure as hell not eating anything at Denny's. I ordered a Dr. Pepper, but they served me a nasty Mr. Pibb. So I just sat there sipping my nasty drink, trying not to watch with disgusted fascination the three fat, ugly girls wearing GODDAMN CAT EARS shoveling large amounts of chocolate fudge brownies and chocolate peanut butter pie in those garbage disposals in their faces they call mouths. I would have gladly watched that shitty movie again.

So we got back after 1AM, and surprise surprise, the puppy had pissed and shit all over, so I just said fuck it and went to sleep.

I spent most of last evening installing cable and ethernet lines in my house with my dad. We used the cool Motorola TalkAbouts I just got to communicate in different parts of the house. I got the two-way radios on ebay for really cheap. I guess the market was saturated...a lot of people were selling them. I got mine for 55% off the normal price. They're really cool radios too. They have a digital compass, barometer, and altimeter. Basically, they are top of the line for the 2-mile family radios. I planned to use them out in the field, but they came in real handy last night, trying to feed cable from upstairs to downstairs.

I got a neck cramp today. Seriously! I was yawning after tai chi and all of a sudden the muscle under my jaw cramped up. It felt like my chin was stuck to my neck. I sat down and stretched for a minute, and it was better. But it was still weird as hell.

I caught a glimpse of the ever elusive Tim yesterday (AKA Beth's Boy Toy). He seemed pretty cool. We all had dinner at Plaid, and then some of us went to Kelly's house to play Children's Bible Trivia (the link is only good for five days). Beth is taking a Bible as literature class, so this was like studying for her. It was fun. Then Kelly and I did some major sinning after everybody left.

Oh we got a new month on our hands now! I thought it might rain yesterday, but it didn't. No April showers mean no May flowers, but we'll have plenty of beautiful desert wildflowers anyway. I guess I'm in a better mood, even though I'm really busy now. My parents decided to cancel their phone service (read "not pay their phone bill") and go completely wireless, so anyone who wants to call me has to use (480) 215-2918. Now they want to get cable internet (without the cable) so that my mom can surf the web and decide what cabinets she wants. I talked to the cable america guy and got them a great deal, and the cable guy is coming to install everything next Saturday. However, my parents have to get their act in gear before then and buy the router and ethernet cables, not to mention move the cable jack into the study and drill a hole for the ethernet cable down into my room directly below. Plus, all this is going on while I am moving things from my room into my brother's old room (all by myself, I might add). I can only do a little bit each time I go home, but it's coming along.

But the hardest part of all it figuring out what to get Kelly for our anniversary...

Wow! I didn't realize how long it's been since I last blogged. I guess I was too busy preparing for my talk at LPSC (which went well, by the way). After that, I caught a cold, so that kept me off my feet for half a week after that. Anyways, I'm fine now, and I hope everybody had fun, enjoyable spring breaks, because mine was spent at the conference.

Now I have a chance to sit back and figure out what I'm going to do next. The next conference I'm going to isn't until the fall, so I've got plenty of time for research. I want to get some more samples, and I want to get something published, maybe even a letter to Science or Nature. Also, Tom wants me to get started on the synchrotron stuff before he goes on sabbatical this summer. At the synchrotron, I can basically do the same analysis I've been doing, but at a better energy resolution, so I can see additional peaks on the spectrum. This is important because biogenic carbon will have extra peaks that abiotic carbon won't, and I can't resolve those peaks presently.

Next week my brother is showing his film at the Arizona International Film Festival in Tucson. I'm excited, 'cause I think it's pretty good.

Check out this website. Actually, don't check it out. It's a little offensive, but it shows off the dangers of wearing tight-fitting clothing.

Check out the price hike that ASU is putting on for parking permits next year. This is rediculous! Couple that with the $1000 tuition increase. I was planning to get into a structure in the Fall so that I won't have to walk miles in the blistering heat next year, but I can't afford it. My PS2 cost less than a structure!

Check out the price hike that ASU is putting on for parking permits next year. This is rediculous! Couple that with the $1000 tuition increase. I was planning to get into a structure in the Fall so that I won't have to walk miles in the blistering heat next year, but I can't afford it. My PS2 cost less than a structure!

