Hi, I wrote this stuff.
7/19/95 - It's 10 am; I want a cup of coffee. I haven't really been listening to the man to whom I'm supposed to be listening. He is telling me about ftp; I already know all about ftp, therefore I'm not listening. I really should be working instead of typing this journal. I have no spell checker and I plan to post this to the web; how stupid of me to allow myself to potentially be embarrassed by my poor spelling. Oh well. Now we're talking about attaching images to web pages. I'll listen for a while...
7/20/95 - Last night I went with some friends to a play ground. We spent 30 minutes playing on a giant (30 feet across) map of the US. It turns out I can identify all 50 states; capitals, on the other hand, were not forthcoming. Then I started to think of the damage a person of my relative size could do to the continent. If you figure 30 feet from coast to coast, that would make a 6 foot male (like me) about 600 miles tall. I could put California into the ocean faster than any shift along the San Andreas (sic?) fault. I could play city hopscotch (Here goes Lee across the country; He flattens Miami. Whoa, big Jump; there goes New Orleans. Dallas and Houston buy it under his left foot...). There are a few problems with this fantasy; food and water would be tough to find. Oxygen would be another problem; at 50 miles deep, the atmosphere may reach the top of my Chuck Taylor hightops. Let's say I could croutch down and breath... How many breaths could I take before I used it all up? At least I wouldn't have to worry hitting my head on the moon.
7/21/95 - Today's topic may be a tad too big for me (or maybe I just don't know what I'm about to talk about). I'm reading the book A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (which I believe everyone else read about 5 years ago). This book discusses science. What exactly makes science different than religion? I studied Physics in college; I think back to how undergraduate physics was taught... we were handed things, sometimes they were proved in terms of a previous concept, but when it came right down to it I accepted on faith that what my professors were telling me was truth. In the book that I brought up several lines ago the author admits that science does not explain bunches of stuff. He goes so far as to say science suggests the existance of things not detectable by us little human folks yet. I'm not saying that everyone takes science on faith, some people have an intuitive ability to be scientific. On the other hand there are people out there (and I really just heard this on the radio) who say they are angels (which I assume implies a gut level understanding of things religious). I guess my point is that, for most people, science is like a religion with many Popes.
7/31/95 - I just got back from a long, wonderful vacation... Getting back sucks! What is so wrong with my life that returning to it completely brings me down? Is this normal? I spent a whole week without shaving, ironing or wearing a tie (I associate these activities with work since I sure as heck wouldn't do them if I didn't have to). Yesterday I shaved. Today I shaved and ironed. Perhaps tomorrow I'll put on a tie. I heard about this guy that worked really hard (physically, he went running on a hot day or something like that) and then jumped in a cold pool. The shock to his system killed him. Do you think this could apply to my current situation? I hope not.
On a lighter note, I learned something very cool on vacation: Nirvana (not the band) is in your surroundings. Specifically, I found complete comfort in the 3 B's: Boats, Booze, and Buddies. Try it some time. (Author's Caveat: I am not condoning drinking and water sports; This is very dangerous... Live with the contradiction.). Also, for best results, use a sail boat.