Black Google

I, like many others, woke up my computer today to find that Google had undergone a makeover. At first I thought it was National Emo Day or something like that. After a few clicks, I discovered that Google’s new background was to reflect their support for the energy conservation movement [Earth Hour]. Cities around the world planned to turn off all the lights from 8:00 to 9:00pm (I was actually not in y computer at the time, though I admit it was not done on purpose).

Google’s dark backdrop is also temporal, only for Saturday March 29th. According to Google, the black background is only symbolic, it does not really save energy compared to any other color background. Google also called for others to join the cause.

According to the Climate Servers website, computers only use half of the energy they consume. This not only hurts the environment but also your pockets. The problem can be solved by choosing an Energy Star computer or by simply reducing the time you pend in front of a monitor. Think about it, your hurting, the environment, your wallet’s getting smaller and you’ll probably end up blind soon enough.

Enough of the ranting, I will turn this computer off for the day and join the cause.

Benign?

Just got diagnosed with something called Benign Positional Vertigo. Why it’s got the word “benign” in it, I don’t know. It certainly is not benign. I guess there must be a greater one. I get random dizzy attacks and the occasional headache. Everything would be cool except that I have to take off a week from track. Wonder how coach is going to take that: “What? A week?” I hope it doesn’t affect my times when I come back. What am I supposed to do, just stand there watching everyone else run? Yeah that’s going to be fun…

Why are books so freakin’ expensive?

Why are books so freaking expensive? I went to Barnes and Noble today, looking for a good read. I hadn’t been in a bookstore in a long time; I usually use the library. But I felt like annotating something today, so I went to the bookstore.

I looked around the shelves of new fiction, scanning for something interesting. Aha, something that looked cool: The Alchemist. I’ve always wanted to read that book. I looked on the back, above the bar code: $15.00… for a paperback!

I went on my merry way, searching for another book… preferably something cheaper. I didn’t find any, at least none that attracted my interest. Finally I came a cross a shelf that had a giant $1.00 sign on top. Books for less than $10.00? Impossible! There were about six or seven books in abandoned there, obviously the rejected: conspiracy theory, wedding planning, tuna fishing, heavy metal culture, I can’t remember the last one. Only one fiction: The History Book. Didn’t look like it was the best, but hey, it was only one dollar; hard cover too. I can’t get a paperback that cheap at the Book Corral (gently used books, where I get all my books for lit class).

Ah well, inflation… guess it’s the library, the Book Corral. I don’t think I’ll ever find another $1.00 shelf again.