The rest of the weekend was good; Jenelle and I watched "Bridge on the River Kwai" on Saturday in an effort to boost our knowledge of the classics, shopped for a sofa a little bit on Sunday, played Scrabble in the evening, and generally took it pretty easy.

Today is FIN503 midterm day. I'm not too stressed. As Josh pointed out at M-Trek Monday Huddle, though, this means you are either over-prepared or not prepared enough to be scared. Thanks to don't pointing that out earlier, buddy! Interestingly I have two scheduled events after the 7:00 pm conclusion of testivities: Go Blue! Rendezvous hospitality committee meeting (for which I'm not sure how I got involved) and S3 Whirly Ball. Late nights are good nights, I guess, but when am I going to get my pre-reading done for Thursday? No, seriously! When?

A day of studying invariably leads to some straying from work via the internet. Today churned up a throwback reminder to look in on our mighty little Mars Rovers. Spirit and Opportunity are both chugging away, whirring electrically across the Red Planet, abrasing rocks and beaming pictures back for all to share.

Finally, a thought about the USA Patriot Act. I wouldn't consider myself to be a civil liberties nut (though others may) but I saw a bumper sticker this weekend that hit home because it imparts wisdom from another time on our ever-more-wary society. As I've long lamented, terror is not beaten in the sense that it can be monitored and scouted and snuffed out once it becomes organic, and to attempt this is fruitless. Now I have a Winston Churchill quote to corroborate my sentiment:

Those who would trade a little freedom for a little security will soon find they have neither.