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Fun and Games

Although a grad student might not have lots of free time, I can pretend. There are lots of activities that I enjoy; science is rewarding, but does not make a full life on its own. I love to read, and will read just about anything, although I think I've finally gotten to the point where I realize when I am reading crap and when I am reading something good. I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, even though a bunch of it is crap. At least it is entertaining crap, and occasionally an amazing, powerful book like Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress sneaks in. I also read "serious" novels, although they tend to require a little bit more effort to read so I don't get to as many of them.

As you many have guessed, computers are another passion of mine, and I'm silly enough to be willing to spend half an hour messing around with my computer to get something to work that will save me five minutes. Once I get started, it almost becomes a principle of honor that I finish, even if it becomes a Pyrrhic victory.

I love card games. Playing cards, be it poker, bridge or war, is a great activity because its social, competitive, challenges the mind, and is a lot of fun. I play poker, cribbage, spades, hearts, pitch, rummy, casino, and any other game that people will teach me. One of these days I'll learn bridge. I swear.

One of the great things about the internet is that you can now play card games online when you can't find people around you to play with. I'm not talking about Yahoo's silly java-based spades game, though. I'm talking about Freeverse Software. They make wonderful Mac card games, most of which you can play online at the H.M.S. Freeverse (where I am known as Methadone). If you register, there are even rankings and such. Great customer service too. Hope to see you online there!

On a less sedentary note, I love swimming. I only discovered this during my senior year at Swarthmore. Over the summer, it was really hot and I decided to go swimming. I almost immediately realized that I was horribly out of shape, so I decided to take a swimming class to brush up. Since then, I've been trying to go swimming a couple of times a week at least, and at least so far I've been succeeding. I was thinking about logging how far I've swum, but then I realized that I'm not even sure if the pool I'm swimming in is olympic sized or not. Oh well.

I'm also a huge baseball fan. Or rather, I'm a huge Yankees fan. Have been since back in the days of Mattingly and the "almost there" Yankees, through the 3 world series during my lifetime, and during this troubled season which still has the potential for glory. Since I haven't lived anywhere in the Yankees broadcast area in quite some time, I listen to games online from the Yankee's Homepage. I also try to catch up on baseball news every day with ESPN online, which also lets you check on scores if you are in a hurry.

Other than the above activities, I'm content to merely hang out, have a drink or a cup of coffee with a friend, watch a movie, listen to music, and have a good time. When time allows, road trips and camping trips are also lots of fun.