1/26/2002:

This strip comes entirely from the brain of Sil. I've been informed that Ralph Ellison's entire novel was lost in a fire.

Let's just add that to the pile of things that I've learned in the past few days that I should have known before. Ben Stein came to campus yesterday to give a talk. He started off with a few jokes and then moved to trivia. These weren't the sort of cheeky questions he asks on his gameshow. These were questions like "Who were the main opposing generals of the Battle of Antietam?" or "In which war was the Battle of Tannenburg a decisive battle?" Stuff which I knew at one time, but has since leaked out of my head due to lack of use of such knowledge. I feel guilty when I forget stuff like that. Like all those hours memorizing in high school and grade school should've just been spent writing C++ code and desigining multiplexors, since that would be a lot more useful to me at the current point in time.

He also talked about his son and his relationship with him. Then he talked seriously about civil rights. Then he finished off with some advice things. The shocker to me was his "Think small" piece of advice. "You won't create the next Microsoft," he kept saying. Not that I want to do such a thing, but it's not the sort of advice you usually get at a university like ours.

There were a lot of people there, about 1000 or so. I told Twin Girl that it'd be funny if they closed the doors on us and said, "Haha, instead of Ben Stein, we're going to repeat the Martin Luther King Day Program from Monday, which only 450 people attended!"

I must admit, I also did not attend the program. I wish I had a better excuse, but it was because I had to work on the control unit for our processor and then I had another meeting during the time. I know, it's terrible to say, but these civil rights leaders fought for my ability to attend this school and build multiplexors instead of going to celebrate their lives.

There's really no good segue from that thought to the utterly lightweight Friday that I had.

Sil and I went on an IKEA pilgrimage. It was the Enlightenment trip, since we purchased mostly illuminating devices. Sil had never been, so we spent a lot of time walking around the premade rooms, thinking how nice it would be to have our apartment look like these things, not just because we were attracted to the clean Scandinavian lines, but because having a room like that would mean that everything belonged together, in a sense.

So this is Bungie's new project! Heh. I wish.

Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault just got released. Will this be the game that makes me turn on myPC again? I got into the demo for a few nights, but the lack of ingame server browser and boredom with lame kiddies took me out of it. Now I hear that there is a browser added... mmm. Also, I just saw the box in Best Buy and it's so cute. I don't mean that in a "World War II is cute" sort of way. The box is 1/2 the size of normal game boxes. Which is as it should be, I mean, there's just a CD and a manual inside. Hey, game publishers, get it through your head! Smaller boxes mean more product on the shelves!

I'm listening to "Strange Condition" by Pete Yorn currently. I love this song. Please, send music recommendations to songs@kipster.org. The book recommendations worked out really nicely. I think it's great that a lot of the suggested books I've read already. Most of you have never met me or had a conversation about books with me, and yet, you know what I like. That's cool. So, I'm looking at Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale (thanks, Dark Master), and Steve Martin's Shopgirl (thanks Ciarán) which I heard about at the same time I found a book called Shopping by Gavin Kramer, which was entertaining, but ultimately forgettable. So, I forgot about the similarly named Steve Martin novel. You can still email books@kipster.org with suggestions. Due to my server setup, you can send mail to snorkelwhacker@kipster.org and it'll get to me, so, hey, if that's more your style...

And yes, I am an Amazon addict now.

kip