Does anyone out there get DirecTV (satellite) on the East Coast?

Heck, does anyone live on the East Coast (of the US, I mean)?

I need a zipcode. Any zipcode. Just an American zipcode on the East Coast that I can use to get DirecTV listings in the eastern timezone.

Does anyone know how zipcodes work, anyway? I've always been curious if you can figure out where they're based using just the numbers.

// posted by Meredi ~ 4:01 am ~ ^
// 1 comment

Does anyone out there get DirecTV (satellite) on the East Coast?

Heck, does anyone live on the East Coast (of the US, I mean)?

I need a zipcode. Any zipcode. Just an American zipcode on the East Coast that I can use to get DirecTV listings in the eastern timezone.

Does anyone know how zipcodes work, anyway? I've always been curious if you can figure out where they're based using just the numbers.

// posted by Meredi ~ 4:01 am ~ ^
// add a comment

I'm very bad at getting absorbed into my music... sometimes it gets loud and I start singing loudly and I'm sure I drive my suitemates crazy. Ang just had to come in here and tell me to turn down my music -- I hate it when she has to do that. Sorry Ang -- I just get carried away.

I'm finally into my calc homework. Took me several hours, but I've got a groove on (remembering partial fractions helped things along a bit -- I can't believe how much I forget from last year).

Tomorrow's going to be a good day. Sleep in until 1, then 5 hours of lectures, then BAND. Yay for band.

// posted by Meredi ~ 2:27 am ~ ^
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I'm so embarrassed right now.

I wish I could just do work and forget things, but I just feel so weird; I can't.

This has got to be one of the worst emotions ever. Almost worthy of an "Emotion of the Month", but I don't know what I'd say.

The details of my embarrassment aren't really something that I want to share on my page; who ever wants to relate embarrassing stories? I just wanted to get the emotion out there. This might be hard for someone who doesn't have a page to believe, but it's amazing how much that helps sometimes.

// posted by Meredi ~ 11:56 pm ~ ^
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I finally got a chance to read the full text of Milk's Spouse Hunting article. (Go read, it's interesting.)

I have a couple of comments:

1. Swing dancing rules. I need to get back into that.
   
2. I just finished reading a light book called "A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing". It's about a girl named Jane and several relationships she has as she's growing up. In the final chapter she buys a book like "The Rules" and plays by the rules in order to hook a guy she really likes. The chapter is hilarious -- the two authors of the book appear as characters (figments of her imagination) telling her what to do when he says and does certain things.

   Anyway, it's far from deep, but it's a cute read. I enjoyed.
   

3. Hrmm, that's it I guess.
   

// posted by Meredi ~ 8:36 pm ~ ^
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There are so many wonderful people in this world. All of my friends are included on that list -- Ang, Joyce, Alice, Gershom et al... plus my family, plus people like my "favorite absent-minded ex-lecturer", Ray (the guy who helped me get the job at Sun this summer). He wrote me the nicest e-mail today, out of the blue, just before I wrote him myself to thank him for the awesome book he bought me before I left. I love being reminded by people like him that the world really is a good place. During weeks like this, the more reminders the better.

Yay for people like Ray.

// posted by Meredi ~ 1:25 am ~ ^
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Go read Cyn's January 25th entry on the "Post-Secondary Orgy Myth" right now; it's too good to pass up and I don't know how much longer she'll have it on her front page.

I too was a believer in the myth, but have since grown up and realized that university's no different than highschool in that respect. This leads to the conclusion that since I couldn't get any guys in highschool, I won't get any in university. All that's left is industry, at which point I'll be working with the same engineers that I'm learning with now at university, and everyone (including Cyn) knows that you can't date engineers. Like she says, "I've discovered that meeting guys in my classes doesn't work. Engineering guys. Ew. Freaks."

Anyway, just go read.

// posted by Meredi ~ 11:16 pm ~ ^
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My dad staring at the pigeons on the windowsills across from my apartment:

"Wow, look at those suckers! You could cook them and eat them for dinner!"

// posted by Meredi ~ 11:01 pm ~ ^
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I watched Oprah for the first time in several years today, mainly because I wanted to watch tv but nothing else was on (we're only getting broadcast stations right now -- only Canadian stuff, in other words -- because our satellite hasn't arrived from my home yet).

Anyway, they were doing room/house makeovers, and at the very end, there was a story about an organization in New York (I think??) that painted schools bright colours to enhance the learning environment (and got the kids involved in the process, the best thing about it in my opinion). Anyway, I forget the name of the group, but I was extremely impressed. I wish they'd do the same for hospital rooms. It would be so cool if you could go into the hospital and request the colour of room that would make you feel most comfortable. Most hospitals seem to be either tres drab or tres gaudy.

// posted by Meredi ~ 4:55 am ~ ^
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I like cosmic bowling, even if I suck at it. I think it's something I'd enjoy practising more though.

