for the stache

we saw a portrait by whistler at the carnegie museum that i thought would make a hilarious lolz about movember. however, i didn't want to infringe on anyone's copyrights so used something in the historic databank instead. i was bored; movember amuses me. i realize it's about raising money/awareness for prostate cancer, but it's still an odd/interesting way to go about it. get to growing your 'staches, gentlemen. i expect to see some classics by the end of this month

family of nerds

"i want 'Just Case2' *its a video game..." my "baby" sister, in a discussion about her upcoming birthday. [she meant just cause. she never checks her spelling before sending] it amuses me that she thought i wouldn't know what it was. i know i've mentioned that i was kind of a closet nerd, but i really don't know how people didn't know. i belong to a family of nerds!

my mom is a software engineer with a master's degree in math. she loves mathematical theory, but there wasn't much of a career path for it back in the 80s. so she learned c++ and got a job at westinghouse. then she bounced around a few companies before landing at her current job. still programming, even though she doesn't particularly like coding. she likes star trek and dune (and reading in general)

my dad is a "retired" engineer (electrical? mechanical? one of them). he started a phd program at pratt, but then this bundle of joy came on the scene. he also got a job at westinghouse, but left a few years after the northrup grumman merger. then he taught tech ed to middle schoolers for five years. now he does home improvement (mostly for friends) because he doesn't understand the meaning of "retired". he also seems to collect busted up computers and old ass textbooks. oh and he likes star wars

my brother has loved legos since he was old enough not to put them in his mouth. he graduated from legos to k'nex at some point, but i don't think he fiddled much with bionicle. he's always been interested in the way things work; mom used to read him car mechanics guides as bedtime stories. he also loves video games (90s sega genesis to 1st gen xbox) and manga. we share a common interest in bleach

my sister is probably the biggest secret nerd. an xbox 360 was one of her dorm room requirements when she transferred. she plays halo sometimes like it's her job, and she got me hooked on need 4 speed. she dates and befriends gamers. otherwise, she's very covert. she hates reading in general, but will see the movie adaptation of anything. she's a harry potter fan, and (i'm pretty sure) secretly likes the LOTR trilogy

do you see what i'm working with, people? considering the things i hear about kids today, i'm surprised how easily i got through school. i've never in my life been made fun of or singled out for being a dork. kids have been to my house and met my family. there's plenty to mock :p and i wasn't one of the cool kids. although, it's hard to say you're popular when you've been going to school with the same 50 kids since kindergarten. somehow i got along with everyone despite being a potential target on so many levels [quietest kid in the class, overweight, only black student for five grades in both directions... oddly, i got more shit from the girls in my dance class for all of those things, but that's a whole other post]. i was one of the lucky ones (my poor bestie got teased for the dumbest shit in the 6th grade), and i found my niche(s) in high school. college was more of the same, finding my nerdy soulmates. now i even have a boyfriend who gets me and is also a huge nerd...

where was i going again? i got distracted by an announcement about the nintendo 3DS :)

i was minding my business

and then my day exploded with awesome! MC had her baby yesterday, and he's the cutest little pudgeball born this week ;) i'm getting so excited about the other births coming up... AND glass gave me my own little invite code with 50 invites

my own invite code *dies*

if you were paying attention yesterday, i gushed about my new laptop (now known as cillianmurphy), scott pilgrim and glass. the super awesome jenn must have shared my post because suddenly there was an email from the head of marketing this afternoon. andrew reminded me of the awesome videos that describe glass and a post about what's happening with chrome. so go watch some videos ("run jogger run" is a personal fave). then click here and enter "mcschoon" (not case sensitive). whether you want to use it like virtual post its or want to take stumbling a step further, i think you'll like what's going on

and seriously if you join and want to start sharing, add me! i like puppy pictures and star trek jokes and long walks on the beach... ;)

ps: i hope you know that glass/border stylo is not compensating me for saying wonderful things about them. they truly are this amazing in my personal opinion. can't wait til my glass tee comes in :D

finding the bright spots

there are many things going on that are causing pouty to pop up on my face. rather than continue to whine about them, air my dirty laundry and scowl so hard my face gets stuck, i'm going to attempt to squee my little nerd heart out in hopes the happy will prevail...

a. one of the frustrations of my life is the arrival of my new laptop. however, let's refocus on the fact that I GOT A NEW LAPTOP. it is going to be so fucking sweet. after a few late nights (witnessed only by twitter and my boyfriend), i settled on the HP dv6t select (no touchscreen). 6G memory, intel i5 core, 500G storage, office professional with publisher and access... i'm equal parts swoony and turned on. i love me some new tech. i can't wait to set it up and name it. first program downloaded? firefox. second program downloaded? skype. third program downloaded? your mom because i got the space for her :p i also ordered an external hard drive (1T... mmm terabytes) and a flash drive (8G). i have SO much storage now; i feel so spoiled :) i'm also ordering skins cause i like customized and pretty stuff. i love that i can skin almost anything, including my new hardware. i'll probably use my own photo, but part of me wants this:

b. because i was so frustrated with life, i opted for a mental health day tuesday. i spent half of it in bed, doing jack shit. well that's not entirely true; i was doing stuff related to my grumblings... in the afternoon, i decided i was treating myself to a movie. i had the right amount of time before UB's orientation to see scott pilgrim vs. the world. it was totally meant to be :) i looked a little too cute to be seeing a mega-nerd movie sans mega-nerd boyfriend, but that's my allure. the theater was totally empty except for two classic mega-nerds a couple rows in front of me. it was FABULOUS. the movie was super awesome (i need kim and wallace to be friends with me immediately :)). matinee equals a small savings. and did i mention the practically empty theater? best weekday afternoon ever. orientation was also good, but scott pilgrim was definitely the highlight of my day

c. if you follow me on twitter, you've probably seen me gush over glass. explaining writing on glass has proven to be kinda hard. i've tried to get friends and my mom on it with no luck. i did nab a couple people though so i have peeps to share my ridiculousness with. what is glass? a firefox (and, in the future, chrome) add-on that allows you to "write" on a webpage. what is glass to me? a tool for sharing silly, political and/or nerdlicious web content. i can send my thoughts without having to copy/tiny a link for email/twitter. plus no more flipping back and forth between the email conversation and the page cause it's all right there in one spot. if all contacts have a particular slide open at the same time, you can live chat about the slide. kinda like gchat, but on any page on the internets. i also use it to bookmark various pages, which i can print out (with the slide on the page) to stick in my secret binder. glass has many uses only limited by you (and the current programming ;)). as it's still in beta, access to the add-on is through invitation only. lucky for you, i have a few invitations. if you're interested in taking glass for a spin, just ask for one (send me your email, i'll send the invite). keep in mind that you have to use the invite within five days or it'll poof back to me. if you're secretly already on glass (i'm looking at you sneaky followers), you should add me :) [update: and i forgot to mention the simply amazing customer service. have a suggestion? having issues? want help planning an event? (seriously, a few of us helped a guy with his proposal) email or tweet them and you're going to get a personal response every single time. nothing makes me a happier user/consumer than excellent service]

...well this got longer than i expected. longer post about happy equals a happier mood, right? let's hope so