AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2003-09-06

Chat for Sat 2003-09-06 15:25:53

Dr.D.: 3:20 PM and all is well.
Dr.D.: 3:32 PM and all is well.
Dr.D. moved to room emme
Dr.D. moved to room Tartarus
Dr.D. moved to room Meeting Place
(Dr.D. throws a hot potato at Dr.D..)
(Dr.D. quaffs a cold glass of fresh milk.)
(Dr.D. winks)
(The lights sudddenly go out)
(Dr.D. is thrown out of the window.)
Dr.D.: 3:41 PM and all is well.
Dr.D.: HAHAHA
Dr.D.: 3:49 and nobody else is here...meesa bored.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Guy B.
Guy B.: HI Dr.D
Dr.D.: Hello Guy, I was just camping here while doing other work.
Dr.D.: You are the first person I'
Guy B.: What else are you doing?
Dr.D.: I've seen, but I didn't log in until 3:20 PM.
Guy B.: I just came back from lunch.
Dr.D.: Reading news and mail...trying to stay awake (I feel sleepy this afternoon).
Guy B.: And my dog bugging me to take her out again after I took her out two hours ago.
Dr.D.: I had been sitting outside reading, but the sunshine was too bright and I was falling asleep out there.
Dr.D.: So I came in here where the basement is cool.
Guy B.: It's beautful out there today.
Dr.D.: Same here, sunny and warm in the sun, but cold in the shade.
Dr.D.: After the rain we had this week, the grass is green again.
Dr.D.: So I took our guinea pig outside to munch on the grass.
Guy B.: Basements are always cooler in the summer. But, I bet it gets really cold during the winter.
Dr.D.: Some nights I have to wear a coat down here in the winter.
Guy B.: Don't have any heat ducts down there?
Dr.D.: There are, but somehow the heat just leaches out of them before coming out cold.
Dr.D.: The computers help to heat things, though :-)
Guy B.: That helps. How many are down there?
Dr.D.: Currently 2 are powered up 24/7, but there are others that can be pressed into service.
Guy B.: Are the ones that are on all the time servers?
Dr.D.: No, they are just the family computers. And they all are running the Seti@home screensaver, so they are doing some productive stuff.
Guy B.: Ok, so anyone in the family can go on right away without waiting for the system to boot up.
Dr.D.: Yes.
Guy B.: Has Christina started driving the van yet?
Dr.D.: She's been driving it all along, just needs to learn how to paralell-park it.
Dr.D.: Oops, parallel.
Guy B.: So that's the only thing she needs to work on. Vans are always tough to parrallel park.
Dr.D.: Yes, we don't have anything smaller to drive.
Guy B.: Has she tried parallel parking just on an empty street without any cars parked yet?
Dr.D.: Mostly working with cones in the driveway or a vacant parking lot at the local shopping center.
Guy B.: That was my next idea. That's a good start.
Dr.D.: No banged fenders or bumpers that way :-)
Guy B.: That's a good start. Has she driven on the expressway already?
Dr.D.: Oh, lots. She has more than 50 hours total driving logged.
Guy B.: That's great. Night driving too?
Dr.D.: She needs a few more hours to get the 10-hour minimum at night.
Dr.D.: It was hard over the summer with it not getting to be dark until 10:30 PM or so.
Dr.D.: But now the days are getting short, so it's easier to have night driving time.
Guy B.: Looks like she is doing quite well. Looks like she will do fine on her test later.
Dr.D.: I think so. We will see later this month.
Guy B.: Are you teaching her or you and Joan splitting the time?
Dr.D.: Not really any "teaching" going on anymore, she just drives whenever we are going somewhere.
Dr.D.: We haven't restricted her to "just with me or Joan".
Dr.D.: After the first few hours of practice, that is.
Dr.D.: Once she was doing okay, she drove with whoever else needed to go along.
Guy B.: When she gets her license. What car will she be driving the most?
Dr.D.: She's driven the whole family on interstates to my Dad's house and back (about an hour each way).
Dr.D.: We have 2 minivans, and they get driven equally. Whichever one is free.
Guy B.: That's good. I'm assuming they are both different model vans?
Dr.D.: 1989 Dodge Caravan, 1998 Plymouth Voyager. Except for gingerbread, they are about the same car.
Guy B.: How many miles on the '89?
Dr.D.: 103K or thereabouts. 38K on the Voyager.
Guy B.: Wow, and the van still runs good. You certainly have taken good care of it.
Dr.D.: Runs fine. Body is going...one more Cleveland winter and it will be pretty bad in a few spots.
Dr.D.: Rear hatch lip and driver's door bottom are getting crumbly.
Guy B.: Rust always run havoc. Were just about the same here when it comes to that.
Dr.D.: We are hoping to replace it within a year.
Guy B.: Are getting another one from Chrysler or you might look at a different one when the time comes?
Dr.D.: They have about doubled in price over 14 years, though.
Dr.D.: I'm happy with Chrysler, we'd probably start with some flavor of Caravan.
Dr.D.: The '89 was $13.5K. Current equivalents are about $25K.
Guy B.: They were the first to bring out the minivans. And look what happens, everyone else has one too.
Dr.D.: Cars and college tuition are increasing at more than the rate of inflation :-(
Guy B.: Oh, I know. Every time you turn around, the schools are raising the tuition rates.
Dr.D.: CWRU certainly is not worth the full-rate tuition.
Guy B.: How come?
Dr.D.: Especially when you see what the money gets spent on...
Dr.D.: Silly sculptures, new buildings that have less usable space than the buildings that they replaced...
Dr.D.: $72M buildings with melted steel roofs that shed ice in winter and are a hazard to pedestrians...
Dr.D.: It is a huge financial hole to pay $25K per year to go here and major in humanities and then go teach public school.
Dr.D.: And IT jobs are being shipped to India where labor rates are 20% of those here.
Dr.D.: So coming here for CompSci is not a smart financial move, either.
Dr.D.: Before the dotcom bubble burst, there was hope that you could get a job that would pay off your loans in 3-5 years. No more.
Guy B.: You are kidding me. The university should get those repairs done before someone gets hurt and it could cost them big later.
Dr.D.: No kidding...but the building is a Grand Artistic Statement by a certified Great Architect, and His Handiwork is not to be touched.
Guy B.: That's happening to a lot of the manufacturing jobs. Doing then elsewhere for cheap labor.
Dr.D.: They closed the sidewalk last winter...cheaper than fixing the roof--which the architect swore would not have this problem.
Guy B.: So, they cannot do much of anything on that then?
Dr.D.: A truly liquid and global economy means that everything will equilibrate at about the 18th-century peasant level.
Guy B.: That's not good.
Dr.D.: Our entire continent is too expensive compared to large areas of the rest of the world.
Dr.D.: So if there are no barriers to movement of jobs and capital...our living standard must go down.
Dr.D.: Or else we reduce our population by 80%.
Guy B.: Whoa!
Dr.D.: There are too many of us, and not enough "good jobs".
Guy B.: That puts many in a tight spot.
Dr.D.: Supper is coming soon here, Guy, so I think I am going to go.
Dr.D.: Talk to you on Wednesday.
Guy B.: Ok, Dr D. I'll see you Wednesday night then.
Guy B.: Bye
Dr.D.: <poof>
Dr.D. left chat session
Guy B. left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
moved to room Meeting Place
left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Rickzzy

AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2003-09-06
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