Where are you right now?

Mar 23 09:08 UTC 2002

Where are you? What is your geographic location?  How do you know?

Right now I have a sore tooth.  It bothers me. I am aware of it.
If I didn't have a sore tooth would my sore tooth still exist?
If I put a drop of oil of clove on my sore tooth would it still
exist?  Would I still have a sore tooth even if I didn't feel it?
Does a sore tooth have existence other than my perception of it?

response 2 of 109:

Mar 23 14:38 UTC 2002

I'm in my dining room also.  However, I differ from Jan in that I'm facing
slightly east of south.  If I stay in this chair for another 3 hours the sun
will be coming in the south window and making it difficult to see the screen.

response 4 of 109:

Mar 23 16:00 UTC 2002

I am in my tiny living room:  My terminal is atop an desktop made for using
a pair of filing cabinets as support.  I face an bland, plaster wall that has
cobwebs, cracks and framed pictures.  Behind me, south.  The sun is shining,
but it will never touch me unless it is low on the horizon.  Only dimming
sunlight seems to exist for me.

response 6 of 109:

Mar 23 16:56 UTC 2002

i am facing slightly east of north, hunched over a laptop which
sits on a too-short stool in the livingroom. i wish i were in in my
basement slouched up to my 21" monitor sted this 15" lcd screen.
  
i know i'm here because the carpet feels fuzzy 'neath my bare feet.
\.

response 8 of 109:

Mar 23 20:38 UTC 2002

        I* am facing south, below ground level, In a basement whose carpet was
 extracted last Thursday. to the west is an open unlit door with a floor of
concrete. The east wall of the basement has two doors, neither of which are
opened.

        Waitahminute, one of the Beanie Babies just grabbed a cold beer without
asking...

response 10 of 109:

Mar 23 22:29 UTC 2002

i sit in a chair that hasn't enough cushion to keep away lower back pains and
soreness of the ass. my laptop sits upon a 60's retro table that someone threw
away. it has a leaf that folds open if you pull the table from each end. there
are only 2 of us sitting here but the table stays extended, as is it such a
fine table that it should be fully exposed. it also provides extra room for
the portable 1980's tv/radio i found so's i could watch the tube while i type
this, but i'm not. the sun is setting and was blinding me until a couple of
minutes ago when the big Chase Bank building jumped in front of it. so i
assume i'm facing westish. if i lean really far to my left i will catch a
glimpse of the manhattan bridge and the absense of the WTC. if it was night
i would see the 2 beams of light, which for me are only one. i'm pretty sure
i exist because i'm pretty sure some guy in some air traffic control building
somewhere sends a plane directly over my building once or twice every night
as it descends for the airport. i am both flattered and distrubed. there is
a speaker mounted on a high shelf that is southwest of me. it's playing music
that's being broadcasted from NJ on 91.1 FM. the woman who lives behind the
window in the building behind mine that i am facing seems to prefer white
bras. she has a very cute cat that is lucky because her owner has put a
birdfeeder outside the window for her entertainment, and i enjoy watching the
cat watch the birds. hopefully the glare will be gone soon. mr man just went
to get a cookie. he's dipping it in his coffee, which i have never seen him
do before. if he throws it hard enough it will hit the wall and fall to the
floor.

response 12 of 109:

Mar 24 00:59 UTC 2002

I am sitting in a large tent with my laplink satilite laptop running from
zercon battries thatweigh less than 2 pounds and keep me running for 48 hours
a charge, then solar panels extend to recharge in less than 2 hours and I'm
back in action again, I came here to find some solace from the hum drum of
daily life in the suburbs and all it's confusion. This place is located far
from any city and requires a boat and later a rented mule to get to.
I find my way out every five days for supplies and return again as money is
no object and I like it here amoung the dense forrest cover unless it's rainey
as it has been the last three days. My tent door faces due west so I can watch
the sunset GPS don't lie much..

response 14 of 109:

Mar 24 02:36 UTC 2002

I think I think therefore I think I am I think.

response 16 of 109:

Mar 24 03:42 UTC 2002

I am in my bedroom on the second floor of my house in Southgate, facing
north.  My existence is debateable.

response 18 of 109:

Mar 24 05:07 UTC 2002

All current topo maps now have UTM coordinates. It is also a coordinate
option in even cheap GPS receivers. I read my coordinates from a Garmin 40.
(UTM, or Universal Transverse Mercator, provides a map coordinate system
of 1 km x 1 km squares, more accurate than the printing accuracy of the
map - and at most a couple of meters off. It is MUCH more convenient than
latitude and longitude for reading or finding locations on maps. topozone.com
has topo maps with UTM coordinates.)

response 20 of 109:

Mar 24 06:37 UTC 2002

Why does it matter if I exist or not?  I'm affecting you, aren't I?

response 22 of 109:

Mar 24 11:37 UTC 2002

I am in Yakima, Washington, living about a block from Yakima Valley 
Community College.  I am in a little one-bedroom apartment in a 
complex called "South Park" and I chuckle at the similar name to that 
famous cartoon on Comedy Central.

