Prangster in Chicago

Homesick or something

No posts for the past 10 days. Sorry. Also no posts today. And probably no posts tomorrow either. Good thing I'll be back in Taipei on the 29th.

(You hear that, Taipei people? Hello?)

EDIT: It's however many hours later and I've decided maybe it would be helpful to jot some things down. Like how my accent is changing, i.e. getting progressively worse. I don't like it. I don't talk like myself. And that sometimes when I hear news from home, I wonder what the hell I'm doing here. It's up there on my list of the worst feelings ever.

Help me be a better consumer

When I moved to my apartment in the Boystown area of Lakeview, I visited the Intelligensia coffee house across the street just about every weekend. I also walked by the Argo Tea on my way to the then-cheap Japanese place to pick up my take-out. (I still do that, except now I pay more money.) What I noticed was how the people who choose to go to Intelligensia are different from the people who choose to go to Argo Tea. And the people who go to Argo Tea are different from the people who go to Starbucks.

Namely (and of course generally), the people who go to Starbucks with their computers use PCs. Those at Argo Tea are usually staring into Macbooks. (This is a photo on Flickr of the store by my house. How many Macs do you see?) And the folks at Intelligensia are bookworms and newspaper readers. (This is the one across the street. What are the guys by the window doing?) If I walk left out of my apartment building instead of right, I'll pass a Caribou Coffee, where the interior looks like a ski chalet and the coffee tables double as chess sets. Fan-see.

So I used to be a PC person. I used to have a clunky no-name laptop with no soul. In January 2007, it died and then I bought a Macbook. The mourning period was very brief for the PC. As was the decision buying process for the Macbook. I've had the Macbook for around 18 months now. It's the most expensive thing I've ever bought for myself.

I also have a 512MB MP3 player. The brand is "Creative MuVo". I bought it three years ago for about NT3,500 or around US$100. I could have picked an iPod but I purposely didn't. And I decided on 512MB because I couldn't see the point of walking around with a jukebox in my pants pocket. I still don't. That's too much choice for a morning commute.

The thing is, the MuVo player runs on AAA batteries. It's the only thing I own that needs a regular battery change. My current home phone, which cost $10 from Target and has a cord, uses two AA batteries but I haven't needed to change them yet. The MuVo battery thing bugs me because I'm pretty sure they don't last as long as they used to. And batteries in themselves are so 1988. Nothing in 2008 should require batteries.

So what's the point of saying all this? Well, I've decided to buy an iPod. OMG.

I'm getting an iPod because I want to download (and pay for) TV shows and movies from the iTunes store and watch them while I'm in airports and on planes. And I'm getting the 8GB iPod Nano instead of the 4GB because the 4GB only comes in silver and I want to get a black one and be matchy-matchy with my Macbook. Being matchy-matchy is crucial.

Best of all, replacing the battery-suck MP3 player with the iPod will be more sustainable because I won't need batteries. (I'm ashamed to say I've never brought my used batteries to the office to be recycled.) Other than that, this is an important move because when I buy something for myself or my living space here in Chicago I feel like it's permanent because I don't want to accumulate lots of stuff. So I think hard. I change my mind a lot. I write lengthy blog posts.

Bottom line: I'll soon be an iPod person instead of the other kind of person. I wish I didn't have to be an iPod person, but it doesn't really matter. No one cares because it's all about iPhone people now.

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Okay, now we talk money. Getting an iPod nano here in Chicago will cost me $199 plus $14.43 in taxes for a total of $213.43.

Based on today's currency exchange rates, doing the same will cost $226.10 in Taipei, $225.84 in Sydney and $250.99 in the UK.

Not bad, Chicago.

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Argh, I just talked to Jonathan at the lunch table and he told me Apple is likely to release new products in September. Including new iPods. Also he suggested I get an iPod Touch instead of a Nano because it can get online and the screen is much bigger than the Nano. The screen size thing sounds good, but do I need to get online? I don't know. Also the Touch is $299, though that might change if a new one comes out. I'm confused. Too much choice.

