We spent a great portion of yesterday afternoon talking about how glad Oskar was that he didn’t take the job at Microsoft. Here’s another good reason.

A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between “not specified,” “male” or “bitch,” because of an unfortunate error in translation.

While he was telling about me the horrors of the MIT grad at Microsoft who greeted him, we passed by one Starbucks after another. I swear, while walking near Chinatown, we walked 4 city blocks and encountered 3 Starbucks.

Remember kids, as the honorable President of the United States of America said earlier this month, “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” Just look at Seattle. I see the Axis of Evil right there.

It was strange seeing Oskar and Jen outside the school environment. Here they were, entering the working world, speaking of apartment hunting, home furnishings, an SUV… Then there was Oskar giving me all sorts of pressure to figure out what I want to do after graduation. “It’s not that far off, you know.” As if I weren’t quite aware of the fact already.

Just like Maria, I feel like I’m approaching that crossroads in life where I should make an attempt to find my calling, but it’s much easier said than done. Luckily for Oskar, he’s probably known that he’d want to go into software since his elementary school days. For the rest of us, there’s a decision to be made.

It’s not even that I’m worried about my future. I’m sure we all have a number of choices in life that would make us equally happy. But I want to feel as if I’ve made a careful, well thought-out decision. I want to be empowered by free will rather than just continue to float about, cluelessly led from one moment of relative satisfaction to the next without understanding how or why. Yes, I’ll admit that everything in my life has come relatively easily, but that’s not to say I don’t want to make an effort to determine my own human condition.

Professor, can I have an extension on this assignment please?