Archive - September 2003

Last month I wrote that The Brendan Leonard Show on ABC Family was going to be cancelled on September 11. However, ABC Family either had mercy for the pleading fans or just decided to be fashionably late in introducing their fall lineup. BLS is still running, but this is its last week. It appears that Friday, October 3 will be its last day. The show's 5:30 PM time slot is being replaced by Knock First, a silly new reality-type show that's a total rip-off of TLC's hit show Trading Spaces. If you love The Brendan Leonard Show, be sure to sign the petition to keep BLS on the air (currently with over 1,600 signatures). Seeing as it's an online petition, it won't count for much, but it makes for a good symbolic gesture. Also check out Brendan's unofficial BLS site at brendanleonardshow.com.

In today's mail, Tom, my aunt's significant other, wrote:

Judging by the site (music warning, open at your own risk), River Madness is an informal gathering of outdoorsy pals on the Ichetucknee (say "itch-a-TUCK-nee") River in northern Florida. Thanks for the e-mail, Tom!

I just (while I was writing this) was talking to Mr. Rose, my former neighbor who wants me to work at his job (he's a salesman for Tom James). I'll be visiting the office in the next few days to check the place out. Since the job consists of using computers, I told him about my preference of using the Dvorak keyboard, forgetting that he already knew it because he visited TWoS! :)

Late last night I toiled over a slightly new layout for The World of Stuff. Now there's color-changing action when you mouseOver (yes, I use that as a verb) the buttons on the left. And, if you're running Internet Explorer 4 or higher, you'll see green fading to white underneath the buttons. Those of you who aren't using IE4+ or have JavaScript turned off should see just a little green thing like this: . But if you see anything other than what you're supposed to be seeing, e-mail me () and let me know.

Yesterday my church youth group took a trip to the local ice skating rink. It was fun, but my skates were way too tight. My toes nearly went numb and my feet were blistered. On our way out, some of us went out behind the rink to find a huge pile of ice. We had a great ice fight. It doesn't snow here in Florida, so we had never done anything like it. Today I went to the mall again with some of my friends.

Today I saw a Segway for the first time. You know... those scooter-like things that are really easy to steer. They're pretty cool.

In other news, my friend's sister wants me to teach her to play the guitar. I'm going to take up the challenge (and get paid for it).

I really don't have much else to say, so I'll leave it at that.

Yesterday marked one month of being in high school. What do I have to say? Well, I'm still getting used to it. I'm sure that I'll become comfortable and familiar with the campus by... next semester, when we move to an entirely new complex. Oh, and that new complex isn't going to have a food court, like I was told. It's a dirty lie probably concocted to boost enrollment. I can't believe I fell for it.

My recently rediscovered third cousin, Michael, advised me to make friends early. Sorry Mike, but I failed. I have no friends in school, except a few people from my old school (whom I don't get to see as much as I'd like) and my sister, if you would count her. These days I usually find myself eating lunch solo.

I wonder if it's just me, or are there no freshmen at school? Almost everyone seems older than me. That's what I think is hindering my already weak ability to make friends - I can't just go up to someone who's older than me (or looks older than me) and ask to eat lunch with them. Where do all the geeks hang out? Heck, where are all the freshmen?

But now I realize that I'm not really even a geek. Okay, I might be, but if I am, I'm something like a third- or fourth-class geek. I know HTML and CSS and can throw together an okay-looking web site (as you can see), but I don't have any knowledge of things like Perl or Java or C. Besides that, I'm tall, and I don't wear glasses or geeky shirts (although I am wearing one right now because I have nothing else to wear). On the flipside, I do use the Dvorak keyboard. I guess that makes me sort of geeky. But I don't think I really fit into any specific group.

Yesterday was also the day we got our first interim reports. My grades so far: A+, A, A+, A. I guess grades aren't too much to worry about right now. Next semester, though, I'm going to get hammered with all the bad classes and weird teachers.

On a lighter note, I'm sort of on the fence about starting a Dvorak keyboard newsletter. I mean, there's not really much to say about Dvorak that isn't already being said on mailing lists like altkeyboards, is there? I guess not. If I get a response (hint hint, ) from someone who would be interested in subscribing or helping, maybe I'd go for it. But I don't think I'm going to. If I'm going to promote the Dvorak keyboard, my audience should be people who have never heard of it, not longtime users.

