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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
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10:26 pm - Major Frustration with Dell!!!
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I am really ready to pull my hair out, here! I ordered a laptop from Dell nearly 3 weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived. Now Dell wants to charge me even more for it! Here's the complete story, mostly copied from an email I sent to a manager at Dell.
( More... )
I am looking at alternatives now. Lenovo is my #1 choice. They don't have the same fancy 1900x1200 screen that I wanted from Dell, but you can still get 1680x1050 which is decent. You can also get the Thinkpad T61 with SUSE Linux preinstalled, which I like very much. Dell sells the smaller M1330 with Linux, but not the M1530 for some reason. Does anyone have any other recommendations for laptops with high-resolution screens? I do not want a 17" laptop, it is too big for me. Thanks for your suggestions!
current mood:  frustrated
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, February 15th, 2008
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3:14 pm - Hookah smoking: A dangerous trend
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Consumer Reports has an article on the dangers of smoking hookah/shisha/nargila/water pipes. The World Health Organization released an advisory that "a water-pipe smoker could inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale through 100 or more cigarettes." This is really disturbing. I tried one myself once, on the assurances of a certain friend that it contained NO nicotine. This, I found out later, is completely false and one of the main ingredients is tobacco in addition to the fruit. It also uses charcoal to administer the flavour into the water, which is potentially very dangerous. I certainly hope you all think twice before indulging in this disgusting habit again.
current mood:  pissed off
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, January 28th, 2007
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3:09 am - Istanbul Panoramas
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I used autostitch to create several panoramas out of photos I took in Istanbul. Unfortunately they're not perfect--a little blurry and out of focus in places, but they're still cool! I'm also posting these links to get a free pro account on Zooomr, a new, seemingly more open-source competitor to Yahoo's Flickr. You should check it out!
( View photos... )
I think they are rather cool myself. I just need to work on perfecting the technique and learn the best way to take pictures that can be stitched together. The software is amazing, unfortunately it is closed-source and only available for windows. There are open-source alternatives and I think they work better, but they require a lot of work identifying merge points. This does it all automagically which is really cool!
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 29th, 2006
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3:14 pm - End Daylight Saving Time & Time Zones
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I recently signed the petition at http://www.standardtime.com/ to end Daylight Saving Time, and advocate my position that time zones are useless.
I believe that having separate time zones is unnecessary and reflects poorly on our species' abilities. First off, they simply don't work--there is such a large span of land within 15° of longitude on this planet that there are all kinds of exceptions to the rules. Also, because technology and the internet are unifying the world like never before, it is very important for us all to be using a standardised time scale. For this reason, now more than ever, we must drop the use of time zones, daylight saving time, and any other variance in the measurement of time across this planet.
UTC is the most obvious choice for this, as it is still based on a 24-hour clock and is comfortable to people everywhere. This of course does not mean that people in New York will be getting up in the middle of the night at 07:00 UTC to go to work. People will need to adjust their schedules appropriately to their location on the planet. This would not be regulated--local governments would be free to e.g. impose a "suggested wake up time" of 2 A.M. in New York, or simply leave it up to the individuals and businesses to decide what works for them.
It's time for our society to grow up and manage its own schedule. We doesn't need any governments to do it for us!
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, October 26th, 2006
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1:45 pm - How to steal an election by hacking the vote
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Everyone, please go and read this article:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/evoting.ars
It is very well-written for a non-technical audience, and explains just how serious the current problems facing electronic voting are. This is a very frightening time for "democracy" as they call it. I just hope that there is still time for us to do something about it.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, September 23rd, 2006
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10:22 am - I Miss...Europe
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| Saturday, August 5th, 2006
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12:58 pm - Can't pass up a good deal...
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I know you like to save money, so why don't you go ahead and get FREE SHIPPING when you spend $75 or more on Oberto Sausage Company Beef Jerky? They're knocking off up to 70% on select beef jerky products!
Yes, children, that means that someone, somewhere, is spending 75 DOLLARS on beef jerky! *shudder*
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, July 26th, 2006
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9:50 am - Personal Grooming Advice
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If you ever feel like trimming your nose hairs with your fancy, new personal grooming kit, be careful! Only trim the few hairs that you actually see coming out of your nose, not inside!
I didn't even realise we had so much hair in our noses! So when I discovered this while trying to trim mine, I decided I'd go to town. I don't think I even shaved that much, but it definitely was too much, and too far up in my nose. Now, it hurts whenever I blow it. A lot. I don't think this is because I cut myself inside my nose or anything like that. It's just that that part of my nose is no longer protected by all the hair and is very sensitive to the high pressure of blowing it. I never would have guessed! I hope you enjoyed this GroomBlog.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 29th, 2006
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6:14 pm - Americanism should be classified a mental illness...
