Hume sweet Hume

I've been getting used to living in a dorm. Unlike my roommate, who had already gotten posters, I didn't have much in the way of decor for my side of the room. That changed yesterday, when I went to the poster sale and got some posters. Now my dorm is actually worth taking pictures of, so for all of you curious eyes, here are my environs:

Under that blob of sheets is my bed. It's pretty high up. I could have it lowered, but I haven't done that yet. The posters are of John Lennon, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Back to the Future, and the Beatles. Next to the microwave and fridge is a sink, which is pretty cool. And here's a closeup of my desk.

It's good to have a desk that's big enough for me to do work at. The desk in my room at home was fine when I was younger, but there's no space to put anything on it. I can even put a large printer on this desk and have plenty of room to use my computer or study. (Note also the recently emptied jar from the Change Contest.)

In other news, I finally have an Internet connection in my dorm. I called the Department of Housing a few times last week, but since they only work regular office hours and I have classes to go to, our paths didn't actually cross. I talked to another Linux user who was having the same problem -- there was just no way to get onto the university's wired network. Finally, while I was on one of the wireless networks in my dorm's common room, he sent me a fix. When I went back to my room to try it, I connected my Ethernet cord to the wall and... it just worked. I didn't have to do anything. I'm not sure how that happened, but they did know what room I was in, so they might have just turned off authentication for me. Or, my credentials for the wireless network worked for the wired network. I'm not sure, and I don't want to jinx it. But even if it stops working, at least I know how to set it up properly.

Here's the mindset of incoming college freshmen like me. It's an annual list designed to make anyone over 30 feel extremely old. For example: according to our worldview, there has never been a Cold War or a Berlin Wall.

Here are 10 amazing facts about the earth. I don't know if they're the most amazing, as the article claims, but they're pretty amazing.

Day One (and Day Two)

I've been here at the University of Florida for a week now, and classes have started already. It's been a long week, and I've learned a lot quickly. Not in the way of school subjects, mind you, but lessons about college life. But first, let me give you the rundown of my experiences so far.

I've been going here, there, and everywhere, pretty much all on foot. To say that my feet hurt would be an understatement. Actually, it would probably do just fine. The point is, I've been doing a lot of walking. My dorm is pretty much in the center of the campus, but my classes (and indeed, most of the interesting places) are in one corner of the campus, a 15- to 20-minute walk away. I've been hanging out with my sister, who lives around there. We didn't really have anyone to hang out with the first day or so, but we quickly met lots of people and spent much of the week hanging out with them.

Classes started on Thursday. My first college class, at 9:35, was Calculus 3. It was actually a problem solving session or something like that. Apparently classes that have lectures on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays might also meet on Tuesdays or Thursdays with a different teacher or TA to review the material or give quizzes. Yesterday's class was such a session. The TA (I assume) went over a few things we should have known from previous calculus classes. I knew most of it, but I had a hard time recalling it. Even my high-school calculus teacher knew how fast math drips out of your ears.

After that, I had America in the Fifties, an honors class that covers America during the "long fifties" (Nagasaki to Dallas). It sounds like it's going to be pretty hard, so I'd better stay on top of things there. Next, I had Social Geography, which has to do with population patterns and demographic shifts and things like that. It sounds pretty interesting. There are about 100 people in the class, and I had to sit in the nosebleed section because I wasn't as early to class as everyone else.

When my history class unexpectedly got out early, I was sitting around in a busy place with nothing to do. Before I knew it, I was being proselytized to by a Christian guy. Rather than engage in a debate with him, I simply went along with what he was saying to get a sense of his argument. I played the role of the good kid who doesn't worry too much about what God thinks of him. Did you know that since I've lied and stolen things, I'm a liar and a thief? It's true! The guy told me that he was too, and that God punishes people who bad things (Bible citation). So in order to escape damnation, I should accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior (Bible citation). If I don't, I'll go to hell (Bible citation, a parable that I've never heard in my life).