Today, when paying for my lunch with two $1 bills entered at Where's George and expecting the customary 50¢ as change, I noticed that the cashier was out of quarters. I was sort of suprised by that, but too much; quarters are probably the most-used denomination of US coins. She was fumbling with dimes, which are pretty small for a cashier to grab five and hand out, when I noticed in a lonely compartment on the end was a half dollar coin. I asked if I could have the half dollar for my change. She said, "Are you sure you want that?" "Yeah!" I said excitedly.

The half dollar, bearing the visage of President John F. Kennedy, is one of the least-used American coins. Even though they are minted regularly, just like other coins, no one seems to want to spend them. Many are under the impression that they're worth more than just 50¢, which is usually not the case. The one I got happens to be a bicentennial half dollar, which, to celebrate America's bicentennial in 1976, has a special reverse design that features Independence Hall in Philadelphia. As a coin collector, I know that most people would save a coin like this. Me, I'm trying to think of how I can spend it.

Speaking of perfectly good currency that no one spends, the $2 bill is always a good conversation piece. Like the half dollar, it is just perfectly good money that fell out of popularity with the public. As a result of no spending and all saving, $2 bill supplies can be kept pretty low. But when the government needs more, they print more. The denomination enjoyed a brief print run in 1996 to replenish the supply of bills printed from 1975-79. Now the number of $2 bills is getting (relatively) low again, and so the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which prints US paper money, has begun printing more, this time with a Series year of 2003. Numismatists such as myself are enthused by the news, and we can't wait to go to our local banks and ask for brand new $2 bills. (Yes, you can get $2 bills at most banks if you just ask for them.)

Last week, when TWoS was featured in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, I told one of my teachers about it, and the next day, she told the class. "One of our classmates was in the paper the other day," she said. (Everyone asked, "Was it me? Was it me?") I briefly summarized the article, and the teacher asked if anyone else had their own site. Over half of the hands in the class shot up. (If AOL profiles didn't count, I'm sure the response would be much smaller!) One girl in the class, it turns out, is really advanced in web design (more so than me, but that's not saying much), and she even has her own real blog. It's just your run-of-the-mill blog that you might stumble upon by chance. You know the type: unusual name, small fonts, small frames, weird images, a strict color scheme (in this case, grayscale), and a .org address. I'm not putting it down for all these reasons; she obviously has a lot of skill and her site shows it. The site is thedecemberplan.org. I'm gonna ask her to trade links.

Speaking of which, I've added a WoS button and banner to the Links page. If you like this site, please link to it. Using the button or the banner wouldn't hurt either. ;)

I think I have just found one of the coolest sites on the web. You know the old saying that everyone is connected to Kevin Bacon by six (or fewer) degrees of separation? Okay, maybe it's not that old. Let's let the facts speak for themselves.

1. I am distantly related on my mother's side to Benjamin Rush.
2. Benjamin Rush signed the Declaration of Independence with Edward Rutledge.
3. Edward Rutledge has ties to Goldie Hawn.
4. Goldie Hawn was in The Banger Sisters (2002) with Susan Sarandon.
5. Susan Sarandon was in Last Party 2000 (2001) with Courtney Love.
6. Courtney Love was in Trapped (2002) with - yep, you guessed it - Kevin Bacon.

The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia can find ties between Kevin Bacon and just about any other actor. They also have similar pages for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Elvis Presley, and a page that will link any actor to any other actor. The whole site is awesome! Here's a sample output:

I've been thinking about starting an online newsletter promoting the Dvorak keyboard, similar to Dvorak Developments by Freelance Communications and Striking Home by Dvorak International, both of which are no longer active. If you'd be interested in subscribing to (or helping with) such a thing, e-mail me () and let me know. I'd love to hear your comments. A suggestion for a catchy name wouldn't hurt either.

"Betsy and Donni," a WoS stumbler-uponer, writes:

I know, poor choice of fonts and colors, but hey, I didn't pick them. Thanks Betsy or Donni, whichever one of you wrote that!

You may have noticed that I took a few days off from blogging. I had been doing it almost daily since the beginning of August, so a break was in order. And besides that, I came down with mild, fever-like symptoms last night, but I'm mostly okay now.

