Tax ReFUNd

Thanks to being able to declare Mom as my dependent last year, I received nice-sized tax refunds from both the feds and the state.  I spent most of the money responsibly - I even bought a new vacuum cleaner! - and was preparing to squirrel the rest into savings when a little voice piped up about how since the new iPad4 had just been released, the older iPad2 was probably on sale. 

"Ridiculous," I told the voice firmly, "I don't need an iPad.  Serenity still goes everywhere* with me and I have my netbook connected to a monitor at home for doing homework."

But the little voice was remarkably persistent, pointing out how my work email doesn't get along with Serenity (although Yahoo! mail works just fine) and how long it takes to power up the netbook and then wait for the desktop and then wait for the browser and enter passwords, and wait.... 

The voice and I argued for several days, but in the end, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try an iPad, would it?  I could always return it...

I did feel guilty for a few days - it was quite a bit more expensive than I had anticipated -  but the guilt is gone now.  Checking work email** now is a push, swipe, tap and no waiting.  And since I still don't have TV, it's nice to have a device that plays Netflix streaming without the pixelation that my netbook thinks is necessary.

Of course, the new tech needed a name.  Since part of my guilt came from the fact that I already have a perfectly wonderful iPod Touch and a netbook so why did I need another device, I named him JACK - Just Another Cool Know-it-all***.  Another Jack in my life - just what I needed!


* Literally - the only time Serenity's farther than arm's length is when I'm in the pool and she's safely secured in the locker.  There are worse things to be severely attached to...

** I'm not compulsive about checking work email - I only scan the subject lines - but with my wonky schedule, it's good to see if an early meeting has been cancelled or if a last-minute meeting has been
scheduled.

*** For those as geeky as me, yes, I stole the idea from Jarvis.  For those not as geeky as me, the name of Tony Stark's A.I. in the Iron Man movies is Jarvis, or Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.

New Calendar

Although I'm not sure about their Universal Time concept, I'm intrigued* by the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar that is "simple, religiously unobjectionable, business-friendly and identical year-to-year."

CNN has a more succinct version of the story.

* not just because my birthday will always fall on a Saturday.

Funny Cat Video

Maybe I just really needed a laugh, but this video of various cats cracks me up.  You must be patient - the first 40 seconds are deceptively placid (and several segments are cringe-inducing) but overall it makes me laugh so hard I can't watch it when there are others - people or cats - in the same room.

Climate Change

To anyone who says our climate isn't changing:  April used to be warmer than February.

How Many Moons Does Earth Have?

This short piece from NPR reports some research from one of the astronomers where I used to work:  Earth Has Just One Moon, Right? Think Again

I love this line:  "Mostly these {asteroids} go whizzing by, not even slowing down to wave."

The Long, Twisted Path To Mercury video is interesting, too - what a crazy concept, what a wild ride.

Nerd Alert

You already knew I was a nerd, but did you know this?

Pool Time Update

It's been two months and most weeks I've made it to the pool 3 times a week.  Not every week, but I'm satisfied that this new exercise regimen has taken hold.  The most difficult thing is forcing myself to get out of the pool to take a shower and get to work on time! 

I'm also gradually changing the way I eat - a major hurdle - to accommodate the exercise since I can't jog on an empty stomach - nor on a full one - so I'm experimenting with small, nutritious, safe-to-eat-while-driving snacks.

My first goal is the stamina to stand all day at WDW at the end of the year.  So far, I'm usually able to feel satisfied with my progress as a good start after years of not doing anything, although I sometimes vacillate between "this is a good start" and "I'm not progressing fast enough."  Only time will tell.

Reality

Another quote of the day from my Mutts comic email:

"The moon is one, but on agitated water it produces many reflections.

Similarly ultimate reality is one, yet it appears to be many in a mind agitated by thoughts."

~ ~ Maharamayana

Carbon Map

I didn't need another reason to feel bloated, but here it is.  The Carbon Map seeks to make "sense of climate change responsibility and vulnerability."  The short intro video is worth a watch (and watching the U.S. will explain the bloated reference).

Are You Ready?

This article is from 2011, just about a year ago, but still relevant... and scary.

What If the Biggest Solar Storm on Record Happened Today?

