My laptop's monitor hinge recently warped and stopped closing correctly which has in turn caused my monitor casing to come apart and finally snap at the bottom right side. This makes the right side of my monitor hang down about an inch and make my laptop difficult to use or move. I bought a three-year extended warranty for it from the Micro Center location in Houston when I purchased it eleven months ago, but they've given me some sub-par customer service and a run-around for about a week, and the representative that I finally reached today told me that my computer's problem falls within normal wear-and-tear of laptops and that because my casing isn't hardware my extended (and expensive) warranty does not cover repairs.

I have no interest to pay to ship my laptop to the Micro Center Houston location and spend money on repairs as suggested when I feel like I've already paid for a warranty with them that should cover said repairs. Could anyone please suggest a reputable repair place in Austin to fix my Compaq laptop casing?

I feel just about to burst with pride over ajaw's recent participation in sitting in at Humboldt Universität in Berlin to protest planned reforms of their degree programs as well as funding cuts and higher tuition fees. Here is his latest blog post about it; here is an article about the protests in the Deutsche Welle and here (for those who read German) is another article that includes part of an interview with ajaw.

If I approach a red light while riding a bicycle, and I can reasonably assume that cars and motor vehicles will come behind me but I don't know if they're going to turn right or go straight through the light, am I as a cyclist supposed to be on the left-most side of the lane (in case they plan to turn right) or on the right side of the lane (where I'm not in their path, but they could think I'm turning and so wait unnecessarily or possibly side-swipe me if they turn as I start going forward)? I always thought that as the slowest-moving vehicle that I always had to stay to the right, but I've heard an argument for the left side and have seen other cyclists stop on either side. Input, please?

I had a really good day at work today, and I feel especially thankful for that because it's the first day since I started my new job last week that I've smiled or laughed or felt that it would work out. My training has been a real trial. The first time that I tried to finish my duties by myself I ended up spending over an hour crying in frustration over a machine that wouldn't acknowledge the data that I needed it to in order to finish, and then yesterday I gave up and tried to quit, but my boss wouldn't have it, and she managed to make my training less stressful, and without the stress everything started to click together, and today I managed to get through most of my workload without direction.

We had a neat little Halloween party in my department with food and crossword puzzles and cheesy jokes and a word rearranging puzzle. The company also had a costume contest; one person wore a hat with dangling planets called herself "The Center of the Universe," and another person had people guessing all day why he had three black spots stapled to his striped shirt until he explained that he had gone as a sheet of paper.

mrhuggles picked up myself and fractallia and gave us a ride to savanni's Rock Band party week, and I got to mingle with dear friends. :)

I spent a lovely evening out yesterday with wyndhover and austingoddess watching Eddie Izzard and Christopher Walken movies.

I got good news about my eligibility for working in a different dept. and bad news financially. It's harsh, but I'll manage.

I feel pretty happy now to have bought a warranty with my laptop a year ago, because I woke up this morning thinking I had somehow left some awful techno music playing on my laptop, but apparently that sound instead signaled my hard drive's death knell. *weeps* Most of the work, music, and picture files were backed up, and I haven't lost anything integral.

Their customer service would require at least a week to return, however, and I rely heavily on my laptop for freelance work as well as 99.93% of my social functioning. ;) Does anyone know where I could buy a decent 200-gig laptop hard drive in Austin for under $100 before I send it elsewhere for repairs?

I'd probably feel more upset about this if I hadn't had a gorgeous turn-out last night while experimenting with hair dye. I now have dark purple bangs and turqoise hair. I think it qualifies as another color scheme that falls under "interesting but not personally fitting."

I had a health scare at work today when I started seeing white spots and then spinning rainbow pinwheels in my field of vision along with a headache, so I went home, and then while making myself grilled cheese sandwiches and talking to wyndhover I had just enough warning to set down the spatula and turn before my legs buckled and I fell down. The roommates took my blood pressure which registered quite high, so I ate my sandwiches and waited a while until my blood sugar tested well enough to walk upstairs and lie down. I feel much better after relaxing and taking a short nap (well enough now to feel like a grand arse for scaring myself and everyone else in the flat and missing work although I already worked an extra day this week). The roommates suspect hyperglycemia which I know I have although it's never manifested itself like this before, and we'll see how I do in the next few days.

I got selected for the full-time data entry job for which I start tomorrow, and I get cross-training in the data entry job I'd like to try next, so I feel pretty pleased about that.