The Roses, a nice, happy family who used to live next door, happened to come across TWoS via the Sun-Sentinel article. Mrs. Rose posted on the WoS discussion board. (We just ran into them whilst school supply shopping a few weeks ago.) To my immense suprise, they offered me a part-time job! I've never had a real job before. I don't know what the job is, but I do know what my parents will say.

Picture day was today. I hope mine came out okay. I just got a haircut a few days ago, so I guarantee that when I get my yearbook, I'll be saying, "My hair was like that?!"

Also, there's a football game tomorrow at school. We better win this time!

I can't believe I was worried that TWoS would get too many hits as a result of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel article. I've salvaged yesterday's stats, and here's a rough breakdown of where yesterday's visitors came from:

Thirty-one measly hits. I can't believe it! The Sun-Sentinel has a readership in the hundreds of thousands, and only as many as ten people came to the site as a result of seeing the article in print. (For the record, the only reason the online version of the article rewarded me with so many hits is that I sent the URL to some people.) Maybe not everybody reads the paper on the day they get it. Yeah, that's it.

[Update Thu Sep 18, 2003 00:54 UTC: Also for the record, TWoS's record day for hits was 35 on September 12 (and that wasn't for any particular reason).]

Yesterday was a first for me - I ate lunch inside. I, along with my sister and her newfound posse of friends sat at this lonely table in an obscure corner of the cafeteria. We think the reason that no one sits there is that the table is dangerously wobbly (it's held up by one leg in the center).

Also yesterday was the open house at the school for all the parents to get acquainted with the teachers. I went was made to go along too. We happened to run into the principal, and my parents told him about my site. Maybe he'll check it out. Walking through the school (which is being replaced next semester) got my dad in reminiscing mode. He's an alumnus ("alumni" is a plural noun) of my school.

Tomorrow is that dreaded day of all days, picture day. I haven't even really given it that much thought. I should probably pick what I should wear. I guess I'll do that tomorrow morning, and then I have to select the appropriate backdrop for my picture. Hopefully I won't do anything stupid in front of the camera.

Today, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel printed an article featuring me and TWoS. Here's a link to the article. Or, if you're lazy, just read it here:

Blogs Let Everyone Put Their Innermost Thoughts on the Internet

By Liz Doup
Staff Writer

Even if you don't know Jordon Kalilich you can know all about him.

He's 14, plays rhythm guitar and loves the Brendan Leonard Show. [I'll have to mention this to Brendan when I send him a fan letter!]

He just started a new school in Pompano Beach and hasn't made friends yet. One day he found himself eating lunch solo.

Jordon Kalilich, 14, at the computer he uses to keep his blog at his Deerfield Beach home. [Wow, the computer I use! Check out my Italian Greyhound, Speck, in the picture.]

But he's coping better than his sister, in his opinion, at least. [She's proud of her fifteen seconds of fame in this article.] And he already met a girl he finds... well... interesting. [That's an exaggeration. All I said was that I had my eye on her.]

You know this, and more, about Jordon because you've just read his online journal, known as a Web log or "blog." [I wouldn't call it a journal, but it pretty much is one.]

Think of these blogs as the 21st century version of ages-old diaries. Except they're not private. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Jordon, the guitar player and new kid in school, says he "just writes what's going on in my mind. What's happening."

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Indeed, Jordon Kalilich echoes many bloggers when he says: "I'm not as interested in reading about other people as I am writing about myself." [It's the truth, at least with most blogs I come across.]

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

theworldofstuff.com -- The musings of Deerfield Beach teenager Jordon Kalilich track his love of music and first days of high school. [The love of music thing is overemphasized in this article. I guess it's because my blog really doesn't have a theme and they wanted to give it one. Bonus points for the use of the word "musings," though.]

I'd say the article's pretty good. What do you think? Voice your opinion on the discussion board!

As a result of this article, I was expecting thousands, maybe tens of thousands of hits. Total hit count so far today? 14. And I get an average of 22 or so hits a day! I thought this was going to be the big time for The World of Stuff, but I guess it isn't.

Today at school is an open house for the parents to meet the teachers. I have to go too. I'm sure it'll be interesting seeing how they act in front of all the parents.

