Random thought: I was taking a pill from the bottle when I remembered dreaming about doing that very thing a few nights ago, but in the dream there were a lot less pills in the bottle. So I wondered: "Was I dreaming of the past or the future if it's a cyclical action?"
After posting that last entry, I went over to LJ, which I hardly ever do since I have linked to my blogger account in a way that whatever I post in blogger will show up in LJ. I was curious to see just how much posting the LJ friends still did and I found that Joanne was easily the most frequent blogger. I don't miss much though, since I have her blog as a subscription in Google Reader along with other blogs that don't consistently mark their entries as private (I hope that doesn't creep you out, Joanne).
Then I learned a couple of surprising bits of information, namely that the feeling that I've had an LJ account forever is proved by the date of my first entry: January 12, 2004. That's a really long time ago, people. Since then, I might not have been the most consistent blogger, but I still managed to write 264 journal entries - this will be my 265th.
I also noticed that I'd updated my location to Bloomington, but my bio is still original, as evidenced by this section: "Yes, I like to hike. I also like many other things but I can't think of them right now ... oh there's something about being a K College sophomore history major somewhere in there ..." I clicked on the "edit" button, then realized I really didn't care what it said and who would read it anyway?
Watching the NASA Atlantis shuttle launch about two weeks ago was pretty neat. I saw a news article via google news about it last night and decided to check out the twitter activity. NASA allowed 101 twitterers to have special access near the base, to interview and be interviewed, and they even got a wave from the astronauts as they drove past in the van on the way to the shuttle. I started getting ready for the launch soon after I got up around 10, intending to make sure I had a good video feed that'd work for linux and to have the right websites to bounce back and forth on, but then it was addicting watching the pre-launch and before I knew it, four hours flew by and the shuttle was in space. Whoops. I guess there are worse addictions ... (While it was nice of Chris to not mind changing the channel downstairs to NASA minutes before the launch, it was annoying that he interrupted my moment of awe by shouting "I didn't know it was going to launch NOW! You said pre-launch! I thought you meant like an hour more!")
Two weekends ago was the house party. I wasn't really looking forward to it but I was very relieved that Colin managed to be down here that weekend otherwise I probably would've caved into the temptation just to hole back up in my room and watch movies instead. I'm not anti-social; spending hours in a dimly lit rooms reeking of alcohol and beer and filled with mostly people I don't know just doesn't appeal to me. But it turned out to be fun, especially when we burned all the crappy deck chairs and table in the fire pit, even with the really rude guy who kept saying and doing things that made me just downright despise him. I *will* take offense when you purposely knock the cup of water out of my hand that I'd gotten for someone I care about who had just been throwing up. That's all I'm saying on that subject.
So since my car is still out of commission (yes, at least partly my fault there but I can only pester someone so much if they're doing me a favor), I had to determine how I was going to get to Charlevoix for Thanksgiving. I hadn't been to my hometown or seen my brother since the funeral in March - this year was the first time I had not made it home during the summer. As long as I made it to Chicago, Colin and I would drive the rest of the way in his car.
I hadn't missed any classes this semester except the first one (was still en route from India) so I was perfectly okay with missing one class (tomorrow) especially since I honestly find that course boring. Also, the last couple of weeks I've been on-and-off sick with viruses so even when I wished for nothing more but to stay in bed, I always dragged myself to class after deeming myself not that sick after all. It's unusual for me to do that, believe it or not. Last Wednesday night I registered a fever on the thermometer but mostly just felt really tired the next morning and did just fine. I think being stuck at the house except for classes was huge motivator.
So I looked up flights and found that if Chris was willing to drive me to the Memorial Union on campus, I could get shuttle bus and roundtrip flights for just about 200. So I did. Now I find myself sitting on Colin's couch, waiting to pick him up from work and watch Heroes during a spaghetti dinner. When we were out for lunch, we both noticed we felt like I had to leave to head south soon, which has always been the case. Ok, so technically I could have left this afternoon, gone to class, and then driven back before leaving for a night in Kalamazoo on Wednesday but it sure wasn't worth it.
