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i now know everything there is to know about iDVD, the mac application used to burn dvds of your own videos. i spent the last few hours writing an instruction guide on getting a movie from your camera to a DVD, and it’s not that hard. the dvds themselves tend to suck, but hey, it’s a dvd. hardly anyone really burns their own. in any case, i didn’t miss class this morning. in fact, i woke up an hour and a half early to do my reading for it. aren’t i a conscientious student? class itself wasn’t bad–we did an overview of the epistemological theories we’ve surveyed so far, and as a class generated a lot of focused thesis topics. the only real grade for the course is the final paper, so we’re gearing up and starting to think of what we really care about writing 4,000 words on. i’m thinking of maybe doing something on the circularity in coherence theories, or maybe theories of justification. who knows. ...

dan and i just watched ’the way of the gun’. it had benecio del toro and some old guy who plays the exact same character in lots of other movies. films do some weird things to me. first of all they consume my mind and my thoughts for at least a few hours after watching. especially if the film is one where there is thinking involved, or some epic conclusion. like, dumb and dumber leaves no impact, whereas movies like gladiator make me want to sit, ponder, and cry for a few hours. ...

one pleasant schedule-altering anomaly: i played tennis this afternoon. and, when i say pleasant, i don’t really mean pleasant so much as not that pleasant. sure it was fun, but i sucked. even by my standards (which as most can tell you are pretty low). and, as most can also tell you, i am one of the sorest losers you’ll ever meet. mostly with card games, but it has extended gradually to cover most forms of competition. it’s never bad if i know from the outset i’m going to get whooped (rather, know from the outset that i deserve to get whooped due to the skill level of my opponent). but if i feel like i could be doing better, then i get pretty pissed. in cards it’s even worse because in most games there’s an element of chance and without fail i will be dealt the worse cards possible. you might think i am exaggerating, but that is because your coherence theory of knowledge in this instance has been unable to cope with my anomaly. ...

i swear i didn’t mean to sleep through logic. but that’s what happens when attendance is not required. even so, i’m awake for greek so in some possible world that makes up for it. kalimera (that’s ‘good day’ in greek).

the day was long, so the night will be short. short nights are no fun, but a necessary evil if you want to make the days as fun as possible. this inverse relation has always bothered me. an out of the ordinary occurrence: i went out to dinner tonight. some people cooked for me and some friends. the food was good, and it was good times. at the very least it was nice to get away from the lemon chicken. ...

aha, i found out who our mysterious visitor was. well, sort of. i resolved the ip to a block of addresses in oviedo, fl. hmm–that’s where i’m from. so it could be any member of my family, since they all connect through the same dsl ip. so, thanks…dav/rach/mom/dad. oh yeah, let’s have a vote–who thinks that i should tell dan who i got to go to the dance with him, and who thinks i should keep it a surprise? click on comments down at the bottom of this post to leave your vote. ...

yes–i got dan a date. a date for the dance on friday. the screw your roommate dance. for those of you who don’t go to stanford, that means that roommates get dates for each other (i.e. they SCREW them. har har). but, i didn’t screw dan, really–i got him a very nice date, and i think they will have much fun. now i’m just a little hesitant about who dan might be asking for me. i’m sure i will have fun whoever it is, but i’d still rather have emily in the same state as me, to go to dances with and stuff. ...

i love it when we have nice days here. i am such a wuss that the cold and rain really gets to me, makes me depressed, not wanting to go to class or do anything else. now, i like my rainy days for sure, but when i’m inside reading, with no obligations to the outside world. and you might think it odd that i feel that way when i’m here. “you’re in california! there’s no where better to be!” this is quite possibly true. however, it still gets a little too cold for my liking in winter quarter. the past few days have been great, though–i’m no judge of temperature but i’d say highs in the 60s or maybe even low 70s. ...

one of my favorite things is an unexpected holiday. and, i sometimes have quite a few of these, because i almost always forget when we have a monday off. there’s nothing that feels better than to realize on sunday, after you have been stressing out over whatever work and reading you have to do, that your worries and fears are unfounded because you actually don’t have class on monday! now, tomorrow is not a monday, but it is sort of an unexpected holiday, because i just remembered that my knowledge class (phil 184) is cancelled for tomorrow. it’s even in the syllabus. so that makes me happy. ...

well i just had lunch with nick bott at ’el toro’. el toro is an eating club for toyon residents here at stanford. it was actually pretty cool–it had the ambience of a semi-run-down mexican food restaurant, with some lively mexican polka beats emanating from the kitchen. in any case, it made me realize once again how screwed over i am by wilbur dining, with their points and their overpriced entrees. here’s just a brief outline of my complaint: ...