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Moving and a vacation

Aug. 15, 2007

We've been in our new apartment for a week now. It is a lot bigger than our old one and definitely nicer. Our landlord who lives upstairs and our next door neighbors have a gang of adorable kids who like both Paci and Thomas. I have an entire wall in the dining room devoted to bookshelves. Almost everything is set up, with the notable exception of my computer. There is a little sun room off the dining room which we are turning into an office, but it has inadequate power for two computers, especially since the only outlet is an ungrounded light socket adapter. I've been too busy unpacking to worry about it yet anyway.

Next week I'm on vacation since I have 5 days of vacation time set to expire on Sept. 1. Fortuitously, Gencon is this weekend in Indianapolis, so I'm trying to find a way to spend a day there. Afterwards I want to spend a few days in upstate New York since I've never been to Buffalo or Niagara Falls. Then hopefully we'll be back in Chicago for the latter part of the week and Kim can continue to work on her dissertation. There a Google-sponsored Python sprint that Friday that sounds like a good time, so I am thinking about attending if I can find the time to prepare in advance.

I've been reading William James' Pragmatism and the Meaning of Truth on my recent train rides. I've had the book on my shelf for a while but haven't dedicated much attention to it. I'm temperamentally disposed towards Pragmatism, but I'm skeptical since he seems pretty vague most of the time. I like the way that he concentrates first on the problem-solving power of the philosophy and shows how it can be used to resolve some long-standing philosophical problems. The method is similar to the principle in science by which you design experiments. However, instead of producing an experiment to try, it produces thought-experiments and arguments for or against something based on its utility.

Last weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. I would have liked to have gone to see some of my old friends that I haven't seen much in the last 10 years, but I didn't know that many people in high school since I only attended Seminole for 2 years. Still, the $700 the entire trip would have cost me wasn't worth it. If anyone reading this did attend, try to send me some pictures of people we both know.