The meeting was held in a basement of a hostel that wasn’t far from my apartment. Nothing could be too far away since this isn’t a huge neighborhood, but it was particularly close. There was free pizza and beer, and I was one of the first people to show. There were plenty of subjects for pre-meeting chatter, such as hobbies (I guess blogging is my main hobby these days since that’s what I talked about).

Eventually, about six or eight people had come, and something like an official meeting began. Jesse wanted to know how BelltownPeople could be improved. If I hadn’t gone to the meeting, I wouldn’t have known that everyone is free to sign up and write posts for the blog, so I volunteered that that aspect should be more prominent on the site. I didn’t even know that the blog had multiple authors, so I suggested that each article have a photo of the author near the byline. Yes, I’m quite often a blog skimmer, and as a joke I was going to insert a nonsense phrase into this sentence to see if anyone would catch it, but I think everyone would and I would never live it down. I am not clever enough to make that work. I mean, you are all too smart.

Anyway, there was also some discussion about the neighborhood, like restaurants closing, sidewalks not getting fixed, and those sorts of things. Jesse also asked each of us to share a Belltown moment we had had. Several people explained why they believe it’s a good place to raise children, pointing out that great places for a day out with kids are in walking distance whereas they would be too far away if you lived in the suburbs. Others compared urban Belltown favorably to the clean, “censored” suburban neighborhoods.

I hadn’t been in the neighborhood long enough to really get a feel for it, so I just explained why I chose to live there. I had been researching neighborhoods near Amazon’s headquarters, and the Walk Score website, first featured in the World of Stuff post of January 23, 2008, indicated that Belltown was the most walkable. From there, I did more research and liked what I saw. (My current address has a Walk Score of 97/100, which is typical for Belltown. My last place had a Walk Score of 5, and the new formula revises it downward to 1.)

Jesse said that as a newcomer, I could provide a unique perspective for BelltownPeople, so he invited me to share my thoughts. I suppose I will once I have enough to write about.

It was good to go out and meet people in the neighborhood. I’m looking forward to the next meeting, not to mention any other opportunities to go out and socialize in a setting that’s not awkward for me. I walk to work; I walk to the grocery store; I hardly have any social outings to walk to. Yet.

Time to answer an Ask Jordon question.

Kate: Do you think it’s worth celebrating Valentine’s Day if you’re in a relationship? Are there people who feel unhappy this day? What about you?

I don’t know whether it’s worth it to celebrate Valentine’s Day; I don’t have enough experience. But in my experience, plenty of people are unhappy are about it. It seems that it’s often because they wish they had a girlfriend or boyfriend and are jealous of people who do. Maybe they’re even the majority, but it’s possible that they’re just the loudest people. I used to be like that, but I haven’t been for the past couple of years.

The BBC reports on a French house that’s recently been opened to the public after just sittin’ around for a hundred years.

Here are a couple of Ask Jordon questions from Kate:

According to your article, you don’t remember QWERTY. How did you type on my netbook then? Do you use the standard or the left-handed Dvorak?

I wrote that I’d forgotten QWERTY after learning Dvorak. I learned QWERTY again.

Every Russian man 18 years old or older must serve in the army for one year. The conditions are poor and there is a risk of mockeries, hazing and even death. What would you do if you were a Russian boy? (You can Google about current situation.)

Like most young American men, I’ve thought a bit about how I might feel if I were drafted into the US Army, but fortunately, there hasn’t been a draft in a long time. I can’t even imagine how I’d feel about compulsory service, but without the element of surprise in play, at least I might be mentally prepared. If you’re talking about deserting, I don’t think I’d do it. If an army is mad at you, bad things can happen. One year of hell doesn’t sound that bad compared to the risk of a much greater penalty.

Want airport security screeners to see you naked? No? Wednesday, November 24, is National Opt-Out Day. Of course, you can (still) choose not to go through the naked body scanner whenever you fly, but people have promoted opting out on a busy travel day to get their point across. I should point out that the alternative—getting groped—isn’t much more pleasant. The terrorists have won. (Via J-Walk Blog)

Kate: What are the main problems of the US, which really affect people’s lives and need to be solved as soon as possible, in your opinion?

