I don’t think I’ve listened to any new music since JOY ended. Well, that’s not true. I bought a blink import a few months ago and (finally) came to the conclusion Monday night I’d probably enjoy it more outside the wrapper. Super-mega-good choice! All the giggling really livened up the time spent poring over paperwork yesterday.

Anyway, JOY made me listen to new music, and photos during the two previous years made me look at things in a new way.

I thought some time away from blogging would be good … but now that I think about it, that’s pretty much anti-logic. Not writing seriously throws off my work-life balance, I lose a big, important part of my daily routine, and did I mention it seriously throws off my work-life balance? (Plus, I like making and keeping that pact with myself.)

So I created a list of possibilities for the year to come and then narrowed it down to two:

1. Write each day about something that makes me happy — a task, an object, a place, an idea.
2. Try something new each day — cook a dish I’ve never cooked before, wear my hair a different way, do something old in a new way, visit a place on my “would like to check out” list … whatever.

Obviously the second one is way more ambitious and would stretch me a lot more, but it could be good for me too.

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I took a course in BASIC — my very first programming language <3 -- when I was 10. Mom and Dad enrolled me in a kid-friendly class at the U of M after what I assume was a considerable amount of whining and "please-oh-please-oh-please"-ing on my part. (I don't remember whining about it, but I’m sure that’s how it came about.)

The class met on weekends, and we worked on giant machines — no DOS, no Windows, no pretty icons. We learned plenty of high-tech stuff that remains incredibly applicable, such as:

10 PRINT “Hello world!”;
20 GOTO 10
RUN

Actually, I did learn something pretty cool, at least in the mind of geeky 1980s Kate: Our final project was to write a code that made a little ASCII choo-choo train go across the screen.

I think my folder from that class is at my parents’ house. Maybe I’ll dig it out and have a “d’aww” moment instead of using that time to, you know, learn PHP or something else useful.

Speaking of useful, I’ve decided it’s time to replace the netbook with something a little less … dead. Tomorrow’s going to be an expensive day, but at the end of it I’ll have re-blued hair and (hopefully) a new netbook.

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Wow indeed.

Very funny, Verizon. The replacement phone got to my office bright and early — I’ll give them a cookie for that — but things after that went downhill pretty quickly.

Why couldn’t I activate it? Perhaps it’s because the phone wouldn’t read the SIM card. Or perhaps it’s because they shipped me the wrong phone. Either way, I spent a Really Long Time trying to iron all out all the problems. I’m still too frustrated to write about it without, you know, letting out a string of expletives.

At 11 last night I was able to set up all my <3 morning alarms <3 — and that’s the only feature I’m sure works. Phone calls? I don’t know. Text messages? Absolutely no idea. The whole thing could be bricked except for the alarm clock, but, hey, at least I can listen to my 5:27 a.m. guaranteed-to-make-me-giggle pre-alarm alarm.

Verizon’s lucky that yesterday was punk-rock-sock Wednesday. PRS Wednesday is not as awesome as BDOTW Thursday, but it still makes me all sorts of woo-hoo-ey, and that means I’m probably a nicer person.

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It took 15 minutes to type this. :pout:

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The doctor prescribed an antibiotic, cough syrup, an inhaler and a bunch of nebulizer solution. Also Mucinex and whatever I want to take to reduce the fever.* And I got a prednisone shot at her office. Boooo.
*Fever: Reason I was cold enough to wear my favorite hoodie today. Woo!

A couple of these are regular maintenance meds; the rest are new. And I haven’t bought the Mucinex yet.

Being sick is pretty sucky.

I have a ton of work to catch up on, but I’m tired and going to bed.

Oh! Speaking of going to bed, I was able to back up all the details of my morning alarms — except for the songs associated with each — before I reset my phone. And I had plenty of waiting-room time today to take care of most of that. So waking up to the pre-alarm alarm tomorrow morning will be a super-WIN again.

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Friday: When I get home from work, the netbook — my primary computer — is almost dead and the charger isn’t working. Annoying but no huge deal; I can pick up an overpriced replacement charger at Best Buy later. (Why would I purposely shop at Best Buy when I know the replacement chargers are overpriced? Gift cards!)

Saturday: My phone finally gets the Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) OS upgrade. It begins rebooting at random every five minutes or so, then every four minutes or so, then every three minutes or so … until eventually it’s in a boot loop and crazy overheated. I can’t even get it stable in safe mode. DVR stops working.

Sunday, noon: The cough I’ve had for 27 days has morphed into something that’s, err, probably worth seeing a doctor about. I waffle. I don’t want to go because my last lung infection landed me in a year of tests at UT Cancer Institute. But the lung infection before that one turned into pneumonia. I’m glad my parents are out of town. I’d much prefer to stay in bed, but I need to take care of the netbook charger and phone. At least the DVR is working again; losing three devices in one weekend would be overkill.

Sunday, 4pm: Phone store. I determine in 15 seconds that I know more about my phone than the tech support guy does. (Eh, I can’t expect him to know everything about every device they carry.) I dread a factory reset, but I’m confident it’s the only logical remaining option. At least most of the important stuff from the internal drive has been backed up to Dropbox or the netbook.

Sunday, 4:30pm: Fight the crowd at Best Buy. It’s tax-free weekend, and all computers less than $1,500 are eligible. Finally flag down a friendly employee. She takes me to the replacement cables. I accidentally cough on her. (Sorry.) >_<

Sunday, 5pm: Reset the phone.

Sunday, 5:05pm: Plug in the replacement cable. The netbook is still dead. Guess the charger shorted it out.

Sunday, 5:06pm: Realize how royally screwed I am.

Tomorrow: Work, doctor, pharmacy, shop for new netbook.

… Stupid solar flares.

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Also, she did not kill me in my sleep.

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When it’s over, I won’t be anxious. I mean that in so goddamn many ways. :sigh:

This.

I’m off to take all my frustrations out on the piano. And paint my nails. Maybe not in that order.

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I said, “Oh, I know. But it rained today, so it’s not nearly as hot as it was yesterday.”

Then she said, “No — you! Stay as cool as you are!”

D’aww. It’s the little things. ^_^ The world would be a nicer place if people were … nicer … to each other, you know?

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Mornings are awesome — well, most mornings — and only two of my [not saying how many] morning alarms are geared toward waking up: the 5:27 pre-alarm alarm and the 5:30 real alarm. The other ones define other tasks, such as feeding the cats (5:33) and heating up breakfast if I’m hungry (5:37).

My aunt told Mom that Sleep Cycle has worked wonders: “I always thought I was getting enough sleep, but I wasn’t sleeping as well as I thought. Now I know why I’m tired in the morning!” OK, that sounds like she speaks in infomercials, so chances are she didn’t say it just like that.

Anyway, any thumbs-up or thumbs-down experiences?

There’s also a sleep-talk recorder, but I flatly refuse to try it. The prospect of listening to the replay in the morning horrifies me. I don’t want to know what I said overnight!

OK, get out there and enjoy Punk-Rock-Sock Wednesday. ^_^ And don’t forget to water your flowers.

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