Lunch today

My grandmother called Tuesday to invite me to lunch for my birthday, and today worked out best, so she just told me to call her whenever I was ready for lunch. So today I got up at a reasonable time (10:30) and I hung out in my room for a while and I didn't eat breakfast, so at noon I decided to eat lunch. I decided to make some soup, and right after I finished my soup, I remembered that I had plans with my grandmother for lunch. So, I ran to the phone to call her, and I quickly got dressed and we got to Jason's Deli to eat at around 1 o'clock. I felt bad for almost forgetting about my lunch appointment with my grandmother and then making her wait so late to eat, but anyway, it was nice of her to take me out, and even though I had eaten some soup, I was still hungry for my California Club, which was very good.

Disrupted Layers of Constancy

Sudan bans investigatiors

Sudan's government not cooperating again? What a surprise. Link.

Sudan's government says it will not allow international investigators into the troubled province of Darfur to collect evidence on alleged war crimes.

The ban comes as the chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council that he wanted more co-operation from Sudan.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said he had identified mass killings and rape but had not decided who to prosecute.

Some two million people have fled their homes in the three-year Darfur war.

Sudan's Justice Minister Muhammad Ali al-Mardi told the BBC that the ICC had no jurisdiction to try Sudanese nationals.

"We have the national law authority... The government is willing and able to try to these cases," he said.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Khartoum says only a few low-level military officers have faced charges over the violence in Darfur, which has left tens of thousands dead.

So, they expect us to believe that the Sudanese government, which has done nothing to stop the genocide, will actually prosecute the people who helped perpetrate the killings? Oh, but of course, Sudan says that the killings are only a tribal conflict:

Sudan's government has said that the violence in Darfur is a tribal conflict and the attacks are carried out by militias and rebels.

It denies that the state has co-ordinated the violence.

So then why won't Sudan allow an investigation? Hopefully some Sudanese official will read this and respond. Or, maybe one of you who actually reads this will know a Sudanese official well enough so that you can ask him the next time you hang out. In any case, Sudan should allow or sponsor an investigation, but I don't think it will because I have a suspicion that the government is involved with the violence, and that it's not just a tribal conflict. A crazy assumption, I know, who would ever think that the Sudanese government is involved with this whole thing?

Today is my birthday

I am 22.

Review of my Fall Semester

I moved into my dorm on August 17, to start this semester at which time I met my roommate, and found out that he is also a mechanical engineering major, and we got along pretty well this semester.

I knew I'd be taking all engineering classes, so I expected this semester to be difficult and tiring. However, after a few weeks, I found my classes were more boring than difficult. I kept expecting to be inundated with work, but my classes didn't keep me very busy. While several of my classes were frustrating because they were boring, my senior design project was frustrating because I didn't want to do things in the same way as the rest of my group. This was also the year of postponed tests. I don't know if I've ever had a test postponed the day of the exam, but this semester, a professor showed up late and had to reschedule, and my final exam was delayed by 2 hours one day because of the weather.

This semester, I found myself talking to more people and being more sociable. When I started college I spent every week working on homework and at my job so that I could spend my weekend away from campus with my girlfriend. Unfortunately, during those times, I wasn't very outgoing. This semester I spent more time on campus than ever before and became more social and more involved on campus than ever before. I joined Toastmasters and was president of the Environmental Society, which did an environmental presentation, worked on a green power campaign that gave me the opportunity to speak in front of Senate, celebrated Texas Recycles Day, and we wanted to tour a recycling facility, but for some reason the lady never called me back. Part way through the semester I wrote about how I'd been more outgoing and more involved. I attended a few lectures this semester, seeing Colin Powell, Eliot Spitzer, and Carly Fiorina. I also went to a piano recital and a French cheese tasting event. At the beginning of the semester, I was annoyed by another 6 AM fire drill, so I wrote an article about fire drills and even met with the fire safety inspector, but with no success at changing school fire drill policy.

I did more things in Dallas this semester outside of school than I've ever done before. After deliberating whether to bring my bike on campus, I enjoyed biking on the Katy trail and biking to Quizno's. I also spent an afternoon in downtown Dallas, went to a nearby lake, and went to a museum on campus.

I also did some things this semester that I haven't done much before. I developed a liking of tea; I had one cup a couple weeks after beginning school and then the last week of school, I had at least 1 cup for like 5 consecutive days. I also worked out some. I also drove a lot less this semester, since I took public transportation more. One night, on the way back from Fall Break, I had an interesting encounter on the train. One day at school it rained a lot and I wasn't expecting it so I got pretty wet.

