Power Lunch! Sorta… I anticipate Bob will be around. Christina’s off at lab, and I should be doing work too, except it’s a) really freaking hot and b) really, really freaking hot. Inside our apartment, the temperature has gone from cool in the morning to pleasantly warm at mid-day to “I’m in an oven” now at 5PM.

I did manage to get a haircut (from myself, zrrrrrmmmmm), assemble the final piece of our furniture puzzle, and watch Penn State demolish Oregon State. Still, tonight I’d like to do a little more writing for work and for Justin while finishing up the Flickr uploads. That leaves tomorrow to do a barbeque at St. Bede’s as well as clean the bathroom. That is, if I don’t pass out first.

Yesterday, I felt really anemic, which sorta makes sense because I donated blood in the morning (it went much better than last time because I forcefully hydrated myself for 24 hours beforehand). The only problem was that it was really hot out yesterday as well, and I was walking around a lot on errands and just exhausting myself. I feel better today, but only after drinking what must amount to 59 gallons of water in the last 48 hours. Yummmmmmmmm.

Christina & I will be out for a few days in Ferndale, but I have Ackbar (eee) with me, so expect some pictures and updates all the while.

This was a very hellish week for me. I gave lab presentation, a tour for English high school students of the department, followed by a photo shoot for Stanford press followed by giving the area seminar for the 5th time this year. I got drilled in the seminar, but I suppose it turned out okay. I’m not the biggest fan of this data, as it can be interpreted now, but we’ll see how it goes in the upcoming weeks.

As for the rest of my life, it’s good, I suppose, but I’m feeling strangely out of it; detached if you will, and I’m having difficulty sleeping. I think I meet for DSM-IV:MDD, heheheh. Oh the irony.

[Shanghai]

So, today was the day of uttery failure. I had nothing to read after Blind Side after finishing it last night (devastating last chapter, overall I give it a solid recommendation). I do have Empire Falls, but it’s fiction and long and… ugh. I also didn’t write today, as I ran out of time between work, cooking (pigs-in-a-blanket anyone?), and entertaining Christina.

Anyhow, Justin and I have more pots than two cooks can carry. And I don’t just mean Rain Thief. I’ve got a hidden weapon up my sleeve. And no, it’s not Quotables, although surprisingly that’s still on the docket.

No, you’ll just have to wait like the rest of us.

[Restaurant greeters in Shanghai]

Christina’s best wii quotes thus far:

“I wanna see the other team look sad; that’s the joy in winning!”
“They invented the machine gun for a reason.”

Wow, what a great Christmas haul! From my parents, the eee on the very left (renamed McAckbar). On the very right, a Wii from Christina! What’s with the oddly named products, heheheh?

While not powerful (or that expensive), the Eee is literally less than half of other laptop. It’s on the cusp on un-typable-ness (yes, I just made that word up). It’s thinner too, and much, much lighter. I’ve already configured it to look and play like Windows XP. I just can’t get the rdp to work (I have bad luck with linux playing with windows directly).

In case my other size reference doesn’t impress you, the eee is basically the size of a few DVD cases stacked on top of each other. Like so. It’s battery life thus far is just okay, and I haven’t really had a chance to time it, but the power adapator doesn’t have a brick and it’s also fairly light. This is the machine I will take to work every day to tinker with.

As for the Wii, well, what can you say, really? It’s fantastic. It’s really grown on me, despite my lack of single-player stuff (helllllo gameznflix). I just can’t wait ’til Brawl emerges. Until then, any recommendations (not rhyming with “Sitar Bureau”)? Will Metroid Prime 2 work? I hope so.

I feel like I’m ready to take this brief quarter on. Hoorah.