...so everyday, down Newport Avenue, there's this guy. Sits there
everyday on a park bench. No big deal in itself, but the thing is he has
this big wooden sign leaning up against the bench everyday. I think he
repaints the sign everyday. It's a big, white hunk o' wood with black
letters. The first day I drove by it said, "Blessed is he who cuts
through the bullcrap."

The second day it said, "An (the) answer always brings more questions."

I forget what it said today. But I asked around, and sure enough, that
dude is out there every day. About a block down the road from him there
is a "Christian Science" church...dunno if there's a link here, but no
one's quite sure what to make of the guy. Next time I see him, I'm gonna
pull over and talk to him. I'll letcha all know.

Speaking of nutcases, I went to "Jack-in-the-Box" for lunch. This is the
most depressing place I've ever been. There was this dude that looked
like Dustin Hoffman sitting at a table and talking to himself. You know
the type; the kind of guy you stare at until he glances at you, then you
try to pretend you were looking at the potted plant beside him, in case
he wants to kill you. He must be a very funny man, since he would let
out this high-pitched, oversmoked cackle every few minutes.

There's a picture of the "founder" of Jack-in-the-Box on the wall. It
looks like something out of the movieization of Pink Floyd's "The
Wall". I think this was an advertising gimmick, but I'm not sure. :)

The lady who took my order for a Chicken Fahita Pita (say THAT five times
fast!) had a badge on that said "Judy; fifteen years of service."

Fifteen friggin' years in a fast-food joint. Kill yourself, Judy. Kill
yourself now.

Anyhow, I'm supposed to go to this Jewish community center Casino Night
tommorow. If I make it there, it'll be a trip, I'm sure.

Got Civ: Call to Power working on Slackware 7. Almost have the Heroes III
map editor compiling on Windows 98, and a GTK framework (thanks to
Glade) hacked together for the Linux rewrite.

Supposedly Loki is moving offices to Irvine (I guess that's nearby) soon,
so I might hold off on apartment hunting briefly. This will be good, so I
can save a week or two of paychecks up before dumping them into rent...
ooh...that reminds me...need to fill out that W4 form. Ugh.

I made the mistake the other day of mentioning that I'm not too impressed
with South Park. People's mouths dropped open. Kayt informed me that of
all the quirky people we have here, the only thing that truly unites them
all is this show. Personally, I think that's a little scary. That and
Quake are the binding elements here. And computer genius, perhaps.

Saw the packaging for Quake 3. Tin boxes. VERY pretty. Comes with SuSE
Linux 6.3, too.

So, I'm gonna reply to some of this mail piling up in my box (thanks to
all that write, by the way!) and be on my way.

Signing off.

--ryan.