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What the hell is wrong with Americans? We're afraid to prosecute the horrible people in our society yet we throw the book at others who harm no one! Now I usually refuse to watch local news, but sometimes I'm around while my grandpa is watching it. Just in this newscast, I've seen the following:
Some idiot pikey woman in North Dakota left her baby locked in her minivan all fucking day. She claimed that she "forgot" that she had not dropped the baby off at her daycare. What the hell? You can't "forget" that you never went somewhere! And even if she really is that stupid, it's still criminal negligence, and must be prosecuted! But the report said that police did NOT expect to file charges. This just makes me so angry. It's shameful.
Second, they reported on the dedication of the Hindu Temple today, and how they are NOT planning on charging the idiots who caused all the damage with a hate crime, because the boys "did not know it was a temple." What the hell did they think that building was? That is total bullshit. The only other huge buildings like that out in the middle of nowhere that I know of are churches. It's really ridiculous that they are going to let them off with that excuse!
Then the third thing is that the government was getting off on the fact that they took down some Canadians that were "smuggling" marijuana into the country with a hellicopter. They waste so much damn time on this when they could be doing something important like, oh, terrorism? They talk about how evil these drug users are, and how bad Canada is for having a more relaxed attitude toward pot. It's just so outrageous.
Then finally, we have all these politicians doing horrible, criminal things and completely getting off with it. We would rather abide by corporate mandates to prosecute children for downloading music and TV stations for showing nipples and saying, "shit."
I'm just really pissed off right now, and reminded of just why I hate this country SO much. Oh well, I'll stop ranting now and go back to being depressed.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, May 8th, 2006
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6:18 pm - Acme Comedy Company
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Well as I've mentioned to some of you before, Acme Comedy Co. has a special birthday promotion allowing you and 5 friends to go for free. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, so I figured what better time to go than for my own birthday! It has to be a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night in May. Please let me know if you're interested in coming and which night works best for you. Right now I'm thinking about Wed. 17 May featuring Andy Kindler. Please let me know right away so I can make a reservation.
Better hurry, only the first 5 of my friends to respond get to go, because you're obviously cooler, smarter and prettier than everyone else.
Just kidding, I know I don't have more than 5 friends.
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| Thursday, April 20th, 2006
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10:14 am - IdiotBox
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8:26 am - Copacabana!
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The next stop on my global itinerary is Brazil. While not necessarily at the top of my list, it's always been a place I wanted to visit. I had a week of vacation coming up, and I was going to go to London, but since Dan was going to be in Brazil teaching at around the same time, I decided I should jump on the opportunity to join him. (Yes, I should get over my fear of travelling alone but I just don't have as good a time.) I know at least one of you has been there before, and I'd love to get some advice or recommendations!
I know it's horribly touristy, but I think I'll be spending almost all my time in Rio de Janeiro, since this is where Dan's class is, and with only 5 days there it's hard to fly anywhere else in the country. If I fly into Sao Paulo first, I might consider going into the city to check it out, but I've heard it's a pretty dismal place.
On the 29th we're flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is a place I knew nothing about before I started checking it out for this trip, and it looks like a really cool city! Dan also wants to catch a ferry to Montevideo (the one in Uruguay , not MN!) while we're there, so we'll see.
Brazil is the first country I've gone to where I actually needed a visa (well for Turkey I was able to purchase it on arrival). Because the U.S. charges Brazilians a $100 fee for any kind of visa, they have decided to reciprocate. Naturally I think this is wonderful as I love to stick it to the Americans any way we can (and for most Americans who can actually afford to fly to Brazil it is no problem anyway). It is frustrating, however, since if I had my EU passport I wouldn't have to pay anything! Oh well, one day... I overnighted my passport to the consulate in Chicago and am hoping it gets back today (it was sent on Tues according to usps.com). It would really suck not to be able to go because I'm waiting for a visa the damn, racist U.S. government makes me apply for. Luckily no visa is required for Argentina. :)
Right now the flight I want (CO out of IAH) isn't looking good, which means I'm going to end up getting stuck on DL out of ATL. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wait in the airport for 8 hours! As long as I get there, though, it will be worth it. Coming back I'm not sure about yet, but will hopefully be CO, but possibly AA through MIA. Just have to wait and see which one looks open.
I haven't even decided what all I want to do once I'm there. I'm hoping Dan will have a better idea after being there for a week. Of course I want to see all the big attractions, the beaches, Sugar Loaf, MegaChrist... The surrounding landscape really does look gorgeous. I also want to go hang-gliding! At first I was just kind of throwing this idea around as a joke, but as I've looked into it, I've really gotten excited about it. It's only $100 to go with a trained pilot and I'm sure it will be a blast. Other than that, I'm really looking forward to the food, which I'm sure will be great.
