four:eleven a micro-journal by john w. cooper

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dec 1999
31
friday
Gina and I are lying close together in bed, she's stroking my beard.
30
thursday
"You gonna poopy in your pants?"
"Poopy in your pants?!"
"Not again." 
- Gina, Kory, and Koralleen
29
wednesday
"John wiped his butt at Hooters! John wiped his butt at Hooters!" 
- Gina
28
tuesday
"aaaAAAAAAAGH!"
"There's only plastic between us."
- a parrot and Gina
27
monday
"Three, two, one, fly."
"He forgot --"
- Skycoaster announcer and me
26
sunday
"I might as well get rid of this now."
"Get rid of it now?"
- me and DennDad
25
saturday
"You lost?!"
"Well -"
"Hey, we were way up."
- Grant and me
24
friday
I'm walking through the grocery store looking down each aisle for a hint of phyllo dough.
23
thursday
"Bahks, Bahks."
"It really hurts..."
"Coulda been like a..."
"Bahks! A Bahks!
- Gina, Lori, me, and Gina
22
wednesday
"They know each other very well and they've been hanging out and talking a lot for months."
- Gina
21
tuesday
"It takes a long time at two hours a week, doesn't it?" 
- Peter Abel
20
monday
'A winding stair leads to the crypt, where ghastly, mummified remains are placed in a ghostly row, grinning resentment at the curious.' 
- Frank H. Probert, National Geographic July 1916
19
sunday
"It's not like just an Ultima Online where you're running around in real time going into towns and chatting with other characters..."
- Kory Heath
18
saturday
"Said I tried to make a man-made flood and everything else."
- President Johnson, taped telephone conversation
17
friday
'The object, for some people, is to get in touch  with spirits (whatever they are) by relinquishing conscious control of motor nerves.'
- me
16
thursday
'Payloads included the Developmental Flight Instrumentation (DFI) and the Aerodynamic Coefficient Identifications Package (ACIP) pallet...'
- STS-1 mission brief
15
wednesday
(I always forget, that place closes at four.)
14
tuesday
'Re: mom's poetry' 
- subject in email In box
13
monday
I'm ambling down the empty hallway toward my office, hands in my pockets, humming.
12
sunday
"Is it good?"
"Mm hmm."
"I like these onions." 
- me and Gina
11
saturday
'They stayed there for about 19 years gathering dust, but occasionally one of the balls would roll its way to a more frontal portion of my conscious mind.'
 - me
10
friday
"With a difference that for gamma ray bursts we are only recently getting reasonable data..."
- Bohdan Paczynski
9
thursday
I lock the key box and put key number six into my pocket.
8
wednesday
"Along with the typical 'put together' crafts, Christmas ornaments, you know, that kind of stuff."
- me to Peter Abel
7
tuesday
'R  NEUTRALIZE
 Y  TAKE PROGRAMMED
 G  GIVE ANY
 B  PROGRAM' 
- my Wetware notes
6
monday
'hieroglyphics john coleman alphabet' 
- search entered in Google
5
sunday
"I thought I've seen bikers up there quite a bit."
- Rich
4
saturday
"That if you started with a game that has one master you can come up with a variation where everyone is a master."
"Right -- the problem with that is..."
- me and Kory
3
friday
'Utilities & Games'
- www.flashpoint.com
2
thursday
"F on one side, and G on the other..."
- me (to myself)
1
wednesday
"Um, you might have to remove that... shim." 
- John Marketon

 
nov 1999
30
tuesday
"Actually, to the left just a little bit more - "
"Yeah, I still have a bit of garbage up there."
- John Marketon and Peter Abel
29
monday
"The second round of grantees is yet to be decided."
- unknown woman on CNN radio
28
sunday
"All right! Drum solo!" 
- Andrew Looney
27
saturday
"Well who? There was nobody else."
- George McBeal on Ally McBeal
26
friday
("Any X?")
