Journal 1999-09

Current entries

1999-09-30, Thu (Day 34, temperature at 08:12: 24.5°C, difference: -1.1°C): It rained overnight, explaining the temperature drop. I was behind by a full half-hour this morning, but that delay did not seem to have a detrimental effect. The CS assignment was copied to the drop box and I tried printing to Beardsley for the first time with this document. The print dispatcher did not see my name at the top, so the papers were just put in the “no name” bin.

I worked on studying for my physics test for most of the afternoon, taking various kinds of breaks spaced out throughout the day. I asked Prof. Taylor about the cosine and sine being linked to the x and y axis respectively, which is not necessarily true. Instead, thinking about what angle, component, and vector are being measured is a safer way of going about the problems. Making acceleration graphs out of velocity and velocity out of displacement was also discussed in depth. I took a trip to the bookstore after the Q & A session to get odd items such as a stapler, the 3M Precise Mousing Surface (which I think makes it harder to move the mouse because of the bumps, but it keeps dirt contained), dry-erase instead of wet-erase markers for my door board, and other items.

1999-09-29, Wed (Day 33, temperature at 07:43: 25.6°C, difference: +1.6°C): My dream was very involved and intertwined; I do remember having a meeting with Brian in a classroom, but since we were considered to be too noisy, we went in the hallway.

My swimming progress today was brisk; I now am able to do the backstroke by using my arms and my legs in a disorganized fashion. Also I jumped into the pool from the semi-deep end. That went better than expected. Apparently I must be realizing how close October break is and I am now starting to put more energy into reaching the swim test stage. The instructor recommended that I take the Nautilus course next quarter. It does fit in the same time block as tennis, so I am considering switching.

I thought I was going to fall asleep in Ed 14 today since I was awake for almost all of the morning.

The Ed class ended a little late, and Kai came by a little early, so he was waiting outside my dorm for the trip to the Co-op food market. Kai got some stuff for his study break and I got Chewy Chips Ahoy and two blueberry pies for myself. Keith was working today and he asked me about my web page, which I haven’t updated since July 24. Afterwards, Kai and I went to the Swarthmore Public Library so we could get our cards updated or generated to check out materials. Since I was running out of continual energy by then, I put the college address where the home address should have gone, but that was easily corrected.

The IEEE meeting was tonight at 19:30. It seems like every other student organization on campus: small membership of those at the college, great ideas, growing apathy that is being squashed this year (hopefully), and a commitment to do good for the world.

When I got back to Mertz, as I was taking my shoes off, the fire alarm went off and was soon reset. Some people said that 2nd south was to blame due to their cooking. As that was being said, it seemed to fit my dream on --09-26, Sun in visual context.

The safe sex workshop was highly anticipated but fell short of expectations. The video was unavailable and we did not get a “goody packet.”

My CS homework was complete except for the last problem and the base cases for some of the questions. When I was going to the bathroom to take a shower, I overheard down the hall something about the domino effect if the video was shown. Dan in his inquisitive nature asks “Why?” twice but no one answers.

1999-09-28, Tue (Day 32, temperature at 07:53: 24.0°C, difference: +1.0°C): CS homework grading is currently backlogged and it should be returned soon. In E5, the amateur radio club and IEEE spoke, pitching their organizations. One value of ham radios is in disaster situations, when the grid and communication networks are down.

Tuesday lunch was once again rushed and incomplete. When the lines are long during lunch, I just get a salad because the line is almost always shorter than anything else. Even though I practically had the whole E5 lab period to finish my assignment due next week, I hardly got anything done because I didn’t fully understand matrix multiplication. The HEV garage was closed after 14:45, which Kiyo and I found out. They were supposed to be working this afternoon until about 14:30 or 15:00.

Instead, I worked on my CS 22 homework. By 23:00, I got seven out of the ten problems working, but most of the success came in the later hours. As I was thinking more, the thermometer near me would go up. At one point it went over 27.0°C, which is 80.6°F. Thinking I was going to catch on fire or something, I took a longer break, and the temperature reading calmed down after that. I have no idea what happened to the Ed 14 study group; Sara C. was out at 21:00, and I wrote a note on her door asking if it was moved to 23:00, but I never heard anything back about it. Most are very busy now since it is mid-terms and people are studying on their own.

1999-09-27, Mon (Day 31, temperature at 07:58: 23.0°C, difference: +1.4°C): I found myself in Kohlberg at night talking to various people about various things in dreamland today.

Since I am getting a little short on my sleep, I fully woke up (in the bathroom) about ten minutes behind the norm. This delay never was made up during the day, since when I planned to finish my Ed 14 reading at 22:00 in McCabe, I really finished ten minutes later at 22:10. I got my Math 6A mid-term back today. I also picked up a physics problem set today. In Aqua, I started doing the backstroke unassisted with just my arms.

