four:eleven a micro-journal by john w. cooper

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december
2000
december
31
sunday
Playing a simultaneous turns version of Milken with my brother Frank and a ghost player. We're both staring at the board and planning our next move.
december
30
saturday
We're at Shelob's Lair in the Lord of the Rings game. "I want to get to there," says Dad, and plays a card.
december
29
friday
Driving through backwoods on Beaver Dam Road, halfway listening to CSpan radio -  Bush's pick for Secretary of the Interior is giving her acceptance speech.
december
28
thursday
I'm writing an email to Lisa Lazar: 'Enjoying life, worrying about money and my failing eyesight, blah blah.'
december
27
wednesday
'the ones i can remember are:  geoff hurst (famous footballer) if you got a first.  a 2:2 is refered to as a desmond.  and if you fail, you got a dan quayle.'
                 - Jim Risner on the Boogie Charade email list
december
26
tuesday
Gina and I are sitting in a car, I'm at the wheel. We're waiting in a traffic jam in Orlando.
december
25
monday
Watching TV with Gina. Marty McFly's wife pulls a pizza out of the oven. His son says, "Is it ready?"
She puts it on the table. "Here you go."
december
24
sunday
I'm writing with permanent red marker on a piece of paper cut from a paper bag: 'FrOm ThE ORcS' (the S is backwards).
december
23
saturday
Waiting in line at a Big and Tall store, playing Spades on my palm pilot and attempting to listen to an unknown rock song in the background.
december
22
friday
Rinsing soap from under my arms over the bathroom sink.
december
21
thursday
Gina and I are in her Mom's car, driving up I-95. Gina says, "It's not the name of the town, it's the name of the apartment complex."
"Yeah I know," I reply, "I'm just kidding."
december
20
wednesday
Waiting at the customer service desk at REI, looking apprehensively toward the exit.
december
19
tuesday
Gina and I are in the kitchen. I'm sitting at the table idly turning an Enya CD cover in my hands. I say, "Where do they get such money? I want some."
"Well, apparently Don," she says, "and, I guess Jessica's mother."
december
18
monday
Setting my alarm on my palm pilot for 10:00 tomorrow reminding me to call Bob Smith.
december
17
sunday
Leo is speaking to Jane: "If you're contracting out to different embassies they're not always uh,..."
december
16
saturday
I'm spreading fake cream cheese on a slice of whole grain bread.
december
15
friday
John Marketon points to a circuit diagram in a book. "This is known as a pull up pull down." He sighs and leans back in his chair. "It's, it's..."
december
14
thursday
Gina's in the living room talking on the phone: "But I have four boxes that I can bring tomorrow morning. Yeah."
december
13
wednesday
'Ounce for ounce, raw red peppers gave four times more vitamin C than peeled oranges.'
- globalideasbank.org
december
12
tuesday
On the telephone with my Dad; He laughs and says, "Oh, so you do this all the time, do you?"
I say, "No, no, I don't do that."
december
11
monday
Robert L. Forward points at another slide -- an artist's rendition of a laser sail spaceship. "This sail will bring us to Epsilon Eridani. Next slide please."
december
10
sunday
Watching TV, a channel with bad reception. Warren Beatty and Annette Bening are sitting on an airplane together. Warren says, "Don't tell me he runs it."
"Actually he does."
"What is he 30, 35?"
december
9
saturday
Another Langley Punks movie starts rolling. Black and white picture, handwritten credits, and a hillbilly song: "Just say the word darling, and I'll leave town. Come on, stop cloning around."
december
8
friday
Geminids look like most meteors -- they tend to be fast-moving and yellow in color. But there's something special about them. Other meteor showers happen when Earth passes through the debris trail of a comet.
- science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast08dec_1.htm?list152246
december
7
thursday
Running down the stairs at work, smiling, wondering if Tsi Chi heard me when I said that Gina made the hat I'm wearing.
december
6
wednesday
Looking at columns of data, blocked beam scans of JPL's MISR sphere from August 19, 1996, wondering how to interpolate blocks for mid levels.
december
5
tuesday
My dad reaches for his glass of red kir and tells the bartender, "Well I'm glad they're still here."
december
4
monday
I'm scrutinizing radiance data, looking every 50 nanometers at ratios, searching for a pattern.
december
3
sunday
I say, "that's great!" as I watch Gina place her unfired udu back on the highest shelf.
december
2
saturday
'Jilin seemed to be considering whether he would have time to grab the lighter while he pushed Shan off the edge.'
