I find it somewhat humorous when people try to lure me to opportunities and positions based on the amount of money they can give me. Apparently, these people don't know me as well as they think they do.

The absence of an internet connection at my home surprisingly hasn't fazed me. That makes me glad.

What has happened is that other people have gotten more upset that I can't respond to emails quicker than once a day.

Oh well.

aftermath

There were several things I realized (and re-realized) on the trip this weekend:

1. People who live in the north seem to know how to drive. I think people in the south watch NASCAR too much.
2. I really like the new Relient K album. That, Bright Eyes, and Counting Crows were the majority of my trip's soundtrack.
3. I need to visit my relatives more often.
4. I love Maryland House. End of story.
5. Wawa is a necessary stop. They should open one near my house.
6. There needs to be more Dunkin' Donuts in SC.
7. Forgetting the cellphone charger and cellphone=ok. Forgetting only the cellphone charger=not ok. Forgetting the iPod cable too didn't make it better.
8. Charlie the Unicorn is stuck in my head, for better or for worse.
9. "Restricted parking zones" blocked off with cones can be parked in.
10. There needs to be more people who like to play frisbee.
11. I need to travel more often. Money is no objection.

raining in Philadelphia

Several hundred miles later, I'm sitting here at my uncle's house outside of Philadelphia. Raining.

David and I left Columbia around 4:15a. The set-up wasn't too bad. With my mom's van, and the back seat taken down, we had a decent bed in the back of the van. Since David got "crunked," he drove first, and I took a nap in the back .

With as many bad wrecks as I've seen from driver fatigue, I was glad when David woke me up around 5:45a and told me he was tired. We pulled into a gas station, quickly switched positions, and continued on our way.

Aside from the quick caffination stop in North Carolina, the ride to Richmond was fairly uneventful. After we passed through Richmond, David woke up and wanted to know when we were eating. That led to the stop at Wawa.

From there, the only big part of the trip up was the stop at my favorite place on I-95: Maryland House!

And now we're here.

I love it up here.

i got THE phone call today

and yet again, i'm struck by the lack of permance

My roommate walked into my room and handed me five pieces of paper. Five pieces of fabric-based, green-colored paper with a dead persons picture on them.

People attribute value to these objects.

I can understand the arguments for a social-economical barter-exchange system. I accept that money will always exist.

The disturbing part is that people devote their entire lives to the quest of having more economic capital than other people. They devote themselves to having things, possessions, objects.

"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet."

It's all going to burn in the end. So why bother and try to hoard it?

What happens when sleep is deprived:

I found this article online earlier today. And because many of my friends decide to test human endurance, I thought it was very applicable.

Why do we sleep? One way to study the need for sleep is to look at the effects of total sleep deprivation. It has been known for a long time that sleep has a detrimental effect; something used to good effect by the military for generations. The ancient Romans, for example, used tormentum vigilae (waking torture) to extract information from their enemies.

The effects of sleep deprivation over time are:

Night 1. Most people are capable of going without sleep for a night. The experience is tolerable but usually uncomfortable.

Night 2. The urge to sleep is much stronger, particularly between 3-5 a.m., when the body temperature is at its lowest.

Night 3. Tasks requiring sustained attention and mental calculations become seriously impaired. This is particularly the case if the task is repetitious and boring. Again, the early hours are the most crucial to needing sleep.

Night 4. From this night onwards, periods of micro-sleep occur. People stop what they are doing and stare into space for up to three seconds. The end of micro-sleep is accompanied by a return to full awareness. Confusion, irritability, misperception and the 'hat phenomenon' occur [a tightening around the head is felt as though a hat too small for the head is being worn].

Night 5. On top of the effects previously mentioned, delusions [false beliefs] may be experienced. Intellectual and problem-solving abilities are largely unimpaired.

Night 6. Symptoms of depersonalization occur and a clear sense of identity is lost. This is called sleep deprivation psychosis. Adapted from Huber-Weidman, 1976.

The effects of sleep deprivation are more psychological than physical. Reflexes are impaired but heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and body temperature show very little change. The main physical consequences seem to be hand tremors, droopy eyelids, problems in focusing the eyes and a heightened sensitivity to pain.

Interestingly, we seem able to catch up with sleep in a much shorter time than was lost through deprivation. A person who loses three nights of sleep might only need a slighted extended sleep in order to feel fully refreshed.

which choice do i want?

It's weird. I log into VIP. I starting getting nervous to see my grades. Nothing terrible, but just the difference between an A and B.

Then I find they're not posted. And I start getting aggravated. Over something just a few seconds ago I was nervous to see.

I should change that first sentence: I'm weird.

Directions from New York to Paris, courtesy Google

Seriously. Look closely at line 24 in the directions. Or click here to try it yourself

[the start of] exam week

Unlike most people during exam week, I really can't complain. The past two days have been exam-free for me.

Reading day, or "Tuesday," really is mislabeled. How many people spend this day reading? Really, it should be called "drinking day" or something to more accurately reflect what the average college student does on this day. Historically, I never have read on this day set aside for solely that. This time around was no different, as no reading was accomplished. Except maybe the trail signs. And I didn't even read those well, as evidence by my riding. As David put it, the score for the day ended up, Harbison State Forest-2, Danny-0. We hadn't even gotten on the trail yet, and I fell off my bike. The first wipe-out was actually kinda cool; I rode into a ditch. That wasn't as cool as the fact that when I went flying over the handlebars, I was conscientious enough to land on my feet. I picked my bike up, and continued on the easy trail. Not more than two minutes later, my front wheel slipped on the pine straw. I had two options: lay it out, or run into a tree. I chose the former, and I've got the cuts on my knee to prove it.

Being the easy trail, I thought the rest of the 8 miles or so to go would be horrible. Come to find out, those were the only times I fell. I felt so juvenile. I fell on the easy trail. Twice.

Today, not having any exams, I decided to volunteer to be a juror for a mock trial that occurred at the NAC. Given that my chosen profession excludes me from regular jury duty, a decided that the experience would be worth it. That, and the fact that I love the American Criminal Justice system, I wanted to see as much of it as I could. I heard a case that had been brought before a United States District Court that the Department of Justice was using to test it's new Assistant United States Attorneys. It was very interesting.

One last thing: if you fall asleep on your keyboard, compose an email consisting of just spaces that you typed with your forehead (a skill I didn't know I possessed), you may have been studying just a little too much.