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I had a dream last night that I was back in high school, except that technology to exploit fractals and multi-dimensional space was commonplace. So, location was influenced by the motion used to access that space and things could be vastly larger on the inside than on the outside. So, my entire high school was in a small area of a small office building. I got in the elevator with a girl from one of my classes and we both laughed when the elevator had flip over twice to get the correct orientation to access the high school.

We were early and went to the cafeteria – which looked the size of a closet on the outside but was big enough to seat 300 on the inside. I got a small box of cereal that replenished itself from a storage area, some juice, and a cup of hot water. Rotating my wrist a certain way allowed me to pluck a tea bag from a personal storage area and we sat down. We were joined another classmate who pulled on the fractal edge of the table to stretch it out and make room. He was complaining about how he couldn’t get things papers out of his notebook. I asked if it was broken or if he had forgotten the hand gestures needed access the various spaces inside.

He angrily replied he had forgotten the gestures for the correct areas and I suggested he just try all the common ones to get all the papers out, and then refile them. His vague refusal to do that then earned a shared glance from the girl and I – it was rumored at the school that he was selling drugs and that the paperwork he couldn’t find was related to the sales. We then went to class.

After school, the girl offered me a ride home. On the way, we stopped to rescue a guy who had fallen in a fractal hole “filled” with water. He had managed to find an infinite supply of air so he wouldn’t drown, but still needed help getting out. I invited the girl in for a snack and she was amazed at how nice the house was. The guy on the first floor in the living room was my father (though nothing like my real dad) was on some kind of holo-phone talking to someone for business and ignored us.

I mentioned that it was an older house, built not long after the fractal tech had been developed and that the builders had shown off by only making one door on the second floor. Depending on how you turned the knob, you would access different room. I explained to her that later homes had multiple doors to access the rooms since in that house, you couldn’t ever leave the door open and it tended to isolate. I then told her that my parents kept forgetting how old I was and kept assuming that I had already moved out and was in college – to the point where they kept moving all my stuff in my bedroom down to the basement storage area. We shared a small laugh – but she could tell it really bothered me.

It was time for her to go so her own parents wouldn’t worry and I settled in to do some homework. I woke up when I heard her car start up to leave.

Very weird, very detailed, and very consistent within it’s own parameters. I was a little disappointed to wake up.

One of the staff members in my optometrist’s office recommended following the 20/20/20 rule: After 20 minutes of looking at a computer screen, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Since I seem to be getting more headaches than usual, I have decided to give it a try with a little timer on my desktop that goes off every 20 minutes. A few things I’ve noticed since I started doing this:

1. Working here in the cube farm it’s difficult to find anything interesting to look at 20 feet away. Even standing up, it’s still damn boring. I need to put up some Hello Kitty stickers or something near the ceiling in some key areas that I can look at every 20 minutes.

2. Even though it’s a short break, it still feels like the day is broken down into 20 minute chunks – which is not a bad thing. Makes the time seem to go faster.

3. The chime on the timer is not the most annoying sound I know – but it’s pretty close.

In other news… I tried to help my room-mate get some new vechicle icons downloaded onto his Garmin – except the darn thing has a non-standard USB connector that the cables we have don’t fit. What the hell are they doing re-inventing a USB cable? And why? So, I’m on a quest to find a cable that will work – and I’m really hoping that it won’t require some kind of custom and therefore really expensive cable. Wankers.

My swim today was a good one – I tried a little freestyle (which is really draining for some reason) and a little Butterfly. I can do the arm motion okay on the butterfly, but the kick is without any power. I’m used to a surge of motion with the breaststroke kick and the kick with the butterfly does nothing for me. I must be doing it wrong.

Almost time to go home for the day. Looking forward to working on the costume and playing some video games – especially Lego Batman.

later…

I went to a UA men’s soccer match yesterday. One of my co-workers had suggested it and decided not to go, but since the only soccer match I’ve seen before involved 5 year olds, I figured I should see how it’s really done.

The match was – kinda dull. Both sides were so evenly matched that it was feint and counter-feint for most of the time. Overall, I think Akron had better technique and the other team may have been slightly faster. Or at least one of their guys was – every time he would come tearing down the field he looked like an out of control locomotive. I wouldn’t have gotten in his way.

The AK Rowdies were out in full force – taunting the other teams goalie. They did this thing where they shouted out “left” and “right” whenever he took a step. It was pretty funny – but if he was paying any attention, he didn’t let on.

I think I saw our student assistant at the half-time, but I wasn’t sure.

