Happy Easter! (Or, as my dad has been answering the phone all morning, 'Hoppy' Easter!) No basket this year, but I did get a big chocolate bunny and Hallmark card from Dad... okay, all together now... 'Awww.'
Anyway, Family Easter Get-Together #1 (with Mom's side of the family) was yesterday, and it wasn't as excruciating as it could have been, but it was definitely a case of the 7 mentally capable attendees (my parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandfather, my cousin Nathaniel, and me) sort of 'strategizing' against the two less capable (my grandmother and my uncle's father, both with some form of Alzheimer's and/or dementia). But between Dad's recently acquired Victrola, our home video of Catie performing in the FSU circus, and the food (pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, asparagus, bean salad, garlic bread, and strawberry pie), we managed to keep everybody happy.
Family Easter Get-Together #2 (with Dad's side of the family) is today - in a matter of hours, actually - which should be more enjoyable. My one diehard Southern Baptist aunt will probably be offset by my passle of cousins, including Megan (13) and Michael (10), my fellow swimmers, and by baby Logan, the son of my cousin Shayla.
In other news, I signed up for my classes at Chapel Hill - syntax (required for degree), phonetics (required for degree), a survey of Mayan languages (degree elective), and Elementary Persian (my own choice, which gives me no grad credit whatsoever but which will probably help me get in the door at NSA). I have three classes on Monday and Wednesday and just one on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday - and, the best part - my earliest class is at 11:00. Gotta love that, after getting up at 8 every morning for the past semester. I'm not much for sleeping in, usually, but I like doing all my computer stuff in the mornings (gives everybody else the rest of the day to get back to me) and I also like exercising in the mornings (gets it out of the way for the rest of the day). So yes, I think this is going to work out juuuuust fine. :)
Still perusing the laptop world for my next investment. At last count, I had five possibilities; I've now narrowed that down to three: the Sony SZ, the Dell Inspiron, and the Apple 12" Powerbook. I gave up on the other two because although they were smaller and lighter and had better battery life than these three, they were also considerably more expensive, with slower processors and smaller hard drives. I have to strike a balance: as small and light as I can possibly get, without entirely sacrificing the few essential creature comforts of a desktop replacement.
Also, Mom and Dad have amended their offer: the new deal is, I get a gift of $3000 to do with as I like - meaning, the laptop comes out of that. (Meaning, too, that I can get the Mac if I decide that's what I want. Dad, a PC man through and through, had originally put the kibosh on that idea.) Anyway, the version of the Sony TX that I wanted was $2999, which is part of the reason I dumped it. I want a good laptop, but I'd also like to have a little money left over for other stuff, like a case (and, once they come out with an appropriate capacity for my needs, an iPod nano...)
Anyway, guess that's about all I have for you today, except...
06 days till the Tampa Bay swim,
10 days till school is out, and
20 days till graduation!
Anyway, Family Easter Get-Together #1 (with Mom's side of the family) was yesterday, and it wasn't as excruciating as it could have been, but it was definitely a case of the 7 mentally capable attendees (my parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandfather, my cousin Nathaniel, and me) sort of 'strategizing' against the two less capable (my grandmother and my uncle's father, both with some form of Alzheimer's and/or dementia). But between Dad's recently acquired Victrola, our home video of Catie performing in the FSU circus, and the food (pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, asparagus, bean salad, garlic bread, and strawberry pie), we managed to keep everybody happy.
Family Easter Get-Together #2 (with Dad's side of the family) is today - in a matter of hours, actually - which should be more enjoyable. My one diehard Southern Baptist aunt will probably be offset by my passle of cousins, including Megan (13) and Michael (10), my fellow swimmers, and by baby Logan, the son of my cousin Shayla.
In other news, I signed up for my classes at Chapel Hill - syntax (required for degree), phonetics (required for degree), a survey of Mayan languages (degree elective), and Elementary Persian (my own choice, which gives me no grad credit whatsoever but which will probably help me get in the door at NSA). I have three classes on Monday and Wednesday and just one on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday - and, the best part - my earliest class is at 11:00. Gotta love that, after getting up at 8 every morning for the past semester. I'm not much for sleeping in, usually, but I like doing all my computer stuff in the mornings (gives everybody else the rest of the day to get back to me) and I also like exercising in the mornings (gets it out of the way for the rest of the day). So yes, I think this is going to work out juuuuust fine. :)
Still perusing the laptop world for my next investment. At last count, I had five possibilities; I've now narrowed that down to three: the Sony SZ, the Dell Inspiron, and the Apple 12" Powerbook. I gave up on the other two because although they were smaller and lighter and had better battery life than these three, they were also considerably more expensive, with slower processors and smaller hard drives. I have to strike a balance: as small and light as I can possibly get, without entirely sacrificing the few essential creature comforts of a desktop replacement.
Also, Mom and Dad have amended their offer: the new deal is, I get a gift of $3000 to do with as I like - meaning, the laptop comes out of that. (Meaning, too, that I can get the Mac if I decide that's what I want. Dad, a PC man through and through, had originally put the kibosh on that idea.) Anyway, the version of the Sony TX that I wanted was $2999, which is part of the reason I dumped it. I want a good laptop, but I'd also like to have a little money left over for other stuff, like a case (and, once they come out with an appropriate capacity for my needs, an iPod nano...)
Anyway, guess that's about all I have for you today, except...
06 days till the Tampa Bay swim,
10 days till school is out, and
20 days till graduation!
stormed at 10:41
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