Ok, computer people…I’m in the market for a notebook (laptop).

I don’t want to spend *too* much. (much as I love Rand’s PowerBook G4, that’s out of my price range…) I plan to primarily use it for writing, but of course, I’ll also want to be able to use it for email/internet, and I’ll probably want to be able to use iTunes.

What I’m not sure of is how much RAM I need, how big of a hard drive is necessary, and other fun details like that. What I don’t want to do is call and talk to a salesman, because of course they’ll try to sell me more than I actually need.

I appreciate the help!

1. Keith Knight rocks!

We saw him at the Cleveland Institute of Art, so basically it was me and Rand and a bunch of art students. Very cool. We talked to him a bit, and he signed a copy of one of his books (Passion of the Keef) for us. We also picked up a copy of his latest CD (he’s in a hip hop group called the Marginal Prophets)…titled Bohemian Rap CD. Hee! I mean, how do you not buy that?

2. OVFF was a lot of fun.

I got to meet some new people, all of whom were very cool, and see several fantastic concerts: Seanan McGuire, Michelle Dockrey, Riverfolk and Wild Mercy. Wild Mercy has a cool Celtic vibe…they even covered a song by one of my favoritest Celtic-type bands, Great Big Sea. (Own True Way) Awesome.

Every year at OVFF, awards are given in various categories. The nominated songs are performed on Friday night, attendees vote, and awards are presented at a Saturday evening banquet. I have to say, the nominees for best filk song were quite impressive. Tom Smith’s song “Rocket Ride”, an insanely catchy tune, was this year’s winner. I also really liked Escape Key’s “The Girl That’s Never Been”.

Rand gave a lyric writing workshop, which I sat in on. It was cool to see him in teacher mode. Very entertaining, and people really seemed to enjoy it. 🙂

And of course, it’s always fun to hang out with Joe Giacoio. Joe’s got a new CD out, which Rand got a copy of, and it’s great stuff. He never fails to make me tear up just a little. No Carla this time, though. Bummer. 🙂

Ummm…lessee…

3. Fleabag motels in Dayton=eeeeew.

Sunday night, we went to visit Rand’s brother and his family. I got to meet his wife and kids for the first time, and I really liked all of them. Cute, cute little boys. We spent the night at the “Relax Inn,” because we were too tired to search for anything else. Wouldn’t have been that bad but for the smoke smell. Let me be completely clear…this room didn’t just smell like it had been smoked in. It smelled like a family of three-pack-a-day smokers had lived there for ten years. Blech.

4. Henry Rollins rocks!

It wasn’t the most stellar of material, but man, can this guy entertain.

5. NaNoWriMo

I decided to sign up again, but I’m not exactly following the rules. I want to finish the thing I started last year, and my TC friends encouraged me to sign up anyway so that I could benefit from their peer pressure. Basically, I don’t care if I “win”, but I want to get back into the groove. I need a laptop, by the way. I’ve been hanging on to about half of my Woman’s World money, which won’t completely pay for a new computer, but will take a decent chunk out of it. Any suggestions?

Phew…I guess that’s it for now. 🙂

What can I say…life is busy. Subbing, teaching, grading…that’s about all I do.

I’m going to be heading out of town after my class tomorrow night, and won’t be back until Monday. Don’t miss me too much. 😉

Excitement on the agenda:

Friday morning in Cleveland, Rand and I will be seeing Keith Knight, a very funny and talented cartoonist. Of course, Rand got me interested in him, but I was the one who said “Oh my God, we HAVE to go!”

From there, we head to Columbus for OVFF.

Then, next Tuesday in Buffalo, we’re going to see Henry Rollins!

So hopefully, when I return, I’ll have some good stories to tell.
🙂

Thank you, Sister Jennifer, for reminding me…

Hello, all. F3 here. We’re in Q4 now and recruitment time is upon us once again. Never mind that we’ve never actively recruited – the time is now. We need people to sustain our membership commitment and these people need to be sought out. (“Memberhsip commitment” seems to work for PBS and NPR, so I thought we might co-opt it for private use.)

Please send along your ideas. Pendant keychains and “free beer certificates” have been forwarded (well, I thought of them, but only parenthetically), but we need more. More, we tell you, MORE!