Yesterday was less eventful (in terms of classes) because I only have two classes on Friday. First thing in the morning, I had chemistry along with about 300 other people (including Anh, a girl I met at a bus stop). It seems okay because the teacher (or professor, I guess) has a good sense of humor. ("Although chemistry exams can be hard on students, they are often fatal for grandmothers.") After that, I had my calculus class again, this time with the actual teacher, who gave an introduction to the three-dimensional coordinate system. He's kind of hard to understand because of his accent, but I think I'll be okay if I just study (which is what I spent part of the day doing).

As I mentioned previously, I still can't get online because the people in charge of making sure that students get connected to the Internet in their dorms haven't made it easy for Linux users. (In the past, Linux users had no problem connecting, but this year they've done something different.) I'm using the Wi-Fi in my dorm's common room now. It's kind of a pain to travel so far for an Internet connection, but hopefully, that'll change soon. Mark, a guy I've been talking to online who lives in my dorm, has sent me instructions (written by someone else) for getting it to work. I'll have to try it later.

And now, my advice (and related wisdom) for incoming college students:

• Don't worry about meeting people. You will meet lots of people immediately, even if no one you know from high school is there, get on Facebook and see if anyone from junior high or elementary school is there. You'll make friends with your roommate(s) and neighbors. Meet their friends. Say hi to random people on the street. Before you know it, you'll be friends with your friends' friends' friends. And who knows? People might randomly approach you, too. After all, hundreds or thousands of people are in the same boat as you.
• You will walk a lot. Or, you'll ride your bike or take the bus a lot. If you brought your car, you may or may not drive a lot, depending on how much you cherish the parking space you got. Walking is probably preferable to having a bike because you don't have to worry about someone stealing your legs. But if you have to cover long distances, a bike may be better for you. Either way, you'll probably get in better shape.
• Save money. This should be self-evident. As a Poor College Student®, I can tell you that college is a great way to spend more money than you actually have. I wouldn't recommend trying to juggle college classes and a job during your first semester. Take any money your parents provide for you, and stretch your dollars out. The other day, I went to an event with free pizza, soda, cake, and ice cream. It wasn't the most nourishing meal in the world, but I saved a few bucks, and I got to meet people. See if there are events like that near you.
• Don't sit around doing nothing. You'll probably be proselytized to by someone with religious beliefs that are different from yours. Nobody likes that... unless you buy into what the person is saying, undergo a genuine religious conversion, and celebrate the day that a stranger showed you the light. If you find yourself out of class early, why not read a book or study? Which leads me to...
• Study! That's what you're in college for. Be sure to have some fun, but schoolwork, however boring, comes first. Like high school, some classes are easy, and others are hard, but now, it's all up to you to make sure you do the work. You're probably in college because having a college degree will get you into whatever career you want and will help you get more money. There's an incentive for you.

I'll probably think of more to say, but that's it for now.

Oh yes, one more thing: I have my very own mailbox. Send all letters, cards, postcards, checks, cash, late birthday presents, fan art, fan fiction, early birthday presents, Hershey's Symphony bars, posters, exciting magazines, extra-light 12-string acoustic guitar strings, T-shirts that you think might fit me, fruit bats, orangutans, breakfast cereals, coupons, and everything else to:

[Edit Sun May 04, 2008 22:58 EST (UTC -5): I don't live at this address anymore!]

The World of Stuff: The College Years

I'm in college. It's all so weird. I always knew this day would come, but now that it's here, it's really surreal. My sister and I moved into our dorms on Saturday. That's when I met my roommate, Adam, in person (we'd talked online before). I managed to find almost everything I packed, so that's good. Kristen's rooming with one of her best friends, so she's lucky. We spent Saturday night at our aunt's house outside of town, along with our parents. Yesterday, we bought a few more things that we needed, and my family wanted to see our dorms again. When we came back, my roommate had hung up posters of scantily clad women. Real nice to show the family. It was actually pretty funny in retrospect. But anyway, then we said our goodbyes. It was pretty emotional, but we'll definitely be in touch with our parents. We'll also be in touch with each other because we hardly know anyone and it's hard to make friends.

