Sooo, I'm back in Gainesville for a couple of days - my last couple of days. I had my French final this evening (easy A) and will have to take my Latin final (difficult) at ten tomorrow morning, but after that I am well and truly done with this school. Well, except for that loooong walk across the stage on Saturday. But I'm 'done enough' that I felt only slightly awkward going ahead and putting my Alumni license plate frame on my car. :)

Anyway, I've had a nice, relaxing few days. I went to the Ichetucknee with some swim teammates, hung out with my sister, swam with my Jacksonville Masters team, got hooked up with my two-week free YMCA membership, visited the Apple store (twice), sent out my graduation announcements, downloaded The Chronicles of Narnia (good movie), read a new Jodi Picoult book, got my hair cut, persuaded my sister to get her hair cut (just above shoulder-length), built the temporary Club Alligator website, paid my Key West entry fee, re-watched The Interpreter and Wimbledon, and - dare I say it - got to sleep in a few times. The only thing that was somewhat work-like was my online French assignments (the usual 50-some-odd exercises - 56, in this case) which were due today. I did the 27 written assignments more or less properly, but then I had to knock off the last 39 (all listening and video) exercises this morning, so I just typed pure gibberish. And I mean literal gibberish, banging haphazardly on the keys - she only checks to see if there's a cute little check mark next to the assignment, not what we actually typed. And even if she does, it's only a portion of the 'homework' 10% of our grade, which includes all 5 other online chapters as well as allllll the written homework we've had to turn in this semester... so I can't see it hurting me too badly, either way.

Anyway, so tomorrow I have to take my Latin final and then take care of some 'business' - selling back my books, picking up my honor cords, and getting the complimentary 'cap and gown photo' taken. I have nothing to do tomorrow afternoon or all day Friday, so it's probably going to be spent swimming, lifting weights in Southwest Rec, eating the rest of my food (some of which Monique already, er, helped me out with) and - of course - playing on the computer.

Speaking of computers, I broached the subject with Dad about my wanting a Mac and he got really upset with me. Apparently he had a recent bad experience with a colleague's Mac and now insists I shouldn't get one because of compatibility issues. ("98% of the computing world uses Windows!") But the thing is, unless the Mac site is out-and-out lying, their new, Intel-chip-equipped Macs have almost no issues with compatibility. They can't write to PC-formatted external drives yet, true, but they can read them, and (as we've already established) they come with the entire iLife suite, which includes Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint as well as all the specialty programs for video editing, photo organizing, etc. The only thing I'd be lacking is Photoshop, and I don't mind buying one extra program. I think what Dad isn't grasping is that he is a professional video director, while I am a college student. Our needs are in no way the same. He needs complicated programs, lots of external equipment, and office/colleague computers that work the same way as his own. I, on the other hand, am the only one who ever uses my computer, and I use it almost exclusively for e-mail, Internet browsing, Word documents, music and movie playback, and photo organization. I do the occasional bit of graphic design for a webpage, and use the occasional Excel file for a chart, but on the whole, all I really need is a browser, Office suite, and media player - which means I can come down on either side of the fence and have my needs met. And since the Macs seem better-organized and more user-friendly, without as many potential points of confusion as my PC, that's the direction I'm leaning in. (And, yeah, I gotta admit - the interface is pretty gorgeous, too.)

And that 13" widescreen MacBook? Will be out within this month. I should know by that point if that's the model I need to go with or if there'll be a smaller one coming next quarter (back-to-school quarter). We'll see. But anyway, if anybody wants to share their PC-versus-Mac experiences in comments, go right ahead. Maybe there's something I'm missing.

Anyway, I suppose I should really be studying for Latin right now, seeing as I have an exam in less than 10 hours and I have looked at absolutely no material since, um, our quiz last Wednesday.

But first, a shower.