Check out my AGU poster!

And we're baaaaack! (Kelly hates that joke)

AGU was fun, but it got exhausting near the end of the week. Luckily, my poster session and the talks I wanted to see were all Monday and Tuesday. The poster session went well. I talked to more people than usual and got a lot of support for my results. It's weird, though. Whenever I talk about fossils in the Apex chert, I get hammered with questions, but whenever I talk about abiotic carbon in the Apex chert, I get a pat on the back. Since my research isn't really conclusive either way, I feel like I have to tell people what they want to hear rather than what I really think.

I got to see my friend William on Wednesday. He goes to Stanford, but he lives in San Francisco. We did a lot of things, but one thing we did was go to the Giant Robot store (GRSF) in the Haight. It was cool!

Thursday and Friday I only had to visit my friends posters, so I shopped those days. I went to the FCUK store and bought an expensive blazer 'cause I didn't have one. I also went to chinatown and bought some nice wooden stands for minerals. You know, the little round ones with little legs.

Since I was so exhausted from the conference, I just lounged around Saturday and Sunday. Besides, I had a whole bunch of shows to watch on the DVR, including the Apprentice finale (Suck it, Jennifer!)

My flight for San Francisco leaves tomorrow. I'll be at AGU all week. I'm gonna miss Kelly. I love that girl so much.

I just finished and turned in my GLG598 paper. I wrote up my experiment looking for C, N, S, and P using the SIMS at ASU. I found all of those elements, which is awesome 'cuz I wasn't expecting to find anything, so I concluded that the carbonaceous material in the Apex chert is biogenic, which suggests that the 3.5 Ga microbe-looking features are real microfossils. I came in early to ASU today so I could finish my paper by the 3PM due data, but now that my paper is turned in, I'm going to fuck off the rest of the day!

You Are the Investigator

5 You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.

What number are you?

We now have Cox digital cable and a DVR! I never have to worry about missing my stories...er, I mean shows.

Yay! I finished my AGU poster! On time, too. It'll be printed tonight. Ah! Now I can enjoy my weekend.

Today must be the day for secret messages.

Kelly likes to stick her wet hair to the walls of the shower. It annoys me to no end. I hate getting in there and seeing a squiggly black line on the wall. But today the hairs were positioned to spell out "I [heart] U". How sweet. That girl knows just how to annoy me and be adorable at the same time.

Then some prick wrote "GO WASH ME" on my car. I just had it washed yesterday! It's not my fault they were busy and so there are some waterspots on my car. At least they got all the birdshit off.

I guess I haven't blogged in a while. Thanksgiving weekend was fun. I had Tofurkey with Kelly while everybody else had turkey. Kelly's been moving in, which is kinda cool. It makes me feel very close to her. We even ran together. I know I said I'd never run again, but I feel like I need some cardio exercise. Weightlifting is fun but it won't keep me from getting a gut. Maybe I'm just afraid of becoming one of the people on the Biggest Loser. We were supposed to run again tonight, but it was too damn cold and we were both starving after work.

You are 47% Libra

How much do you match your zodiac sign?

I feel like shit today. I'm getting over my cold this weekend, but I didn't get alot of sleep last night. I'm also really sore everywhere. I guess those stressfull dreams I had made me tense up while I was sleeping. I'm also starting to stress out about AGU in three weeks. I've started preparing my poster and everything early, so there shouldn't be any problem getting it all done in time, but I still worry about it. And the rain doesn't do anything for my mood either.

So I'll make myself some tea and relax with some data processing before class this afternoon, and try to recover.

If you are interested in independent films, my brother has finished his and it will be available on DVD soon. It's called Live-In and it's about a "run-away [who] becomes the new caretaker for a dying child, but uncovers that this disfunctional family has a secret." I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's good.

Kelly started her night shifts tonight. She leaves at 8:30 PM and gets back at 11 AM. So I thought to myself, "hey, I can go out with Clint this weekend." Nope. He went to bed early tonight because he's going to Flagstaff early tomorrow. And staying the night. I still wanted to do something instead of sitting in my apartment watching TV, so I went to the indian casino. It was fucking packed! Luckily, I found a vacant video poker machine, so I sat down and started playing. About a half hour in I hit four Aces. That was my lucky break for the night, so I cashed out ($104) and left. I started with $20, so my net profit was $84. Not bad for the second time in my life I've played in a casino.

I think video poker is one of the best ways to make money in a casino, if you play properly. It's one of the few games, besides blackjack, where you get to make choices that actually increase your odds. Here are my guidelines for walking away with profit from video poker:

1. Play the $1 machines. I get too nervous on the $2 and $5 machines, and winnings on the $.25 and $.50 machines seem too small. The $1 machines make your winnings seem worth the time invested.

2. Only $20 seed money. If you lose it all, you're done for the night.

3. If you hit a big jackpot, walk away immediately. You might be able to hit another, but the chances of that are slim in my opinion. Besides, a jackpot is a happy event to quit playing on. Better to wonder with a bunch of money than to know that you lost all that money.

4. If you don't hit a big jackpot, play until you double your money ($40). I think this is a good benchmark. Cash out, but if you're not ready to quit yet, use half of that as original seed money. Keep the other half of the money in your pocket.

5. Play conservatively. Big jackpots are tempting, but trying to make them will run you out of money really quickly. If you do this, you will increase your money gradually. For example, keep a pair of dueces, which isn't worth anything, but you might get another one, which is worth $3. Only take risks when you have a sure thing. For example, if you have a pair of aces and a pair of jacks, which is worth $1, get rid of the jacks and keep the pair of aces, which is also worth $1, because you might get the other two aces (like I did).

Sorry for not blogging recently, but I've been really productive at ASU lately. I've made a list of things to do before AGU, and it feels good to start checking things off that list. Plus, I'm almost finished revising my paper for Geology. I can't wait till that goddamn thing is published and done with.

Here's a funny take on the recent election...Fuck the South!

I finished making travel plans for AGU in December. I managed to get on the same flight as Beth back to Phoenix. I even got the seat right next to her! All it cost me was an extra $120, but I get reimbursed for that, so it's ok. I thought about using my frequent flyer miles, but that is one of the blackout days. Besides, I should keep saving my frequent flyer miles for Kelly and my trip to Europe. I only need 50,000 for one round trip ticket, and I've got 42,000.

