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Name: Dorian
Country: United States
State: Oklahoma
Metro: Tulsa
Birthday: 5/21/1986
Gender: Male
Interests: Editing my profile less than an hour before my fluid mechanics design project is due.
Expertise: not Fluid mechanics
Occupation: Student
Industry: Chemical Engineering
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/3/2004
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| It has been pointed out that I have been continuing the tradition of over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to my posts on xanga. I would like to tell you all that this was only because I have been secretly writing on my other, anonymous, and wildly successful blog. But I won't. Because I didn't. I have just been slacking. In case you're afraid you might have missed out on excitement, here's the recap:
- Last time I posted, Germany had just lost a group game in the European championship against Croatia. They went on to beat Austria, then Portugal, and Turkey. In the final championship game they then lost to Spain. Second place, not bad.
- In a freak calender readjustment involving an unclear number of exams, an unknown quantity of caffeine, and a move of my parents from the city of Basel to a suburb, I somehow lost the month of August. I'm sure I left it right there, I have no idea where it went...
- I spent ten days in Portugal and Spain. First Lisbon, then Ofir, and finally Madrid. It already seems long ago.
- I started the work on my master thesis at ETH. This has been taking up most of my time, but I'm having a pretty good time there.
I don't have much else to tell as of now, and it's past my bedtime. There had been some requests for me to post pictures of our new house, so I put a few on picasa. That's it for now.
(The QED-at-the-end-of-every-post thing might be getting old; Frankly, I'm not quite sure I remember why I did it in the first place. I may have to reevaluate its use. Later)
q.e.d.
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| I know it's been a while since my last post. I'd like to give you guys a real post to teach you about life, the universe , and everything, but my exam session starts tomorrow morning, so don't expect anything until that is a thing of the past.
q.e.d.
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| Normally, I'd like to think that I am fairly easy-going when it comes to overlooking the occasional spelling mistake. Lord knows I rely on people turning a blind eye on mine. But there are a few mistakes that would have to fall under pet peeves of mine:
4. YouTube comments. This of course is not a pet peeve, as no normal person can make any sense of the majority of the comments. I only mention it because while I had resigned myself to ignoring all comments, someone with a little extra time on their hand went the extra mile and wrote an extension for Firefox that spell-checks the comments for you and only displays comments written on at least a 4th grade level. Pretty neat idea. By the way, if you are using Firefox and do not have any extensions for it, you are missing half the fun.
3. Consistently spelling it "definately" instead of "definitely". This one seems to have reached some kind of critical mass, as I see it so often that I have to assume a lot of people actually think it is right. It's not. I find it about as annoying as the common "their/there/they're" mixup.
2. LOLcats. I don't think I need to elaborate.
1. Large corporations that don't proofread their advertising. Starbucks must be one poor company. I went to one of their local stores a few days ago because apparently, I felt like spending 12 bucks for a latte and a muffin (Think I'm exaggerating? Come visit and find out). Don't judge me, I know you go there, too. I don't remember if they do this in the States, but here in Switzerland they apparently can't afford sleeves for the hot coffee. So I take a napkin instead, and go on my way. My hand is blocking most of the slogan on the napkin, and all I can read is "Less napkin...". I realize that there is indeed less napkin than usually between my hand and the coffee, as the heat is quickly making its way through the thin piece of paper. Still I wondered what inspired Starbucks to advertise their cheapskate ways. I finally get to my train after switching hands a couple of times, and set down the cup so I can read the full slogan. It reads: "Less napkins. More plants. More planet."
Less napkins. I am sure that I have used less instead of fewer plenty of times, but I'd like to think that, were I to print this thousands of times with my company name right underneath it, I'd have someone take a glance at it. Besides, making the napkins thinner is unlikely to make people use fewer of them. Merely the total amount of paper is less. So maybe less is okay, but then drop the s and make it just napkin. I'd like to see what happened to my money, but I doubt they bought sleeves or dictionaries.
In much sadder news, today Germany lost their second group match during the European Soccer Championship to Croatia 1-2. They had started off well with a 2-0 win over Poland. But all is not lost yet. If they win their next match against Austria, they move on to quarterfinals.
If you find spelling mistakes in my post that tickle you, you may giggle, and keep them to yourself.
q.e.d.