- unknown man in a dream
25
thursday
thxindians
"Whoa! Whoa, that's a hawk. You can't eat a hawk."
- Thom Cooper
24
wednesday
'The argument that Shakespeare couldn't have written a play like Romeo and Juliet without being in touch with his emotional side and experiencing similar events in life at that point deserves some consideration.'
- Ram Samudrala
23
tuesday
"What if you're pointing a flashlight right at the detector? What if you're shining it around the chopper?"
- me
22
monday
'I whose mere name has kept this country safe,
 I that in early days have driven out
 Maeve of Cruachan and the northern pirates...'
- W. B. Yeats  On Baile's Strand
21
sunday
"Oh, there was a space."
"Oh. Really?"
"Yeah."
- me and Kory Heath
20
saturday
"Whose sailboat was it? Who'd you go with?"
"Oh, well, I was in this Explorer Post."
- Gina and me
19
friday
[odd day]
'...when the story proper resumes, CuChulain is married to Emer instead of to Eithne Ingubai, and Loeg is making a second trip to the otherworld with Li Ban.'
- Encyclopaedia of the Celts: Cuchulain
18
thursday
I dip my broccoli spinach stuffed pizza into marinara sauce and look across the almost empty fast food restaurant while another lousy soft rock love song starts playing.
17
wednesday
I'm turning a little knob, zeroing the automatic ranging feature for my spectrometer.
16
tuesday
"It's unfortunate that you won't do the things that you want to do..."
- Leo D. P.
15
monday
"How's the beer situation there?"
"Pretty bleak, but I found the only bar in town."
- me and Jim Butler
14
sunday
"Well you owe me some cash, as I recall--"
"Oh damn!"
- Kory Heath and me
13
saturday
I close the refrigerator and say "OK -- water."
12
friday
I look at the four quarters in my hand, and then at the soda machine.
11
thursday
[vet's day]
'...greasy-haired guys with goatees and an ability to instantly calculate the odds of any occurence rolling 325.456-sided dice and shouting "Yes! I rolled 234. That gives me 3412 points, so I seduced her!...'
- Lord [INSERT NAME HERE] on alt.discordia
10
wednesday
'Much more is described about "citizenship" later, and in other reports and articles available elsewhere - such as the many undesired, and usually unrealised consequences of being a "citizen".'
- David T. Freeman
9
tuesday
I'm taking the last bite out of my apple.
8
monday
Switching to G-20-1200 grating during six-foot sphere calibration.
7
sunday
"I have castanets!"
- Izolda
6
saturday
I'm washing my hands and wondering if Booda is stealing a cupcake.
5
friday
'jodi.org is being escorted out of the building' 
- http://www.snarg.net/
4
thursday
"That's the sort of attitude that I might have. You can't come around here with an attitude like that."
- Peter Abel
3
wednesday
"We were both asleep."
"Heh! Yeah."
- Gil Smith and me
2
tuesday
"Oh, what are we opening now?"
"The Ames thing."
- me and Peter Abel
1
monday
(One free draw, and then an action; the pieces in the center might have to be stacked.)

 
oct  1999
31
sunday
As I cross Roosevelt Center toward Generous Joe's, a persistent burglar alarm from an unknown direction suddenly stops.
30
saturday
"The game ends when the last card is drawn and then everyone else completes their turn..."
- Joan Wendland describing Showbiz Shuffle
29
friday
"Right. So... chart, add data."
- Peter Abel talking to his computer
28
thursday
"So they're done."
"Actually I think they're pretty good."
- me and John Marketon in his office
27
wednesday
'R   3
 Y   1
 G   2
 B   2' 
- me designing glotz
26
tuesday
"Love of money is the root of all evil."
- me to Jim Butler
25
monday
Entering the six foot sphere calibration lab while stuffing a bunch of keys into my pocket.
24
sunday
"I don't think the -- I mean the character, what's her name, was good..."
- me in the car
23
saturday
"It's just because his stuff to me is very uneven."
