(Full archives of my old journal, including comments, are here, and you can read the posts themselves within my current journal).

And it turns out that I have even inspired, among my friends, another weblog by Steve Shipman, and (kinda sorta) Zack Weinberg's restarted journal, and John Stange's excellent record of his St. Petersburg experience (he and I went there on the same program in the summer of 2001). My Moscow travelogue has its own page, as does my Solovki Islands travelogue. Oh, and Camille Acey, Adam Parrish, Sabrina, and Kris Straub, Zed Lopez, Sarah, The Poor Man, Brendan Adkins, J. Bradford DeLong, and Joe have neat diaries that (surprise!) I *did not* inspire, but which I nonetheless like.

A necessarily incomplete list of other useful and interesting websites

News and newslike substances: I used to feel obligated to read Slashdot, and actually wrote a paper about its indispensability and popularity, but now I only read it for pleasure. I often also hit SFGate (San Francisco Bay Area news) and of course the powerhouse webmags Slate and Salon (I used to work at the latter). Since I started my weblog on Kuro5hin, I have some fondness for K5.
Humor: U.C. Berkeley students produce a regularly funny humor magazine, the Heuristic Squelch, which also sometimes puts on Comedy Nights in which I've participated (open-mike stand-up comedy). I also like to read the projects that have branched off from Brunching Shuttlecocks.
Weblogs of People I Haven't Met: Real Live Preacher, the Nielsen Haydens, Kameron Hurley, Daniel Davies, Fred Clark, Lore Fitzgerald Sjöberg, Jon Carroll's column, everythingsruined.
Other: Bay Area Transit Info is extremely useful if you're trying to get around the San Francisco Bay Area without a car. I once worked at Cody's Books and recommend it. In more miscellaneous fashion, I enjoy Joel On Software and In Passing.