Uncooperative Crickets

I made two purchases recently that I am very excited about.

1. Skye and I bought a Skype phone. That is, we bought a phone that can use Skype without a computer. This fits into my plan to have a phone bill of $5 total each month (compared to $45 through more traditional means). We got it yesterday, and it worked well on our tests last night.
   
2. I bought red ink refills to fit into my favorite Parker pens. This has made grading much, much more enjoyable. I enjoy having a nice pen that I can use, and now I can even use it for grading.
   

I am on a reading binge. I read Got Solar? over the weekend (Skye and I are planning on installing solar into our new house), and I am halfway done with Whatever It Takes, which chronicles a man (Geoffrey Canada) and his attempt to gradually eliminate poverty in Harlem. It seems like it might work, and there is scientific research behind his ideas.

I also started reading Snowcrash, and I will read Ender's Game after that. I am pretty new to science fiction, and these seemed like good places to start.

posted by Dirk Awesome @ 10:28 AM