I'm literate, so do I need to pay $450 to read an essay?

Do I really have to pay for Microsoft Office? No. Most people have a casual relationship with MS Word or Excel: they receive a word document every once and while, or sum some numbers in Excel. So what justifies forking over $450 dollars for an office suite that allows me to open an essay? While there are some features that are only for MS Office, there are several good OpenSource alternatives that will do all of the common tasks of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and more.

OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) is the most common alternative. It runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X using X11, and it writes most file formats that are used in MS Office. It's look and feel are mirrored after MS Office, so it provides for an easy transition from MS Office. With a dedicated base of users and developers, OpenOffice will continue to grow and improve. Download from OpenOffice for free, size about 120MB. For Mac OS X users check out NeoOffice. It is a port of OpenOffice that integrates with OS X's Aqua UI. It has some release lag, but is a good option if you are looking for the traditional Mac appearance and installed fonts and printers.

ThinkFree Office is an online based Office suite. It contains about 50 -60% of the features that MS Office has, but it contains everything you would use daily and is compatible with almost every MS Office file format. What distinguishes ThinkFree from OpenOffice is that it's online, and almost as fully featured as OO. After creating a ThinkFree account, you are able to run each program as an applet in your browser. This enables a user to run ThinkFree from any computer with an Internet connection and a Web Browser. A great bonus to ThinkFree is the online storage; a user is able to access their documents from any computer or share their documents with other ThinkFree users. Registration is required, but free. ThinkFree also has a proprietary version that can be purchased, installed, and run like a regular Office Suite. ThinkFree, http://www.thinkfree.com/

Google Docs is much less featured than OO or ThinkFree, but it provides a quick way to view and edit simple Word and Excel documents. If you have a Google account just click docs and spreadsheets to get started.

There are several other options available, but these are my favorite and the easiest to use if you're switching from MS Office.

This blog

I've started this blog in the midst of one of my best terms at Lawrence. I don't have class on Wednesday or Friday, and most of my time is dedicated to the radio station. I wrote one editorial for the Lawrentian, and I hunger for more; however, in a different way. That what this is, but I'm not sure what exactly it is; I might post short stories or narratives here, or articles about cool new stuff I find on the Internet. I guess in many ways this will be my website, but website are so 1995 so it's a blog. Wait blogs are 1999. Maybe I should do a video blog on YouTube. Do people really want to hear everything I say. It's much harder to skim videos. Well, I don't know what this is. But I don't really need a mission statement, the best ideas for start-ups evolve out of almost nothing, which this pretty much is. Anyways whatever my mission statement might be it won't give you an accurate account of my life, rather, in many ways it's probably the exact opposite, I'm going to write whatever I feel like. It might be interesting or it might be something that bothers me. I'll try my best to make it humorous, but I'm a little weird so you might not agree. I've never written a blog with any sort of passion; this is my last attempt. Let's go all out; let's go all out together.

A letter to Seely G. Mudd

This is a letter to the Library that I wrote around this time last year (unedited):

I think it's time for me and the Library to break up. We've had good times together laughing, crying, shouting, studying, but it's time. I'm done with you Seely G. Mudd. I know that you may be upset with me, frankly I'm a little upset with you. It just didn't work; there was no communication between us. I mean I barely know you: What does the "G." stand for? What Science journals do you subscribe to? What are the security camera's for? Do you even trust me? This is why it can never work. And you know what else: you're too loud, full of too many distractions, people who are never doing any work, and sketchy townies who look up online dating sites and porn. You always give away my favorite tables - the round periodical or the 3rd floor window table - do you even know my name anymore. If I scan my ID into your computer would you recognize me? Because I'M NOT SURE. But really, don't take this to heart; I know it might hurt, but you've got some work to do if you're going to win me back. It's constructive criticism; think over what I say while you cry alone. And yes, yes I did cheat on you with New Science, and I might even do the same with Briggs. It's actually quiet there, I can use my cell phone where ever I damn well please, and they have white boards all over the place. In New Science, I practically drown in whiteboards; when I'm there it's like I can't escape the clean white sheen that emanates from the fresh boards. Oh and the pleasure of snapping off the cap of a fresh marker and defiling a virgin board with equations and numbers is just something you could never give me; you made me get a study group of 2 or more people just to have the pleasure of a chalk board - a want to be white board. You're just too demanding. Good bye Seely G. Mudd, goodbye forever...well at least for a few days.