What Birthday?

It’s finally close enough that I was permitted to order my groqit. For those of you that missed the earlier discussion, a groqit is a nifty little gizmo that reads barcodes. You then transfer the information and it is translated into a readable list of what books, cds, dvds you have. Ideal, considering the boxes and boxes of books all over my house, isn’t it? I’ll let you know how it works once I have it. Supposedly, once I figure out what I'm doing, I'll be able to share the lists of all the titles I have.

That’s it for my birthday. I prefer to ignore it. Well, mostly. I’m not opposed to chocolate cake with too much butter cream frosting but I’ll take one of them any day. My aversion to the day has nothing to do with age. I really don’t care about that at all.

No, my ongoing avoidance of my birthday began when I turned seven and had my one and only party. It was a real nuisance since my birthday is at the end of summer and that made it difficult to invite my school friends. My mother was hassled by the event in every way you can think of and was not at all shy about letting me know it.

Later the night of my party, two people were brutally murdered in the woods surrounding our house. Imagine what it’s like as a seven-year-old to come home and find a yard full of state police, including a helicopter. Then add the fact that I had more than likely stepped on one if not both of the bodies while I was playing in the woods. My mind at the time formed the ridiculous connection – I have a party and people will die.

Yes, I do know full well how totally irrational that is. People die horribly all the time without having anything to do with me or my birthday. The couple that night was at the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all. I didn’t know either of them. One wasn't even local. They just happened to be killed the night of my party in my back yard and left to rot in shallow graves. Still, I’m not taking any chances. Nope, no more birthday parties for me ever.

Tour de France update -
Winner Stage 18, July 24 - Burghardt, Germany
Overall Leader - Sastre, Spain
Cadel is still in 4th with only 3 days to go.

A Nike Moment

Yesterday. I mentioned that I was overdue in shocking my mother. Well my interview with Total-E-Bound is now posted. Problem solved. Oh yeah is it ever!

I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to answer some of the questions as I did. Must have been having a Nike moment. Ever have those? One where you probably shouldn't do what you're about to do and even though you know it, you Just Do It anyway? I really try not to indulge in them often these days. I remind myself that I'm too old for such nonsense. But do I listen? Of course not. Especially when I've been moping and need cheering up.

Which brings me back to my mother. Yes, I called her and told her the interview was on the site. I also told her I preferred her not to read it. She agreed so now when she does she won't be able to comment without me sighing dramatically and pointing out that I asked her not to because she's not old enough. We certainly have an odd relationship.

Perhaps I'll share past Nike moments in the future. Or perhaps not. There are some things that you really don't need to know about me.

Oh no! Neeley commented on my vicarious exercise program. She's rearranging things, which I knew, and soon will be back working and living on campus, which I knew, which means the mainstay of vicarious physical activity is about to be gone, which I didn't think of. She's unwilling to become one of those annoying people who talks on the phone while in a gym just for me. Thank you, I hate them. But, but, but...I need my exercise! Come on everyone, help me convince Neeley she needs the fresh air and should walk around campus instead of going to a musty old gym.

I think the Promptel virus is spreading. (See Amarinda's posts for explanation.) I got home and there was no dial tone on my phone. Argh! I unplugged everything and waited 20 minutes for the line to reset, what they had me do last time, and guess what...yep, didn't work. So I called on my cell phone. When I finally got to a live person, I told them the problem and his first question - was I calling from the phone number I was reporting the trouble on? Hello! No dial tone here. Generally, that means the phone doesn't function thus making it impossible to call anyone. The next question - have I tried unplugging everything? Um yes, I believe I already specified that. Finally, he ran a line check and discovered it was an external problem, not an internal one. As I suspected. He then informed me they'd be out in two days to fix it. Two days! Wrong! I did my best Amarinda Jones impersonation and he agreed to check with the service desk to see if there was someone in my area. Could I be reached at the number in question? Sure, soon as you fix it. Low and behold not five minutes later the phone rang. Yes, the non-functioning one, not the cell phone. It was Promptel checking to see if I was still having problems with my line. I don't know about you but that sure seems like an internal problem on their end, like someone pushed the wrong button earlier maybe. Geez, technology.

But I do have a good technology bit to report. If you haven't read the comments on yesterday's blog the groqit folks must have an alert system. They stopped by to say hi and that they are linking my blog to their news page. How cool is that! Thanks Evelyn.

I Want One!

I was reading a magazine the other day and came across this little gizmo. It's a gorqit! What is a groqit (grock'et) you ask? A handy dandy little personal inventory management system that fits in your pocket. So? What does it do? I'll tell you.

A groqit is the answer to my book collection woes. This nifty bit of technology is a barcode reader. It has the capability to store hundreds of thousands of barcodes. It's also attached to a website where you can download and store your list, translated into what the barcode is for. They suggest you take it with you when shopping to avoid duplication. For me, it is a much simpler way to compile the titles of the majority of my books without actually needing to key in all the information manually. Ah, I can see you're getting it now. Another selling point is that you can use it to make lists for insurance purposes. Yes, with as many books as I have that's not a bad thing either.

In addition to creating book lists, it is also capable of compiling records of your cd's and dvd's. Have I mentioned that I have more than a few of them also?

My instant reaction when seeing this was I have to have one RIGHT NOW! But then I thought about it for a moment. My birthday isn't all that far off and I never know what to tell my mother when she asks for gift suggestions. This year I have one...and I've already told her. She's even being nice and said I could order it a full month before my birthday instead of making me wait. I think the real reason behind that may be because she doesn't believe the number of books I've accumulated. She wants to see the list. Okay but that creates a whole other dilemma. I have books that would horrify her even more than mine do. Perhaps I'll save them for last and then add them after I show her the list. Or maybe not. I haven't shocked her lately so I'm due.