Monthly Archives: November 2009

Burning Question #733

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WHAT do you get for the person who has everything already? I know gift cards are the standard answer, but I’d like to stay away from those. Cash is out. Has to be something nice and thoughtful (and I’m not “crafty,” so it unfortunately can’t be anything I make on my own).

It really is a constantly-asked question, isn’t it. There are several people on my Christmas list like this — mostly friends. I mean, you know your family’s hobbies, special likes & dislikes, etc., so they’re not as perplexing. Besides, you can always ask a sibling or spouse for help.

But how do you score with buying presents for he/she who has seen everything, done everything and has everything?

Hep me! Please and thank you.

Begin.

PS – Last night was weirdsville at the Fink house. No revisions to do, no reading 15-page journal articles, no studying…bizarre.

Round 2 underway

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Last night at 10:43, I submitted the penultimate draft of my thesis. Praise God and Jesus. I will get it back one more time, fix what I hope are minor errors, then resubmit in 2 weeks. Then it’s over. Almost three years of constant study — over. Like that *snapping fingers*.

I have thought many times about what I will actually do with myself. I’m not kidding. I mean, I know I’m going to see Justin and Jake more; I’m really looking forward to that. My goal is to see them every day, actually. But…they go to bed at like 7:30 – 8:00. What then? I’m not being silly, honest. My life has been so ordered — so ruled by my BU schedule in nearly all aspects — that it’s kind of creepy to think of how I’ll fill the time. I refuse to be a sofa spud or disappear in books all night. Oh well. No biggy. I’ll have Dinner Theatre starting in January to keep me busy, and I won’t stop until I get home from NYC the night before Easter. But, after that….hmmm.

Maybe I’ll develop a new hobby. Hey! How about video production? I’ll make movies with my Flip! Whaddya think, Artillius? In fact, here is my debut. (I know, more Justin — but he’s a great subject, don’t you think?)

I’ve never seen anyone so delighted by his image in the mirror (well actually I have, but I won’t mention his name since he’s 50 years old and who knows, he might read this). It’s the cutest thing ever!

And now, my world premiere — all 24 seconds of it (I know, title graphics need work): Babies Like Mirrors.

:-)

A fyne weekend

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So yeah — got some work done on the thesis. It’s ready to submit for the final feedback, then I make some (hopefully) small changes and give it the heave-ho on Tuesday the 1st, and wait for my grade (oh, and the diploma). I can see the finish line.

Had my sis’s birthday feast last night (we celebrated the birthday of  Jake and Justin’s other grammie, Jane, too). It was a grand time.

Six-month-old Justin was making us laugh. It’s fun when you begin to see a baby’s personality developing. We told Hannah last night that she was fortunate indeed to have two babies in a row with happy dispositions. Yay!

Yes, I have an Obligatory Grammie Showoff Photo:

clicky

I predict lots of opportunities to hone my Flip Video editing skills. Just gotta get through these next couple of weeks…

Happy Monday.

To Nook or not to Nook?

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That is the question.

I am dealing with Christmas git lists this morning, because I adore lining up the shopping trip, getting the gifts, wrapping them all pretty, putting them under the tree, and especially watching my family open them. There’s an old cliché that says, “The joy is in the giving.” It’s not cliché to me.

Of course, getting the git lists from my family also entails the giving of my git list to them — especially to the Thriller. Are you reading me today, Lambikins? I ask because reading is on the menu this morning. E-reading, that is.

Do I want a Nook? You know…I think I do.

Now, ye purists, hold thy steeds. Before you stop reading to click on “Add Your Comment,” let me say that I adore books. Books on the shelf, I mean — the ones made of paper and cardboard and cloth. I have a huge collection of them, many of which I’ll keep forever to pass on to my grandchildren. However, there are times when I’m in a place (riding in the car, in a hotel, in a restaurant while traveling, waiting after school for evening rehearsals to start, etc.) when I think it would be nice to have a selection of stuff to read, without having to have schlepped it all into a bag before leaving. Or maybe I’m in a place where I don’t want to drag a book bag around.

I think it just might be the best of both worlds, this Nook.

Now, I can hear my dad (and some of my friends, probably) saying, “We never had Nooks. We carried our books around and actually opened them and turned the pages and felt the paper.” I know, I know. And sometimes it’s fun to be a bit of a purist. I’m a pedantic schoolmarm on Church Latin and English vowel production (in rehearsals), spelling, some areas of grammar/usage, and certain store brands. Gotta have the real thing in its most pristine form. But books on an e-reader? I think it’s a great idea as an auxiliary tool. Bring it on.

I will always buy books for myself and for others. But having a little white frame containing over a million titles for books, mags and newspapers that I can carry around in my purse with me? That also sounds like fun.

There. I think I pretty much talked myself into it, ja?

:-)

What do you think of the Nook? I’d probably go for it over Amazon’s Kindle reader because of the Wi-Fi and the capability of sharing books with friends.

OK. Time to get started — Mavis’s birthday feast is today and the food isn’t going to cook its own self. If only they had an e-cooker. Shazam!

FO

PS – I positively, absolutely cannot come up with 400 more words for the thesis. I give up. I’m turning it in on Tuesday as-is.

Whither art thou, sleep?

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What is up with THIS? I think I have too much on my reptilian brain. Up with the night creatures at 3:30 a.m.

Don’t you hate that? What do you do to go back to sleep? I think I try too hard. When everything backfires, I just get up. I think I might be giving up too easily, although I actually woke up today at 2:58. I just spent the next half hour trying to reverse the process. Nice.

Truthfully, there are issues weighing on my mind. Don’t you wish you could turn them off at bedtime? If you can, I’d appreciate hearing how you do it (pharmaceuticals really aren’t an option for me…not that I have anything against sleepy drugs, mind…I just can’t wake up enough to go to school the next day).

This is going to be the Week of Taking Care of Stuff. You just wait and see if it ain’t.

*yawn* I think I’ll officially hoist the white flag and go make some coffee. Happy Saturday, fiends. (It is Saturday, right?)