  We present our investigation into the physical conditions of the gas in five
intervening quasar absorption line systems along the line of sight toward the
quasar PG 0117+213, with redshifts of z=0.57, z=0.72, z=1.04, z=1.32 and
z=1.34. Photoionization modeling of HST, Keck I, and Palomar data, using the
code Cloudy, is employed to derive densities and metallicities of the multiple
phases of gas required to fit the absorption profile for each system. We
discuss the implications of these models for galaxy evolution, including the
interpretation of ``CIV deficiency'' and damped Lyman alpha absorbers (DLAs),
and the relationships between galaxy morphology, galaxy luminosity, and
absorption signature.
