News on the Ben front:

1. I had a girlfriend for a couple months. Didn't work out. Maybe I shouldn't be so picky at my age and level of acheivements.

2. Had to endure doctor probing. Turns out I have an ulcer.

3. Applying for LSAT and GRE. Taking the LSAT in February. GRE in March. I really don't have any definite goals.
A. I see myself getting a MA in Geography, GIS and Remote Sensing, because I got my BA in that and I've always thought it would be the only way for me to work for NASA. I haven't worked in that field for over 10 years though.
B. I could see myself getting a MA in Criminal Justice, because I work at a prison and it just seems logical if I want to advance at this job.
C. I almost see myself as an environmental lawyer, but I really have no experience in being a do-gooder. Sounds very low paying, time consuming, and a real pain in the ass as well. Couldn't live with myself on the corporate end of that one.
D. Criminal Law? ehh... I don't know.

Maybe I won't apply for the LSAT until I have more definite goals. I can't go wrong taking the GRE though.

4. My uncle Zack lent me his acoustic guitar. I've now built up to playing and singing with it for about 30 minutes a day. Look out Mozart here I come.

5. The drunkenfish is in desparate need of a remake. Could be a project in the works. There doesn't seem too much interest in keeping it a portal site. Although I will still host my friends, there may not be links on the main page anymore for blogs. I'll keep those links for my blog page.

6. I am holding my breath for Huygens on Jan. 14th. I've been waiting for this event longer than I waited for the LOTR to come out after I heard it was being made.

7. The Man makes me wear a coat and tie at work now. I feel fake and uncomfortable.
(Ties are an invention of the devil) Also I have only one dress shirt that I feel comfortable wearing to work now. Apparently I didn't know the rule of a shirt being cheap material if you can see through it. More than one woman mentioned this rule to me after I wore what I thought was a classy shirt. I'll get better shirts for Christmas.

I've been daydreaming at work.

Nearest Stars

Alpha Centauri - 5-6 billion yrs old

Tau Ceti - 12 billion yrs old

Some earth sized planet searching missions in the works:

COROT

Kepler

Darwin

Terrestrial Planet Finder

SIM

Bill Moyers' speech gives me the willies. These are confusing times.

So here’s my take on message construction: Forget about sending mathematical relationships, the value of pi, or the Fibonacci series. Rid your brain of the thought (no doubt borrowed from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") that aliens are best addressed with musical arpeggios. No, if we want to broadcast a message from Earth, I propose that we just feed the Google servers into the transmitter. Send the aliens the World Wide Web. It would take half a year or less to transmit this in the microwave; using infrared lasers shortens the broadcast time to no more than two days.

Good Luck Jesse!