I already moved up from twenty hours weekly to over forty hours last week to cover for others, and I took advantage of my first day off in six days to get myself and wyndhover tipsy, as she had never done so before. I enjoyed feeling a bit inebriated but hadn't really missed it and still went to bed quite early. I'm in serious danger of turning quite boring if I don't start going out more often soon.

Does anyone know why savanni's Genuine Joe board game evenings never took place on Mondays or Tuesdays? Wednesday and Thursday evenings interfere with poly dinner plans which obviously overlap for most of the attendees, and weekends are right out. I'd like to resurrect this if I can.

I got really excited to hear that K'naan would play a concert in town in October until I found out he comes as part of Austin City Limits because that meant that tickets would start prohibitively expensive, and of course ACL tickets have already sold out. Ah well.

I would like to stay at this hotel when wyndhover and I visit Germany.

Today started out with very sad news from Houston but did considerably brighten up. wyndhover and I went on a quest to find a reasonably close Post Office drop-off box (which went smoothly) and then to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant and to the library. I've had nostalgia recently for books I read as a teenager such as Maniac McGee and Sideways Stories from Wayside School and Dealing with Dragons. I also found a non-Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett (Nation) and a couple of movies (Metropolis and And God Spoke).

We also passed jjpdg while waiting at a stop sign, although she didn't recognize us the first time around, so I zoomed up the street and luckily caught her in a parking lot. The sudden, shocked recognition on her face totally made my afternoon. *grin*

I have an interview tomorrow at my job for a full-time position doing the same type of work. I really agonized back and forth at going full-time, as I can think of several good reasons but for and against the idea, but I feel pretty confident that it will work out for the best and still hope to eventually transfer into a different data entry dept. I'm sure that the demand for full-time freelancing data entry work exists, but after weeks of fruitless, intensive searching I had to shelve the idea for now.

I have finally come to accept that green hair simply does not work for me, so I went back out again on Saturday with wyndhover to Sally Beauty Supply to pick up more bleach and dark purple hair dye. This ensured that we both got caught outside on our bikes in an unusually strong and sudden rainstorm. ;) It turned out really well.

I started doing some work for an interior designer by helping her rearrange and change furniture and also type up transcriptions for her phone interviews. I've discovered that I don't have natural talent to do a quick turn-around on transcriptions, but I can re-upholster a mean dining room chair.

Having singingnettle and ihgreenman as roommates has worked out really well. I'm all for minimalism, but having actual curtains as well as furniture to sit on downstairs really makes the flat feel more warm and welcoming, and they provide good conversations. It pleased me to hear that they had such a warm reception at last week's poly dinner and met several of our friends. I like to see someone else discover and enjoy what Austin has to offer.

I can't seem to shake this sinus infection or allergies or whatever goes on, but I manage.

After work last night I went down to Walgreen's and picked up some Splat Neon Green dye with a bleaching kit and thought I would try my luck again. I read the direction very carefully and mixed the bleach components and starting applying it when I realized about 1/3 of the way through that I didn't have enough bleach. I've cut my hair so short that it didn't occur to me that a default size of bleach mix wouldn't do. There wasn't enough time to cycle out for more bleach, so I made do (and by that I mean I panicked and dumped it all in and then lathered and hoped for the best). It came out ... interesting. I start applying green hair dye to the left side until I realize that if I didn't have enough bleach in the kit then I probably don't have enough hair dye, either. Sure enough I ran out after covering the left side. I still had light blue hair dye from the morning, so I thought "Easy solution! I'll just dye the right side blue, and it will work itself out."

I think the bleach fumes got to me. I dropped each dye bottle at least once and spilled all over the bathroom counter and mirror. Another time the bottle squirted out of my hand and arced dye in places I shouldn't be able to reach without careful aim. The plastic gloves suddenly disintegrated in several places leaving my hands covered in bright green dye. If we had anything to mix the vodka with in the flat then I would have chosen then to get nicely smashed. I quickly washed out the excess dye and started to blow-dry my hair before I realized I would just stop before I worked up disappointment and go to bed.

This morning it looks ... like something. I can see most of the bleached hair through the green, I have random dark brown blots, the blue dye didn't take hold but is grey where it tried to, and it's frankly a mess. It does look quite impressive in the sunlight, though. Thank goodness I already wear a hoodie everwhere.