Sharples lunch today was rather choppy; as a result the lines were long, there were no plates in the salad bar area, and successive cup dropping reached a record. I suggested that Kai intentionally drop a cup so that the chain would stop, which it did. The Physics lab went well; it was long but our group moved systematically through it, and we were done exactly at 16:00, which is when the lab is scheduled to end.

After the lab, I was in McCabe reading the Ed 14 assignment for this week. I started to notice more the red rashes on my elbows. At first I thought they were due to stress or pressured contact, but I think they really are an RSI. Now I am typing with the keyboard on my lap and the mouse is further back, encouraging me to have my elbow be above my wrist.

In an example of exact timing, as I was going to Sharples for dinner from McCabe, people from my hall were coming up the stairs, so we were able to have dinner together. I kept getting up to get more food, forgetting needed utensils along the way. The evening completed in McCabe.

1999-09-26, Sun (Day 30!, temperature at 08:26: 21.6°C, difference: +0.3°C): Likely due to Denise’s mention of the wire-reinforced glass separating the Mertz upper floors from the lobby, I dreamed that I was in a building that has the glass doors of Mertz but has the characteristics of my apartment, most notably the fire alarm. I was on the second floor of my apartment building with the red end doors replaced with the Mertz glass doors. A large amount of white smoke was coming out of apartment 204. I think it was the dishwasher. This smoke mimics the puffy stuff I saw at the Sharples BBQ yesterday. I thought nothing of it until I touched the door the wrong way (by casually touching it), burning my hand, since the whole door is metal.

Once I felt the heat, I pulled the fire alarm which was on the wall near the other side of the door. However, I thought it went off but I didn’t pull it down far enough to break the glass. Once I did, some people went outside (it was cold) while some just waited in the hallway. After I found out the whole story that it only was dishwasher steam, I explained first to the group initially on the stairs. I didn’t have my full voice at first. When I mentioned that I felt the door was hot, they understood why I pulled the alarm even if it was not a real fire. That group went back to their rooms. The second group came in but even though I got my voice back, they didn’t want to listen; they already knew, so they just went back too. While one group may have been the amount of people living in my apartment building in real life, combining both groups is more than the amount of people living there.

Today was typical for a Sunday with early morning work, brunch, and afternoon work (Phys lab setup and E5 MATLAB). I learned about repetitive strain injuries (RSI) this morning. However, when I went to do the second part of the E5 problem, the computer started giving all sorts of problems such as unexpected quits, errors in clearing something twice, as well as other errors. The Data and Software server was also down, which I thought initially was the root of my difficulty. After much trial, I went to McCabe initially to do the Ed 14 readings but found myself in front of another computer trying to get the thing to work. Since I couldn’t find MATLAB, I went to the Beardsley public area. Josh was staffing the area at this time. Betsy came in soon after to work on the problem as well. After much thought I finally got it to work.

Sharples dinner was next and I sat with John. Afterwards I visited his quad in Wharton A west which presented a confusing setup of rooms, beds, desks, and layout. When I got back to Mertz, I met up with Sara C.’s other spec Cathy. I met Ruth as I was going to McCabe. Sara added the spec smile to my door, only it was wearing glasses and none of the specs normally wore glasses. Apparently that was in response to my message that I thought I knew what those things meant.

After sunset, explosions started going off in what I originally thought was the northwest direction but turned out to be fireworks in the southeast, probably by the Delaware River.

Sara C. convinced some people on our hall to go to PACES, the student-run coffeehouse in Tarble. She went with Sara E., Ruth, Cathy, Dan, Luke, and I. They went mainly because they needed to stay up late to finish their work and they needed extra food, coffee, and tea.

1999-09-25, Sat (Day 29, temperature at 08:07: 21.3°C, difference: +1.2°C, Homecoming): In my dream I was up in the air looking at the PECO generating stations in Eddystone. However, they were not on and they looked much more complicated with more large brown outdoors equipment, and they complex itself was more spread out.

I had breakfast with Sarah S., who rooms with Deborah in Mertz 2d south. Sarah was going biking with the outdoors club today. Since I was 20 minutes behind schedule in the morning, I took all three wash and dry machines when I was doing my clothes so I could still finish by noon, which is when my family was going to meet me for Homecoming. We ate lunch with Betsy at the west Sharples lawn while listening to Jammin’ Gold 95.7.

Betsy later left to do some studying and my family and I went to Clothier Field for Garnet Tide football versus Gettysburg. The Ridley Raider Marching Band was the guest for the game and they adopted a pirate fatigue that looked like the paradoxical Ridley School District uniform with brown vests, brown pants, black knee-high boots, and your choice of bandanna. Jim, a band member, said ‘Hi’ to me before the game.

The game was very lopsided; when I left at the beginning of the fourth quarter the score was 42-8 Gettysburg. The final score was 55-8 Gettysburg. During halftime I met Riemann who knows all of the McCabe Scholars.

