chaneen, posts by tag: bookexpo - LiveJournal

Hello again, LJ! I've been back from NOLA for a week or so, and finally had some stuff to post about. The trip was fun, if tiring (too much walking, ugh). I took a few pictures, so I will work on getting them off my memory card and onto flickr soon. Maybe I will also backdate a writeup post, or talk a little bit about what we did, or something. I am going to be at Mom's store tomorrow and Saturday with almost nothing to do, so that might actually happen! For now, random topics!

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Last Friday, my parents and I went to the Humane Society and brought home a new kitten! She is currently sitting near me as I type this, being very fascinated with the whole computer thing. It looks like she wants to eat my cursor, or maybe just type for herself. I have been having a beast of a time trying to get pictures, since it is pretty dark in this room (we always keep new cats upstairs in our bathroom/exercise room for a while before we integrate them with our other cats), and black cats don't photograph very well with a flash. If you're interested, I posted a picture here (if you follow me on twitter, you saw this one already). Once we decide on a name, I'll probably spam you guys with more.

She is super-precious, though. Teeny tiny and adorable! ♥

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For those of you who care about this sort of thing, I am chaneen on Dreamwidth. I won the openID lottery a couple of days ago, and snagged my name, as I always like to do. Friend me (or whatever the heck you want to call it!) if you want, or don't. I plan to stay right here unless everyone else moves, but since Dreamwidth has really easy (and nifty!) import tool, I am using it to backup my LJ. LJ archive hasn't been working for me at all recently, so I feel better knowing everything's backed up.

I find all this brouhaha over Dreamwidth vs LJ to be kind of a waste of time, especially right now considering the site's still in closed beta. I don't see how people can really have an opinion on which one is better when we haven't even had a chance to compare them both at full functionality. I highly doubt this is going to be the thing that takes fandom off of LJ, but if it does, I am willing to provide invite codes for whoever wants one. And that's pretty much all I have to say on that subject! :D

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In much more exciting news, this weekend begins my week of craziness, concert wise, with Fall Out Boy (♥ ♥ ♥) in Troy, NY and Philly, and then Bamboozle (NO DOUBT asklfajfalsdf!). I am so excited for "Tiffany Blews" live, you have no idea! I will actually attempt to upload any photos/videos I may take in a reasonable amount of time (or at all, lol), this time.

Who else is seeing FOB in Troy? I know approximately a bajillion people will be at the Philly show, but what about Sunday's show? Will I see any of you there?

And does anyone want to go to the Philly show? I have an extra ticket that I haven't managed to get rid of yet.

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After next week, I have nothing exciting planned until May 28-31, when it is BookExpo time again! It is in NYC again this year (which is probably why we get to go again), so we are going to a couple of plays while we're there as well. Hopefully it will be a good time, and less tiring than last time, since we're actually staying in Manhattan, instead of New Jersey (getting up at 6:00 to catch the train, for the lose). Anyone in NYC want to have lunch/dinner/brunch while we're there? :D? :D!

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Well, that is about all I can think to post about right now. I am going to try and keep my "posting every few days" promise this time, and so will hopefully be back to ramble on about totally unconnected topics later! For now, I bid you goodnight!

You know how they say that having your tonsils out when you're older is a lot harder than it is when you're a kid?  Well, they're totally right.  Apparently, I had larger than normal tonsils, so they weren't totally healed after the two week "recovery period".  In fact, my throat is still pretty sensitive a month later.  I can eat most things now, but it feels as though I have really new skin on the inside of my throat (I guess that's true, though), so things that are rough or sharp are really difficult to swallow.  Hopefully I'll be better by this weekend, since we're going to NYC for the Book Expo, and I don't want to have to worry about what I can eat. :|

Also, when I saw the doctor the Wednesday before last, he told me that my tonsils had been infected (aside from the tonsiliths, that is).  He said something about sulfur or something, but I don't have it written down, so I don't know exactly what the infection was.  He told me it was a good thing that I'd decided to have them out now, because this could have posed a problem for me later in life (I could have gotten really sick, I guess).  So, that's a bonus!  I'm just glad to have them gone, frankly.  I'm sick and tired of having all this excess saliva in my mouth from the surgery, but I can see that it's getting better, and hopefully it (and the nasty taste) will go completely away soon.

