Beaufort, NC

han wakes me up this morning announcing that weatherbug has prognostications of snow continuing through tomorrow, throwing a spoke in his plans to give me a ride to beaufort and make a day trip out of it. in the end, we decide that the best thing to do is leave today; thus ensues wild packing of suitcases and flurried exit from duke campus so as to make it to the marine lab before the housing office closes at 4, during which time i leave behind:

* pillow, favorite,
* ethernet cord and
* assorted items of clothing, unlaundered.

about 20 miles out from beaufort, nc, a cop pulls us over and gives han a ticket for going 80 on a 55 stretch of road, which han protests with the somewhat lame excuse that he thought that the highway number (70) was the speed limit. no dice. arraignment. that puts a damper on the day, although i try my best to convince him that the courts almost always throw out first offences with a slap on the wrist at worst. i spend a little while feeling bad because i'm one of the reasons he's even out here in the boondocks in the first place, but the self-modulated guilt therapy quickly kicks in; he wanted to come, he was the one who offered the ride, etc. as a salve to my conscience i buy him dinner.


Beaufort is really different than when I visited it during my freshman year. The dorms have been renovated, new desks put in, the excesses of money in the school kitty finally being put to some good use, it seems. I have a single again, this time with a phone line and an ethernet jack. And three beds.

No one's around yet, so I've been in the computer lab for a while, responding to emails that don't need to be responded too and checking on internet forums every five minutes to see if anyone's said anything interesting, which mostly they haven't.