I've been using a borrowed guitar amp for a good while. There's nothing wrong with my own one, though. A guy my dad works with wanted me to try it out. Unlike my amp, this one has built-in effects. And it's big (bigger than my own, anyway). The guy said he'd give it to me if I could buy him some guitar accessories he wanted like an effects pedal, a pickup, etc. The other day, my dad and I went out and bought the stuff at the local Sam Ash music store. We happened to have a coupon for a free 12-string acoustic guitar with a purchase over umpteen dollars. I finally decided I should keep the guitar rather than sell it for the money to pay back for the purchase of the gear. The guitar is a Carlo Robelli W-4102-12B, and even though it's described as an "entry level" guitar, I say it's a great quality instrument at a great price. The sound is awesome and it resonates beautifully. And at a price of $100 (or, in my case, free), it's a tough act to beat.

I just found out today that the Sun-Sentinel article featuring TWoS is going to run tomorrow! Kinda short notice, if you ask me, but I'm not complaining. I'm just hoping that the potentially huge amount of hits doesn't cause the site to crash.

Today was the first day we had to wear our ID badges at school. They come attached to a lanyard (thanks to my sister for coming up with the right word. I couldn't think of it). Although a fastener holds the lanyard together, mine was held by a staple the entire day. That's because I happened to break the lanyard from the fastener... five minutes before school started this morning.

Today in one of my classes a girl referred to me as "that smart little boy who never says anything." Don't get me wrong; I wasn't crushed by that statement (even though everyone in the class heard it), but it did make me consider how I'm coming off to people. Sure, I keep to myself a lot, but I think I should try to be more outgoing. And then I wonder why she called me little? I'm gaining fast on six feet tall.

Arrr! The nineteenth o' September be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Mark yer calendars, landlubbers, or I'll have ya walk the plank!

I went to the Town Center at Boca Raton with my friends today. It's sort of a ritzy mall in the ritzy city of Boca Raton. Frankly, I'm suprised it's not spelled "Town Centre." We had a good time, even though I don't like shopping.

On Friday my school played a football game against what I think is the #5 team in the entire state of Florida. We lost; the score was 27 to 6. At least the band was good. :)

I'm really starting to wonder when the Sun-Sentinel article featuring the site is going to run. I haven't heard anything from the author since the interview (when was it, two weeks ago, maybe?). The photographer told me that she's good about calling people to tell them when their article will run. Hopefully I'll find out soon (and it'll run soon).

My school has a football game tonight. I don't know who they're playing, but I'm going to go. My friends Nick and Mark, who play snare and bass drum in the school band, want me to see them. So I might as well go. I'm not into sports that much, but football is one sport I don't mind watching. Go Golden Tornadoes!

My cousin (he's actually my second cousin, but I call him my cousin) is a sophomore at school. I've only seen him there once, and it seemed like he tried hard not to look in my direction. I heard that he tried out for - and made - the junior varsity football team, much to everyone's suprise. (He doesn't play football!) But alas, the JV team doesn't start playing till October. That's probably a good thing. :)

I've been thinking about switching from Windows to the Linux operating system. Linux is renowned for its reliability, customizability, geekiness, and the fact that it's free. Supposedly, the Windows XP user agreement gives Microsoft control of your computer, and they can shut down your installation of Windows at any time. Also (supposedly), if Windows crashes you have to ask Microsoft for permission to reinstall it. And if you've reinstalled it over 50 times, you have to buy a new copy of Windows.

That sounds pretty outrageous, but I can sort of believe it. Still, I don't see any really compelling reasons to switch over, besides the geek factor. Maybe someday I'll say "I've had enough!", start typing "Microsoft" as "Micro$oft," and get Linux. But until then, I'm fine using Window$... um, I mean, Windows.

If you know today's date, you know today is the two-year anniversary of the World Trade Center/Pentagon/open field terrorist attacks. I can still remember it now. The teachers at my old school, a Catholic school, were all saying stuff like "Your grandparents remembered Pearl Harbor, your parents remembered JFK, and you'll remember this. You'll always know exactly where you were when it happened." And I do.

