Month: May 2002

About 16 years ago, I screwed up in front of my entire school. I was on stage for the school’s Spelling Bee finals, and I misspelled “length” as “legnth.” My teachers, especially Mr. Kesten(baum)*, were quite upset with me; I think some may have placed bets.

Fast forward to present day. I still would get knocked out at the school level, although on a more difficult word. I got nine out of ten on this quiz. Give it a try (without the aid of Merriam-Webster, you cheater) and see what you get. For more “fun,” guess which word I spelled wrong.

* He legally changed his name from Kestenbaum to Kesten when his son was born. The reason he gave was because it would be “easier for the kid to learn.” I think the CIA made him do it.

Excellent. Thanks to Amazon, I can browse menus from New York restaurants. Maybe soon I’ll be able to afford to go out to eat in the city more often, and when I am, you can be sure I’ll be using this service. Plus, I would probably trust Amazon’s reviews (once the service becomes more popular) over Zagat.

This is from Yahoo Astrology. Sometimes they know the right thing to say.

Be bold and aggressive today, dear Pisces. Although that is normally not your natural mode, you will find that self-confidence can be particularly rewarding on a day like this. People will be delighted to hear from you. Your opinion is precious and you have a great deal of insight to offer to the group. Put aside your adaptable nature for now, since it will most likely be others who need to make adjustments to come around to your way of thinking.

Nobody ever comes around to my way of thinking. I just adapt to other people. It’s quite frustrating.

As much as I enjoy supporting the [xx], I need something new to wear when it’s chilly outside. First of all, I don’t like wearing clothes with my name stitched in, and second of all, the word “[xx]” brings to mind something religious. In fact, it looks cultish with the red and black cross patch sewn in the front. It’s time for some new clothing in general, I think.

Speaking of drum corps, it’s just about time to decide which shows (if any) I’ll be attending this summer. There used to be a show in the Phildelphia or Allentown area where a fan could see every top corps over the course of two days—unforunately that will not be the case this year.

Without a car, taking a road trip to Drum Corps International championships in Madison, Wisconsin sounds highly unlikely.

On Forgiveness, Part One and Part Two, from Peri Doxhs. Succinct. Perfect.

Britney Spears will appear in six episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer next season. Apparently she’ll be one of the bad guys. If this is true, it should prove to be very interesting… or not. I haven’t decided.

It seems overtime is based on more than 7.5 hours per day, instead of 40 hours a week. That means a little bit more money for me. I guess that sort of makes up for the company’s proxy server blocking me from MetaFilter as well as recently-added-to-the-block-list Fark and Blogdex.

In other news, next week’s court session has been postponed. This whole thing is dragging on for quite a bit; I just wish it was over with already. At least now I don’t have to worry about being in jail when Becca‘s in town.

What if objects with mass could travel at the speed of light? This might happen:

Say there is an object that gives off light 10 lightyears away from Earth. It takes light from that object ten years to reach us. On Jan. 1, 2000, it begins traveling towards Earth at the speed of light. We would not see the object until Jan. 1, 2010.

One year later, the object will be 9 lightyears away, so its position on Jan. 1, 2001 wouldn’t known be known to us until Jan. 1, 2010. On Jan. 1, 2005, the object will be five lightyears away, meaning we would know its position (by observing it in the sky) on Jan 1, 2010.

In 2009, it will be one lightyear away, becoming visible to us in 2010. The problem is we will not see the object until it is already on top of us, and assuming it’s a massively destructive object, the entire planet would be destroyed without any warning.

It’s a good thing that objects with mass cannot travel at the speed of light. But what if there is something else in the universe that can travel at the speed of light and has the ability to destroy us. Hmm?

The US military discovered a new way to brainwash kids.

First of all, one of our Executive Vice Presidents is hosting a Sweet Sixteen party for his daughter next month. The party’s going to be in a club in New York and will feature a fairly popular band (they have a popular song on the radio, in a movie, and on Dawson’s Creek). The whole thing is going to cost the boss tens of thousands of dollars.

If I remember correctly, in comparison, Darren‘s “Sweet Sixteen” cost us about $40 to put together, including a cake and pink decorations. In any case, it’s a hell of a lot of money to spend on a birthday party.

But the reason I like this job is the top floor of our building. Since I get to work with some of the higher-ups, every once in a while I have an excuse for going to floor 24, which contains the office of the CEO, a few Executive VPs, the board room, and some really nice amenities. The floor is almost considered a sacred place and very few people are priviledged enough to be allowed to enter, but the security guards know me now.

Yes, I suppose this is all about my need to feel like people think I’m special. I’ve basically lived in such a way that I’ve felt that most people wouldn’t care whether I was around or not… whether that’s true is immaterial. Without people who are willing to show they are interested in my company and my happiness, a hole is left within me that needs to be filled with something—some sort of feeling like I matter to someone.

In any case, I like going up to the top floor.