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I’ve got plans on this day, this day, this day…

Fortunately, the Economics professor isn’t in our group, so there would be no benefit to indulging in any ass-kicking. Mind you, the temptation is still there.

There are six groups that have to make presentations to the class scattered throughout the next couple weeks. We’re Group #1, which means that this upcoming Monday, we have to:

  • Give our presentation
  • Submit an 8-10 page paper about it
  • Take the midterm exam

Translation: this week is going to be shitty. What provides with a few bonus points is that I have plans every single day until then.

Wednesday: haircut & dinner with friends I haven’t seen in months
Thursday: presentation by the CEO of Buffalo Wild Wings & trivia
Friday: dinner with Mensa Gen-X group (I could have played pool for a couple hours with a Meetup group, but I chose dinner with my peeps)
Saturday: meeting with family to celebrate a few birthdays, mine included (seeing a movie at the Science Museum, then dinner)
Sunday: book reading for a friend (this is my second chance—I missed the one three weeks earlier)

If you’ll flash back with me almost eight years ago, there were two “beauties” sitting on a bed, saying that one of the “geeks” only went out two times a month. That was me. Two nights every month and that was it. Now my schedule is getting filled up when I need it to be flexible.

Our group talked it over before class yesterday and decided that we’re going to meet on Thursday afternoon. If our discussion lasts so long that I have to miss the presentation, well, that’s one more thing I’ll probably blame on the professor. Plus I’ll miss eating wings from BWW afterward, which would doubly suck.

For the sake of our class presentation, we’ll meet again on Saturday—as long as I can get to the Science Museum on time, that’s not such a big deal. Still, the fact that I’m so busy after only going out two nights a month… I’m not sure if this is Alanis Morissette-esque irony or actual irony, but it’s still worth a few bonus points.

On a more positive note, the professor made a comment during class that I had to write down: Microeconomics is like sex. You have to do it slowly.

Naturally, my brain immediately took that in the wrong direction: Microeconomics is like sex. You have to do it slowly, but sometimes you come up with an answer too quickly and disappoint your professor.

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Okay, seriously, how many people?

I’m kinda dreading my Economics class coming up later this evening. It’s not that the subject is boring (although it can be at times)—the problem is the instructor. I assume he has certain things he wants to discuss since there’s a slideshow covering that week’s reading assignment, but if that’s the case, I better keep doing the reading because we don’t come close to finishing the slideshow during class.

We started last week by discussing group projects. We’re all being put into groups of five or six people to write a paper and make a presentation to the class, which is no big deal. It became a big deal when the instructor asked the class, “What’s the optimal size of a group?” People were piping up with numbers like four and five; some developed a plan based on which jobs needed to be done for a project; I almost told him to use a dartboard.

No one was giving him the answer he wanted, so the discussion went on for fifteen minutes until he finally told us that you determine the optimal size of the group by weighing the costs of adding another person versus the benefits. When those numbers become equal, that’s the best size. In other words, he was asking for numbers, then gave us an economic concept as the answer.

Is five or six a good size for a group? Yes.

Is it the optimal size? Maybe.

Is there an objective way to measure costs and benefits to determine this? No.

Why didn’t he give us the answer he wanted about costs and benefits right away instead of wasting the first fifteen minutes of class last week? I don’t know, but if he was in my group, I think kicking his ass after that would have been a major benefit.

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Yesterday was a good day for a walk

Today, I crawled out of my nice, comfy bed, put on a t-shirt and jeans, then headed upstairs to watch the Vikings game. It felt surprisingly chilly and I wasn’t sure why until I looked at our outdoor thermometer. The number was nowhere near Saturday’s high of 66: it was 28. Yeah, yesterday was definitely the better choice for a leisurely stroll down to the beach.

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Save as C:\Brain\Memory

The sun was shining. The temperature was 66. The outdoors were calling me.