I can't even decide whether to bleach what I missed and try again or temper it with another color or cover it up with a darker color or what. If my face wasn't currently so fat then I might just shave it off. :P

I've toggled with the idea of dyeing my hair again for a while, and I had decided on a dark green, since I've worn out a lot of other unnatural colors while in Berlin. I cycled up to Sally Beauty Supply when they opened, and I noticed that the only dark green hair dye in stock comes from Manic Panic, so I decided to try turquoise instead. I haven't tried that since daniblue dyed my hair back in 2006. I followed the instructions very carefully and waited impatiently after rinsing out the dye.

No dye remained in my hair. Going out in the sunlight shows no hair color difference from yesterday. If I didn't have sweaty cycling clothes and a half-empty bottle of turquoise hair dye sitting on the bathroom counter then I might have imagined the waking hours of this morning. I don't bleach my hair, so I didn't expect a complete transformation but I expected at least a tint. Berlin had better (and cheaper) hair dye for bleached and unbleached hair. Ah well.

Capitol Metro Proposes Balanced Budget without Fare Increases - from Austin Statesman

Ralph Lundsten's alternative universe home - Anyone who requires a completed visa application to enter their home is practically guaranteed to host a good time.

Caster Semenya is an anagram for Yes, A Secret Man - I'm quite surprised I haven't seen any mention of this on friends' feeds. It seems to me that most people would assume that someone having female genitalia is female unless they identify otherwise. If a person identifies as female and has had female genitalia since birth, and if even that isn't enough anymore ... then what does it take? It boggles my mind.

Can Atheists be Adoptive Parents? - New Jersey has rejected an adoptive couple's application to adopt a second child because one parent identifies as atheist and the other as pantheist. Superior Court Judge William Camarata says that the New Jersey state constitution declares that "no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience" and that "the child should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being."

$300 a Night? Yes, but Haying’s Free - A small number of farms in the United States have begun to offer vacationers a chance to camp in a tent, milk goats and pick vegetables.

The Cranberries Reuniting for Winter Tour - link from Jezebel

The Who's Pete Townshend Plans New Musical 'Floss' - link from This Preposterous Week!

wyndhover tricked me into picking out the birthday present of a laptop cooling pad that I initially distrusted, but it's added hours of active daily use out of Esme, so I'm a proud owner.

The roommates that we've waited for months to come down from Seattle have finally made their way here! I'm looking forward to having more presence in the flat, and they've already used the F-word (furniture, that is).

A friend of mine that also does freelance work has taken me under her wing to teach me how to negotiate independent contracts and payment, and that's helped a lot. I'm really happy with where I am right now in my life and with most days in the past couple of months.

frustration ventilation I had a freelance transcription project so frustratingly slow coming up to a deadline that I cried because I thought I had let two people down (but I hadn't) and then cried again almost getting mowed down again by a driver in a truck that didn't look in an intersection before accelerating through (but I didn't). So what? That water on the bridge has gone by.

Capitol Metro's proposed rate increase for 2010
Sexist Beatdown: Trans Panic Fever Edition - link from wyndhover
Edinburgh Researcher Discovers Time Is More Relative Than We Thought
Is the FDIC on the brink of bankruptcy?
Monty Python reuniting for documentary

Sunday, August 23: eyvor + non-LJ friend Karen
Monday, August 24: silver_wolf101 + William H.
Tuesday, August 25: lorelein (moi!)
Wednesday, August 26: rustychainsaw
Thursday, August 27: ojane *throws confetti

Pee-Wee's Playhouse returning-to theatre. I seriously read the first half of the first sentence and there was a moment, just a moment, where I was sure I was going to widdle all over the dining room in shock. Crisis averted!

My hair starting curling at the nape of my neck and bothered me, so I cut it again. I cut the back up to the hairline and left the bangs alone, and on the left side I angled it down, and on the right side I kept a short bob. It's ragged and wild, and I love it! I'm not sure it's my most accentuating haircut, but time will tell.

wyndhover declared a hair-dyeing emergency, so we picked up some purple dye for her at Sally's Beauty Supply and then walked next door to Terra Toys. I had so much fun pointing out this game or last game I've played over the years! I ended up getting rainbow-colored streamers for my bicycle and a marble for the cat that's half as big as her skull. I've never seen her get so excited as when I start tossing marbles around on the carpet.

The purple hair dye turned out unexpected. It shows up as a dark non-specific color in regular bulb light and a medium-dark purple in fluorescent light, and tomorrow we'll see what it does in sunlight!

