This morning I decided that it had warmed up enough for a run in the great outdoors. (I've been doing my running inside UB's capacious gymnasium.)

It turns out I was wrong about it being warm enough; while my core was toasty and my extremities were managing, my lungs became deeply unhappy. I was still hacking up phlegm three hours later.

I didn't write this post just to talk about phlegm, as fascinating as that subject is. No, I wrote this to mention people honking.

I went running from my apartment away from the University, into a residential district. I stayed on the main drag, because it had good sidewalks, plus this time I didn't want to get lost on the identical-looking narrow residential streets in the area.

So I'm running along, it's only been three minutes and already my chest hurts from the cold; cars are whizzing by, and someone honks and waves. I look up and wave back; I can't see who was in the car, but it's probably a friend of mine, driving to a Saturday breakfast somewhere.

A few more cars pass, and someone honks again. I didn't know that there were so many people I knew in this neighborhood, but I wave again. Then a third person honks and waves. This is getting strange, because even if my friends did live in this area, not many of them would be out driving on Saturday morning. Then I came up with a theory- it's all about my clothing.

This time of year in Buffalo, you need warm clothing to excercise outdoors. Many people go running in slick form-fitting breathable lycra. It looks comfy, but I don't own any. I work out in my USMC-issue green sweatsuit. Which is, as I just said, distinctly green, and also has visible "USMC" logos. I'm used to running the streets of military towns, where such a thing is unremarkable. But Buffalo is a long way from the ocean and the Marines. I wonder whether people were honking in a "Support the troops!" sort of reflex.

Thinking that made me feel guilty, too, since (a) I'm no longer actively serving, and (b) while conducting PT wearing issue sweats is authorized, you are supposed to be within the grooming regs to do so; and my current facial hair is pretty much as un-regulation as possible.

But I'm not about to go off and buy a hundred bucks worth of fancy lycra running tights, nor do I wish to shave off my beard, so I guess I'll keep running in the USMC sweats, and I'll hope that the Commandant doesn't go driving past and snatch me up for being out of regs.

Posted by: Boviate at 11:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 458 words, total size 3 kb.

I'd been letting my hair grow, but it was beginning to annoy me. So I decided to shift my hair growth plans downward slightly. So now I'm sporting 10mm hair and 10mm beard and moustache.

I was told today that it makes me look older. When I didn't seem pleased, the complimenter hurridly clarified that it made me look more like my age. I'm still not certain I liked that, but I'll live with it.

Posted by: Boviate at 06:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 79 words, total size 1 kb.

The drive back from Owego to Buffalo today was just glorious. Blue skies, warm weather, easy traffic- couldn't be beat. The middle section was all highways, but on the city streets at both ends, I rolled down the windows and let my elbow hang in the breeze.

Back at my apartment, I just turned off the furnace and opened the windows. Ah, that lovely breeze...

But this is Buffalo. I know for a fact that Old Man Winter has a few more good punches to throw at us. But I'll enjoy Spring while it's here.

Posted by: Boviate at 03:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 100 words, total size 1 kb.

This morning, I was craving blueberry pancakes. So I whipped up some pancake batter and tossed in some fresh blueberries. The mixing bowl I was using was just barely big enough, but it's not like one has to get very vigorous stirring pancakes anyway. The skillet was getting warm, all was ready. Just then, my phone rang.

No sweat, I turned the stove down to it's lowest setting, went into my bedroom, and spent ten minutes coordinating a meeting schedule for the group of people that will be working together on our final project for one of my classes. Calendar suitably marked, I went back to the kitchen.

Where through the magic of chemical leavening, the batter had spilled over the top of the bowl and spread itself liberally around the counter. Some had slopped onto the floor. Whoops!

I should save this memory for a screenplay someday.

Posted by: Boviate at 06:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.

I ended up getting the 26 oz Thermos (discussed previously). It works oh-so-well: I make tea before bed, and drink it during the day in lecture. The Thermos lid is a very nice cup, and the tea stays drinkably hot for my 2 PM lecture. And I my concern about getting one that was too big has proven groundless, as it fits nicely within my bag. And if I'd gotten the small one, I would be running out of tea half-way through the day. Oh what a tragedy that would be! 

