Whoa. Its been a while. Between finals, spring break, and getting back in the swing of things, I wasn't sure I had the time, or the motivation, to update this website anymore. I've had several things to consider as of late that have occupied my free time, namely where I'll be this summer, what I'll be doing, how much it will cost, as well as what exactly my major will be. I also caught a bug, which has been tickling the back of my throat for a few days now. I wish it was a real bug, but I've got to settle for a virus or whatever the hell it is, instead.

But that shit's boring, so its the last you'll hear of it. Instead, I'm going to tell you about how I swiped three bottles of orange juice.

There's a surprising amount of interesting people that come to Northwestern to give speeches, talks, or participate in roundtable discussions, but being the lazy person that I am, I usually don't work up the effort to go. For example, last year Margaret Thatcher came during the fall, and Kofi Annan gave the commencement speech in June. Those two both come to mind pretty quickly as people that I would have like to seen, had I given it a little more thought. Countless authors and poets have come as well, and I've gone to listen to maybe two of them since I've been at school. So when I found out that Stephen Wolfram, the guy that wrote A New Kind of Science was giving a talk at the Tech building, I decided it'd be worth my time to go.

I'm not going to pretend to understand everything this guy talked about in his book, a book that I would read for about twenty minutes every night last summer before nodding off. What he talks about, more or less, is that instead of having gigantic, complex rules governing gigantic, complex systems, like nature, its possible that a set of tiny, simple rules is responsible for producing complex-looking things like, for example, snowflakes, or you know, human beings. If you're really curious, check out his website, but the point is that because I couldn't get through his book without napping, I hoped that by having him explain it in person it might make a little more sense.

Tuesdays are pretty open for me this quarter; I have one class, I go into work for a while, and then spend the rest of the day doing work or whatever I want to. I knew I wouldn't have any trouble fitting this talk into my schedule, but I didn't think that it would be scheduled for two and a half hours. That information, coupled with the general weariness of being sick, made a nap right after lunch sound like a really good idea.

Of course, I didn't sleep well. I went to the talk with a cup of tea and found a comfortable chair in the dark, warm auditorium, thinking that the talk would be really interesting, and that I would come away with nothing less than enlightenment. And I did. And then I stole three bottles of orange juice by kicking open a vending machine.

Wait, no. What actually happened is I lasted about thirty minutes before my mind turned down the volume on the pudgy British mathemetician band and the rest of my body kicked into standby mode. Another thirty minutes later, someone kicked the back of my seat, and I came to. I managed to wake up for the last third of the speech, and when the Q&A session turned out to be crazy Northwestern professors debating nondeterminalist probabilities and theorems I've never even heard of, I decided to cut my losses and leave.

Apparently they had refreshments scheduled for afterward, because two huge tables of food and drinks were laid out. And that's when I spied the bottles of orange juice. The same bottles of orange juice that cost $1.95 everywhere else on campus. That's right, a dollar-freaking-ninety-five.

A couple peanut butter cookies, some juicy strawberries, and five minutes later I left for home with pockets bulging with orange juice and the sense of satisfaction that can only come from making off like a bandit. Even if I wasn't thinking of the vitamin C I needed to help get rid of my sore throat, its still sound policy to take as much orange juice as offered.

You never know when scurvy will sneak up on you.

5:51 PM Top

-Wednesday, March 12, 2003

 

So, its officially crunch time.

No, not Crunch candy bar time, I mean that I have only a few short days before final papers are due for winter quarter, and due to my procrastination so far, I have limited free time until, well, next Wednesday. I could really go for a Payday, though. I'm always amazed at how good salted peanuts and caramel taste together.

I did, however, think of another link I could add to the Links section. Orisinal has all sorts of fun games and cool desktop wallpapers, so go check it out. I'll try and squeeze in a few updates here and there in the next week or so, but no promises can be made.
2:56 PM Top

-Friday, March 07, 2003

 

Just today Hans Blix said that inspectors will need months to figure out if Iraq is fully disarming. I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief; I'm getting to the point where any sort of delay is a victory, and maybe we can delay this until November 2004 and get Bush the hell out of office before he lets hell break loose throughout the world.

I mean, I can agree France's, China's, and Russia's resentment of America as a superpower is probably influencing their decision to threaten to veto a war resolution in the security council, but right now, I'm completely fine with it. I imagine its nothing personal. It really feels like everyone around the world, with the exception of Tony Blair and countries that, well, don't hold much influence either way, dislikes the Bush administration more than America. I suppose all I can say is thank God for Colin Powell: without him, we probably would have razed Iraq months ago.

Its funny though. Through all of this, I'm not sure I can picture what the hell Gore would have done after the WTC towers were destroyed. I bet it has something to do with the fact that he has the personality of a cinder block.

Anyway, I was thinking that the Links section on the side is rather pathetic, considering there's only one link. I'm wondering what else to link to though, because for all the time I spend on the Internet, I'm not exactly sure if I "go anywhere" or "do anything." Its entirely possible I spend all my time checking my email and being away on Instant Messenger and I spend the rest of the time staring at, well, nothing.

Basically, what it comes down to is this- if you happen to have a website that you like, send me the link here - m-jansen@northwestern.edu - and I'll decide if I want to put it up or not. I'm open to anything, so send away.
1:19 PM Top

-Wednesday, March 05, 2003

 

Blogger, and additionally, this site, was down earlier today for a while, maybe an hour. I guess switching to Google hasn't made a damn bit of difference so far.

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Today was supposed to be the day Chicago recovered from a huge storm that should have blanketed the city with at least six inches of snow. Instead, we got maybe three or four inches, by my estimates, and some larger snow drifts due to the 20 mph winds that are making going outside especially perilous. While the campus wasn't miraculously shut down for the first time ever, I did get something out of it: my 7pm class last night got canceled, and I spent the evening, well, not doing a goddamn thing, which I must say needs to happen more often.

Speaking of God, today is also the first day of Lent, which means...pretty much nothing to me. I must not be caught up on my Christian holidays anymore, because I had this conversation at lunch yesterday-

"So when does Lent actually start?" one of my friends asked.
"Ash Wednesday, tomorrow," another replied.
"Ash Wednesday, which one is that?" I asked. "Is that the one with the palms?"
"You mean Palm Sunday?"
"I guess not."

Come to think of it, I still know nothing about Ash Wednesday except these two facts- 1) its the beginning of Lent, and 2) no palms are involved. Oddly enough, that's all I really need.


1:25 PM Top