today i took a break from programming. having looked at this code nonstop for the past year, it felt pretty good to purposely not have to look at it, if only for a few days. my mind was allowed to take a vacation, that's how i felt. after my run i had a small boca grande colorado chicken burrito that carrie once again graciously bought for me while i was out sweating along the charles river. i had a little late afternoon surprise in the form of a package from amazon.com. my "a glorious way to die" book finally arrived.
after work dan came by the office and together we commuted down to harvard square (barbara came with us part ways) for an unofficial pub club night at the rock bottom (50 church street, cambridge). definitely more restaurant than bar, this is the kind of place i like. it was just right, dan, roy, joel, and me, we had our own booth. roy revealed his surprise news of how he was leaving the screen house and made us jealous with his travel plans to destinations like florida, montana, korea, australia, and europe. it's weird. traveling seems to be one of those things people do to make their lives seem substantial*. i think its the experience. you can argue that a person's worth can be based on his/her experience in life, the more experience, the better that life becomes. experience can be gained locally by learning and interacting with others, but the best source of different and unique experiences comes from travel. you're in a strange land surrounded by strange people with strange customs, eating strange foods, speaking strange languages, breathing strange airs. that's why i can never imagine spending my precious 10 vacation days out of 365 days of works (not including weekends and the 10 days of holidays) just sitting at home doing nothing. no matter what's the cost, when i have the free time, i have to go out and experience the world. seeing the world improves my life in ways that can't be measured. the more exotic the locale, the better. though much of our world has been discovered, in this modern time each of us can explore more of this world than any past explorers. the answer to life's great mysteries can all be discovered in distant lands. we just have to go out and find them.
oh, by the way, i had the ribs for dinner and a home-brewed root beer. and we totally got joel a birthday card, something with three kittens on the cover, cause we know he just eats that stuff right up!
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
* off the top of my head, a few other things include falling in love or doing charity work. or raising a child. or watching the latest episode of alias.