This entry's been slowly written ever since I posted the last one. I just need to realize short entries are not only just fine but in fact preferred ...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The short version of the story of the last 2.5 months
Lately, I've been feeling a strange disconnect between what I do and think and what the reality is. Every time I've felt the urge to blog about something, I start thinking about all the other things I haven't and/or should write about. Not that there's any real rules to blogging. I spend a lot of time on my computer and then forcing myself to avoid it as long as possible, which is not very long usually since almost everything in my life is to some extent online now: friends, Colin, school, entertainment, boring things like paying bills. It's kind of scary, actually. Oh, and yes - I have finally given in and joined Twitter, as part of this crazy idea I got last week to start using Remember the Milk. You can find me as "deafelephant" although (at least for now) you'll have to subscribe to me (or whatever the action's called) to see my tweets because I'm keeping things private.
-- A couple technological "side" notes --
1) Remember the Milk is actually kind of hard to describe; calling it an online to do list doesn't do it justice. You can have it send you reminders daily and/or at "deadlines" via SMS, email, or IM what you should be doing (I have it set to send a reminder 15 mins before anything with a deadline so I know when a show will be on TV). You can send items too - I find this very useful. You make multiples lists, such as by project or place to do them. And these are just the basics. Other than keeping track of school projects, books and movies to read and see, creative ideas, and everything else I can think of that I have to do or keep track of, my Big Idea is to set up an efficient food system, including what I have, links to recipes, and what I need to buy. Since I intend to avoid real meal planning and still have the flexibility to decide what I really feel like eating, this is going to be even more challenging. However, I think this will actually pay off in the end; I hate being hungry and wracking my brain trying to think what food I have all the way down in the kitchen. Go ahead and call me a cataloguing geek. Overall, I've decided to use RTM because I don't want to always carry my notebook (especially into a store), I need a place to also store links with notes I make, this will be incentive to carry my phone and keep it charged, and like I said, everything I do is pretty much online that paper to-do lists and schedules don't make much sense, no matter how much they've saved me in the past.
2) I've also moved a bit more into cloud computing, even as the general tech world is increasingly ignoring it. This is not because I have a netbook or that I use linux (although the characteristics of someone with these might carry over). I just need an easier way to backup stuff and to get at it, especially since I've found myself both copying a document to my thumbdrive *and* emailing it to myself so I can print it off at school. One acronym librarians like is LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Thus, I've started using pote.com as an insanely simple online word processor (two drawbacks: no footnotes and no straightforward downloading and saving as word). I've got about a gazillion documents in Google Docs, but have been moving away from it more and more because I don't like the interface. Heck, I hate using most word processors, online or offline, especially the Windows Vista MS Word. My problem is probably that I'm just too picky.
2b) I have an external hard drive (quite old in hard drive time) but I rarely use it for backups. I make a valiant effort to backup periodically which usually is every 3 to 6 months but this is not enough for safe keeping. I'm always nervous about losing the stuff I'm currently working on. After countless Blue Screens of Death and complete failure then total wipe or even complete physical replacement of the hard drive in my ThinkPad, I can't think why I despise Windows and am paranoid of having only one copy of something accessible. In any case, I've tried online storage options, never liked any of them, and since I'm trying to keep from giving *everything* to Google, I've kept looking. Solution: dropbox.com - I love it so far. There is no need to manually check to make sure that the most current versions of files are there or insert new ones; it automatically syncs when you connect to the internet. You can also access and edit things from any computer with internet access. It Just Works.
