Subject: 
          random thoughts--3
    Date: 
          Tue, 07 May 2002 17:45:49 -0400
   From: 
   



Fellow philosophers, here are some more random thoughts.  Right now it
is cloudy and breezy, and I am a bit cold in my t-shirt sitting in my
office, trying to type up yet another exam. Sea gulls are flying over
McMillan reservoir. And ABBA is singing "summer night city" on my
computer (switched it on thinking it was Chopin, but what the
heck...it is time to shake off the cloudiness...but sometimes ABBA
tries so hard to sound happy and optimistic it is sad).

I hope I distracted you for at least a moment. Have a very nice
evening.
Sankar

1. The best type of watch for me is one that gains a few seconds every
day. I have a two dollar watch that has kept ticking away for over
three years now. Occasionally it seems to go boink but then heals
itself somehow. It gains about 3 or 4 seconds every day so I never
know exactly what time it is. This week it is running about 14 minutes
fast, I think. Since I am a last minute person having that cushion of
an extra minute or two is invaluable. The times when I hate it is when
I come home for lunch, take that fifteen minute nap, wake up in a very
fuzzy state of mind, look at my watch, think I have only a minute to
catch the shuttle bus, run to the bus stop, and realise upon finding
nobody there that I am actually ten minutes early.

2. I am a megalomaniac who has learnt to enjoy life as a microphiliac.

3. The weather in this city has an interesting habit during the
summer. All day it sweats and fumes, and just when things get
unbearably hot and humid, the skies explode and open up with
torrential downpours. After about half an hour it is calm and fresh
with the smell of moist earth and very pleasant. Just like a sweaty
worker freshening up with an evening shower.

4. The toronto hockey team is called maple leafs. Why not leaves? The
Ottawa team is called the Ottawa Sens. There should be a better way to
abbreviate Senators, I think. Not only does it sound very awkward, it
creates the mistaken impression that there are a whole lot of Bengalis
in Ottawa. Those funny canadians.

5. The people who work at Footlockers always look very stressed out
and pitiable. Is it the work or the wages or the awful uniform (with
stripes, resembling prison dress)?

6. Interesting (and somewhat funny) article from the Post:

Even on a campus of 30,000 students, the Pisner siblings stand out.
But everyone wants to know: What happened to the fifth quintuplet?
"Everybody always asks where the other one is," said Shira Pisner, a
freshman at the University of Maryland and one of the famed
quintuplets from Olney.

The answer? Elliott chose to go to Salisbury University.

It was a major departure for siblings Ian, Michael, Devin, Shira and
Elliott, who had shared the spotlight from an infancy chronicled by
Life magazine through their years at Sherwood High School and who had
starred in a national television commercial.
It was an even bigger transition for their parents. Last spring, Dan
and Pam Pisner were blown  away to learn that it would cost at least
$300,000 to put their kids through college. And they weren't eligible
for as much financial aid as they thought.

"It's horrible," groaned Dan Pisner. "One trip to the mailbox, I came
back with $32,000 worth of bills. That's only going to get
exponentially worse." Like most families, the couple stitched together
a patchwork of scholarships, grants and loans to help cover the tab.
"We've got loans, they've got loans," Pisner said.

Meanwhile, the freshman quints have gotten into college life. Shira
played intramural soccer, Ian pledged a fraternity, Elliott is working
on the college information desk. "Every now and then,we'll hang out
together," Shira said.

As for the parents: "We hate it!" said Dan Pisner. "It's so quiet now.
We had to get a dog."