In fact, I'm here in the food court in the student union with my sister. I'm here for the WiFi. I can't get connected in my dorm because the instruction booklet says to call the Internet connection people if you want to know how to connect using Linux. They're swamped right now because everyone is trying to connect, so they're going to call me (maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after that, maybe the day after that...) to schedule an appointment so they can go to my dorm and help me out. Did I mention that the University of Florida is one of the largest in America? Anyway, I have to thank my friend Luke, whom I called, asking for help with connecting to the Internet. After nothing worked, he suggested I try the WiFi in the public areas. He isn't even going here, and he thought of that before me. Way to go, Luke.

Even though there are so many people here, it's been hard to meet people, and it's been stressing out both my sister and me. There are supposed to be

We just saw Amanda, a girl from school, here in the food court. Apparently she's staying in the dorm across the street from me, so we'll have to hang out with her. We're planning to go to the mall tomorrow, so maybe we should invite her. It should be fun. Anyway...

all kinds of events for getting to meet people, but I think they're spread out over the first few weeks of the semester, so none of them have happened yet. So I haven't really had an opportunity for a "Hello, My Name Is..." type of gathering. In fact, my sister and I have pretty much been walking back and forth between our dorms and stopping here at the student union, which is in between. Actually, we did meet a few people at a bus stop outside my dorm, and my sister (who can connect to the Internet in her room) found them on Facebook, so that's good.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. I have more to say, but I can't stay in the food court forever. I've got other things to do... 'cause I'm in college.

In 1947, Life Magazine asked some comic strip artists to draw their characters blindfolded. The results are amusing.

On the threshold

I'm still here. That is, I haven't left for college yet. That will be tomorrow. Yesterday, my friend Luke asked in his typical, blunt manner: "Is your life in boxes yet?" To answer this properly, allow me to wax poetic. After that, I'll wane poetic.

By last night, most of my stuff was indeed in boxes and bags. Not exactly my life, but close. I've been packing more things that I could have imagined, but it hasn't taken up very much space. That's not really what I'm getting at, though. Everyone I know has his or her life in boxes right now. We're all starting in colleges all over the place, from down the street to across the country. Everyone is going through the same things as I am, and that makes me feel a little bit better.

I used to be really bad about change. I'm still pretty bad about it. I remember being in eighth grade and checking out high schools when the question of college came up. I didn't even want to hear the word. High school was enough for me to handle, thank you very much. Now, high school is out of the way. That alone is hard enough to believe, but it's true. That chapter of my life, it seems, is over. College used to be a big, scary thing, but now it's not -- not as much, at least. I've remembered the words that have helped me out in the past: If anyone can do it, so can I.

Okay, it's true that not everybody has what it takes to finish college, but a lot of people more mediocre than I have managed to pull it off. And I'm a pretty diligent worker, if I do say so myself. But again, it helps me to know that going to college is something that (almost) everybody does. It's almost like an adventure. They say your college years are the best of your life. I don't know who they are, or you, for that matter, but maybe they're right. I envision myself meeting cool people and having fun.

I once that thought that I'd be a goldfish in the ocean of college. I'd used this metaphor in the past to describe the experience of starting high school, and I had quickly regretted not explaining it. I now know, of course, that it needs no explanation. But the ocean of high school quickly shrank to a pond, and I realized that I had a school of fish around me. I had forgotten that we are social fish. We are fish who depend on one another. And I now realize that when the pond grows to the size of, say, Lake Superior -- when I have a sea of new challenges to face -- my school of fish is there to help me like never before. Case in point: my mom casually mentioned that when I ran out of cotton balls, she would send more. I was dumbstruck. Send me more cotton balls? In the mail? But I can just walk to the store and buy them myself.