I'm back now from the synchrotron in New York. I had more fun this time because I got to be by myself. Saturday was kindof a training day on the x-ray microscope, but Sunday I got to do everything on my own. I finished up everything Monday morning, but my flight didn't leave until the afternoon, so I got to drive around Long Island a bit. First I went to the huge Tanger Outlet Center near Riverhead. Then I drove back to JFK airport along the barrier islands, stopping at the famous Jones Beach. I'm also in the middle of reading the Godfather, so it's cool to drive through Long Beach, where the Corleone compound was. Sonny Corleone was killed on the Jones Beach Causeway in the book. I could tell that some of the movie was actually filmed on Long Island.

I guess the giant douche won...or was it the turd sandwich?

I voted today. My choices for president were Bush, Kerry, and Micheal Badnarik (the libertarian candidate). I don't respect Bush, and the libertarians scare me (they want to get rid of all government welfare, including research funding), so I voted for Kerry. However, for any of the other races, I voted for libertarians whenever possible. Even though I don't agree with their politics, I do think they are more likely to be free thinkers than republicans and democrats. They don't really have a party line to follow, so they have to figure out things for themselves. Also, they take government a step back and ask, "Is this what the government SHOULD be doing?" I like that question. So I'll vote for libertarian candidates for local and state elections, but never for president.

Let me just say how stupid this whole Ugg fashion craze is. My whole family had pairs of bona fide Uggs when I was in second grade, way before they Paris Hilton bought a pair, way back when they were just a small company making shearling slippers and boots. They were very comfortable and warm, great for wearing in the house during the winter in Oregon when the heat wasn't working. Now they're just a fashion statement. The fact that girls are wearing them in Arizona is laughable, because I know how warm they can get.

The phrase "no taxation without representation" popped into my mind today, and I started thinking about the reverse, "no representation without taxation". What if you had to be a registered voter to pay taxes? In other words, if you gave up your voting rights, you wouldn't have to pay taxes! How would the US change if it adopted this kind of policy? If the filthy rich gave up their voting rights in order to keep their gross income, they could still affect politics by donations. But if all the upper and middle classes gave up their voting rights, could the lower classes gain political power? Of course, if that happened, taxes would be sky high.

I think that John Mayer is to me as Sheryl Crow is to Kelly. He's totally copying me. Look at the cover of his new album.

I turned 26 today. Yay me! Actually, nothing special happens at 26, so it seems like any other day. Except tonight I get yummy Italian food from Molise.

Kelly gave me some awesome cologne.

Happy Birthday, Kelly!!!

Think how lucky one has to be to capture this sort of thing on film...

There's a funny parody of Bush and Kerry on JibJab.com. Click on the "This Land" link to watch it.

I took the day off yesterday in order to avoid all the craziness going on at ASU for the presidential debates. It seems like that was a good idea. I was also sulking a bit. You see, I found out on Tuesday that my Science paper was rejected. It got three OK reviews and one really bad review--"You shouldn't be practicing science" bad. You can probably guess how all that made me feel. But I'm better now, and I have some ideas on how to make the paper better for submission in another journal.

I watched the third-party presidential debate at Cornell. They were replaying it on C-SPAN this weekend. It was interesting to hear these guys who have no chance in hell of becoming president. Nader wasn't there, but they had guys from the Constitution Party, the Green Party, the Socialist Party, and the Libertarian Party. The Constitution Party guy would answer all the questions with, "The government does not have the constitutional right". The Socialist Party guy was an old curmudgeon who kept talking about the party's history. The Green and Libertarian Party guys were interesting.

If you're looking for a cool chill-out CD, try Sonido Uzumaki. It's a compilation of songs for an art show that's only available from the Music Related label. Check out a sample mix here.

Hey, check me out looking like a dork on Tom Sharp's new research website.

Yikes! I just saw Beth's evil twin! I had to look twice to make sure Beth hadn't snuck back to AZ to escape the apocalyptic horrors of Washington. But sadly, no, it was just her evil twin. I wonder what my evil twin is up to these days? I wonder if he graduated from Northwestern?

The word of the day is kakistocracy.

I saw a funny sign at the Kerry booth today:


PRACTICE
ABSTINANCE
in 2004
NO BUSH! NO DICK!

Kelly and I watched the first presidential debate last night. Kerry came off looking pretty good, in my opinion. He stood up straight and was very clear and direct. Bush was slouching the whole time, and he kept rambling and looking at the audience like "Come on. I know what I'm doing, so just let me do it" with that stupid smirk on his face. The big difference I see between the two is that Kerry wants to get the hell out of Iraq as soon as possible, and Bush wants to stay there. Bush kept saying that we have to stay until the job is done, or else the terrorists win. Iraq can't be won. You can't kill all the terrorists. We just need to make sure Iraq can stand on it's own and then get out of there. It's not our country, so we shouldn't try to turn it into another USA. It just won't happen. Let Iraq manage Iraq, not Halliburton.

Sorry for getting so political. I'll try not to let it happen again...until next Friday.

Ouch! I cut myself with a razorblade today. I make epoxy mounts in these tiny plastic molds, and you need to cut them open to get the mount out of them. Needless to say, I slipped. You can barely see it, but it's about 1-2 mm deep. You can see it when you pull the skin apart, but that makes it bleed more. I'm gonna go find a band-aid now.

So Kelly and I went to the dollar store tonight. It's called "Everything's a Dollar". There are signs everywhere in the store saying "Really, everything's a dollar!". So anyway, there was this big fat white guy behind me in line at the register. He was standing right behind me, and he was chewing gum with his mouth open. I could even smell the flavor of the gum (mint). He was buying a mop, which he would stick right next to me. This guy was really annoying, and I had to try hard not to turn and say something rude to him. But here's the kicker. When I finished checking out, the dumbass immediately put his mop on the counter and asked, "How much is this?"...IT'S A FUCKING DOLLAR, DUMBASS!!! That's why they call it a dollar store!

I just want to remember some recent funny Strong Bad emails from Homestar Runner.

• Stupid Stuff
  
• Replacement

Post a comment with your favorites!

I'm nervous now. My Science paper got sent out for peer review. This means that the editor thought it was "Science-worthy". They could still reject my paper if the reviewers hate it, so that's what I'm worried about. I don't know how long that will take. But if they do like it, then I'll have a paper in Science! But I can't let myself get excited yet.

Here's the website of the co-creator of Uglydolls.

Joe and I are organizing mock orals for people this year, but people are slackers. Orals start soon, and so far 1 person has done mocks, 2 people haven't told us when they want to do mocks, 1 person just decided to do mocks, and 1 person decided to take their chances. I wanted to get these things all organized last week, and now I have to worry about last minute preparations. Why can't people just get their shit together? Mocks take 3-4 hours each, so I'm giving up alot of my time to do this.

