Sean is just some guy who lives in the Twin Cities. Updates to this blog are at random intervals. Other Pages

17 December 2007 - Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock... With my ear pressed up against Cindy's abdomen, the sound is unmistakable. I didn't know what to expect, but it sounds just like a ticking clock. It's definitely not Cindy's heartbeat—it's beating way too fast to be hers. It's the baby's. And then she kicks me in the head. 14 December 2007 - Surveillance camera captures image of "unknown" man This was on CNN.com today; one of those stories that you would hardly be able to believe, if you didn't see it for yourself... 7 December 2007 - One hundred days to go. The baby helped celebrate that milestone by allowing me to be able to feel her move from the outside, which I've never been able to do before. (I think she was still wired from the glucose solution they made Cindy drink earlier that day, testing for gestational diabetes.) During the same clinic visit, Cindy found out about some How To Keep Your Baby Alive classes that the hospital offers. We should probably start thinking about taking them. 22 November 2007 - So it's Thanksgiving Day, and my parents are in town, staying overnight, and early in the morning my dad gets up, sees the newspaper in the driveway outside the window, so he goes out the front door to get it. But he doesn't know that the home security alarm is set, so throughout the house the alarm starts shrieking loudly—and Cindy suddenly feels the baby kick. She can hear! 19 November 2007 - Having won no Big Ten games this year, the Golden Gophers were much more competitive than anyone expected. But the Badgers still won 41-34. Since the Wisconsin kicker missed two makeable field goals, and Minnesota's last touchdown was pretty fluky, I suppose the final score could've just as easily been 47-27. Here's me and my brother at the Badger party beforehand. During the game, a girl told me she liked my "Beat Minnesota" pin. She asked me if she could have it. "No," I said. "I like my pin too." Had I been single, I probably would've given it to her. That must be what it's like to be an attractive young woman. You can just ask random guys for things, and they'll give them to you. 11 November 2007 - My only regret is that my daughter wasn't around to see it, yet. * * - And it is a daughter, by the way, we're absolutely sure. Cindy had another ultrasound. 3 November 2007 - ...at least, we're pretty sure. The problem with recognizing a girl by ultrasound is that you are inherently relying on negative evidence. But I've been looking at other ultrasound pictures examples from the web, and I'm convinced that we're having a girl. More importantly, the clinic called later that same day to tell us that after the analysis, everything is looking just great. Not that we had been given any reason at all to be concerned, but it made me feel almost delirious with relief. I guess maybe all first-time parents feel that way. 2 November 2007 - 28 October 2007 - Twenty weeks and zero days! Exactly halfway there! One thing that I never realized, beforehand, is the eternity that it takes, waiting for the baby. I mean, we found out that Cindy was pregnant early in July. So, excited, we went to bookstores, bought baby books, we went to the library, borrowed baby books; I read all of them, so we were all ready...and then we still had eight months left to wait. In fact, even just the four weeks duration between when we found out, and we first told anyone else, seemed like an eternity. And the whole pregnancy is ten times longer than that. So we're still waiting. Still, obviously the most exciting part is in the the second twenty weeks, not the first. 27 October 2007 - So I played in my work tennis league the other day, and a couple of the players were new to the league. In fact, one was relatively new to tennis. He actually asked me if it was legal to "head" the ball. I guess like the way you can in soccer. I told him "no". But, in retrospect, I obviously should have told him "yes". Because it would've been really interesting to watch him try it. 24 October 2007 - Today I made a horrible error and decided to take a vacation day to play eighteen with my father. This quotation pretty well sums up the entire afternoon: "You've got honors on this hole, Dad. You got the 11." 22 October 2007 - So I'm going through my employer's HR web site, making decisons about 2008 for my health insurance, life insurance, and everything (things to think about when you're having a kid). And, reading the fine print on AD&D insurance, I run into the following: Wow. I guess that's what they pay actuaries for. Now I have even more things to think about... 