The point is, my parents are there to help me as much as they can. They know I've fallen on relatively hard times. Even with my full scholarship, I've had to take out loans to get by. Everyone else I know wants to help. My sister and I had our last day of work today. They got us a cookie cake -- a giant, greasy chocolate chip cookie with icing on top. Oh yes. And "the new girl," whom we haven't known for more than a month, asked for our addresses so she could send care packages -- the occasional packages of basic goods for college students who often can't afford or simply would rather not go out and buy them. Wow. Whether or not she actually sends anything is beside the point: we hardly knew her, and she cared.

I had thought that, once you were in college, you were independent from everyone, and that was it. Today, it struck me that independence is not a Boolean. That is, it's not a true/false, either/or type of thing. Someone named John once said that no man is an island, and he was right. Right now, I'm very dependent, and over time, I'll become more and more independent. Everyone is there to make the transition easier. I've often wondered how old I'd have to be for the phrase "in my whole life" to stop sounding ridiculous. I am, after all, a n00b at life. With lessons like this, I'll someday become 1337.

And for those of you who had to click on the Wikipedia links, what an anticlimax that was. I guess I started waning poetic too early. And now, the links.

Find out The Cheapest Days to Buy Certain Items.

Here's an editorial from Wired about The Eternal Value of Privacy.

Fun

I've been very busy lately, not only getting ready for college, but also having fun. This week will be my last chance to see my friends for a long time. Maybe even a long, long time. I've been out spending time with a lot of them (the ones who aren't working all the time or are already in college, that is). Between going to the beach at night, seeing cheesy movies, checking out bookstores, and bowling, I've hardly had time to think that soon I'll be facing the biggest obstacle I've ever encountered in my life. And that's just how I want it. Ignorance is bliss.

My sister has long wanted to go to South Beach, so yesterday, we got some people (Yamilee, Austin, Luke, Justin, and Lisa) and did it. Austin graciously drove us around; he didn't mind it because he often makes the long, boring drive between here and Florida State University. After we found everyone's houses and got to a parking lot in Miami Beach, we ate lunch on the patio of a restaurant called Cafe des Arts. It was really nice, and since we were in the shade, we didn't die from the heat (well, most of us, anyway). Then, we actually hit the beach for a little while. There were a lot of people there, but it wasn't crazy. I went in the water, which was pretty warm. Later, we dried off and went to Starbucks. We followed that up with some shopping (or, for some of us, walking around in front of shops), until finally, it was getting late, and we went back. I really enjoyed the afternoon (no, we didn't stay for the wild and crazy night life), and I'm glad I got to have fun with some of my friends for one last time.

Backing up the files on your computer is very important. Your mother always told you to do it, but you never have. Until recently, I never had either, but I decided I should definitely start doing it since I have a laptop, which is fragile and could be stolen or what have you. I got a 500 GB SimpleTech external hard drive (designed by Pininfarina) for my sister and me to share. Even though the drive came with backup software for Windows and Mac, it was formatted as NTFS, meaning only Windows could use it. I reformatted it to FAT32 so my sister's Mac and my Linux laptop could both access it. Then I decided I'd probably be better off using a more sophisticated filesystem for my own backups, so I resized the FAT32 partition and made an EXT3 (Linux's filesystem) partition. It was a clumsy solution (Linux apparently can't write to HFS+, OS X's filesystem), and it seemed mess things up. My dad decided it would be best for us to have separate backup hard drives. After that, I wiped everything and reformatted it all as EXT3. I was troubled to find that the only accessible as root. Since the drive was mounted at /media/disk, I fixed it with

sudo chmod -R 777 /media/disk

I then went into the file browser as root (sudo nautilus), went to the drive's properties, and set its permissions so that everybody could read and write it. After that, I didn't have any problems. I was still bothered by the fact that the drive had no label. Given that the drive was located at /dev/sdb1, changing its label to "Backup" was simple enough:

sudo e2label /dev/sdb1 Backup

I don't know how the drive could be in /media and /dev at the same time, so obviously, I don't know a lot. I looked that stuff up on the Ubuntu Forums, which have helped me out immensely over the past 6 months I've been using Linux. There's no way I would have known what to do otherwise.

