The good news for today is that I am getting approved for my first choice of courses next semester. How nice after the chaos of finding two classes last semester! I'm going to be taking Optimal Control Theory (T/R from 4-5:15 p.m., so outside of work hours) and most likely a "reading" course, in Gas Dynamics (which will meet one day a week, right before Optimal Control, so I was worried because it would involve leaving work at 2:30 - half an hour before the end of our "core" hours...)



Ski bug

The ski bug is finally starting to hit. Every year, around this time (maybe a little earlier), I start "remembering" skiing. Usually my thoughts of the mountains and the snow fades over the summer. You know, just one of those hobbies I don't find much time for. But around Christmas, it comes back full force, and I become maddeningly deterimed to count exactly how many ski days I have each year (My max was in high school at 32. My min was 3. Last year I got in a low of 6.5 days - but they, thankfully, at quality locales not the Poconos or Calaboooogie Peaks. And, considering I live about a million miles from the nearest ski-able mountain, not bad.)

So, to start the ski season off right, I've hung a picture on my cubicle wall from Outside magazine "Going beyond this point may result in death and/or loss of skiing privledges!" And yesterday, I started looking for good airfares to Denver, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Calgary or anywhere with tall mountains and lots of snow. And I think I may even squeeze in a day of skiing in the Alps when I visit Cari, something I didn't really get to experience when I lived in Switzerland (unless you count a little snow on a glacier at 12,000 feet that stays open all year).



Hodge Podge



Today we have a hodge podge of diary entry information. First of all, a Thank You to Uncle-President Bush, who issued an Executive Order yesterday to give us the day of on Dec. 26. Now, I have enough vacation time to go home for the holiday.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 2003, the day after Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 below.

Other hodge-podge is Cari's interpretation of why Bennet prefers to chase Apache around instead of playing games with me: Sounds like Apache's good for him; teaching him to be a dog. I think it's more that he wants to herd her than anything else and it's frustrating to him that she doesn't cooperate. Bennet: 'C'mon, please, please, just please let me herd you. I promise it will be fun. You know you want to. Oh please oh please oh please.' Apache: 'Huh? Did you say fetch? FETCH FETCH FETCH FETCH FETCH!!!'