                       - Eliot Patterson, The Skull Mantra
december
1
friday
Jim Butler is talking to his computer: "Shut up! Go to bed. Thank you."
november
2000
november
30
thursday
Fingers poised over the keyboard, I glance left at the grating position indicator LED (showing a rapid decrease in wavelength) and judge that it'll be over a minute till the scan starts.
november
29
wednesday
I'm looking at a clue on today's Cryptic Crossword from the London Telegraph: '15. Beam needed by Thor Heyerdhal, say (6).'
november
28
tuesday
'For some players, ownership (e.g. declaring loudly that, "all gas planets are mine, so stop putting graffiti on 'em, or I will kill your whole family") is enough to tag many playing pieces...'
- my EGO TAG web page
november
27
monday
I twiddle my latex-gloved thumbs in the dark, yawn as I glance from my computer's monitor to the monochromator's signal LEDs. There's a U2 song in my head - "One".
november
26
sunday
"He puts landing strips on the roof, I mean it's unbelievable."
- Diane Mayer
november
25
saturday
I arrive at the Berwyn Cafe's coffee table with my empty paper cup, pick up a pitcher of half n half and pour some into the cup.
november
24
friday
Kit's shaking ice from an ice container, over the sink. I turn on the spigot, then turn it off again.
november
23
thursday
I'm eating a fork-full of mashed potatoes and stuffing, and listening to Margit Gedra: "...It doesn't taste like soup at all."
november
22
wednesday
John Marketon pushes a backgammon board aside as my dad approaches our table and says (to John), "So evidently your cell phone is no longer working."
november
21
tuesday
'...to achieve the most thorough scientific investigation of a comet yet attempted. This very ambitious mission was made even more remarkable by the in-flight failure of DS1's sole star tracker...'
- email - FW: Announcement for Eng.Colloq.(11/27/00)
november
20
monday
I toggle the chopper's power switch to the off position, and stare briefly at the red LED indicators as I decide whether or not to turn the whole system off.
november
19
sunday
In bed, lying beside Gina, hugging her sleepily. For some reason mixed images from Kids in the Hall are going through my head.
november
18
saturday
Thinking about a news story about SUVs being stolen and cut up for parts, while I'm driving behind a Pathfinder on I-95 toward Philadelphia.
november
17
friday
I'm choosing a slightly darker gray for the background color of a table on my Graveyard page.
november
16
thursday
Dozing on my back in bed, having a mishmash of quick forgotten dreamlets. I think there are conversations, but I can't remember any of the words.
november
15
wednesday
I'm sitting in the lecture hall in Building 3, listening to John Gilbert: "So, so this raises a whole bunch of questions."
november
14
tuesday
I'm driving Dippy; a woman announcer on CSpan radio says, "We're also going to hear from Charles Burton who is a Palm Beach County judge."
november
13
monday
Mike King is pointing with a laser at a slide of a projected satellite image of the world titled 'CERES reflected Solar Flux Feb 26'. He says, "So it'll be brighter over the desert, it'll be brighter over clouds."
november
12
sunday
I'm finishing up writing an email: 'I see no reason why either one should give up now. Greenspan must be chuckling a bit, though.'
november
11
saturday
I'm standing in the kitchen, pointing back and forth between Jenny and Gina, who are sitting at the kitchen table laughing. "That's worse! Because I know the difference between you two, I just accidentally say Gina or John -- I mean Gina or Jenny!"
november
10
friday
Gina's in the kitchen, I'm exiting a nearby closet with a rag in one hand and a glass of white vinegar in the other. Gina says, "There's another thing I worry about - that other house," She turns to me while she's cutting up a red pepper. "It doesn't have a utility closet."
november
9
thursday
I read a picture's caption on spacescience.com: 'Above: This painting by Duane Hilton depicts a Leonid outburst over Yosemite's Half Dome. The shower's radiant  in 2000 is very near the waning quarter Moon.' Then I glance at the Moon in the picture.
november
8
wednesday
"I think we're going to have to replace the shafts, sooner or later."
- John Marketon
november
7
tuesday
'Calvert Group, a U.S. mutual fund company known for socially and environmentally responsible investing, announced yesterday that it is launching the first-ever socially screened fund investing in technology companies.'