While there were a few yellow cards in the first half – the second half was where they really came out. All on the other team – and then a couple of red cards as well. Looked like we were going to have a fight on our hands a couple of times, but the rest of the teams got the potential combatants separated.

It was still scoreless with a minute to go in the second half and I was debating if I would stay for the overtime – but decided that I’d been there that long, I should stick it out. Still no score at 30 seconds.

Finally, with nine seconds to go – Akron scored a goal and won the game. The crowd went wild. Pretty much made the whole evening worthwhile.

The next home game is in October – and I might go. Might be a new soccer fan in the making.

later…

This is post #500. Which is somewhat amazing since I’m usually the quiet one without a lot to say. Apparently, I have a lot to write.

Today, while walking back from my swim, I saw a group of people working on one of the flower beds in the shape of the UA logo. They had tarps set up and were carefully working on the white flowers – spray painting them blue. UA blue – to be exact. This would be a nice contrast to the naturally occurring UA yellow flowers under the tarps. I’m hoping this was some environmentally friendly organic paint – but it didn’t smell like it. It was like something out of a chuck Palahniuk novel.

I forgot to mention earlier that my room-mate bought a Garmin last night – with a little technical help from me. Ironically, it sent us the wrong direction of the first place we tried and it listed a Pizza Hut that closed a while ago. The rest of the directional requests went well and he has it talking in a crisp British accent. I think the next step will try to get it to speak Italian.

later…

I went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner last night and had an excellent meal. The only downside, once again, was the sneeze shield over the salad bar. I’m 6 foot tall and my shoulders are fairly high off the ground as a result. The sneeze is set much lower than that to protect the food, which is fine, except that to reach the items in the back, I need to hunker down to almost comical levels. I got what I wanted, but it was more of an adventure than I needed. I’m not sure what the solution is though, a raised shield would let short people sneeze on the food. And that would not be good.

I’ve been thinking, for some reason, that the idea of state laws is a little comical. Given the proximity of states to each other and the relative homogeneity of Americans – or for that matter, human beings – having different sets of rules for people that might live only a few feet from each other seems really odd. There’s nothing to be done about it – I mean, we’ve got people that are so state-centric that they would consider leaving the US, so me with my complete lack of state identity is likely to be ignored. But it still seems weird to me.

Finally, I picked up the Batman Lego game last night. It plays pretty much like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones versions, but it’s pretty cool.

That’s it for now… later…

I was headed up campus to swim recently and went past what looked like a mini-skate park set up on the tennis courts. Seemed a little odd to me – but what was odder was the sponsor of the event – the national guard. I’m sure there are skate boarders that are also in the national guard, but it doesn’t seem like there would be that large of an overlap. More troubling were the two attractive girls I saw walk into the student center with cheaply made back packs with the National Guard logo on them – with the intent to give these out. I think the term for this kind of behavior is a “shill”. In any case, it bothers me that the national guard is able to recruit on a college campus. I’m not entirely sure why it bothers me, but it does. Especially with the skate park and the pretty girls as recruiting tools.

Also, the College Republicans had a table set up in the student center that same day. Seemed an odd coincidence.

In other news… I’ve been keeping up with my swimming, though today was very tiring – more so than usual. Still got in my 30 laps, but I didn’t enjoy it.

Only about an hour or so to go for the day – later…

I headed to Staples last night to pick up a few things and as I walked in the door I knew something was amiss. The inner doors slowed as I walked through them and stopped so that I had to turn sideways to get in. The interior lights also went off for a moment – then came back on as someone shouted “sorry!”. Some of the lights went out again, but I was still able to find what I was looking for. I went to the registers at the front and got in line – unusual for staples as they usually get people through the checkout quickly. After a few moments, it became clear there was a problem with their computers – as a guy came to the line and asked who was paying by cash or check. After a wait, I got called over to the other register where the clerk started to write down the SKU numbers so he could go and look up the prices in the store. While he was gone, I asked another clerk if they could run a credit or debit card manually. They said no and walked away. I was about to go find the clerk that was helping me to point out he was wasting his time if I couldn’t use some kind of plastic – when he then came back with the prices. I asked about the plastic option again and he went to go find out the process – then discovered that the registers were working again. He rang up the purchases and I paid with my debit card and left.

Things that they did wrong:

A) no sign on the door. If they really couldn’t run plastic, they should have posted a sign or made a general announcement.

B) no backup plan? It was pretty chaotic when they tried to find the prices and get people checked out.

C) poor communication between the staff members. The clerk that was helping me was out of the loop and not prepared for having the system go down.

