Within the Interaction Lab deep inside the belly of Powell Hall of Engineering, tucked behind a cupboard that buzzes (when Monica is working with tanis and tanis is perched within the cupboard) I sit. In front of two Escher posters, and directly blocking the fire exit (for you see in this lab there is no flight attendant to tell me that what I'm doing is illegal and so I persist) I sit. To the North-West corner of the robot pen, I sit. And all the while I work on phlogiston.

For you see phlogiston, or phlogiston.usc.edu, to quote her full name is my noble companion in this great adventure. Even when it feels more like a pain, and less like an adventure she is my companion. Of course there are those times when phlogiston doesn't want to be my noble companion (times characteristically when it feels more like a pain than an adventure) and in those darkest of times, it is my duty to get phlogiston to co-operate.

So if you're wondering what phlogiston means, or why I harp on about her, or you're bored then you might want to click here. Otherwise not.