To Kindle or not to Kindle

Reading Technology <-- fitting comic to come out today.

As I prepare to go offshore for two months, I'm wondering if I should get a Kindle.

PROS:

• Access to millions of books, magazines, newspapers, etc on a small, light-weight object
• Since I want to pack light, having a Kindle means less space and weight taken up by books
• Maybe in the future I can get my grad school textbooks cheaper on the Kindle?

CONS:

• Monetary commitment (in addition to buying the Kindle itself, I'd probably buy a case to protect it and then all the books/media to put on it costs money as well)
• I've always been against the whole concept of a Kindle;  I really like reading real, physical books
• The comic I linked to at the beginning of this post expresses my feelings exactly

And if I do decide to get one, there are five different Kindles to choose from...

UPDATE 1/17/11 14:58: does anyone have anything bad to say about the Kindle?  I'm still not 100% sure I'll get one, but the scales sure do seem to be tipping.

UPDATE 1/20/11 12:23: NOT GETTING ONE.  I just don't want one. Too bad I wasted all that time researching them, but when I tried one out in Office Max, it was not remotely compelling.

Walking Walls, or how you can help a journey for peace!

My friend (and former awesome roommate), Kate, is raising funds to walk along physical, political walls to document the real, human divisions in the communities affected.  I'll let her explain:

Click here to help out, either monetarily or just to spread the word!

Fun fact: it was with Kate when I first started to blog.  We started a blog, for reasons I can't remember, while living together my Junior year at Carleton (http://shesrealfinemy409.blogspot.com/ if you're so inclined to read some ramblings of ours from 2009).

Reason #1 Why I Love Davis

*Note, the "#1" does not refer to the top reason why I love Davis; rather, it is the first post I've written on this topic.  And now for the reason:

I bike 3 miles to and from work every day.  For 2.5 of those, I don't have to leave a bike path- not even to cross a street.  There aren't words to describe how relaxing it is not to deal with cars and traffic and polluting and hop on my bike to propel myself somewhere.  And the best moment of all: reaching the top of the overpass and seeing all the people stuck in traffic on Interstate 80.

Straight floatin' on a boat on the deep blue sea

In a little less than three months, I will be on a boat.  Specifically the R/V Melville:

"During a career now in its fourth decade, Melville has cruised over almost all the World's oceans in the pursuit of scientific knowledge."

And why, you might ask?  Well a fellow Carleton AND Williams-Mystic alum is getting her PhD in marine geology at OSU and her lab needed volunteers for a dredging and mapping cruise of the coast of- get this- South Africa!  So at the start of February 2012, I will be flying to Cape Town and embarking on a two month research cruise, all expenses paid.  Hooray for science funding!

Among other things, I'm ridiculously excited to:

1. be on a ship (on the ocean!)
2. do geology again
3. see penguins in the wild (or at least I hope we're in Cape Town long enough for me to do so).

There will undoubtably be more blog posts on this topic as the trip gets closer and I get more information, so stay tuned!  I might have to change the name to A is for the Atlantic!

In which I recommend you go see a movie (or two)

I recently saw two movies in the theaters of which I had never seen previews for: Drive and 50/50. I loved both of them and will review them with NO SPOILERS and recommend you go see them! And by "review," I guess I really just mean why I liked them, since I don't want to give anything away.

Drive

All I knew going into this movie was that it's about a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. Which is true, but it's much more than the action/chase scene flick you might expect from that description.

Aside from the fact that Ryan Gosling is incredibly easy on the eyes, Drive was a fabulous movie. It reminded me of Burn After Reading in a weird way- the way the first half of the movie has a certain tone and then all of the sudden something happens and it just spirals off... I won't elaborate too much so as not to spoil it for anyone. The difference between the two movies is that I loved Drive, but didn't really care for Burn After Reading.

What made the movie, though, is the soundtrack. The choice of music was clearly thought through, and each song was perfect for its scene. I really can't get over how good the music was.

50/50

I knew two things going into 50/50: it's about a guy who gets cancer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in it. The second thing

had a lot to do with why I agreed to see this movie; cancer doesn't seem like the subject of a fun Friday night movie.

But the movie was hilarious! It was also sad and emotional and above all, real. Like, these could be the reactions and conversations and emotions of real people. I laughed, I cried, and I came out feeling blessed that, at least for now, I'm healthy.

If nothing else, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen are stellar actors. And the girl from Twilight is pretty great too.

Maybe I Could Live in Minnesota Afterall (until Winter comes, of course)

Anyone who knows me, knows that while I loved Carleton, I was not as thrilled about it being in Minnesota. There are two main reasons: winter and distance from the ocean. I just spent two weeks in Minneapolis, and while I'm not about to move back, I was greatly persuaded. Here are three reasons why:

1. Minneapolis is easy to get around, and flat. I had to go downtown many days during my visit, and while there are busses, I opted to walk or bike since the weather couldn't have been nicer and I could enjoy the beautiful autumn air. Uptown (where Amy lives) is an easy distance of a beautiful cemetery, a number of lovely lakes, multiple fun bars/restaurants/cafes, and young people. Which brings me to #2.

2. Uptown is basically a grown up version of Carleton dorms. I swear half of all recent Carleton grads live in Minneapolis and most of them live in Uptown. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but my point is that there is a very active Carleton community, and to be honest, I love hanging out with fellow Carls.

3. There are a lot people who want me there. This may seem like a silly reason, but so many people tried to persuade me to move there during my visit. One friend even threatened to break my legs so I couldn't leave.

Bonus Reason: The Summit Brewery is in St. Paul. And I love Summit Beer. Both times I visited and toured the brewery I had a great time, especially sitting in the sun with their free samples and friends enjoying it with me. You can't get Summit beer in California, a fact that makes me very sad.

Next year, River Cats

I love going to baseball games. Just thought I'd put that out there.

and there's glitter on the floor

Yes, I paid money to see Ke$ha live. Yes, she was pretty bad. Yes, I wore a ton of glitter. No, I don't regret it.

LMFAO (one of her openers) were awesome, however, and damn, those guys could break dance. This video doesn't really do my previous statement justice.