It all worked out, but it was a near thing.

In other news… I heard about someone who uses their mouse upside down – that is, with the cord pointing towards them. And, apparently, they do this on purpose. I can only imagine the problems this would cause. How could they get anything done? How would they train themselves away from the intuitive motion of the mouse? How would they use the buttons? (poorly, as it turns out) and what the hell would they do with the touch pad of a laptop?

I mean, seriously, give it a try. I had a bad enough time when I switched the mouse to the left hand side of my keyboard as a show of support for my left-handed co-workers. It was the longest day of my computing career.

Madness.

Anyway, that’s it for now. later…

Living in Akron, the sight of the blimp is not really that big of a deal. However, just a few days ago, the blimp flew over my backyard. It executed a not very tight turn – flying very low – and then flew off again. I shouted up at them to throw down some candy or snacks – but they didn’t here me. Or, since it isn’t a parade float, maybe they didn’t have any on board.

And working on a college campus means that talking about parking is a little pointless. In this case, after a return from lunch, I ended up parking a significant distance from the building where I work. And then realized, when I went to leave for the day, that I’d parked in a lot that I shouldn’t have based on my parking permit. Fortunately, I didn’t get a ticket.

Last evening I was in a bad mood – so I went for a walk to figure things out. It was pretty late and very dark – and my route was poorly lit. I was a little sensible about my gear – comfortable shoes, long pants, white shirt for visibility. And a knife – just in case. Not that the area where I walked is dangerous in that way, but you never know. Traffic was a bigger issue since sidewalks or even a level shoulder by the road were not always available. So, I got my head cleared a bit, came home, showered, and went to bed.

In the school news paper this week was a story about a guy who killed 2 of our students back in 1986 and was sentenced to be executed. However, he’s too obese for the lethal ejection – they can’t find his veins. His attorney is arguing that it’s now cruel and unusual and he should be spared. Because he’s too fat.

Now, I’m not going to debate the relative merits of a death-penalty for this case – but human beings have been finding interesting and clever ways of killing each other for thousands of years. And the needle stick is too cruel? Please. I’ve had some rough needle sticks giving blood and I didn’t cry about it.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Going to a party this evening and I’ve got some errands to do. The costume is coming along fine – just about ready for the next phase. I mentioned to someone recently that I was working on my costume and they remarked. “So, getting an early start?”

“Early?!” I replied, “No, I’m way behind schedule,”

Hey, I’ve got a reputation to uphold – and these things don’t build themselves.

later…

I headed up to the student center for lunch in a bad mood – which is never an ideal state of mind to be having when facing crowds of randomly moving college students. The noise, the chaos… it was nearly overwhelming. And in the middle of all of that and with a headache forming, I had a weird sensation come over me. For just an instant, I felt as though my physical being was just barely holding onto reality. As though, if I lost just a tiny bit more focus, I would get swept away in a burst of non-reality and cease to exist.

It was disconcerting to say the least. And a firm indication that I need to get more sleep at night.

Reminds me a bit of a few quotes from Douglas Adams:

From the Long, Dark, Tea-time of the Soul: “nonlinear, catastrophic structural exasperation” and “fundamentally fed up with being where it was.”

From the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure

That last one seems to fit best. The feeling that we’ve got to – at least on some level – put forth some effort to simply exist. And if we stop doing – for even the smallest of instants – we suffer a spontaneous massive existence failure.

And perhaps there’s something deeper here. More psychology than physics. Can we get so lost in the chaos around us that we lose that essential element that makes us who we are? Is our grip on our own fundamental essence so tenuous? Can our “spark” flare up and go out?

I got my pizza and bottle of green tea with honey – which has, so far, failed completely in granting me any degree of calmness. I’m still cranky and now wary that my own atoms may get distracted and betray me into non-existence. It’s been a strange day and I’d really like to go home…

The big windstorm that took out power to a number of areas recently also shut down one of our satellite campuses. And since their web people were without power at home, I got tapped to be “on-call” to make updates to their website this morning. With the call coming in – potentially – between 4 and 6 am.

I woke up at 3:30 to use the bathroom and couldn’t really go back to sleep all the way – anticipating a phone call. That didn’t come until 6:45 – when I was told that the power was back on and no update was needed.

I’m glad I could be there to help out – but mildly cranky that I wasn’t needed and my sleep got hosed for sort of nothing. Eh, at least it doesn’t happen much.

I heard a new song last night on the cable music and I’ve been listening to it today. Amie Miriello: I Came Around Good stuff.

that’s it for now. Time to get back to it.