I also did things with friends. I visited David in Sherman, David visited me, Bryan visited me, and I played Whirly Ball one night. I also went to the State Fair with my girlfriend, and I also saw Paul McCartney in concert with her. I also met David in Frisco for an FC Dallas soccer game in Frisco, which I found to be a crappy place for a soccer stadium.

Speaking of soccer, SMU soccer began their post season with an exciting loss in the C-USA tournament, but they won games in the NCAA tournament until they lost to the eventual champion. While I'm a bigger football fan than a soccer fan, I usually don't attend many SMU football games, partially because our team usually don't do very well. But the first game I attended this year was a good one. On a night on which nobody except the drunk fan in front of me expected SMU to win, SMU beat nationally ranked TCU in an exciting football atmosphere that was one of the highlights of my semester. So, I decided to go to more SMU games during the semester.

At home, I got my room set up with a stereo system and cable TV. I also visited my high school and had a steak cookout with my family.

As for myself, I started looking for a job and looked forward to the free time I have now with Winter Break.

I got a deviantART account on which to share some of my photographs, and I got my own domain for my website.

Here are some essays I wrote this semester:

• Get On the Freeway at Freeway Speed
• Respond to Emails in Full, Please
• Why Am I not allowed to swipe my dining card?
• Co-op Program Complaints
• I Can't Use Times New Roman
• Voting No on Texas Proposition 2

Here are some posts with pictures that I shared this semester:

• Arches on Colored Backgrounds
• Leave The Lights on
• Picture of Parking Lot and Poles
• People Used to go to School here
• Music on Ground
• Rocks and Strawberry
• Pictures from the Botanic Gardens

I also liked this post with consumption statistics. I made at least 7 posts about torture this semester.

School consumed less of my time this semester and I tried to just do whatever I wanted with my free time. I did more things outside of school and I made every week a little different and a little exciting, which made this my best semester of college so far.

Byblos Lebanese Restaurant

I tried a new restaurant tonight, Byblos Lebanese Restaurant. I'm not very experienced with Lebanese food, but I must say that the food I had was very good, it was even worth the $15 that I paid. It's probably cheaper during lunch, and there are also sandwiches that are much cheaper. I'd recommend the restaurant to most people.

Raider Haters

I don't like the Oakland Raiders, and neither do San Diego Chargers fans, especially the guy who made the Official Raider Haters Universe website. While some of the site is kind of stupid, I support him on principle. Here are some of my favorite jokes from the site:

Q: What do you call a Raiders fan in a suit?
A: The accused.

Q: Why do Sumo Wrestlers shave their legs?
A: So they aren’t mistaken for Oakland women.

Q: You’re trapped in a room with a Lion, Cobra snake and a Raiders fan. You have a gun with two bullets. What should you do?
A: Shoot the Raiders fan – twice.

A little boy took his parents to court because he did not want to live with them anymore. The honored Judge said to him, “So why don’t you want to live with your Dad?” “Because he beats me,” said the little boy. “Why don’t you want to live with your Mother then?” asked the Judge. “Because she beats me as well.” “Oh,” said the Judge “Well who would you like to live with then?” The little boy replied, “I would like to live with the Oakland Raiders because they don’t beat anyone.”

Recently a teacher started a new job at a school in San Diego and trying to make a good impression on her first day, explained to her class that she's a Chargers fan. She asked the class to raise their hands if they too were Chargers fans.

Everyone in the class raised their hand except one little girl. The Teacher looked at the girl with surprise and said, "Mary, why didn't you raise your hand?"

"Because I'm not a Chargers fan", she replied.

The Teacher, still shocked, asked "Well if you're not a Chargers fan, then who do you support?"

"I'm a Broncos fan, and proud of it", Mary replied.

The Teacher could not believe her ears. "Mary, why are you a Broncos fan when you live in America's finest city, San Diego?"

"Because my mom and dad are from Denver and my mom is a Broncos fan and my dad is a Broncos fan, so I'm a Broncos fan too!"

"Well," said the Teacher, in an obviously annoyed tone, "that's no reason for you to be a Broncos fan. You don't have to be just like your parents all of the time. What if your mom was a prostitute and your dad was a drug addict and a car thief, what would you be then?"

Mary said, "A Raiders fan."

New Cell Phone

I got a new cell phone again. I liked my old one well enough, but I got a new cell plan so I got a new phone. The replacement of cell phones is ridiculous, though. I don't replace my house phone every two years, why should we replace our cell phones so frequently? It's just so wasteful, I'm hoping that someday we can keep electronic devices for several years.

I'm Back Home

I came back home Friday evening with some of my stuff. Now that I have my computer here, I have almost everything I need here in my room, except for a refrigerator. My only complaint is that I only have a dial-up internet connection and that my brother is always on the internet, so I guess that was two complaints. Anyway, my 5 week long break has begun, now to make the most of it.