I’m Going Solar, So Should You

When this publishes I’ll be on my first real vacation in years. Sure I’ve taken a long weekend here and there to go to Maine or down to the beach, but this time I’m actually getting on a plane (which I hate doing) and going to a place where it’s warmer to swim with Manatees and get a wand at Olivander’s. On the Monday after I return a team of guys will show up at my house between 7 and 9 a.m. to start installing solar panels on my roof. I may be more excited for the panels then I am for the vacation. (HYPERBOLE!)

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I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time, but I was paralyzed by the choices. Over the past year I’ve watched as panels appeared on houses all over my neighborhood. Each house seemed to have a different company on the job. Which was best? I couldn’t decide. Then, a couple of months ago, my boyfriend and I were leaving Home Depot which has had salesmen from Solar City stationed by the door for what seems like years. I figure Home Depot probably did its homework on the company, and since Solar City is now part of Tesla, it had to be a reputable company. Still, I usually avoid eye contact and sneak by, not wanting to get the hard sell, but on this day I was feeling it… So I stopped.  Continue reading

Game of Thrones, My New iPad, & Other Things I’m Obsessed with This Week

It’s my first full week back to work since before Christmas, which has the potential to be depressing, but luckily I’ve got some distractions — one of which I am typing on, the other I am watching.

Over the past few months I’ve been considering two purchases: a new laptop and a Kindle. I don’t really need a new laptop, mine works fine, but it’s heavy and traveling with it is a bit arduous. During my last trip to NYC I walked from my hotel to the venue where my conference was. It wasn’t far, and I like to walk, but I was carting a big overnight bag with my giant laptop stuffed in it. I may have dislocated my shoulder. But I just haven’t been able to bring myself to buy the MacBook Air (refurbished, of course) that I had been eyeing.

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Why I Upgraded to an Old iPhone

I have long had a love-hate relationship with my iPhone. I don’t know how I ever lived without the GPS and I love having a camera at the  ready every time I see something weird or my dog does something cute. But I hate feeling constantly connected to the internet. I almost never use it to check my email unless I’m traveling for work, and I only really use it for Facebook when I’m mobile uploading a picture — or I’m on an awesome trip and feel the need to tell everyone what I’m up to, but there are fewer and fewer of those trips lately. I don’t allow push notifications because I don’t want to be pestered every time I get an email or a Facebook message. Continue reading

The Fine Art of the Status Update

By webponce, Flickr Creative Commons

When I was in college AIM was all the rage. “Away Messages” were the “Status Updates” of the early 2000s. I used to get annoyed to no end by people with literal away messages: “In Stats until noon” was awfully boring. I was a fan of song lyrics and cryptic inside jokes. If I was at dinner you could count on, “At the meat market with the Smurf.” The “meat market” was what my roommate (Smurf) and I called our cafeteria, where girls who didn’t even get out of their pajamas to go to class would put on heels and formal wear for dinner. Now that no one uses AIM anymore, Facebook status updates and Tweets have replaced away messages. And I take my status updates very seriously. Continue reading

Twitter-less

After reading through the boards* that came across my desk today for various columns and news items, I have come to a conclusion: I am  the only person left in the world, under the age of 35, not using Twitter.

I am fine with this because, despite my general tech savvy, I just don’t understand it. I’ve heard of companies using it to update customers on sales, which makes sense, but I imagine that most Twitter posts look like this:

“I am sitting at the bus stop.”

“I have a meeting from 2-4 p.m.”

“Does anyone know what a red rash with green puss indicates?” Continue reading