Actually backing up files was difficult -- at first. I copied and pasted my home folder into the external hard drive, but some files refused to be copied. When I was still using FAT32 for the whole drive, I found out how to tar entire directories, so I tried that. Five minutes in, I realized that FAT32 doesn't support files more than 4 GB, so I calmly waited another 45 minutes for the backup to finish, only to delete the resulting archive. When I finally had the whole drive formatted as EXT3, I looked into SBackup, a GNOME utility for backing up and restoring files. I backed up the folders it recommended that I back up, and it took about 45 to 50 minutes. The program is designed to run backups in the background, but I didn't want to partake in too much CPU-intensive activity while it was busy. Restoring files should be just as easy, but I hope I'll never have to. (I probably will, though.)

Now I must pack. I have to pack pretty much everything I own into little boxes by tonight, and I haven't started yet. The next time I blog, I probably won't be at home. I'll be gone.

"The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focuses only on sound, not songs."

Here are Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature.

We have a winner

The Change Contest is over. I know you're eager to find out who won. But first...

My going-away party was last night. Hardly anyone I invited actually showed up (thanks to those who did), but there were a lot of people overall. The party was also for my sister, who's going to college, and my grandparents, who are moving. The place was packed. There was lots of food, and there still is. Everybody had a good time. There was so much going on that it couldn't all be contained indoors, so a lot of the party moved outside, where there were all sorts of tables and chairs. Some people stayed inside to watch the football game. Luke tried to play leapfrog with a frog. We talked about plans to go to Miami on Wednesday (everyone is invited, even you). As the night grew late, Luke found out about the Driveway-A-Thon and insisted that another driveway endurance contest be held. He, Justin, TJ, and I participtaed. Luke won, staying on the driveway continuously for exactly 3 minutes.

Today I went to the grocery store to turn my change into cash. Yes, I know the bank does this, but I can't get to the bank without a car, and I'd probably have to roll all that change, which I'd really rather not do. Plus, I already did this, so it's too late for you to criticize me. Anyway, I got to the machine and was amazed by how simple the process was. I had expected to be standing there for hours placing each coin in a slot one by one. No. You just dump 'em in. It only took a few seconds to do that. Then the machine counts. It's really noisy, but it only takes a few moments. Once it determines how much you've got, it gives you a receipt that you can redeem for cash. There's an 8% service charge, but it's better than the 8.9% charge that the other grocery store's machine imposes.

I had my own guess for this contest, and it was based on the amount I had counted when the jar was a little more than halfway full. It was a long time ago, but I remember that the amount then was around $50. So I figured that with the jar mostly full, the amount of money inside would be about $75.

The actual amount of change in the jar was $77.14. Congratulations to Mark Myers, whose guess of $78.87 was off by only $1.73! He gets to write a post about whatever he likes, if he wants to. (And if he doesn't, then I suppose the runner-up can have the honors.)

In second place was Todd, who guessed $2.86 too high, followed by Natasha, whose guess was $3.04 low. Not bad for people who don't use US currency. (They're both Canadian.) Of the 14 valid guesses, the average amount guessed was $64.23, and the median guess was $68.23. Gilbert's guess of $15 was less than 20% of the actual amount. The highest guess, Daniel's $100.44, was more than 130% of the actual amount.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the contest. It's been a lot of fun. Plus, I now have an extra $70!

I knew that Weezer had two eponymous (self-titled) albums, but I didn't know that there were so many other artists with multiple self-titled albums.

Domain hacks, like blo.gs and del.icio.us, are cool. Here's a search utility for domain hacks. There are two for "theworldofstuff": theworldof.st/uff/ and theworl.do/fstuff/. It looks like those domain names are available, too.