- Andy Looney at Wunderland.Earth
22
friday
"AAaAaAaAaagh..."
"Jiminy Crickets, man."
- me and Michael Sonesen (via telephone)
21
thursday
'I recently found out that I had been charged $876.86 for a phone number that I never authorized, for a place that I had not ever lived at.' 
- me, fax to AT&T collections
20
wednesday
'Tatooine orbits a binary star system.  Yet in all the scenes we only see single shadows.'
- Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy Reviews
19
tuesday
"In fact I just turned it around, so you can use that."
- Peter Abel, GSFC bldg. 33, 3rd floor hall
18
monday
"Now -- name three teachers who have had a profound and lasting influence on your life."
- Clifford Stoll, GSFC
17
sunday
'Besides, she preferred even bratty children to adults.'
- Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age
16
saturday
"Yeah, I like Royal Mile too."
- Thom Cooper
15
friday
"And if I can justify it --"
"Yeah, if that's the direction of the calibration..."
- me and Jim Butler
14
thursday
"I can tell this is going to be a problem." 
- me
13
wednesday
"Oops."
"Oh my God. Look out, it's going crazy."
- me and Jim Butler
12
tuesday
Pacing while listening to the approaching service elevator and thinking about carpentry.
11
monday
(Maybe I should get Gina a hobbit present; she's been so nice to me.)
10
sunday
'"I was just doing my job, man," she says.  "This Enki dude wanted to get a message to Hiro, and I delivered it."'
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
9
saturday
"I could've counted something wrong here --"
"It doesn't look very long."
- me and Gina
8
friday
'the man whom nature self had made
To mock herself, and truth to imitate...
under mimic shade,
Our pleasant Willy, ah! is dead of late.'
- Edmund Spenser (1590)
7
thursday
"Oh. Well, we won't turn down any time to go to the Vegetable Garden... I think."
- me
6
wednesday
(Maybe it should say 19990920 [txt] [gif])
5
tuesday
"You like my solution? A-ha! Time to leave." 
- John Marketon
4
monday
"Oh, you mean this? This is Spectral." 
- Peter Abel
3
sunday
"When he first started that band he was playing drums... and he was terrible."
 - me
2
saturday
Playing Javaquarius; it's my turn and my goal is still fishies.
1
friday
"Everywhere else you go gravity's not much of a variable but you go to NASA and gravity's a variable."
 - Steven Vogel

 
sep 1999
30
thursday
'I would like to see an idea first, along with some terms.'
- Martin Streicher
29
wednesday
"67 grams of sugar in every Dr Pepper."
- me
28
tuesday
(repeat delete)
27
monday
"Turns out a really neat property of this, if you have negative dispersion..."
- Duncan Moore
26
sunday
"Then I came back here to look for you, but you weren't here." 
- me
25
saturday
A fool named "O" is balancing a hoop on a horn on his chin.
24
friday
"...and the whole question was whether this 'T odd' angle leads to time reversal."
- Bradley Cox
23
thursday
'16:11 H990923F  4 LAMPS'
- calibration log
22
wednesday
"Which is strange because I didn't really think that."
- me
21
tuesday
(Is that supposed to read millivolts?)
20
monday
'There are no words for how much he will be missed.'
- Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst
19
sunday
"She probably won't want to go unless Leo can get her to go." 
- me
18
saturday
'Floyd the Storm left our woods "looking like the day after Christmas, with wrappings strewn about," as our friend Rich put it.'
 - GinohnNews
17
friday
"So, the big thing is to prevent infection early in life.  And for that reason many babies are vaccinated shortly after birth."
- Baruch S. Blumberg
16
thursday
'My hair is big as a galaxy
 Cause I attain greater technology'
 - Sushi K from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
15
wednesday
'Taboo'
 - HotBot religion and sex
14
tuesday
(I'll have to get Gina to turn it over while I look at the injector thingy.)
13
monday
"It marks the place on the scale where these dashes show."