- Daily Grist newsletter
november
6
monday
'If Gore-Tex hold the states that they now have and take the undecided states based on the most recent polls and leanings, the final tally would be Gore 269, Bush 269.'
- bushwatch.com
november
5
sunday
I'm at a drum jam in our woods (great beat!), tapping a stick on the side of my dijeridu and breathing in to begin playing it.
november
4
saturday
'The doctor said to the Bishop, "So you see, my lord, your young ordinand can live no more than three years and doesn't know it. Will you tell him, and what will you do with him?"'
- Margaret Craven, I Heard the Owl Call My Name
november
3
friday
Lynn Margulis points with a red laser pointer at a large screen that is showing a video of a kidney-shaped bacteria moving a little in place. "Here's one of the cells that came out," she says, "it's going to go through some division here."
november
2
thursday
'A database at least needs a version number and date of last update, in addition to the above sort of rating.'
- Andrew Plotkin
november
1
wednesday
"If students in 2050 want to learn to read and write - although, with VIVO, why would they?"
- William Crossman

 
october
2000
october
31
tuesday
"Other countries have lots of other, powerful parties..."
- me to John Marketon
october
30
monday
I'm reading a spreadsheet of old four:eleven entries:
"Bahks, Bahks."
"It really hurts..."
"Coulda been like a..."
"Bahks! A Bahks!
Meanwhile, I hear my office mate Gil mumble, "Gonna go home and hope I get paid."
october
29
sunday
Gina and I are standing in our bedroom. I'm folding clothes and watching TV. Xena says to Gabriel, "That's why she wants to know what you're going to do once you get inside Mogador."
october
28
saturday
I'm pulling out a lyric insert from Sarah McLachlan's Touch CD while listening to her song Vox: "I'm lost inside this tangled web in which I'm lain entwined."
october
27
friday
I'm sitting on a stainless steel bench, whistling Sgt. Pepper while I put my right foot into a cleanroom booty.
october
26
thursday
"And they have to be reminded that if we don't calibrate, *their* calibrations are invalid."
"I know, but in this case I just-- I mean, I can let them do it tomorrow, if they need it..."
- John Marketon and me
october
25
wednesday
John Marketon and I silently watch the Sphere Aperture Mapper mechanism twist and hum into position.
october
24
tuesday
I whisper "Oh yeah," as I exit a vending room, twisting off the cap of my soda.
october
23
monday
'Richard Noone is another guy who thinks May 5 is the date to watch out for, and is capitalizing on that idea with his book, 5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate Disaster.'
- About.com's Prophesies for 2000
october
22
sunday
Walking along a gravel road beside fields and woods. Stacy, Beverly (carrying Gavin, her kid, in a backpack carrier), and Ken are behind me, The dogs, Booda and Riley, are ahead. I overhear Stacy saying, "It's just the place to be."
october
21
saturday
Sitting on a rug at a picnic, various people and babies around me. Anu talks to her daughter (a toddler). "He's calling you. You want to say hello to him?" I'm thinking she's talking about Booda, but then realize it's Billy (another baby).
october
20
friday
'The socks he leaves on the brown and white carpet in O.J.'s  bedroom come from two other screenplays with similar carpets,  Guilty Conscience, and a 1988 remake of "Shadow Play" from  The Twilight Zone.'
- Jasper Garrison
october
19
thursday
I'm scanning a Google list: 'California 2000 Election  ... good economic times. Gore leads Bush ... to 34%'
october
18
wednesday
I right-click a curve on a graph, push the 'None' button under 'Marker' and click 'OK', hoping to see more structure in the graph.
october
17
tuesday
Si-chi Tsay, in a very crowded lecture room, taps a graph (it is labeled 'cloudy sky' and 'clear sky') on a screen with his pointer: "This is what you get, OK? The blue curve."
october
16
monday
'George W.Bush
 PROS: Loves guns and white lines, scares the bejesus out of Saddam
 CONS: Frat boy who doesn't understand how microphones work'
- ugo.com
october
15
sunday
We're in the kitchen - Gina's chopping onions, I'm sitting at the table and reaching into a bag for another pretzel, and Booda's sniffing over my lap, hoping for a handout.
october
14
saturday
'And then, and then... visit my favourites with the occupants of the tour bus when I return to the present day. And smile quietly when the guide discusses the grafitti that everyone knows is a hoax, just because it's signed Naughtius Maximus.'
