Month: June 2006

More Sad Tragedy With Guns and Children

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In East Brunswick, a fifth-grader shot a sixth-grader, perhaps by accident. The article quotes neighbors in disbelief.

They talked about how safe and family-friendly the neighborhood was and showed pictures of Alex, a blond, blue-eyed child, from his school yearbook. “There’s a million kids in this neighborhood, of all different races and ages, and we all live in harmony,” said Linda Lieberman, whose son was in Alex’s class.

Well, despite the apparent chilhood overpopulation — East Brunswick’s infrastructure surely can’t handle one million children living in the town — the overwhelming reaction is that this couldn’t happen in their neghborhood. One even claimed that all people regardless of race live in harmony in their community.

I don’t know if this is a “race” issue, as the article doesn’t identify the shooter, but at least one interviewer mentioned race. The much bigger issue is access to weapons. How did a kid get his hands on a handgun? Even that question is only part of the issue. Why does this kid, who possibly has exposure to weapons at home, not understand the real danger of playing with guns?

Two Months Left

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Oh, how happy I will be when I have no more papers to write. I’m sure strategy formulation can be interesting, just not at a quarter after one o’clock in the morning.

Amy’s New Apartment and Bruised Butts

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I helped Amy start setting up her new apartment this weekend. Her place was larger than I thought it would be, and her landlady seems friendly.

Here’s a tip. If you’re moving furniture and kitchen supplies and the ground outside is wet, make sure you’re wearing sneakers with incredible traction and the steps leading down to the apartment aren’t slick.

Reduced friction between feet and the steps can result in a bruised butt. Yes, I write from experience.

If the photograph shows anything, it shows my phone takes horrible photographs, especially when there is no sunlight. Also, I’m not particularly a fan of flickr. Sorry, folks.

So Amy has her own place now, and I haven’t decided whether to move out or not. Moving for the sake of moving isn’t worth it — the process is such a pain. My noisy neighbors once living downstairs seem to have vacated, so maybe I’ll take my chances by staying. It would be better to have a washer and dryer inside my apartment, but maybe I can survive a little while longer.

The First Day of Summer

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It’s officially summer. Therefore, it is hot. I know this because my computer has begun acting the way it does when it’s hot. Although my box is well ventilated, hot weather causes my desktop CPU to spontaneously reboot (or get the BSOD, depending on my settings). Coupled with the fact that my notebook computer is eleventy years old, that is to say I purchased it generations ago on or around October 16, 2001, it may be time to upgrade my equipment.

My former coworker tipped me off to the fact the prices on the next-to-latest generation AMD chips are going to drop by the end of the month. Yeah, he’s got inside connections… or a lot of techie friends.

But I have to sort out my apartment situation first. After skimming the craigslist listings, I wrote to a guy who’s advertising a place in Sayreville. It’s a good price, but there weren’t many details. We shall see.

I May Be Addicted to This

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Those guys at Science Daily say that you can be addicted to learning. It’s in the brain.

The “click” of comprehension triggers a biochemical cascade that rewards the brain with a shot of natural opium-like substances… While you’re trying to understand a difficult theorem, it’s not fun… But once you get it, you just feel fabulous.

So You Want An Update, Huh?

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Every once in a while, the layout of this blog changes back to the default WordPress layout. That’s annoying. One of these days I’ll look into fixing it.

So if you read Amy’s blog you might have noticed that the plan is no longer to live together. So there’s that. My question now is whether to continue to live here or move closer to the job.

Speaking of my job, it’s going quite well. It’s a nice change from my previous one, and the work is somewhat interesting. I don’t have to work ridiculous hours, which is taking getting used to. If I’m still in the office at 6:00 pm, people (who have shifted schedules so it’s normal for them to be there late) look confused.

Thankfully — very, very thankfully — I am set to finish my master’s degree in August. The whole online degree has been a mixed bag. I just want to be finished with it. I’ll probably wait a month before deciding on what courses I’d like to take after that. After finishing an MBA, I think I might want to switch gears and take an art course.

Finally Found One

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Amy and I finally found an affordable apartment this past weekend. It’s several hundred dollars less than comparable apartments in the area (Edgewater), but larger. We’ll also have our first month free and there are no broker fees to deal with.

It’s right on the Hudson River, overlooking (well, at an angle) the New York City skyline. While it’s not my favorite place for living, it’s between my workplace and hers, so that’s where we’ll be.

There is underground parking for my car and a safe place for our bicycles.

Unfortunately, there are no pets allowed. So if anyone’s looking for a very friendly and loving cat named Rupert, who even had is own blog at one time, please let me know. I’ll need to find a home for him by the middle of July. Seriously. Please get out the word. I’m asking around and I’ve had no takers so far.