** LEARN CRUCIAL THINGS AND BE SOCIAL **

Highlight the whole e-mail. Copy and paste into new
e-mail, then change all the answers so they apply to
you (it only takes about 4.2 minutes!!). Then
send this to a whole bunch of people you know
INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. The theory
is that you will learn a lot of little known facts
about your friends. Remember to send yours back to the
person who sent it to you.

You never know what you'll learn. BE HONEST!

**Remember to send it back to the person who sent it
to you.**


WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME?

Brandon Lee Walter Harvey

WHAT IS YOUR PERMANENT EMAIL ADDRESS?

blh22@cornell.edu

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST PET?

A gerbil. It died under mysterious circumstances.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE BOARD GAME?

Chinese Checkers

WHY MIGHT THIS CHANGE?

War with China, loss of all my fingers, renewed interest in Backgammon,
which is, after all, possibly the oldest game in the world.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

The New Goddamn Yorker

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL?

Today, I propose that it must be that kind of edible play dough that
they make for children out of peanut butter, powdered sugar, and . . .
what else? Other things, things that adults think up. Cream of
Tartar, perhaps. I think I only played with this stuff once.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD FOR BLUE?

Cobalt, I guess. I could never really get behind azure the way some
people seem to be able to do.

HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE?

2.3

WHO IS IT?

It's my mother, and she wants to tell me a recipe.

HOW FAR CAN YOU SEE TODAY?

The sky is absolutely cloudless and the cool air moves through the city
with a long stride, eastward, and holds nothing back. Thus, from the
36th floor, you can see Michigan.

WHICH WAY IS THE TRAIN GOING?

North, with rolling left turns toward the northwest every now and then.

HOW HIGH?

At the level of the many rooftops, which were built at many different
times and at many different angles. Nearly none of those times was the
1950's, 60's, or 70's, thankfully, so most of the buildings are made of
natural, sturdy materials, and they exist on a human size and scale.

WHAT ABOUT BUILDINGS FROM THE 1930'S AND 1940'S?

There was almost no building during this period, since first the
Depression and then the War diverted resources away from the
construction of new homes. The post-WWII building boom seems to have
bypassed urban Chicago, except for some high rises along the water.
This turn of events might have seemed alarming at the time, but it was
ultimately a benefit to the city, which now has a huge stock of
(semi)reasonably priced, well-made two and three story brick
structures, with large windows and wood floors, and neighborhoods full
of mature trees.

WOULD YOU BUY SUCH A DWELLING?

I would buy one. I may perhaps buy one. I don't currently have the
money. I am hoping that the real estate market will experience a
downturn in the coming year.

WHY A DOWNTURN?

Rents are stable while home prices are still rising and home sales are
setting records, which may indicate a real estate bubble. Once
interest rates go up even a little bit, I wonder whether the tide of
consumer real estate spending will recede, exhausted. That would be
nice.

WHAT IS THE DRIVER OF THE OTHER TRAIN DOING?

She is leaning out of her cab window, looking backwards over the long
platform, and making sure that everyone is on board. She is smiling
sideways at one of the platform employees, and she is wearing tight
gloves on her hands. Then, with one more glance, her mouth clasps
itself up like a change purse and she slips deftly back into the cab,
leaving an empty metal frame around an open window. There is a pause
before the train starts to move away. She is inside, driving it.

WHY IS CINEMA NECESSARY?

Because photographs can't grasp a thing like that.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ALBUM?

I think that it is still Jeff Buckley, "Grace". I listened to it again
today while rearranging the furniture in my bedroom.

WAS SARAH PLEASED WITH THE NEW FURNITURE FORMAT?

She was.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE FOODS?

I especially like Beef Wellington, lemon rice, Phish Food, cold milk,
cold water, good bread.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?

That question is too hard.

WHAT DID YOU EAT AT POTLUCK DINNER TODAY?

Beef Burgundy, served steaming over white rice, made by Sarah Mesle.
Potatoes hight "Church Banquet Potatoes", made by Kati Phillips.
Leavings from another party, including brownies, carted here by Karen
Pagani.

HOW MANY MILES HAVE YOU DRIVEN IN THE LAST MONTH OUTSIDE YOUR HOME TOWN?

About 4,000.

WAS BURNING MAN THE SAME, WORSE, OR BETTER?

The same.

WHEN DID THE SEPTEMBER WEATHER SLIP INTO THE SIXTIES?

In the third week, it suddenly changed. You realized, one morning,
that you needed to remember to close the door while showering. And you
wanted socks.