- Marcus Morgan, in Time Travel Sweepstakes
october
13
friday
Sitting in a darkened cleanroom, looking at notes on a docked laptop: 
'16:02 G001013h 16 lamps 
 16:09 *****lamp H96587 on'
october
12
thursday
"Up to the very end when you hear the heart beat."
"Uh huh."
"Boomp-boomp, boomp-boomp, boomp-boomp..."
"Yeah?"
"Dorothy's listening to the Tin Man's heart."
- me and Jim Butler
october
11
wednesday
John Marketon is flipping through a book - Zany Afternoons by Bruce McCall. I snicker, point and read one of the headlines aloud: "Brother Can You Spare a Glance?"
october
10
tuesday
I'm trying to think of a name for a book store for Koralleen. I put my hands behind my head and lean back to look up at the ceiling, while my office partner Gil talks about fixing and selling houses. I'm mulling over a Kurt Vonnegut quote, something about putting on armor and attacking a sundae, and thinking maybe Hot Fudge Books? Nah. Gil says, "My house? Oh, my, Gawd."
october
9
monday
Playing Dominos with Kory and Ken; it's my turn. I place a domino to match another six pip, hoping that the four changes by my next turn.
october
8
sunday
I'm beaming an application to David Strother's Palm. He says, "Ok, receiving: Moon.' Thank you very much."
october
7
saturday
I'm talking to Gina as I drift the car backwards to leave our space in front of the Looneys' house. "'Cause I told him I'd take it back home, if he wasn't there."
october
6
friday
I'm rinsing my hemp coffee filter under hot water.
october
5
thursday
'It reminds me of a -- there's a MacLeash poem, I can't remember, it's like a circus tent, and something about, he looks up at the end of the poem and "there, there, nothing at all" ...'
                           - transcript, Jerry Brown, interviewing Gore Vidal
                                  on the We the People radio show
                                                     July 8, 1996
october
4
wednesday
'When things get so balled up that the people of a country got  to cut loose from some other country and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are not trying to put nothing over on nobody.'
- H.L. Mencken, The Declaration of Independence... in American
october
3
tuesday
Whistling Counting Crows's song "Hangin' Around" and watching for the screen to come into view as I sit down, one hand on the mouse circling to turn off the screensaver, the other hand holding an OCR software package for installation.
october
2
monday
I'm taking a phone survey from Agilent. The woman asks her next question: "And from what other major companies do you use instruments and testing equipment?"
"Hmmm, other companies..." (I can't remember any company names for our equipment.)
"What major companies," she says.
october
1
sunday
Sitting in Greg Luckner's Manhattan apartment, listening to Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel on a Simpsons CD: "Hey you know what? I can call my mom from up here! Hey Mom, get off the damn roof!"

 
september
2000
september
30
saturday
Missed 4:11! Wedding reception music too loud to hear my alarm.
september
29
friday
Listening to Ivy in a rental car - "It just couldn't be, only a fool could say that..." - while driving on 95 North; just saw an exit sign that says 'Joppastown.'
september
28
thursday
I flush the urinal, zip and turn around to head toward a sink. An older man (looks Indian, has gray hair & glasses) is leaving the sink area. He smiles and quietly says something, maybe "excuse me?" (sounds like an Indian accent) and walks past me to the door.
september
27
wednesday
'origin: from Middle English "vouchen sauf", "to warrant as safe"

 1. To condescend to grant or bestow (as a privilege); deign.'

- Word-of-the-Day email
september
26
tuesday
I copy a quote from Word-of-the-Day to a note I'm writing to the Zuckermans:
 >  It has been brought to our attention that a anagram
 >  of "Rush Limbaugh" is "Ah! glum hubris." 
september
25
monday
I type 'G000925', switch quickly to my notepad application to check the last filename ('G000925g'), then back to my control program, append an 'h' and hit the Enter key.
september
24
sunday
I'm at the Renaissance Fair, replying to Rich, "long as I gets a little golden shower." Then I yell, "Hey Gina!"
september
23
saturday
I'm talking with my brother Bill in my living room. I say, "I think that's pretty common because I went to a buyers' meeting at um NASA, and they mentioned it."
september
22
friday
I'm asleep next to Gina, having unrecoverable dreams.
september
21
thursday
I'm waiting at a red light, vaguely listening to a news report on the car's radio, something about oil and politics: "...and for failing to provide tax cuts for people who save energy..." The sun is in my eyes, glinting bright through the window.
september
20
wednesday
On the phone with Gina; she says, "I mean, we should get as much money as we can, right?"
september
19
tuesday
I'm on the phone with Leo. I say, "The only thing they used to say that some people might consider 'bad' is, 'is he gay?'"
