Rob’s Blog

I noticed something kind of jarring yesterday when I tried to research something that happened in 1985 or so back in Kirkwood, MO. One of my middle school science teachers killed another teacher in the same school and then himself, although this was after I had left.  Now, you’d think that this would be something on which something had been written, especially in light of the recent killings at City Hall there.  Papers often publish little lists of murders after a big tragedy like the most recent one, and even more so when the town in question is a “typical American suburb.”

So I did my best Google-fu and found nothing.  Not one mention that  could find.  Not surprising, when I thought about it.  After all, it was a long time ago, and teachers killing other teachers isn’t the kind of story that places like to have covered over much.

That left me with a strange feeling of disconnectedness.  If I can’t find it on the Internet, then did it really happen? I found a profound existential chasm there that I hadn’t previously expected.  What does it say about me and my reliance on the Internet for information?  I take for granted the fact that most everything that I want to know is available within minutes of opening a web browser, and when I can’t find something that I think of as relatively big, well, that threw me for quite a loop.

I have to add that I probably could find something with a Lexis-Nexis search, but that is a layer deeper than I felt I should have to go.  If it isn’t instant…

One more stinking day till the Pennsylvania Primary is over.  I can’t wait. I took a bit of a break back there a few weeks ago, but now I’ve slowly dropped back in.  Not a good thing at all. 

Even knowing that it doesn’t make a bit of difference in the big picture, I still find myself paying it more attention than it deserves.  I suppose that I should get another hobby.

On a related note, The Four Hour Work Week  did not create a new life for me as I expected it would.  I have to admit that the idea of automating my life so I can get down to some serious relaxing seems great.  But, of course, it assumes that I can actually think up a thing or things to sell (e-books!) and then sell them.  It just isn’t for me, I think. 

I am now reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence which is a good book so far, even if the narrator is crazy.  I think I’m becoming jaded, because I see Phaedrus’ search for ultimate truth as a bit naive.  It doesn’t matter what is true in some greater objective sense, because nothing is true for more than one observer.  Before you point out gravity or some other mundane aspect of what we call reality, let me say that no one can say exactly how it works, and without an explanation, I humbly submit, it can be observed, but not relied upon as true in a philosophical sense.  This does not mean it isn’t practically true, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.

So, I took a break of about three weeks from the Presidential race. I’m very glad I did.  I worked for a local congressional campaign and went to the convention here in Minnesota’s 3rd CD.  It was a great time, full of drama and so forth, and an unexpectedly tense finish.  I have to say that Terri Bonoff was very gracious in her concession, and she handled her loss like a professional.  I expect that we haven’t heard the last of her in higher office.

Also, today I have a cold.  Grr.