technology

Sometimes we forget how far we've come.

This charmer also came out of our new kitchen (screwed into the wall in giant metal box as this is clearly the inside). My amateur eye thinks it dates to the 60s (and, ok, that's about when it was last remodeled).

That's my Droid X hanging out there for comparison.

good, bad and ugly

good:
dad is going home 3 days post-triple-bypass

bad:
I discovered this morning I more or less twitch with anxiety when disconnected from technology. Our power went out at work for 45 minutes and I couldn't find a single thing to do, other than clean my desk, which would have been futile, since none of it can be REMOVED until I complete it...on the computer.

the ugly:
(or at least unpleasant). I haven't lost a dang pound this year and 60% of my pants don't fit. Upside: I haven't gained any more. I also haven't been trying that much (unless you count the 7 cookies + box of nerds I had for dinner last night as counting...).

sickness

My laptop has a virus. More accurately, I think, a Trojan. It has massive popups and redirected searches. Sigh. This is sad. Very sad. I have a computer problem, aka a minor addiction. Me and my laptop cuddle on the couch in the evenings while I watch tv. But out of necessity...
I work good hours, in the office, and tie up loose ends on my couch. I also have classes...and papers due...This is a huge, huge problem.

I dropped it off with campus computing today, in hopes they can cure it in the 3-5 business days in which they promised its return. If not, I might get a mac. Well, if I can talk my savings account into it.

Sigh.

I have an obsession.

Several actually.
Google reader is a problem.

It lets me indulge my feminist "they're out to get us and we must fight back" side.

It keeps me in the loop on the growing train wreck that is the election. And Sarah Palin, who I'm mildly obsessed with.

It lets me spend too long looking at items for the wedding and reception I am having (ok sort of) and the wedding(s) I would have if I was given $50,000 with serious strings attached (eg, could only spend on the wedding itself).

Maybe after the festivities are over I'll try some of the recipes I've been ignoring.

(P.S. Woj, this is for you.)

techno-jealousy

I'd like to preface this with the admission that I am a huge geek. (sort of...I used to actually be a computer geek, sans gaming, and then I went to college and technology really took off while I kept my 1996 hand-me-down desktop. I've fallen so far behind I've become a "user." My dad had to recover my pc for me when it crashed last year. He's a miracle worker; he managed to save all my music and photos.)

Lately I've been a little jealous of the sleek Mac Books (or iBooks or whatever the latest one is called). I love how light and thin they are. I love the little magnetic power plug (and I want to know how it works). I love the jewel-like graphics. I find the bubbly open-and-close a little annoying, and I dislike the commercials where the young and hip guy isn't nice to the pudgy middle aged guy, but I can overlook these things. 2/3 of my comps group has these little numbers, and I'm jealous that they don't consume 1/2 of their backpacks. Also, EW showed me how she can color code her iCal and file folders, and I want to color code too.

But I've always been a PC girl, and my laptop is only 6 months old, so I haven't been browsing options....until today. We had a group presentation and one of my group members brought their laptop. Its a newer version of mine, essentially the same computer, but with Windows Vista. And Office 2007. Its beautiful. It has lovely desktop features. Its WAY nicer than my circa 2003-release software. Instead of studying for my huge exam of Friday, I've spent the better part of the last hour browsing upgrading so my PC can have pretty software too, but its way out of my price range at the moment. Sigh. I hope MK brings his computer to class more often so I can drool from the next desk.

the crackberry

I cut class for the first time in grad school today. I just couldn't go. My prof wasn't there anyway, and was sending a PhD student as a guest speaker. I'm sure he was good, but I couldn't do it. I went to the gym instead (this was way more appealing, and will also allow me to go home after class at 9, instead of rolling in at 11 pm all gross and still unshowered). I'm not going to revert to my undergrad days and make a habit of this, but man it felt good.

Karma did nab me a smidge and I had to run with a flimsy hairtie and floppy hair. Granted, I did pack my bag this morning instead of last night, but I bet its somehow divine punishment anyway. I have NO IDEA how people run -- or do anything hot -- with their hair down. The one piece I couldn't get to stay back was driving me batty, not to mention the parts sticking to my neck. Yuck. Gross.

Anyway....while I was on the treadmill (I cannot wait for warmer weather/later sunshine) I noticed the girl next to me had a blackberry....sitting on the ledge (like where one would put an ipod or similar)...and she had an ipod too, so it wasn't some new fangled musical one or something. Now the kicker...she kept checking it!! What the HELL is so important it can't wait 30 or 40 minutes till you're off the treadmill? She looked young, maybe 19, but even if she's somehow way older, what can't wait? I don't ever want to be that tied to my email. Ever. (I check it like 34242 times a day as it is....)

I am SOOOOO excited

I just ran downstairs to tell a coworker about this and I think she thought for a second I had a serious emergency.

I found this today---

www.mapmyrun.com

Its AWESOME. A new google-earth integration. You can put on the hybrid map and trace out a trail in a park or similar point by point. Much cooler than the clip-on-free-from-the-health-insurance-vendor pedometer (that I'm not sure is so accurate anyway). Of course, this will be much more useful when I make it off the treadmill and outside again, but that will require some nicer/warmer weather and longer lasting sunshine!

Oh. Seriously, nothing can be more exciting today.