This is what happens when an ocean oil-drilling platform gets moved 70 miles by a hurricane.

I just saw a talk by Paul Knauth that I call "How many planetary scientists can I piss off?" It was pretty funny. People were actually angry at him. And of course Knauth can be very patronizing when he wants to be.

His talk was about the claim of standing water on Mars. This deposit has cross beds, iron spherules, mineral casts, salts and jarosite. The Mars rover people interpres these as ripple marks, iron concretions, gypsum casts, and evaporites (respectively), leading them to conclude there was a lake on Mars. Knauth says all of these observations can be explained by a base surge deposit from and impact. Base surges can be cross beds and lapilli, which can be later oxidized to hematite. Because Mars has subsurface ice and brine, that is the source of the gypsum and salts. The jarosite formed later, like in iron mine tailings in Arizona.

So, I've worked 26 hours this week and it's only Tuesday. It sounds like a crazy schedule - but I love it! I've been out in Buckeye for the last two days performing aquifer tests and collecting zonal samples and documenting water levels. It's been fun and everybody that I've met on the drilling side of well construction has been nice. They like geologists but hate engineers! *snicker snicker* And they tell the funniest stories. I love my job! :cD

Through neglect or on purpose, Kelly's brother and dad let Ed chew up Kelly's favorite cap. It hurts me too, because Kelly wore that hat alot when we were falling in love. She's wearing that hat in the first picture I took of her.

When I was a kid, I would do things for fun or to be funny that would end up wrecking something. When somebody else got upset or angry over it, I would realize that the piece of crap that I ruined had sentimental value for someone else. This taught me (over many years) to only be reckless with my own things. If I ever saw the dog chewing something that I knew wasn't his toy, I would take it away from him. Only assholes don't think about how other people feel about their belongings.

Kelly often says I'm an asshole for being careless or doing something stupid. I always tell her that's not being an asshole. If I did something that I knew would make her upset, then I'd be an asshole. That's what Jace and Dean did with Kelly's hat.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Japanese energy drink commercial. (requires QuickTime)

Kelly and I went camping in the Chiricahua Mountains this holiday weekend. It is one of the coolest places in Arizona! We went to the National Monument there and also found a shitload of galena at an abandoned mine! Ask me about it and I'll tell you how to find it.

I'm feeling better now. I don't feel sick anymore, but I still have some residuals. My throat is phlegmmy and my nose is bone dry. But I'll survive. And I get to go camping this weekend with Kelly! Yay!

I finally submitted my paper to Science! If they hate it, I'll find out in about two weeks. I'm a little nervous about it.

Aaaahh. Reminding me why I'm in grad school.

Here are a couple of movies my brother sent me of people who weren't quite good enough to get into the Olympics...

• Javelin
  
• Pommelhorse
  
• Uneven Bars
  
• Balance Beam
  

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today. My throat tickles and my head is cloudy. I'm not sick yet, but I could be by tomorrow. Hopefully not, since I need to start writing an AGU abstract this week, and I want to go camping this weekend.

I'm back from New York now. Today is my weekend, so I'm relaxing and taking care of little things that need to be done.

I ate at the same diner for lunch and dinner today. Ugh. I hate diners. Everything on the menu is either meat or starch. And it's a big fucking menu too. The first meal I want when I go home is Jamba Juice. Maybe for the first week even!

It seems that the carbon in my samples look very similar to the epoxy. Crap! I know it's not epoxy, but the spectra are too similar. We're trying a different sample overnight.

There's a lot of down time at the synchrotron. It takes 7-8 hours to do one analysis, so there's plenty of time to go eat, talk about research, or surf the web. I can't really just go back to the dorms though, because you need to periodically check that things are running correctly.

I forgot to mention that I had to sit through one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Connie and Carla.

Oh, and all that I had a chance to eat yesterday was breakfast at Sky Harbor and a granola bar as I was blogging last night.

Well, I'm at the synchrotron now, in my room in Cavendish House. Thank goodness for in-room ethernet. I had such a long travel day. I left for the airport at 7AM this morning, and I didn't get into my room until 10PM. I think I'll just go through the highlights...

Airplane:

• I had an aisle seat in the last row of the plane, so I got to hear everyone who went to the bathroom.
  
• I had to keep getting up for the people in my row when they went to the bathroom. I only went to the bathroom once during the entire 5 hour flight. They went at least four times each.
  
• There was this annoying Chinese family in the back of the plane who apparently just sat there at random, causing all the valid ticketholders to find new seats. And I hate how the Chinese use guilt to get what they want.
  

JFK Airport:

• I will never voluntarily fly to JFK ever again. It is one of the worst laid out airports I've ever been in. Plus the baggage claim is in this tiny room, which you have to walk through just to get outside.
  
• I had to walk around for 10 minutes just to find the courtesy phone for shuttles because nothing was marked.
  

Shuttle:

• I had to wait over 30 minutes for my shuttle when it was supposed to arrive in 15 minutes or less.
  
• It was a full van, and I was the last stop (out of six).
  
• Stop 1: Garden City is a pretty nice, rich neighborhood. I liked looking at the houses and thought how this might not be all that bad.
  
• Stop 2: another nice little town. Instead of getting on the highway afterwards, we went down Sweet Hollow Drive, an overforested one-lane two-way road. It wound around, and we even passed a horse stable.
  
• Stop 3: We dropped off two ladies who just returned from a resort in Turkey, where they picked up a 5-week old stray cat. They had it loose in the van. The lady from Stop 2 gave them a kitty carrier, but when they put the cat inside, it shit. So we had to smell cat shit for about 20 minutes until we got to their destination. And it was BAD cat shit smell.
  
• Stop 4: Some family that just came back from San Thomas. They live in Stonybrook.
  
• Stop 5: Some kid from LA that is going to SUNY Stonybrook. He didn't know where to go to check in, so we had to drive around a bit. Then the kid and driver got out to look around. That gave me some time to check out the background on the driver's cell phone (It's a naked chick holding her breasts).
  
• Stop 6: Brookhaven National Labs, finally. Unfortunately, I was now alone with this manic ADD driver who was wearing an ugly black t-shirt with giant heads of Elton John and Billie Joel on it. Not a desirable prospect given that he made several inappropriate comments about the young girls on the Stonybrook campus. We finally made it to BNL, and the guard let us in with minimal hassle. It's now 9:30, and the van ride has taken three hours now. Of course, the housing office, which is supposed to be open until midnight, is now closed. So I have to go to the police station and talk to a guard through a thick plexiglass layer to get my keys.
  