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| Looking ForwardOn anniversaries of all sorts people have a tendency to look back at what has been. At the same time, people say that it is never too early to think about the future. And by people I mean life insurance agents. And other people selling stuff. So I decided to get on it, and plan things ahead. But I ran into trouble when deciding what to eat on May 21st, 2058 (It's not that all my meals until then are planned out, but it seemed as good a day to start with as any). Should I have lasagna or salmon? I will be 72 then, which begs the questions: Will I have retained the ability to digest dairy products? Will there be fish left to eat in this world, or will the only animal proteins we get be imported martian buffalo? I'm sure the buffalo are rich in iron. Martian iron. Which probably causes cancer, we just don't know it yet. Will we be allowed to eat anything but that slime-looking stuff they eat in The Matrix? With all these questions depending heavily upon just how many more generations of the Bush family move into the White House, I am afraid it may be of little use making dinner plans this early. Nevertheless, there might be some use in thinking about what I might want in the future, when I am no longer able to shuffle my feet faster than a few feet per hour or start a story with anything but "When I was your age...". The latter regardless of my actual age at the time the story took place, if it even took place. When my children have finally grown tired of me forgetting their names and telling them fairy tales of "glaciers", and they decide to put me in a home, what kind of home will it be? How will the people at the home try to keep me and the others entertained? If I have to play bingo more than once every leap year, someone's going to find out just how far I can still throw my walker. But I think I'd like it to be things that remind me of my youth a little, so here's a list of things I'd be looking for:
- High-Speed internet. Before anything else. So I can join the "Old Hearts Senior Living Center" Network on facebook, and see what everyone else is up to. A friend's relationship status changed from 'married' to 'single'. Did he get a divorce so he can move in with the 28-year old nurse who's been spoon-feeding him for the past 6 months, or do I send a letter of condolence?
- Counter-Strike installed on all the computers. So my generation can continue to shock society with the bloodthirsty virtual battles we fight, which will inevitably turn us all into criminals. Some day. For less violent days, I am tempted to suggest Mario Kart, but I'm sure we all agree that the frustration of being hit by yet another blue shell might be a little much for some of the guests.
- A stereo with big speakers. They don't need to provide the music, because I will be bringing all of my music on my Apple iDontTouch with 1048576 GB of space and mind-control. But I mean big speakers. I'm going to be nearly deaf by then, so the bass better be able to penetrate my skull. Besides, when the giant magnet in the speaker short-circuits my pace maker, I'll need something to keep me going until the paramedics arrive.
- Bumper cars.
- A full bar. Because I'm going to need something to wash down all the meds I need to keep going. Actually, I might just feed the meds to the squirrels in the park and stick to the drinks. After all, Tequila works great on a sore throat, so why shouldn't it work for high blood pressure or diabetes?
- A big old tree with a tire swing. Or a hammock. Because I will need a place to unwind after repeatetly beating the other senior citizens at Mario Kart. Maybe with a view of something cool, like a space port. Obviously not Cape Canaveral, but rather something that won't be 200 ft below sea level by then. This will give me something to watch on those nights when 'Friends' reruns have finally flushed all other memories out of my brain.
My wife might want to add a thing or two to the list, so the requirements to our home will be stringent. If we don't find anything that we like, we'll just find a few friends and start a living community that is just to our tastes. Do I have any takers? I can probably provide most things on my list, though I might need you to pitch in on the bumper cars. Of course new and fresh ideas are welcome.
q.e.d.
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| Things that happened in my proximity in the recent past:
1) I did not pass my Surface Science Exam. This is not surprising, as I did not know much about the subject when I took the test. What is troubling is that since then, I have not changed that fact considerably. And in about six months I get to take that Exam again and hope for the best.
2) My dad turned 50. He will be celebrating this weekend in Köln, about a quarter mile from his childhood home.
3) Nick's passport arrived in the mail (his mail, not mine). Provided he doesn't lose it or his ticket, he will be coming to visit in less than four weeks.
4) I went to the only Subway in Switzerland. Now I'm hoping for a Quiznos. I entered, greeted the person behind the counter, and immediately proceeded to place my order. In German. The girl then responded in English, which clearly wasn't her first language (It's not that her English was bad, she just had a very noticeable accent). This is not the first time people address me in English for no apparent reason. Once I was at Frankfurt airport, right where they check your passports, and the guy speaks to me in English as he's checking my German passport. Is English the cool thing right now? Are they just trying to mess with me?
5) After a week of clear blue sky during the day and cool, starry nights, it's raining tonight. Since staying up until 4 in the morning to see if it clears up seems foolish, I'll just catch the next lunar eclipse.
q.e.d.
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