Fried seafood was one of the options for dinner. The fish is good, but a plateful of that stuff is difficult to handle since it’s fried.

A music concert was held tonight in the Lang Music building in the concert hall. Olivia played later on in the concert and Josh, Dave, Luke, Sara E., and I went to watch. After the concert, I went to see Hoosiers in DuPont 161, which is a movie set in the early 1950s about a basketball team in a small high school in Indiana. A new, tough coach comes in and takes the team to the state champs. Once again (as on --09-18, Sat) I fall asleep near the end, but I think the movie ended happily.

When I got back to my room, more smiley faces were on my door whiteboard. Yesterday when I returned from my teaching observation in the afternoon, a tomato smile and a carrot smile were on my door. To acknowledge this, I put a simplistic smiley on the board. This evening a king smile, queen smile, and conehead smile were added. Olivia has an ‘Olivia’s concert smiley’ on her door who is holding a flute.

1999-09-24, Fri (Day 28, temperature at 07:42: 20.1°C, difference: -0.8°C): The schedule for today looked busy and challenging. After experiencing it I found out that it actually was. The Math 6A midterm was first; I think I did well. Swimming was more difficult today because my muscles were sore, I was tired, and shivering. I felt cold even though it didn’t seem like things were truly chilly. Lunch was a bagel and water eaten in the distance between Mertz and Swarthmore-Rutledge School (SRS). School was in session today and Ms. Hoffman was returning from a day of leave yesterday.

The first grade class I observed for Education 14 was fairly diverse in many aspects. Different cultures were represented (although not many of a single group), some liked to talk to others, while the rest did things on their own. Every class has someone who wants to grab attention and this group was no different.

When the school day ended, I rushed back to my dorm and typed in everything I wrote down while at SRS, coherent or not. Then it was a HEV meeting at 16:00. Bill Pichardo, alum and owner of a auto shop in Colorado specializing in racing stopped on by to give insight towards the car’s current structure. An open fluid line caused an oily substance to spray on a prospective student and I, but the stains on my clothing went away after a while. Fortunately I was wearing glasses because the fluid also sprayed me in the face.

Afterwards was the engin BBQ. Geared mainly for first-year students, still many upperclass Swatties came to socialize and eat in larger relative proportion to the number of freshmen. The burgers were really good and so were the brownies. I also met up with Dave, who worked in Prof. Michael Brown’s lab in the summer of 1998. He’s a junior now and is a physics major.

The time right after 19:00 was a transition for the rest of the night. I went with Kai to go to “Seeing in Color,” which is a documentary about the Chicago Children’s Choir going to South Africa for a month. Swarthmore alumnus Bruce Weinstein conceived the idea and was present after the showing to answer any questions.

“Billy Madison” was next, revealing a sharp transition between a wholesome and a silly film. Billy needed to pass every school grade in order to run a large hotel. A conspiracy develops and instead of completing the grades, he must compete in an academic decathlon with the business type Eric who wants to run the hotel instead.

There was a SWIL party tonight, but I ran out of energy by then so I just chilled in Olivia and Susan’s room with a bunch of other people before I went to bed.

1999-09-23, Thu (Day 27, temperature at 07:40: 20.9°C, difference: -0.9°C): The computer science assignment this week was not completed. In fact, I almost had problems turning in what I had because my mouse would only go in the horizontal direction about 20 minutes before I was going to leave for class. This problem has happened once before and fiddling with the sensors fixed it that time, but this time fiddling didn’t work.

Starting to reach a state of panic, and thinking of contingency plans such as borrowing Sara C.’s mouse (she has an iMac too) or asking Denise, I ended up on the second floor landing of Mertz near the main entrance. I calmed down, went back to my room, unplugged the mouse cable, heard the hard drive whir, plugged it in again, the drive made more noise, and then the mouse started to work again. If I couldn’t have gotten the mouse to work, I would have had to log on to my computer from the public machines to drop the file into the drop folder.

The morning was full of other minor errors and mistakes. At the end of the day, it seemed that “everyone had a problem today,” as overheard in the DuPont physics faculty office corridor.

I met Lorrin, my Student Academic Mentor (SAM), without any goofy scheduling problems like before. He told me about the (trace) function in scheme that may help me with my CS.

After lunch, I calmly and carefully worked on my Physics due tomorrow and went to Prof. Taylor’s office in DuPont for help in the later afternoon. I finished the assignment in the DuPont lounge where the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) and Swarthmore Dynamo Experiment (SDX) members ate lunch in the summer of 1998. I was a team member for the SDX then.

I spent the night studying for my Calc midterm tomorrow and then went through my selective backlog of e-mail. Before midnight, I got knocked out of my frame and was unable to return even when aware about it. The last time I remember this happening was on 1999-05-05. The detachment today was not as severe as the one in May, but I did nothing significant to cause the frame to change.