18 October 2007 - So I hadn't played Chippy Poker in about five months, and since I figure that in another five months I may not get the chance to play again, on Wednesday night I went to a new bar to give it a shot. Fortune smiled on me; I ended up in second place ($20 gift certificate). I had a 50-50 chance at the end when we last two had the chips evenly split. Basically whoever was the dealer on each hand was almost always going all-in, forcing the other to fold. But I got my chance when the other guy, dealing, went all-in, and I looked at my hole cards to find K-J suited. I called instantly, but he happened to have A-6 offsuit and it held up. Oh, well. The most interesting part of the night was much earlier, though, when I called someone's pre-flop bet, holding 10-10. The dealer turned over the next three cards, and I practically jumped out of my skin. Two of those cards were tens, too! I flopped four-of-a-kind! That's when I discovered that I'd never make it playing real poker for real money. Even though I'm in a free tournament, I'm shaking like a leaf. Time seemed to slow down. I have to concentrate incredibly hard just to keep from wetting myself. "Check," I said, as calmly as I possibly could, when the betting came around to me. I'm no poker expert, but I know enough to slowplay. Nobody bets. "Oh my God," I think to myself, "what if I bet and no one calls! This is my one chance to show down four tens and I might not be able to!" My fear is maintained after the turn card comes over, as everyone checks around, including me. But thankfully, the last guy still in the hand, obviously sensing weakness from everyone else, makes a big bet. Everybody else folds. I stare at the board for awhile, pretending to mull over folding. Actually, I am thinking; I'm wondering whether I should call or just go all-in now. His bet was big enough that he might be relatively pot-committed anyway, and I would hate for him to get a bad river card. "All-in", I said, pushing my chips into the center. The other guy stared at his cards briefly, and called. (He must've been staring at his cards, because if he had been looking at me, there's no way he would've called.) Relief! I'm going to win the pot, and I'm going to get my showdown, too! I flip my cards over as nonchalantly as I can. "Quads," I say casually, as if I get them every day. He flipped over his cards too, but I don't even remember what they were; they weren't going to be better than 10-10-10-10. "Well," he says, "I can't beat that." Sweet. 13 October 2007 - Warning: Gaming geek stuff ahead. If you are not one of the Secret Masters, you must read no further. So I've literally been waiting years for the newest Illuminati expansion to come out. (Illuminati is one of my favorite games.) Thursday night I went over to my Local Friendly Gaming Store, picked it up, took it home, opened it excitedly...and discovered that the two decks that the box contained were identical. So, half the cards, I was completely missing, and of the half of the cards I did have, I had two of each. It figures that after waiting this long, I had to wait yet another twenty-four hours. Back to the Local Friendly Gaming Store the next evening to exchange, but finally, at long last, I have the new expansion, all of the cards this time. For your viewing pleasure, here are some of the more interesting new ones: What's new to the game: Artifacts. Here's one, unlike all other Illuminati cards, Artifacts are aligned vertically. Artifacts count as just another Group, except they all have special powers. And they have no control arrows because, once taken over, they automatically are controlled by the Illuminati. I especially am glad to see "Flesh-Eating Bacteria" partly because it happens to be one of the very few cards that I didn't have in the (now defunct) Illuminati collectible-card game. Here's the Group we've all been anticipating. Nervous—Twitchy—Sleepless—Duct Tape—RUN! Look at all that Power! But a Resistance of 1. A very strong Group...but it's going to be hard to hang on to. Here's a Group with a much greater-than-normal chance of failing. You're doing a hell of a job. This is a new Special: WMDs. Here are two Groups that should go well together. You know, I've always known that these were some elaborate, subtle, Communist plot. And, finally, there's this Group. 