Football

Today is the next-to-last game of a hugely unsuccessful season for the JMU Football Dukes. Going 1-8 so far this year, they'll likely drop to 1-9 today against Northeastern. Hopefully they'll win next week against Liberty, but I won't be around to see it; I'll be seeing Harry Potter & Monsters Inc.

And speaking of Harry Potter, I finished Sorcerer's Stone yesterday, and I was a little disappointed with the end. If you've read the book and want to know what I think, read on; otherwise it'll just be spoilers, and that's not cool.

Two things, for me, would have made the end of the book more satisfying. First, if Dumbledore didn't really know what had happened between Harry and Quirrell, a level of mystery would have been added to Harry's future. I don't like the fact that Harry seems to have an omniscient guardian angel, because I think that Dumbledore realizes that Harry's powers will be greater than his own someday. Second, and this is a minor nitpick, I would have been somewhat more satisfied if Slytherin had wound up winning the House Cup even in spite of Harry's, Ron's, Hermione's, and Neville's heroism. These two elements just seemed to solidify the story's place as a children's book first and foremost; perhaps the later books get more mature.

With only a couple days to go, I still have not really started the CS Programming Assignment in earnest. I suppose I can do that later today, following the game...

It looks like The Aardvark might be down for most - if not all - of next week. We're supposed to unplug everything electrical before we leave, but I'm going to leave Gondor plugged in and hooked up to the network just in case no one checks. The refrigerators may remain plugged in, so I know they don't shut the power... Anyway, if you can't access the site next week, that's why. Sorry.

November 17, 2001 - 11:14 AM