13 March 2000 
 
Ugh.  Spring cleaning takes up the whole of spring for me.  Problem is, 
there's several things I need to do, but first I must find some very 
important bits.  Where are: 
 
1) My checks from Republic Bank (I =know= I had more than 25) 
2) My French Reading book   
3) My books on Markov Chains (I =know= I had at least 1!!) 
4) My reason for living (oh, there it is) 
 
I'm beginning to realize how much of optimization is dependent on one's 
own crappy computer system.  I'm trying to do a simple 1-D ODE with a 
constant train of delta functions hitting it and it takes 
forever! ARGH!  I think I'm going to have to solve the damn thing 
explicitly - this is so stupid.  The damn equations are even bounded in 
how big the derivative can be - not only is it 1-D it's first order!  for 
cry out loud, why does it take Matlab forever to get this done? 
 
I'm trying to decide if I should give up dairy (not for Lent, but for 
good).  I'm not lactose intolerant by any stretch of the imagination.   
 
Oh Lord, another pencil dropped behind my desk.  There must be a city 
growing up back there.  I think I'm going to buy one of those gripper arms 
so I can pull all the crap that's fallen behind there. 
 
Let's see, someone who's going to have to beg for banana bread got me 
banned from the place I play backgammon.  I've put up alot of pics (from 
my cousin Nick's page).  I've found out that compulsive hair-pulling is a 
disease that has its own name even (trichotillomania).  And that having a 
ring finger longer than your index finger is supposed to indicate some 
kind of musical ability (I have no idea on this one - maybe I wasn't 
listening to the radio correctly.)  Here are some "duh" items of the day:  
Pot smokers tend to become dropouts, Living in squalor linked to mental 
illness, Heart attack can be triggered by physical exertion.  That middle 
one may be considered applicable to me, but I don't live in squalor.  I 
live in a creative filing system. 
 
Let's see, I taught Amy the meaning of ubiquitous and how to pronounce 
Reuters.  She was a good luck charm last week - we got to see Robin 
Williams up close & personal at the Hayden Planetarium (and my dirty mouth 
seemingly gave him pause.  Naughty Meep! Bad! Bad!) due to Amy's quick 
footwork, and due to her height (or shortness, I should say) we got box 
seats at Fosse.  I also got some Toblerone chocolate spit into my hand at 
Blue Man Group but I can't really blame that one on Amy. 
 
Time to make the doughnuts.