It was a day in class like any other, and I just getting into the swing of things in 7th grade. I was in Literature early in the morning. The history teacher, whose room was next door, came in and told the Lit teacher about what had just happened. I think she spoke in a quiet voice so as not to excite the class. Or I might have made that all up. But what I definitely do remember was one or two periods later in Religion. Two 6th graders came in. "A plane hit the World Trade Center," one of them said. Minor incident of the day: small plane hits World Trade Center, I thought to myself. A plane hit the Empire State Building once, right? It was okay. The teacher immediately called her daughter, who was in New York, to see if she was all right. Then came the rumors swarming around the classroom. The White House was evacuated, they said. The Capitol building was bombed, they said. So many different things being said, and a lot of it completely wrong.

The 7th grade class filed into the library to watch CNN on the big TV they had there. I was panicking. "We're all going to die," I kept saying. We watched the towers fall. The World Trade Center towers were, all of a sudden, gone. The people in them, trapped, dead. We saw it right before our very eyes, live on television. Oh, it was terrible. Unspeakably terrible. Looking at a minute-by-minute timeline brings back these memories of sorrow and immense shock. I'm not usually the type to say stuff like this, but it was something we will never and can never forget. Sure, I scoff at all the merchandise that says "Never forget," but that means something different. Those bumper stickers, those coffee mugs, those T-shirts, those things are all tangible. These memories being recalled, these are shadows of what really happened, what was really experienced, what was really there. Shorly after that day, I made a collage thingy that I later submitted to the September 11 Digital Archive.

Okay, out of weepy mode. As you probably know if you live in America, September through December 2001 was like a months-long Independence Day celebration. American flags everywhere, American flags everything. I got so incredibly sick of it, and I still am. To me, all the September 11 merchandise was a symbol of hypocrisy. On September 10, people hated the President, worried about taxes, griped about problems with the government, and wished they could live somewhere nice. On September 12, people were being over-patriotic to the point of annoyance and were behind the President 100% on everything. Then came the NYPD and FDNY tributes and T-shirts and hats. Hello, people! The cops and firemen were just doing their job! It's their duty to save people's lives! Nobody ever cared about them before, and then, all of a sudden, they do? Shamelessly? It's just disgusting if you ask me. (This concludes the closest thing to a political rant you'll ever read here.)

It should be an interesting day at school. I wonder what kind of September 11th tribute they'll do. I'm guessing that they'll play "Proud to Be an American," the most annoying song ever conceived by man, over the PA system. That's what my old school did, anyway.

Here's to those who died.

In these slightly more aware days, my school is making everyone wear ID badges in case of the unlikely event that some nutball will sneak onto campus and run amok (or shoot somebody). A photograph is an important part of an ID badge, and so they've been taking photos for everyone's IDs. Today it was my turn. I sat in a room in the office and my picture was taken by a small digital camera. Within minutes, I had (to wear) a brand new ID badge. The photo wasn't that great, as you can see. I think I have to wear the same ID with the same picture until I graduate in 2007 (oh, it seems so long now), but that might not be the case.

Today I spent some Where's George bills in the school cafeteria. In the class after lunch, a kid who sits next to me was examining the bills he got in change. Sure enough, they were my own. He was talking about it with someone else. "It's probably a virus or something," they said jokingly. But I didn't say a word. I want to see if those bills get entered.

Coming tomorrow: 9/11 comments, thoughts, and memories.

I always like to check sites that link to my own pages. Recently I found a site that links to flipacoin.net, which is a first. The following was posted there as a blog entry:

This other site links to The Dvorak Keyboard and You. Normally that wouldn't be such a big thing, because there are already a handful of sites that do, but I thought this was interesting. Apparently, some 4th and 5th graders in Oklahoma are learning about keyboarding, and they have to choose one of a few keyboarding-related topics to write about. One of the topics to "make a table listing the pro's [sic] and con's [sic] of using a DVORAK [sic] Keyboard", and the page links to TDKaY as a source for Dvorak information. In fact, judging by the page, the kids are actually learning about the Dvorak keyboard at school. I think that is so awesome. In fact, that's so awesome, I'm going to link to their page: Beware the music, Flash, JavaScript, and animated GIFs.

I sent the school's technology director this e-mail:

I'm starting to fall into a routine at school. I can barely see the outline of it coming into view during this third week of school. I haven't really made any friends yet, but I think I'm getting there. To quote Fahrenheit 451, the book I had to read over the summer and hated but am now reading again and liking:

Today I scheduled another weekly band practice at my house (they're always at my house, because I'm the only one who schedules them). Sean, the lead guitarist, came over. He's practicing the trumpet for his school band so, according to him, he hasn't played the guitar in a month. We had some fun, though. The bass guitarist said he would come over, but, as usual...

