It's finally happened...

Our 7-year campaign to bring zesty! into vernacular for cool has finally paid off. So beautiful. So very beautiful.

I like bots.

Oh, and by the way: I never applied to Cal. Not even as a safety school. Damn weenies. (Some other people apparently feel the same way, much like me.) I really don't get why people think it's so cool to call it Kal.

Note: All the ads on Rose's blog seem to be related to sleep disorders for some reason...

You know the economy's bouncing back when...

1. People actually believe you'd go to a McCafe for a cappucino.
2. Said McCafe opens in Palo Alto.
3. Said McCafe is advertised on a billboard truck.

Yes, those lovable billboard trucks, last seen three years ago advertising pets.com on the Oval, are back on campus. The one I passed today revealed that, yes, you could get foam on a coffee drink from McDonald's. Really now. Having been to the McCafe in Kyoto I must say, they're just like every other McDonald's, but classier. Really this is how I expect every McDonald's in Palo Alto or Atherton to look...

Another economic indicator: Apple is promoting CS193E on campus, a course that teaches how to program for...Apple. That's right, learn skills that will qualify you for a job at Apple and just about nowhere else. Now where would you publicize such a course? Gates? The CS mailing list? Of course not...at the bookstore! The synergy is subtle: aspiring Jobs underlings need to first buy a big expensive G5 tower, then take 193E.

collecting the garbage

Ah, that was pleasurable. I had a nice little breakfast of coffee and donuts at 8:30 AM, in Hewlett. The TA continued his power trip by refusing to let us have exams until he personally verified that our books were closed. Then he announced the donuts were late and left us to start. Ten minutes later he returned with three boxes of donuts--not a token of his compassion but of our prof's (the same one who made us all CS 242 ROCKS pencils...and then in a surely unrelated move, handed out the course evals). He glanced around at all of us, who were still busy with the exam but now being tempted by sugar. Then he took a donut and left, smirking. He came back twice more to do the same thing, shaking his head as we battled our willpower.

All in all it could have been worse. Though I wanted to strangle the guy whose 10-minute "question" in class based on a paper only he had read turned into a 10-point problem.

Why do 16-year-old girls keep seeking me out? Apparently they assume that that there's onl y one Mike Brzozowski on ICQ (not an entirely unreasonable assumption, I guess...)

[01:43] 175530981: mike???
[01:43] Zozo: who is this???
[01:43] 175530981: neesha u loser lol
[01:44] Zozo: um, wanna be more specific? i don't remember any neeshas
[01:46] 175530981: Isnt this mike Brzozowski lol
[01:46] Zozo: it is... but i don't know any neeshas
[01:47] 175530981: oo...lol sorry i feel like such an idiot lol ur not the mike that went to st. paul last year?
[01:48] Zozo: nope
[01:48] 175530981: opp's lol sorry hehe!

I could never be a pedophile... the giggly dialogue was driving me mad after five minutes...

cs242 away message gallery

From Doug:

Away Message: Dear John Bitchell,
You may take away my GPA, but you can never take away that night I type checked your MOM

Sincerely,
Me

From me:

in less than 24 hours, cs242 will be over. nil. ended. halted. finished. finalized. destructed. garbage collected.

Ahh, we are such dorks...

Post-Dead Week destresser: Wal-Mart?

Yes, I squandered a few hours there, mostly helping Cheng in his quest for empty boxes and waiting in line. I hate that place. But I think got the last laugh as I managed to steal one of their precious shopping carts--the ones that "suddenly stop" if you take them past the yellow line. With a running start I was doing pretty well...until I hit a manhole cover. Nevertheless the cart still had one working wheel, so I managed to get it to the car and back. A couple patrons were so impressed by my shopping cart finesse (and perhaps by the fact that I was actually bringing a cart back) they thought I worked there.

Dead Week is at last over, culminating in two mad dashes to Gates to turn stuff in just past the deadline. Now it's time to, ah, study for finals?

Google can find most anything.

Like those elusive weapons of mass destruction perhaps?

Sleep counter:
Wednesday: 3 (accidental) hours
Thursday: 0 hours

In other news I managed to successfully bike my suitcase all the way back from Sweet Hall. I was most proud of myself. Granted, it took me a month to drag my lazy butt over there, but still...