"Oh yeah, I remember that," says Leo.
september
18
monday
I'm listening to Charles Townes, inventor of the maser and laser, in a lecture. "Well, they just thought that was crazy, visible wavelengths. Now by that time (before that, 1957, the maser had just been invented)..."
september
17
sunday
Kory places his hand on some face up cards that lie on his side of a small, round, black felt-covered table, and says, "Maybe it should be the other way around. Maybe *this* should be what you're paying with."
september
16
saturday
Walking, with Gina following, down a steep road. I'm holding my dijeridu in one hand and eating hard pretzels out of the other. "Good pretzels," I say, with pretzel in my mouth. 
"Huh?" Sounds like pretzel in her mouth too.
"Good pretzels."
september
15
friday
Playing Freecell on my palmtop in the cleanroom while I wait for my monochromator to finish its scan. I'm wondering how to get down to that 9 of diamonds.
september
14
thursday
I'm sitting on the sofa with Gina, with my feet up on the sofa. I'm coughing.
september
13
wednesday
Asleep, having a mishmash of dream vignettes. George W. Bush is in one, saying "subliminabubble, subliminababble."
september
12
tuesday
In bed with a cold, reading from a book by Delany titled Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand: '(moments later he realized her approval was because she most likely thought the gross currents in the plate might have interfered with the workings of the glove had he put it on the other hand; she had taken his choice as sign of the glove's success.)' I can hear Gina sorting through silverware in the other room, only it's not silverware, it's a box of pieces of stained glass.
september
11
monday
In a van on a highway - I'm looking at pictures of miniatures in a Game Trade magazine, from an article titled Wiz War in 3-D. Andy, who is driving, passes a water bottle to Kristin.
september
10
sunday
I'm at a booth at the Takoma Park Folk Festival, filling out a yellow form for a subscription to a poetry magazine called Visions.
september
9
saturday
I'm looking at an online stock brokerage: 'Fill out our simple online application today! If you currently have an account, you can click here to apply for additional accounts.' I click 'Continue'.
september
8
friday
I'm typing on a laptop in the cleanroom: '(bank 1 coming up 6.5048a).' I'm very hot, and conscious of the sweat building up in my latex gloves.
september
7
thursday
John Marketon's in my office, saying, "Here if you go walking down the street with what looks like a cigarette hanging out of your mouth but it's actually a joint, you get your ass thrown in jail. Why? What good does it do anybody?"
september
6
wednesday
I'm on the phone, talking to Debbie at a finance company: "OK, so I talk to Greenbelt and then fill out the loan application..."
september
5
tuesday
John Marketon says "It costs 800 dollars to replace all the lamps but that's not critical now. Um... Hey. You're off by a minute!"
september
4
monday
Walking along a paved path toward the lake, thinking about jokers and my planned Milken revisions.
september
3
sunday
Gina holds open her backpack and says "Put everything in here that's little. The gallon of water first maybe."
september
2
saturday
Andy Looney is talking to me on the phone: "OK, Dale wants to make a phone call, and then we'll make a decision."
september
1
friday
I'm looking at the doctored photo on a webpage titled In-A-Gadda-Da-Oswald, and wondering if Oswald was really in front of the guy who's now playing the keyboard.

