Updates

  • I’ve started watching Friday Night Lights. It really is as awesome as everyone says. YA + football + great television = Kristan’s dreams come true.
    • Also, Gaius Charles (aka Brian “Smash” Williams) is a Carnegie Mellon alum! Supposedly he landed a recurring role on this season of Grey’s Anatomy too.
  • Work-wise, I’m still editing my manuscript. I am really, really proud of the finished pages, but it’s taking me a long time to get them to that place. My feelings on that… (sigh) are a balancing act. On the one hand, I need want to be patient with myself, with my process. On the other hand, I need want to find a way to achieve the high quality at a faster pace.
    • I’m sure Andy and my parents would appreciate that too.
  • After several months of experimenting with various training techniques, things with Riley are going a lot better. We’re both exercising more, and his food aggression is way down.
    • In case anyone’s curious, the breakthrough came when I realized that if I held onto his food dish or kong, he didn’t get as possessive of them — probably because I literally had possession of them. So I’ve been using that as a springboard for testing his limits, and rewarding him when he doesn’t react to my taking the bowl/kong away.
  • I’m not going to put blogging on my to-do list anymore. If I have something to say, I will say it. If not… well then.

To end, a short story:

The E and K keys on my MacBook have been mildly broken for a couple years now. (My fault entirely.) Last week, the E key busted completely. Now, you can imagine what typing without an E is like. So I MacGuyver-ed a quick fix: I took the rubber nubbin out from under the Control key and gave it to the E. Then realized I might need the Control key, so I took the rubber nubbin out from under the Eject key and gave it to the Control key. That meant the K was still at 80%, the E was hovering around 65%, the Control was working near 100%, and the Eject was sadly at a 0. This would do for now, but obviously not for long.

The next day, I made an appointment at the Genius Bar, told them my sob story — which amused a couple of the Geniuses — and about 20 min later, they had all 4 keys working like new. I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to have a fully functioning keyboard. It’s so wonderful, in fact, that I’m going to pretend it doesn’t bother me that the replacement keys they gave me are matte while the rest of my keys have shiny spots from my clicking them so much.


13 responses to “Updates”

  1. Trisha Avatar

    Nice. Keep plugging away at it. Congrats. And Yay!

  2. Shari Avatar

    The important thing is how proud you are of those finished pages — that speaks volumes. The pace you take toward the “finish line” won’t matter in the long run. All that matters is crossing the line and propelling yourself toward the next goal. You can do it!!

    (Also, the keyboard story made me LOL. If it makes you feel better, my previous laptop actually had holes in its keys because I clicked them so much!)

  3. Kristan Avatar

    Thanks, y’all!

    Shari-
    Omg HOLES? Lol wow…

  4. Juliann Avatar

    I can’t imagine trying to type anything without an “e” key. I would immediately want to write: Eek! My teeth feel like they have a deer squeezed between them!
    :)

  5. Sarah Wedgbrow Avatar

    you said “nubbin”…that word makes me giggle. It should mean something naughty. Like lets replace the f-bomb with nubbin.

    or not.

    <3<3

  6. linda Avatar

    You have an eject key? Is that like the escape key or is that actually for ejecting things? I don’t think I have one of those…

  7. Kristan Avatar

    Juliann-
    Lol. I kept wanting to tweet about the problem, but it’s hard to say what key you’re missing when you, you know, can’t type it.

    Sarah-
    It’s a great word! I’m glad my diction amuses you so. :)

    Linda-
    Hehe, it’s a Mac thing, and yes, for actual ejection of CDs.

  8. Julia Avatar

    Hey, I have a Macbook. Do I have an eject key? I thought I had pressed all the buttons at least once. I’m glad things are working out with Riley. Training really can work wonders. For instance, last week, my parents dog Plato came to stay and trained Ziggy to sit by the cookie drawer and demand a treat after each meal.

  9. Sherrie Petersen Avatar

    I totally relate to wanting your process to be faster. I’m not. And it kills me sometimes, to the point that I just stop. So frustrating.

    Blogging’s not on my to-do list anymore either. I discovered I could live quite happily without it — though I do miss certain blog friends when I’m gone :)

  10. Sonje Avatar

    I thought the conclusion of your keyboard story was going to be, “Why the f didn’t I get this fixed years ago?”

  11. Kristan Avatar

    Julia-
    Hm, top right corner, arrow pointing up, with a line underneath it? (ROFL to Plato’s new lesson for Ziggy. Oh dogs…)

    Sherrie-
    Ditto times a million to the first part of your comment. As for the second… I’m not *giving up* on blogging, but I’m definitely noticing a downward trajectory in its priority level in my life. I suspect I’ll feel “ditto times a million” to that part of your comment too.

    Sonje-
    Lol, yeah, there’s that too. It’s amazing how you can grow accustomed to doing something in such an inefficient way and not even realize how much extra work it is, until you get the thing fixed or find a better way to do it.

  12. Jon Avatar

    I think you’d enjoy this about The Genius Bar: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-genius-bar

    Does this gel with your experience?

  13. Kristan Avatar

    ROFL no but I love that!!