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Despite a four-year degree in computer science under my belt, I still can't even get an iPod to work. Of course, that might be because I've gutted my computer of Windows, installed Linux and therefore must use a bastard combination of various free tools to get it to work somewhat decently. I guess that it's because of my four-year degree that I can't get an iPod to work.

On the topic of other nerd things, I can now say that I can type on a Dvorak keyboard…

…dr, ,.nn C jab yfl. rb rb.Z Yday p.macbo yr x. o…bv

Well, I have a job now. I'm working in Downtown Denver right in between Coors Field and the Pepsi Center. In less than a month, it's going to be the Democrat's Mecca. I really do like the part about working downtown. Whatever you need is within walking distance: work, bank, food, night life… it's all there. The restaurants are great and close. In just the building that I work in, there is a Moroccan restaurant, a Starbucks, a Chipotle, a Noodles & Company and a Qdoba. If those restaurants aren't sufficient, there's the whole Sixteenth Street Mall to pick from. If there is a lack of anything, it's parking, but that's not a problem for me because, being the environmentalist that I am anyway, I take the bus. It's also convenient because the bus terminal is just right across the street.

It's a pretty upscale environment. However, I wanted to one day get out and walk around the place and fulfil the part of me that is an aimless wanderer, so, yesterday, I did.

I took the shuttle down the Sixteenth Street Mall down to Civic Center Park. From there, I set out into the neighbourhood. Now, there's a saying in Washington, D. C. that says that anything west of the capitol is uncharted territory for your typical suburban-dwelling schmuck. That same rule should apply in Denver. It was a unique experience that I wouldn't really have the time to write about everything. It was quite different to see one of those small, postmodern emergent churches with an obvious ministry to the homeless and, right across the street, a colossal Episcopal cathedral.¹

On one of the street corners in this neighbourhood, I met a man.² This guy was psycho. He was holding a sign that made it obvious that he was begging for change, but when I talked to him, it took about ten minutes for him to actually get around to asking for the money. He started going on and on about how he was some sort of rock legend, but his girlfriend died, and something else happened to him, and something else… I couldn't really quite tell what he was talking about. I really doubt that he could have made any sense from his monologue laced with the fuck word every other phrase about… well, that's the point: it wasn't about anything… at least, as far as I could tell. I knew that if I didn't cut the conversation short, I would still be listening to him now, so I gave him a dollar for some food.

Going back down Colfax Avenue toward the capitol. If downtown was upscale, this part of town was lowscale. Broken concrete sidewalks replaced the nice flagstone pavement on Sixteenth Street. Dive bars replaced your garden-variety microbrewery.³ None of that really bothered me.⁴

As I was walking back, I met a man who wanted some money. He needed bus fare to get on a bus that would take him to the north side of town and then hitch hike to South Dakota. I started to give him a dollar, but when he saw that I had two dollars, the price for a local bus fare, I gave him both of them.

It was a different story today. I walked down the mall to an Arby's for lunch today with a coworker. At just about every street corner, there were people soliciting for Save the Children, advertising a sale or trying to get you to register to vote or something. I felt like such a schmuck for not paying attention… to the people asking for money for children; I couldn't give a crap about some sale. It's just a sad world that we live in, and I can only do so much, but I know that I have to do something.

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1. Still dwarfed by the Catholic cathedral in Denver.
2. «de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme»
3. Well, in Denver, microbrewrys are at least common enough to warrant a class of garden-variety microbrewry.
4. Well, the porn shops certainly did. I hate them.

So, lately, I've turned into a bookworm.

I always thought that I was a bookworm before. Now, I'm a different type of bookworm. I can remember back when I was in the fifth grade. I always checked out the books on science topics or history. My teacher was borderline ticked at me because I never read books “about people”. That really pissed me off. Who was she to tell me what I could and could not read? To this day, I still hold some resentment. The problem is that I don't know why: she was right.

Now, I would love to read books that really don't serve an educational purpose. The problem is that I never end up finishing them. Oh, I've started to read Les Misérables, War and Peace, the epics… I just always get through the first chapter and then put the book down.

Last year, I made a valiant effort to get through Augustine's City of God, but even that didn't even make it halfway through (even the abridged version). I couldn't even read the assigned readings for my literature class (and I hope that Dr. Himes isn't reading this). Sometimes, I had to read books for classes. Dr. Jones assigned us to read Peter Godwin's When a Crocodile Eats the Sun — his memoirs of Zimbabwe's political turmoil and his family's secret. I would very much have liked to read it, but Dr. Jones spoiled the ending for us.

Sometimes, I'll give my father books that I think that he might enjoy reading. I usually regret it when I discover that the books end up becoming used as lumbar pillows (a thought that I can't stand since I hate seeing books destroyed). I've come to realise that giving him thick, tiny-print books like Josephus' The Jewish War won't get read despite the subject matter that I think that he'd find interesting. He did very much so appreciate reading Elie Wiesel's Night — his memoirs of surviving the Holocaust.

My father has also given me a few books to read that he feels I might find interesting. He lent me his copy of Mere Christianity years ago, and I've never even cracked it open. Months ago, he gave me a book called Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I did what I normally do: read the first chapter and then give up. However, after I got back to Colorado, I picked it up and actually started to read it. After I got past a few chapters, I almost couldn't put it down. Krakauer is a fantastic writer. I was familiar with who he was before I picked up the book, and I have to say that I am surprised that an outdoor-life writer for a magazine can write a book dealing with serious philosophical and personal issues while having a fantastic understanding of other literary works outside the realm of camping and fishing.

Anyway, I wasn't even finished with the book before I went out to the bookstore to make some acquisitions. I looked for the Penguin Classics as Penguin Classics have a characteristic that I all books should have: they are all exactly the same size — specifically 5 in × 7¾ in. You might think that that's a trivial reason to purchase a specific series of books. If that's the way that you feel, that's okay; buy whatever books that you want. Just remember this: you're an idiot and are going to need more bookshelf space.

After reading Into the Wild, I was immediately interested in Jack London's Call of the Wild as they take place in the same general region of the globe. Herman Melville's Moby-Dick was another one that I selected since by all standards, it's an amazing literary piece, and I have no idea what it's about, so I'm sure that it will be very interesting. I also grabbed Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter for pretty much the same reasons except for knowing the basic plot. Realising that my entire selection was composed of American authors, I found a copy of Cervantes' Don Quixote which I have always wanted to read, but only had the opportunity to read a condensed version. It would appear that after making such an investment, I have no choice but to read them, so I think that I'll use all of that time that I used to spend studying in college for reading books. Although, it might make more sense to get a job instead…

…but that chapter might just be starting!