R.I.P iBook 8/20/2005-4/25/2009

My laptop died today.

I went to Starbucks to write a new post for today. I was thinking about blogging that I dislike Mike Galanos from CNN because he oversimplifies everything in a way that would invoke a lot of agreement from the uninformed.

I plugged in my computer, the fan spun, no boot chime. Unplugged, replugged, battery change, nothing. Went to the Apple store and they had one Genius Bar appointment left. It was DOA. The logicboard is the problem. Repair cost $799. I only paid $899 to start with. It was really on its last limb, but I was trying to make it till residency when I can use my education fund to buy a new Mac.

I am going to take it apart and sell it for parts on eBay. They gave me the number of a funeral home that will help me extract the hard drive and give it an enclosure so that I can retrieve my data.

My options
1. Buy a new iBook $950 with student discount.
2. Buy a cheap refurbished Windows PC laptop for <$500.
3. Buy a new computer now, then try to get reimbursed for another one next year and then sell it.
4. Online, I can buy a pre-owned refurbished iBook a notch below the one I currently have. $269. I am thinking at this point it is my cheapest choice and keeps me in the family. I can always upgrade later when I have a "book" fund.

I am reluctant to leave the Mac family even temporarily. Not sure how I am going to get my iTunes sorted out. I am writing this from school, but, they blocked Facebook and Twitter, so expect my productivity to increase dramatically.

I am fortunate that this is my only big problem in life at the moment.

Thank you
-McBrandon

Supreme Court To Decide If Schools Have The Right To Make Your Child Take Their Clothes Off

Listen to the NPR story here. 
Read at CNN


"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
                                                         4th amendment of the Bill of Rights


The story is that Savana, a 13 year old girl in Arizona, was forced to strip down, bare naked, in front of two school administrators.  They found nothing.  They chose to search her because a student found with 400mg of Ibuprofen (two Advils) said she got them from Savana.   No parents were contacted, no permission given.  Surprisingly, she is suing the school district for their reckless and perverted invasion of her privacy.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that her 4th amendment right not to be subjected to an unreasonable search had been violated and that the school was liable for damages.    The supreme court took interest and decided to hear arguments in the case of Safford v. Redding on April 21, 2009.  It sounds like the justices want to preserve a school's ability to "protect" students from the harm of drugs, even if this means invading their privacy.  Chief Justice John Roberts, according to news reports, was the least inclined to believe that strip searching students was unreasonable. 

Let's Review:

Last time I checked, when an adult forces a child to take their clothes off, that is called sexual abuse?

If you want your enemies to get strip searched, just say that they are passing out drugs?

In medicine, if you are going to exam a child, especially if it requires removing clothes, there is going to be a parent present.  But a school nurse and secretary are MORE trustworthy and qualified than physicians?


I'm incensed.  I understand the opposition to my view is that, if she was passing out cyanide or meth or ecstasy tablets and chidren died, that would be horrible.  I'm pretty sure that drugs at school is not a new problem.  Why is it that after all these years, it's time to start strip searching kids? 

Minors are being branded as sex offenders for taking pictures of themselves on their cell phones but, John Roberts thinks it's ok for school officals to make you take off your clothes in person?  That sounds like molestation to me.  The school district should be more concerned about allegations of impropriety.  That's true, but school metal detectors seem like a much more effective way to protect students, but most school aren't using them. 

Perhaps kids would be safer if you taught them not to take pills they find at school.  I see the danger in students inappropriately using and possessing medications at school.  But I would much rather hear that kids were smoking marijuana in the bathroom at my child's school than that they were randomly strip searching to look for Advil.  Thinking back to my days in school, every school administrator I ever met needed to get a life.  They have a lot of responsibility on their hands but this is really weak. 


Am I completely off?  What do you think?  

