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.

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"