Well, that's all, again any recommendations please let me know. I'm going to try realy hard to write in my journal every day this time, but we'll see. My hotel is supposed to have wifi (reminder: need to sign up with Boingo), assuming I actually spend any time IN my hotel! Anyway, wish me luck!
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| Wednesday, February 1st, 2006
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9:11 pm - When Pluto Striked Back
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Tonight my mom showed me this old story I had written in 1st or 2nd grade. I was really surprised, I didn't realise I had such forward-thinking aspirations at such a young age. :-) It's really great, I hope you enjoy it!
( When Pluto Striked Back )
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, January 11th, 2006
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7:47 am - Why does Paris hate me?
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Yet again this place has burned me, and I am not happy. I arrived at the airport this morning at 4:15 to stand by for the 5:45 flight from Istanbul to Amsterdam. Needless to say, I got next to no sleep. Of course that one was full, and KLM pretty much told me not to even bother for the later flight. I waited in about 5 more lines and got listed for the Turkish Airlines flight to Amsterdam, but they were full too. I noticed they had a flight to Paris, and they were willing to accept my ticket to Amsterdam and let me go. Of course I had to wait in so many lines to accomplish this, and get a supervisor to approve using the ticket, that I was really late by the time I got my boarding pass, and the line for passport control was HUGE. I waited, managed to get through in about 25 minutes, with 3 minutes before my flight left! I raced down to the gate, only to discover ANOTHER security checkpoint and another line to wait through. I could see my gate through the glass, and was panicking but managed to make it through security and ran over to the gate. There were several other late-comers there and they were holding the flight!!! It was a really nice flight, actually, I must compliment Turkish Airlines. The interior was nice, they served a really nice meal. It just shows once again how much Northwest Airlines is a joke of an airline and sucks in every conceivable way.
Anyway, because we were waiting for people, we got into Paris about a half-hour late. I was in the back of the plane, of course, so the immigration line took forever. This flight came to Paris Orly airport, so I had to take the train to Charles de Gaulle.
At this point it was about a quarter to 12, I was running late but thought I would still be fine. The train took forever, though. I got to the CDG stop at 1 PM. There are two stops, and I had this feeling that Northwest was at the 2nd stop, but the nice sign on the RER said it was at Terminal 1 so I got off at the first one. Of course, this sign must have been 10 years old!! Once I found out I was at the wrong place, I raced back down to the train, having to wait another 10 minutes for the next one, and go to Terminal 2. I again was racing through the airport, and got up to the counter at 1:15. Now, in the US this would be no problem, since I'm an employee and we actually treat each other decently, and we issue boarding passes at the gate for standby, not at the counter. Apparently this concept doesn't exist in Europe. There's no such thing as a gate pass, you have to have a boarding pass to go through security, not even my employee badge would let me through. So in spite of all my begging and pleading, I could not go to the gate or try to get on my flight which had 70 fucking seats open on it. Even worse, there is no real Northwest ticket office here. Air France handles everything, so I can't buy a standby ticket on another airline--AF has a flight to Atlanta I could have gotten on, or at least a flight to Amsterdam. Oh well, nothing to do but watch the minutes tick past as my wide-open flight sits there without me. *sigh*
Now I'm sitting in the terminal paying 20EU for an hour of internet access, trying to find a place to stay and I'm just so exhausted and pissed off. I don't know what I'm going to do about work--I have to work at 3:30PM tomorrow, which obviously I won't be able to do. I just have to wait and see what happens I guess. I need to find a hotel, and see if I've got enough energy to go and enjoy Paris tonight. I just don't have a good time by myself. This has been a horrible end to a really good trip, I guess I just have to remember that. Farewell.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, January 8th, 2006
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2:03 am - Travels
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So, as some of you know I got stuck with my vacation from 03-11 Jan. This is a bad time since many flights are still full from new years, college breaks, etc. Well, I couldn't get anywhere cool for a while, then on Thursday night the flight to Amsterdam had a few seats, so I got on it!
I figured I could at least enjoy spending a few days in Amsterdam, but then my friend Zuhal from Turkey convinced me to come visit her in Istanbul. So I spent one night in Amsterdam, enjoying the fine, very well-lit scenery there. ;) The hostel I stayed in could use some work. It was in a great location, right on the edge of the red light district and close enough to everything to walk to, but it had many problems. My room-mates were the worst--4 pikey British guys and one seemingly cool Londoner. They all snored--a lot. I was also still so jet-lagged I didn't get more than an hour of sleep I think. Being in that room you would swear you were in a zoo or something, I've never heard people snore like that! Really loudly, and no one else seemed to wake up! You could hear each person snore/breath individually creating a constant stream of sound. Ugh, I hate thinking about it! Then I woke up about 3 in the morning to the room filled with smoke, two of the idiots were smoking a joint in my damn room! Oh well. It was really the only bad experience I've had at a hostel. Oh and the shower was disgusting. The curtain had dirt all around the bottom, and the shower head wasn't attached to the hose and kept falling off! I was happy to be out of there in the morning!
