I'm finally back home in Chicago, I would like to note that:

  1. I failed the Olin challenge twice in the airport - Lynn Stein was on the plane to Paris that was boarding at the gate across from mine, and then I turn around and get on the plane only to discover Joanne Kossuth on the same flight.
  2. My brother is a cynical little man*. And I say this with as much affection as possible. We are very different people indeed.**
  3. Other families give graduation gifts like... I don't know, cameras, or computers, or even cooking equipment. My graduation present... was underwear. "Well, you need to buy it sometime," my mom says. I must admit that it is a rather pragmatic gift, since it's surprisingly expensive stuff and this certainly saves me money. But still. (And she complains that I'm strange!)

*A hypothetical scenario is probably the easiest way to describe this. Imagine giving each of us a paperclip.

Me: A paperclip! Oh boy, a paperclip! Thank you, thank you! I'm gonna figure out a million things to do with this paperclip - ooh, maybe I could use it as a jumper wire... or a pin... or - hey, look at this shiny paperclip! You want to go find out about how it was manufactured? Hey, could we teach other people how to use paperclips? Wow, a paperclip! I have a paperclip!

Jason: Thank you for the paperclip. How can I get another?

**which is why he's going to Stanford. Something about wanting to study business. Our parents say that we would make a very good partnership (opposites balancing each other out and all that) as long as we don't kill each other first. I told them we got over that back in elementary school when I learned that he could beat me up and he learned that I had a social network (at the time, the network was called "Mommy") that would exact vengeance in my place.

Catching up, thinking, and sleeping a lot. But mostly catching up now.