-- end side notes --
I also feel like not much actually happens in my day-to-day life but when I look back over recent weeks I realize it'd take hours just to tell you what's happened. And I don't mean "well, this day I took a shower and didn't used conditioner and this day I did use conditioner" but the more (hopefully) interesting tidbits, like how my car broke down on my way back to B-town the Monday night before last and the future of my car is looking quite bleak. I made it back safely, even if it was after midnight and my housemate came and picked me up in Martinsville, with only 25 miles further to go. This weekend Colin was a big help when we towed my car back to the house. If you ever need to do non-local car-towing, definitely check out U-Haul. From extensive online research, I knew it was going to be just over 100 dollars for self-towing as opposed to easily 250 to 300 with a towing company.
Since then, I've been more housebound than ever, unable to hop in my car and drive to the coffee shop or the grocery store. I had been making a point to try to get out every day, which doesn't always happen but it was a good thing for me to do. I'm trying to limit how much I depend on my housemates for rides and fortunately I only have the two class periods per week, although I did need to get prescriptions filled last Wednesday.
As for groceries, I've been doing perfectly fine without having to go to the store, apart from picking up milk when getting prescriptions and when Colin and I went shopping for the hors d'ouevres smorgasbord impromptu party. I tend to get more than I immediately need of any food I buy, usually sticking to a rule of "need one, get two." I'm really quite bad at making decisions sometimes; I'm the girl you see standing forever in front of a section because she can't figure out if she should get the cheapest, the bulk, or the quality (bulk isn't always the cheapest in pennies per ounce and sometimes I only want a little so it would actually be overall price that I'm looking at). So if I'm getting one of something, I save myself from twice the grief by getting two. Anyway, I've got quite a strange stockpile and although I've run out of eggs (some things I don't buy two of: eggs and milk), I'm using this as a good kick in the pants to finally use some of this stuff up, especially things I remember migrating from my apartment in May.
Currently, it's sunny and gorgeous out but I've got this sniffly sickness being nursed by a pot of cooling tea and a box of kleenex. It's one of those times when I feel driven to be uber-productive while I'm sick and I'm trying to rein it in so I don't keep wearing myself out. I might have to take a short slow walk outside just for sanity's sake though. But as for the dishwasher, maybe someone else will unload it after I started it and did the overflow of dishes by hand last night but I'm not overly optimistic nor does it bother me too much. Not even finding really old leftovers in tupperware with thriving colonies in the fridge bothers me much. Now, someone stealing and drinking my big bottle of pepsi for what is very clearly my part of the pantry, that annoys me, but I keep in mind it had been open for a couple days before it went missing so they got flat warm pepsi.
Okay, that's enough talking for now. Guess I'll have to actually get to what I was going to say in another post.
-- A couple technological "side" notes --
1) Remember the Milk is actually kind of hard to describe; calling it an online to do list doesn't do it justice. You can have it send you reminders daily and/or at "deadlines" via SMS, email, or IM what you should be doing (I have it set to send a reminder 15 mins before anything with a deadline so I know when a show will be on TV). You can send items too - I find this very useful. You make multiples lists, such as by project or place to do them. And these are just the basics. Other than keeping track of school projects, books and movies to read and see, creative ideas, and everything else I can think of that I have to do or keep track of, my Big Idea is to set up an efficient food system, including what I have, links to recipes, and what I need to buy. Since I intend to avoid real meal planning and still have the flexibility to decide what I really feel like eating, this is going to be even more challenging. However, I think this will actually pay off in the end; I hate being hungry and wracking my brain trying to think what food I have all the way down in the kitchen. Go ahead and call me a cataloguing geek. Overall, I've decided to use RTM because I don't want to always carry my notebook (especially into a store), I need a place to also store links with notes I make, this will be incentive to carry my phone and keep it charged, and like I said, everything I do is pretty much online that paper to-do lists and schedules don't make much sense, no matter how much they've saved me in the past.