All I got to say is, thank god for in-room ethernet.

Awesome! I did my sample prep for the synchrotron today and the samples turned out great. I was a little worried because I don't have time to make more samples if these ones didn't turn out, but they did. Now lets just hope they have lots of carbon in them.

Now for the bad news, but not really. I got a message from IKEA saying that they cancelled my order because the pieces I ordered weren't in the 2005 catalog. Hello! What year is it? I guess I'll just have to wait a month or two for the Phoenix IKEA to open. Stupid IKEA. If I was able to order it online, they should be able to sell it to me.

I like this whole "getting-stuff-done" trend I'm on right now. It feels good. I finished everything I wanted to get done today before 11:30 AM, so now I'm taking a break, drinking some African Red Bush tea (I hope none of the new grad students are redheads!). I'm taking the analytical instruments class, which meets this afternoon. I hope it will be informative. The only reason I'm taking it is to learn other instruments that I don't already know, in case I ever need (or want) to use them.

I'm also thinking about signing up for intramural racquetball. Matches are two nights a week from mid-September to early-October.

I had a great day yesterday. I got a lot done, which is good since I have a lot to do before I leave for the synchrotron on Friday.

I had a great weekend with Kelly. We hiked up Piestewa Peak on Saturday and saw Garden State on Sunday (which is a great movie, by the way). We're also officially boyfriend/girlfriend again. I'm so in love with her right now. She makes me very happy.

I'm not looking forward to the first week of classes at ASU. Too many dumbass students on campus getting in my way.

It's grey and rainy today. I like to use the British spelling of "gray", because the American spelling seems to cheery to me.

There are a bunch of dumbasses out today as well. I almost got sideswiped today by an asshole in an escalade who BLATANTLY ran a red light. He had to swerve BEHIND me in order to not hit me. Then I saw a guy jaywalking. That doesn't sound very dumb, but then again, this guy WAS IN A WHEELCHAIR! Then I saw another stupid jaywalker. This time it was a freshman pulling a couple boxes on a dolley. That's stupid enough, but he was crossing University only about 500 ft from the crosswalk! Fucking dumbasses! I wish I had a calendar that told me when it was National Retard Day so I could just stay home.

There's a lot of dumbass parents and clueless freshmen on campus today. You know what that means. NEW STUDENT BASHING TIME!

DOOD!!! They're finally releasing Seinfeld on DVD!

I'm happy today.

I feel horrible today. For the past week, Kelly and I have been trying to change our relationship. We downgraded ourselves to just dating (as opposed to boyfriend/girlfriend) to relieve the pressure of thinking about the future. It wasn't really working, and last night we almost broke up. For good. After she had removed all of her stuff from my place and I had taken all of my stuff from her place, we talked about what was about to happen, and reconsidered. I can't go on the rest of my life without Kelly, but I can't go on the way we've been going on. We have to change our relationship, and I think we've gotten on the right path. But it doesn't feel good. Now that all of Kelly's stuff is gone, it really feels like she's not my girlfriend anymore. I feel empty. But I love her so much.

I've got lots to blog, but I just don't feel up to it right now.

I FINALLY GOT PAID!!!!!!

Seriously, I thought I would snap or something if I didn't get my check today. I woke up with a serious headache, and I've been having bad nightmares for the past week. Now I can finally relax.

Kelly starts her new job today. She is so fucking awesome!

So ASU was able to print my check this weekend. However, it wouldn't be right if they just gave me the check. Where's the fun in that? Instead of sending my check to Cashiering for me to pick up, as they were supposed to do because it is a special check, they sent it with all the other paychecks to the ASU mail system. So now I have to wait until tomorrow to get my check in my department mailbox. RETARDS!!!

Meanwhile, tomorrow I will have three bills that are past due. Thanks ASU!

The check run failed again last night, so I still don't have any money.

It turns out there was a system-wide check run failure. In other words, all the university checks that were set to be printed last night failed to print, probably due to some spooling or authorization error. They are setting up to run the checks again tonight, so tomorrow I may get payed (keep your fingers crossed). Some good news, though. My check will cover both July and August.

Someone is seriously trying to piss me off! I was told that a check would be ready for me at the student services building after 11AM today. But lo and behold, when I show up at 12:30, nobody had a fucking clue what was going on. I was at the right place too. No fucking check. Hopefully, I'll be able to find out what's going on this afternoon, 'cause I'm too pissed off to do anything else right now.

Good news on the financial front. My credit union gave me a line of credit up to $2500 or something like that. That will cover me until I get my check from ASU tomorrow. Whew!

Yesterday I didn't go to ASU. I haven't been going on Tuesdays. Instead, I stayed home and made CDs. I finally finished my "Best of C:\" collection, which is an anthology of my favorite mp3s that I've downloaded over the years. I also made a CD of my favorite Chris Cornell/Soundgarden/Temple of the Dog songs for Kelly. She made me a Tori Amos CD a long time ago, and I hadn't returned the favor yet.

Stupid ASU denied my request for an emergency check, even though they owe me money for two months stipend now. A check will be available Thursday morning for me to pick up. Now I have to go to my bank and see if everything is hunky dory over there. They gave me credit to cover my two bounced checks last month, but they were small and the rent check is almost $800. I should have somewhere between $250 and $50 in my checking account, depending on if they automatically repaid the credit line or not, so I want to check on that as well.

You know, the month of July really sucked hard for me. First my synchrotron proposal gets rejected. Then ASU doesn't pay me. Then Kelly and I almost break up a handful of times. I really hope August is better, but it's not making a good start of it.

I had fun camping up on the rim with Kelly and her family. We hiked the Highline Trail to Horton Spring, and then down the Horton Spring Trail to the road (through familiar field camp territory). It was a 7.5 mile hike, and the dog (and some of the adults) had a hard time finishing it.

Kelly and I talked about some of the problems we've been having on the drive up. For the past couple of days I've tried to be more playful and vocal, like Kelly asked, and things seemed to work better between us. It must have just been being outdoors, though, because issues began to resurface when we got back into Phoenix. I'm sleeping alone at my apartment again. It sucks.

The great thing about credit unions is that they're there for you at the most unexpected times. I bounced a few checks recently (and I may end up bouncing my rent check too), and Desert Schools gave me a line of credit to cover them. Thank goodness! Keep in mind that I am NOT poor, ASU is just not paying my stipend that I am supposed to receive each month.

There's a bunch of new rocks in my office, so I guess Joe is back from Iceland. Tom (my advisor) is back in the states too, but I haven't hear or seen from him yet.

