[2004.06.19 2346h]

   [music] armin van buuren \\ wait for you (song for the ocean)

four days ago, early in the morning, before i went to sleep, i spent a 
couple of hours planning on what model of computer case i would get and 
how i would get it after i woke up that day.  as is bound to happen with 
that much planning, various events took place during the day that all 
unfortunately culminated in my not being able to obtain the case by the 
end of the day.  at least the day wasn't a complete loss, since i had 
quite a bit of fun biking rapidly down the streets of downtown san jose, 
even though, at the start of the day, i had no idea that i would find 
myself there in the evening, trying to get to a store before it closed.

while biking back home empty handed, i decided that i might try taking a 
shortcut by biking through the san jose international airport, as since my 
map showed a few nice shortcuts that i thought i could try out.  i suppose 
the fact that i am actually writing about this gives away the fact that 
this was not the shortcut i was looking for, so i will omit the generic 
details of such stories and only cover the highlights that people who have 
never biked through an airport, namely, almost every sane person in the 
world, may not have experienced.

biking on the roads leading to an airport is scary.  this makes sense, as 
since many of the drivers here are probably trying to catch a flight.  
unfortunately, i did not realize this until i was actually on the road 
leading to the airport.  however, once i did realize this, i got off the 
road and then tried biking on a bumpy and disused gravel path that i found 
running alongside the road.  even though the gravel path was awfully 
unfriendly to my bike, i figured that it would be better to get scraped 
knees and shins than get hit by a crazy driver if i happened to fall.

by the way, if you lost what appears to be a key for a ford vehicle while 
heading to san jose airport, let me know.

after getting lost after nightfall on roads not shown on my map and 
finding myself in front of various gates to restricted areas, i eventually 
had to use the bathroom, so i tried to find my way back to the terminals.  
this was lot easier than trying to follow the roads on my map, as since 
the way to the terminals was clearly marked by various signs on the roads.

although the security officers at airports are well trained in commanding 
authority and making life tough for passengers in order to instill in them 
a false sense of security, they are apparently not very well trained in 
handling people carrying bikes.  i was somewhat afraid that i would get 
kicked out while carrying a bike around the terminal, but, in general, the 
security officers were so bewildered that they had no time to respond.

the traffic officers on the roads around the terminals also seem to be 
similarly lacking in training regarding bikes.  many of the traffic 
officers i encountered made faces of surprise upon first seeing me.

possibly the scariest thing that happened to me that day was when i found 
myself on a one way road leading out of the terminals, faced with three 
lanes all supposedly leading to highways, with barriers on both sides of 
the road, cars speeding up past me in anticipation of the highway, and no 
sidewalk or bike lane in sight.  i biked quickly down the road until i 
came to a low barrier and jumped over it with my bike.  i suppose there 
was a pretty good reason why the barrier was there, because, shortly after 
i jumped the barrier, as i was walking down the dark and uneven dirt path, 
i almost walked into a deep pit.

i guess it was a very good idea that i had decided not to bike there.

as i was walking down this closed off area, right alongside a fence with 
restricted area signs posted along somewhat regular intervals, while 
planes were landing immediately overhead, i thought to myself what a 
strange and interesting life i tend to live when i'm not stuck in my room 
studying.  even though i was actually biking around in my hometown, my 
wanderlust was being satisfied, and there was no way i could have actually 
planned such an outing.  i should also probably say that i am rather glad 
that i had weathered out the day without sustaining any physical injuries.

strangely, i have now been at an airport with my bike twice, although, 
during the first time i did so, i was merely carrying it as i was taking 
public transportation to the san francisco international airport to meet a 
friend arriving at the airport.  interestingly, during both times, someone 
made a remark along the lines of "whoa, where did you just fly in from?", 
even though, with my bike helmet and lack of luggage, i would assume that 
it was immediately obvious that i did not get there by plane.

eventually, i did get my computer case the next day.  biking with a box 
containing a computer case is probably an interesting event in itself, 
although probably not as adventurous as the previous day's trip.  i opted 
to take the light rail for part of my return trip, as since i don't 
believe i have ever taken it before, and i thought that i could use the 
help of public transportation, as since my arms were getting rather tired.