2) I've also moved a bit more into cloud computing, even as the general tech world is increasingly ignoring it. This is not because I have a netbook or that I use linux (although the characteristics of someone with these might carry over). I just need an easier way to backup stuff and to get at it, especially since I've found myself both copying a document to my thumbdrive *and* emailing it to myself so I can print it off at school. One acronym librarians like is LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Thus, I've started using pote.com as an insanely simple online word processor (two drawbacks: no footnotes and no straightforward downloading and saving as word). I've got about a gazillion documents in Google Docs, but have been moving away from it more and more because I don't like the interface. Heck, I hate using most word processors, online or offline, especially the Windows Vista MS Word. My problem is probably that I'm just too picky.
2b) I have an external hard drive (quite old in hard drive time) but I rarely use it for backups. I make a valiant effort to backup periodically which usually is every 3 to 6 months but this is not enough for safe keeping. I'm always nervous about losing the stuff I'm currently working on. After countless Blue Screens of Death and complete failure then total wipe or even complete physical replacement of the hard drive in my ThinkPad, I can't think why I despise Windows and am paranoid of having only one copy of something accessible. In any case, I've tried online storage options, never liked any of them, and since I'm trying to keep from giving *everything* to Google, I've kept looking. Solution: dropbox.com - I love it so far. There is no need to manually check to make sure that the most current versions of files are there or insert new ones; it automatically syncs when you connect to the internet. You can also access and edit things from any computer with internet access. It Just Works.
-- end side notes --
I also feel like not much actually happens in my day-to-day life but when I look back over recent weeks I realize it'd take hours just to tell you what's happened. And I don't mean "well, this day I took a shower and didn't used conditioner and this day I did use conditioner" but the more (hopefully) interesting tidbits, like how my car broke down on my way back to B-town the Monday night before last and the future of my car is looking quite bleak. I made it back safely, even if it was after midnight and my housemate came and picked me up in Martinsville, with only 25 miles further to go. This weekend Colin was a big help when we towed my car back to the house. If you ever need to do non-local car-towing, definitely check out U-Haul. From extensive online research, I knew it was going to be just over 100 dollars for self-towing as opposed to easily 250 to 300 with a towing company.
Since then, I've been more housebound than ever, unable to hop in my car and drive to the coffee shop or the grocery store. I had been making a point to try to get out every day, which doesn't always happen but it was a good thing for me to do. I'm trying to limit how much I depend on my housemates for rides and fortunately I only have the two class periods per week, although I did need to get prescriptions filled last Wednesday.
As for groceries, I've been doing perfectly fine without having to go to the store, apart from picking up milk when getting prescriptions and when Colin and I went shopping for the hors d'ouevres smorgasbord impromptu party. I tend to get more than I immediately need of any food I buy, usually sticking to a rule of "need one, get two." I'm really quite bad at making decisions sometimes; I'm the girl you see standing forever in front of a section because she can't figure out if she should get the cheapest, the bulk, or the quality (bulk isn't always the cheapest in pennies per ounce and sometimes I only want a little so it would actually be overall price that I'm looking at). So if I'm getting one of something, I save myself from twice the grief by getting two. Anyway, I've got quite a strange stockpile and although I've run out of eggs (some things I don't buy two of: eggs and milk), I'm using this as a good kick in the pants to finally use some of this stuff up, especially things I remember migrating from my apartment in May.
Currently, it's sunny and gorgeous out but I've got this sniffly sickness being nursed by a pot of cooling tea and a box of kleenex. It's one of those times when I feel driven to be uber-productive while I'm sick and I'm trying to rein it in so I don't keep wearing myself out. I might have to take a short slow walk outside just for sanity's sake though. But as for the dishwasher, maybe someone else will unload it after I started it and did the overflow of dishes by hand last night but I'm not overly optimistic nor does it bother me too much. Not even finding really old leftovers in tupperware with thriving colonies in the fridge bothers me much. Now, someone stealing and drinking my big bottle of pepsi for what is very clearly my part of the pantry, that annoys me, but I keep in mind it had been open for a couple days before it went missing so they got flat warm pepsi.
Okay, that's enough talking for now. Guess I'll have to actually get to what I was going to say in another post.
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