1999-09-22, Wed (Day 26, temperature at 07:34: 21.8°C, difference: -2.5°C): My dream was a recompile of things that happened over the past few days with nothing really unusual. The stranger point of it was when Luke’s computer somehow reverted to a Mac System 7 desktop whenever Windows crashed. He couldn’t explain why it was doing that. In reality, Luke’s Windows computer has been acting up recently, and mine has also started to give minor problems such as crashes.

I brought the food and drinks for the Educ 14 study break this afternoon that Sara and I got Monday. After that class, I met with Nelson to talk about the Hybrid Electrical Vehicle (HEV) web site and one page blurb. Erik will be notified when server space on the engin server becomes available.

Kai and Matt came to Mertz to show their two specs around: Scott from Baltimore, MD and David from Kentucky. Our group ate dinner soon after along with Elizabeth. I spent the night working on CS 22, which didn’t get done. The smore study break was at 23:00.

1999-09-21, Tue (Day 25, temperature at 07:42: 24.3°C): Part of my dream was in a mixture between the Mertz and Worth dorms since I was in both of them yesterday.

Even though I got a good amount of sleep, I still feel asleep for an additional hour from 08:30 to 09:30 before classes started today. The nap helped out a little with staying awake all day. In E5, we formed rocket project groups. I am with Kiyo, Carlos, and Dave. I finished the Ed 14 readings this afternoon and found out that the study group meeting tonight was moved to 23:00 so Ian can get back from Philly. I finished Calc in the evening, and then started CS, due Thursday.

1999-09-20, Mon (Day 24): I remember one fragment to my dream: Dan was talking about how more things are going to be nailed to the wall in Mertz because things kept falling down. Now this has some basis in reality: Dan did nail things into the wall since things kept falling down in his room, but I don’t think everyone has done it, and I haven’t (and probably wouldn’t). This also could mean things could be more permanent now.

Today was one of those Mondays: Mathematica wouldn’t work for Zolia and I, but I did get it to work on my iMac in the dorm. The Physics lab seemed like it would be short, but computer problems caused several delays making many stay until 16:00. Luke played that night on his computer a Mickey Mouse sing-a-long that said “Monday Sucks.” I got a good laugh out of that.

Sara and I went to the Co-op to buy the snacks for the Educ 14 study break this Wednesday and I talked to Keith from high school who is now working for the Co-op. I also slid down Slide Rock which is at the base of the hill near the railroad tracks. I didn’t hit the rock, which was at the end of the slide.

I finished this week’s readings that were in the binder for Educ 14 leaving one book left which I am to take notes on. Once again, I fell asleep while reading at McCabe. Due to that, I didn’t go to swing practice.

1999-09-19, Sun (Day 23): Today seemed rather typical; I still got up at 07:00 even though brunch wasn’t until 11:00. I ate that meal with some people on our hall. Denise’s birthday is in a few days and that led Olivia (who I was sitting next to) to talk about making cakes.

I worked on E5 and Calc the rest of the day and at night I read for Ed 14 at McCabe. By the time I got to the reading, I was tired. I went to bed slightly after 22:00 to get ready for this week.

1999-09-18, Sat (Day 22): It got down to the 40s tonight but our room temperature still stayed in the 70s without turning on the heat. The morning and afternoon were typical: I did the wash in the morning (this cycle turned out quite well, probably because of the nicer weather), and in the afternoon did work in my dorm and read in McCabe. Today is nine days after 1999-09-09 or 9/9/99.

I went straight to Sharples from the library. I met up with Rory, my CA outside the library and then at dinner. Sometime around 18:00, some people from Mertz 2nd north (Olivia, Dan, Josh, Susan, Sara C., and Sara E.) stopped by. We ate dinner together and afterwards I went back to Mertz at around 18:30 to get picked up and come home. Dad gave me some stuff to drop off and when I got to my room in Mertz, the door board was filled with well wishes from Luke, Sara E., Sara C., Olivia, Denise, and Susan. Olivia also drew balloons and a horn.

When I came home, some stuff seemed the same (the air-conditioning was nice and cool) but other things were different, such as less stuff in the apartment. I tried connecting to my iMac at Swat from home but that didn’t work — I may have to wait for Mac OS 9. I also realized how slow the Performa 6205 is compared to my zippy iMac. The Internet speed on the Performa was OK, but the display and startup speed left a lot to be desired. It also seemed weird that I had to dial out to get Internet access.

After lots of discussion with my family about many things, the gifts were brought out. I received a sapphire light, hand vac, and laundry bag. I also received a travel radio/alarm clock that runs on 4 AA batteries (or DC but the adapter is not included; the BayGen adapter is two times too powerful) and is switchable to the 24-hour clock. This little device by Remington is exactly what I was talking about in August when I wanted to get a new alarm clock.