Well, we finally got universal health care (or health insurance, or whatever), so check that one off the list. I’ll admit that I’m having a hard time thinking of other things. A lot of the things I care about don’t have a direct impact on people’s lives.

Are they still giving tax cuts to rich people? If they are, that’s going to have to stop. If anyone needs tax cuts, it’s the people who, you know, have nothing.

Eh. I don’t know. Obesity, maybe? We have a lot of fat people here. But there’s not much you can do about that. You can tell people that they ought to exercise, but you can’t drop them onto a treadmill and make them run all day. You can tell them they should eat more vegetables, but you can’t tie them up and force-feed them brussels sprouts. And anyway, it doesn’t bother me that other people are eating however they want, and it shouldn’t. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg, as they say.

I hate brussels sprouts, by the way. I would empathize.

So, I guess I don’t really have a good answer to your question.

Kate: What do you like most for dessert? :)

What don’t I like for dessert? I’ll eat pretty much anything. That said, I like pies. I think pecan pie is my favorite. My mom made one for my birthday, and it was great. Blueberry pie is also good too.

I had no idea green screens were used so much in TV and movies. Here’s a four-minute video showing many a green screen scene. (Via The Presurfer)

Some guy spent 24 hours in a Super Walmart. (Before you get too confused, he replaces profanity with other random words.) (Via The Consumerist)

I felt really bad for her. No one should have to choose between being able to pay attention in class and not feeling used or threatened. I wanted to do something to help, so I positioned my chair so that he (hopefully) wouldn’t be able to see her. I don’t think he bothered her again.

I was glad that I could try to do something, but at the same time, I felt bad about myself. I look at young women too, and while I don’t intend for them to notice, they probably do sometimes. In fact, I’m sure of it, because there are sometimes the awkward moments when they see that I’m looking. I don’t mean anything bad by it, but they have no way of knowing that.

I don’t have much of an idea of what it’s like on the other side. Once in a while I hear female friends talking about creepy guys staring at them. It seems therapeutic for them to discuss it together, even if they’re seemingly just laughing it off. One friend once told me she’ll stare back at a man’s wedding ring until he realizes it and averts his glance, visibly embarrassed.

Along with this article I linked to recently, last week’s incident made me slightly but painfully more aware of some of the things that women have to deal with all the time. I’d like to get some more perspectives so I can try to understand what’s really going on here and what can be done about it.

With that in mind, I have some questions for my female friends and readers: How often do people stare at you? How does it make you feel? What do you do about it? Do you ever ogle anyone yourself? Is it ever okay? Leave a comment. Discuss. I really want to know. (And let’s not make it heteronormative; anyone may chime in.)

You know what I haven’t done in a while? Answered an Ask Jordon question, that’s what. And look, it comes from Kate. Yes, that Kate!

Kate: If you could get a free ticket to any country (any city, any place) of the world, what would you choose and why?

That’s a tough question. In the past, I probably would have answered London or some other big city in Europe, but I’ve already been to Europe, so I think I’d try something new. Since money is no object here, I think I’d want to go somewhere I’d never otherwise be able to go to, like the South Pole. That would make a great Facebook profile picture.

If we’re talking about actual cities in actual countries, then I’d probably consider Tokyo as well. My impression of Japan, which comes mainly from Lost in Translation and the kinds of people I hung out with in high school, is that it has a very different society from ours and is far ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to technology. That’s something I’d like to see for myself.

Interesting video: a British doctor explains the placebo effect and its practical consequences. (Via Pharyngula)

I typically have Rhythmbox sort my songs in alphabetical order by title, and I’ve noticed some pairs of songs that have exactly the same titles. Out of 2,493 songs, there are 21 duplicates, which is more than I expected. (I didn’t count different versions of the same song.) As you might expect, the titles are pretty generic. You probably haven’t heard of all of the artists.

