Checksum Arcanius

Beth’s Birthday was yesterday, and the party, beginning with something that looked like it would be kinda lame, turned into somethat that was quite cool. Instead of barhopping, which I had decided not to participate in, the party ended up at Katie’s place, where we enjoyed some wonderful chocolate cake, a game of Apples to Apples (where I got kicked out for cheating, even though it was I that caught myself…), and some interesting questions getting to know everyone a little better. So Beth now has a car, a little bit of money for gas (thanks to yours truly), and has joined the ranks of the 22-year-olds. Welcome!

Of course, I stayed at the party until about 3:00, which, since I was already sleep deprived, meant that today was… interesting, let me say.

Fellow Class of 2001 IS alum Courtney was back in town after a week in Bahamas for the last Sprng Break of her undergraduate career. We decided to hang ut and catch up, and it turned out to be fun and strangely enlightening exchanging news and stories about people we jointly knew. After a ordering out some wonderfully American food from a local french fine dining resturant, I watched the Sonics beat the Magic with Craig before settling in to watch the most recent Terminator. Good times.

I have never entirely shared Erik’s passion to provide internet filter bypassing services to the masses, but it is something that is important to him, and I am one who strongly believes that, in general, more information is good. On the other hand, I can understand the district’s filtering for, say, pornography or pirating sites, or anything else that many taxpayers (who support the schools and pay for things like the internet to the school) would generally object to funding access to.

But why, for example, are email sites filtered? In this digital age, filtering email is like breaking a tennis player’s legs and expecthing her to win. Email is vital, especially to clubs like the TRC where it is the primary form of communication. Blocking email at school is a good way of ensuring that team leaders are kept out of the loop until they get home, not the most ideal of situations. Nevertheless, the long and short of it is that while I don’t share Erik’s passion, I don’t mind it, and I certianly don’t mind spreading the word the the wonderful Bellevue School District has suspended Erik’s student account while investigating his site, FreedomDown.net.

I suggest that you go read about it at Erik’s blog, “Unknown Rebel.“

After seeing the robot off into the hands of the FedEx guy to 1:30 today, Dan and I went into Seattle to eat, walk Alki beach, and eventually, watch Constantine at the Cinerama. I had read a review in the Seattle Times that, though not exactly lauding, piqued my interest, so I decided it was worth a shot, and most any movie is better in the Cinerama.

And the choice was a good one. Though Dan didn’t think too much of it except for the special effects, I quite liked just about everything about the movie. Maybe it has something to do with my own internal search for truth; I don’t know. But Keanu Reeves was the right man for this role, and the theology behind the movie was intriguing, to say the least. The movie could have been extraordinarily silly, but for me, somehow, it stayed on the right side of the line, and instead I found it fun, exciting, and very much worth the day away from work.

I planned this post last week, after my second successful geocaching expedition, but in a fit of blogger’s block, I was unable to convert it into a post. So now it comes today, after my third successful and fun geocaching expedition. This time the location was Woodinville, the target was a multi-cache on the Burke-Gilman trail. Along for the fun this time was a member of the fairer sex, a fellow BCC student and adventurer named Vanessa. After finding the cache at the fourth tree, we ate lunch at a nice Mexican place and then called it an afternoon. Overall, quite an enjoyable experience.

After a late night at Scott’s (of the Torborg variety), where we watched the Postman, Scott managed to convince me to go skiing with him the following day at Mt. Baker, three hours away, which mean leaving in the early morning. So, after returning home and getting to sleep around two, Scott called to wake me up at 5:20, and from there, we managed to make it to the slopes by 10 am, just an hour after they opened. The skiing was good, but I wasn’t – it was my first time of the season, and I only went once last year, and that added up to me being way out of skiing shape. I still have enough technique to do the hard runs, but the legs did not have the ability to keep me going all day. Nevertheless, a great time was had.

I have much more goings-on to catch up on as well, but a graduation party awaits!