Here's a very interesting link: The Phrase Finder. This site has the meanings and origins of hundreds of phrases, sayings, quotes, and clichés. They also have special sections regarding certain topics, such as Shakespeare and the Bible. For example, did you know that "a dish fit for the gods," "laughingstock," "the four corners of the earth," "dead as a doornail," "it's Greek to me," "eaten out of house and home," "forever and a day," "good riddance," "haven't slept a wink," "wear your heart on your sleeve," "in a pickle," "the mind's eye," "in stitches (laughing)," "lie low," "make your hair stand on end," "mum's the word," "without rhyme or reason," "the Queen's English," "there's a method to my madness," "too much of a good thing," "vanish into thin air," and "have seen better days" all originated from Shakespeare? Talk about influential!

Notice anything different when you came here today? Yes, no, maybe? Well, The World of Stuff now has its own favicon. Okay, now you're going to ask what a favicon is. A favicon is a web site's own personal icon. Often it contains the initials of the site's name. When you bookmark a page that has a favicon, the icon will appear in the bookmark link and in the address bar. If you have a more recent version of IE or Netscape or Opera or Mozilla or Konqueror, bookmark this page. You should see a little icon next to the site name and URL that looks like this: . That's TWoS's favicon.

So, how does one go about creating a favicon? You could download software that supports icons, or you could create one online and have it e-mailed to you. I did the latter at favicon.co.uk. HTML Goodies has an old but good favicon tutorial.

Here in South Florida it's kind of a dreary day. Or at least it feels like it. I didn't realize it until today, but it's probably because central Florida is being hit by Tropical Depression Henri. My friends should be at Universal Studios right now, and I was invited to go but couldn't afford it. Looks like the tables have been turned on them!

The other day at school I overheard someone asking "How was your Memorial Day?"

Today was the pep rally. I didn't really enjoy it. But I never enjoy stuff like that. Maybe it'll just grow on me as I get used to the school. Maybe...

There's a kid who sits near me in one of my classes who drums on the table, hums a lot, and says annoying stuff. Here's what happened today:

As you can see, I'm not really the agressive type. Oh well. I used to hum a lot too. And then I turned five.

I'm considering posting a Link of Week, which would showcase a cool site weekly. Do you think I should do it? Let me know on the discussion board!

Remember the old game 20 Questions? Now you can play with a computer! All you have to do is think of something and the computer will try to narrow it down and guess. It's a good example of how artificial intelligence can be either eerily correct or hilariously wrong. Play 20 Questions! (Note to privacy freaks: You need to enter a little bit of demographic information to play anonymously. I can hear you whining. Stop it.)

Another great game to try is Guess the Dictator or Sitcom Character. This page will try to guess the dictator or sitcom character you're thinking of. (I didn't know there was much of an overlap between those two groups.) In testing this man-made wonder of a site, I chose Mike Seaver from Growing Pains, which is probably my favorite sitcom. It guessed right!

After I posted yesterday's entry, the Sun-Sentinel photographer and I went outsite for her to get a "candid mug" of me. That's what she was assigned to do, anyway. A candid mug - sort of a contradiction in terms, isn't it? Anyway, I told her that I'm never very good in head-on shots because I have a bad "fake camera smile." I tried my hardest to look natural by chatting with her while she was taking the pictures. She says the candid mug probably won't run anyway. I say good.

Tomorrow there's a pep rally at school. Now, don't laugh, but I never even knew what a pep rally was until today. I've always heard "Hey, you wanna go to the pep rally with me?"... "Okay!", and that's it. Yeah, call me a dufus if you want, but at least I had a vague idea of what it is: cheerleading and stuff. I instant messaged a couple of my friends to find out what the deal is with pep rallies. One person said they liked them. The other said they were boring. Well, one of my friends is in the band, so that's something to look forward to.

