Like me, my son’s girlfriend recently became a MacBook owner. One day not long ago, she had this up as her status message in Google Chat*: I miss my macbook track pad when I’m at work :-(. I hear ya, girl. Sort of. I’m still not exactly crazy about the trackpad, but I’ve been getting used to it, since it seems to defeat the purpose of a “laptop” computer to hook a mouse up to […]
Month: February 2008
Wiki Wednesday 2-6-08
Time to learn something! 1. Go to Wikipedia.2. Click on “Random article” in the left-hand sidebar box.3. Post it! Today we’re visiting a five-star hotel in Ottawa, Ontario. I was in Ottawa for a few days when I was about seven years old, visiting my mom’s cousins there – we may have seen this place, but I don’t recall. I’d really like to see more of Canada, though, so perhaps I’ll be able to take […]
Ten on Tuesday 2-5: 10 Things You Can Do Instead of Watching TV
Since the writers’ strike began almost three months ago, there’s been less and less new content worth watching on television, and more discussion of other ways to fill that time. Since my tendency is to watch TV for specific shows and otherwise leave it off, I’ve actually adapted pretty well, although I do have a few shows I’m really missing at this point. I’m going to take this assignment very literally, so my list won’t […]
Weekend assignment #201 (5) – The food rut
As always, the original assignment is posted at Outpost Mâvarin. Write about it in your journal or blog, and then go over there and leave a link in comments. Weekend Assignment #201: To promote a new cooking show, a TV station is going to pay you $500 to eat the same basic meal every day for a week, prepared with only minor variations by their on-screen host. What’s on the menu? (Now, when I say […]
123: The easiest book meme ever
Here goes: 1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people. He went over it again and it looked the same. There was no way out, he would gave to speak to her. He put his hand over the bell push. – Atonement, Ian McEwan Via ShortWoman. As usual, I’ll break rule #5 – […]
Scraptacular #2 – the Highlight Reel
I do just about all of my blog-reading through Google Reader, and I have a lot of subscriptions in there. I’m going to share some of the posts I’ve “starred” in there over the course of the week here, and I’ll try to do that on a semi-regular basis, starting now (but I’m not yet ready to commit to how “semi” that “regular” basis will be…we’ll have to see how it goes). Maybe you’ll find […]
Language lessons
My uncle’s a great guy, but most of the e-mails he forwards on are irritating in one way or another – very off-color jokes, political screeds that are opposed to my views, that sort of thing. Every now and then, though, he sends along something interesting. I enjoyed these pieces on the idiosyncrasies of the English language, and they kind of fit in with the “reading” thing – plus, you can’t get an easier post […]
iPod Random Ten 2-1: Serve ’em up!
“If music be the food of love, play on…” I’ve mentioned that I like putting my iPod-selections posts into a framework. I came up with his one all by myself! Here’s what we’ll be serving up today at Café del iPod: Breakfast –“Traffic and Weather,” Fountains of Wayne(Always a good idea to check both of these first thing in the morning, I say) Morning coffee break –“Hold on Tight,” ELO Lunch –“I’m Looking Through You,” […]
Parenthood, step by step
There was an interesting On Balance post recently in which Leslie Morgan Steiner discussed a recent conversation with a stepfather: I asked what it was like to be a step-dad to a 15-year-old girl. “Awful,” he said. “A totally impossible job. I am completely a third wheel, unwelcome, un-thanked. But I love her, she’s a great kid, and obviously I’m really happy about being with her mother. Everything I do is like training for a […]