So I managed to leave the hostel by 8 to grab a train to Schipol for a 10AM KLM flight to Istanbul. I got here yesterday, and after sitting through customs for an hour, finally met up with my friend. She's letting me stay in her home with her family which is really amazing. I so much prefer this setting to exploring a city by myself, from the "outside" and staying in a hotel or even a hostel. So last night we cruised around the city a bit. I still had my bags with me so that was a bit annoying; we didn't stay out too long. Had dinner at a very delicious Turkish restaurant. I'm sorry Istanbul (the restaurant in Minnetonka, that is), but you just can't cut it any more! I look forward to trying some even better places before I leave. :) I met her family and they were all very nice, even though only her siblings speak any English. Her uncle's German was about as broken as mine, but at least we could understand each other. We had a very nice "breakfast" at midnight with good bread, cheese, jam. It really was nice.
Today we're going to go to a Turkish bath, which I think will be very nice from the sound of it! Then we're going to check out some of the sites in the old part of the city and I'll have some pictures eventually.
The only bad part of this trip so far is that I don't know for sure when I can get back! Apparently Wed. is a holiday here, so people will be travelling a bit. Both KLM and Turkish airlines flights are overbooked on the 10th and 11th, and I have to work on the 12th! Oh well, hopefully I won't get fired. :) I'll get around to posting another update soon.
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| Tuesday, December 20th, 2005
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1:07 am - Classic Gaming at its Finest
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Features SPEECH SYNTHESIS technology!
Need I say more?
** Update **
I have reached a working toilet! 9 sheets of paper is enough for satisfaction! Dan is very happy!
I did this!
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| Sunday, December 18th, 2005
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1:25 am - Wednesday
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Tanya and I talked about getting together Wed. night to make some food, watch Extras, play games perhaps? Are you interested? Let me know.
** Update **
Meet at my house on Wed. around 6-7. I'm going to try my best to make Chicken Pad Thai and if you want to bring anything else (like spring rolls!) it would no doubt be appreciated. If you don't know where I live, let me know. I'm only planning on 6-7 people so let me know if you're coming and I don't know who you are. :-)
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| Friday, December 16th, 2005
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1:18 pm - Check out my new ride
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I had a very odd dream this morning. I remember very little, but it definitely involved travelling with Dan and his friend Seth in a drivable refrigerator. We drove (on the freeway!) to this restaurant that had sandwiches and someone asked, "Hey does he look Vietnamese" which I was baffled by, but actually I noticed later there was a Vietnamese guy in the back. So I guess they were Vietnamese sandwiches (thanks Tanya) even though I still don't know what those are. After that we drove to some elaborate beach party with a bunch of people I didn't know. We pulled up the 'fridge in back and opened it up to reveal quite a bit of alcohol.
The party was split into two levels, one below the house I guess by the beach. That's where I was. Someone was giving out drinks and such. Dan and I went upstairs and I recognised this girl. In the dream I remembered this woman as being a famous actress I had looked up online who also studied nanotechnology. (I know of such actress in the real world, unfortunately.) Anyway, I proceeded to ignore everyone and go in back towards the 'fridge.
In it there were these little bottles of "liqueur" which looked like spice bottles, and actually contained tiny little pebble-shaped balls of what apparently was a liqueur-gelatine-type substance that had to be melted down and properly mixed with spices or whatever into the proper liqueur. I don't know where that came from! But there were about 15 bottles of this stuff. There was also this pizza dough mix, and something else I can't remember at the moment.
I came back empty-handed, and the nano-actress girl was sitting on a log in front of a camp fire (I guess there was a fire!) I believe by herself so I was trying to work up the courage to go talk to her, and then noticed my sister was there right behind her talking to someone. I went past them both and over to Dan who was with some other people. Looking out over the lake it was absolutely gorgeous, with a few colours in the sky and the moon reflecting on the water, and I think some guy in a boat in view also. I yelled for Dan to take a picture, and I think he had, and the next time I looked the moon had just kind of faded away (perhaps it was covered by clouds, perhaps it had been blown up, who knows). After that the dream gets fuzzy, perhaps I woke up. I just thought it was all very odd, especially the refrigerator-car, that was pretty cool. So, make what you will of that!
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, December 12th, 2005
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10:51 pm - Pavlovian Response
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This is really disturbing. Whenever I look at a bag of Red Hot Blues tortilla chips, thinking about eating them, my mouth literally starts to water, immediately. It's bizarre! I don't like it, I must have control!
Oh well.
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| Tuesday, November 8th, 2005
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12:30 am - The enemy of my enemy is my...
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hackel137's journal