 
august
2000
august
31
thursday
I click the 'Window' menu and choose 'Monitor experiment Hardy' and paste a column of data in, just as the monochromator's control program begins a high pitched extended "beeeeee!" to let me know it's finished.
august
30
wednesday
Quietly singing an old Beatles song ("...hide your head in the sand little girl, catch you with another man, that's the end") while looking for a size Large cleanroom suit in the anteroom's cabinet.
august
29
tuesday
John Marketon and I are chewing corn chips and watching the "product counter" on my program increment quickly.
august
28
monday
I double click on new email from my brother Kit. The subject line reads 'Re: COOPER NEWS FLASH'.
august
27
sunday
I'm waiting for a page with the definition of 'myrmidon' to load.
august
26
saturday
We're at a phone booth in the Jupiter section of a space-themed cornfield maze. Zarf says, "Is there in fact a camera visible?"
august
25
friday
I rub my left eye and squint the right one, focusing finally on a sentence from Dave Farquhar's interview with Reiner Knizia: 'I usually start with a topic, and try to find a mechanism or algorithm to give a simple image of the subject.'
august
24
thursday
I've just surfed to a site. The heading reads:
'ISSUES2000
 Every Presidential Candidate On Every Issue'
august
23
wednesday
"Well, that's convenient."
"Yeah."
"You had it right on the watch."
"Yeah."
- me and Gina
august
22
tuesday
I'm talking to Skip on the phone. He says, "Do you guys want to meet for lunch, or what?" 
I ask, "What, meet at twelve or something?"
august
21
monday
I'm watching Booda and Buster play-fighting in the front yard.
august
20
sunday
Hiking down a steep, rocky mountain trail. Rick Dutton and Chris Welsh are
debating. Rick says, "You think, 'if I can figure out this mathematical
theorem, I can be alpha wolf.'"
"Not at that moment," says Chris.
august
19
saturday
I turn another page in a sports magazine, and see a small picture of a strong
naked woman on a bicycle. I say "Hey..."
"What?" says Chris.
"That's a neat picture."
august
18
friday
"I'm not wearing any underwear."
"I know. I kissed you."
- Gina and me
august
17
thursday
Working at my office computer - I open the BuildTokenList.vi diagram window.
august
16
wednesday
I'm blowing my nose into a paper napkin, and staring at my program on the monitor.
august
15
tuesday
I enter John Marketon's office and say, "OK, so I have it building a token table. At least a simple one."
august
14
monday
'My suggestion is Gnostica. Any better ideas?' 
- me, in an email
august
13
sunday
Here I am, presented with the same problem, and I still don't do anything!
- thoughts while driving
august
12
saturday
"Well, would it be in the Yellow Pages?"
"Should be."
"Or is it out of range?"
- Kory and me (via phone)
august
11
friday
"He is young."
"He's not that young."
- me and Jim Butler
august
10
thursday
I'm talking quietly to myself, while I'm programming: "So. The first thing's the token. Check the token."
august
9
wednesday
My desk computer prompts me, 'To open the document, select an alternate program, with or without translation:' I highlight 'BBEdit 4.5' from the list, and click 'Open'.
august
8
tuesday
I'm sitting on a toilet, quietly whistling the William Tell Overture through my teeth while switching to the Main tab on my palm pilot's launcher.
august
7
monday
I'm rearranging LabVIEW indicators by quickly dragging and dropping icons in a diagram window.
august
6
sunday
Kory and I are examining a chessboard. I say, "You know what I was thinking
you might do..."
Kory smiles. "What?"
"I was thinking you'd do this."
august
5
saturday
I'm unraveling 75 feet of tangled rope and telling Rich "It's a good thing you're not doing this twice in one evening!"
august
4
friday
'Black Darkness
Some Bad Goth Poetry(tm)

As nighttime claws at the edges of my eyes,
The cry of the raven tainting the night...'

- Graeme Jefferis
august
3
thursday
I'm looking at LabVIEW diagrams while John Marketon says, "Zero. I'm describing a new token..."
august
2
wednesday
I'm looking over an email I'm about to send to the Icehouse mailing list:
'3. Bandaid - This is a rule that may *appear* to be flavor or spice, but is *only* used to fix a problem, and actually *doesn't* fix the problem, or it creates another problem.'
august
1
tuesday
'The "super-ko" rule, adopted by many associations, including the American Go Association [2], declares that repetition of the whole board pattern is not allowed. This rule seems reasonable in most practical cases, but has been criticized as being hard to administer and giving some "surprising" results.'
               - www.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/Precise.html

 
july
2000
july
31
monday
'The Palm OS® Software Development Kit version 3.5 is free, but requires agreement with the following license. By clicking "I Agree" below, you agree to the license. From there, you will be able to download files.'
 - www.palmos.com/dev/tech/tools/sdk35.cgi
july
30
sunday
"Do you dance there?"
"I did one. Yeah, we try."