Endorsement of the Week: The Week

One Magazine Worth Subscribing To If You Really Need To Feel The Print Between Your Fingers

What if you could get all the relevant news that you need to know, like how TARP is being spent or who is winning the Minnesota Senate race, from one source. Now add stories about entertainment, food, international news, finance, books, people, music, art, and real estate and you have, The Week. They have cut and pasted news and editorial from newspapers and magazines across the world into one place. In the words of the magazine, "The Week Distills The Best Of U.S. And Foreign Press Into 44 Pages." I know that news on the web is more practical but, I like to have a hard copy because I can't read my laptop while driving...




I was first introduced to The Week about two years ago, I found it in the back seat of a friend's car while riding to a baseball game. He described it as Cliff's Notes for current events. Now I get ideas for the books I read (The Next Hundred Years by George Friedman) and the movies I watch (Adventureland) from The Week.

The Week is very thin and readable, no article is more than two pages, most under a page. I subscribed about six months ago for $50 so that I could catch up on current events have dinner conversation fodder at interviews. My roommates got hooked on it too during their interviews. Beats the hell out of re-reading the same issue of Southwest's Spirit Magazine every weekend.

When I think of all the other things I spend a dollar a week on, like Red Box, this is nothing. In fact, around the holidays they offer you can renew your subscription and get an extra subscription for a friend for only $1. Good thing my Dad doesn't read this because that's what I'm going to get him for Christmas next year.

Top 10 Favorite Fictional Females

So, this list is by no means definitive or final, yet. But, I think so far it represents a fairly decent cross section of the ideal woman. As hard as I tried, I had trouble finding women from literature, comic books, or music to include on the list. Thus, they are all television or movie characters. I'm sure that at some point I will have to revise the list, but, I'll tell you that no matter what, the first two will always remain in my top ten. Sorry blondies, the list is heavy on the brunettes.

1. Robin Scherbatsky (How I Met Your Mother)




2. Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie (JAG)





3. Kirsten Cohen (The OC)




4. Meadow Soprano (The Sopranos)




5. Cheryl David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)





6. Kelly Kapowski (Saved by the Bell)





7. Bonnie Barstow (Knight Rider)






8. Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (Top Gun)





9. Lisa (Weird Science)




10. Karen Filippelli (The Office)

"Your ego is writing checks your body can't cash"

Speaking of slow Amazon sales, I sold a $30 dollar book today. Never read it, probably paid $50 for it to begin with. But at least it covers the $15 I spent at Wal*mart on Saturday. I was in a particularly foul mood for numerous reasons. First, I need new eyeglasses, second, its almost impossible for me to get a to an optometrist during business hours. A few other things. But I felt better after finding












Top Gun and Rain Man in the five dollar bin at Wal*mart.

Just realized they are both Tom Cruise movies, but, both are personal favorites. Excellent movies, represent a quality that is underrated today. I'm watching Top Gun right now in fact. I wonder how many people went to the Naval Academy because of that movie, I guarantee, more than one. Re-watching it has helped me figure two things out. First, I'm bummed that Charlie isn't a real woman. Second, how much I enjoy going to airshows and seeing fighter jets fly in person. If you haven't done so, I highly recommend it. I saw the Thunderbirds twice since I've been in Kansas City and the Blue Angels once. Blue Angels are better but, be careful though. One time when I was 9 or 10, my Dad and I were planning on going to the airshow one Sunday but decided to go on Saturday instead. It was a good and fateful decision. I plane crashed into the tarmac at that same airshow the on Sunday. Nobody died except the pilot, but, its always better to not be near a plane crash.

Rain Man is another great movie. Dustin Hoffman another of my favorite actors is in that movie too. A girl said I looked like a baby Dustin Hoffman once. Not sure if that is a compliment. Either way, Kmart sucks, Walmart is better.

That gives me an idea for a future post.
My top ten favorite fictional women.

A Few Things I Don't Like

1. People at the post office who carry on conversations with the clerks after their business is done holding up a line that is going out the door.

2. Opening "artists" at concerts who swish water in their mouth and spit it in the faces of the front row.

3. Not having an Iphone.

4. Text message drama

5. Two words: Ed Hardy