A Few Odds & Ends

• Apple now has my loyalty for life. Initially, I hate Apple after I bought an iPod Mini a few years ago that quickly grew suck at life. (Or at least suck at keeping a charge for longer than 24 minutes at a time.) Although, I quite love it's size and cannot imagine a tiny little Nano. I'm fairly sure I'd sit on it or break it quickly. HOWEVER! Our Mac has been another story. It's hard drive failed, so Mike took it to the Genius Bar, where they diagnosed it and convinced him he could replace it himself. Twelve thousand screws and over an hour later later, he did! But without an operating system, it wasn't initialized or partitioned, so it couldn't turn on. Or at least, that's what Jeremy from the Genius Bar told me yesterday when I took it to him. He fixed it. And even reinstalled iLife. (No Microsoft Office or Creative Suite, sadly. But I'll take what I can get.)

Then he said, "And this will only cost you $199."

I nodded, a little surprised they were charging me.

"I'm joking! You were going to pay that, weren't you!?"

So: we replaced the hard drive ourselves for a mere $50. And then got a $130 operating system and $80 iLife for freeeee! I love happy endings.

• Our weekend was fairly wonderful. I'm desperately in love with Little Italy now. Home to the most adorable little Italian men, delicious bakeries, and amazing restaurants. PLUS, Mario Batali (!!) rated it as one of the 10 Great Places to Discover Italy in America. The Botanical Gardens were also amazing. There was a Costa Rican rainforest. Complete with 12 billion butterflies! And a waterfall! And a tree house! I didn't want to leave. I wish I'd had my camera to take pictures of it.

• We've started playing chess. Eileen taught me how to play in 8th grade, and we played often during our study hall. (That sentence has dork written all over it.) Mike and I were sitting outside of Barnes & Nobles the other night, on a little patio that is lined with tables with chess games. I sort of remembered the rules, and after a game, we were hooked. We promptly went out and bought a cheap little set of our own.

• On the way home from our weekend, I left my cell phone in the back of a taxi. Yet again, I prove my memory prowess. Fortunately, I remembered the taxi number, so he dropped it off at the lost and found for me. Phew.
  
  
• Our hotel was 1.5 miles away from anything. Perhaps because I booked it Friday, there were no other hotels left. Our feet hurt a LOT by the end of our days. But it way to work off all the delicious food we were inhaling.

• I wanted to pack up the hotel bed and take it with me. And the curtains. With those two, I'd never wake up again. Seriously. I can't believe how dark our room was. And how deliciously soft our bed was. Mmm.

• There are so many things I want to write about: the election (I know, I know, everyone is doing it), my class, the email dialogue I'm having with a friend about my political choices, the class I'm taking, being inundated with gobs of fresh veggies, and how the heck I can get myself to wear heels. I promise I'll start posting more. After all, I have my Mac back!! Wheee!