- Here, I’ll admit it: The guppies were a bad idea. But because the boy likes them, I will continue to distribute them for free through Craigslist, perpetuating the 2012-13 Boise Guppy Pyramid Scheme. Once the two big mama guppies die, we’re going all-male, guppy stewardship wisdom be damned. (None of our males fight with each other, even when we remove the females from the tank.)
- Despite my distance from them, I remain my parents’ go-to tech support. Why they didn’t call me, then, when their printer malfunctioned, I don’t know, but they ended up looking for a solution online, calling some fly-by-night operation that claimed to work for Epson, and allowing this company’s tech “support” representative to install remote software. Once the guy had control of their computer, he tried to extort them out of $299. My parents hung up, and he called back, offering to remove the remote software for $99. My parents unplugged their computer immediately, hung up again, and tried to log back in, but their password had been changed. So. . . they reinstalled some of the system software (I’m surprised they got this far!), changed their passwords again. . .and that’s when I happened to call. In case anyone else finds themselves or loved ones in such straits, as a public service announcement, I’d like to point you to these directions on how to remove LogMeInRescue from a Mac. (And no, I’m not available to talk your parents through the removal process. You’re on your own there!)
- The kicker to the above? Although the original error messages from their printer indicated the problem was with the print cartridges, it ends up they really were just using paper their printer didn’t like. Anyone need a ream of crappy Staples copy stock?
- I’m expecting the next month to be pretty much awesome, though I’m not happy that the day I return from a
n extended tech support sessiontrip to see my parents, I need to go back to work. - All of a sudden, a bunch of people I know want feedback on drafts of all kinds of stuff. It’s fun to see what other people are working on, and it’s nice to have my comments appreciated.
- I’m so excited to meet everyone participating in the internship I begin next week. We have a back channel established already, and these are some super smart, creative, initiative-taking people. (Though I admit I’m feeling a bit old. I hope I don’t come across as a curmudgeon: “You kids and your technology!”)
- My fall courses are going to kick my butt. I had 12 students in the spring, and I’ll have 90 in the fall. I know some of you have far more than that every semester, but it’s a lot for me right now with all the other projects I have going on. Plus, I’m completely revising one of the courses, and the other one is new to me, which means I’ll have to do a ton of reading during the semester. In addition, there will be a lot of writing in each course, which means lots of commenting on student work. Maybe, as just happened in a MOOC I’m following, I can just tell students to self-assess their work!
- Suddenly my skin looks like it did at 16! Those who knew me then know this is not a good development. Things that make my skin break out these days: touching my face, spray sunblock, sugar, air conditioning, sweat, chlorinated pool water, thinking about guppies, moisturizing lotion, over-the-counter acne treatments, air.
- I just learned that the auto body shop needs to order additional parts to fix our rear-ended Toyota Avalon. The other driver’s insurance company rep tells me this means the car will likely be totaled. Blue book value of the car: $2200. Actual cost to replace the car with a similar one, based on local Craigslist ads: $5,000-$6,000. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
- Lucas read 350 pages yesterday. This morning he couldn’t figure out how to zip up his backpack. Finally my genes are showing up!
Guppy photo by PINKE, and used under a Creative Commons license.