12 October 2007 - Cindy felt the baby move for the first time today! At seventeen weeks and five days. Exciting! (By the way, if you were concerned that this blog would become "All Baby, All of the Time," as of six months from now, you probably have reason to be concerned.) On the other hand, I might have stuff to say about Bavarian Fire Drill tomorrow. I just got all of the cards today. 8 October 2007 - I'm at my brother Chad's house watching NFL highlights on his new HDTV. "I think Baltimore has pretty good looking uniforms," says Chad. "You know why Baltimore's team is called the 'Ravens', right?" I ask. "No," replies Chad, "why?" "Because that's where Edgar Allan Poe lived," I say. "Really?" interposes Chad's girlfriend, Anna. "That's really cool, that they'd name the team after a poem." But Chad is frowning. "I thought Edgar Allan Poe was from England." "Nope." "He's really not from England?" "No, he lived in Baltimore." "Huh." Long pause. "Well, that must be why in high school we covered his stuff in American Lit." 22 September 2007 - So I'm watching a commercial about some sort of instant chocolate cake, where you heat it up in the microwave and then eat it. The tagline is, "You're just 3 minutes from Heaven." I guess they're poisoned. 21 September 2007 - At last! 20 September 2007 - Would you like the excitement of owning a Chia Pet, but are too lazy to get up from your computer? Well, do I have an opportunity for you! Follow along here! It's only Day 2, and it's already exciting! 17 September 2007 - I got this little four-inch toy because of my company's annual charity fund campaign. Apparently, it is a Chia-bear. (Don't ask.) I was wondering what to do with it after the campaign is over. Fun Baby Toy? Or, Choking Hazard? It suddenly occurs to me, with six months to go, that our entire house is pretty much Baby Death Trap. 16 September 2007 - Florida Atlantic Owls 42, Minnesota Golden Gophers 39 Detroit Lions 20, Minnesota Vikings 17 The Golden Gophers lose to what apparently is some sort of high-school team, and the next day the Vikings lose to the lowly Lions in what was arguably the most incompetently played game, by both sides, in the history of professional football. I took this picture at right of a co-worker's bookshelf. His cube is near mine. It's a Minnesota Gopher riding a cow. I think this picture is an eerily accurate representation of the state of Minnesota college and professional football this year... 15 September 2007 - Shrinking Kilogram Bewilders Physicists The 118-year-old cylinder that is the international prototype for the metric mass, kept tightly under lock and key outside Paris, is mysteriously losing weight... Actually, though, it's technically more accurate to say, "Every single object in the universe, except for the kilogram prototype, is gaining weight." Anyway, this is why all the official definitions of the other six base SI units are based on fundamental universal constants. Rather than on a hunk of platinum-iridium alloy stored under glass in Paris. They'd do it this way for the kilogram, too, but so far they haven't figured out a way to do it that's less inaccurate than the kilogram prototype. At the page of my first link way at the top, don't miss the fun comments at the end, specifically the one from September 13. Because whenever, in a scientific context, you see the phrase, "Based on my theory", make sure you replace it with, "I am a crackpot." 12 September 2007 - Right before the school year started, I was helping Cindy set up her classroom, putting together a computer stand that she had bought from Ikea. If you've never shopped at an Ikea before, it's really kind of a neat place; Minneapolis just got a store a couple of years ago. You can't describe their furniture as top quality, but it's not really meant to be. It's just really affordable, you usually have to put it together yourself, but sometimes, that might be good enough. For example, if you want to cheaply furnish an apartment that you're only going to live in for a few years, Ikea stuff is perfectly fine. Ikea is a European company, and I have to say, I really admire their assembly manuals. They're kind of a work of art. They usually have hardly any words at all (European, so the manual works equally well for speakers of any language). Just diagrams and numbers. This is a page from the manual for Cindy's computer desk: Obviously the top strip is saying, don't try to carry this all by yourself; you need a second person. The second strip is saying, if you have trouble understanding the instructions, call Ikea and they'll help you. What gets me the most is that