The device also has a built in Celsius/Fahrenheit thermometer. It’s 21.1°C or 69.9°F right now, Sunday morning. The heater thermostat closer to the door, away from the clocks says 73°F (22.8°C), which shows how leaving the window open when it gets cold at night (it got down to the upper forties at Lakeview School this morning: http://www.aws.com/wx.asp?ID=RIDPK) doesn’t make the temperature go down too much, even near the window. The floor space and the counter right in front of the window does feel cold however.

When I returned to Swat at about 21:00 I chilled in Olivia and Susan’s room. At 22:00, I saw the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” but fell asleep halfway through.

1999-09-17, Fri (Day 21): The weather today was really nice; the sky was clear, the temperature was in the 70s and there was some wind. However, this is in stark contrast to the storm that happened yesterday. Record rainfalls were set, 7" at the Philadelphia International Airport and western suburbs received 13", as Lakeview School in Ridley Park has this month. There were casualties due to flooding, and many people still did not have their power today, including Sharples’ dairy supplier. Due to that, Dining Services might have had run out of milk today.

The Wallingford-Swarthmore (W-S) Schools were closed today due to yesterday’s weather, but I didn’t find out about it until I got over to the Swarthmore-Rutledge School (SRS) after my bagel lunch on the move. I walked over to the school for my Education 14 classroom observation. Instead, I ate a full lunch at Sharples, but the timing caused me to miss the Black Cultural Center (BCC) Lunch Forum as well as the Cooper Lecture by criminologist James Q. Wilson. During the rest of the afternoon, I unwound through Y2K research (somewhat ironic), and worked on the Opinions section for today’s Phoenix. Brendan put the online edition up that night.

At dinner, Betsy and her roommate Liane introduced me to a spec they are hosting, Ben. He either wants to go to Swat or Wellesley. This evening in LPAC Cinema I saw “Waking Ned Devine” through the projector failures of bad focus, unexpected stops, and times of no audio. The movie was set in a small village of Ireland where the dwellers were intent on playing the lotto. When Ned wins about six million pounds, he dies from the shock. Ned is impersonated by another member of the village in order to claim the winnings.

Afterwards, I registered some products and fit the April pattern again, this time by expanding my horizons with the understanding of chakras and the twelve dimensions. I seem to hang out a lot in the sixth dimension, where all of the records are kept. My coining of the phrase “master coder” actually did come from somewhere: the term “code master” is one of the roles of the higher realms.

So something did seem to happen on Thursday — a large storm — but to me personally, not much occurred.

1999-09-16, Thu (Day 20): Hurricane Floyd has reached our area, bringing heavy rains, high winds, flash flooding, and widespread power outages. The college had its lights flicker throughout the day, but they didn’t go off and stay off. Sharples has its own power supply according to an e-mail sent to resident students so there really isn’t a problem. The Clothier bell tower started working again today, through the storm.

My CS 22 homework was actually due on Friday at 17:00; the deadline was extended since most of the class was having trouble with the problem set. The notice was sent via e-mail, which I stopped checking yesterday because I wanted to concentrate on my work. Both Lorrin and I forgot about our official SAM meeting time at 11:30, so we met today at 16:00. Since Lorrin took CS 22, he was able to help me understand recursion a little better. Since I finished my physics, I completed the CS assignment. It took the rest of the night until about 23:30, but I got all eleven required problems working except for the last one.

While I was doing my work, the people on my hall seemed to had disappeared somewhere. Ben was still around, so I asked for advice about my quarter depletion situation and we seemed to agree with using the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union. However, I may not have enough time to get over there tomorrow since I wash on Saturdays, but I may have enough quarters for one more week of laundry.

This is the turnaround date for the April pattern and I have fulfilled the first part of the routine.

1999-09-15, Wed (Day 19): Before I went to bed last night, I read about the possible financial market crash in my Y2K book. I told my roommate Luke about the trend of waking up with bloodshot eyes and going to bed without them. If I read about stuff that is not good before going to bed, maybe the opposite will happen and I’ll wake up better. Well, it turns out that didn’t work at all. I dreamed I was in the bookstore in Tarble and part of it was set up like a cafeteria. The bookstore totally cleared out. I think this is when I had the imagined thought that a nuclear power plant was going to melt down. I finally got outside from the low ceilings of the bookstore and was near all of these small reflecting pools. I think I was still at the college, as I saw the characteristic neon-orange construction fences that are still on Parrish Beach.

Finally, Dad and I drove out in Reggie (the 1979 Dodge Omni — it doesn’t run anymore) to this Chinese restaurant. We saw my grandmother, who had a hard time remembering our home phone number. She kept thinking it was 125-2581 even though an exchange can never start with a one, since that is the long distance code. The phone system would think in that case that you are dialing to the 252 area code. The 252 area code is in N. Carolina: “E North Carolina (Rocky Mount; split from 919)”. The 919 area code is in N. Carolina: “E North Carolina: Raleigh (see 252)” (http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/bsy/area.html).

