h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A beautiful sunny day, after an indifferently cloudy start. Sunday, typically for the only day on which I can afford the time and unimpeded physical effort to go for a nice long ride, rained for a large part of the day. The cloud eventually started to clear in the afternoon, though. This morning the wind was cold, and the cloud eventually blew away, but riding places in the early morning was deceptively colder than it appeared. Now, at lunchtime, it's turned nice, and my life seems to be hopeful again.

The inspection went disarmingly well. We cleaned the dog hair out of everything - although the dog has since replaced a large amount of it - and the hole in the wall was used by the agent merely as an excuse to re-inspect the place once we've fixed it, which they expect us to do in a couple of weeks. Even the car on the front lawn got moved by its owner, although he had an alarming amount of trouble getting the thing to move at all. I went out and had dinner at a friend's place that night, which is what inspired my last journal entry...!

My love life has picked up, unusually. Another one of my gym friends is ‘making eyes' (for want of a better expression) at me, I think. It'll be interesting seeing what happens there. My physiological reaction to such interest is an unusual feeling, and one I haven't felt for some time. Pop songs keep playing over and over in my head, and I'm distracted and talkative at the same time. If I wasn't injured - the cold weather has evidently ‘frozen' my thighs - I'd be enjoying going to the gym enormously at the moment. I want to talk to people about it, but as yet there's nothing of import to tell. Strange feeling...!

The Ides of Spring seem to be heralding some major life change. People, events, things to do, things to hope for - all seem to be swirling around me at the moment. It seems, some mornings, that I can't get out of bed without seeing something - some small thing, usually - positive I can do. I like this feeling. I suspect it's part of this, or part of the buildup to it, that inspired me to become a Scout, too - ‘why not be Scout and editor, and directly influence the formation of the ‘Guide, as well as its content?' is sort of how I reasoned. I think this'll be fun, and positive, as well. If I could just get moving on that last batch...! I also had some thoughts, the other day while sitting in the gym's lobby drinking free coffee, about the importance of meta-information in making information relevant. Many people, seemingly, confuse ‘information' with ‘data', particularly in their daily conversation. The true value of information, however, lies in its meaning, and this can be made clear only by good communication. Meta-information is a large part of this communication, particularly in a context like the internet where the amount of data and information is so large and so diversely spread and collected. At present, the meta-information provided by the ‘Guide itself is deficient, although that is being worked on, but I've begun to think about additional ways to help the process, hopefully without increasing the work load of either the ‘Guide staff (who already work hard enough) or the volunteers (who don't get paid).

I think I'd better go and find out if there's a physiotherapist I can afford to see.