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Yesterday I bought a plant. More precisely, it’s two plants in one pot. One plant has tall, narrow stripy leaves; and the other has broad, solid leaves. Since both plants are in the same pot, it is convenient to write about them in the singular.
I am responsible for watering this plant once a week and […]

Meet J. Niimi, my impromptu roommate. Since things fell through with Martin, the original inhabitant, J. is subletting for the year.
I was, of course, slightly apprehensive about living with J. But my anxieties were relieved when I met him today. In addition to being a full-time Grad Student at Large and library employee, he’s also […]

My favorite social experiences of college are the spontaneous trips. Last year, it was the Kentucky Derby (pictures). Last night, it was the Counting Crows.
I was walking across campus yesterday afternoon when my friend Kat and her friend Rachel came up to me.
“Aaron, in 30 minutes we�0�9re leaving for Northern Illinois University to see the […]

Two days ago, I went all the way to Lincoln Park to go to Bed Bath and Beyond to find apartment furnishings, since the apartment is all but barren. I had 1.0 Craploads of stuff to carry back on the El train. So I figured, fuck it, I�0�9ll order it online.
Lest my jaunt uptown […]

The computer lab where I work upgraded all the G4 cubes to OS 10.2 Jaguar.
It is gorgeous. I�0�9ve been using it all day, and I�0�9m definitely a big fan. Internet Explorer is a little quirky, but Mozilla is supa’ dupa’. And so is AIM.
Here’s my $0.02 about Apple: I think the Switch campaign is annoying […]

I�0�9m back in Chicago. For the next week, I�0�9ll be cleaning up and settling in to the apartment, hanging out with friends and otherwise lying around.
There was a bit of a fiasco with shipping stuff out to the apartment. Since my name wasn�0�9t on the building directory, all the packages sent to me weren�0�9t delivered. […]

I have the habit of uploading pictures to my web server and then forgetting to post them. Over past few years, a fair amount of crap has accumulated in the unlinked subdirectories of ktheory. Today I was straightening up, and came across these pictures from my 1999 trip to Cape Town, South Africa for the […]

Iraq Unconditionally Accepts Return of U.N. Weapons Inspectors. Hopefully, the U.N. will find and destroy his weapons, curbing Bush’s fervor for an Iraqi invasion.
Also, a top al-Qaeda suspect was taken into custody. But has anyone heard of Ramzi Binalshibh before today? I’m skeptical about how “top” he was in al-Qaeda. It seems like Homeland Security […]

The New Yorker magazine always has great cover art, but this week’s cover is extraordinary. The current issue has been lying around the house for a few days, and each time I walk past it on the coffee table it instills in me a feeling of peace and calm. It’s rare that I find paintings […]

My cousing Travis has a new web site showcasing his artwork: digital perceptions.

Today was my last day of work. That’s cool. Now I have a week off until I return to Chicago next Friday.
Earlier this evening, I talked to a friend who lived next to me in the dorms two years ago. It was good to catch up with her and laugh about the ridiculous things that […]

“For every attitude that is supposed to be distinctively American one can find an opposite stance that is no less so�0�7 There is no such thing as an essentially American world view�0�5anymore than there is an essentially American landscape. Anyone who thinks otherwise shows they have not grasped the most important fact about America, which […]

This is a partially composed entry from one year ago today. I didn’t post it at the time because I was too shocked and confused to feel that my thoughts were coherent or interesting enough to post. Apparently, I e-mailed it to myself to keep a copy of the partial draft. I re-discovered it today […]

George Bush discusses the stategery of an Iraqi invasion with other members of the UN Security Council. (Via Gary Turner’s Weblog)

According to my sister, the cartoon Kim Possible made two references to the University of Chicago in last night�0�9s episode, “Pain King vs. Cleopatra”. In the episode, a talisman is stolen from a museum, and the history of the talisman is somehow tied to the U of C. Yea school spirit! Kim and Ron (Stoppable) […]

Think Kelly Clarkson won big? Wait until you read her contract.
And the ever-insightful Neal Pollack explains the global hostility towards America: superior bloggers.
Are you geek enough for WarDriving.com? (What’s war driving?) My opinion: if you just want to surf the Web or check e-mail, using someone else’s insecure wireless network is fine, since it poses […]

Thomas L. Friedman, a NY Times columnist, provided a remarkably erudite and provocative analysis of the upcoming conflict with Iraq on today’s episode of Fresh Air on NPR (web site, Real audio). I especially liked his comments on the long term impact an invasion of Iraq would have on oil prices: the U.S. would replace […]

The Berg has a weblog. Women beware.
The movie Super Troopers has quickly become my third favorite comedy, behind Big Lebowski and Office Space. I watched it several times while visiting Margaret this weekend. (Yea Belgian Beer Bar!)
Computational Complexity Web Log, via Leuschke. Math is supa-dupa fly.

Let�0�9s put our thinking caps on.
I was recently flipping through a book of mind-bending word problems, and happened upon the following:
�0�6A postal worker bought a new pan balance to weigh mail. He needs to be able to weigh packages in 1 pound increments from 1 to 35 pounds. He wants to buy the least number […]