I'm posting early because I expect to come home late tonight from proctoring, and since I'm getting up early for work, I want to be able to go straight to bed.
This morning I prepared my loan documents as far as I was able, created an internet posting to sell my drafting board, made a flyer for it, biked to Penn, Drexel, and CCP to post my flyer, did some push-ups once I got back, continue analytically reading the Klosterman article, checked my e-mails, and after this I'm going to make some dinner and go to the Kaplan center.
It was cool seeing Drexel and CCP more in depth than I had previously. Each is an entirely separate world of students, teachers, projects, concerns, money, etc. Like discreet cities within the city. Penn gets most of the exposure, but the others seemed quite vibrant (at least socially).
Analytical reading is so rewarding. Sometimes I wish I could go through St. John's again and spend even more time analyzing and carefully reading the books. I mean, I did well, but it fell short of my ideal vision of Program immersion. In any case, it's gratifying to be resuming my reading activities in some form similar to that at St. John's, though I think the pieces I'll read from now on won't be as colorful or as imaginative.

I prepared for my class, biked to Temple, taught my class, biked back, did some pushups upon returning, ate dinner, posted my PDA on ebay for sale, filled out more forms for my loans, figured out some practical stuff, and responded to my e-mails.
I can't say strongly enough how much I'm enjoying my Charlie Parker CD. I remember someone once said in Senior Math Tutorial, "How did Einstein see it this way? What could have possibly lead him to envision the universe in such a fashion?", to which another student responded, "who knows--where do the notes come from that Charlie Parker plays? They're completely inconceivable". Yeah, so anyway, since then I've wanted to listen to more Charlie Parker, and I'm glad that I have.
It's hot in herr these days. No air conditioning or fan in my living room. I guess I could get a fan, but I feel like it's a waste of money for such little time remaining.
Eva's sister didn't end up coming here because her flight was delayed, so the stuff is still in the apartment. I'm not worried about it, just so long as I don't have to do something with it when it's time for me to move.
Tomorrow I'm proctoring at night, but other than that I have the day free. I might invite Lizzie over for coffee if I talk to her again. Otherwise I want to work on my loans, get my other items for sale up on the internet, and if possible, spend some time working on my pre-work.

I worked on loan applications, cleaned my MacBook, did some academic assignments for MIT, worked out, ate dinner with my dad at Sahara, and continued doing loan stuff later on.
Most student loan articles that I've read recommend the PLUS loan because it has a fixed interest rate, unlike others that are attached to an index. Ok, that's fair, but what about the fact that the interest rate sucks? 8.5% is pretty bad. I got pre-approved for a private loan at (prime rate - 0.5%), which would make my current rate 4.5%. With bonuses and stuff, and I could get that down a full point during repayment. I know the prime rate goes up, but it would have to go up to 9% to even equal the PLUS loan, and I was looking over the historical trends and anything greater than 9 is very rare. At this point, I'm inclined to take the 4.5%.
Last night before going to bed I finished the excerpt of Ebeneezer Howard's Garden Cities of To-Morrow in the City Reader. That one seems right up there with Jane Jacobs in terms of inspiration factor. His general idea about bringing many of the positive qualities of the country into the city, such as fresh air, trees, and clean water, is one of my basic values in planning. Today I read an op-ed piece by Charles Murray about the impending white underclass arising from increasing illegitimacy rates, and later I read Arguments For and Against Planning by Richard Klosterman. Both readings were assigned as summer work, and they asked that we follow a method similar to the HTRAB method in analyzing them. It was sweet--I feel like I can say that I have inspectionally read both pieces and analytically read the first. Tomorrow I'm going to finish "analyzing" the Klosterman piece.
Everything else was good today. Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser really does work well on the MacBook's palm rest area. I cleaned the palm rests, keys, screen, repaired the main disk and permissions, and took care of my updates. It's still a pleasure to use this computer.

I visited my sister and her boyfriend in Devon, which was cool, but the dietary discipline flew out the window for that time. Once I got back, I studied my lesson, biked to Temple, taught my class, biked home, got Radio France working on my computer, made a round of beans, rice, and vegetables that should last a few days, planned my trip to Annapolis, made granola, e-mailed some people, and next I'm going to read and go to bed.
Tomorrow I want to work on securing my alternative loan, get in a good exercise session, and work on my academic pre-work. I basically have the entire day to get stuff done, which should be fantastic.
Watched L'Avenue Montagne, which was good. The visuals were pleasing and the characters were charming, but the narrative seemed a bit weak. Apparently Paris Je T'Aime is the same movie except way better.
I spoke to Eva tonight. It was nice to talk to her but it was weird as I would have expected. I actually don't want to get too much into stuff so personal on here.
While I was eating I listened to Charlie Parker's Complete Verve Bop Quintets. It's so good, but I'm in such an undeveloped stage in my understanding of jazz. With regard to jazz, I'm in the same place as I was with regard to classical music in about 2001. At least I know some of the basics, I love it, and--thank you Mr. Franklin--there are glorious libraries making CDs like the aforementioned freely available to me.