I always thought bowling was one of those sports it was uncool to like, but I know a lot of people who bowled in their youth, and the people at the alley tonight seemed to be having a great time. Maybe it's not as uncouth as I thought.

Aside: After I wrote 'uncouth' in that last sentence it made me wonder if 'uncool' was a real word too... and for the record, it is (according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, at least).

// posted by Meredi ~ 4:51 am ~ ^
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I am NOW going to do work for six hours straight until midnight comes. Do you think I can do it? I hope so. If I can I might be successful at having a decent weekend. We'll see.

// posted by Meredi ~ 9:02 pm ~ ^
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I'm back. Sorry for the hiatus... something that had been working for a few months suddenly stopped working with no warning. I had my cgi files for Greymatter in this, my merediment/ directory, and they started showing up as just text when I accessed them instead of the actual Greymatter program. At any rate, I moved some things and everything should be back to normal.

It's been a long week of classes and work. I'm having a great deal of trouble readjusting to a life of constant work and no relaxation. I need to get into a groove where I just pick up one book after another and read and read and compute and problem solve and design. It feels to me that that groove is a long, long away.

I have no comments on the tragedy in New York, except to inform people that the Nostradamus thing that's going around is utterly fake. I'm saddened by the whole thing and broke down a couple of times while watching the Canadian tribute today at noon, but I just can't think of anything to say that already hasn't been said.

// posted by Meredi ~ 8:53 pm ~ ^
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Written last night:

How can they finish things so quickly? I feel like I take so long to do my homework and read my textbooks compared to my roommates. I've been working on chapter two for a couple of nights now, and they're already onto problems at the end of the chapter, having just started working at 9 o'clock. What's wrong with me?

// posted by Meredi ~ 8:44 pm ~ ^
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I think my mom's on Rosie O'Donnell's humour mailing list or something. Anyway, she sent this to me and I need something funny on here to cheer things up, so I figured I'd post today's joke:

How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?

Golden retriever - "The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're worrying about a stupid burned-out light bulb?

Border collie - "Just one. And then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code. And paint the ceilling and...."

Dachshund - "You know I can't reach that stupid bulb."

Rottweiler - "Make me."

Labrador - "Oh, me, me!!!! Puhleeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Huh? Huh? Can I?"

Malamute - "Let the border collie do it. You can feed me while he's busy."

Jack Russell terrier - "I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture."

Poodle - "I'll blow in the border collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry."

German shepherd - "I'll guard the socket until someone can replace the bulb."

Cocker spaniel - "Why change it? I can pee on the carpet in the dark."

Doberman pinscher - "While it's dark, I'm going to sleep on the sofa."

Chihuahua - "Yo quiero Taco Bulb."

Pointer - "I see it. There it is. There it is, right there."

Greyhound - "It isn't moving. Who cares?"

English sheepdog - "Light bulb? You mean that thing I just ate was a light bulb?"

Hound dog - "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

I love the Pointer and the Lab ones... Clyde, our dog, is a black lab, and that couldn't come closer to describing him. :)

// posted by Meredi ~ 12:19 am ~ ^
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The sun is shining in Toronto and it's just a good day all around. The arts and science students have returned to so the campus is bustling... and all the first years are strugging to find their ways around. I keep getting asked questions by them that I should know the answers to, but usually don't.

The best news is that I still understand what we're doing in calculus class ('ordinary differential equations') on the second day. This is a GOOD FEELING. It's not going to last long.

Today in physics class I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that I didn't want to be learning what I was learning. I honestly couldn't care less about statistical mechanics. I couldn't care less about harmonic motion, either, or differential equations, for that matter. I don't care how things work. I'm sure most of the people in my class tore things apart when they were young just to see the guts -- just to figure out how the insides worked. I was not that kind of child.

I'm not really sure what kind of child I was. I liked to do math problems, and I liked to draw. I loved playing Scrabble and "Word Scramble" and all sorts of card games. I liked Sesame Street and cheerios, and hated dolls, unless I had a friend to play with me.

Other than those things, I don't remember what else I did in my childhood. I should really ask my parents. Maybe it would help lead me down the right path.

I've been considering switching to arts again. I don't know whether I can do it now, or whether I'd have to wait until next semester or even next year. I don't know whether I'm just being weak, or whether it truly is the right thing to do. Part of me thinks I'm just trying to find the easy way out, but part of me also thinks I'll be happier there. Maybe when I attend my first anthropology class on Thursday things will be a bit clearer.

Almost time for class... I'm going to go get a drink. Ciao fo' now.

// posted by Meredi ~ 4:44 pm ~ ^
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1. I have some utterly crazy friends.
2. I had a wonderful weekend. More later, or just go read Gershom's blog for the first half of the story.
3. I've been watching Star Trek Voyager with Joyce all evening. AHHH. :)
4. I found this article on Bobby Fischer very interesting.

// posted by Meredi ~ 1:08 am ~ ^
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