Okay, I know this is a bad idea, but just to try it out for a couple days, I'm putting up a Fury Webcam. I might take it down at any time, and I have yet to make a fancy page (or any page) for the cam, but here goes.

I finished my finals and I'm getting sick and I have nothing at all to do (well, that last part's a big fib but nothing that I can do tonight). I feel like should be out partying or something, but most of my friends are already gone!

Well I just finished my final final this morning (Cog Sci 100)! It's a testament to how little sleep I've been getting (4 hours each night for the last three nights) that I couldn't figure out that my dizzy spells were the result of how little sleep I've been getting.

I tried to take a nap and UPS came, bearing Amazon's little packages from heaven. Now I'm inexplicably in front of the computer again. I should probably try to nap again.

More later!!!

I woke up early this morning because the wind was howling and whistling through my (closed) bedroom windows. I got up to close the doors in my apartment (this cuts the draft and would hopefully stop the whistling) and I noticed that the winds had completely blown open my office window!

Now, picture a desk with lots of paper on it, only right now, not so much. I closed the window, but frankly I have no idea which scraps of paper (or even full-blown term papers, notes, (books?) ) are now the property of the Telegraph Avenue Wind Tunnel.

Add to this the fact that when the wind really blows you can actually see the glass in the windows bow in and out, and you start seeing a justification behind the impulse to hide under the covers.

Right now I'm watching two pieces of paper whipping across the parking lot outside at about 40 miles an hour. I wonder if they're mine?

Anyhow, I have a final in 10 hours. Good Morning!

CS160 final is done, and Psych 120 is tomorrow morning, 8am.

At least I'm being entertained:

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:10:16 -0800
From: Maya
To: hello@fury.com
Subject: hi kevin

My name is Amy,
I came across your website and you are damn funny.
It turns out that my roomate is some of your classes too. what are the chances?
e-mail me, AMY at xxxx@xxxx.berkeley.edu

---

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:12:39 -0800
From: Maya
To: hello@fury.com
Subject: regarding amy

i am not a freak, but amy has a thing for you

---

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:14:18 -0800
From: Amy
Reply-To: xxxx@xxxx.berkeley.edu
To: hello@fury.com
Subject: maya's a freak

sorry about that.

my roommate's a freak.
I guess it runs in all cogsci people.

amy

---

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:15:01 -0800
From: Maya
To: hello@fury.com
Subject: well she tried

she tried to tie me up, but it didn't work...

how did 127 midterm 3 go?
Ivry's a spaz, but cool.

goodnight.
-Maya
p.s. e-mail amy back

---

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:15:55 -0800
From: Amy
Reply-To: xxxx@xxxx.berkeley.edu
To: hello@fury.com
Subject: too much!

hi kevin.

so sorry about this. i think we've been studying too long.

I have to put maya to bed now.
Promise we won't bug you anymore.

amy

---

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:18:13 -0800
From: Amy
Reply-To: xxxx@xxxx.berkeley.edu
To: hello@fury.com
Subject: uhoh

that last message was dangerously kinky.

we're really not like that.

really not.

Well, back to our regularly scheduled finals cramming!

The User Interface final went really well, by the way. Possibly really, really well, but we'll see.

Thanks to the admin at inpassing.org (a very funny site you should visit every day) for reminding me to blog this one. Tonight I'm going to relate a game I occasionally play in restaurants.

It goes like this: I'll be having lunch or dinner with a friend, and for some reason or another, either by the nature of the subject matter we're discussing, or because I get the sense that someone at another table is paying more attention to our conversation than their own, I will, keeping the same conversational tone of voice, speculate to my dining partner:

"I wonder if anyone is listening to our conversation right now. I'd bet that someone else here is enjoying hearing us talking about (insert topic here). I think, if they were, it would be really cool if they did something innocuous like take a sip from their drink right now, so they could let us know that they're enjoying the conversation."

The trick is to say this in exactly the same cadence and conversational tone you've been keeping the whole time, so you don't attract any more attention than you were with your previous conversation.

If you want to get really fancy with it, you can create a 'backchannel choose-your-own-adventure' scenario, saying things like, "If that person wanted to hear us talk more about (blah blah), they could pick up the saltshaker. Or, if they're more interested in (other blah) they could clear their throat."

I haven't gone to that level yet, but I've only played this game three or four times, and only once did I actually get a clear response, even though another time it was completely obvious that two fellow diners were hanging on our every word. Somehow I think this game would work better when played by two or more women.

If anyone should give it a try, by all means send me a report on how it goes!

My friend David:

Hi Kevin. I'm bored at work today (middle offinals and very few people are askingreference questions), and for some reason Iflashed back to one of your old blog postswhen you were bored, and decided to trysomething similar. Since I have no blog inwhich to share my findings, I'm inflictingthem on you. Lucky you.Here's what's at:www.abc.com : TV networkwww.bcd.com : purveyors of flux, chemicals              and battery partswww.cde.com : [not found]www.def.com : Spanish web directorywww.efg.com : [not found]www.fgh.com : ship & offshore rig engineerswww.ghi.com : health services/plans companywww.hij.com : personal site with zero contentwww.ijk.com : something Japanesewww.jkl.com : info tech serviceswww.klm.com : airlinewww.lmn.com : Under Constructionwww.mno.com : [not found]www.nop.com : [no response]www.opq.com : personality questionnaireswww.pqr.com : Dutch info tech companywww.qrs.com : "supply chain management" for              "e-business"www.rst.com : robots and automated systemswww.stu.com : [no response]www.tuv.com : safety inspectors & consultants              (Germany)www.uvw.com : [not found]www.vwx.com : a company bitching about how              Volkswagen bullied them out of              their legitimately registered              "vw.net" domainwww.wxy.com : pornwww.xyz.com : a guy who likes racing bikes              and won't consider selling his              domain name for less than 6              figures

So today was the last day of Dickens Fair (until next November, of course!), and the December Gaskells was last night.

If you'd like to get a feel for what each are like (or you might know some of these people (or you might be one of these people) ), I invite you to check out the brief Dickens and Christmas Gaskells Photo Gallery!

Alas, a final tomorrow, and another 12 hours later prevented me from attending Dickens this weekend, but it will all be over soon. I hope you all had a great weekend, and remember: if you're Christmas shopping at Amazon, submit your order by this Monday or you'll be biting your nails waiting for Santa Mailman on Friday.

And sometimes I think my friends take dressing up too far. At least their cars are still sacred, unlike this Star Wars fan. I'd mock, if I didn't think it was so cool (and if I wasn't such a geek myself)