After the phone number mix up, I said to my grandmother to “write everything down so you don’t have to remember everything.” I get out of the car, and I hear a pair near us talking about what is going to happen Thursday. I only had my boxers on, so I didn’t want to go in the establishment; I just got back in the car and waited there. Also at some point in my dream I saw John Boccio, physics prof, walking into the lobby of a building that I am in.

Most of the day was fine until I tried to do my CS 22 homework due tomorrow. I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I didn’t get much of it done. The New Age Study Break was at night in between mattress sledding down the main staircase by another hall in Mertz.

1999-09-14, Tue (Day 18): I had a dream that I withdrew about $30 from my account at an ATM machine that had a really large numeric display that was high, so people could see how much money you were taking out. Also, I don’t think I had to enter my PIN to gain access. Before that, I was in some sort of food place where many bikers hung out. Apparently, I somehow screwed up my large order so that it would be impossible to get anything. I didn’t really understand what I did wrong but the mistake was quite big.

I spent the afternoon finishing my Education 14 readings. As a result I was in the dorm at night more than during the day. A kind professor in Pearson, where I was doing the readings, told me I have “very good powers of concentration.”

Since I needed my energy to finish the readings and do my math at night, I was very tired during classes, from 09:30 to 14:30.

A category 4 hurricane (Floyd) is in the process of hitting the eastern Florida coast today.

1999-09-13, Mon (Day 17): I dreamed I was in Sharples, only it was a lot brighter, probably because they were teaching a Physics class in there. I saw Brendan (who is in Physics) and he said ‘Hi.’

During the day, I had quite a busy schedule with classes from 09:30 until about 15:30 and then in the afternoon I worked on Education 14 readings, attended meetings, and went to swing practice. The swing practice went much slower this week since the professional instructors made sure we knew what we were doing. By the end of the practice, I was dancing with Betsy who was tired like me from the canoe trip yesterday. Back at Mertz, Sara C. imagined the colors of Luke’s original Crayola crayon tin that he received as a present from his family.

1999-09-12, Sun (Day 16): I took some time to get ready for the canoe trip since getting up at 07:00 every day is rather inflexible. I couldn’t find my sunscreen so I just had to get burned — not the first time. The trip took us into New Jersey via the Walt Whitman Bridge to the Atlantic City Expressway and eventually to the Batsto River. I partnered with Rachel, a sophomore. Initially I was in the front, but after the midway point for lunch, I steered in the back. The route was very windy for two-thirds of the way. I received a blister on each hand in different spots and tore my heather gray Wilson shirt on the left sleeve going through brush on the banks. I also hit my head quite hard on a thick branch. I did have fun, since it was the first time.

On the trip back, I tried to fall asleep right before the AC Expressway ended. I remember thinking whether or not I was going to feel us going up the Walt Whitman Bridge. Even though I physically did not feel the incline, I imagined going up the stairs to the roof of a skyscraper and throwing my arms up. The support cube or mechanical penthouse in the middle had walls that looked like the outside of DuPont (light colored pebble patterns).

Last night during my shower I thought about the three month look back and look ahead. The look back would place us in June and sure enough while traveling home, Y100 plays “Midnight Oil” (“ … the western desert lives and breathes … ”) which took me into Darren’s graduation party on --06-13.

Upon returning to Swat, I went to the Mertz-Willets BBQ on the Mertz lawn. Most of the food was gone, so I just had a hot dog. Luke returned from his R.E.M. concert in Boston. I tried to sleep in the quad lounge but soon received enough energy to continue the rest of the evening. Olivia had a study break at 21:15 to celebrate her birthday with a cake and other goodies.

1999-09-11, Sat (Day 15): In my dreams I was playing in a soccer game. Ted was in goal and I was post-stopper (behind the goal, like in hockey). I couldn’t move from my position, so I could only ward balls away. After several rushes by the opponent on our goal, Jim (wearing a blue shirt) kicked it out but the kick was a fast dribbler. Later, in Kmart, I was given a disposable camera, but it was basically three wrapped up wet napkins with writing on the outside napkin (some numbers and text).

At Sharples, they switched the music to Jammin’ Gold 95.7 FM, a golden oldies station. Breakfast was brought in with Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of a Clown,” which was an appropriate start to the rest of the day. Following that, I did the wash for the second week, this time using color-safe bleach and fabric softener. In the afternoon, I worked on the Physics lab manual and Brendan and I finished up the online edition of The Phoenix. The standard online version which replaced the temporary PDF files was up after 18:00. Singled Out was at night in Upper Tarble. I went to bed earlier than normal since I am going on a canoe trip tomorrow.

1999-09-10, Fri (Day 14): I dreamed that I came late to something (possibly Aqua), because I received a message (written and/or spoken) that I needed to come earlier. At breakfast, Olivia talked about her foretelling dreams such as being in Bern and seeing her friends talk to this robot that causes problems. Throughout the day until late afternoon, I was tired and close to dozing off. Aqua today went well and I made good progress since I need to know what I learned for Sunday’s canoe trip. Luke left today, to return Sunday afternoon from an R.E.M. concert.