Also, I'm a little pissed because on the Saturday after my surgery (May 5th, not the day after), I ended my ten year no vomiting streak. :(  I guess I swallowed too much saliva or something.  It didn't help that the antibiotic I was given tasted absolutely vile and made me mildly nauseous.  Now I'm forced to spit into a cup (or really, a bottle, since I really don't want to accidentally spill it).  It's really scary how much saliva I'm producing.  But the doctor says that's totally normal.  It's like when you get a bruise and there's fluid under your skin (swelling, etc.).  This is the same type of thing, I guess, with lots of saliva at the incision site.  Hopefully it will be all back to normal (or at least manageable) by the weekend, so I don't have to carry around a bottle of spit at the book convention (gross, huh?).

So, all in all, I'm totally glad I got them out, but I wish everything was back to normal.

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In other news, I have been really busy and unorganized recently.  I'm sure that I owe things to a ton of people, but I just haven't been able to find time to do everything I need to.  Since I'm currently without a job (waiting to hear back from an interview--if I don't get it, I'll get something from the temp agency at the end of this week), I should be able to get all of my needed things done this week, hopefully.  *crosses fingers*

Thankfully, I was able to do the election again, so I will at least have some money coming in from that (if I ever get my $#^&@ check), but I really would like to know if I got this job or not, so I can either start working there, or get a job somewhere else.  It sounds like a pretty cool job, too, so I am hoping they hire me.  I mean, I'd hire me, if I were them.  And not just because I need a job. :)  Basically, the job is with a company that does DVD Mastering (Deluxe Digital Studios, to be exact), and it's mostly organization and whatnot, but they totally have room for advancement, so if I get the job, I could eventually actually put DVDs together (that would be creating the master copy, not duplication).  And I already know how to use the programs/hardware that they have for that type of thing (AVID, ProTools, etc.), which is probably a step above most of the other candidates, since they were basically looking for people with filing/office experience who were interested in "the industry".

I don't know, it sounds definitely more interesting than doing data entry at some office, that's for sure.  I just hope they haven't hired someone else already.  I'll hopefully find out something tomorrow, though, since I left a message over the weekend with the woman from HR who contacted me about the job (monster.com, FTW!), just to see if they'd finished their interviews yet.  Wish me luck!

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Well, I guess I should try to finish up some stuff tonight before I have to go to bed, huh?  Man, less than 72 hours until we leave for New York.  Can I be ready in time?

I've been very busy for the past couple of weeks.  Had a great time at the Book Expo America, and will do a write-up soon, but posting long detailed things is very difficult when my laptop screen doesn't stay up on its own.  My desk is covered with junk, so no place to put the laptop where I can sit normally, and my back gets sore pretty fast leaning forward on my bed like this, so long posts are a no.  I've been lying on my side to do most of my web surfing, and lemme tell you, it sucks.  I will be glad to be able to sit in a normal position and actually put my computer on my lap again.  Just think, I'll finally have a computer that stays open without needing to be propped up by my external USB hard drive!  I'll be able to sit in a chair!  I can hardly wait.  And I won't have to, either.

I finally selected the computer I wanted, after a ridiculous amount of research and debate with myself.  I ordered the Dell Inspiron E1705.  It's pretty much as tricked out as you can get (eee, widescreen 17" monitor!), and I got a sweet deal on it, thanks to the University Of Scranton's deal with Dell.  Saved many hundreds of dollars, and got a printer/scanner/copier for $27.  Not bad, eh?  I'll post the specs later (along with pics!), since I am the biggest geek ever. 

So, after waiting two weeks, it's finally here!  Well, actually it's in my dad's office, to be picked up by me after my class tonight.  That's right, class again.  But this one is my last class ever!  And there are no papers!  The professor is kind of boring, and he's pretty hard to understand some of the time (which may account for some of my boredom), but the class is pretty good so far.  U.S. History until 1877, so I totally know most of the stuff already, but I find it interesting anyway.  Tonight is only the second session, so we'll see how it goes.  And if I don't screw up my back again from sitting for twelve hours a week in the most uncomfortable chairs ever, by the end of June I will be finished!  It's about time.  Now all I have to do is get a job.  Ugh.