I went for a walk this afternoon, probably the last walk of the year with cold weather coming in, so I wanted to take my time and enjoy it. It was bright and sunny, a good day to head down to the beach and back—about a two-mile round trip—and warm enough that I skipped my jacket and headed straight out the door.

As I walked down the driveway to the road, it occurred to me that there was one other result of my going for a walk: I was escaping the constant presence of technology around me. I had my phone in my pocket, but my laptop, music, the Internet… everything else was left sitting in my room. I figured it could wait for me until I got back.

There was a lot more than just technology outside. Sure, there were cars driving by and the noisy whine of leaf blowers, but I could also hear the chirping of birds and rustling of fallen leaves blown by the wind. People riding their bikes and walking their dogs. The warmth of the sun and coolness of the breeze. As I walked, I tried to relax my mind and just absorb everything that was happening around me as opposed to my regularly-scheduled staring at a computer screen for hours at a time.

When I finally got to the beach, I could see small waves that were blowing across the lake, pushing everything toward shore to my left. Part of that “everything” were ducks. Dozens upon dozens of ducks. There could have been a few hundred, but I was too busy appreciating the sight to count. I sat down at a picnic table and just watched them float. A few were straight in front of me at the beach, but most had drifted down the shoreline, very relaxed and probably enjoying the warm weather as much as I was.

Part of me was tempted to pull out my phone and take a picture. Turn on the camera app, use my fingers to zoom in closer to all the little black dots on the water, then show it to other people later. Sometimes, that temptation turns into almost a moral obligation:

Yes, I feel like everyone should be able to see this.

This afternoon, I decided that it was mine. I was going to take in the sight and I was going to remember it for myself. Screw technology. I had the option of looking at it on a tiny screen on my phone, but Nature was giving me this gift, so I was going to honor it accordingly. I sat at that table for a while, then got up and walked home.

I got inside, sat down in front of my laptop, started typing, turned on some music, eventually went upstairs and watched a basketball game on TV. Technology was indeed waiting for me when I got back. While I was walking along the road and sitting at the beach, though… that’s something only nature can provide and I’m glad I took the time today to appreciate it.

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When did Batman first get elected?

I have no idea who originally wrote this as their Facebook status (a friend of mine “borrowed” it, but presumably, he won’t be giving it back) and I really don’t think it’s all that clever:

“Dark Knight (2008)
Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Coincidence? I think not.”

My response? “If that’s the case, the Republicans could have saved themselves a lot of time and money for this election, given that people already knew about Dark Knight Rises in 2012 last year.”

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Pain and frustration are relative

Today started off pretty crappy. I woke up just as Mom was leaving to go have lunch with a friend. She pushed the button to lift the garage door, drove her car out, then pushed the button to lower it back down. The garage door went down… about a foot before going back up. Why? We’re still not sure. All I know is that Dad and I have been working on it for over four hours.

It’s attached to cables that were really loose and snarled up, so we straightened and tightened those. No good. Maybe the door was off-center and getting jammed on the way down, so we disconnected the cables altogether and lowered the door to the ground. Not the problem. Maybe the wheels are getting stuck, maybe the spring is too tight, maybe the door has become a sentient being and is pissed off that one of its screws had been loose for months. We tightened that, but still nothing. And now one of our wrenches seems to have escaped as well. Damn sentient inanimate objects…

And as I stared at the garage door in frustration, it occurred to me that it was 50 degrees and sunny outside. Warm enough that I didn’t really need the jacket I was wearing. Meanwhile, out east, Mother Nature recently decided that Hurricane Sandy didn’t cause enough damage, so she sent a Nor’easter to hammer the coast as well. Snow, freezing temperatures, damaged houses with no power… my life is so very, very good in comparison right now.

That’s not to say I’m not allowed to be a little frustrated, but I’m making sure to thank God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Flying Spaghetti Monster and anyone else who might be listening up there. Thank you for all the blessings in my life, thank you for giving me such tiny problems to whine about and please help out the people who need it most. Amen.