End of semester

I just finished my last final exam for the semester and it's nice to be done. For the first time since my first year of college, I'll have two semesters of school in a row. After my first year, I had been following each semester with a semester of interning. Still, it doesn't feel weird or anything to have to take more classes next semester. Normally, I get kind of burned out at school so I'm usually glad to go to work for a semester for a break from homework, studying, and tests. But, this was my easiest and most enjoyable semester of college, so I'm not unhappy about having to come back next year.

Now that I'm done with finals, I can prepare to move back home. The only other time I've had school before and after winter break was my first year, and my residence hall was open during winter break so I could return whenever I wanted. However, this Winter Break, my dorm will be closed and I need to bring back everything I might need over the next five and a half weeks of Winter Break. So, I'm going to pack my computer and a lot of my stuff and I'll leave sometime this evening.

Volunteer work over winter break?

I'm trying to figure out how to spend my Winter Break, and I'm not interested in getting a lousy job, but I might consider doing volunteer work in the right circumstance. This is an idea that just came to me. Where is somewhere that I could volunteer that would be rewarding and not too difficult? Also, would anyone else I know be interested in joining me, should the right situation arise?

Ice on ground, finals delayed

Yesterday the temperature was below freezing all day and it rained ice a few times. In the afternoon, I was going to study with a friend, and I was intending to take my bike so that I would have to spend less time outside, but the lock was frozen shut. As I made the trek to the mechanical engineering building, I passed the swimming pool, which was much warmer than the air temperature so there was a lot of evaporation coming from it. Because of the frozen rain, there was some ice on the ground, so I suspected that class might be delayed or cancelled tomorrow.

When classes are delayed or cancelled, the administration usually sends a voice mail message to all on-campus mailboxes so that students on campus will know that class is delayed. So, when I woke up this morning, I first checked my phone for a voice mail message, and there wasnt one, so I figured class would begin at 8:00. I was getting dressed and drinking a caffeinated beverage, when I decided that I would check the website just to be sure. The website was updated and said that classes would be delayed by two hours. It would have been nice to have known that earlier so I wouldn't have started getting ready for class, but I wasn't sleeping that well anyway. I tried to fall back asleep until my final, but with little success. When I got back from my final, I saw that there was a voicemail, and I listened to it, and it said finals were delayed by two hours. There is still some ice on the ground, but I wasn't very uncomfortable outside, except when the wind was blowing at me, and if I was wearing something to cover my ears and my face, I think I would've been fine.

Evidence Produced by Torture Inadmissible in UK

Evidence Produced by Torture Inadmissible in UK:

Evidence that may have been obtained by torture cannot be used against terror suspects in British courts, the House of Lords ruled today.

Britain understands that torture produces unreliable evidence, so it's unfortunate that we'll continue to use it.

Congress interviews BCS coordinator

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection met with the coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series yesterday.

Between jokes about needing tickets for bowl games and remarks about more important matters they could be addressing, lawmakers on the subcommittee -- which examined steroids in professional sports earlier this year -- made clear they are not interested in pursuing legislation.

But they did want to know why Division I-A football is the only college sport without a playoff system.

"Why can't it do it? Why can't it do it?" asked Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "We're not going to introduce a playoff bill after this hearing. But I hope this hearing causes discussion. I would like to see the NCAA and the major conferences and the BCS come together on their own to develop a playoff system."

I'm glad they won't be passing any legislation, but it's ridiculous that Congress is actually questioning the BCS about college football playoffs. What a waste of our tax money. First Congress had hearings about steroids in baseball, now this, what next? Will Congress question the Philadelphia Eagles about suspending Terrell Owens? Maybe they should question Bill Parcells and Sean Payton about their conservative playcalling for the Cowboys. Maybe Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) could start calling plays. But what does a Congressman know about football? Nothing, and that's my whole point.

Awesome Christmas light display

This (video) is the most awesome Christmas light display that I have ever seen. It must have taken a long time to perfect that. I need not ever look at Christmas lights again because nothing else will ever be that good. Amazing.

It's cold outside

It is slightly below freezing outside right now and I don't know if it will get above freezing today. Earlier, when I went to eat, it was raining ice, and that was kind of neat. I'm glad, especially at times like this, that I don't have to drive anywhere, since I live on campus. I wasn't too cold, though, when I was outside, since I was wearing two pairs of socks, two t-shirts and a sweatshirt, a coat, and of course pants and underwear...and shoes...and a hat. After a while though, with the wind blowing, my ears got pretty cold. The coat I was wearing doesn't have a hood, so I didn't have a way to keep my ears warm. What else could I use to keep my ears warm? A ski mask? Earmuffs? If I could find something to keep my ears warm, then being outside in this kind of weather would be no problem, and would even be kind of fun.

Shower report

My bathroom light is very dim, but I was still able to get a shower without any problems. It was kind of strange taking a shower in such low light, but it was almost kind of neat.

Bathroom light is very dim

The fluorescent light in my bathroom is suddenly very dim, and since the shower curtain blocked most of the light when the light was working, it would be very dark in the shower if I tried to shower now. I put in a maintenance request, and usually they are pretty fast at fixing things like that, but they haven't come to fix it yet. I don't want to delay my shower on account of them. And I do want to get a shower today. I guess I should be able to shower in very dim light if I need to, my eyes are closed some of the time anyway. So, that settles it, I'm going to get a shower in the very dim light.

Do black people love you?

Do black people love you enough for you to make a web site about it? Black people love Sally and Johnny.

Before anyone complains, obviously this site is for humor, and it's pretty clever. Read the front page and the testimonials.

Closed an open door

Sometimes I walk by the Fine Arts Center, which is one of the largest buildings on campus, and its side door is open. For some reason this really bothers me. The door was open tonight when it's 8 ºC outside. There was nobody around, no reason why the door should be open. So, when I walked by, I walked over to the door and closed it. Maybe the door just gets stuck open, I don't know, but it just seems strange that it's open so often.

Marquette disciplines student for comments made on blog

It's not uncommon for an employee to be fired because of comments made on a personal blog, but now a student has been disciplined for comments made on his personal blog. Here's the news story, and here's a more thorough analysis that logically determines that the student should not face punishment. As blogs continue to become more popular, it is important that we as a society continue to support individual rights to speak freely online and oppose attempts by companies and schools to limit personal freedom of speech.

Two socks are better than one

Today, I'm wearing two pairs of socks in order to keep my feet warm. However, not only are my feet warmer, but my feet fit in my shoes more snugly and walking is more comfortable. While I don't think that wearing two pairs of socks is a good idea when it's hot, it will be cold this week and I'm glad my feet will be kept warm and comfortable.

wedding photo

This picture is pretty funny.

If you don't get it, look at the first row of people.

Found $65, gave it back

Lesley and I were at the mall Sunday night and we were walking along and she saw $40 on the ground. She picked it up, and we weren't really sure what to do, and as we continued walking, we saw another $20 on the ground. Then we saw $5 more, which Lesley thought she saw fall out of a lady's pocket. So, since this lady seemed to be the one leaving a trail of bills, we caught up to her and asked her if she was missing any money. She emptied one pocket, which had a bunch of gift cards and receipts. Then she took a while to dig through another pocket. I started to think that we were bothering the wrong person, since it seems to me that it shouldn't take anyone so long to figure out that a lot of money was missing. Finally, she said that she was missing $60, which was close enough to the $65 we found that we figured that it was her money. And, even if it wasn't her money, she had a child and probably needed the money more than we did anyway. So, while it was exciting to find money on the ground, I'm glad we were able to find the original owner so we could give it back.