I am ill and wonder if beady was really damn bored.  I am sitting in 
front of a Compaq Presario with an XP system, not really giving a 
flying fuck about anyone's opinion on that recent OS, because, for 
right now, it works Pretty Damn Good and I am neither a computer tech 
professional nor do I spend enough time to really, really care; I'd 
buy some Macs, too, if I were rich.

At the same time, I ponder a more carefree life.  Although I enjoy 
technology, I do find my classical guitar to be a relaxing and soulful 
comfort.  Sometimes simple pleasures are the best, but so many of my 
daydreams have been shattered and I am sad, wondering if the world 
really does have a place for an idealist and a proverbial cygnet like 
me.

I refrain from describing more of my surroundings because I am tired 
and much of it is mundane.  I sneeze as I finished that last sentence, 
and it hurts, because of this damn grippe or flu or cold or whatever 
it is.  I wonder about the etmology of the word "cold," in that 
context, because it doesn't really have any connection to what it 
means in others.

response 24 of 109:

Mar 24 13:19 UTC 2002

I'm in the corner bedroom, sitting at a maple desk which my father bought
for me when I was a child.  I am facing northeast, because this house is
oriented about 45 degrees from the usual N/S/E/W.  In most houses, one
might speak of the "northeast corner" or "north side", but our house has a
"north corner" and "northeast side".

This house was built in 1953, by the same builder who built most of the
ones around it.  Technically, the house will be historic next year, by
virtue of being 50 years old (not that this will make any difference to
anyone).  It is a typical ranch house, one story, with a low-pitched,
side-gable roof; it has cedar shingle siding, with part of the front faced
in brick.

I forget the lot number, but the house is in Barnard Heights No. 2
subdivision, in Section 31 of Ann Arbor Township, which is Township 2
South, Range 6 West of the Michigan Meridian, if I'm not mistaken.  It's
part of the vast surveying system of this part of the country which was
mandated by the Northwest Ordinance in 1787.

My street -- Stadium Boulevard -- used to be Michigan Highway 17,
according to a 1937 road map I happen to have.  Now, it is just an Ann
Arbor city street. 

Like Jan, I'm in the Allen Creek watershed, but only on the very edge of
it.  The boundary between Allen and Mallet's Creek watershed is just past
our next-door neighbor's house.  The ground generally slopes down in all
directions from here.  I think I'm at about 1000 feet above sea level, but
I haven't looked at those numbers lately.  The houses on the street behind
ours are probably 8-10 feet lower in elevation than we are.  The houses
across the street (in the Mallet's Creek watershed) are lower, too. 

Within 50 feet of where I sit, there are three mature trees: a Norway
maple, a sugar maple, and a bird cherry.  Within 500 feet of where I sit,
I think the majority of the mature trees are maples.

Almost certainly, if we drilled a well here, the ground water we would
find is contaminated with 1,4-dioxane.  Or, if it's not now, it will be in
a matter of a year or so as the plume spreads to the south and east from
the former Gelman plant on Wagner Road.

I'm also in Precinct 4 of Ward 4 of the City of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw
County, Michigan. This part of the precinct is also in the 4th county
commission District (which I represent), the 53rd state rep district
(represented by Chris Kolb, the only openly gay member of the Michigan
legislature), the 18th State Senate district (represented by Alma Wheeler
Smith), and the 13th congressional district (represented by Lynn Rivers). 
Also, the 4th Ward is represented on the Ann Arbor city council by Steve
Hartwell and Marcia Higgins.  Higgins is a Republican; all the others are
Democrats.

Judicially, I'm in the territory of the 15th District Court, the 22nd
Circuit Court, the 4th Court of Appeals district.  At the federal level,
we're in the Eatern District of Michigan, and the 6th Circuit of the U.S.
Court of Appeals.

I don't remember the census tract and block numbers offhand, but the 2000
census showed the population of my block to be amazingly polyglot, with
large numbers of black, white, Asian, Hispanic, and multiple-race
individuals. 

I'm are in the sector of the city which has Monday trash collection.  I'm
in the Detroit Edison and Michigan Consolidated Gas service areas.  Though
we try not to have any dealings with Ameritech, from a local phone service
standpoint I'm in the Ann Arbor wire center of the 734 area code.