Our prayers are with you, Jim. I only met Jim in real life one time, and he gave me a ride to my hotel on my first visit to Washington. He lived 5 hours away from me, but we had to go to another state to meet in person! Even though I didn't know him very well personally, it's funny the repoir you build with folks you communicate with often. Most of the Insiders I've come in contact with have just started talking as if we had seen each other just a few days ago. Jim was just like that. This...

Eric is my friend Peyman's roommate in Austin. He's a stand-up guy. Trust me on this.

but I did switch to geico and I'm going to save a rediculous amount from my current insurance provider. To the tune of nearly $2,000 a year. Plus, they took a cue from my current insurance provider and got geek friendly. I did the whole quote process online and only called after I had a couple of questions. I only decided to start shopping around when I learned that when I turn 25 (a key age for single males in America for car insurance) that I would only get about $300 off of my current rate a year. All I gotta...

...free at last, thank God Almighty: I am free at last.

One of my coworkers, Lynn Coyle, was found dead in his house this morning. Lynn had diabetes. He was kind of an odd character, but he was a good person. I often joked around with him in the office - he had a strange sense of humor, but we got along pretty well. I knew him for a little over 3 years, and in that time I learned a few things about him: he was a good geophysicist, with a specialty in borehole research. He served in the army when he was younger. He doesn't have much family left. He took...