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James got back to berkeley, so splorg dot org is fixed. Yay, let the peasants rejoice!

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Apparently "Aches and Pains" is now part of the weather report:

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I've been offered a car. For free. It's just like my current car, except it hasn't been hit by a truck. It's a 1986 Volkswagen Golf. In other words, it's perfect. It's in upstate New York. I'm in California. Today is Saturday. I'd leave on Monday. I don't have to be back at school until the day after Martin Luther K ing Day. That's two weeks. Plenty of time.

I'd drive it home from New York. I'd stay in university co-ops, and camp when those weren't available.

On the way home yesterday from Haley's house I got all excited with the sudden inspiration that perhaps my 16,045 Alaska Airlines frequent flyer miles could get me a one way ticket to New York. Imagine that: free airplane ticket, free car, free lodging, grand adventure. Maybe gas could be subsidized by offering rides on craigslist. Sounds almost like a mastercard commercial with a twist:

Car	free!
Airfare	free!
Lodging	free!
Gasoline	subsidized!
Adventure	priceless!

But unfortunately there is no one-way ticket offer for frequent flyer miles although 20,000 miles would get me a round-trip ticket. No matter: airfare is cheap! JetBlue offers one-way tickets from ONT to JFK for an unbeatable $154 with no advance purchase requirement. Okay, it's a bait-and-switch, but it's still do-able!

But the real clincher is the weather. I forgot that the rest of the country is experiencing a funny meteorological effect known as winter that would make the drive inconvenient, unpleasant, and dangerous. Bah. That, and I don't actually have the ~$500 it might cost (airfare to New York City, some kind of transportation to Rochester, fuel, food.). It would be unquestionably more pleasant in the springtime.

I dislike how these abortive adventures make me feel that the doubters have been vindicated. Doing something just to show that it can be done (and how much for the vicarious audience-at-home?) is a dubious motivation. And, I know I could do this trip. Launching an expedition to the East Coast with only a few hours notice is possible. I've done it before. Anyway, this trip will be postponed to a warmer time, and instead I think we'll go camping somewhere in California.

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Ahhhh! This room-cleaning project never ends. Sorting through all these notebooks dating back to the seventh grade... and boxes of cables and circuit boards and motors and all these odds and ends.. blech!!