Questions.

Coupla things.

First, you may have noticed that I skipped a day or two in my allegedly daily journal. That's because you're nosy and need to mind your own business. But it's also because I've got this crazy swing shift thing going on so Saturday-Sunday, I'm either asleep, hanging out with Athena, or at work. None of those states being conducive to a blogging-type situation. Hmmm. Have to figure something out with that.

Secondly, it occurs that even though I previously said that I don't particularly care if this journal is read by anyone else, I still write as if I'm writing to someone. So what the deal? Do I secretly desire this thing to have an audience? Am I addressing myself in the future? Is it just a habit leftover from email conversations? Is there something inherent in human communication that demands the perception of an outside participant even if that participant is imagined or internalized? Did I accidentally raise a serious question in what was meant to be the setup for a stupid joke thereby derailing my train of thought and ruining this post's entire punchline?

Hmmm. Something to think about.

7 steps to success.

So here's the plan:

1-Save money like Scrooge McDuck.

2-Wait until Athena graduates.

3-Pinch pennies like Mr Krabs.

4-Hope Athena can find a job in Savannah.

5-Hoard money like a survivalist hoards beans.

6-Hope I can find a job in Savannah.

7-Move to Savannah.

That's my to-do list. And it has to be done before Xmas. You'll notice that most of this list involves waiting. I'm terrible at waiting; it feels like nothing's happening. And then suddenly it feels like everything is happening all at once.

The big problem will be the timing. Once I've enough money to cover a deposit and first & last month's blah blah blah, then we've got to have jobs waiting for us before we make the move. It wouldn't be so much a problem if I had a car. But without the ability to commute, things get tricky. But not {Tricky}, which is unfortunate.

Blogging from the heart.

Athena and I were at Rodeo, our local mexican joint, and she brought up something from her stress class. Her professor (Professor Stressor would be a good name for a supervillan) posited that all negative emotions stem from fear or anger. Wait...something's not right.

...stem from Fear or Anger. There we go. Supposedly, negative emotions happen either because you're scared that something might happen, or you're angry that something you did or didn't happen.

I dunno if this is an official stress-related position (which sounds dirty when you type it all out like that) but I'm not sure if I buy it. For me, I'd have to throw disappointment- sorry: Disappointment- into the mix.

It seems to me that fear- dammit: Fear- (I regret starting this joke) and Anger are very active sort of aggressive emotions. While Disappointment is a more passive set of feelings. I dunno, maybe it's not very important, but it's something to think about.

Happy Lovelace Day!

No, not that one.

Absolutely not.

Wait...what?

Ah! There we go.

March 24 is Ada Lovelace Day. Who is Ada Lovelace, you ask? Well, that's exactly the point! No one knows! That's why this is the day commemorating the often overlooked contributions of women in science and math. Seriously, how many women scientists do you know? There's Marie Curie, Jane Goodall, ...that lady with the parrot, ...Dana Scully. The sad fact is that is that when I say "scientist" (probably in a spooky voice with a flashlight under my chin) you picture a man. And shame on you for it. There are, of course, a thousand theories on why this is the case but this is the one I like.

It seems that the number of women who choose to pursue careers in science, math and technology (hereafter referred to as 'SM&T') is way lower than the number who graduate with degrees in SM&T. Studies show that women are drawn to learning SM&T, but don't seek out related careers because the gender imbalance makes them uncomfortable. Let that sink in a bit.

Women don't become scientists because there aren't enough women scientists.

Joseph Heller eat your heart out. But there is hope: studies also suggest that women are more likely to become inspired by female role models that break with traditional molds. Ada Lovelace & Co. to the rescue! By drawing awareness to their contributions, we can raise the profile of women in SM&T and provide young girls with a wider pool of role models to draw from. I mean real role models;I'm sure Paleontologist Barbie is doing the best she can, but really; what has she published lately?

Now The Countess Lovelace, on the other hand, was quite accomplished. She started out strong by being the only child of Lord Byron to be legitimate. Impressive enough on it's own, but she didn't stop there. She also wrote the worlds first computer program for Babbage's Engine in 1843. That's right: this chick was coding software a century before computers even existed. And if that wasn't enough she believed that 'Analytical Engines' of the future would be used to compose music and create art. So I guess she was also the first (and as far as I know only) philosopher of theoretical electro-pop. Now if DJ Dr. Ada, Countess of Lovelace isn't someone we need to recognize, I don't know who the hell is.

So please, if you're in a position to influence the course of a young girl's life, don't be shy to expose them to a little science or math. Who knows, they might turn out to be into it. The future they make may be their own.

Alright, let's get this show on the road, turn around because we forgot something, then take a wrong turn and get a flat tire outside of Peoria.

Basically what we have here is an attempt to get some of the things I think are worth writing down written down. Let's call it a combination archive/notebook. No, wait. Let's not call it that because that's dumb.

Call it my online journal. It's a record that I can keep of my experiences and thoughts as they occur. It's also a way for me to keep my mind active. My aim is to record something of substance here every day. That means I'd better come up with something worthwhile to say every 24 hours or else.

Also: I know the point of putting something on the Internet is usually to get people to look at it, but I really don't care if anyone else besides me ever reads any of this or not. I just figure what's the point of having a diary if it isn't available for your enemies to stumble across and use to blackmail you in a series of zany hijinks and wacky misunderstandings, preferably ones involving banks and monkeys?

No point at all.