 - Jim Butler
12
sunday
"Oh yeah, the Little Cat likes to drink it too."
 - Alison
11
saturday
"Somewhere between ten and fifteen, right?"
"Mmm, might be less than ten."
 - me and Gina
10
friday
"He didn't want the gunmetal gray furniture.  Because he thought it was covered in germs..."
 - Jim Butler
9
thursday
I'm spellchecking "ineffable" in an e-mail to Stacy.
8
wednesday
'Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become drunk from the bubbling stream which I have measured out..."'
 - Gospel of Thomas
7
tuesday
'Having written that, I had the idea to use Nanofiction to fill out the empty space on the inside back covers of the 3 books, since I already have one that relates to Zarcana...'
- Andy
6
monday
"And here are the articles about Julia Butterfly."
- me
5
sunday
"Hey look at that gate."
"Oh yeah..."
"Pretty cool."
- Koralleen and me
4
saturday
Koralleen and I are listening intently to the garbled PA system at the Winchester House in San Jose.
3
friday
(It can probably go in that box without crushing anything.)
2
thursday
"I'm done."
"I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do that."
 - Carol Johnson & Jim Butler
1
wednesday
"Yeah, they've been there already." 
- Mike Fitzgerald

 
aug 1999
31
tuesday
(Amazing how stable these detectors have been.)
30
monday
"Throw the quarterback out."
- Carol Johnson
29
sunday
"Yeah, she'll get me back."
- me
28
saturday
"Mrs. Shimfestle, just how far can you see at a distance?"
- Welcome to the World, Baby Girl  by Fannie Flagg (audio book)
27
friday
"You know -- instead of saying 'FREZ', 'fraEZZa'."
- Jenny
26
thursday
Looking at Tom Waits' Foreign Affairs CD in Archambault, Quebec City.
25
wednesday
"What's that over there?"
- me
24
tuesday
I'm cinching a leg strap on Gina's safety floatation suit.
23
monday
"She was almost complaining that they were there after she left." 
- Jenny
22
sunday
"39, 40, 41 42 43..."
- Gina counting cars coming off a ferry
21
saturday
"Better stay in the slow lane in Quebec."
"I know!"
- Jenny and me
20
friday
"Well, I think I'll go home anyway. I'll go home early."
- anonymous 
19
thursday
"And what car did you get?"
"Oh, I'm getting a, um... rental."
- Leo and me
18
wednesday
"If I were Diaz I'd have a picture in every building."
- Gil Smith
17
tuesday
(Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.)
- line from an old song briefly going through my head
16
monday
'The positional accuracy of information on digitally-produced maps is equal to that of an analog map.'
- USGS report
15
sunday
'F9) Return to previous menu'
- process.exe interpolating program 
14
saturday
"Alright, so you've got X squared plus Z squared equals 55 squared."
- Jake
13
friday
"Have a good weekend."
"See ya, take care."
- Gil Smith and me
12
thursday
'"Quiet, you guys!" Stacey hissed, cupping the phone against her shoulder.'
- Herb Childress, Slumber Party
11
wednesday
"I was too busy to deal with it."
- Jim Butler
10
tuesday
'Press a function key to choose the noise threshold (usually [F4] for .5%).'
- me
9
monday
"It's just weird that a Saturday night stay-over would do that."
- me
8
sunday
"Bawitdaba-da bang-da bang-diggy-diggy-diggy said the boogie-said up jump the boogie"
- Kid Rock on my car radio
7
saturday
(So, do I want a compass with a sighting mirror or not?)
6
friday
"'Calibrate' -- 'Complete' --"
"OK, the first one's done..."
- Gil Smith and me
5
thursday
I'm walking out of the men's room whistling The World I Know (by Collective Soul).
4
wednesday
"Right. Next Thursday other people may be using that room, but nobody will be using the table that's in there."
- me
3
tuesday
'Subject: Hemisphere radiance data 7/99 (from code 920.1)'
- me
2
monday
'Check and adjust zero for autorange feature:'
- me
1
sunday
"Hogarth!!!"