• “Because” (The Beatles, Dave Clark Five)
• “Changes” (Bridget Kelly, David Bowie)
• “Free” (Dubious Quip, Hobo Twang)
• “Goodbye” (Hootie and the Blowfish, Sean Fournier)
• “Holiday” (Persson, Weezer)
• “How Long” (Allison Crowe, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band)
• “Intro” (Ampiphy, WhiteRoom)
• “It’s a Beautiful Day” (MoOt, Persson)
• “It’s Over” (Harbinger, Persson)
• “I Want You” (Marvin Gaye, Savage Garden)
• “Learn to Fly” (Josh Woodward, Foo Fighters)
• “Like This” (Girl Talk, STEEP)
• “Low” (Coldplay, Silence Is Sexy)
• “Mary Jane” (Alanis Morisette, Fatblueman)
• “My Love” (Petula Clark, Junior Walker)
• “Solar System” (Depressive Art, Jamison Young)
• “Talk” (Coldplay, Silence Is Sexy)
• “What’s Going On” (Blind Mr. Jones, Marvin Gaye)
• “White Moon” (The Dada Weatherman, The White Stripes)
• “Woman” (John Lennon, Peter and Gordon)
• “You Can Have It All” (Yo La Tengo, Kaiser Chiefs)

Additionally, I have a couple of threebies (triplicates?):

• “Time” (Hootie and the Blowfish, Persson, Pink Floyd)
• “Wake Up” (Alanis Morissette, Josh Woodward, Smoke Fish)

If you have some time to kill, this may be fun to check out. How many duplicates do you have? Do you have more than three completely different songs with the exactly the same title? (My predictions: no one will answer, or people will include similar but not identical titles. Prove me wrong!)

And, while we’re at it, here’s some Ask Jordon.

Kate: What do you think about vegetarianism? Could you give up eating meat for some reason (and what could be this reason)?

I don’t mind if other people are vegetarians, but I don’t want it forced on me by anyone. Let me eat whatever I want, and I’ll let you do the same. I don’t care if the animals are mistreated or anything like that. If other people do care, then good for them, but I’m more concerned with human welfare.

I would give up eating meat if my life depended on it, but I can’t imagine a situation in which that would happen.

From the American Museum of Natural History: a video that zooms out from the surface of the earth to the edges of The Known Universe. Watch it in HD! (Via Pharyngula)

A voice actor does a really good impression of Morgan Freeman: Morgan Freeman Talks About… Toilet Paper.

It happens to the best of us: Why It’s Better to Pretend You Don’t Know Anything About Computers. (Via Lifehacker)

Also on Wednesday, my dad found an 1897 Liberty Head nickel in some change and gave it to me. I’d grade it as Very Good to Fine or thereabouts. Coin collecting is an expensive hobby unless you can scavenge through a lot of change.

After dinner, my sister and I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, which we had taped (omg you guys still use vhs vcr video casette tapes? what the heck) from a recent airing on the Disney Channel. Surprisingly, there were only three commercial breaks, and the credits were left intact. In fact, I don’t think anything was cut out from the film either. It was a Christmas miracle.

For Christmas Eve, we did the whole church thing and then went home and opened a few gifts. My dad got new cell phones for everybody. I’m evaluating mine and will let you know what I think about it later. Then we had another feast for dinner. It consisted of finger foods like wings, shrimp, and chips ‘n’ dips. What says “Merry Christmas” better than seven-layer dip? Maybe the desserts, but that’s it.

And today, it’s Christmas. The cell phone was my Big Present of the Year, but I also got some clothes and other things that are nice to have. Plus, I have more gifts coming in the mail from friends and family, so maybe we can stretch this Christmas out a little further. In a few hours, we’ll have dinner, which is the same as our Thanksgiving dinner because it’s too good to have just once a year.

And now, a special Christmas edition of Ask Jordon!

Shannon: Why exactly are you an atheist?

I didn’t ignore you, Shannon! I got this question months ago and have been working on a response. The result is a new page, Why I Am an Atheist. You can also find if you click on… can anyone guess? Yes, Articles! Good job.

I don’t have any Christmas-related links, so you’ll have to settle for these secular links that are destroying Christmas.