Posted by: Boviate at 08:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 97 words, total size 1 kb.

I applied for a new passport today. My old one expired in June of 1994, but one doesn't want to rush into these things. I had forgotten to come prepared with a few data, particularly the towns where my parents were born; but as I had an old passport, that information was apparently "already in the system".

I'm not planning on going anywhere overseas soon, but you now need either a passport or a passport card to get into Canada. Which means it's no longer the longest undefended border in the world: If you try to cross without a passport, an agent of the government will use violence to stop you, ergo it is a defended border.

Posted by: Boviate at 11:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 117 words, total size 1 kb.

Yesterday had a high of 56°F. Today's forecast is for a high of 25°F.

Never fails. It's a weekend, so the lovely weather goes away.

Posted by: Boviate at 10:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

So I'm sleeping the sleep of the not-as-just-as-they-should-be, when I am awakened by an alarm. A beeping alarm. Except it's not my alarm clock, and it's not loud enough to be a fire alarm. I look at my clock- which is dark. Hmm. That explained it: the beeping was my computer's Uninterruptible Power Supply, a battery that keeps my computer from crashing immediatly when the power goes out. The power had clearly done just that.

My computer was in sleep mode for the night, but the UPS was not only beeping audibly, it'd sent a distress signal to the computer it was connected to. So the computer had to wake itself up to shut itself down fully. (Sleep state draws a small ammount of power; when it rolled onto the battery backup, my PC is set to go to hibernation mode, which uses no power at all.)

There was some light coming through the window, so I wondered what time it was. I couldn't find my watch, and was too sleep-mazed to find my glasses to look for the watch. Finally I found my cell phone, and discovered it was 6 AM, an hour before I was intending to get up. So I silenced the UPS alarm, set my cell phone's alarm clock function, and went back to bed.

When the phone woke me, it was colder, as my apartment has forced-air heating. The heat comes from natural gas, but the blower needs power. Grumblingly, I took a flashlight with me into the bathroom, showered, shaved, and dressed. I had a quiz first thing that morning, and I'd been thinking of brewing some tea before I left. But I had no way of lighting the gas stove. I wrote "matches" on the grocery list, grabbed my backpack, and headed for the bus stop.

The apartment complex's community building was well-lit, with a backup generator humming on a pad outside. I suspect the backup is necessary because if power stays out too long, all the apartments get unlivably cold, in which case we'll all pack into the community building.

Anyway, I had to get off to class. First thing: a statistics quiz. I finished in twenty minutes, then rechecked my answers, feeling very suspicious. I've been straggling on previous quizzes, so what was I doing being first one done this time? I'm glad I rechecked, because I found one error that I corrected.

In my history recitiation I got my US History II test back, with the comment on it that I had the highest graded essay in the (200-person) class. *blush*

Then there was a boring lecture. I dutifully took notes.

When I got home in the afternoon, the power was back on. Why did it go out? I doubt I'll ever know.

And now, I've got to complete my weekly homework for my internet-only class.

Posted by: Boviate at 07:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 479 words, total size 3 kb.

My stats professor put this up on a lecture slide:

The Mishna states: If a fledgling bird is found within fifty cubits of a dovecote, it belongs to the owner of the dovecote. If it is found outside the limit of fifty cubits, it belongs to the person who finds it.

Rabbi Jeremiah asked: If one foot of the fledgling is within fifty cubits and one foot is outside, what is the law? It was for this question that Rabbi Jeremiah was thrown out of the House of Study.

—Baba Batra 23b

Posted by: Boviate at 03:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 94 words, total size 1 kb.

It's a lovely day in Buffalo today. The sky is blue, the birds are chirping. Starbucks has people sitting at the outside tables. I know about the weather, because I got to see it, briefly, between classes. *sigh*

Posted by: Boviate at 12:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.