Hello, Saturday. This has been the most boring day on record. I woke up around 10:00 as my roommate, Adam, was helping his girlfriend, Xandra, get ready to leave. After doing my weekly backup of my system, I went to the dining hall to eat, but there were tons of people lining up to get in there, so I went to Taco Bell. There were also tons of people in line there, but it was Taco Bell, so I stayed. I think all the people were in tour groups. Adam went fishing, and now he's apparently somewhere with some buddies. I don't think I'd want to be there, though.

Back up your files regularly. I cannot stress this enough. I use sbackup, which has a GNOME user interface. It's probably available in your Linux distribution's package manager... if you use Linux, that is. But seriously, invest in an external hard drive, and that's half the battle right there.

I've been reading Hamlet quite a bit lately. I can't get enough of that Hamlet character. Such wit he has. Even his first line, "A little more than kin, and less than kind," speaks volumes or at least sentences. Then there's this bit in Act 3, Scene 2:

Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap? [Lying down at Ophelia's feet.]
Ophelia: No, my lord.
Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia: Ay, my lord.
Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?*
Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord.
Hamlet: That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.
Ophelia: What is, my lord?
Hamlet: Nothing.

*Sylvan Barnet says Hamlet is making a pun here. What a rogue, that Hamlet. A rogue and peasant slave is he.

Who here thinks Hamlet was actually mad? I can't help but think that he kept his wits all along. He just got a little stressed out by the whole thing, though. I do think Ophelia actually went mad, though. Is it an unfair characterization of women that they can so easily snap? Gertrude seems to have a good head on her shoulders, though, once Hamlet clues her in on Claudius's doings.

Last month, I chose my dorm room for next year: it'll be on the same floor in the same building as my current room, but on the other side of the floor. Turns out that this guy Ryan, who was one of my lab partners last semester, picked the same room. Pretty cool. But today he let me know that he changed his room to the building next door because his current RA is going to be over there. Dude must be a pretty awesome RA if he induces that kind of behavior. I never see my RA around, but that's okay. Anyway, Ryan said I could still live with him, but I think I'd rather be in the building I'm in now. It's a little closer to everything that's worth going to. Hopefully Mystery Roommate Selection will work out as well as it did the first time.

In slightly more comforting news, I might have housing secured for the year after next. My current suitemate Evan is getting a place practically across the street from campus, and if he has 3 other guys with him, it'll only be $150 a month each. If I collect, find, or steal $5 a day, I'll have it made in the shade. Not bad, I say. In fact, it meets the three C's, my criteria for an off-campus housing arrangement: close, cheap, and having cool people. I just made that up.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my, uh, little dilemma regarding the opposite sex. The general consensus is, "Jeez, Jordon, you can't learn how to talk to people by reading a book, so cut it out!" For some reason, I disagree. Actually, it's because this one book, How to Talk to Anyone, has some good pointers on making good conversation and getting people to like you. Granted, a lot of it has to do with meeting businesspeople at parties, but a lot of the tips are good in general use as well. I'm already starting to internalize a few of the simpler ones.

Luke gave me something good to chew on: "You are Jordon. Jordon is pretty interesting, but sometimes he forgets to tell people that. You shouldn't be someone else but less ashamed to show people who you are, which is not a list of _what_ you do but more _why_. For what does the history of Jordon serve as preface?" (Usenet-style emphasis in original.)

This site apparently grew out of a thread on Joshua McGee's web site: myhamsterdied.info, a "support group for hammie lovers."

41 Hilarious Science Fair Experiments. At least a few are digitally manipulated, but they're still funny.

The ACLU is keeping a running estimate of the total number of people on US government's "no-fly" list. There's also a list of some notable names on the list. Apparently the government thinks almost a million people -- including dead people, small children, and Ted Kennedy -- are terrorists. (Insert joke about Ted Kennedy's car accident here.)