The afternoon was filled with scheduling difficulties. Nelson, my faculty advisor, was running a little behind, so my meeting was delayed. Then, there was a miscommunication between The Phoenix online editor and the production staff, causing the paper to get delivered after dinner. As a result, I was waiting on Parrish 5th outside the student publications office for quite some time. When the paper did come, I was able to work on the online edition from my iMac. I helped put together the Opinions and Sports sections.

1999-09-09, Thu (Day 13, a possible Y2K date): My dreams seemed like a confused mess in the first minutes of awaking but I soon remembered paying for something costing $1.91 with $2 since that would otherwise be a lot of change. Cold water came back to the Mertz bathrooms, much to our rejoicing. I had a hard time staying awake during my only class today, CS 22. Even though I have been averaging seven hours of sleep a night, the network activity has been so great recently that I have been waking up with bloodshot eyes, but by the time I go to bed at night my eyes look normal again. An IEEE meeting was after lunch and following that I started and finished my Calc. The time 15:17 came and passed without incident, but after that time point, people were more apprehensive.

At night I loaned out various things: my calculator to Adam, my marker to Ben, and physics help to Denise, who lives at the furthest end of 3rd south. The library scavenger hunt was neat, and I was quoted by a Phoenix reporter about how computers are sometimes needed to find materials. The study break was before midnight and had lots of good food. Right before the study break, Galen knocked over Adam’s can of RC soda with an apple in an example of practical joke bowling. By then, the rain made the outside and some areas of the building cool while other places were still hot and muggy.

1999-09-08, Wed (Day 12): Upon awaking I could sense that today was a serious build. Perhaps it was too serious because there were a lot of mistakes today. My first class run from 09:30 to 16:00 was today, with the addition of the seminar-style Education 14. Sara C. is also in the class. In Aqua I, I was much more tense in the water probably because of everything else that was going on. I worked on physics for the rest of the afternoon. The family stopped by to drop off some water, cards, and more stuff for washing my clothes.

The Swarthmore Progressive Action Committee (SPAC) meeting was tonight. The scripted nature of the day seemed apparent even to the point of being absurd, such as deferring or repeating events just so that things would fit into the frame. One thing that messed up 1999-04-15, Thu, was that it was the most scripted day ever and many of the plans were simply ignored. --09-09 can be considered --04-15.

1999-09-07, Tue (Day 11): E5 and its lab were the new classes for the day. In between those two, I had lunch at Sharples dining hall and endured the lunchtime rain and mud river near Clothier since the path is still not paved yet. Also the cold water in the Mertz bathroom started coming out as extremely hot, in some cases hotter than the hot water faucet itself. The diversity workshop was at night and afterwards Ben talked about his interesting experience working for a medical research firm that had freaky computers, equipment, and infrastructure. I talked to him about the April 9 to April 17 pattern and how it resembles this week. Soon after, Sara C. cut and shaved Luke’s hair in our room during the mini-study break.

1999-09-06, Mon (Day 10, Labor Day): I didn’t remember my dream until I restarted my iMac and RC5 wouldn’t open. Then I remembered from my dream that my computer was getting rather flaky such as turning black and white. I restarted and I didn’t get a sad Mac right away (meaning it is a software problem). I got a type 2 sad Mac that was in some sort of artistic flair. My old computer before I left home started getting many type 2 unexpected quits while using Netscape.

It was very humid today, which was very obvious in Math and Physics, both in DuPont. I also had Aquatics I for the first time today and it went rather well. Our group put our faces in the water and did some basic paddles. The instructor, Lee Wimberly, asked me if I had some traumatic experience of water at an early age. Other than being knocked over by the waves at the Jersey Shore, I could not think of any. If I could overcome my tension, Lee said I would do fine. The lunch hour involved some running around to rent a gym lock and switch my clothes. The outdoors club met tonight and swing practice finished out the night. I met Catherine (I think a SwatTalker), Suzanna, Emily, Tina, and Laura.

1999-09-05, Sun (Day 9): Even though brunch was not until 11:00, I still got up at the standard 07:00, so I munched on whatever was in the fridge (except the hot sauce) for the morning. I worked on CS 22 for most of the day. The activities fair was in the afternoon in Upper Tarble instead of Parrish beach because it was raining off and on the whole day and night. The Clothier tower bells also seem to be at partial functionality now.

After seeing the a cappella group Sixteen Feet perform under the bell tower, this week had an uncanny resemblance to the unsettled time between 1999-04-09, Fri to 1999-04-17, Sat. In both frames I saw The Matrix, it rained quite hard on both Sundays, this Thursday (April’s 15th) is 1999-09-09, one of the Y2K dates. My roommate Luke and his friends and family back home arrived here to go to tonight’s REM concert.