Kelly is still feeling distant from me. She just left my apartment to go home and be alone. I have a lot of different emotions right now, including confusion, anger, and worry. But I can't really elaborate on anything because they are private matters. I just need to mention these things so I won't stay up all night obsessing about it all.

I have a grant number now. Yay!

I was really pissed off at ASU last night, particularly the part of ASU that is in chart of grant disbursements. I found out that the guy in charge of that stuff has been on vacation for the past three weeks, and his replacement just went on vacation. So this week the replacement's replacement gets to figure out what to do. Of course, each replacement knows less and less about what to do, which makes my confidence that this situation will be resolved before I have to pay next month's rent less and less.

Not only am I pissed at ASU for causing me physical and mental stress FOR THEIR INCOMPETENCE, but now all that worrying is straining my relationship with Kelly. I can't devote all my attentions toward her like I used to. Every moment I'm not preoccupied with something, I'm thinking about how this grant situation will be resolved, or if it isn't resolved in time, what I can do to not get totally fucked. I wish I could sue ASU for this nonsense.

My ass was totally kicked by a cookie last night. Actually it was a scoop of homemade ice cream between two homemade chocolate chip cookies. That's a lot of dessert! After I finished it, I went into a major sugar coma. I was totally out of it. I'm sure my eyes were glazed over. Everybody else that I was with stayed out, but I decided to go home and wait it out. I got my mental capacities back after about an hour, but then I couldn't go to sleep. I was up until around 3AM.

So Kiwi Tom is off to Delaware today. A bunch of people had a farewell dinner for him at the Bamboo Club, and I stuffed myself. It was really good. I'm sorry I wasn't much fun afterwards, but that cookie took me out!

Thank God Kelly is back. I was missing all the snuggling and beatings. Love her!

Yesterday I went to the Grand Canyon with Kelly and Beth's new love interest, Tom. He's from New Zealand. I want to call him "Kiwi Tom" but I don't know if that would be rude. He's a great guy, and I hope he and Beth get to successfully hook up.

Kelly is on her way back from Jellystone today. I expect them back either really late tomorrow or midday saturday.

My brother just got on imdb!
 

So, it seems that Tom forgot to put me on the list of people he's paying. Also, there doesn't seem to be a record of my GSRP grant account. All I have to say that I got the grant is my acceptance letter.
 

To make things worse, I didn't get paid yesterday. My GSRP grant was supposed to kick in this month, and I guess somebody didn't make sure all the paperwork was done. I haven't received anything from GSRP about my award except the acceptance letter. The grant included some money to buy supplies, but ASU never sent me anything about that. Without a grant number, I can't charge anything to my own account! It also seems other people didn't get paid yesterday as well, which makes it likely that everything will be worked out as soon as possible. I really hope so, or I will be fucked for bills at the end of this month.
 

Frickin' A, man. It looks like my synchroton proposal got pushed to the side because the beamline was "oversubscribed". I'm trying to see if I can get time on another beamline, but it looks doubtful.
 

Canyonlands pictures are online! Look in Session 4 to find them.

Also, check out my panorama of Chesler Park.

I heard from Kelly yesterday, and she's doing great. She's working hard and having a lot of fun in the beautiful countryside. I'm happy that she's having a good time.

I hope Kelly is having fun in Jellystone!

I was freaked out today because I saw an honest-to-God clown driving a car. And it wasn't a funny clown car either. It was a PT Cruiser. I guess that is kindof a clown car. But it was still freaky. And his license place was "FOOT Z". I get shivers just thinking of it.

Well, Kelly is on her way to Jellystone to do research, and I'm taking a few days off to take care of the dog (everyone else is on vacation too). I know it's not "necessary" to take time off just for a dog, but Ed is just so goddamn fun! Plus, I get to watch a few movies and read a few books that I couldn't normally if Kelly was around.

I got a new batch of Australian black cherts in the mail today, thanks to John Linsay. I guess I better get started on all that sample preparation!

Because of peer pressure ("Everybody's doing it!"), I now have comments on my blog. Enjoy!

I just found out that you can add your own custom functions to Excel using Visual Basic. This is going to make my life so much easier.

Here's a comic strip featuring l33t.

Joe says that this band rocks!! And they play at the Library every wednesday.

My brother recently had a guest column published in Variety. Normally, I would put a link on here, but Variety would charge $25 just to read it.

Posted: Tue., Jan. 6, 2004, 9:41pm PT

Tell good stories, B.O. will follow

Guest Column

By ZACHARY LEE DE GREGORIO


As a young filmmaker, I am writing in response to the front-page story in this week's Variety, headlined "H'wood asks: Has pop culture pooped out?"

I am pissed off, because I feel like I'm continuously reading articles posing questions about where the box office grosses are going, why Hollywood studios are suffering, and why piracy is out of control. And I feel the answer to all of those questions is blatantly obvious: Hollywood has stopped making good films.

When studio execs receive a new script, the first thing they do is pick up the phone to call the marketing department. Rather than focus on the script and perhaps getting an interesting, well-crafted story, we are left with a bunch of genre pics we've all seen 20 times before. Also, thanks to a marketing department out of control, all the best films are released within a four-week period in December, leaving the rest of the year a veritable Death Valley of choices at the box office.

Which brings us to piracy. One can debate until blue in the face the effects of file sharing, the Internet, screeners, and disgruntled post-house workers and never determine the impact on the piracy controversy. But the basic premise behind why people are stealing movies (and this is true of music as well), is that we are no longer making a good product and people are pissed off.

If only 1 in 20 movies is any good, people are not going to take a chance by forking out money at the box office. Consumers are going to look for other ways to get the product. If 50% of the films the industry delivered were great (which, in non-Hollywood terms, is a staggeringly poor success ratio), people would return to the theater in droves. If it's a quality product, people will pay for it.

We have proof of this by looking at the figures. Why did "Pirates of the Caribbean" find gold this summer and sequels tanked? Because it was the most original film of the summer. Why is the cable audience growing while network is shrinking? Because cable has the ability and is producing innovative and interesting programming.

Why aren't video games seeing the same piracy problems that music and film are experiencing? Because the video game market is investing so much in creating exciting, innovative, and good products, that consumers aren't questioning paying the cost.

Now I'm not saying that every film should be "Gone With the Wind." But there's room for improvement in every aspect of the industry. There's a difference between "Tomb Raider 2" and "Spider-Man," and I don't think it's the budget, or the stars, or the marketing. It's the product.