Well, I'd better finish getting ready for class, since I am currently not dressed and my wet hair is up in a towel.  I may post again tonight if I get the Internet set up on my new computer(!), but whatever happens, I will totally be posting more often since I will actually be able to do things on my computer now.  So, more about tons of stuff later.

Boy am I bored. This day is going by so slowly. I am glad that they de-filtered this computer so I can actually go online now, but I really just want to take a nap. It's only around 5PM, too. The polls close at 8PM, and I have to make sure my polling stations are all closed up ok before I can go home and eat (and sleep!). I highly doubt that I'll be watching any Grey's Anatomy tonight, unless I catch my second wind. Will just have to avoid those spoilery posts for another day.

I managed to waste some time this morning while I was driving between polling places by taking some pictures. There are a lot of cool old buildings (mainly of the falling down wooden variety) around here, as well as some random neat looking stuff. If I have time, I'll post what I took tomorrow, but if not, I am bringing my camera and a laptop along (free Internet access!). My laptop is too damaged to bring, so Dad has agreed to lend me his. I can just see myself bringing my own computer and then losing the connecting pieces somewhere in the hotel room. Even though I'm getting a new one, I would like to be able to use this one until then.

Washington planning is going slowly but surely. I can't believe how many places have free admission (I'm especially shocked that the National Zoo does)! My main goal is to figure out when author signings are so that we can plan around them. We also want to try and do a ghost tour of some sort, which I had no trouble finding, but the downside is that there is only one that fits into our timetable (others are during different months, or the middle of the week, or whatever). I am waiting to hear back from the tour people about reservation availability. Hopefully we'll get it. *crosses fingers*

I am so looking forward to this trip, but it sure snuck up on me. We're leaving on Thursday, and I am not even sort of ready. Well, back to work (real, paid work, even), and then more trip research. I may post one more time to break up the monotony. We'll see.

So, I'm currently in the library wasting time until I have to go check on the polling places I've been assigned to see if anyone is having any trouble with their voting machines. So far, everything is going peachy. Except! I can hardly access any websites, due to their @%^#&$(*& Content filter. GMail won't work (although I suspect that's this computer, as apparently Yahoo doesn't work on this one, but webmail for Syracuse and for my CS account at the U do), and I can't read my friends list! I am having to post this via e-mail post. ARGH!

Well, on the upside, at least I won't get spoiled for Grey's Anatomy. I had to leave this morning at 5:30AM, so I couldn't watch it last night, and I am terrified of being spoiled. I will have to go home and try to watch part tonight, even though I will have been up since 3:30 this morning (had a stupid nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep) on two hours of sleep last night, and five the night before. Ugh.

At least I can access freaking Google, so I can do some research. I know I didn't mention this before, so I will now. This weekend, my mom and I are going to Washington, DC to attend Book Expo America 2006, a huge booksellers' convention. There are going to be ridiculous amounts of authors signing, too, including blackholly, James Patterson, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, and the authors of my two favorite comic strips, FoxTrot and Zits. I am so excited. All those free books! And I haven't been to DC in ten years, and even then it was for one day with my school, so this will be fun. I am attempting to plan our itinerary (or at least figure out what we might do), but I am terrified that Internet Explorer is going to crash again any minute. Thank god for the Save Draft feature. *saves*

I am also going to take this opportunity to research my laptop choices. I am down to four companies (not including Mac, which I will look at when we are in DC, since there is an Apple Store there): Dell, Toshiba, HP, and IBM. I am leaning slightly towards a PC, since the MacBook Pro is so freaking expensive, but I have to narrow down the PC options, so I figure, what better time to do it than now, right?

I am sure I will be spamming LJ with several posts today. Or at least I will be writing several posts today. I may save some and post them later in the week, since they are all sure to be at least as long as this one, if not longer.

Man, I wish I could access LJ. I was going to start organizing my recs to post, and all sorts of crap. Damn those parental filters! At least I have other stuff to do.

Here's hoping this posts! And forgive any typoes, I'll fix them later. This stupid mail program has no spell check.

ETA: Man, that was some wonky formatting. Fixed, though. They took the filter off the machine I'm on so I can access my e-mail. That means LJ, too! Yay!

And, as for typos, the only one I made was the word "typoes". LOL!