UPS

Some people would not consider this a major accomplishment. I now have three delivery slips from UPS indicating I have a package coming to me from "Charles Schwab", "Charles S.", and "John D." respectively. At first I was excited. Then I started to worry how I was ever going to get the package. Apparently they only deliver to my building between 2:00 and 2:38 pm. Saturday finally rolled around, the day I designated to deal with it. I considered begging a friend for a ride to UPS. If that didn't work I could take the BART to the colliseum then a cab to UPS. Then I got angry, thinking this is their job, to deliver things. Then I realized I should probably call (groan) and find out if the package is even ready to be picked up or if I have to wait until Monday. Finally I saw the website address, a glimmer of hope. Their website allowed me to change my delivery address to my workplace. Brilliant.

Lev

I was catching up on my New Media reading on the BART and having fun thinking about the paralyzing aspects of cinema. It actually brings me a measure of pride to note that my wrists ache after I have played too much Morrowind. (Now I make myself rules like whenever my character goes to sleep I have to take a walk around my apartment. It keeps my legs from going numb. Just holding the book in my lap was making my wrist hurt in a similar way.) Lev was talking about the audience as prisoners, but the people I deal with everyday want a dark room where all outside sound is cut off. They want an image as bright and big as possible. They want to escape reality. They put up signs like at a hotel, asking not to be disturbed. I was thinking about this immobility as my gaze drifted to the guy sitting next to me on the train. He had just opened up his DVD player and started watching the pilot of Lost. I had a moment of wondering, is it rude to watch over someone's shoulder? Having just watched the"Behind the Scenes," the pilot was particularly fascinating. I decided that watching a movie on BART is not a private as reading a book, because I didn't have to lean over or anything. I could see perfectly fine from where I sat. But I couldn't hear anything because he was wearing earbuds. So I watched as Jack woke up in the trees, camera spinning, wondering where he was. An explosion later, the amazing blond screamed silently with all her might. I watched until we reached my stop. Then I had to ask my new friend to get up so I could slip out of the train.

My own mail

I am getting my own mail from Schwab these days. I've been scrutinizing all the information they are sending me about the new credit card. Today I am learning about "bonus points": the incentive to use the CS VISA as much as possible. It looks like $1 retail purchase = 1 bonus point. Bonus points start adding up once they reach the thousands. So if he makes $2,500 worth of retail purchases on his card, he could trade in his points for a piece of merchandise from Sony. Too bad I pay the bills. Maybe Charles needs to get a job.

Macworld

After my Flash class I went shopping for Charles. We needed to use his Schwab credit card within the month in order to get his ipod. I had been debating over the holidays what the appropriate thing wo buy would be. Finally I decided that what he really would want would be an ipod accessory, something to keep his shuffle looking like new. I picked a clear case, although black might have been a better choice. They have so many goodies on the shelves to choose from, so that by the time I had sorted minimics from ipod docks I was pretty overwhlemed.

NYC

A friend of mine went to NYC over the holidays and got some great pix from the Times Square branch of CS. I particularly like the shot with the christmas runner on top.

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