Full question: Name one thing you always wanted to do, but haven’t. What has prevented you from doing it?
Okay so I guess we can maybe see why I thought it was stupid to do the Robert Frost poem. This question is so similar. So yeah, that's why I went with the literal interpretation of the previous question.
Anyway, I suppose it's as good a time as any to ask this question because I literally just finished school. Maybe forever. Hopefully not. I'm aiming to get my PhD Like A Boss, and so that people can call me "Doctor." Right now I'm only qualified to be called "Master," which is the exact opposite (Yeah, Doctor Who reference, what the fuck is up?)
Honestly, maybe there's some stupid stuff I haven't done, but I'm more or less on track with my life. It's not perfect, but it's all right. I guess maybe I would like to write a book. I like writing but I lack the focus/determination/creativity to actually put together a whole novel. I was going to maybe try NanoWriMo, but November is literally the worst possible month to make a challenge like that. Maybe I'll make my own NanoWriMo during my (hopefully brief) unemployment come January. I mean, technically I'm unemployed now, but I'm not going to find anything at this point, so I'm waiting until the holidays are over. Jen's wedding is this weekend! I'm excited, there will be drinking and dancing and David Bowie!
Despite my inability to write a whole novel, I'm going to take this time to share with you a story about my day. Please don't tell Susan, it's going to be her Christmas surprise.
This all starts really in September. My father decided to finally get mother a new laptop like she's wanted for about three years now. Her present model is a Sony Viao; 20", something like a 80GB harddrive (even mine is 150, though most of that is consumed at this point...), weighs a pile, and of course my parents have like six anti-virus programs installed. So he asked me for suggestions. I found a few good ones- some were as cheap as the upper $200s for decent specs. Well fast forward to the week before Thanksgiving, when I call to ask if he ever got around to that and his answer was, "Oh, I thought you were doing that?" My face when: -_-
So not that prices are jacked up, I begin a search. Bobby lent me some ideas, namely to look for an i3 processor at least, which is a bit over doing it for mother, but she's probably going to have to use this for another six years again, so it's just as well.
After much time spent on Amazon.com, newegg.com, and slickdeals, I finally found this ridiculous deal for a $450 i5 Asus computer at Best Buy. It wasn't even on sale- that was the normal price. Most of the i3s even on Amazon were at least $125-150 more. So I was pretty stoked. I immediately jumped on it, opting for store pick-up at the Clark St locale, which said they had it (there was no shipping available). Half an hour later (this was all at like 6:30 am on Cyber Monday btw) they emailed me and said basically, "psyyyych we lied. Call customer service!" So I went to work and did just that. After an hour on hold, listening to a terrible tinny rendition of Jingle Bells, I managed to put it on backorder. The lady didn't know anything about it, so I just crossed my fingers that they'd get it.
Well a few days ago I get an email that's like, "we're gonna go cancel that unless you call." So I called again (thankfully I called later at night and wasn't on hold for very long) and they just extended the backorder. Meanwhile, the girl on the phone that night was actually useful and called a few stores, and they told her apparently it was a new item and didn't actually exist yet?
At this point I went to the store and decided to just ask them what the hell was going on. The girl at the store had no more idea than anyone else, though, so it was sort of a waste of a trip. That was yesterday. Now obvs, I'm getting a tad nervioso because I'm supposed to get this to Susan for Christmas.
Today, literally as soon as I got on the train after my final, Bobby sends me an email with a new deal. This is a Lenovo i3 for only $380. And I checked the site and it said it DEFINITELY existed at Best Buy on North Ave. SCORE! I hopped on the express (forgetting that sedgewick isn't that close to Clyborne...) and ran to the store. I talked to an actually helpful person (yay Faye, who actually sort of reminded me of the Faye from questionable content ) and she searched for the computer in the inventory aaaand.... nothing. What. The. Hell.
So I had her look at the Ohio (Cleveland/Columbus) and Indianapolis stores, seeing as I'll be in all those cities over the next 4 days. They had it at Strongsville, which is literally on my journey I shall be driving on Friday, so I told her to go ahead and book it there. While she attempted to do that, they wouldn't let her put a hold on it. She couldn't figure out why, until the inventory from the North Ave store showed that it existed. As in, the same inventory that said '0' ten minutes earlier. I know. She showed me.