A song whose lyrics consist of sampled movie and TV quotes: The Golden Age of Video. (Via waxy.org)

Here’s another video with movie quotes: specifically, movie titles as spoken in the movies themselves. (Via waxy.org)

On Monday, I and some other folks from Get Carded (the student organ donor awareness group I’m a part of) went to some sorority houses to talk briefly about the benefits of organ donation. I had never wandered around Sorority Row, which is actually more of a neighborhood than a row, so it was all new to me. Also, I didn’t know that sororities (and probably also fraternities) allow just about anyone to come in and make an announcement during their weekly dinner. Yay for captive audiences.

Right after that, I accompanied my co-workers, Bonnie and Mark, to Wal-Mart Walmart to buy some toys for a needy child (and a gift card for his parents), as we had decided to do last week. A little boy is going to be very happy with the new toy trucks he asked for.

I think my professors should get into the spirit of the season by canceling classes the day before Thanksgiving. I mean planning not to have class in the first place. I e-mailed all of my professors last week, and they all said they would hold class as usual. On Monday, two of them changed their minds after finding out how many students were going to be there. Meanwhile, I had already made plans to get picked up on Wednesday afternoon. Le sigh…

Anyway, in a little while I’m going to my grandparents’, where I’ll be spending the holiday. I’ll get home either late Thursday night or on Friday.

Here’s a pair of Ask Jordon questions from my friend Justin.

Justin: Would you be willing to go on (another) expansive trip throughout Europe? I wish to backpack around the Mediterranean.

Not for a while. Though I had a blast this summer, my bank account also had a blast. As in, it, like, blew up. Okay, that didn’t work. I spent a lot of money is the point.

Also Justin: Would you consider telling Luke that I miss our friendship?

Sure. Luke, Justin misses your friendship.

Kind of cool, kind of creepy: a piano that “talks” by playing a bunch of notes that are extracted from a recording of human speech. (Via J-Walk Blog)

Every Beatles fan must hear this: analyses of the multitrack tapes of “She’s Leaving Home,” “A Day in the Life,” and “Come Together.” They’re originally segments from a BBC radio program(me). Hear different tracks isolated and even some stuff that didn’t make the final mixes.

Friday night, my last night in Hume Hall, was pretty quiet. I basically spent it with my friend Andrea, who was as bored as I was. She made some food for us, but I got hungry later, as people are wont to do. That’s when I found out that all of the dining halls, convenience stores, and restaurants on campus had closed early. We went to McDonald’s, where there was a touch-screen game system presumably for the kids as they munch on their Happy Meals. After eating, we took a whack at a trivia game that was too hard for us, let alone some little McNugget-gobbling brats. It took us about a million tries to beat the high score, and we were very proud.

On Saturday, my dad came and helped me moved out. We spent the night at my aunt’s house, and then on Sunday, we took the long way home. I got home Sunday night and, well, here I am.

I’ve been working online, and that’s been pretty okay. As a webmaster, I do most of my work on the Internet, so it’s been basically like going to work, except I don’t have to walk there. That would be a long walk.

Also, I just found out today that I got all A’s and B’s in my classes. Awesome. Let’s celebrate with an edition of Ask Jordon:

Carlos: When are you coming out of beta? Flickr already did.

Well, my friend Luke, since this design looks so modern and Web 2.0 (is that still modern?), and because it’s always subject to change, I thought a “beta?” badge would be appropriate next to the logo until I have it the way I like it. The only thing I’m yet concerned about is the line spacing. Do you guys think there needs to be more space between the lines here? I’ll have to check it out on Windows and see what looks okay.

Tomorrow is the National Day of Reason, which coincides with that National Day of Prayer thing. Americans United for Separation of Church and State explains why the National Day of Prayer is a bad idea.

Here are lots of crazy McDonald’s menu items from around the world. Find out where you can get McSpaghetti.

Earth Hour was March 28. Here are some photos of cities around the world in the dark.

Two weeks ago, I responded to a personal ad. I do this sometimes. This time, though, it was different. We started e-mailing each other, but the conversation didn’t peter out. We made the jump to instant messaging and Facebook. Today, we met.