second strip, though. It gives me a weird little happy feeling. Really look at the expression on the guy's face. He looks so sad and confused. He looks like he's just about to cry. Life is frustrating, and hopeless. Then he just makes a simple phone call, and—relief! Someone is there to help. Everything is fine. He's got a great big smile. Life is better after all. Next time I'm ever feeling depressed, I think I'm going to call Ikea. 9 September 2007 - Observing other football fans at Buffalo Wild Wings today, I suddenly realized something: my Brett Favre jersey, the first football jersey I ever bought for myself, will also be my last. Because anyone over the age of thirty-five, who still wears a sports jersey, looks like a total idiot.* * - The only exception being people that are actually members of sports teams, wearing their own jerseys. And also only if they are actually in the process of playing that said sport. 5 September 2007 - So I've been playing the "Cover The Red Spot" game on the web approximately one zillion times over the past couple of days. This is a game that I've seen at state fair midways, and you can get a big prize by covering the big red spot completely with the five disks. (Martin Gardner also discusses the game in one of his Mathematical Recreations books.) I finally beat it! 100 percent! Zero pixels remaining! I just had to tell someone. 4 September 2007 - Still been browsing new dad forums, and I just discovered the following comment: Finally, if you are Christian, then there is, somewhere in the Bible, a passage which is supposed to be intepreted as to not have superstitious beliefs. I'm speechless. 3 September 2007 - Ever since we found out that Cindy was pregnant, I've been reading books like The Expectant Father and My Boys Can Swim, and web sites like the one at The Nest Baby, and Brand New Dad. There are a lot of other blogs out there by new and expectant fathers. One amusing one was an enthusiastic new dad who went to the trouble of recording and uploading several videos of his infant son. All of the videos were of his baby lying there completely motionless. And then, from the opposite perspective, I ran across this post here, with the title "I hate being a dad". If you have made it to this post and you are single, please listen up: Do not get married. Do not have kids. You will find following my suggestion will help you avoid a life of others perpetual needs. You will never hear "whats daddy doin" hundreds of times. you will never have to ask permission to upgrade your exhaust, or buy a new firearm. You will not have to change any diapers or listen to crying and whining. You can avoid being barfed on in the night. I guess I'm in trouble. Now after March I'm not going to be able to buy a new muffler or a new gun whenever I want. Woe is me. 2 September 2007 - I'm backstage, having just completed a brilliant performance of Act I and Act II of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and I'm just waiting Act III to begin, and suddenly, I can't remember any of my lines! Oh no, I completely forgot to memorize any of Act III! What am I going to do?! I'm supposed to get to my place! The curtain's opening! Then I wake up. Thank God. I open my eyes even wider, determined to make sure that I don't fall back asleep, at least for a few minutes. I really don't want to end up going back to that same bad dream. What's weird, though, is that I've always figured that if I were ever in Our Town, I'd play the Stage Manager. Not Emily. 31 August 2007 - So I've e-mailed the sonogram pictures to my parents and Cindy's parents. It's only been eleven weeks, so you can't tell much. But you can tell that it's a baby.1 The next day my dad calls me and tells me that he's been showing them to all of his work buddies. "Look, especially at this third picture! I'm having a grandson!" A pause. "And what a grandson!" "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the baby's leg, Dad." 2 1 - Just one, though. 2 - I know this is from "The Simpsons." Real life imitates. 29 August 2007 - What I did this summer. (See ticker above.) 3 August 2007 - This week's Straight Dope column happens to discuss a matter that I know is of vital importance to those of my readers who happen to be my wife. I did misunderstand the title for a couple of seconds, though. My first thought was, "Are they doing this experiment on the space shuttle?" 2 August 2007 - Cancer Man fakes injury to get out of preseason practices Well, that was fast. This is the kind of work ethic that everyone should have expected. But even I didn't expect it so soon. Even the sportswriters see it. They didn't write "leg injury". They wrote "apparent leg injury". Sorry, New England fans, but you really shouldn't have had your hopes up. 1 August 2007 - Wow. Obviously, this is the biggest news to happen here, since I moved here thirteen years ago. This happened in my city! I work in a St. Paul suburb, not Minneapolis, so it's not like I go across that bridge every day. But I do take 35W whenever I do go into Minneapolis. Over the years I must've driven across that bridge at least 300 times. And I do drive over a bridge across the Mississippi (in St. Paul), twice every working day. It appears to be a tragic accident, but even so, wow, how can this happen? What could've possibly gone wrong? 14 July 2007 - Seen at a gas station on a trip to my hometown last week: There sure are a lot of rules. My favorite one is the third one. I wonder if they'll still accept it if you make out the check to "R-Store" without trying to draw in their custom logo... 11 June 2007 - To: Sean From: Scooter Subject: So...based on the picture of the course... ...I'm not too impressed with your score. Ha, ha. Needless to say, I was playing on the actual course. Not the one that he e-mailed me... 9 June 2007 - So I played golf this morning, and I think I shot my best score ever: 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 34 Admittedly, it was a pretty easy course (except for the last hole, all par threes). But my playing companion scored a 46. So it's not easy for everybody. But, I'll always be able to remember this set of scores. It's entirely threes and fours! Even the total. 2 June 2007 - Hee...check out this article. This isn't just wrong, it's appallingly wrong. He's wrong on the facts, wrong on the interpretations, wrong on the understanding of how science works. If we're charitable and grant that a 14-year-old has some reasonable excuse for ignorance, we can still indict his parents, his science teacher, and the judges at this fair on gross incompetence on multiple charges. I can second from personal experience Terry Pratchett's quote: "And all those exclamation points?...A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head." 1 June 2007 - So it's the middle of May, and the Brewers are 26-11, far ahead of everybody else in the NL Central, and they own the best record in baseball. So I change the wallpaper on my computer (I admit it, for baseball, I am a fair-weather fan) to something I got off of Brewers.com: Then, in the next 15 games, they go 3-and-12. So, this week I can't stand it any more and I take the wallpaper off my computer. The Brewers go ahead and win two out of three. All I know is that, I'm sure not putting that background up again. And also maybe this fall my PC will have a Minnesota Vikings motif... 18 May 2007 - Yesterday evening the phone rang. Caller ID said that it was "Ontario", so neither Cindy nor I picked up the phone. We pretty much always screen calls from strangers such as telemarketers, charity solicitors, states, and provinces. But, a few minutes later Ontario called again, and I figured, what if Canada needs me for something. So I answered. "Ontario" explained that they were really a company that was doing a survey of people's television-watching preferences. "My first question," said Ontario, "are there any males between the age of 24 and 34 in your household?" "No," I answered. "Thank you very much," said Ontario. "That's all the questions that I have." She hung up. That's just great. Now, not only is my life apparently half-over, but now, no one cares what I think, either. 17 May 2007 - Haiku on the passing of Jerry Falwell by Sean Sandquist Reverend Jerry Prominent Christian pastor He is now in Hell 29 April 2007 - Today's my 35th birthday. And I got just what I wanted! Cancer Man will not be a Green Bay Packer. And the Brewers actually lead the NL Central by two-and-a-half games. 