Right now the Sun-Sentinel photographer, Anastasia, is at my house. She's going to get a shot of me updating the site, so that's why I'm doing it right now. She's experimenting with different angles, speeds, and lighting, because my computer is right next to a window and there are boring white walls all around. It's difficult to get an interesting shot of a person typing on a computer, but I'm sure it'll come out well, considering she's a professional photographer and all. We tried to get my dog Speck in the shot, but he doesn't seem to want to come over to me today. Now my sister's trying to hold the flashbulb over the computer.

Anastasia is very friendly. We're chatting about how I use the Dvorak keyboard, and how I'm not so good at QWERTY, and how I think I have a typing test tomorrow at school. My QWERTY speed is getting better, but if I had my way, I wouldn't need to practice it at all. We're also talking about how the house, and especially the computer area, looks so unnaturally clean. In fact, it is unnatural. I cleaned the place last night. I even cleaned my room, believe it or not! :)

I'm still a little bit worried (though not nearly as much) that my site will go down because of the relatively huge number of hits I'm expecting it to receive. I'll have to put in another web hosting deposit tonight. I'm still not really sure whether I'll need it or not, and I am sort of running out of money, but I guess it's best to be on the safe side rather than have the site go down.

I also wonder how the article will affect my status at school. I'm imagining that I might even become popular - or at least recognized - at school. But the thought of that is so unlikely I can't even imagine how the thought even popped into my head. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I still don't know when the article is going to run, though. If it runs on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, my schoolmates might forget about it come the next Monday.

I'm starting to make a few friends at school. (It's easier to say "Make some friends!" than to actually make friends. Well, some people have more friends than Bill Gates has money, but others, like me, take a little longer.) Today I told them about my site. (Hi Meghan, Fedia, and Curtis!) The days seem to be getting shorter and more bearable. That's definitely a good thing. A week ago I couldn't stand the 2-hour classes, but now I'm wondering how I could ever have lived without them. The late lunch is kind of annoying, though.

Speaking of lunch, I had a pretty lousy lunch experience today. The main course was what I thought was a hot dog. I took a bite of it and winced. It was the worst hot dog I've ever tasted, and it was cold to boot. My sister asked the lunch lady what it was, and she said it was "sausage on a bun." So I guess that makes it the worst sausage I've ever tasted. I wonder how it could be sausage when there was a table with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, and onions. I've heard of people putting some of that stuff on their hot dog, but I didn't know people at it with their sausage.

You may have noticed that I've written a lot today. That's because Anastasia is trying a bunch of shots of me typing, so I'll have to type a lot to allow her to get that perfect shot. Speck is finally coming into a few shots. One of those shots will probably be the one that makes the cut.

This article's going to be great! Just about everybody in the county (and it's a very populous county) reads the Sun-Sentinel. This'll give TWoS a chance to be known, and even have a following. (I've always pretended that I've had some regulars, but now I'll have real people!) Now that would be something right there.

Today is Labor Day in the United States (or Labour Day if in Canada). On the first Monday in September millions of Americans have a day off to fire up their barbecue grills to mark the unofficial end of the summer. But Labor Day is one of the more mysterious three-day weekends that grace our calendars.

So what is Labor Day? Well, it's a celebration of labor, of course, and it was first held in 1882 in New York City. Around that time, labor unions were the next big thing. So what better for them to get their point across than a celebration of labor? The idea of a holiday honoring America's poor, huddled masses of workers caught on quickly, and in 1894 Labor Day was made a national holiday. More information about Labor Day can be found at the web site of the U.S. Department of - what else? - Labor.

Yesterday I became paranoid that the massive number of hits from the upcoming Sun-Sentinel article would bring down my site. See, NearlyFreeSpeech.NET, which hosts TWoS, charges for bandwidth and disk space from a deposit. If your deposit runs out, your site goes down until you pay more money. According to my math, I should be able to serve about 100,000 more visitors before I become penniless, and I know I won't get that many hits, but I better put in some more money just in case my math skills aren't very sharp.

Yesterday there was supposed to be a band practice at my house, but of course, nobody showed up. The bassist said he would come, and the other guys didn't say anything. But later in the day I got a call from the lead guitarist. He hurt his hand in a pressure-cleaning accident, so he forgot to call. He'll be coming over some time today and it'll be just us.

Tomorrow a Sun-Sentinel photographer is coming to take pictures for the article that TWoS is going to be in. I'm pretty nervous. Cameras usually don't do justice to my good looks. :)