So, looks like I'm moving to Washington DC sometime this month. Should be interesting - I have to somehow secure an apartment and move all of my stuff across country in a rental car. But, hey, I won't have to get a car to live there!

THE GENERAL COORDINATOR
ERIC NICHOLES (MICCON LOTTERY)
MICCON ONLINE LOTTERY PROMOTION
INTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
REF NO: 05/0029/0901-03

BATCH NO: 11-4120/0307/01
SERIAL NO: AA01/07/003/CC

ATTN: WINNER.

RE: MICCON ONLINE LOTTERY PROMOTION. NOTIFICATION OF WINNING.

This is to notify you that the result of the MICCON Online PromotionalDraws for
the year 2008 which was held on the 14th of JUNE 2008 has been released, and
that you have emerged as one of very lucky winners in this year's draw.

Your email address attached to ticket number: 003-0155107-07 with serial
number.: AA01/07/003/cc drew the numbers: 10-01-44-86-23 which emerged as the
2nd place winning numbers in category "A". You are therefore entitled to a
winning prize of $500,000.00 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS) which is
credited in cash to file with REF:05/1128-ISA/0001-1.

There are a total of 30 winners in this year's draw who won under categories
"A", "B" and "C". All the participants of this promotional draw were selected
through a computer ballot system drawn from 20,000 official and 45,000
individual email addresses from all search engines and websites worldwide. The
MICCON Online Promotional Draws is proudly sponsored by a conglomerate of
International IT companies, Dell Computers,The Intel Group, Mckintosh, LG and
many eminent personalities like The Nogbaisi of Benin Kingdom, Abdullah II Bin
Al Hussein (The King of Jordan) etc.This internet draw is held quarterly every
year and is so organized to encourage the use of the internet and computers
worldwide. We are proud to say that over 200 Million Dollars are won annually
in more than 250 countries worldwide.

This promotional draws is simply an initiative towards the development and
enhancement of global internet enlightenment and education, to help the
disabled and assist the less privileged students and parents who are computer
literate.

Your winning prize is deposited with our designated paying bank with your
ticket number and serial number.You are warned to keep this award information
strictly confidential until your award has been processed and your fund
remitted to your account to avoid double claim. Please be informed that your
above winning prize has been insured under fund
insurance policy which assures you that you will receive your award fund
complete without any deduction from it for security reasons. There are
accredited agents in charge of the claims of the winnings in the 3 respective
categories who are located in Africa, Asia and Australia.You are advised to
contact the agent in charge of your category (A) with the necessary information
as given below to enable him process your claim.Below are the information you
are required to email to your agent:

1. Name in full
...........................................................

2. Country of
Origin...................................................

3. Contact
Address...................................................

4.
Occupation............................................................

5. Age /
Sex...............................................................

6. Phone/Fax
..............................................................

7. Batch
Number.........................................................

8. Serial Number
.........................................................

9. Reference
Number..................................................

10. Amount
Won.........................................................

The above listed information is to be emailed to your accredited agent in
charge of category "A" winning claims with his contact information as provided
below;

Name : Dr. Mike Okoro

Email: drmikeokoro@gmail.com

Email: drmikeokoro48@yahoo.com


Phone: 011-234-083-363-1189

NOTE:Send your information to the two email addresses above. Any winner who
wished not to claim his or her winning prize should simply email his or her
agent and ask to be removed from the list.

CALL HIM FOR MORE DIRECTIVES IMMEDIATELY AND EMAIL YOUR INFORMATION TO HIM.
DIAL PLUS (+) IN PLACE OF (011-) IF YOU ARE CALLING HIM FROM ANYWHERE OUTSIDE
U.S.A.

WARNING!!!

(1) YOU MAY RECEIVE THIS NOTIFICATION MORE THAN ONCE AS THE ORGANIZATION
RE-SENDS IT TO ITS WINNERS IN MOST CASES UNTIL EVERY WINNER HAS CLAIMED HIS OR
HER PRIZE TO ENSURE THAT ALL THE WINNERS RECEIVE IT.ANY OTHER NOTIFICATION OF
THIS NATURE RECIEVED BY ANY WINNER BEARING ANOTHER TRADE MARK OR CONTACT
INFORMATION SHOULD BE IGNORED OR FOWARDED TO YOUR CLAIMS AGENT IMMEDIATELY,
THIS WILL HELP US TO FIGHT THE ACTIVITIES OF INTERNET SCAMMERS AND IMPOSTERS.