- me & Brick
july
29
saturday
I'm fixing up the sofa for guests and half-listening to Weird Al's song I Lost On Jeopardy: "Well I'm giving up Don Pardo, just tell me now what I didn't win."
july
28
friday
'Subs cleared: 100%' 
- SubHunt on palmtop
july
27
thursday
I've just dialed Leo. I'm listening to the phone ring, and I'm thinking about the Queen Elizabeth II (a cruise ship).
july
26
wednesday
"Hey John?"
"Hey--"
"Um, on your way out, could you go lock up the engineering lab?"
"Sure."
- John Marketon and me
july
25
tuesday
"It said, 'Eight Pound Man Removed from Woman's Vagina.'"
"Heh, cool."
- Skip and me (via phone)
july
24
monday
I'm highlighting the words 'speed of' in the phrase 'shapes of galaxies speed of gravity', which I have entered into Google Search.
july
23
sunday
"No! Stop it. That's not nice."
- me to Booda
july
22
saturday
"Oh no doubt about that, you start thinking about other things. You know, other than cruising around on your bike."
- Atticus Cosgrove
july
21
friday
I'm lying in bed, more or less awake. I can hear Gina and the upstairs neighbor Atticus outside having a conversation. Sounds like Atticus is saying, "Oh yeah, they'll give you anything you want!" Then he laughs.
.
july
20
thursday
'Mickie,
Please enter the following PR into the system, then return this e-mail to me with the PR Number and the Date Entered spaces completed.'
- top of Purchase Request template
july
19
wednesday
I'm writing on my palm pilot: 'Dad - dragon story'. Gil Smith comes into the office and mutters, "I've gotta get outta here, see ya."
july
18
tuesday
'we visited friends in alaska
 where skeeters bite and don't ask ya
 we lost all our bags...'
- a bad limerick I'm writing for Boogie Charade
july
17
monday
"Pretty funny."
"The artwork is right on."
"It looks pretty close. It's not as detailed."
 - me & Stacy
july
16
sunday
"OK, the awful horrible rule is that a koan has the Buddha nature if it has two and only two flat pieces pointing at nothing." 
- me
july
15
saturday
"I think the dimensions are standardized throughout the airlines."
"I think so, I have them in here."
 - Eric Zuckerman and me
july
14
friday
I'm staring blankly at a sign over a booth at Origins: 'SPACE 1889'.
july
13
thursday
Looking past the wing at the landscape below, as we descend into Philadelphia.
july
12
wednesday
"Oh yeah! Great! Thanks."
"This is huge!"
- me and Gina (to a waitress)
july
11
tuesday
"The most noted reaction is intensification. Ordinary objects  and surroundings become extremely interesting --"
- Lori Denn reading _Timothy Leary Theory_ (an article by Michelle Biggerstaff)
july
10
monday
But be sure to keep your receipts and hang onto this."
- LAB airline clerk
july
9
sunday
I shove a handful of Golden Crisp Cereal into my mouth and pick up a glass to get water.
july
8
saturday
'Biker disappeared; might have been killed by bear. Green, nylon jacket found shredded and in many pieces with "teeth" punctures.'
- More Alaska Bear Tales, by Larry Kanuit
july
7
friday
"This is the bar that Michelle worked at until recently."
"Until recently?"
"Yeah, she finally decided she couldn't handle it anymore."
- Sherry Biggerstaff and me
july
6
thursday
I'm filling out an accident report: "PARKED CAR AT CEDAR POINT. CAME BACK TO FIND'
july
5
wednesday
I'm kissing Gina while waiting in line for Mean Streak.
july
4
tuesday
I wipe my face with a paper napkin and look around for the restaurant's restroom.
july
3
monday
I'm watching a video monitor while waiting in line for a roller coaster. Stimpy puts a strange contraption of a hat on his head and says, "prepare to activate!" The helmet explodes.
july
2
sunday
"It's just the way we do it, here, in Ohio." 
- me
july
1
saturday
I'm scooping cooked vegetables out of a large iron skillet into a plastic container.

 
june
2000
june
30
friday
"So, over here what I've done... Damn!" 