What is the most worrying fact is that the industry doesn't see this and is moving farther from the solution. We constantly hear about giant media mergers and newly formed mega conglomerations. Many of the smaller independent studios and houses that were around just five years ago, that could develop new products, are now gone, eaten up by the studio machine.

I know it is not as simple as saying "let's make good films now," but we can be heading in the right direction. Find your good filmmakers. Let the directors direct. Let the writers write. And let the producers and studio execs do what they used to do: Figure out what the public wants, find the right properties, and work on the material. They're no longer taking these steps because its a lot less work and certainly less risky to just pick up the phone and call the marketing department. But the future of this great industry depends on our change.

Filmmaking is story telling. Let's worry less about market share and more about story, and the market share will follow.

There are llamas in Yellowstone!?!

This was in The Onion this week:

Cryptozoologist Falls For It Again
LUBBOCK, TX—Will Reiser, an expert in the field of unsubstantiated creatures, was duped again Tuesday, when he said he'd finally found proof of the existence of the elusive Chupacabra, a quill-covered creature that feasts on the blood of livestock. "The right shank of the goat carcass I discovered on my doorstep bore the Chupacabra's distinctive cross-hatched fang pattern," Reiser said. "I have to say I'm surprised that the quills poking out of the body so closely resemble those of the hedgehog indigenous to this area." Reiser's next-door neighbor, Dan Swelter, is currently laughing his ass off.

I know it's a little late, but ... I am SO not Laurie. I'm more like the main character on That 70's Show. Stupid quiz!

You are Laurie. You are conniving, evil, slutty.... yeah.. there isn't
much that is good about you. You are two-faced... making people believe
you are what you aren't. You will stop at nothing to get your way. But
don't worry... your daddy thinks you are
wonderful!
Which That 70's Show Character are you?

(presented by:
seventhstranger.net)




I'm not joking! I read the quiz to Brad and he gave me his answers. He's a Laurie!

It's difficult to adjust back to normal life and schedule. I feel like I'm just hanging around. I guess I haven't found a new routine.

Well I'm back! Summer Field Camp was pretty mellow this year, there being only seven students and all. Now I have to take care of everything that has been sitting around in the Phoenix heat while I've been taking field naps in the mountains. All part and parcel of TA-ship.

I also want to send out lots of love to Kelly for coming to visit me and talk to me every night on the phone. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have any connection to the outside world.

I also finally finished that Cryptonomicon book, which as you can see I have been reading for six months. It was pretty good, but the story didn't pick up until the second half of the 900+ page book, so it required a bit of patience (hence the six months).

Last night on the phone, Brad and I went through the Geologist's Lifetime Field List to see how much of it we've done already (not together, just our experiences combined). We have a lot left to do, but I was impressed with how much we could check off. He had some cool geology stuff over me (such as seeing the banded iron formations in Michigan and Mount St. Helens) but I had the crazy weather stuff (tornadoes, hail, floods, hurricanes). It was fun. He seemed a bit jealous that I could check off the Alps. But I'm jealous that he's been inside a lava tube. The things on the list that we did experience together were finding dinosaur tracks in situ and hiking through a slot canyon (I equate this with the joint trail) - both in Canyonlands. The list is pretty good, but I think that it left off a bunch of stuff. I don't think I'll get into it's deficiencies right now. I'm sleepy. Ed is sleeping on my pillows. He's such a bed hog. I hate to move him...oh well. I miss Brad. Only 3 more days, then he will be back in my lovin' arms.

Well, Brad is...

I AM 25% GEEK! You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing. Take the GEEK test at Fuali.com

I read the quiz to him over the phone and he provided answers. Unlike me, he knew what all the questions were referring to. How am I supposed to know what cons are?! I thought they were brightly colored high-top shoes. Remember, I am only 5% geek. Brad is five times the geek that I am. :c)

oh, I forgot the most important part of the weekend. Brad and I went to the Goodwill and made our annual t-shirt purchase. Brad got a shirt that says "Flagstaff 1987 Special Olympics" complete with the official logo and I got a shirt with the Goonies on it. Score!

I got to see Brad this weekend. We had to hang out with a student that stayed behind at Camp Tontozona which took away from the Brad and Kelly time that I thought we were going to have, but that's ok. He was nice. Due to all of the recent construction, Brad has to re-map highway 260 on the quadrangle. The new road is wider which makes sectors smaller. AND they've totally bulldozed the horribly difficult basement/Martin contact that was north of 260 and east of the fish hatchery road. I can't believe it! Arrrgh! Everybody should have to struggle with that. That was the hardest contact to map. Anyway, I worried about Brad being on the side of the highway while mapping the new route. But he did ok. The students' first sector was due last night so he probably graded all day today. I'll talk with him again tonight, I hope. So far, he's having a good time being away from the heat and surrounded with cool geology.

Per Brad, another mispronounced word by the aforementioned student: "Higley" for the Haigler Formation. I don't know if that even qualifies as mispronouncing a word, rather just getting the word wrong altogether. I guess another student busted the dumbass for it. Brad was glad he didn't have to do it himself. By the way, I miss him.

Brad is gone so I will blog for him. I spoke with him last night and he said that there are only 7 people in field glg this summer. Chuck and Linda retired so there are new people running the camp. All the food is made to order, pretty much, since there are so few students. The construction along 260 has become pretty bad - they're trying to add additional lanes on both sides. Brad said every body is boring and that there's nobody to talk to. One student is a chronic mispronouncer of words and we all know how much that bothers Brad. Apparently this student says "NAY-co" for Naco despite having heard everybody else say it properly all day. I know this guy and he's a dumbass so I'm sure this is just the beginning. I'll keep you all posted. *teehee*

Canyonlands was AWESOME! It was nice to see Beth again and meet her roommate Grace and all their ranger friends. Unfortunately, I don't have time to chat about it because I have to get ready for Summer Field Camp. We leave tomorrow, and I haven't packed yet. I better get crackin'!

Things seem so busy now, even though they aren't. I'm just worried about getting everything taken care of before field camp, which is complicated by the fact that I have two other road trips before that. I guess it's more worrying than stress.

I just want to say congratulations to everybody that is graduating this month, especially to super-smart, super-special Kelly. She kicked ass on all her final projects and papers. She gets a big kiss on the cheek for that.

This is super funny! The picture at the end makes me laugh.

Hey everybody! It's the last day of classes this semester!

I love you too, Kelly. I can't believe it's been two years already. It seems like we fell in love only yesterday.

Thanks for sticking by me for 2 years, Brad. I love you! <3

They have to order the replacement glass from the factory. The glass itself will cost about $650, and who knows how much labor will cost. Thanks for fucking me guys!!!