(2) SUBMISSION OR PROVISION OF WRONG WINNING INFORMATION TO YOUR AGENT LEADS TO
IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION AND CANCELLATION OF YOUR WINNING.

10% of your winnings will be donated to the refugees through The UN Refugee
Agency UNHCR, after you have claimed your winning prize.The donation of the 10%
must be done on your agent's instruction.

Congratulations!!!

Sincerely,
Eric Nicholes
General Coordinator,
MICCON ONLINE PROMOTIONAL

Gotta love the Duluth News Tribune. The headline:

Duluth City Council to consider ban on early-morning garbage pickup
Also, the council will begin to discuss the city’s $85 million preliminary general fund budget.

Largely unimportant headline and then - oh, yeah, the $85 million budget.

I just started my new job today. And I've generally been feeling quite adult recently...until I went to the mall and was asked to show ID to get in. Why? Because:

"We welcome all youth to Mall of America®, however on Friday and Saturday evenings youth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older from 4 p.m. until close."

Winter solstice.
Four days away from Christmas.
Minnesota.

...and it's warm enough to rain!?! This is so wrong I can't even begin to explain.

The problem with voting at 7am is that since then I've felt like I've accomplished something today. And whenever I feel as if I've accomplished something, I have much less motivation to do anything else. Even when I have tons and tons of work to do. *sigh*

My poor, poor computer. It froze. And I turned it off. And now it won't wake up.

*dies*

*pets black MacBook*

*doesn't have money for it*

*dies*

So, apparently there was a terrorist plot to blow up a plane flying out of England (and presumably to the US). There was an investigation that lasted months, people were arrested today, and now there are absolutely ridiculous restrictions on carry on baggage for those flying in England. Fun.

The restrictions:

Passengers may take through the airport security search point, in a single (ideally transparent) plastic carrier bag, only the following items. Nothing may be carried in pockets:

* Pocket size wallets and pocket size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards etc (not handbags));

* Travel documents essential for the journey (for example passports and travel tickets);

* Prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (eg, diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic;

* Spectacles and sunglasses, without cases;

* Contact lens holders, without bottles of solution;

* For those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags);

* Female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg tampons, pads, towels and wipes);

* Tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs;

* Keys (but no electrical key fobs).

All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items they are carrying must be X-ray screened.

Pushchairs and walking aids must be X-ray screened, and only airport-provided wheelchairs may pass through the screening point.

Search

In addition, all passengers boarding flights to the USA and all the items they are carrying, including those acquired after the central screening point, must be subjected to a secondary search at the boarding gate. Any liquids discovered must be taken from the passenger.

Since I have loads of free time here in Minneapolis, I've been doing lots of crafty stuff.

Evidence:

The plastic bag purse I knitted for my sister. (See here: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i9di04I_frAFxS_mxj8Y2bMZ2xKH5M4-?cq=1&p=37)

The Maker Faire tote hack I did today. (See here: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i9di04I_frAFxS_mxj8Y2bMZ2xKH5M4-?cq=1&p=38)

The various things I've been doing to make my room look nice ...a white board out of an old shelf, a bulletin board out of cardboard and upholstry fabric, etc.

Yesterday I:
got the job
got my desk
got the books I shipped myself
got the first Better Homes and Gardens magazine of the year long subscription Ashley got me for graduation
got a Greyhound ticket to Duluth (for use today)

So, looks like I'll be home for the weekend and coming back with a shiny bike!

Graduated Saturday, moved to Minneapolis Sunday, got my U card and bank account and walked to the new (shiny) public library Monday and I have an interview today.

Also, I got my cell phone this weekend and I've already been called by two telemarketers this morning. I really hope the do not call registry works.

For anyone interested, I posted a tutorial on my Yahoo! 360 blog: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i9di04I_frAFxS_mxj8Y2bMZ2xKH5M4-?cq=1&p=31

Let me know if you have any questions!

