Hail to the IT genius that fixed my laptop!

Oh, hallelujah! I just got home from work and pulled out my laptop, and, viola! It works! Oh, joy! It crashed many, many, many months ago, it spent quite a bit of time in two separate fix-it shops, the result of which was a very expensive and pretty hopeless prognosis, and then I dragged it into work and let it sit for another few weeks, until I worked up the nerve to ask one of the IT technicians to have a look at it. I pretty much promised him anything in the world (well, almost anything), and all he wanted was 1) priority registration to take a class, and 2) lunch. He didn't even want homemade chocolate chip cookies! Wow. So, I immediately granted him #1, just for looking at the laptop (still in the case). So, that was back in early November.

Today, Mr. IT genius brought my laptop back, explained what the problem was (I really don't understand it, but it has something to do with the driver for the video card, maybe?), and we set up a date and time for lunch. I'm figuring I'm way ahead of the game, in any event. I was saving my money to buy a Mac, and I still may buy one at some point, but, boy, oh boy, oh boy, there's nothing like having your very own computer at home to do exactly what you want! Which, in this case, is finishing up my syllabus for the class I begin teaching on Monday. Hip, hip, hooray! The computer gods are on my side today. I'm thrilled. Absolutely, positively thrilled! Okay, I'll stop gushing now, and get to work.

Clever Poet!

By Christian Bok

Christian Bok has written a book of poetry that uses each vowel, but only one vowel per chapter. Check it out here.

So clever!

"Stay hungry, stay foolish"

I was searching for material for a class I will be teaching when the semester starts, and I stumbled upon this video of a commencement speech given by Steve Jobs. I'm thinking it's a keeper. What do you think? It's a little long, but worth it. The last part is a little eerie, too, because he talks about death.

This little piggie went "wee, wee, wee" all the way home!

In the spirit of "service to others" to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, I was an accomplice in a pig rescue of sorts. Yes, really. You read that right. A pig. Molly, a sweet little research pig at Stanford had been given the "Pass Go and collect $200" card in the Monopoly of Life game and needed a new home. Enter Cathy, who lives on a pig rescue farm, and her friend (that would be me). It seems that Molly needed a hitch from Palo Alto to Solvang. Originally, Molly was going to fly in style on a private plane, no less from Stanford to Acton. But someone along the way was worried that Molly wouldn't be comfortable in an unpressurized cabin, so driving was the only alternative.

So, off we went down and and then up the central coast, which is always a pleasant drive. It was an absolutely picture-perfect beautiful day, and Molly was quite agreeable about the trip, at least until we got to our destination. She then decided she had endured quite enough of a road trip, thank you very much, and was not nearly as excited about the second leg of the trip, which involved being driven from Solvang to Acton.

Cathy and I were excited, however, at the prospect of lunch on the coast, and dived into some pretty tasty fish tacos at the Cracked Crab in Pismo Beach. I felt obligated to wash those delicious fish tacos down with an ice cold beer that I drank with gusto.

Molly survived both journeys and is happily living in Acton with some of her peeps.

Photos courtesy of Cathy Kost.