12 April 2007 - Pictures of the planned new Twins stadium. Actually, I'm a lot more interested in seeing these same pictures, except showing the first couple weeks of the season, when there will be three inches of snow on the ground. And then the next three weeks after that when it's pouring rain every day. 11 April 2007 - Judging by the overwhelming response from my thousands of readers, many of you require further elucidation of the Easter 2007 Fire Incident. Just to assure you in advance, somehow I ended up completely unharmed (fortunately). I sure got that robe off fast, though. I was cooking lunch on our stove. It's a gas stove, so there's open flames. I actually don't know what happened. It's a pretty old robe. Maybe the waist cinch or some loose threads were hanging down or something. ME: (to myself) What's that smell? Smoke? The spaghetti's not burning. The tomato sauce isn't burning. I'm definitely burning something. Where could that be coming from? Then I looked down. ME: OH, SHIT! OH, SHIT! OH, SHIT! It wasn't that I was frightened—it's happened too fast for that. If I had been by myself, I wouldn't have yelled. But I kind of wanted Cindy to come upstairs. I was concerned that I might need somebody else to help put me out. Anyway, approximately a quarter of a second later, I had the bathrobe off and was vigorously shaking it, which extinguished the fire. It was still pretty smoky though. CINDY: (still downstairs at the computer) Why are you yelling!? ME: Because I was on fire! Only then, she got up out of the computer room and came up the stairs. If you ask her, she'll tell you that she ran up immediately when I started yelling. But that's not actually what happened. I'm not surprised. She really likes Neverwinter Nights. She hates to get distracted. I was going to keep the bathrobe as a memento, but I just ended up throwing it out. It looks and smells pretty charred. 9 April 2007 - Two things learned while cooking lunch yesterday: When you suddenly start smelling smoke, and you're wondering to yourself, "What am I burning?", one of the least desirable answers to that question is, "the front of your bathrobe." In the event that she's downstairs engrossed in playing a computer game, Cindy may not respond to a crisis situation in a timely manner. 8 April 2007 - private static void compute(int y) { int c = y / 100; int n = y - 19 * (y / 19); int k = (c - 17) / 25; int i = c - c / 4 - (c - k) / 3 + 19 * n + 15; i = i - 30 * (i / 30); i = i - (i / 28) * (1 - (i / 28) * (29 / (i + 1)) * ((21 - n) / 11)); int j = y + y / 4 + i + 2 - c + c / 4; j = j - 7 * (j / 7); int L = i - j; int m = 3 + (L + 40) / 44; int d = L + 28 - 31 * (m / 4); System.out.println(y + " " + m + "/" + d); //prints "year month/date" } In case you've never seen it before (and I am not making this up), this is the formula required to correctly compute the date of Easter for any given year. A couple of people have asked me what I was doing special for Easter this year. I'm guessing the correct answer is going to be "watching the last day of the Masters." We pretty much never do anything special for Easter. Because: I never know in advance whenever the hell it is (see above) We don't have any kids (no Easter bunny) I am diabetic (no chocolate) Anyway, I'm an atheist (don't buy the whole zombie-Jesus-after-three-days thing) Put those four items together, and that's a pretty lethal combination for Easter at our house... 26 March 2007 - Eighty-one degrees right now. Three weeks ago, I skipped a day of work so I could snowblow about five feet of snow. And now it's already too freaking hot outside for me. Apparently spring in Minnesota lasts for approximately one weekend... 23 March 2007 - So I played singles tennis with my brother Chad today, first time outside this year. I've been playing tennis for more than a decade, while Chad has only picked up the game within the last couple of years. But Chad's been getting better and better. He's been looking forward to the day that he finally beats me in a set. And wouldn't you know it, today, he did it. The second set, he won 6-4. What's worse, at one point I was actually leading the set 4-1. He's pretty happy about it. Meanwhile, me, I'm thinking, I lost five games in a row. Maybe I should check myself into the hospital or something. 14 March 2007 - So I wanted to see this show at the Brave New Workshop theatre. So Cindy and I and a small group of us are going. There was basically only one night that worked for all of us, so to make sure, I just bought the tickets online, two weeks in advance. It turns out we got Section A, row A, seats 1 through 6. Looks like we barely got in... 12 March 2007 - From today's StarTrib... Senate OKs Mondale Memorial Highway designation Hey, I like Vice President Mondale. I voted for him for U.S. Senate a few years ago. I'm glad that they're naming a highway after him. But Duluthies, I am also pretty sure that he's not dead. 7 March 2007 - So we're going to some open houses with my sister-in-law, and between places we pull into a Sinclair gas station (the one whose logo is a green dinosaur), and my sister-in-law says, "I always liked that TV show 'Dinosaurs'." And at that moment I remember that the last name of the dinosaur family on that show was "Sinclair". So, that was a joke, there. Last name, "Sinclair", same as the gas station! I never realized it before. That's pretty funny. I think I last saw that show in, like, 1992. New record set for the duration of time for Sean to get a joke: 15 years. 