Well so she checked the back of the store and there it was! Somehow the inventory wasn't updated. Awesome. So I bought this cheaper one, and then had her cancel the other one I'd ordered. And of course, wouldn't you know, it's now in the warehouse. So I have to go to the Clark Store and ask them to return it basically. So it was one big clusterfuck. BUT I have the cheaper computer in my posession, and it shouldn't be a big deal to just return the computer once it actually shows up in the Clark inventory (it's still in Warehouse right now, so they can't do anything about it). So I guess we had a happy ending, but still. Best Buy. Get your inventory online lined up with what's really happening. Shit, man.
The best part was, I got on the red line to go home and for some reason got on the 95th train at North/Clyborne. Literally the second we started leaving the station I was like, "Ummmmmm I'm going the wrong way, aren't I?"
That was a long pointless story. I apologise, but it's just been such an ordeal and I'm sort of proud of the deal I got so there ya go.
Meanwhile, I'm debating if I'm hood enough to see Childish Gambino by myself in March.
Oh and also I'm officially done with my Master's degree, barring major exam failure. So, um, yay? Is Starbucks hiring?
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
13. Robert Frost write a poem titled The Road Not Taken. Name a road you’ve always wanted to travel. Where do you hope it takes you, and what might you see on the way?
What's up? That's rhetorical. No one is reading this, and I'm just procrastinating on finals. I just finished a batch of example problems. Exciting, I know.
Okay so the question at hand. This seems really clichéd. I mean, it's a valid question, but I was tired of this Robert Frost poem by 4th grade. I mean, Robert Frost is okay (I'm not a big poetry person) but this whole poem is so over-analysed and over-referenced.
The question I have is whether this prompt referring to metaphorical roads or literal ones. I think this poem is interpreted metaphorically pretty often, and thus I feel the overwhelming need to be contrary and answer it literally.
One road I've always wanted to take is I-90. The whole way. All 3100 miles. I-90 stretches from Boston to Seattle, passing through such illustrious places as: Cleveland, Ohio; South Bend, Indiana, Erie, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois. (Try to figure out which one I'm not being sarcastic about) But I've never travelled west of Chicago (and even within the city, I rarely go out past Pulaski), and I've only been to Boston once, so the furthest I've really been out east on the road is to wherever it splits off to Buffalo. (Unrelated note: I really miss skiing sometimes.) I used to be a big fan of interstate driving (SPEED!) and I always wanted to do the stereotypical road trip. I had the chance to do one last summer, which would've taken me from Columbus to Chicago to Yellowstone to Texas and over to LA (random, I know.) Instead, of course, I did a semi-road trip through Europe, though it wasn't the same, being on a tour bus and all. Something about doing the driving yourself makes it different.
I've also always wanted to see the pretty parts of the west- I've been to Arizona, which is sort of nice, if only because it's a complete change of pace from the upper Midwest, but I went ages ago, and really there's not much to see. But I've never seen the Rockies or even the plains (not that I suspect I'm missing much, based on extrapolating data from Indiana), and I'd love to check out Seattle. Plus, on the other end, I've always felt I should give Boston a try again. I was really bitter when I went there last time, so I formed a negative opinion of it before really giving it a chance.
Furthermore, I feel like the advantage of a roadtrip is you can go see those stupid kitschy things. The world's biggest ball of yarn; world's smallest pig, whatever the hell else they keep in places like Wyoming and southern Minnesota. I would totally hit up some of those stupid things if I had the chance; however, with gas prices and whatnot, it's sort of frivolous to go on a road trip these days. Hell, even when I drive from Cleveland to Columbus, I always see a sign for "Mid-Ohio" (it's near Mansfield if I recall) and seeing as Columbus itself is pretty close to the geographical middle of Ohio, I am constantly plagued by wondering what in the hell that means exactly. Is it a point on a map? Are there things there? What point does it serve? (My mind is a sad place.)
Unfortunately, I also feel like I'm past the optimal road trip age. If I'd done it within the past two or three years maybe, but now everyone I know works (I am not lame enough to go on a road trip alone) and/or is busy in school getting higher degrees, yet no one has money to spend, and we're all beyond the point where our parents will donate funds to silly vacation schemes. It's sort of sad, I feel a little bit like I missed out on an opportunity for an iconic American activity. Then I remind myself that driving for fun is unnecessarily expensive and terrible for the environment and so I don't really worry too much about it.