One week to live

Have you made your guess yet? Time is running out. The Change Contest ends tomorrow at 23:59 UTC-5 (World of Stuff time)!

Whoa, it's August 10. How did that happen? Do you realize that I leave home for college on August 18? Something has to be done in the meantime. But what? A party, of course. Normally, I don't like to mention parties I'm having before I have them, but pretty much everyone I know is invited, so I think things will be okay. This party is going to be pretty big. It's not just for my sister and me, who are going to college, but it's also for my grandparents, who are also moving away. I can't even imagine how much food there's going to be.

Anyway, today was my second-to-last day of work. I've been working at the office of a suit company since October 2003 (except for a 17-month period when the extra help wasn't needed -- admittedly a big "except"). I only work one day a week, and since last year, my sister has been working there too. As you might imagine, I don't make a lot of money, but I save most of it. I'm really going to miss the great people I work with. And I'm going to miss having an income, that's for sure. I don't think I'll be able to juggle college classes and a "real" job right away, so I'll need some time to get used to the whole college experience. I just hope that, when the time comes, I'll be able to find a job I like.

Printing has been a big issue. I hadn't thought much about it, but I might just need a printer to print papers and things. Finding a printer that works well with Linux is kind of tricky. You really have to do your homework with resources such as the OpenPrinting Database, but even that site doesn't have information on many new printers. After finding a few printers that might work, it became clear that the best option would be to use the printer I already have, an HP LaserJet 1300n. I've used it under Ubuntu with success. The OpenPrinting Database says that this printer "mostly" works with Linux. Apparently the driver I use doesn't allow printing at the maximum resolution. I've never needed to have anything very high resolution; it's a black-and-white printer, after all. So it should continue to work just fine for me.

I thought college would be so great because we wouldn't have summer reading, which I've dreaded throughout my years and years of schooling. Imagine my surprise when all incoming freshmen were assigned to read Mountains Beyond Mountains, the uplifting, true story of Dr. Paul Farmer, whose mission in life is to cure tuberculosis in impoverished countries. Yes, I'm one of those people who always read the books that are assigned, no matter how much I may not want to. I did read it. I wonder whether my teachers (sorry, professors) will actually ask questions about the book. Maybe they'll just use it as a tool to see which students read what they're supposed to. In any case, the author of the book will be paying a visit to the university in October, which I have to admit is pretty interesting. In fact, I have to admit that the book is pretty interesting. That Dr. Farmer is a selfless guy with a lot of resolve. It would be cool to meet him, that's for sure.

From Damn Interesting: An article about circuits that are programmed to evolve. Whoa. What's more, they work in a way that we don't entirely understand. Whoa.

Here are some examples of "guerilla" (or just plain unorthodox) advertising.

Across five Augusts

Change is good*, but the Change Contest is better. Make your guess by Saturday!

It's August 6. I thought today sounded like an important date or something. Is it my birthday? No, I just had one of those. Is it my anniversary? That would be unlikely. It's not even garbage day. I was stumped, so I did what any blogger would do and checked the archives. According to several old posts, today is my Dvorakaversary: I've been using the Dvorak keyboard for five years today. My fingers sure are thanking me right now. Using QWERTY really hurts my fingers after a while, but I never have problems with Dvorak. And now that I have a computer that is all mine and no one else's, I don't even have to have the QWERTY keymap loaded. It's a little thing, but it means a lot to me.

Also, a year ago yesterday, a bunch of ducks showed up in the driveway.

I've been cleaning my room some more. What, you thought I was done? I've barely made a dent. (Okay, I've made a pretty big dent.) I can't believe all the stuff I've come across: things I loved, things I thought I'd lost, things I don't remember at all. Most of it, though, is junk, and I'm giving it away (or throwing it away). I realize that I've just said this, but it's still true. Among the things I've found is a journal that I kept semi-regularly from 1999 to 2001. I guess it goes to show that I've always had a propensity to write in a semi-regular fashion. That journal is one of the few things I'm saving as I empty out my room before leaving for college.

