A busy weekend

It's been a busy past couple of days. I relaxed my hair MYSELF for the first time, took my parents around a very rainy Chicago, bought almost everything I need for my new apartment, rented a moving van, and graduated.

Graduation was a bit of a let down - I guess it always kind of is, the ceremony ends up being so much shorter than all the build-up and then you're just left feeling a little bit disappointed. I am also so much older now than at my last graduation, so I did so much less partying and celebrating around the school-organized events that it just didn't seem to be as much of a moment. And by much less partying I mean none at all.

I remember the last day in Boston after college graduation we all spent the evening in Daedalus, dejectedly discussing how we might never see each other again. The next morning we all moved and that very night were in a NY bar, talking about how funny it was that we forgot we were all going to the same place! Unfortunately, this time I really am going off on my own and will not see many of these people for a really long time - and I still didn't go through the send-off circus.

On a happier note, my hair relaxing seems to have turned out very nicely, although I did it so skill-lessly that I was sure that all my hair was going to fall off (and this was the morning of graduation, so I was panicked). I used phytorelaxer, which I bought on-line from Sephora, and although I was not able to "smooth" it through as instructed (perhaps because I clotted it on wily-nily), my hair seems straight. The real test of course will be when I wash it tonight/tomorrow morning - that will also be the blessed moment when my hair stops stinking of chemicals, I'm looking forward to it.

My advice to anyone graduating or auto-relaxing their hair - do not do it alone, you need the moral support when you realize you're moving to the middle of nowhere/think your hair is falling out. And you need someone to rub neosporin on the chemical burns on your forehead as you rinse the lye out of your hair

More amazing clutter

Yet another something-saving device, although at least this is not for lazy people, but rather the space-constrained.

It is a 3-in-1 breakfast center, including coffee maker, toaster oven, and what looks like a hot plate for frying eggs & bacon.

Batteries not included

Doing some online shopping for household goods - potentially the most exciting part of my move. I am shocked at how many things there are for lazy people. a) How can you justify saving this much energy and b) who has space for all this stuff?
The most egregious examples:

• touchless self-opening trash can (this is one in a series of "touchless" appliances including a can opener)
  
• battery operated flour sifter
• cornbread pan (circular with walls to create triangles - to avoid cutting pieces post-bake)
• electric knife (I consider this a liability)
• "one touch" jar opener - this thing is a standing counter-top piece of machinery almost larger than a coffee maker
• electric salt and pepper grinder
  

Four eyes

I have glasses! This is an unfortunate picture, in which I look-a-like-a-man, but there is a nice sunset starting in the background. It is so amazing to put glasses on when you desperately need them but haven't worn them in a long long time - the world comes into focus!

Turns out I should have gotten new glasses a long time ago, or at least 2 years ago when I moved to Chicago and starting getting behind the wheel. I am nearsighted so I can't see far, although "far" to me is only about 10 feet (pulled that number out of the air) since I have 20-80 vision, which is a FOURTH of the vision of a normal person. When David's father (my new optometrist extraordinaire) saw what my prescription was he told me I should not be putting people's lives in danger by driving sans spectacles.

Which I will never do now that I have fab black-and-tortoiseshell ones.

Snow Leopard??

Apple unveils new version of iPhone
By David Gelles and Chris Nuttall in San Francisco
Financial Times, June 8 2009 20:05

Apple on Monday put forward a new suite of iPhones at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, including a $99 model that could dramatically increase the company’s market share of smart phones.

The iPhone 3GS includes video recording capabilities, improved speed and a 3 megapixel camera. The new iPhone, with a raft of improved capabilities, could dramatically increase the company’s market share of smartphones.

An 8GB version of the existing 3G model will be $99. The new 16GB version will cost $199, while the 32GB version will cost $299. All will be available on June 19.
Apple’s senior vice-president and marketing chief Phil Schiller said: “This is the most powerful, fastest iPhone ever made.”
The new device will also last longer between battery charges, overcoming one of the shortcomings of the earlier iPhones, Apple said. It will operate on WiFi networks for up to nine hours, compared to the six hours of current models, it said.

Apple has about 11 per cent of the world’s smart phone market, trailing Nokia’s 41 per cent and Research in Motion’s 20 per cent, according to Gartner figures from the first quarter. The company said on Monday it had now sold more than 40m iPhones and iPod Touches.
Palm’s Pre went on sale over the weekend, arriving to good reviews that suggested it could be the first viable competitor to the iPhone. But supplies of the new device were limited.

Mid-way through the first day of the conference there was no sign of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Mr Jobs has been on medical leave since January, recovering from complications from an earlier bout of pancreatic cancer. Apple has said he would return to work at the end of June, but speculation about his poor health has been rampant.

Apple also announced a new line of lower priced laptops, and unveiled its new operating system, called Snow Leopard, which it said it would sell as an upgrade to existing customers for $29.

Twitter, interpreted by Time

I kind of love this line:

"it was built entirely out of 140-character messages, but the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles"

News of the day

This seems to be the only "news" story anyone wants to send me today, so I figured I would post it up for all to see. My only issue with this is why pay $250 for something you could really even get someone pay you to take.) Apparently this is not new technology either, I think it has been used by women in past decades.

http://www.fashionista.com/2009/06/would_you_try_this_the_spermin.php

In unrelated news, Harvard named the first endowed professor chair for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies - oddly enough, it seems to be quite ahead of the top universities in opening its halls to new fields of study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/education/04harvard.html?src=linkedin