2 March 2007 - Exactly one week ago: "I can't recall a winter where we've gotten so little amount of snow." Today: "I can't recall a winter where we've gotten so damn much snow." In the space of the last 24 hours, I have had to use the snowblower on my driveway four times. Four times! And when I get home I'm going to have to do it again tonight, too. 1 March 2007 - I'm not sure if I've just come late to the party on this, but I have always been an astronomy buff and I've just discovered a free piece of software that I think is phenomenal. I guess it's been around for a few years now, but I just found out about it now. It's called "Celestia". It's a little graphics-intensive, so you might need a newer computer (for example, it works much better on Cindy's computer that she got in 2005 rather than my old 2000 model, though it does work), but it's the graphics that make it awesome. You can download it here. Go ahead, download and install it now. I'll wait. Basically, the best way to describe it is "Google Earth", except for instead of pictures of Earth, it's pictures of the entire solar system. Hell, not just the solar system, you can see the whole galaxy. Other galaxies. Okay, if you're still reading this, you must either not like astronomy or you didn't follow my instructions. Because if you were anything like me, you spent hours playing with the thing once you installed it. Ever wonder what it would be like to look at the Earth while in orbit? You can see it using Celestia. Want to see what it would like to fly through Saturn's rings? Watch Phobos and Deimos tumble through space while they circle Mars? See what it would look like to zing through the Jovian system at the speed of light? Many people are familiar with the view of the Andromeda Galaxy as seen from Earth. Want to see it from a different angle? How about, what our galaxy looks like from Andromeda? (By the way, astronomers have recently determined that the Milky Way is actually a barred spiral, and not the classic pinwheel that has historically always been illustrated.) These aren't just pretty pictures, by the way. It's all mathematically and scientifically accurate. Want to see of some of the extrasolar planets that have just been discovered? How about a binary star system? Want to see the real Wolf 359? (No Borg, though.) Want to travel to a time and place where you can view a total solar eclipse? How about a transit of Venus? Want to follow Halley's comet as it makes its long 76-year ellipse around the sun? How about tracing the path of the spacecraft Cassini as it continues its visits of Saturn? This is just an amazing piece of software, and what's even more amazing, is that it's free. 25 February 2007 - Today my dad became a sexagenarian. It's one of those words that sounds a lot better than it actually is. 23 February 2007 - R. I. P. "The Streak" 10 December 1985 — 22 February 2007 Twenty-one years, two months, and twelve days 15 February 2007 - So I'm thinking back vaguely to my days in elementary school, specifically, when I was learning basic arithmetic, and it suddenly occurs to me that I haven't ever had to do long division since the sixth grade; maybe not even since earlier than that. In fact, I'm wondering, in these days of calculators and computers, whether they even teach long division any more. If they do teach it I'm wondering if they still have students learn to quit immediately after getting a remainder. (That's how I learned it, but even at the time that seemed old-fashioned--figuring out the complete decimal seemed preferable to me.) Yes, I'm the kind of person that still spends time thinking about long division. Then it occurs to me that Wikipedia might have an article on long division, and if so, they might mention whether it's taught in schools any more. So I click over to the web site and I mouse over to the search box in the left pane, and as I type in l-o-n, suddenly underneath the search box Firefox pops up a previous query, entered at least once some time in the past. And to my surprise, it's: long division. So yes, not only am I kind the kind of person that still thinks about long division, but I'm also willing to take the time to do research on it, and also apparently, more often than once. 2 February 2007 - Global warming? Hah! There's not a shred of hard evidence that the Earth is heating up. It's just a myth that dumb scientists, and those idiot liberal environmentalists want everyone to believe. 