1999-09-04, Sat (Day 8): I got up early mainly to start the weekly wash. The first few loads went O.K. but the final load at night took too long to dry on the light setting, so I mixed the color and dried on high. My long-sleeve blue shirt got these white blotches on the sleeve that I colored in with marker.

I met Brendan, Phoenix web editor at McCabe in the late morning. He explained to me how the site is going to be put together each week and we discussed and made some changes to the appearance and layout. The Philly trip with my CA group, Rory and Andrea, was in the afternoon. We arrived at Suburban Station and ate at the Reading Terminal Market. Kai and I got turkey sandwiches. Afterwards, the group went to South Street, Rory’s group leaving a little early to catch the train. On South Street, Andrea’s group went in various characteristic shops. William got a pack of cards that you probably wouldn’t find in a regular store.

Our group hurried to Market East to make the train and when we stopped at Suburban, Rory’s group got on the train with us. It turned out that they were trying to avoid the $2 surcharge by buying a ticket at the station instead of on the train, but the train left without them. I read a Y2K book I got from the Reading Terminal Market on the way back to Swarthmore. Upon arrival I found out from Brendan that the football team broke the longest losing streak by winning today’s game 42-6.

A rush event occurred between 18:30 and 19:30 when I was washing and drying and trying to meet Kai at Dana all before the 19:30 showing of Cruel Intentions, which was about manipulation and sex in a elite school environment.

1999-09-03, Fri (Day 7): I had Math 6A and Physics 3 for the first time today. Gym classes start Monday. My physics book is quite large at about 1200 pages. I also got my password and set up my SCCS account which is mainly for The Phoenix web. As a side result I now have another e-mail account and more web space at <http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/~ctrucks1/>. I have a test file and image directories up there now. Our blue hall vacuum was recovered from the basement. I saw “The Matrix” again tonight (saw it last --04-10 at Swarthmore spec weekend) and it seemed different the second time around, since I noticed more of the foreshadowing and the computer effects that look a little, well, computerized.

1999-09-02, Thu (Day 6): Upon awaking, I remembered my dreams but it seemed a little weird: a mixture of gym class, clown entertainment, and the power going out again (second time this week), only this time in the slowly dimming lights version. The bus and the bridge in my dream were close to what was in The Graduate so I’m wondering how this dream will pan out too. Classes start today: I only have CS 22 at 09:55.

My only class today went well; I was able to keep up for the most part, but far more than the cap of 15 showed up at the first class meeting. Therefore not everyone had a computer to use. CS 22 required one book which I purchased along with a poster. In the afternoon, the family stopped by to pick up most of my boxes, which immediately preceded the arrival of more shelves from maintenance. More stuff for the fridge came in as well and the Epson printer came in soon after that. Clearly, I was busy all afternoon and evening setting my room up in a much more better fashion and starting work on CS 22. The first real e-mail check of all my accounts also happened this night. The day finished with a hall meeting.

1999-09-01, Wed (Day 5): On this first of September, I remember two parts to my dream just before waking up. I was riding on a bus traveling on the Schuylkill Expressway going by the west side of Philly. The highway was highly elevated off the ground and there was a lot more green open space at what is now the west side of Center City. Of course there were still abandoned buildings, but the Liberty Place buildings along with a surrounding cluster of skyscrapers were still there. Traveling north soon brought the highway down to a lesser elevation but then a steel arch bridge was ahead. The sun happened to be rising in the northeast (left-center of the bridge) and it looked like a hazy large disc. Apparently this must be another earth change possibility: on --08-28 I dreamed I was looking a map of Ridley Park and Folsom where the streets were more spaced out, the grid was more true to the north, the lake was gone, and the new Ridley High School was in its projected position.

After breakfast, I cut my left middle finger while emptying out a trash can. The bleeding would not stop, so I went to Worth Health Center. Even though I felt a little sick before the cut, afterwards I felt much improved.

Registration was in the afternoon. It was a little hectic but most people got what they wanted. I had to upgrade my CS 21 to CS 22, the latter of which is a lot more challenging. Kai on the other hand scheduled three math classes and two English classes for no tangible reason. The chemistry lab would not fit, so the schedule was thrown into confusion. After I finished my work, Kai, Matthew, and I walked around the campus finding our classrooms while Kai explained his scheduling confusion in greater detail.

I had dinner with Morghan, who I met at Registration. She plans to major in Linguistics. Her trip here on --08-28 was filled with delays and aggravations, but she finally got to Swat at around 23:00. I met Lorrin, my Student Academic Mentor (SAM), after dinner and The Phoenix meeting afterwards was rather exciting. Finally, I saw The Graduate, a 1968 flick, in LPAC, sitting with my CAs Rory and Andrea, Kai, Annie (Kai’s RA, a ’01), and Christina (also a junior). Clearly a busy first of September.

Journal 1999-08