- Annie Hughes, from The Iron Giant

 
jul 1999
31
saturday
"The Cheapass Starbase Jeff."
"Never played it."
-Zarf and me
30
friday
"He should have said 'right when you turn on Hobart...'"
- me
29
thursday
'Keyboard.....Detected
 Mouse........Detected'
- computer display
28
wednesday
'Mended the machine and got it ready to fly as a kite on the plain when a threatening squall at 2 P.M. determined taking it down the hill to the tent.'
- Octave Chanute's Diary: Wednesday, September 16, 1896
27
tuesday
'Furthermore, the Freudian model often assumes that childhood sexual abuse is usually unconsciously repressed...'
- The Skeptic's Dictionary: Memory
26 Pushed the G6-200 computer's power button to turn it on.
25 "Why else would you have human-brained dolphins? I mean sharks."
- Andy Looney
24
23 "Oh! OK..."
- me (to Peter Abel)
22 Redialing Gina (busy again, darn it).
21 "...and then there's 'inspect and adjust emission level.'"
- Gina (over phone)
20 "Hi."
"Hi."
- conversation in snack room with unknown woman.
19 Listening to Hooked on Classics outside of a restroom at Busch Gardens amusement park.
18 "Do me a favor, tell Ishikawa not to go crazy, OK?"
- Tosuga, Ghost in the Shell
17 "Oh, there was a really good one, it was... Ha ha! There it is now! Four
eleven!"
- me
16 'To start measurement press the space bar.'
- 746sig-c.exe program
15 '...returned in early June in a new novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.'
- Steve Bryant
14 (Imagine this little thinky balloon shape showing up in a flowchart.)
13 'the world surrounding fills my every breath'
- me
12 (Well, nothing worth proving was proven there...)
11 "Sweeeeeety...!"
- me to Booda
10 "No, that was my excuse."
- Gina
9 Paging through an XTC discography.
8 "The way I figure, the guy must've been no more than a foot tall."
- Jim Butler
7 'Unfortunately, my "laser" is a silent weapon. I would have to add the sound effects myself.'
- mad_physicist
6 '...she has been known to make someones test messages get through and fnord none of their other ones.'
- Ho Chi Ho Chi Zen from alt.discordia
5 I'm in bed with Gina.
4
'FLIGHT 5146  4:50 PM
BALTIMORE
ON TIME ** HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! ***'
- America West Gate B6 Marquee
3 "In the morning, when my hands are warm from the shower, I have to put it on my pinkie."
- Eeyore
2 Sipping coffee while walking toward Origins convention area.
1 '...and because the biggest driver of the temperature instability is often the sphere source itself,...' 
- me

 
jun 1999
30 'Edit [click] Paste Special... [click] Values [click] OK [click]' 
- Excel menu selections [and mouse clicks]
29 Opening door to exit main sensor calibration lab.
28 'Source:  GSFC 42-inch Sphere (Spike)'
- calibration report
27 "How is the neighbor downstairs?"
- Bare Naked Ladies
26 I am washing and tearing up spinach leaves for a salad.
25 "I have the key; actually John's not coming in... hold on a second." 
- Me
24 "It's the amount of beer Jim Butler can drink in a weekend, or, one hectoliter."
- Peter Abel
23 "Dr. Granite should be in in just a moment."
- a nurse
22 Drawing a small rectangle.
21
Fumbling to install a detector in a monochromator in the dark.
20
"Oh, beer... fridge... here!"
- Maren Mayhew
19
"That's not necessarily a trait."
- Stacy Marders
18
...searching E-bay for an old wooden Go board...
17
"God has a blank card."
- Me
16
"Personalized settings for volume control."
- Peter Abel
15
"All it carries is a penis enlarger, right?"
- Me
14
'What do you want to wear?' 
- NetHack
13
"I hate my job and I want to be a housewife."
- Anon.
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