WAS THAT THE SAME WEEK THAT YOU CAME DOWN WITH A COLD?

It was. I almost always wake up with a dry throat, since I usually
sleep with my mouth open -- a childhood of ear infections, this or that
mucous membrane gone haywire, trained me to it. But when the dryness
behind my tongue outlasts morning tea and toast, I know that I am in
for it.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

I have them! I have them right where I want them.

WHEN DID YOU START YOUR NEW JOB?

On September 12.

WHY NOT ON SEPTEMBER 11?

The scheduled monthly orientation sessions always begin on a Wednesday,
which would have meant starting work on September 11 this year. So
they silently changed the day of the orientation.

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU MAKE?

Prototypes and demos for technologies that could, in some form, become
practical in three to five years, or less. Some of it is software
(kinds of services, systems), some hardware (gizmos, combinations of
existing gizmos).

WHO ARE YOUR CO-WORKERS?

Nerds and cultured nerds. One wears a turban. Another resembles no
one in human experience -- no one I can think of -- more than Sam
Eagle, the blue disapproving eagle Muppet. There are neither ties nor
blue jeans in my workplace.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR FIRM?

Accenture.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR CUBICLE?

I have tried not to get too attached to my cubicle just yet. There's a
'hotelling' system which governs these things and makes them subject to
change. I don't understand it.

ALL WE ARE IS DUST IN THE WIND?

Right.

ARE YOU DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE?

No, I am in an assistant position.

WHAT IS YOUR OFFICIAL TITLE?

"Experienced Analyst".

WHY NOT PLAIN OLD ANALYST?

Because they decided to give me one year of credit for my previous work
experience at a tiny startup, where I tried with limited success to
inveigle ordinary teachers into digitally scanning their artwork and
publishing it on the Internet. I made T-shirts myself out of kid's art.

CAN TEACHERS SCAN ARTWORK?

Some can. Many are simply unable to do this because of technological
or budgetary limitations. Many would rather die.

WAS THAT AN ALLUSION TO THE PRINCESS BRIDE?

Christmas Carol.

DO YOU LIKE WORKING UP GIZMOS AND PROTOTYPES MORE THAN YOU LIKE MAKING
T-SHIRTS?

Yes, much more. I am absorbed (for a change) for hours at a time. It
feels fine. And I may never again in life come this close to the title
"inventor".

FINISHED ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

No. Leaving the school system made me, if possible, more ambitious to
read more, and different, kinds of books. I am now completely
ineffectual. I have no guidance. I finish nothing.

PROVIDE TITLES OF BOOKS YOU HAVE FAILED TO FINISH

Peter Pan, Russell's History of Western Philosophy, The Happy Prince,
Principles of Macroeconomics, Archaeology, Process Theology, Herzog,
Cryptonomicon, The Princess Bride, Geek Love, Beowulf, Lives of the
Poets

YOU MUST HAVE FINISHED SOMETHING.

Yes, I did. The Corrections. It was damn good. Not sure that it was
great-great, but it was great-good-solid. Though depressing, yes, and
long. But great! I mean solid. I am happy that I finished it.
Jonathan Franzen is sweet. But he needs to move away from the East
Coast for a while.

WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE THAT YOU SAW?

A Streetcar Named Desire. It's utterly fantastic, and I'm not one to
say that. I am no classic film fan, and never did buttonhole anyone to
try to make them see, say, North by Northwest. Most old movies require
(from me) so much accomodation, so much indulgence of their little
flourishes and gusts, that you have to hold up some idea of "film
history" between yourself and the movie to try to make it pay off the
way everyone said it would. As against all that: A Streetcar Named
Desire is still immediate.

WHAT OTHER MOVIES ARE THIS WAY, IN YOUR OPINION?

Night of the Living Dead
The Road Warrior
Sunset Boulevard

IF YOU COULD MEET ONE PERSON, DEAD OR ALIVE WHO WOULD IT BE?

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

THAT'S ODD.

He's the only one around here with any sense of possibility. I'd meet
Scott Fitzgerald, but everything he touched was doomed.

WHAT ABOUT THOREAU, THEN?

I think reading Thoreau is probably a lot more exciting than meeting
Thoreau.

AND MEETING EMERSON, THAT OLD PURITAN, WOULD REALLY BE A BARREL OF
LAUGHS? COME ON.

He was the last enthusiastic man in America who wasn't bitter, insane,
or finally destroyed.

ARE YOU EXAGGERATING?

A little bit.