Several job opportunities have popped up, although none entirely fit what I look for. I wait on a background check for a part-time job with non-optimal hours, but I've heard great stories about the staff and company policy, and I could easily work my way up within the company to a job that fits my criteria better.

I've also spent a couple of days reading through different topics for oDesk that advertises for independent contractors. I've toed with the idea for years, and now I've stepped up looking for freelance data entry. It makes me happy, and I like the variety and the freedom, and eventually when I start moving around again, this is the only way I can see myself financially set. I've found a couple of projects without oDesk, but it holds a lot of promise.

My twenty-seventh birthday (gulp!) comes up in three weeks, and we didn't really celebrate much for wyndhover's birthday last week, so I'm considering having a quiet hang-out evening before the end of August. I'll report if I can actually make up my mind on it. :)

I pampered wyndhover for her birthday yesterday morning by bringing her breakfast in bed <3 I made the one omelette in twenty that didn't burn, either; go me!

My plans to spoil her got side-tracked when I had to tack on a sunburn and three hours to my errand run after I had a minor accident with a vehicle. The driver didn't check the parking lot intersection after stopping at the stop sign and swung into a line right as I turned. I had just enough time to yell and swerve, and luckily my front tire caught their tire and bounced off, but I had enough force going to bend my rim into a "S" shape. They were at least nice enough to get out and ask if I was okay, and their vehicle didn't show any damage, but I did resent the advice not to "come out of nowhere." I have a bike with glittering gold paint and wear a glittery blue helmet, so I don't think I'm hard to spot. I took the bus and then carried the bike several blocks to The Peddler Bike Shop which Sera had gone to previously and recommended. They replaced my bicycle rim in a few minutes and even fixed my wonky seventh gear and tightened my left brake for free!

I went out with mrhuggles and fractallia over to trickyhipster and orangetango's boardgame party, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and got sauced off of black rum and played lots of Cranium and Lightning Reaction. I met lots of people whose names I don't remember now, but they made great company!

Lately I've burnt out on reading news stories, and these are a few days old, but these stuck out:
Abortion defender brutally attacked at Women's Clinic - link from moominmuppet
Police: Asheville Firefighter Shot Bicyclist - link from moominmuppet
Groovy! Evil Dead: The Musical headed to Austin - link from athene

wyndhover found a bright blue bicycle helmet for me on Craigslist last week to replace the red one I'd lost on the bus. I had that new helmet for a grand total of three days before I set it down in the bus during my morning commute and forgot it until after the bus had disappeared from sight :/ I did have the good fortune that they found my helmet, and I retrieved it the next day, but I felt so happy when leaving the Lost & Found Station to have my helmet back that I didn't pay much attention to which direction I swiped my bus pass. Did you know that if you swipe a Capitol Metro bus pass upside down in a pass reader that it will eat your card? Guess who gets to return to the Lost & Found Station tomorrow morning? (This is typical of how frequently I misplace personal items thanks to a low attention span.)

I've said before that I wish I had the ability to grow a full beard so that I could have hair like Wayne Static. I would like to amend that now to wish for the ability so that I could look like this guy (original link from Neatorama).

moominmuppet posted several thought-provoking links here.

When Harry left Pepper for Linda
Congratulations to everywhere who felt the need to belittle and name-call a PENGUIN because its sexuality threatened yours.

Doctor faces sack for refusing to back gay adoptions
This is rather a lose-lose situation. We have a Christian community pediatrician who has as part of her duties a non-paid role on both of the Northamptonshire County Council's adoption panels to give medical examinations to prospective adoptive parents. She has a conflict with her religion and with recommending adoptions to same-sex couples, BUT she did agree to carry out the medical examination and then abstain or remain absent during the vote whether or not to approve the same-sex parent applicants. I find that a fair compromise on her part that satisfies both her religous views and the requirements necessary to complete the application process. After Britain passed the Equality Act 2006, however, she got dismissed from the adoption panels because keeping her would violate the act. It just seems sad to me that someone admitted their prejudice and initiated an offer a compromise and still got sacked.

Attorney's Million Dollar Dare Comes Back to Haunt Him
I'm rather impressed that someone would back out out a bet placed on such a well-known tele show as Dateline (and some on this list might appreciate that the lawyer who stood up to the challenge graduated from the South Texas College of Law) ;)