Saturday, 20th of October, 2001
Having printer problems? Not a bad idea...
Friday, 19th of October, 2001
You know it's parents' weekend at Wash U when:
- The parking garage by Wohl is filled up to the top level
- People are driving 20 down Forsyth pointing to the various Wash U buildings
- People are actually up at 8:00 on Sunday morning (and therefore the shower is warm)
- Everyone was in bed early Saturday night so they can get up for that breakfast with the parents Sunday morning
- People are actually paying in cash at Bear's Den
- Freshman on my floor are coming back from dinner with the biggest smile on their face (Anything other than Centre Court!)
- Upperclassmen are packing up and leaving town for the weekend (smart)
- January Hall is so full that people are looking in through the windows and doorways
- Every 10 minutes a 150-person tour group walks through the South 40
- Minivans and SUVs are driving the wrong down way down Shepley Drive
This afternoon I experienced another interesting dimension to Parents Weekend. I walked into the parking garage see a mother and daughter in a state of frantic over by a Pontiac Sunfire (Look! I'm a rental car!) "Where are the keys!? I just handed you the keys!" "I don't know!" "Well look!" "I can't find it!" "It has to be here somewhere! Look on the floor." "I already looked." Somehow, the daughter managed to lose the keys to the car after they unlocked the car... so now they have an unlocked car, but they can't start it. They were planning on going for dinner before the mom left for her flight tonight. "Oh! I think I threw it into the trunk!" (I discovered another problem with sedans) Of course the trunk was already closed, and the Sunfire doesn't have a remote trunk release button. Lesson: when you're in a bind, don't panic, cause then you forget to think. I handed the mom my cell phone to call up the car rental people to see if they could come rescue them, and I proceeded to the back seat to see if the back seat had a pass-thru of some sort that I can access. Well this is too easy! The little handle to pull the back seat forward was protruding and screaming to me "Pull Me!" I think that's all the intervention necessary, as the daughter got in and groped around the trunk for the key, coming out with them a minute later. "Mom, here are the keys, and don't hand me anything for the rest of the day!" Gotta love parents weekend. I wished them a good dinner before I left.
Thursday, 18th of October, 2001
We had a stroll today at what used to be the Regal Hotel, the Millennium Hotel now. It was great, we were on a tight time schedule for sound tear-down, and it worked well with everyone helping. The audience was very receptive, gotta love that.
Wednesday, 17th of October, 2001
What happens when you have too many things to do in one day? Extend the day. That's right, I went to bed at 5:30 last night, waking up at 12:30 today. Better to study and let some of the material soak in during overnight REM sleep than cramming the next day, I suppose. And I don't lose any sleep that way, I just move my waking hours around more so they are more efficient.
Record companies are complaining about file sharing ruining their sales, but they're too stupid to realize that can retaliate using the same legal means that file sharing has used to "hurt them"! They can sabotage the file sharing system! The record company that does Britney Spears apparantly did that for her new album - they uploaded a bunch of junky vocal solos and things that nobody wants and labeled it "Britney Spears" and immediately it started propogating all over, and people download it thinking it's Britney Spears. Hah! That's great, someone actually decided to do something other than whine to the government about controlling file sharing.
Tuesday, 16th of October, 2001
Wow, I felt last-minute studying really paid off before my Macroeconomics midterm. When I was taking that test this afternoon, it scared me to think how lost I'd be if I had taken it 12 hours earlier. So I think I'm ok for this midterm. Whew. I also found out, according to the professor, that I "creamed" the last SSM 326A test. I didn't realize they were graded yet, but indeed, I scored a 97/100. According the professor's standards, it was a "very tough" test, where a 90/100 was extremely good. Nice. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in studying for Macroeconomics, I frogot to do my homework for SSM326 for today. Doh! I guess that makes up for the test. Owell. Looking at WebSTAC now, I see that I also got an A+ on my CS101 midterm. Sweet. Now I've just gotta study for my Intro to Psych midterm tomorrow...
Monday, 15th of October, 2001
I got up early and visited my high school orchestra this morning. Perfect timing, they were reading Mozart's Divertimento K138! It seems the orchestra is still doing well, some new freshman faces, but the familiar old ones of course, and it was great to be able to visit.
"How did that make sense? Your logic is so inconsistent." "Human logic is so inconsistent." "That's why you're so inconsistent." "I don't follow human logic, that's why I'm so inconsistent."
Sunday, 14th of October, 2001
I went to my brother's piano recital today at Webster University. It was a big one, by the St. Louis Area Music Teachers Association for the students that got a 1-rating at Districts. It was a great recital, it was all very good piano music that I liked, and the players were obviously good, or they wouldn't be there. My brother was really awesome too, he played Notturno, by Grieg.