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Two hours later: Caught the train home with Ry and Zack and Katie. I asked them about iPods because that all that everyone's talking about these days. Ry says he's actually selling his iPod Touch cause he got a new phone. It's 16GB and he'll bring it in tomorrow to show me. Oh, interesting.

(Are you on the freaking edge of your seat?! This is a total nail-biter!

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Okie dokes. I'm buying Ry's 16GB iPod Touch! I tested it out over the weekend and it's great. Yay! Clap clap! Yay!

Ahh, this is a much better -- and cheaper -- solution to buying a new iPod, especially before I go back to Taipei at the end of the month. And I've kept my last dead battery on my desk to recycle. What a happy ending.

VSA Summer Outing

Although we look like a cosy twosome, there were dozens more people from work standing in front and also behind Elizabeth and me. We're outside the Cirque du Soleil tent at United Center, where unfortunately, the toilets were the temporary kind and the beers were $8 each.

America, why do you spell "glamour" with a "u"?

Today I did something I should have done this time last year. I signed up for a writing class at the University of Chicago's Writer's Studio. The class is eight weeks long starting Sept. 22 and runs every Monday from 6pm to 8:30pm. (I'm telling you this because I have a bad history of skipping classes.) It costs $545, which is the equivalent of 50 or so tops (on sale) from the Gap.

Now let's get the math out of the way: $545 means $68.125 for each of the eight classes. That's just in case I hint that maybe I feel like skipping one of the classes, then you can tell me exactly how much money I'll be wasting. The classes will be downtown in the cool looking Gleacher Center, which incidentally is very close to a Gap. Ahem.

Now another question for you, America: why does University of Chicago use "Autumn" instead of "Fall"? You're confusing me!

R.I.P. My Sunglasses

Dear My Sunglasses,

Oh, what am I saying? You're no longer mine. I have no right to claim you as my own, even though we were as close as a face and a pair of sunglasses could be. It was us against the sun! Us against the annoying freckles that loiter around my eyes during summertime! Us against crows feet! Oh, those were the days...actually, it was only this past Saturday.

Sobs.

Some people have hinted that losing you was punishment for going to see Mamma Mia! with Jess on Friday night, but I won't believe it. You were never a movie snob. But still, I'm sorry all the same. I don't even want to imagine where you are right now. Maybe you're on somebody else's face. Maybe you're resting on their head, nestled in greasy hair...oh, disgusting.

Sobs.

So I have to tell you something. I bought a new pair of sunglasses yesterday. You know how the sun beats down on me these days. It's too bright. I can't take it. They look alright but they're nothing compared to you. Today was the first day I wore them out and it wasn't easy. I'm one of those people who forms unreasonable, obsessive attachments to things in my life...you know this about me.

Anyway, I better go. Who knows if this will ever reach you, but I had to try.

R.I.P. my sunglasses.

With love,
My Face

P.S. If it makes you feel any better, my coworker Hugh said you were the "sunglasses of my life" and that "rebound sunglasses are never permanent."


EDIT: Weird, I just got a spam comment on this post from a fraudster online sunglasses store. I deleted it, though. My dead sunglasses deserve better than that.

Why is college so expensive?

Today, the NYTimes says:

"Unlike most well-endowed colleges, Berea has no football team, coed dorms, hot tubs or climbing walls. Instead, it has a no-frills budget, with food from the college farm, handmade furniture from the college crafts workshops, and 10-hour-a-week campus jobs for every student."

"Berea’s approach provides an unusual perspective on the growing debate over whether the wealthiest universities are doing enough for the public good to warrant their tax exemption, or simply hoarding money to serve an elite few. As many elite universities scramble to recruit more low-income students, Berea’s no-tuition model has attracted increasing attention."

On a different note, I've realized that I need something in my sidebar that lets me list out articles and links. Like how Google Reader lets me "share" blog posts. Does this already exist or am I about to become a gazillionaire?