- John Marketon
june
29
thursday
'john has stinky pants
 john has stinky pants
 john has stinky pants'
- email from my brother Kit
june
28
wednesday
(Is there enough information if each player has a six-card hand?)
june
27
tuesday
I type '12 lamps Slick', hit the enter key twice and the spacebar once, jump up from my seat and head for the power supply rack.
june
26
monday
Listening to the phone ring and thinking about Trog telling me how his brother died of a syndrome similar to Mad Cow disease, and that the last thing he said before he died was "MMoooOOO!"
june
25
sunday
(I thought you were once good friends. I'm very sorry...)
june
24
saturday
"Hey Renee, can you reach back there and plug this in somewhere?"
- Alison Frane
june
23
friday
"Yeah, yours is not flat. The one that they're serving over there is flat."
- unknown customer speaking to bartender
june
22
thursday
"He asked if anyone had Glaucoma in the family."
"Yeah, well, Mom had it."
"She did?"
- me and Dad (via phone)
june
21
wednesday
"Dammit, what the hell am I reading? DVD..." 
- Jim Butler
june
20
tuesday
"Don't squeeze it too much." 
- me (on phone)
june
19
monday
'Before contacting TUCOWS PDA Helpdesk please download
 our frequently asked questions guide for the site.'
- ozonline.pda.tucows.com/helpdesk.html
june
18
sunday
Ashton:  "I wanna see it."
Douglas: "See what?"
Ashton:  "My arcade game."
Douglas pushes the thirteenth floor button.
june
17
saturday
"And they said yeah I guess it's no big deal at all."
- Andy
june
16
friday
I'm writing 'Find Twilight Armada' in my personal To Do list.
june
15
thursday
Lying on my back, half asleep. Gina is lying on her side, head on my shoulder, leg across my leg. Snatches of a song - Monty Python's The Meaning of Life - are running through my head.
june
14
wednesday
I say "hmm!" and poke the memo titled 'TEST' on my borrowed Pilot.
june
13
tuesday
I'm carefully carrying an alcohol-soaked cloth across the cleanroom prep area.
june
12
monday
Rob Levy, who is wearing a full cleanroom jumpsuit with hood, appears to have an expression of fatigue. I say, "Hot enough for you?"  He nods slowly.
june
11
sunday
"Is this movie just two hours long?"
<shrug> "Dunno."
- Jenny and me
june
10
saturday
"Stupid! Stupid stupid stupid stupid! I touched the hot wire right there -- I'm an idiot!"
- me
june
9
friday
"The deal with the Naval Academy fell through I guess."
- Jack Bufton
june
8
thursday
Lying on my back thinking of that epidemic movie (Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman), the scene where everybody's in a theater and you get a bug's eye view of viruses escaping in the ejecta of a sneeze.
june
7
wednesday
I'm rolling the empty orange lift cart down the hall. John Marketon is behind me, miming something about the alcohol wipes he's carrying. (I translate his gestures as something like "where is the isopropanol?")
june
6
tuesday
I clear the display and enter '285.' into my calculator watch, and its alarm sounds for four:eleven.
june
5
monday
"Oh, we went on a house and garden tour yesterday."
"How much did that cost?"
"Nothing."
- me and Leo
june
4
sunday
"So, we're going to come straight up 295."
"OK, you're coming straight up 295."
- Maugorn and me
june
3
saturday
"Mom's always in the house, it's just that we never get breakfast."
"Yeah, I'm always in the house."
- Jennifer and Koralleen Stavish
june
2
friday
'Riiight. Just don't mention zoophilia 'round these folks.'
- memepool.com
june
1
thursday
"...so that Elian, the father, and the family may resume their lives away from the scrutiny of the media and the uncertainty that the legal battle has caused for his entire family."
- Janet Reno

 
may
2000
may
31
wednesday
"Speedbumps would be a good idea."
"Speedbumps, yeah!"
  - Anon and me
may
30
tuesday
Jim Butler and Anonymous enter my office and Anon. says, "Hey John! You just missed another buying opportunity, the market's up by 7.9 percent!"
I respond quickly, "Four:eleven's about to hit, I just thought I'd let you know."
may
29
monday
I'm half asleep on an airplane as it taxies down the runway.
may
28
sunday
I mutter to myself: "I gotta get outta here."
may
27
saturday
"If they like the storyline then they'll want to use her artwork for something else."
 - Christine LeBeau
may
26
friday
"I've got Najam Sashwami!"
  - unknown badger at Baycon
may
25
thursday
I take a bi