In 1859 "...geomagnetic disturbances were strong enough that U.S. telegraph operators reported sparks leaping from their equipment—some bad enough to set fires...if something similar happened today, the world's high-tech infrastructure could grind to a halt... The eastern half of the U.S. is particularly vulnerable, because the power infrastructure is highly interconnected, so failures could easily cascade like chains of dominoes. Imagine large cities without power for a week, a month, or a year..."

I ask again, "will you be prepared when the digital world dies?"

Pool Time

I've finally started to do something about exercising more.  My campus has a Student Life Center that allows faculty to purchase a membership (students pay as part of their tuition). The SLC has an Olympic-sized swimming pool and although I don't really swim, I do enjoy jogging back and forth in one of the lanes.  Jogging in water is a little easier on the joints, offers nice resistance, and is much cooler.

My half-price "early bird" membership allows me entrance anytime on Saturdays and Sundays and before 1:30pm M-F, which means I can go before work.  Probably the only time I'll ever qualify for anything "early bird"! 

I had to purchase a lock since I will be walking directly from the car with my backpack full of electronic gadgets (iPod, Kindle, netbook), wallet, keys, etc. that will need to be secured.  The one I got came with a bonus: the combination is my grandmother's birthday - in month, day, year order.  If that's not a sign from above that this is what I should be doing and that I have plenty of support, then I don't know what is...

It's one thing to be shaken about in a 1-story house during an earthquake and an entirely different terror to be inside a massive 3-story commercial building as it dances.  Very surprisingly, we didn't lose power.  No damage, no injuries, but definitely an experience I don't want to have again.

I get the Mutts comic each day via email, which comes with a quote of the day - I want to make sure I don't lose this one:

Lose your mind and come to your senses.
~ Fritz Perls

Hmmmmm.........

Clancy's Tavern

Please, please, let Toby's new album be more - much more - in the style of the single Made in America* and less - lots less - in the style of Red Solo Cup**.

* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!pure awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
** wtf?!

UPDATE:  HUGE sigh of relief and BIG smiles!  Clancy’s Tavern, both the song and album, are already on my faves lists.  RSC, on the other hand, shall never be thought of nor mentioned ever again....

Kindle Touch, Part Two

I was talking to a colleague who didn't understand why I wanted a new Kindle if it wasn't going to be the Kindle Fire.  I explained that I spend much of my work time - and then schoolwork time after that - staring at a computer screen, so that's the last thing I want to look at when I finally get a few moments to read something for pleasure.  If you've never seen one, the Kindle E ink screen is different than a computer, iPad, or iPod screen - it's really more like reading a piece of paper. 

As we continued talking about the new versions of Kindles and the pros and cons, he asked why I was hesitating when the new Kindle Touch I want is only a hundred bucks.  On the one hand, $100 is nothing to trifle with in this economy, but in my head I'd been thinking "Kindle=Big Bucks" because the price of my original Kindle, purchased as a birthday gift two and a half years ago, was a hefty $350 (fortunately subsidized by family and friends).  Compared to that, maybe throwing a C-note at a first-generation piece of technology isn't so crazy after all...

Big Screen

A friend who remembered my long-time desire to replace my 19’ TV (pathetic, I know) with a projection system came into possession of an old, heavy, but still functioning projector.  It was GLORIOUS to see the huge images flickering across the wall.  The colors were fantastic and it even has a speaker so I didn’t have to drag my floor models out of storage and tempt the cats with wiring (Pye once chewed a power cord).  I lost count of how many times I paused on images to gaze upon the larger-than-life (almost movie size!) loveliness displayed in my living room. {BIG sigh of contentment}

Kindle Touch

I must show restraint:  I will not buy a first-generation Kindle Touch.  Even tho' it has Wi-Fi, which I have at home, instead of 3G, which I don't.  It's first generation, which means I should wait.  Patience...  Patience...

Update Arrrgh!

I spent an hour last night re-installing and re-arranging the apps on Serenity because Apple applied an update that utterly destroyed all my careful customization. Deep breath...

Another Degree

As some of you know, I have begun working on my second master's degree (for librarians additional degrees are like cats - you can't have just one). The new one is a Master of Education in Educational Technology. One of the assignments is to start a website for posting some of the assignments and the final project, so here's Amy's ETEC Experience.

Sci-Fi Sites

SFE: Science Fiction Encyclopedia

SF Gateway