Right about now I wouldn't mind a change of pace. I'm doing the transition thing with my life again, and a vacation in between wouldn't be so bad. I love the city, but I haven't been anywhere besides Ohio or Chicago for almost a year and a half- granted, that year and a half ago was the Europe trip, but still. I guess I'll just have to hope I get an interview at my non-Chicago schools in order to spice things up. San Francisco? New York City? I could work with those.
Back to studying. No pictures, I have nothing relevant. Here's a music video I can't stop listening to, though: If I keep resetting the playback button, YouTube doesn't know I've listened to this 1000 times, right?
Okay so the question at hand. This seems really clichéd. I mean, it's a valid question, but I was tired of this Robert Frost poem by 4th grade. I mean, Robert Frost is okay (I'm not a big poetry person) but this whole poem is so over-analysed and over-referenced.
The question I have is whether this prompt referring to metaphorical roads or literal ones. I think this poem is interpreted metaphorically pretty often, and thus I feel the overwhelming need to be contrary and answer it literally.
One road I've always wanted to take is I-90. The whole way. All 3100 miles. I-90 stretches from Boston to Seattle, passing through such illustrious places as: Cleveland, Ohio; South Bend, Indiana, Erie, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois. (Try to figure out which one I'm not being sarcastic about) But I've never travelled west of Chicago (and even within the city, I rarely go out past Pulaski), and I've only been to Boston once, so the furthest I've really been out east on the road is to wherever it splits off to Buffalo. (Unrelated note: I really miss skiing sometimes.) I used to be a big fan of interstate driving (SPEED!) and I always wanted to do the stereotypical road trip. I had the chance to do one last summer, which would've taken me from Columbus to Chicago to Yellowstone to Texas and over to LA (random, I know.) Instead, of course, I did a semi-road trip through Europe, though it wasn't the same, being on a tour bus and all. Something about doing the driving yourself makes it different.
I've also always wanted to see the pretty parts of the west- I've been to Arizona, which is sort of nice, if only because it's a complete change of pace from the upper Midwest, but I went ages ago, and really there's not much to see. But I've never seen the Rockies or even the plains (not that I suspect I'm missing much, based on extrapolating data from Indiana), and I'd love to check out Seattle. Plus, on the other end, I've always felt I should give Boston a try again. I was really bitter when I went there last time, so I formed a negative opinion of it before really giving it a chance.
Furthermore, I feel like the advantage of a roadtrip is you can go see those stupid kitschy things. The world's biggest ball of yarn; world's smallest pig, whatever the hell else they keep in places like Wyoming and southern Minnesota. I would totally hit up some of those stupid things if I had the chance; however, with gas prices and whatnot, it's sort of frivolous to go on a road trip these days. Hell, even when I drive from Cleveland to Columbus, I always see a sign for "Mid-Ohio" (it's near Mansfield if I recall) and seeing as Columbus itself is pretty close to the geographical middle of Ohio, I am constantly plagued by wondering what in the hell that means exactly. Is it a point on a map? Are there things there? What point does it serve? (My mind is a sad place.)
Unfortunately, I also feel like I'm past the optimal road trip age. If I'd done it within the past two or three years maybe, but now everyone I know works (I am not lame enough to go on a road trip alone) and/or is busy in school getting higher degrees, yet no one has money to spend, and we're all beyond the point where our parents will donate funds to silly vacation schemes. It's sort of sad, I feel a little bit like I missed out on an opportunity for an iconic American activity. Then I remind myself that driving for fun is unnecessarily expensive and terrible for the environment and so I don't really worry too much about it.
Right about now I wouldn't mind a change of pace. I'm doing the transition thing with my life again, and a vacation in between wouldn't be so bad. I love the city, but I haven't been anywhere besides Ohio or Chicago for almost a year and a half- granted, that year and a half ago was the Europe trip, but still. I guess I'll just have to hope I get an interview at my non-Chicago schools in order to spice things up. San Francisco? New York City? I could work with those.
Back to studying. No pictures, I have nothing relevant. Here's a music video I can't stop listening to, though: If I keep resetting the playback button, YouTube doesn't know I've listened to this 1000 times, right?