Hello, everyone! Since Ernesto made its pass through last night, things here are grey and leaf covered, but that makes a nice atmosphere for a Friday at work before a three day weekend. There is just something about the dark sky - making the trees and grass look so much greener than they really are. I love days like this.
So, here's what is going on over here. I signed up to do a "Walk to Oppose Factory Farming" on Sept 30, but the date was changed to October 7. Unfortunately, that is the same day as the Durham Beer Fest. I do have my priorities in line, so I will be attending beer fest rather than doing the walk. Ok, so maybe I AM a terrible person. I am still collecting donations for the cause though, if you are interested in donating. A former professor of mine, Kathy Rudy, visited Farm Sanctuary, the charity coordinating the walk, and she said it was an amazing group doing wonderful work. Therefore, I know the cause and the organization are very worthy. If you are interested in learning more, check out: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/ If you are interested in making a donation to the group for the Raleigh area walk, please go here: http://www.firstgiving.com/mrnewman.
Building on that same theme, I will be giving a presentation on September 23 to a group of 60 Duke freshman regarding the environmental perils of factory farming. Duke news just ran a story on the event, although I didn't get any mention. But once they see my awesome PowerPoints, I am assuming it should be front page, NY Times Sunday Edition. ha ha ha. Anyway, if you want to check out the story on the event, click here: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/08/farm.html
In other news, I have been waging a computer battle over the past few days. A few months ago, my laptop started having sound issues. It was a sudden problem - I just turned it on one day and it happened. The sound would skip, processes started running slower and it just became an overall pain in the ass. I put off taking it in because I had a feeling it was going to be a long process to repair. Well, I was correct in my assumption.
I took the computer into the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy, and I sat the computer on the counter. I said, "It's a hardware problem. I have run every spyware and virus scan I possibly could, and there is nothing on my computer." The guy looked at it and said "Nope, it is definitely software. For $199 we can do a scan and repair. It will take 24-48 hours. Or we can ship it off to Sony for $29, it will take 4-6 weeks and probably not get fixed because this is a software issue." I went with the tech's expertise, and I paid the $199. 80 hours later, I receive a phone call saying, "We have done everything we can do, and there is no virus or spyware on your computer. It is a hardware problem." NO WAY. I never would have though that! (sorry, I am a tad bitter)
Luckily, they automatically offered up a refund of everything except the costs for the diagnostic testing. So, I pay $59 for the diagnostics, but I get the rest of the money back. I will go in today to get my refund and pay the $29 to ship the laptop off to Sony. Which also means I am sans computer for probably 4-6 weeks. Crap.
On a much happier note, I plan on spending this evening in a wonderful manner. With Mike being off at an APSA meeting in Philadelphia through Saturday, I am spending Friday night with another man: Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy and I will be enjoying pizza, red wine, and chocolate cake for dessert. If you have been reading the blog since I was in Oxford, you know I was exposed to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for the first time. I rented the BBC version of the movie from Netflix and plan on spending Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon immersing myself in the film version. I am VERY excited!
Saturday evening will be spent at the James Joyce and enjoying the bawdy pub tunes from Paddy & Bill, who I was introduced to a few years ago. Based in Fayetteville, NC, they don't make it out to Durham very often. Therefore, I am looking forward to seeing them perform less than a mile from my house!
Other than that, no major plans for the Labor Day weekend. I will hit Thrift World, who is having a 50% off sale Sept 2-4, and then I will do the opposite of that and head off to Southpoint Mall to see what I can find on sale there.
The last bit of news (my, this has turned into a LONG post), is that Lauren and I are now the representatives of the MALS (my masters program) to Duke's Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC). We are excited to become involved and speak up for all of our MALS classmates!
Everyone, enjoy your Labor Day weekend, and I will chat with you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment