Entering the Real World

"A lifetime of happiness lies ahead of you"

That's what my fortune cookie said when Anie and I went out for dinner to celebrate the end of grad school. She says she may go for a PhD someday... but I don't plan to. That means for me, this is the end of being a student. That's always been a part of who I was — even when I took a year off between undergrad and grad, I still wasn't really past being a student; I was just on an extended vacation.

So now it's time for the real world. And it's scary. And exciting. And completely new... I have no idea what comes next, but I'm about to find out...

heh

Awkward...

So last night I could smell woodsmoke coming in my window, a welcome change from the gas/alcohol/cigars I usually smell.



Apparently the laundromat burned down.


random

How To Make Chele's Head Explode in 5 Easy Steps

1. Drop her apartment number from her paychecks, so that the postoffice complains.
2. When she tries to go to her work email to look for payroll's contact info, lock her out.
3. When she goes to the company website for the employee manual, make sure only the table of contents loads.
4. When she finally gets a number for payroll from the IM support team, tell her they can't help, because she needs to change her own address in a new system that uses the email's log-in, then transfer her to IT.
5. Fix her email, but not the system she needs to change her address, and give her a number to call back that's out of service.

You know, if it were still April Fool's, I'd understand, but that was yesterday. I hate Mondays.

Internet Quizzes = Endless Entertainment

So I found a new internet quiz (through a facebook post of course) and, being as skilled at procrastination as I am, decided to take it.
This one calls itself a political compass and has come up with the argument that instead of measuring politics on a left-right line, one needs a full chart. The economic scale is on the x axis and the social scale on the y axis. I got this:

Economic Left/Right: -3.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.90

...which really didn't tell me much, until I clicked on the comparison chart: 

...well, NOW we know why I have so little interest in any politicians, don't we? If this is even accurate, which... who knows.

I do seem to be in good company though:

Side note: this looks fun

This is my Church...

I went to a pretty cool talk after mass this past Sunday- the topic was "How does one reconcile disagreement with the institution and remain Catholic?" The speaker was Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (who wrote Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus), and it was organized by Voice of the Faithful and hosted by the Paulist Center Boston. It's nice to finally find an active Catholic community where I don't have to feel uncomfortable at every other phrase spouted out of someone's mouth. This is the Church as it should be, a future for the Church that is not based on the increasingly law-obsessed newer priests coming out of the seminaries.

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
- Hosea 6:6

"There is nothing on this earth so ugly as the Catholic Church, and nothing so beautiful."
-John Henry Newman

podcasts

I just have to say this again... yes! Finally, people who will listen to me. And who I may listen to and learn from.

iPad Thoughts, part 1

So... I'm going to start collecting notes/thoughts here.

Which means, if you're not interested in the comparison of tablets, go ahead and ignore me.

What I want in a tablet:

• Plain text editor with regular expressions (color-coded html a plus)
• .epub reader
• wireless
• good battery life
• good quality video
• sketch feature/stylus
• pdf reader/editor
• (games)

How iPad meets these criteria:

• Textastic?
• iBooks (non-Apple ebooks can be added through iTunes on the computer, then synced to the ipad)
• wireless
• Apple's claim - ipad 2: 10hrs; ipad 3: 10hrs [CNET test - ipad 2 (airplane mode): 14.2 hrs; ipad 3 (airplane mode): 12.8 hrs]
• high-res screen in ipad 3; still no flash
• no official stylus, but several companies have styluses that work with the ipad; only complaint people seem to have is no pressure sensitivity
• Well look what I found!
• tons of games

Other possible tablets:

• Eee pad Transformer Prime - lighter than ipad, smaller screen, 18hr battery life
• Sony - wedge shape to reduce glare when flat on table, SD card reader, some complaints about screen brightness, 8-9 hr battery life
• Samsung Galaxy - bigger screen, thin, 5-8 hr battery life
• Nook Tablet - no. The nook is an ereader; I have one of those. I want a full tablet.
• Kindle Fire - see what I said about nook.

Note: Apple, by far, has the most available apps. Finding a text editor with regex seems difficult no matter which tablet I get.

Actually... I thought there was going to be a part 2 to this, or maybe even a part 3, but I may have just talked myself into the ipad...

Home Alone

So with two roommates off...somewhere (early spring break?) and the third at AWP, I have the apartment to myself! It's a wonderful feeling. I can watch what I want, play my own music, wander anywhere in the house without worrying about us tripping over each other or blocking each other's shower times.

This seems as good a time as any to make an attempt at restarting this blog. I know it's been forever (again) but here's a quick summary:
1. New Year's! Yay! Party at Megan's (and we tricked/kidnapped Kristin into coming). Odd though, that there's so many couples in my group of friends now. Changes the dynamics a bit.
2. Farm! Yay! Great seeing everyone, and going for a long walk. Found a new spring, checked lingering damage from Irene, and begged the trees not to bloom (they're a little confused as to what season it is - and with the weather we've been having, I can't blame them).
3. Boston! Yay? Well, not so much, but Boston and I are at least getting along a bit better than last semester.
4. Classes: Translation, Textual Editing, and Web Development. Web Development=Yay!
5. Mark Does Stuff came to Boston. I was there! Double Yay!

Okay, summary over. See, that wasn't too bad, now, was it?

Mom & Dad - see you soon!

Double Dare