1 April 1999
So. Yesterday the company provided pizza for lunch (one of the many benefits of working here) and we all sat and listened to this guy Ted talk about our 401(k) program. Ted comes in once or twice a year and tells us that unless we're retiring in the next few years that we should be investing in the really aggressive funds, and then we get to have fun asking him questions and listening to him never quite answer the questions. Anyway, at one point, he was talking about inflation, and how there was going to be inflation very soon because unemployment was down so far and everyone had so much money and we were all, and this is a direct quote: "consuming our heads off."   I don't even want to tell you what kind of mental images flashed through my mind at that!   I've been having this memory over and over for the last few weeks. Maybe if I type it out here, I'll stop remembering it so much. When I was in college at William and Mary, I dated this guy that I'll just call P., because our relationship ended rather poorly and he's decided that I am Evil Incarnate, or something like that. Anyway, P. was (and probably still is) very much into the recreational drug scene: marijuana, mostly. I had asked him several times to stop, but he wouldn't. (To be fair, it was from him and his friends that I learned that marijuana isn't quite as terrible as They had led me to believe, though I tried it twice and will never do so again, because it makes me so paranoid I can't even walk around the block.) Anyway, here's the memory that's been plaguing me:   This was still early in our relationship, when I was still trying to get him to quit the drugs. P. was protesting that it wasn't as bad as I made it sound, and he said, "Even my dad does it sometimes!" That, I couldn't believe. P.'s dad reminded me of Dr. Emmit Brown from the Back to the Future movies, in both appearance and personality. He was (still is, I suppose) a professor of physics at William and Mary. But I could not imagine him doing any sort of illegal drug. So I asked P. what made him believe that. P. replied that he'd had a stash (of marijuana) in his room, and it disappeared, and later he noticed that his dad's eyes were red - from the smoke, he assumed.   I didn't say anything, but now I wish I had. What went through my mind was, Doesn't it occur to you that his eyes were red because he had found and confiscated your damn stash and was crushed to know you had it?   Last night, Matt and I went over to KT and Kevin's for dinner. KT has started a journal of her own, called Me Too! Me Too! She doesn't promise to update every day, but that's fine. Updating every day is my special obsession.   Anyway, we went over there last night, ostensibly to talk about the Alternity game KT is running, but really just because. KT likes to cook, so this was an excuse for her to show off her skills for us. Man! That was one fantastic dinner! Weinerschnitzel and salad and baked apples and wild rice and bread and black forest cake for dessert! Yeah, I love having friends who cook... ::grin:: I think it would be kindof cool if maybe once a month we had dinner with them, and Matt and I would pay for the groceries if KT would plan the menu and do the cooking. I think that sounds pretty fair, don't you?   We wound up watching Mulan instead of talking about the game. I have to say, I think Mulan is definitely one of Disney's best offerings ever. They didn't mutilate the original story very much, and they didn't mutilate the culture very much, either. I was thrilled when I first saw it that 1) the father wasn't a short, fat, doting imbecile; 2) the mother was still alive and not a terrible person; 3) the daughter wasn't rebelling against the rules of her society; and 4) that Disney didn't turn it into a romance until the very end (and even then, the romance was implied more than shown.) I want that movie. I suppose I should wait until after Matt's and my anniversary to buy it myself, although I already know what Matt's getting me.   I had a fantastic day yesterday. I think I just sortof decided that I was going to be in a good mood, so I was. I did a little whining about going to aerobics (the jelly beans are gone now) and Matt and I got into a little snip-fight when we both misunderstood what the other person was saying, but I cheered up pretty quickly. We looked over the gym - 3GI finally sprang for a corporate sponsorship, so we're thinking of joining - and then went to class, and wonder of wonders! the locker room was a comfortable temperature, and I got my hair into a bun on the first try, and I got used to the water quicker than usual (and Matt teased me by whining about it in role reversal, but I just thought it was funny) and I worked harder than usual in class (knowing in advance, you see, that I was going to be having weinerschnizel for dinner, which is pretty heavy on diet points) and just generally had a great evening.   That's for those of you who are tired of reading my whining. ::grin:: Who knows, maybe I'll have a great day today, too. The weather is still fantastic, so why not?
Do you consume your head off?
Solution to Yesterday's Puzzle Okay, for those of you who have forgotten your geometry, I'll review first the important point: The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Now, if the chain goes down for at least twenty feet (the distance from the point of suspension to the lowest point of the chain), and the points of suspension are at the same height, then the chain must go back up at least another twenty feet. Since that's at least forty feet overall, and the chain is exactly forty feet long, then the chain must be travelling straight down and then straight back up, which means there can be no distance at all between the buildings. Okay, that might have been a little rough on those of you who aren't big math fans. If you want a better explanation with pictures, even, write me.   Today's Puzzle There is a very unusual store in which a tie costs $3, a hat costs $3, and a shirt costs $5. How much would a jacket cost?   Check back tomorrow for the solution! If you think you have the answer and can't wait to find out, mail me and I'll let you know whether you were right.
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