Hooray! I got my vipassana meditation course in the mail today. It looks very good, and should make various relatives worry even more about this boy. Last night I chose to mediate on empathy as suggested in one of the Dalai Lama's books. It was actually kind of wrenching as I tried to imagine how some of my friends and family members must feel in the difficult situations they face. Next time I'll meditate about scuba diving or something else pleasant.

I stumbled onto a coworker's blog the other day. I envy this guy's enthusiasm about reading and dissecting legal and philosophical writings. These days, I'm lucky if I can get throught the letters section of the "Atlantic Monthly" and can figure out whatever it is the letter-writers are talking about.