Who needs spring cleaning, anyway? August cleaning is where it's at. In August, I stand at the threshold of everything. It's a time to start anew. I started blogging regularly in August 2003. Back then, I was concerned about starting high school. During this, my fifth August, things have come full circle, but in a much bigger way. I almost can't believe I was so nervous about high school when college is looming like a giant thing that looms. I'm really in for a big change. Who knows what kind of person I'll be next August? Hopefully one who's working a kick-awesome job while pulling a 4.0 and being chased by da ladiez.

Read about Dead Sodas that you might remember from the past few decades.

In my last post, I mentioned a political quiz that would tell you which of the 2008 presidential candidates are most in line with your views. Now here's a really bad way to decide who you should vote for: which operating system their campaign site's server is running. But it is interesting to note that 69% of Democratic candidates' sites are powered by Linux, while 70% of Republican candidates rely on Windows.

This is the first post I've written (partly) in a recliner. Thanks, laptop!

* For cliché purposes only

The cleanup

The Change Contest is still going on. You could win a guest post here at The World of Stuff! Just make sure to include your e-mail address with your guess; otherwise, I might not be able to contact you.

I have been cleaning my room. This, I believe, is an event worthy of first billing in a post (not including nags to enter contests). The area of focus here is my closet, which I don't believe I've ever actually cleaned -- and it shows. So, why this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence? Because I feel like it! No, not really. Because my days at home are numbered, and I'll never be living here again. Our home is for sale, and there's going to be an open house the weekend I leave for college. I already frustrated the real estate agent by not having a spotless room that he could take a picture of, so in spite of my best efforts to the contrary, I have to make it look presentable inside and out.

Going through one side of my closet, I'm finding that a lot of things I'm throwing (or, more often, giving) away I have absolutely no emotional attachment to. And I have found all kinds of things, including things I didn't even know I had. But the things I knew I had I didn't really mind getting rid of. This is a change from the past, when I wouldn't throw anything away because I had some sentimental reason to keep it. Am I losing my sentimentality? Am I getting old? Are the rigors of life setting in? Am I paranoid? Does that mean they're not after me? Am I asking too many questions? Oh well. At least I'll have a closet that's pretty empty. Well, not quite yet. I still have to clean up the other half of the closet: the messy half. (Yes, I might actually have to throw away those Teenie Beanie Babies.) And then: the desk. Oh, the desk.

And now, an informational edition of Ask Jordon.

Genna Ruffin: Hi Jordan: I've been reading all the posts about installing the "hide bulletins" thingie for myspace and can't figure out WHERE to paste the code?

MySpace Ignore Bulletins is a Greasemonkey user script, which means you need to be running the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox in order to use it. You seem to be using Firefox, so all you have to do is install Greasemonkey, and, after being prompted to restart your browser, go back to the script's page and click "Install this script" on the right.

The November 2008 presidential election is just around the corner! Do you know who to support yet? If you're like me, you'll probably need a little help. You're probably not like me, but here's a presidential candidate selector -- a quiz to determine which presidential candidate is most in line with your views. Here are my results. I've never heard of some of these people.

1. Dennis Kucinich (88%)
2. Barack Obama (83%)
3. Joseph Biden (75%)
4. Christopher Dodd (73%)
5. Hillary Clinton (72%)
6. Mike Gravel (69%)
7. John Edwards (68%)
8. Bill Richardson (60%)
9. Ron Paul (50%)
10. Elaine Brown (47%)
11. Mike Huckabee (26%)
12. Rudolph Giuliani (25%)
13. Tommy Thompson (24%)
14. John McCain (21%)
15. Mitt Romney (17%)
16. Sam Brownback (10%)
17. Duncan Hunter (8%)
18. Tom Tancredo (8%)

That's not including people who've dropped out of the race or haven't announced their candidacy yet.

Wikipedia has a list of first occurrences.