2005 was the hottest year on record? (Well, at least until 2006?) Those measurements were just made up by somebody. Probably it was Al Gore. Remember, he said he invented the Internet! OK, could I get my $10,000, please? 20 January 2007 - South Dakota! Finally got one. Not surprisingly, they put Mount Rushmore on it. According to the web site, the official nickname of South Dakota is "The Mount Rushmore State". But South Dakota's been a state until 1889, and Mount Rushmore wasn't carved until 1927. Apparently before 1927 it was "The Sunshine State"; I'm thinking they decided to make the memorial just so they no longer had to copy from Florida. I've been to South Dakota once, in 1980. We saw Mount Rushmore, of course, but I also remember going to see the unfinished Crazy Horse Memorial. It was started in 1948, it wasn't done when I saw it, twenty-seven years ago, and it's still not done! "No fixed completion date," according to Wikipedia. Hey, I'm not getting any younger, you know. 12 January 2007 - At work, a storeclock that we commonly use in our code (it's basically the number of microseconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, but in hexadecimal format) is rolling over from BFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF to C000000000000000 tomorrow. This only happens just under once every nine years. It won't roll over from CFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF to D000000000000000 until December 15, 2015. Most people would never have noticed this. I brought donuts and put up a banner. Happy C000000000000000! 11 January 2007 - Watching a football game can be complicated when you have a fantasy football team. For example, on my playoff team this year I have both New Orleans running backs, Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister. So, you'd think that I'd want the Saints to win, right? On the other hand, the team that I need to beat has QB Drew Brees. Plus, since I have Philadelphia's running back Brian Westbrook, maybe I don't want New Orleans to win so much after all. Multiply that by fourteen rostered players and twelve different playoff teams, and it's like I said, complicated. Fortunately my friend Rajiv sent me the following three-panel spreadsheet which calculates exactly which teams I should be rooting for and which teams I shouldn't. To six decimal places. Thank God I have this sheet. Otherwise I might root for the wrong team! I would hate for that to change the outcome of the game. 10 January 2007 - From an e-mail sent to me by the desktop support group earlier today: Hi All - A special purchase of 20" LCD (Flat Panel) monitors was made to help reduce the number of CRT (old style) monitors used in the building. You have been identified as having one of these monitors being used with your primary machine. DSG will be swapping out these monitors over the next couple of weeks (starting as early as tomorrow). Please make it easier for them to swap the monitors by removing sticky notes, papers, etc. from on and around your monitor. I've had a 21-inch CRT-style monitor for just about forever now, and I like it. I like coding with the big screen, and I don't mind the fact that it's a little bulky in the corner of my desk. Lately, everybody in our office who's gotten a new computer has been getting sleek new flat-screens—but they're only 15-inches. Last time I got a new PC I declined the new flat-panel just so I could keep my old 21-inch. When I read this e-mail, finding out that they're compelling us to get flat-panels, I nearly hit the ceiling. I like my big monitor! I don't want a flat-panel! They'll have to take it from my cold, dead fingers! What's the purpose of replacing anything that's still perfectly good? Maybe thinking down the road, flat-panels are cheaper to recycle when necessary, but it still makes no sense to get rid of a CRT before it actually goes bad. Then I reread the e-mail and noticed that we're not getting the standard fifteen-inch flat-panels; we're getting twenty-inch ones. Now, that's different. I'll still have a nice big screen. That must be why these 20-inch ones was a "special purchase". They're to replace those of us who currently have 21-inch CRTs and would be reluctant to give them up. That's good. DSG's job is probably hard enough without having to engage in combat.