efffie's Journal

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Touches my soul in beautiful ways :)
A tribute to Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking

If it's School Time, Get a new Pen!!
This was of amazing help in the brain crunching condensed Chemistry class I finished a couple weeks ago.

http://www.livescribe.com/

This takes coordinate points on the paper as you are writing and recording the lecture.
   When you are studying later, you can touch the pen to the part of notes you don't understand and listen to what you were writing as they were saying it.... The pen can down load the stored notes, and recordings and then you can then post the notes online for free, and others can click on your notes for different parts of the lecture. Really, it's a godsend. Good to have at meeting, if everyones ok with being recorded.
   Supposedly they have a development kit for this, and I would think the possibly apps would be unlimited, but I haven't seen much recently community wise about development on it. I totally wish they would set up a market for selling 3rd party apps.
   The ink, and notebooks are pretty cheap for what your getting.

Cordless Electricity?
Cool!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/02/wireless.electricity/index.html

Wasn't this what Tesla was working on?
Is this a spin off from his research?

Getting the Foundation Fixed!!!
I got 5 different quotes for fixing the foundation of my house, and settled with a company I think I can trust, and their price is reasonable, $11,000. They started on Monday. Benjamin and I are staying at my parents house. There are holes through my foundation, and tunnels under my house. The plumber quoted me $1,800 today for more tunneling and replacing pipes. I was afraid this number would be much higher. This is all kinda scary, throwing large amounts of money around, but I'm happy to be getting this burden off of my shoulders. I'm very thankful to have the support of Benjamin and my Family though this. I can't wait to get some new carpet and move back in next week!!

Engaged
Benji and I officially got engaged tonight. :)
He is such a wonderful man. I want him by my side forever and ever.

Fun with Girlfriends
I spent some time with Girlfriends this morning, and it reminded me that I gotta get my "hanging out with girls" time in on a regular basis for my Universe to be in sync. I'm so happy to have woman friends in my life. And I don't have a lotta experience with friends that are girls, or sustaining friendships at a consistence level of intimacy. I am a work in progress. My post and the wonderful responses I've received, have made me feel loved, and have helped me reflect on what my needs are. Thanks :)

missing you
   I got invited in a Baby Shower recently and it took me by surprise. It's been a long time since I've been invited to a baby shower, although I've had friends popping out babies right and left, and I don't even know this pregnant lady well. Then it hit me.
   She is part of a community I'm new too, and within the new community, Benji and I are considered a family. It's not a community where I've had a high profile divorce, like with the Burners, even though it's been years.
   I guess I don't understand why getting divorced had to change friendships when it had nothing to do with them. I've tried not to take it personally, every time I hear of another Baby Shower or Wedding I'm not invited too. I try to remember that one can't invite everyone to these. I just didn't expect to be treated differently after getting divorced. That decision didn't mean anything against the married women in the community. I'm sorry that I asked y'all to support that relationship, and then couldn't support it myself. Please forgive me.
At what point do I get to shake off this past?
   I also understand that I'm not good at keeping up relationships with girlfriends. And if that is the cause of this, then it's a reasonable one. It's a two way street, and I can't repair it alone.
I'm sad, and I miss you.

Saving, saving, saving... to pay off debt, fix the foundation of my current home, and save to have a down payment on a future home, and I'm making progress, but it feels like this is going to last forever, and I'm so cheap now... Our new home will be in Kaleidoscope Village, which won't be built for a year or two. And a year or two, does indeed feel like forever. But if we reach our goals, financially we will be in pretty good shape by then. BTW, check out KV, and if community life is a match for you, come live with us. :)

I've been very involved in the Austin burn community for 8 years now, a 1/4th of my life. As goes with being in any community this long, there in collect emotional land mines. Their the sensitive spots that you never know if you'll fully work through, but you wish that you would stop surprising yourself by stumbling over them, and setting them off. I've got 2 separate (incidents of heartbreak) land mines now and they are with beautiful, wonderful people I wish to continue surrounding myself with. Not personal, but situational, and my land mines none the less. Please, forgive me if I ever unintentionally damage anyone. Time is a generous healer.

ok, time to wake up my man and get some running on. Anybody doing 5/10Ks on the weekends?

FaceBook Friend Requests
So, I was at lunch with a friend today, and she was like "You haven't added me as a friend on FaceBook."

So, I decided to log into facebook and do a friend adding round... and I had 97 friend requests... omg.
My negligence is out of hand.

Sorry, guys.

Job Posted! Unix Cluster Admin in UT Geological Sciences
A Job has been posted. Starting at $70,000!!
http://utdirect.utexas.edu/pnjobs/pnjobsvw.WBX?job_nbr=08-11-24-01-9319

Here's the department it's in: http://www.geo.utexas.edu/
Currently, I'm the only Unix admin so I may be working very closely with whomever gets hired.

Please apply or get the word out to anyone that might be interested.

Rwanda, all over again...
How many millions of people must die before we care enough to do something significant?
Why do we always chase money and power, as opposed to standing up for who people aren't able to defend themselves?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/21/congo.camp.killing/index.html

"The last decade of conflict has resulted in some 4 million deaths; an estimated 1,200 people die every day due to ongoing epidemics and war-related causes; some aid agencies estimate upward of 1,400 deaths per day," the Christian relief organization said in a news release.

Elysium 80's Night, Sunday, 11PM

hobgadling 's Sister is in town. She is thinking about moving here, so we are showing her around to the best Austin Sites.
Come join us at Elysium for 80's night. Wee should get there around 10ish, but we will definitely be there by 11PM.

Barton Springs?
What else does she need to experience?

Job Post at my work! Desktop Support Specialist!
   I work at the Department for Geological Sciences at UT and we are looking for someone to assist us in assisting Staff, Professors and Students with their personal computing needs.
   The pay might not be amazing, but the vacation and insurance benefits make up for it. And working on campus is a lot of fun.
You will be the 3rd corner in the department's triad of Tech support. I'm one of the other corners, and Ty, my friend makes up another.
Please apply, even if you don't have all the skill requirements.
Here's the link: http://utdirect.utexas.edu/pnjobs/pnjobsvw.WBX?job_nbr=08-09-03-01-9314
   Feel free to ask questions.
Thanks,
     Effie

Global Pool of Money: Credit Crisis
A NPR special on the causes of the Credit Crisis with
first hand interviews of people that played different role in causing the crisis.
(Click on "Full Episode" on the left.)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355
(From May 9th, Why the crisis happened )

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365
(From Oct 9th, A followup show, What are the crisis's effects? )

Burlesque the Vote! Friday October 3rd
I'm in this Burlesque Show, and I want you to come see me!

These tickets always sell out, so buy your's now!

Burlesque the Vote!
Friday October 3rd
Antone's 213 w 5th

benefiting the ACLU of Austin
Doors open at 8pm

Tickets on sale now!
$15 standing /$30 seating

Featuring members of Burlesque For Peace, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, Carousel Cabaret, The Jigglewatts, the Lolliebombs, Schave and Riley, The Amazing Buffy West, and Doryan and Adam!

Also featuring Voter Virgin for all you first time voters
and Steven Noreyko's photobooth project for all of you camera whores.

The Perfect Cure for Elect-ile Disfunction = Red, White and Boobs!

Subprime Primer
This is funny and does a decent job of explaining what is going on.
http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1
from Clare

sun shines out your ass
"In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person will still think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with." - Juno

This is some of th best advice I've ever heard. I think eternal appreciation of everything that makes up the other person plays a big role in successful relationships.
Benji, You shine so bight, I have to wear shades.