My car is sentient.

I know, I know; it sounds crazy. But what other explanation could there be?

This past weekend, I replaced my car’s fog lights because one of them got cracked by a rock. After the new lights were installed, the car ran smoother, was quieter, and had more pep. The car seemed happy. Honest truth.

After I washed and vacuumed my car tonight, the same thing happened: everything got quieter, smoother, and tighter. The car was content.

A similar phenomenon emerges whenever I think about selling my car. The car spontaneously runs better, as if it were trying to convince me not to part with it.

The left half of my brain assures me that it is merely my perception that has changed, just a placebo-type effect. The right half isn’t convinced that the observations can be dismissed as illusion.

I was talking with my grandpa once about cars. He commented, tongue-in-cheek, that his cars kept running better and better as the years wore on. They just kept getting quieter and smoother! Never mind that his hearing was going out; that was completely unrelated.

Who’s to say that cars aren’t affected by human perception? The common adage that “the best way to have a strange noise go away is to have a mechanic try to hear it” holds some anecdotal water.

Obviously, then, the best way to fix a car’s mechanical problems is to replace a few cosmetic parts, give it a good wash, and have an old person bring it to a mechanic equipped only with a stethoscope. It’ll be purring after that.

Today was a good day.

Today had a high of 48 degrees, which is a new record (the average high is 23 degrees).

Today was sunny, which has been quite rare over the past few weeks.

Today my team at my company took the afternoon off to bowl and play laser tag, all on the company dime.

Today I saw more evidence that a piece of code that I wrote for my forum is doing it’s job, thus solving a huge resource issue that has been plaguing the server for months.

Today I will play ice hockey, which is always fun.

Today I am alive, young, and in relatively good health; the possibilities are endless.

Tomorrow will be good too.

What do you feel passionate about? What is your dream? What do you want to do with your life? While some may dismiss these questions as excessively introspective, I think they are at the heart of human existence. I’m still searching for my answers.

——

About a month ago, I had the pleasure of going to Las Vegas for the weekend with some friends. It was my first trip to the city of sin. Like everybody, I had read about it and seen pictures, but the reality blew me away.

The opulence of the Strip stuns the senses before the plane even lands. Hedonistic excess abounds wherever one turns. On one side of the road, a model of the Eiffel Tower juts from the ground. On the other, a multi-acre fountain glistens in the sun. Both are so out of place as to be gaudy desert blights, evidence of money being spent for the sake of spending money. I wonder what future archeologists will think when they discover a giant black pyramid in the heart of the North American continent?

Our group stayed in one of the newer casinos, the Bellagio. It was far and away the finest hotel in which I have ever had the pleasure of lodging. Amazing lobby, wonderful art in the hallways, incredibly comfortable beds, wonderfully appointed rooms, and a decent view. The card room wasn’t bad either, which was a good thing, because I spent a large amount of time there.

Aside from playing lots of poker, my group also experienced a fine meal at Craftsteak and an absolutely astonishing performance of the Cirque du Soleil show, Ka.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and better yet, I took enough money off of the other poker players to pay for a large chunk of the trip.

——

That leads me to my next adventure. When I went to Europe in 2004, I never had the change to visit the United Kingdom. I’ve been considering a trip to rectify that omission, but it’s never worked out. Well, that’s about to change.

This afternoon, I decided to be spontaneous and take action before the little voices of reason and fiscal austerity inside my head could mount a defense: On the second anniversary of my first trip to Europe, I will be in London, England.

I’ve purchased the plane tickets but haven’t thought everything through, so if you have any advice about places to stay, things to do, or things to see, I want to hear it. Also, in the (admittedly remote) possibility that anybody else wants to go, I’d obviously like to hear about that, too.

You know it’s cold outside when an ice arena feels warm.

Four years ago, this site took on its current form: a blog. Including comments, there are nearly 90,000 words that would require over 250 pages to print out. Therefore, in celebration, let us look back to my favorite five posts. It should come as little surprise that most of my favorite posts are written as stories.

(In reverse order of preference)

• 5 – The tale of car repair
• 4 – The succinct story of the bull run (as opposed to the more detailed account)
• 3 – The narrative of my triathlon experience
• 2 – The story of Bid Tuesday
• 1 – The Porsche

Two more posts that almost made the list are my commentary on Duck Duck Gray Duck and my first homecoming as an alumnus.

For the curious, here is my longest entry and my shortest post.



Here’s to many more years of writing!