It was a beautiful day: bright and sunny but not too hot. I waited at the corner of University and 13th, where a traveler and her dog were already sitting. The dog was friendly. Like a typical dog, it apparently liked to chew on things. It went to town on my hand. But I like dogs, so it was okay.

Just then, she appeared. My hand wet with dog slobber, we started talking. I was worried that it would be awkward at first, but it was just like we knew each other well. We headed toward the restaurant we had planned to go to only to find that it was closed for Easter. We went further down the road and found just about every place closed. This was something we hadn’t planned for.

Alas, Ben & Jerry’s was open. No one was there except for one employee. I washed my hands and we had delicious sundaes that we almost finished while talking about stuff.

Then we decided to walk through campus, which was basically empty because it was Sunday and Easter to boot. We made it to the Plaza of the Americas, where we sat at a bench under a tree and talked more—for at least an hour, I believe—until she had to go.

We will meet again.

And now, well, how about Ask Jordon?

Mr. Hi: How did the word “Hi” originate. Hello? I get the “H” but why “i”?

I was actually wondering this recently too. Wiktionary, which has recently become my online dictionary of choice, says of the etymology: “American English (first recorded reference is to speech of a Kansas Indian), originally to attract attention, probably a variant of Middle English hy, hey (circa 1475) also an exclamation to call attention.” So apparently it comes from Native Americans, who picked it up from English? There’s no citation.

Because of the economy and all that dumb stuff, we’ve been hearing a lot about large amounts of money. In particular, the trillion is having its day. But what does a trillion dollars actually look like? Find out! (And should it be “What do a trillion dollars…”? I think they both sound funny, but it seems like the former is correct!)

This is quickly becoming a popular site for people to share embarrassing, yet humorous, real-life stories in brief: FMyLife.

Given the product placement, this might just be a PR stunt disguised as an amateur project, but it’s still cool. Basically, some folks put together an unbelievably fast computer. Watch for when they drop a DVD case from the window and start ripping the DVD at the same time. The rip wins. (Via J-Walk Blog)

Why? Because I have digital logic lab Wednesday nights from 7:20-10:10 PM. Never mind that it’s a three-hour lab at night, but the pre-lab assignment takes much longer than that. Besides, I rarely have much of a clue how to do anything. It’s about building circuits and stuff, you see. I can connect things on a breadboard, but I feel like I missed a prerequisite for this class because some basic things about building circuits that I thought were really important were sort of glossed over.

So when none of the things I made worked quite right, I should have known that I was forgetting to do something. Last night, I spent much of my lab wondering why the thing we had to build, a 4:2 priority encoder, wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. I even rebuilt it just to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. As the lab period was ending, I was the one of the last two people left, and that’s when the TA got a good look and realized that I wasn’t connecting the input to a resistor after the switches. I totally did not know I had to do that. But I fixed it, and it worked. I was in a celebratory mood for the rest of the night. I was still in a celebratory mood when I woke up.

As much as digital logic is the Bane of My Existence for Spring ’09, the prospect of building things that work is kind of… ugh… cool.

Oh, and I actually sort of did miss the prerequisite for this class, but I have an equivalent credit. Plus, an advisor approved my schedule.

Guess which regular feature I only did nine times last year… It’s Ask Jordon!

Joohan Park: My teacher said you were in her classroom before but I don’t believe it.Her name is Mrs.Sgroe.Did you have classes with her when you were young?

Yes, Mrs. Sgroe was my teacher for 5th grade (1999-2000) and 8th grade (2002-2003) at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School in Pompano Beach, Florida.

This might be handy for some of you Americans who hate looking like tourists: via The Presurfer, it’s How to Avoid Looking Like an American Tourist.

This might be handy for some of you Americans who hate using nonsensical units of measure: from the hilarious webcomic xkcd, it’s a guide to converting to metric.

This might be handy for some of you Americans or non-Americans who hate not being able to take good photos at concerts: from Jenny of Cool Cherry Cream, it’s Concert Photography Tips and Tricks for Non-Professionals.

Now it’s time for me to eat dinner and then do hours and hours of digital logic homework worth 0.4% of my grade. I hate Thursdays too!