Journal 2000-05

Current entries

2000-05-06, Sat (Day 222, temperature at 07:47: 24.8°C, difference: +0.4°C, RC5-64 rank: 40,382, rank change: +48, total blocks tested: 62,208, overall rate: 779 KKeys/sec, rate change: 0 KKeys/sec, odds of finding the key: 1 in 161,662, odds change: +3,534): I am leaving for home today, so the journal will be picked up in the fall.

2000-05-05, Fri (Day 221, temperature at 08:37: 24.4°C, difference: +1.5°C, RC5-64 rank: 40,430, rank change: +25, total blocks tested: 61,942, overall rate: 779 KKeys/sec, rate change: 0 KKeys/sec, odds of finding the key: 1 in 158,128, odds change: -105,863, that day when the planets align and the center supposedly doesn’t hold for the U.S.): I had my last final this morning for English. When I entered Kohlberg at 09:00, the outside temperature was comfortable but when I left slightly after 12:00, the temperature rose considerably as well as the humidity. I could feel the muggy air circulating vertically through the atmosphere. I had a lot of fun writing the essay for the English final, so it seemed that this finals period started off difficult but then became nice.

I worked out in the Mullan Tennis Center this afternoon and turned in the gym lock to receive my deposit. I finished up the Blake site for English late this afternoon and early this evening. At night I checked some mail accounts and then backed up.

2000-05-04, Thu (Day 220, temperature at 08:12: 22.9°C, difference: +0.6°C, RC5-64 rank: 40,455, rank change: +3, total blocks tested: 61,666, overall rate: 779 KKeys/sec, rate change: -1 KKeys/sec, odds of finding the key: 1 in 263,991, odds change: +89,756): I dreamed I was in the Sharples big room and then I needed to leave to check something at the Swarthmore train station. However, the Magill Walk tunnel was now more difficult to get through, involving climbing and tight spaces. I got to the other side and touched the center of the lightly snow-covered track with my shoe, much to the look of others since a train was coming in about a minute. I then started to head back. It was more difficult going through the tunnel the second time and I think other people were trying to get through it going the other way.

Sharples was now directly behind Willets when approaching from the old location of Sharples a few minutes ago (I kind of jumped the current position of Sharples a little bit), and the hill behind Willets didn’t rise until sometime after the new Sharples. I could also see Sharples looming around Willets since it seemed Sharples was rather large. I got to Sharples in a hurry but am unsure if I am allowed to reenter on the same meal, since I didn’t think I could. I got in the building and the back entrance area was much different and larger. The interior corners between the three rooms have been filled in and the middle room was much larger with a higher ceiling. I stood around the checker area and then decided to leave.

I’m now walking around campus and Pearson and Trotter had this unfinished exterior look about them. The outside surface was this consistent tan color. I go to Parrish and while on the first floor, the fire department entered the building and started running fire hoses through the length of the hallways. One firefighter dressed in bright yellow started using a hose at the front door. I didn’t see any fire or smoke. I soon walked out through the front door.

I spent the morning and early afternoon revising papers for English. The finals period started today and I had my first two exams today in engin and physics.

After the physics exam I did the reading for the English exam tomorrow morning. I did have three exams in a 24 hour period so I could have rescheduled one of them, but I would rather have finished early or have the extra time to study.

2000-05-03, Wed (Day 219, temperature at 08:25: 22.3°C, difference: -1.3°C, RC5-64 rank: 40,458, rank change: +39, total blocks tested: 61,496, overall rate: 780 KKeys/sec, rate change: 0 KKeys/sec, odds of finding the key: 1 in 174,235, odds change: +21,743): This morning started off the rest of the day and into finals period as a state of panic. It turned out my E6 bridge group did their parts of the report overnight, so I composed my section before going to the tennis center. Before lunch, I updated the Blake site with the poem analysis. After lunch, I worked on getting all my desktop reminders addressed. I cleared out the e-mail backlog and then worked towards backing up. Since the size of my hard drive increases everyday, I had to find more stuff to delete than just Phoenix extras. When I tried reformatting Zip disks however, I ran into some problems.

I used the extension set for reformatting Zip disks that I setup last month, but I didn’t realize until after a few restarts that I needed to unplug my printer to get the Tools application, which does the reformatting, to open successfully. While the reformatting and backing up was going on, I frantically studied. I did stop before 22:00 so I can at least get a good night’s sleep before my 24 hours of finals starts.

2000-05-02, Tue (Day 218, temperature at 08:26: 23.6°C, difference: +0.3°C, RC5-64 rank: 40,497, rank change: +47, total blocks tested: 61,251, overall rate: 780 KKeys/sec, rate change: 0 KKeys/sec, odds of finding the key: 1 in 152,492, odds change: +3,036): I dreamed that I was trying to dial home, but I couldn’t do it upside down on a payphone yet I could on a campus phone.

I finished my Netcenter mail today and I saw for the first time since early January that I had no new messages in that account.

Finals are approaching and it seems more apparent that I am going to run out of time to adequately study. The only problem that is an issue right now is the exams. Everything else is going great. I’m so glad that April turned out so well, albeit at the last minute, but that’s what I expected.

2000-05-01, Mon (Day 217, temperature at 08:29: 23.3°C, difference: +0.5°C, RC5-64 rank: 40,544, rank change: +41, total blocks tested: 60,981, overall rate: 780 KKeys/sec, rate change: 0 KKeys/sec, odds of finding the key: 1 in 149,456, odds change: +17,157): The tennis center was more crowded today since there were no classes. I also had ample time to go slower on the MedX machines. It only took seven extra minutes, but my muscles were still shaking from the workout, even by lunch.

In the early afternoon and evening, I worked with John in Beardsley on the Blake project for English. In the late afternoon, I went to the McCollege film showing and discussion in LPAC Cinema. The two films, “Subtext of a Yale Education” and “University Inc.” were about how corporate influence is creeping into higher education policy. “University Inc.” was set at the University of Texas at Austin.

Journal 2000-04