I have used my old first generation Microsoft natural keyboard for almost 10 years. I bought that keyboard when I first entered university. It has survived 4 computer upgrades and still accompany me. That keyboard is still very solid, except a key fell off from the time I dropped the keyboard, so I have to glue the key back using blue-tac. Today my cousin who worked in Microsoft bought me the 4th generation natural keyboard. I asked her to order one for me using employee price, which only costs only 30% compare to Future Shop. She found out it is my birthday and gave it to me as my birthday present. Thankyou Yan Yan! The new natural keyboard is as good as my old one. The keys on the left hand side is slight narrower, so it will take me a while to accustom to it. The keyboard has many extra functional keys. I thought all the keys are programmable, but I am wrong. Some keys has fixed feature, such as pressing the “My Favorites” key will only pop up an useless menu. Overall, other than those minor problems, the natural keyboard is one of the best and most comfortable keyboard on the market.

I finally found a good deal on the air ticket to Haiwaii. I am going to Honolulu at the end of September fore merely 3 days to attend my lasalle buddy’s wedding. I have been hesitated to spend over $1000 on airfare for just a few days in Haiwaii. I was reading newspaper the other day while I was having dinner, I saw an advertisement from travelcuts. The deal is pretty good, return ticket from Vancouver to Haiwaii only $550. The only catch is that it is not direct flight. I have to transfer at Seattle on the way out and Porland on the way back. It is kinda stupid flying to Seattle, as it would be faster drive here. It is interested that my friend has a hindsight that I will come to his wedding. He bought one extra stamps with extact postage to Canada, seems like he is expecting me to come. It is always fun to hang out with my lasalle friends. We have known each other over 15 years, we are just so used the group. I guess I have no other group of friend can match my friendship with them.

Today is the last day of the metaphysics class before exam. The professor havn’t finish making all the essays, but he decided to give us back the ones he had marked. He had only marked all paper in the more popular essay topics regardless when the paper is handed in. One student, a fat lady who choose an odd topic, protest for not receiving her essay back in order to prepare for the exam. She said that those students who get their essay back would have an advantage and it is unfair to her because she handed in the essay on time. She is the only one making a big fuss of it. Other disadvantaged students do not seem to care. Technically speaking there is disadvantage having the paper back for the exam, but I doubt how much advantage will it be. The requirement for an essay is totally different from the exam. It is a mistake trying to answer the exam like writing an essay. No wonder she cares so much about marks, she doesn’t even know proper exam technics. Then I challenge her on the fairness. She could have chosen the more popular topic, then she would have the paper back. Everyone student has a fair chance getting the paper back before exam. The professor does not discriminate against her personal nor promise hand back all the papers at the same time. There maybe a slight disadvantage, but it is definitely not unfair. Therefore I dismiss the fat lady’s claim and I think she is just trouble maker in the class.

Finally, it is the time to say good bye to my wisdom teeth. I thought I could live happily without having them removed. However they start bothering me since a few months ago. It is not toothache, but I sorta feel funny about them. Last week when I have my dental check, the dentist took a X-ray for my whole jaw. He said that I will have to take them out eventually. So I decided it is better to remove them sooner than later. Today I have the consultation session with the oral surgent. It turns out that I can only remove 3 out of 4 wisdom teeth. The remaining bury deep down and contact with my nerves. It could be complicate to remove it. The surgent said there is only a 2% change that teeth will ever have problem. It doesn’t worth the risk. I have scheduled my surgery next Thursday. That won’t be a pleasent experience. On my way home, I just couldn’t stop asking why human has wisdom teeth. I guess wisdom teeth is a perfect counter argument against intelligent design. Why would God design something that bring us so much trouble. Wisdom teeth can only be explained by evolution. Our pre-historic ancestor has better jaws and their tooth wear off easily due to poor dental hygiene, therefore having some extra tooth could be useful.

I just finished my second essay for my metaphysics class. It is about the unreality of time. I criticize an article from a famous philosopher who tried to convince people time is unreal. The first response of most people, including myself, is to ask what the heck, isn’t it obvious that time is real? I am surprised that since his paper is published, he is able to convince a lot of fellow philosophers. The unreality of time has even became a trend in metaphsyics for a while in the last century. His argument is not very hard to follow and seems to make much sense on the first glaze. No wonder many people falls into his trap of thoughts. My weapon to reject his claim is modern science. I use counter examples from relativity theory and quantum physics to nullify his arguments. We’ll see how well my anit-thesis do when my professor marked my paper. Maybe I am just too naive and hopeless misinterpreted problem. With some solid reasoning, even a nonsense claim like time is unreal can attract many fellowers. Just think about applying philosophy to politics, couldn’t that be the a super vote magic?