I found out today that the United States Army spent $7 million to create a realistic first person warfare video game. That's a little weird, but people make video games like this all the time, like SOCOM. But get this, the game, called America's Army, if FREE!!! The army didn't spend all that money to turn a profit. It is entirely a recruiting tool! There are even links in the game to Army webpages. Ok, ok. I understand their logic. If the kiddies get hooked on the Army via their phat video game, they'll be more likely to sign up to kill foreigners when they turn 18. However, this is completely unethical, not to mention useless. A video game in a completely romanticised version of what warfare is really like. The Army is giving kids the wrong impression with this game. Plus, kids just want a free video game. They won't sign up with the Army just because they blew away a few computer generated Muslim fundamentalists. I feel kindof disgusted that my tax-dollars went to support this.

I just realized yesterday that I only have about two weeks before my talk at LPSC. Better get crackin'. I pretty much have all my data, but I need just a little bit more to corroborate my findings. Kelly's sedimentary geology class needs an extra driver for a field trip this weekend, so I'm trying to do that as well. I like being out in the "field" with my honey. Most of all, I'm excited because I received my Colors Trilogy DVDs and my Father Ted Season 3 DVD!

Remember the days of free previews of movies? I've seen Mission to Mars, High Fidelity, Ghost World, and Amelie for free. Well yesterday I also had a free pass to see the Core. In it, the core of the earth apparently stops spinning, with disastrous consequences. The solution? Why set off a nuclear device in the core, of course! So a small crew of patriotic geologists pilot a submersible of some sort to the core. I can't even begin to tell you what's wrong with this movie. It seems to be as fun and rediculous as Mission to Mars.

However, the bad news is that I didn't get to see the movie. I had a TEM session until six, and the movies started at seven. I tried to make it on time, but it was raining real hard and I got soaked. I just wanted to go home and change, so that's what I did. I hate to see free movie passes go to waste, but there's nothing I could do. At least I got some homework done.

Here is an example of why it is good to help people altruistically.

Last week I received a random phone call. A Mr. David White from an unknown pharmaceutical company on the east coast wanted some information about the Java program I wrote last summer. Specifically, he wanted to know the reference for the formula I used for triclinic unit cells. I told him that the equations I used were not specific to crystal system and that they were general matrix equations. However, the book I used was a crystallography text, which is not readily accessible to a run-of-the-mill pharmaceutical technician. So he asked if I could fax him the pages out of the book with the relevant equations. I agreed. I asked him a few more questions about how my program was working out for him and whether or not he had any problems with it. Early the next day, I got the materials together and faxed him the information. It felt nice to help him out, and to know that something I had worked on for over a month was actually beneficial to people.

Then this week I received a strange package in the mail, from an address I didn't recognize. Inside the package were a big plastic mug, a pen, a squishy mini football, and a leatherman, all with the strange moniker "aaiPharma". The accompanying letter was from David White, thanking me for my help and offering me these "tokens of appreciation". How nice. It seems my generosity paid off.

That's how society is supposed to work.

My Astrobiology poster is now online!

I guess I just lost the blog I wrote, which is the same kind of shit I put up with this weekend. I'll just give the high points.
* I had to make a poster this weekend
* I drank six beers on Saturday night
* I threw up
* I had a fever
* My girlfriend took care of me (and I love her for that!)
* I still had to finish the poster
* The program (Adobe Illustrator) kept fucking up on me, making me lose information
* I've concluded that I can't binge drink anymore because I actually get sick the next day (last time I got the flu)
* I've had 2 good legal drinking years, and 5 illegal ones.

My LPSC abstract is now on the web. It's scheduled for 8:30 in the morning on the last day of the conference. Hopefully I can work it out so I don't have to go for the entire week. I'd like to spend some of my Spring Break doing what I want to do!

Boring, boring day. I have to sit by the PIPS for hours on end and watch my sample ion mill. And you thought watching paint dry was boring. I also feel a little bad because I don't want to go to Tucson with Kelly and everybody this weekend. I know Kelly really wants me to go, but I just don't feel like I should. I feel like I should minimize the time I spend out of town because I have conferences coming up. I feel like I should not spend money so I can pay off credit cards from Christmas shopping. Besides, I'm going to have to spend money for the conferences coming up. I know Kelly will have so much fun with Tracy and Beth and whoever else goes, and I'll probably feel a little uncomfortable around all those girls. Kelly, Tracy, and Beth can get a little crazy when their all together. I just feel like I should butt out and let them have a good time. I hope I can make her understand.

Nice weekend. The Super Bowl was a bit boring, and the much-touted episode of Alias afterwards wasn't that great either. As I've said before, the first season was soooo much better. Kelly, Beth, Tracy, James and I hiked a bit of Camelback, and it was fun. We did it so Tracy can get back in shape after her surgery.

I had a nice morning with Kelly today. She skipped Italian to lounge around with me. I love her so much, especially when she does things like that. She shows me that she is really a good, sweet, nice person down inside when she's not stressed out by work, family, etc. It makes me happy to think of our future together.

I finished correcting my java program to handle negative numbers, so I'm probably gonna head off early today. Have fun everybody!

Who like free money! You can get $20 if you've bought a CD from a retail store between 1995 and 2000. It's some settlement thing.

Oh, and they caught Mia Zapata's killer.

I hung out with Clint and Angel last night, and guess what we did. No, we didn't have a belching contest. No, we didn't look at the latest issue of playboy. No, we didn't sit around and play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (well maybe a little bit). Nope. We watched the Joe Millionare reruns, and ragged on everybody. We joked about how dumb Evan was and how he was like Lenny from Of Mice and Men, always asking the butler, Paul Hogan, to tell him about the rabbits. We also joked that maybe Evan was a serial killer and wanted to wring all of their "goddamn cat necks" (that was another Of Mice and Men joke). My Paul Hogan impression is getting better. We also made fun of the butler as if he was some lecherous old coot...that he went through all the womens underwear...and that he got all the women that Evan eliminated. Now that I think of it, I should have made fun of him getting complete plastic surgery after his Crocodile Dundee movies flopped (not true but funny to think about it--that's a different Paul Hogan). We also made fun of the womenfolk, but it's just too easy to make fun of golddiggers.

Next week Evan supposedly lets it "slip" that he is a construction worker. What a moron!

I got my W2 today, and it says I made 18K last year. Funny how my checking account is only $1000 heavier.

Anyway, some of you may know that I'm not very responsive or awake in the mornings. I usually like to be left alone and especially not have to make decisions. Well, this morning my mom walks into my room and says, "Before I go to work I have to tell you some things...", after which she preceded to explain that my dad was going to write his will, donate his body to science, and one of my uncles is a minister and he agreed to give a memorial service. Of course this was all in my mom's style of not getting to the point at all, so this was REALLY something I didn't want to hear in the morning. There are better times to talk about my dad's death then when I just wake up. I don't need to hear this right now! Besides, who honestly donates their body to science except hobos, convicts, and Kelly's mom. It's just such a joke until you have to seriously think about it. Of course this all put me in an absolutely shitty mood this morning, especially on a day when I have to make a lovey-dovey greeting card for Kelly. I started thinking about a funeral and what would I say for a eulogy, and I almost started crying in my cereal. So I turned on the news to forget about it and watched an interview with the chick on Joe Millionare who got kicked off even though everyone thought she wouldn't (I didn't think she was that pretty anyway).

For those of you who don't know, last week they (I don't know who "they" is) discovered a lump in my dad's lymph node. He's going to see some doctors this week, so we probably won't know anything for sure until next week. I first found out about it when my mom left a cryptic sobbing message on my cell phone, which, of course, freaked me out, but my mom typically over-reacts to these things. So I talked with my dad the next day and got the story straight.

Needless to say, I've never had to deal with anything like this before. I can't think of any of my friends who have to deal with this. I'll get by though. I always do.

Wow! It's been a while since I've done this. Let me just say I'm enamored with this website I found called the Giant Peach. I ordered a shirt from them and I got it in the mail two days later! That's unheard of! Plus they're one of the only websites I know of that carries 2K brand. In case you didn't know, 2K contracts artists and graphic designers to make t-shirts for them. The also fit a lot better than most shirts out there. Some of my favorite graphic designers have made shirts for 2K, like Geoff McFetridge and Dave Bravanec. The other place to get them (that I know of) is the Giant Robot store.