I had a phenomenally cool day and I never got farther than four blocks from campus.

I started by waking up at the crack of dawn to finish studying for my Anthropology exam. It turned out to be all multiple choice. It started at 9 and I got out a little after 10. I was way over prepared, but that's a good thing because I didn't do so hot on a couple tests earlier in the semester, and I'd like to get an A, which it looks like I will.

…Then I had a racquetball game at 2. It was the championship women's game. It was me against this girl from my class Nicole. She's really cool, unfortunately she's a senior and she's graduating in a week. She has a twin sister. She kicked my ass. Actually this was better than the last time I played her. We split games last time, but then she killed me in the last game. This time I held my own in both games. We played a third game just for fun, since we were already there and all. I won by two points.

It's a park behind St John the Divine. It's really cool. I didn't know anything existed back there. I guess I should start from the beginning though.

Reina took us through the cathedral proper to the back left were we exited out of this non-descript door into the area where things are still under construction. We circled around behind the steps we walked down and there was another door. It led under the cathedral, more specifically under the chorus.

There was a stage set up and all kind of random artifacts and cornerstones and what not. Apparently there's a dance troupe that performs down there. There were a couple people around, but when you couldn't see or hear them it felt all cool and secretive.

We exited the way we came in when we were done exploring and Reina lead us around another part of the cathedral past school children in matching white polo shirts and navy blue shorts. Apparently there is a "Cathedral" school associated with St John. I couldn't tell if it was elementary school or more of a day care kind of thing. They were really little kids.

Anyway, Ryan and I were already impressed by everything, then Reina insisted we come to see the Rose Garden. It was like walking though a book, The Secret Garden to be exact. It was so cool. We ended up in this overgrown lush garden we never knew existed. We haven't asked Reina about it yet, but we're both pretty sure she's a nymph.

She actually had some more errands to run so she left us to explore by ourselves and ran off. But she wasn't gone for more than five minutes when we heard her call to us. We joined her where she was standing to find a peacock in full display. It was really awesome. He was displaying for every bird that came his way- be it pigeon or sparrow, there are no peahens as the cathedral. It was comical, and yet vaguely depressing. It really was a beautiful bird. Blue neck, green feathers. And he even rattled them so they made a cool noise and swelled them occasionally so you got the full effect as it moved from a semi-dome to a fan shape.

…We walked back to campus together and I came back here to study for my last final. Instead I ended up watching Moonlighting with Gil in the common area. What a great show! Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd? How did that show ever go off the air, it was brilliant. I watched two episodes and I'm in love.

… We went and saw Gladiator the night before for the air-conditioned movie theater, but last night I suggested we just go to Butler Library. It was really crowded with finals studiers. So we decided to try and get into the stacks where it's never as crowded, but also not as comfortable. (see Ghostbusters) The stacks were locked, but we went up to the ninth floor anyway.

We got a pleasant surprise when we went up the last flight of stairs to find that the door to the roof was open. It's normally got an alarm on it. We went out on the roof and looked down over the whole campus. It was really cool. We had a great view of Low, the plaza, the steps, south lawn, Van Am Quad, Furnald, etc. Basically we could see everything. And on the other side we had the Greeks and the city of New York stretched before us. It somehow seemed consistent with the adventures behind St Johns earlier in the day. We went around the perimeter and tried to get into the hut on the roof, but it was locked. Eventually we made our way back down.

…

It is particularly galling to see how much of DOS, Windows and Office have come from other innovative companies and then to hear Microsoft talk about its technology savvy and how it needs to be free to innovate.

…

Microsoft ought to apologize and change its ways, though I get the impression that Microsoft has been getting its way for so long, has been told it's wonderful for so long, that the company literally doesn't understand what it's done wrong.

Newspapers and magazines ought to get off their behinds and start reporting on what's happening inside business, not just on the week's latest millionaire. And the rest of us ought to wonder why we feel so warmly toward a company that cheats its way to success.

Why aren't they called "Microsoft viruses"? or "Microsoft Outlook viruses" ?

Just because they're a monopoly doesn't mean that they are synonomous with the term "computer". And Outlook is different than e-mail.

I didn't see a single "I LOVE YOU" from Eudora on a Mac.

It just seems amazing to me that reporters don't report the facts.

Seems like they should tell people that it's a Microsoft Outlook bug. Even knowing this fact, when I read some articles, they never mention it. In the technical articles, of course, it is well documented what the problem was. But listening to CNN or reading any of the press, one would never know.

The virus was very specific of what files it attacked. Files like "Win32DLL". These files really aren't found in any operating system but Windows. The method used to propogate was specific to Microsoft Outlook's address book.

The reason that it is important to call this a Microsoft Virus rather than a Computer Virus is that the general population will at least know that if they were not using Microsoft Outlook, it wouldn't have replicated from their e-mail. And that if they weren't using Windows, it wouldn't have hit them at all.

This would be incentive to move away from security challenged products.

But everyone knows that "Computer Viruses" are something that "everyone" must deal with... At least give the public the knowledge that they don't have to put up with it... Get off the Microsoft Bandwagon, and get away from the Microsoft Viruses.

In a post-monopoly world, there may be Mac viruses, or Java viruses (although the Java language has a very tight security model), and there will still be mostly Microsoft Viruses. But to simply call them all Computer Viruses only perpetuates the monopolistic mindset.

As an example over the next few years, only by reporting 142 Microsoft Viruses and 6 Mac Viruses and 7 Linux Viruses, will the public will get a sense of the security of each system, rather than reporting 155 Computer Viruses. The current most likely scenario is that 142 Computer Viruses would get reported.

6> Alabama: Like the third world, but closer.

4> Florida: Hey you kids, get off of my state!

13> Idaho: You Can Be Da Ho Next!

12> Washington: Come for the Protests -- Stay for the Coffee!

From a David Crosby song on the otherwise awful new Crosby, Stills, Nash &Young album (Looking Forward) I'm trying to digest in the background today:

I am uncomfortable lying to a child
Seems like setting a trap for something wild
Seems like building you house on the sand
And expecting the ocean to let it stand...

Just seemed like a good sentiment for a rainy Saturday