Go here for the rest.

Check out this month’s Absolute Blank article over at Toasted Cheese…by yours truly. 🙂

I’m starting a yahoo group to discuss Lost, since it seems like I know a lot of people who are obsessed, like me. 🙂 If you want to join the group, leave a comment or send me an email. 🙂

I had a fantastic weekend in PA at Mary’s wedding. I don’t get to see this group of college friends nearly enough, and I love and miss them dearly. Here’s a photo:

That’s me, Jen, Mary, Holly and Karen. Aren’t we cute? 🙂

As soon as I figure out how to work flickr, I’ll get the whole lot of them posted there so everyone can have a look. In the meantime, here’s a cute one of me and Rand as well:

Also, a very happy birthday to Dayna, Anita, and happy anniversary wishes to Paul and Trisha! 🙂

Who am I? What day is this?

Ack…needless to say, life has been busy. But as I’ve said, the life of a substitute teacher is good for my reading. Not to mention my grading for my evening classes. It’s kind of cool having things to grade while I’m subbing. It makes me feel like a real teacher. 😉

Last week, I subbed for the first time in a district that has three high schools; North, South, and East. I’ve now been in both North and East, and East is the weirdest school I’ve ever seen. It has no walls.

Of course, it has outside walls…but the classrooms have no walls or doors closing them off from the rest of the school. Partial dividing walls kind of create the space, and some teachers use filing cabinets, shelves and cupboards as partial walls as well. There are no real “hallways”, so to speak. I was subbing for a science teacher, and there were two classes that were lab periods. Since their regular teacher was out, they didn’t have lab. And I learned that when they don’t have lab (or whenever they finish their labs) they can just go wherever they want. This is information a sub really should have at the *beginning* of the day, wouldn’t you think?

Weird.

I’ve also subbed a couple of days in the Shangri-La of all WNY high schools. Oh my GOD. The school is beautiful, the kids are polite and well-behaved. I was in teacher heaven. Of course, it also got me to thinking about how unfair it is…these kids, by luck of birth, have parents who can afford to buy expensive houses in an affluent suburb and want for nothing, while other kids go to overcrowded schools that barely have money for supplies. I don’t know what the answer is, but there has to be one.

Vaughn is NOT DEAD. He’s not.

I hate this show. But of course I’ll keep watching.

Damn you, JJ.

What a week.

I subbed 4 out of 5 days last week, which was very, very good. I’m pretty sure I could have worked the other day, but I had a doctor’s appointment. Two days, I was in for the same teacher. Most of the classes were fine, but there was one that gave me some trouble…playing a little game of “break the sub”, I’m sure. Gah.

Friday was my first day in a new school. It went very well, but I was pretty much just giving tests all day. The kids were SO good, I couldn’t believe it. I really hate the first day in a new place, though, because there are things that no one tells you…like where the bathroom is, and that you need a key to get into the faculty restroom. Oh, and this…at lunchtime, I needed some utensils. The room I was in was right across the hall from a small cafeteria, so I figured I could just pop in over there. I walked in, got a strange look from a cafeteria aide, and poked my head into the serving line. I asked a student to hand me a fork and knife. I got a spork. No kidding. A spork.

I walked back into the office where I was having my lunch, and decided to go back and see if there were some chips, or some fruit or something. The same cafeteria aide again looked at me strangely.

“You’re better off going to the staff cafeteria,” she said. It seemed as if she was annoyed with me for being there.

“Um, okay. Where is that?”

“You’re looking for a fork, right? They don’t give the kids forks.”

Okay, but see…no one told me there was a staff cafeteria. So you really don’t need to be all annoyed with me. Just tell me where it is, for crying out loud. And what’s the deal with the sporks? Were they having problems with the forks? Was there a freak fork accident? *Grumble*

Over the weekend, Rand and I traveled to St. Marys for my friend Kim’s wedding. It was very nice, and good to see everyone. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures.

I’ve gotten a bit behind on my email, so I apologize to anyone I haven’t responded to, or haven’t been in as much contact with lately. My schedule is making it a lot harder to keep in touch, especially since I can’t check email while I’m working during the day. Feel free to keep in touch with me via comments. 🙂