Musings on an Assortment of Subjects

Today involved a three-hour stint at the massive Powell’s bookstore in Portland, and two (count them, two) Thai meals. Making it perhaps one of the higher points in my life.

I emerged from Powell’s with a three-volume compendium of classic physics articles, which I will need to figure out how to transport back to Indiana–but this result is better than what might have happened had I been backed by greater financial resources. (I have always, by the way, considered it one of life’s greater injustices that Goshen lacks a place like this where I can go to just sit and read. (What’s that? Okay fine, yes there is the library, but it’s just not the same. (Yeah nested parentheses! My trademark!))

Thai meal #1 was lunch at a little corner place a block or so from Powell’s. I joined a biggish group of GC men with a couple former GCers thrown in for good measure, and had a nice green curry. Meal #2 was, believe it or not, the supper provided for us by Portland Mennonite Church. Most churches do something quotidian like spaghetti but I admire both the effort put forth here as well as the sheer volume (when 52+ men have eaten and the tubs of food still look full, you know you have a lot of food…and perhaps a sign ? la loaves-and-fishes.)

Right now I am sitting in a several-thousand square foot house in Hubbard, Oregon watching my fellow hostlings play Halo on the giant projector screen. Very conscientious Mennonites, these hosts. But gracious. Oh, there is an official GC Men’s Chorus West Coast Tour blog if you want to follow along.
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This post is more diary and less musing than I have done so far. I’m not quite sure what I think about that, though I think I’m aiming for a mix of both. After all, there’s no reason the ways I spend my time shouldn’t be one of the “assorted subjects.” I still haven’t ventured much into the introspection realm, although I may try to mix in a bit of that as well.

I was just trying to think of the word “impetus” … but for several minutes all I could come up with was “impotence.”

Overheard during a house discussion of our plan to destroy Michigan and relocate its inhabitants to Kansas:

“You can take the people out of Michigan, but you can’t take Michigan out of the people.” — Solomonster

“Are we going to take out the entire state, or just the glove?” — El Jefe

The increasingly surreal discussion also considered at some length the (admittedly dubious) question of whether a wolverine could stop a nuclear bomb from detonating by jumping skyward to cushion its fall.

And I wonder why people so rarely join us in the cafeteria…

Much of yesterday was spent cackling with glee while the WNDU Doppler screen strayed not from the following cheersome report:

The resulting accumulations would no doubt be laughable to someone from the mother country (erm…is that the father country in my case? But I digress…), but they made me happy. Today the wind and stinging snow particles were replaced by brilliant sunshine, so I stopped to snap a few photos as I sneezed my way to class:

I guess I still want to take a child’s approach to snow–I am not far removed from the years of snow igloos, snow ice cream, and Snowhenge…I’d be up for some of that right now if I still had proper clothing, and a crew of dozens to help out. But my already jaded housemates see things differently; Sahtan is apt to emit a groan-sigh and mumble something about digging the car out. (I actually enjoyed shoveling snow this evening! But then I drive about once a month…) The running joke here at Avon is that in order to preclude this kind of pesky snowfall, the (former) housemate known as God’s Favorite must be diligent about his prayers. Last year we noted a striking correlation between his trips out of town to visit his fianc?e and increased snowfall here in Goshen. The theory regarding this most recent snowfall is that he failed to do adequate penance for attending a pagan seminar at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion.

I don’t know. I prefer Calvin’s approach…

Oh yes, today was Valentine’s Day. Or SAD (Single’s Awareness Day) as it was dubbed by the girls next door. Festivities were scarce but I did use it as an excuse to bake a tasty coffee cake. More could be said, but I’ve already spent far too much time figuring out how to upload images, and my bed calleth.

Is there anything more quintessentially American than a Chinese buffet?

recently overheard in my inbox:

Date: Thu, Feb 8, 2007 at 7:22 PM
From: davisagli
To: naf, rody, dbon
Subject: random thought #642
An *UN*watched quantum pot never boils…

Continue reading ‘on Quantum Mechanics’