I think that I have a tradition, unless I'm scribbling on the past, of mentioning first the thought that most strikes me during the time each entry covers. For today, it's definitely a smell I smelled while at work. I'm setting up a new Pat-facilitized system (as opposed to department-facilitized) for a new person, and while burning CDs, I had to go downstairs some 10 times during the day. On one of the trips, walking past some of the offices (they do some weird stuff in the basement of the building where I work), I smelled a smell that was very familiar, and kind of pleasant, that I couldn't quite place. On the way back, I think I placed it (but the smell was gone) -- it's the smell from my sisters' "My Little Pony" ponies back from many many years ago. They don't scent them intentionally, I don't think -- it's just a strange, clean, but very unique plastic smell that I haven't smelled since until now. It's funny how smells stick in memory so well.

For the last 3 nights, I went for very late night trips to India Garden. From 23:00 to 01:00 (when they close), their dinners are half off, so I had nice, cheap, Saag Paneer, as spicy as they could make it, for slightly less than $5. I figure if I can't get rid of my insomnia, I at least might as well try to enjoy it. Still, I might want to try experimenting with different foods to help me fall asleep when I want. I was kind of sleepy in my Philosophy class today, until a nice, cool, humid breeze blew in through the window.. it refreshed me.

Yesterday's date went pretty well (as far as I can tell) -- she's cute, interesting, and we had a good conversation. She was a little bit hard to read though, so I'm not really sure if she's interested (it's always so hard to tell because our culture is too polite to directly saw when we're not interested). I guess I'll find out over the next few days.

Back to Indian stuff, one of the songs from India Garden got stuck in my head, so I went to an Indian supermarket and got the CD. It's kind of silly, perhaps like Japanese ondo. Want a taste?. Apparently it's rather trendy in India. The musician's name is Daler Mehndi, and he's dancing and laughing at himself, in the form of various elemental spirits.

In philosophy of science, we're really exploring interesting grounds. It turns out that pre-heliocentric models of the stars have as much practical use as newtonian physics, for everyday things. That's fascinating. It's a bit difficult for me to wrap my head around some of the corrections layered on corrections needed to make the old system work precisely, but for everyday stuff, that's not needed. I'm imagining it would be most enriching to argue with the astronomers of the day, testing my knowledge of the subject, arguing for heliocentrism. A slight irritant -- if you're writing a book, or teaching the topic, the name of our planet is Terra, the name of our moon is Luna, and the name of our sun is Sol. Use the right words. Hehe. But I'm a pedant. Anyhow, in class discussion, the teacher intentionally takes a position of saying that the systems are equal, and there's no way in principle to distinguish. He's fishing, but he knows he is, and has fun doing it. I took the bait, making an argument focused on Bayes Decision Theory, and a brief and interesting discussion ensued regarding the role of statistics in early science. There's more to come on that front, the teacher promised, as the class progresses.

I designed a fourth poster for the upcoming 'big meeting' of PUSH. I hope it actually turns out bug -- it's soon. I especially like the last quote.. "If God is inside us, I hope he likes fajitas, because thats what he's getting" -- Unknown Heh.

Hmm. I recently found that someone I care about is possibly having trouble in something very important in their life. I'm a bit worried about that -- I wish there were some way I could help, but this is an area that's rather complex for them, and they approach that area of life totally differently than I do. What can one do in such a circumstance? Suggest they adopt one's path? Maybe.. That does smack a bit of opportunism though.

Work is getting rather busy again -- the fact that I'm still here this late, and may be here for later still, without a concern for making up hours driving me, is evidence of that. I guess I'm skipping philosophy tonight (again). On the upside, perhaps I'll get the homework for psych done tonight, so I won't need to worry about it tomorrow. Well, tomorrow things will be more interesting yet at work.

If I get some time and have the inspiration, perhaps I'll start to implement accounts for pound tonight. I've decided that until I find a nice package to handle authentication for me, I'm going to be very lazy, so passwords will be plaintext, and all that. Still, it'll be cool to finally have the new features. I might also work a bit on making it look spiffier by default.