May 18, 2003
Maybe it's just pining for the fields
Well, I think my cell phone has finally given up the ghost. The loose battery problem (causing it to turn off as it jiggles in my pocket) has returned after a year's hiatus. I put two rubber bands around it, which helps, but it still turns off most of the time. (That said, I just took it out of my pocket after a few hours and it was still on. Hmm.) Now I have to decide how much of a problem this is---I had been planning on eking out a few more months on this phone and just getting a new one when I move to Galesburg in September, but that's seeming a tad infeasible. On the other hand, I don't really want to buy a new phone right now, and I really don't want to go on contract again when I'm so close to moving. And while I'm here, I can't test out the reception around Galesburg. Ugh. Maybe when I visit in July....
I'm also a little miffed that the dollar picked right now to weaken. Couldn't it have waited until after my trip to Canada? A month or two ago (and for the last half decade), the Canadian dollar was about 67 US cents, and very stable because the two economies are so integrated. The integration is preventing the US$ from losing to the C$ as much as to the pound or the euro, but it's definitely still weakening. Last week, C$1 was about 72 cents, and right now it's at 74 cents and rising. I'm happy for the Canadians and all, but this is going to make my unsubsidised conference trip so much more expensive, especially if it keeps up. At least we already paid for the hotel. *sigh*
"Look, if there are no WMDs in Iraq, it means either our government lied
us to us in order to get us into an unnecessary war or the government
itself was disastrously misinformed by an incompetent intelligence
apparatus. In either case, it's a terribly serious situation."
--Molly Ivins
Posted
by blahedo
at 5:08pm
on 18 May 2003