Some jerk broke a window on my car. I'm pissed! It wasn't a break-in because it was the rear passenger side window, and it was just shattered, not broken. The point of impact was at the top of the window, and there's a scuff mark on the plastic seal there too, so it was probably a sports-related mishap. My car was parked in lot 59 East by the playing fields, so I'm not surprised if some hyper-active frat doofuses where playing around and some dumbshit threw the ball too hard. Stupid fuckups! Now I have to waste my whole day to wait for the glass replacement guy to show up!

I'll tell you one thing for sure, I'm not leaving my car in Lot 59 overnight anymore.

I don't think this is very funny, but Kelly thinks it's hilarious.

Brad hates me

"No I don't" - Brad

This is what I look like when Kelly gets on my nerves.

Anybody need a wedding dress?

Oh. I just found it on my Amazon.com wish list. My DVD commentary would be on ... Mulholland Drive. That's the one I've been trying to think of. It's not my most favorite movie, but I like it alot, and I think I know what David Lynch was trying to accomplish with it.

Ever since I learned about the new "icebreaker" question ("If you could do a DVD commentary, what movie would you choose to discuss?") I've been trying to figure out an answer. I know there's a movie that I know well enough to talk about, but I just can't seem to remember it. I know it's there, sitting in the back of my brain. I even looked through my DVD collection, and the only thing that popped out at me was the Godfather, but I'm not sure that's the one. I could do a pretty good Godfather commentary, though. At least I think I could.

I guess I should blog more often, if chocokelly is just going to do it for me.

All beer and no food
Makes Brad tired, cranky, and rude.

Brad got drunk last night. I'm trying to wake him up, but he keeps whining that his head hurts. (funf) I'm blogging for Brad since he hasn't posted anything in a few days. Last night Lisa said that one time she accidently called Dr. Fouch "Fat Mouch" instead of Matt Fouch. I can't get that out of my head. I think it's so funny. She said she covered herself by saying: "hey, that can be your rapper name."

Kelly got me a kick-ass piece of actinolite that she found in California this weekend. It's awesome! When I go to my brother's graduation next month, I'm going to make a stop to look for more.

Sorry for not blogging in a while. I've been having too much fun with my nation. There's a whole weird subculture with NationStates. I don't understand it, because the game itself is so simple and restricted. Everything else that these people do is entirely created and sustained by themselves.

I'm gearing up for a fun geology-themed weekend at Cherry, AZ.

Yay! I got my GSRP grant!

Before Beth left, she gave me a strange-looking mineral specimen. It was made up of very tiny botryoidal crystals with an earthy luster. The color was brown for the most part, but it had this really cool purple, blue, and green iridescence. But Beth didn't tell me what it was! I've spent lot's of time in the mineralogy back room looking for a sample like that, so that I could identify it. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything. Then Kelly dropped a clue. She said there was a sample in the Geology Museum. So today I searched for it. I pretty much looked at every single specimen before I found it. Of all the possible minerals, it was siderite! The mineralogy books I have talk about botryoidal and earthy siderite, but there is no mention of the cool colors. I searched the internet and only found one picture that looked like my sample.

So I have to say, congratulations, Beth. That's one hell of a mineral specimen!

I had a nice weekend. There was a ton of grading to do, though, and I didn't finish it all. Gotta do that today. In the meantime, check out my new nation.

Well, the conference is over now and I'm safe at home. It was fun. I don't know how much exposure my poster got because they didn't have a dedicated poster session. Oh well. I get to hug and kiss Kelly now.

Hello from AbSciCon 2004! They have a couple of computers here for checking email, but I can't seem to log on to EMMA. Oh well. I thought I'd give a blog-out instead. I love you Kelly!!!

I could also buy some artwork from Plaid. Who knows how much that would cost. I could also use this money to subsidize some of the cost of the new TV I bought in January.

In other news, I leave for the Astrobiology conference (or AbSciCon2004) tomorrow. I have a lot of nervous energy, and a lot of little tasks to take care of. Wish me luck on my poster session!

I forgot that I also need a new battery for my laptop.

• Gateway replacement Li-ion battery = $130
  
• Gateway replacement NiMH battery = $50 (may not work with my laptop)
  

I've been trying to figure out what to get with my tax refund. First I thought of TiVo, but I don't get HBO, so I wouldn't really be recording all that much. Then I thought of a wireless router and/or PC card for my laptop. There's a nice combo at Fry's Electronics. That's a good deal with the rebate, but that ends today. Then I thought of some TV/VCR/DVD combo for my bedroom, so I can watch the Simpsons while Kelly sleeps (a constant source of conflict with us), but why buy some bulky ugly piece of electronics when I can get a nice looking LCD TV. I like the 15" one's at Circuit City and the one offered by Dell. Unfortunately, that would be a little too expensive, because I would want it to have a VGA input as well (so I could use it as a computer moniter as well as a TV). I also thought of maybe buying a new wristwatch or another cable modem to have internet downstairs in my apartment.

Or maybe I should just save my money for a rainy day.

So, in summary:

• TiVo = $150 w/ rebate
  
• Netgear wireless router = $120 ($70 w/ rebate)
  
• Net gear wireless-G router = $65 ($45 w/ rebate)
  
• D-link wireless-G PC card = $40 w/ rebate
  
• TV/VCR or TV/DVD combo = $100 - $170
  
• Magnavox 15" LCD TV = $420
  
• Audiovox 15" LCD TV = $450
  
• Dell 17" LCD TV = $700
  
• wristwatch = $50 - $100
  
• Motorola cable modem = $60 w/ rebate
  

My poster is finished (for now). I'm waiting to see what Tom thinks of it, and then I'll get it printed out. I think everything else is taken care of for my conference. I guess all I need to do now is make sure minerallogy is taken care of when I'm gone.

Kelly's brother is getting married today. I'm happy for them. They seem to go well together. I wish them all the luck and happiness in the world (and a whole bunch of puppies too!).

Welcome to Spring Break y'all! I hope yours will be more relaxing than mine. At least I don't have a conference this year (LPSC is always over spring break). I just have a conference two weeks from now, so I need to get ready for it. Besides that, Kelly's brother is getting married. I'll have plenty of fun, though.

Do you want to know what happens in 2036? Ask John Titor. He went back to his future, so he's not around anymore. On the website you can see pictures of his time machine. By the way, his earliest prediction is the beginning of a civil war in the US in 2005.

finally, a weekend when I didn't have to grade a bunch of mineralogy homework/labs/quizzes. Well, it's over now! Time to get back to work!