So, apparently two new rules need to be posted at the pool:

"If you need a kickboard, please take one out of the large bin directly in front of you instead of pulling it out from underneath the pull buoy of the woman in the lane next to you."

"When you have used it for one length and then discarded it, do not leave your kickboard at the opposite end of the pool when you leave, but return it to the bin from which you should have gotten it in the first place."

*sigh* One of the many reasons I'm not a fan of the hot weather: random people start showing up at the pool just to cool off (often in string bikinis or shorts and t-shirts) and don't bother to think about anything they do upon entering the pool area.

Someday I'm going to have a lovely garden. And it's going to have a huge bed of tulips and lilac bushes. And a swing.

BA due Friday.

Jittery.
Fuzzy head.
Little progress.
Reg.
Convoluted European agencies.
Death. ...or perhaps home.

So I know Chicago probably has a quota of windy days it needs to fulfill in order to retain its moniker, but could it possibly not pick days when I have errands to run? I like making forward progress, thankyouverymuch.

I just printed out my boarding pass (*bounces*) and the cat's spent a good half hour staring into the printer waiting for something else to come out.

So this morning I went to work and the pool wasn't on.

OK, wind. I get it. You can make lots of noise and blow things around. Now for the love of god would you stop rattling my windows?!?

*starts going insane from constant rattling*

I was so productive at the beginning of the day! ...and then as soon as early afternoon hit, nothing.

It doesn't help that all of the productive time went to errands and figuring out loan stuff. Now I still have:
1. Four response papers to write for Losers. Two pages each. I've done the reading for one of the three. Theoretically, these were all due earlier in the quarter. Practically, they have to be in tomorrow before 5pm.
2. A take home final for Losers. Due Wednesday.
3. A final paper for Film Noir. 8-10 pages. Due Wednesday.
4. A final in Realism. Worth 75% of grade. On Wednesday.

*sigh* Edits are sure to follow.

7:50pm Edit

1 of 2 pages on 1 of 4 response papers

Clearly the best way to deal with reading period is to make Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy into an iPod case. http://flickr.com/photos/21294947@N00/sets/72057594078734830/show/

9:00pm Edit

1 of 4 response papers written.

Time for bed. Tomorrow, up at 4 to start working on remaining 3 responses.

So, sometime last night, an alarm started going off somewhere in the quads. This was followed very shortly by the sound of fire trucks. They went away. The alarm stayed on. When I got up at 5, it was still going off. When I left for work at 5:30, it was still going off. I followed the sound east, up the steps, through the arch and down the ramp, at which point it became very clear that the noise was coming from the Erman Bio building (yeah, I'd never heard of it either...had to look it up...it's the building right next to botony pond). There was also a U of C police car sitting there, so I went and asked the cop what was going on. Apparently, the fire alarm malfunctioned (hence the fire trucks coming and then going), but couldn't be turned off until a facilities management guy came to check it out. Apparently facility management people don't work nights, so the cop got to sit next to the building until someone fixed the alarm. The alarm was no longer going off at 9, when I left work.

SO. The problem with living in Hitchcock and wanting a falafel sandwich and coffee is that there are four places, all within about a block of my bed, from which I can aquire said sustenance: the div school coffee shop, cobb coffee shop, the 2nd floor coffee shop, and ex libris. Furthermore, all of these places have wireless. Some may argue that this means I am spoiled. I will probably agree next quarter when I am not living in Hitchcock. Right now, however, the number of choices tends to make my head explode.

I chose cobb. More outlets.

Bloody olympics, making me stay up until 11 every night and not get any work done, so I have to get up at 4 instead of 5 to send in a question for a discussion section.

*looks longingly at bed*

Unrelated to Valentine's Day, and way more important: I got into grad school at the University of Minnesota! I'm not gonna be a hobo! (at least not for another two years)

*does I'm-not-gonna-be-a-hobo dance*

Related to Valentine's Day: In the Reynold's Club, a sorority is selling flowers, and directly across from that table, the SCC is handing out "sexual health" stuff. Yay Valentine's Day in college.