Thursday, October 11, 2001

There is nothing quite like sitting on the floor of Barnes & Noble and having Carmina Burana play in the background. I was there over lunch today. I have begun my decent into total geekdom today -- I bought a book titled something like "A 15-Hour Crash Course in ASP". Guess what I'm doing this weekend!

Last night I watched what I think was a National Geographic special on PBS on underwater excavation. I think if I ever decide that I hate the field I'm in, I would definitely go that route... become a treasure hunter. I have been fascinated with Mel Fisher and the Atocha since the first time I watched Dreams of Gold: The Mel Fisher Story. Someday I will buy one of those gold coins. I think, after half a lifetime of being completely taken with the story, I should have one.

After all, I do have some seafaring blood in me. Now sit back and get comfy for your history lesson, kids. Way back in the year 1615, there was a man named Isaac La Maire who was in search of another trade route around South America besides the Strait of Magellan. "He meticulously and skillfully planned an expedition and enlisted the assistance of Willem Cornelisz.lSchouten, a master mariner who had journeyed thrice to the East Indies and who also believed in the likelihood of a new passage." Schoutenlbecame chief navigator and skipper of the Eendracht, which in early 1616 became the first European ship (possibly the first ship ever) to sail past South America across the open sea.
--information taken from Mercator's World

Song for the Day:
O Fortuna - from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff