I wrote a few entries both here and at Xanga, but more recently I just seem to be using Xanga.

I have been awarded an MS in Investment Management.  You may now call me Master.

With honors, as it turns out.  And with an attractive CD wallet, which they handed out after the ceremony.  I hadn't expected either.  Though I hadn't really thought about either, anyway.  I get to keep the cap and gown, so I'm pushing off laundry by an extra day.

The speeches were less boring but more numerous than I had feared.  Several of them had points, though I don't think any of them had points that you haven't heard if you've ever been to a graduation ceremony.

In other news, my cell phone no longer receives incoming calls.  I've been unable to receive voice mail on that line for several weeks.  I should probably get a new phone.  I know what you're thinking -- "isn't it a good thing that people can't call you?" -- but most of the calls I get on my cell phone are actually worth answering.

I saw "Rear Window" the other night.  A few weeks ago, I saw "Road to Perdition", which is probably the darkest Hope and Crosby movie to date.

Why, yes, I am out of things to say.

Monday, I promised a story about a job my dad was on in 1975.

He's a civil engineer. The first time he was assigned to oversee a crew of sewage pipe-layers, he would, on occasion, need some guidance. The main civil engineer at the company he worked for did a lot of drinking, and the other partner was a mechanical engineer had no advice to offer except "use your best judgment". Fortunately, they didn't have a telephone in the field, so when they needed a call from the engineer, and he didn't know what to do, he'd drive off to a parking lot, sit and think for a while, then drive back and say, "the office said we should do this," presenting his decision as that of someone with more experience.

One day he was eating lunch with the foreman of the crew -- just the two of them. The foreman, who was also fairly green, mentioned that his boss spent most of his time in Mexico. When he had to make a hard decision, he confessed, he would drive to a parking lot, think about the problem for a while, then drive back and say, "the office said we should do this."

I spent the weekend (and a couple of days before) in Iowa with my folks. Not nearly enough time for a decent visit, but I've had quite a bit of classwork to do (some of which I did there).

The anchor of my trip was the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

On the way out of Omaha, Dad and I took a quick drive around Carter Lake, Iowa, the only city in Iowa west of the Missouri River.

I saw presidential campaign ads, which we don't get much in Massachusetts. Bush thinks Kerry is weak on defense, and Kerry thinks companies that produce drugs should go out of business (my interpretation). I did see a fluffier Kerry ad that I kind of liked, where he essentially (re)introduced himself and listed a few general priorities.

I was also going to repeat a story my dad told me about a job he had in 1975, but it's getting late, and I have class in the morning, so I'll just leave this teaser and get back to that later.

Mi hermano estaba in town over the weekend; a student of his, from his days as a TA, was running in our humble local footrace. She seems to have done it in a bit over four hours, which is pretty good considering that it was 84 degrees. I was exhausted when I got home yesterday, presumably from watching the race.

I have two tests tonight. I don't really care much about the second one, but I'm a little stressed about the first. There's some stuff I know, and nothing I completely don't know, but there's quite a bit that I only sort of know. I think I've identified which paper is most likely to do me good, so now I'm off to read that.

My boss doesn't like the hassle of selling cars, so when he replaces one of his, he gives the old one away. And he has a car to get rid of, though he offered it to a friend of his before learning of my car trouble. He tells me that if his friend doesn't take it, I can have it. Coolness, especially if it happens, but, frankly, even if it doesn't.

So, what else? Saturday, Katie and I visited the Arboretum. It was nice.

My brother will be here this coming weekend.

I took my car to a mechanic today. I got a call a few hours later advising me to take it somewhere peaceful and put a bullet in its head.

Katie has been offered a job in Greece. I suspect she'll take it. I think she should.

I got a haircut today. That went pretty well, I think, so I guess not everything is going against me.