Yeah, I've been back from Europe for a week and a half. I've had a bad cold and gotten over it since I last posted.  There we are.

This morning I drove the Camry to work because of a labyrinthine plan to take it back to my parents this weekend. Compared to the Lumina my father-in-law fixed up for me, it's a piece of junk.  It's the first car I ever drove and the car I have been driving most of my adult life, and I can't stand it next to the new one.  I guess there's a lesson about growing up somewhere there.

Today on my way home from work I'm going to deliver my two-week's notice to the theater.  I'm just tired of working and working in the dark, walking continuously on concrete back and forth according to movie schedules that sadists might dream about. I worked there for six months for $7.50, and decided that waiting for a raise that wouldn't be enough doesn't compare to the fact that I'm a month away from wearing out my second pair of shoes.

ALSO: My iPod has battery problems, but manageable ones: it only charges on the computer, but doesn't turn off after I plug it into my car charger/FM tuner.  Should I pay the $35 shipping fee to send it to them, or just keep going as I have been?

EDIT: Haven't quit yet; waiting for a bit to see some movies first.

My life so far:

I've been tinkering around with two story ideas.  It's been like five years since I thought about writing fiction, so this is a big thing for me.  One's sci fi and the other's paranormal.  That's what I think about when I wait between movie times.

I've also gotten back into reading Purgatory, and it's really good.  Mr. Aligheri knows how to describe stuff, I'll tell you.

I plugged my iPod into my computer to update it yesterday and iTunes erased all my podcasts.  Here's my setup:  Computer at home with all my music, laptop at my in-laws' place down the road with all my podcasts.  Both are set to automatically update, but only their respective parts of my iPod.  In other news, computers remain stupid.

I would really like to play in Spike's (forever) upcoming D&D game, even if it is in a PBEM-style way.  I think I might make a character this weekend when I'm home with my stuff.  I might just use the Book of Exalted Deeds to make a thoroughly non-combat character, because combat is just annoying to do long-distance.

I work 3:30 to 10:30 today.  Tomorrow we ain't leavin' till six in the mo'nin' (six in the mo'nin') and I can't wait to meet my brother Will's girlfriend Lauren.  She's apparently very cool, so says my parents.  Leah and I might also do our married couple-ly duty and try to set up her little brother with a girl at church.  Couples are like viruses, you know?  But happy viruses, don't get me wrong.  With dinner parties and movies nights and games and such.

Okay, I'm going home.  My iPod is finally finished updating all 500-something podcast files on the stupid USB 1.0 connection, and I think I'm going to go wash dishes and do laundry and pack until I have to work.  Or play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.  One or the other.  I mean I just got "Steal: Ability" here, and just unlocked the Fifth Totema.  I'm on fire.

Note to Tim:  Can we link up our games sometime this weekend?  I want to see if I can get new trade goods.

I am so addicted to that game.

Okay, yesterday I said I'd talk about podcasts.  So I am.  Here I'm talking. About podcasts.

I don't know about you, but I really like 'em.  Yup.  Here's what I subscribe to through iTunes:

American Public Media's Future Tense
APM's Marketplace
Blank Label Comics Podcast
LibriVox Audiobooks
Meanwhile, the Comics Podcast
Medieval Podcast
PBS's NOVA Vodcast
NPR: 7pm News Summary
NPR: Most Emailed Stories
NPR: Pop Cultuer
NPR: Story of the Day

As you'll notice, I'm above all else an NPR junkie.  I grew up listening to it in the mornings before school (when I wasn't playing Super Mario 3), and when my dad was making dinner (and I wasn't playing Super Mario 3 again).  One of the fun moments I had with Leah was listening to All Things Considered in the car with her and having her laugh when I hummed along with the opening tune.  It's catchy, what can I say?

Anyway, yes.  I need NPR.  I've always loved it, and despised all other radio.  NPR is calm, soothing, informative. I've listened to the news occasionally on other stations, and it's all just like nightly news: "SOME PEOPLE DIED! THE WORLD IS HORRIBLE! NOW THE WEATHER AND MORE LOUD COMMERCIALS!!"


Unfortunately, I don't have a radio.  I mean, come on.  I feel a bit ashamed of this, but really, why would I?  My television is merely a DVD-display device. So I listen in my car, when it's news and not classical music.  I've got nothing against classical music, but there's nothing special there for me; it all seems like the same unless I know it intensely, like Vivaldi's Seasons or Mahler's 9th.

So no radio, but a love of NPR--what do I do?  I've listened to their online radio station before, which is okay, I guess.  I remember the days when they only offered it for RealPlayer, which I diligently boycotted.  But even when it was Windows Media, it wasn't much better.  I could only hear it after navigating through websites.  That's not fun at all.

But now, podcasts!  They deliver a stream of updated feeds straight to my laptop, as long as it's online. I hook my iPod up to that laptop, and instantly have something to listen to the rest of the day.  Zwah duh viver and all that. I can listen to a news roundup when I'm washing dishes or in the bathroom. I can skip past stuff that's boring, which is really the key.

Does anybody else do this?  I know, okay, it's incredibly popular on the intarweb, but I'm asking actual people I know.  What do you listen to? What have you tried to listen to and stopped?

I've become addicted to my new iPod.  I've been rating my music obsessively, listening to podcasts and whatnot, and converting and watching videos.  I must confess that I am a total geek about it.  One of my favorite features, though, is the Contacts feature. I've never had an address book that I carefully managed, but i've been putting it together in Thunderbird and then exporting it automatically. I never had a PDA but always wanted one, and this is assuaging those feelings quite well.  Of course I can't enter text on the fly, but that's all right.  When I've been filling out all these job applications, the Contacts feature has been quite nice for putting down information that I don't have to sit down and look up online.

Well, I'm going to go home and make some bread. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about podcasts.

My cat Rufus is sick.  Sigh.  We don't know what's wrong with him, but he's not eating and this morning drooled and peed all over the floor just after he fell against the kitchen island.  I've never seen a cat fall over before and I'm a little scared. At least Dad's taking him to the vet today. Rufus is so awesome and this is really kinda scary.

In other news, my class is almost over, and I think they really liked everything.  It's really great that teacher evaluations (which I haven't and don't plan on reading) go out before my grades are in.  At least most of the students are doing pretty well.  I will miss teaching the class, however, especially at Freed where people have been pretty polite.  Of course, I've done my best to not talk down to them, so I guess that helps.

Since I got my iPod I've been listening to podcasts all the time.  NPR podcasts are great, and I have (gulp!) three different webcomic-critic podcasts.  I = geek.
 Combine that with some new public domain movies from publicdomaintorrents.com (Night of the Living Dead, Metropolis, Nosferatu, some Buster Keaton shorts)and things are going pretty good.

Aside from my cat being sick.  *Snif*