let me just say that santa clara valley transportation authority's light 
rail service is great.  the fare is cheap, the vehicles are clean, the 
journey is quick and relatively quiet, and there are even bike racks 
inside the vehicles that allow one to hang up one's bike.  i only wish 
they had a stop right outside stanford.

this past weekend, i had the privilege to watch stanford's main 
commencement ceremony from the upper deck of the stanford stadium.  there 
were little speakers installed in the upper deck, presumably so that one 
could hear what the people at the microphones were saying if the huge 
speakers at the ground level were too faint to hear.  unfortunately, from 
where i was seated, the volume of the speakers at the ground level and the 
volume of the speakers in the upper deck were roughly equal, and the time 
it took for the sound coming from the speakers at the ground level to 
reach the upper deck was long enough to make it difficult to understand 
the speech coming from either sets of speakers.  happily, it seems that 
someone else also noticed this after a while and turned off the speakers 
in the upper deck.

passing by stanford's memorial church the other day, i noticed that one of 
the manholes next to the vestry was locked shut.  this saddened me 
greatly, as since this was one of my favorite manholes on campus, having 
used this manhole the last time i went steam tunnelling, i.e., exploring 
in the underground tunnels on campus.  i suppose too many students figured 
out that this was a great entrance to the area under the main quadrangle.

the day before yesterday, while i was eating dinner, i was seated next to 
what appeared to be a couple on their first date.  it was rather hard not 
to notice them, as since the male was being rather loud and exaggerated 
during dinner, guffawing at the female's jokes and making thinly veiled 
statements such as "i have so much love to express".  i am rather glad 
that he was not my date that night.  however, i also felt pretty sad for 
him, as since he was mentioning how someone, presumably an earlier date, 
acted rather hostile towards him, without giving him a reason as to why.  
i don't know if anyone has ever told him about his expressive personality, 
but i wasn't about to, for fear that he might punch me or something.

i don't know much about the female, as since she did not talk as loudly as 
the male, but she was wearing way too much perfume, so, in another way, it 
was also hard to ignore her, especially when one's sense of smell is as 
strong as mine.  i suppose i was also somewhat glad that she was not my 
date that night, although my tolerance for perfume and cologne is rather 
high now, since so many people seem to like to wear the stuff.

despite the events of the table next to me, my dinner was quite enjoyable.  
i ordered chicken pad thai, one of my favorite thai dishes.  i hadn't had 
that dish in a while, so i was very happy.

i am still trying to eat a lunch and dinner every day at around the time 
most people seem to do so.  it seems as if, as a result, i seem to have 
lost many abilities that i used to rely on before i tried switching to 
these more popular eating habits.  my productivity is lowered because i 
now need more sleep and can no longer stay awake for a whole day.  my 
creativity seems to be lowered, and mathematical concepts that i could 
previously only barely grasp are now too difficult for me to comprehend.  
i grab a jacket now whenever i head outside early in the morning, even 
though snowboarding in a shirt and shorts was never a problem for me.

if this is a taste of what most people experience for most of their lives, 
then i think people should stop eating an average of two or more scheduled 
meals a day and see if their lives are more productive and enjoyable.

a little more than a week ago, venus made a transit across the face of the 
sun.  this was the first time this event has happened in over a century, 
and many people all across the world took part in the stargazing event.  
sadly, living in the state of california, i was not able to participate in 
this event.  because this was a rare event that the overwhelming majority 
of the world had access to, i feel as if i have missed out on a major 
shared experience.  another venusian transit will occur on 2012.06.06, but 
because only eight years separate the two transits, i doubt that there 
will be as many people watching the skies that day as there were the day 
of this most recent transit.

some days ago, while i was biking back to my room, i saw a broken 
sprinkler by the road right outside my room, spewing a stream of water 
high up into the air.  incidentally, most of the water that was sprayed up 
into the air happened to fall right into the middle of the street, where a 
car had stopped for a bit.  it took me a few seconds to realize that the 
driver had probably stopped there on purpose to get a free car wash.