Here's the Simpsons quiz of the day:

When he witnesses Apu's infidelity in "The Sweetest Apu" (DABF14), it causes Homer to do what?

A. Vomit with rage
B. Walk home backward
C. Feel all lumpy inside
D. Poke his eyeballs

Oh Man, I'm so tired!

Today we did the solid solutions lab in mineralogy, with the melting of the NaCl and KCl and all that. Chaos ensued, and it was pretty funny.

I'm very busy right now, but while I remember, I wanted to post the source of those hilarious Quizno's commercials. We Like the Moon!

A long time ago I put my name on a list of individuals who believed they paid too much for music CDs. Lo and behold, today I received a check for $14. Here is the letter that came with it:

Dear Arizona Music Purchaser:

As Attorny General for the State of Arizona, I am pleased to enclose payment for your claim in the settlement of the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation. This lawsuit was brought by the Attorneys General of 43 states and three territories and by counsel for Private Class Plaintiffs on behalf of purchasers of music CDs. In accordance with the terms of the court-approved settlement, payment is being made to music purchasers who filed a valid and timely claim.

Whether you filed your claim online at the settlement web site, www.MusicCDSettlement.com, or by mail, the attached payment represents full payment of your portion of the Settlement. Please note that the attached payment instrument must be cashed by May 20, 2004.

It is a pleasure to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion and to return value to consumers who purchased CDs while the challenged pricing policies were in effect.

Terry Goddard
Attorney General of Arizona

Hey, I put my new computer together the other day. It's pretty cool. I installed windows XP and didn't have any problems with authentication. I had heard that Microsoft put some stuff in XP that makes it hard to pirate. Probably the reason I had no issues was because I used the copy that came with my laptop, and I installed windows 2000 on my laptop before I registered XP. Sure saved me $100.

Who says the British can't be funny? This is children's theatre gone awry.

Check out the official tribute to Meatball Sandler, who died recently.

Bye Beth. Have fun in the land of the canyons.

The world's largest living thing is a ... fungus?!?

Well, I had a great Valentine's Day. Kelly and I spent the whole day together. Like the geology nerds that we are, we went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. I spent almost $100 on minerals. I got some cool celery tourmaline, a wand of selenite, some lepidolite, a twinned staurolite, some weird-looking galena, a piece of brookite, a piece of amazonite, and a nice aquamarine beryl. Just so you don't think I was being selfish, I bought Kelly a pink tourmaline that grew in the shape of a heart. Boo Ya!

You know, I try my best to comply with the rules of Kelly's parents' nazi-ass homeowners association. Even though I think it's stupid, I still park my car by the pool when I'm staying overnight, so as not to break the no-parking-on-the-street-between-2AM-and-4AM rule. So you can imagine how pissed I was (and still am) when I see a "TOW" sign on my car this morning. That means somebody had to put a sign on my car between 10:30 PM last night (when I parked it by the pool) and 8:30 AM this morning. What the fuck?!? The car next to me was marked for towing as well.

There is no fucking reason for towing my car! I park by the pool overnight like they want me to. The only thing I can think of is if they are doing construction there. But if that is the case, there should be signs posted and a memo should be sent to all the homes, so nobody gets accidentally towed like I almost did. Fuck you HOA!

This is my new wallpaper. How can you refuse that face?

Go to adamsandler.com to see independent short films and home movies of his English bulldogs. For Cute!!!

Apparently, my brother was offered a job managing the european tour of Alicia Keys, Beyonce, and Missy Elliot this summer. This was after my brother turned down an offer of managing the first leg of Brittany Spears' tour. How does he meet these people?

I talked to Matt Fouch a bit today. He said Kelly is really smart, but she doesn't realize it. Actually, that's what I said to him, and he said he thinks the exact same thing. He also said she asks good questions. It's great to have a super intelligent girlfriend!

My NASA GSRP proposal is finally submitted, and the website said all of my mail-in documents have been received. Now I can finally relax and hope for that $24,000 payoff.

I wonder how often this kid gets beat up at school.

This is the most disgusting thing I've seen all year (that's not saying much). WARNING: not for queasy stomachs! But then there's the whole "whale penis experience" that makes it worthwhile.

I too have suffered from self-abuse.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been really busy working on this grant proposal due monday. It's not just the writing that's a pain. I also need transcripts, recommendation letters, signatures, etc. There are hassles involved with everything, especially since my advisor is in Australia.

Here are some pics of my friend Melissa teaching little kids in Japan!

So we finally have cable and internet like we want it. The TV is downstairs, and the computers are upstairs. A Cox guy came yesterday and fixed the upstairs outlet so it gets internet service. We've decided against digital cable because it's just too expensive. Besides, any show I want to watch on HBO I can TiVo at Kelly's house.

I just found out that last month, the courts decided that it is unlawful to force internet service providers to release the names of their customers. The music industry gives IP adresses to ISPs and asks for the names of those customers. The law says that you must already know the identity of the person in order to prosecute them.

Fucking Cox! They're busting my balls here! In order to get HBO, you have to have digital cable. So in addition to paying an extra $10 for HBO, you have to also pay $10 for the digital box. At least they're taking care of the internet issue today.

A new battery for my laptop costs $80. That's pricey, but actually cheaper than I expected.

Happy first day of classes y'all!

I really panicked this morning because I plugged in my laptop (which had been giving me battery troubles this weekend) and it wouldn't even turn on! After class, I tried plugging it into a different outlet and it finally started up. Whew!

I saw Beth yesterday. She helped me put together the first lab for mineralogy. Thanks Beth!

Gosh. There's just so much to do when you get a new apartment. Thankfully, this is all taking place during winter break.

Chocokelly is right. I did mistype the zip code. But please don't use the extra four digits. Just use 85257.

Brad blogged a wrong zip code. It should be 85257.

Brad DeGregorio
985 N Granite Reef Rd. #143
Scottsdale, AZ 85257-4591

I have a new apartment and a new address. You can snail mail me at:

Brad De Gregorio
985 N. Granite Reef Rd. #143
Scottsdale, AZ 85287

Now you can view my "official" LOMO page! Now I have unlimited upload space for images.

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged. A lot has happened--Christmas, New Years, etc. I've been reading a bit of philosophy lately. Just general surveys by Durant and Copleston to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I'm also waiting for the big call. Clint and I applied for an apartment last week, and we're waiting for the ok to move in. I also bought a suit this weekend. It was a $1200 suit marked down to $360 at Nieman Marcus Last Call.