Refraction

I mean that quite literally.

Who would have thought–being in the lab at 11:30 on a school night is really, really not that glamourous.

7 April 2009 can’t come soon enough.

Actually, on second thought, I should be gearing up for the last of my undergrad exams at that time–maybe it can. 😛 Then again, I’ll only have three, so maybe it won’t be so bad. But–then I also have to defend my thesis, which is going to be incredibly draining.

I can’t believe I missed the leaders’ debate in French tonight! To be rather honest, politics don’t interest me terribly much, but everything’s better with the addition of French. (De plus je me sens mieux après avoir entendu le français de M. Harper. Ouaiiis c’est injuste et mesquin et tout ça, mais on se moque de lui pour n’importe quoi d’autre.)

I also feel like I should write a letter of thanks to my first high school French language/English grammar teacher. Bien que je pense ne pas avoir beaucoup appris dans son cours de français, ce sont les leçons qu’elle nous a données en grammaire anglaise dont je me sers tout le temps. Comprendre ce que c’est un COD est beaucoup plus facile si on connait déjà “direct objects” en anglais.)

Something only a French prof could say:
“Do you take the bus? I take the bus. It’s lovely! From a linguistic point of view.”
Lui, c’est un homme un peu dingue (comme vous l’avez remarqué, sans doute).

A friend and I preface a lot of things with “Random:” when we’re talking online. So in that spirit…

Random: Is there anyone on this planet who thought Clay Aiken was actually straight? I mean… really. Clay fans are “reeling” from this disclosure? Get real.

Random: Guys, please do not carry patent leather bags. I abhor patent leather myself, unless it’s just a detail–I think it looks childish–but men and patent leather just do not mix.

Random: I don’t like shoe booties either. XP So take that, fashion mavens! I think the distance I now have from retail allows me to be dismissive of trends.

Random: I need to go shopping soon, I think… I’ve realized I have sweaters and t-shirts. No real fall transition pieces. Alas, this was much easier when I spent all day inside, instead of dashing from class to class.

(Yes, that capitalization is intentional.)

The only thing that bothers me about WordPress is the constant update reminders. I mean, it’s good that the developers are working on it and patching security holes and stuff, but I just really can’t be bothered to update my installation every three weeks.

Especially since any non-basic ASCII character turns into gibberish every time I do it. That, and last time, it rolled back my comments to last July. Granted, there have probably been only… five legitimate comments since that time, but still.

I had originally come here to expound upon the wonder that is “Oddray” (the July single of LOVE, aka Fukiko Nakamura, aka ex CORE OF SOUL vocalist) but I’ve kind of lost that train of thought. Still. Happy song. Makes me want to dance.

Being the Google nerd that I am (although I will admit that I have finally taken them off their pedestal and realized that just having a motto of not being evil doesn’t stop you from… actually doing evil things) I downloaded Google Chrome, their new browser.

It’s slick, I’ll give you that, but I won’t be switching from Firefox anytime soon. There are some interesting features:

1. Homepage with your most-visited sites. I actually dislike this idea very much. Seriously, I don’t need everyone who opens my browser to know that I am a GMail addict and check it frequently. Sites that I need to visit, I’ll visit–otherwise, this is rather useless.
2. No extensions. Yet. I’ve been using Adblock (and no NoScript) for so long that it’s weird to see ads on webpages. I think that since it’s a open-source application, this kind of extendable functionality is just around the bend.
3. Tab control. Reorder your tabs. Drag a tab into a new window. Drag them between windows. Remember those days when tabbed browsing was a new idea?
4. New download manager! I like it better than Firefox’s–it stays in a “status bar”, but you can call up a full (and searchable) list of downloads if you like.
5. Best feature for last: Incognito mode. Basically, any browsing you do while in this mode leaves no traces on your computer. It’s intended to rival IE 8’s “Privacy Mode,” I think. Somehow, though, I doubt Microsoft could get away with this little gem:
   

   You’ve gone incognito. […] Going incognito doesn’t affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:
   […]

   • Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
   • Surveillance by secret agents
   • People standing behind you

   Cute, Google. Cute.

   (Every time I hear “incognito”, I think of that movie I watched in French class. Yes, sad, isn’t it?)

This is proof-positive, my friends, that life is WAAAAY better as a musical:

Yes, it’s “Dr. Horrible“, which I’ve been harping on about to anyone who will listen for the last few days.

Cher Monsieur le site web d’Archambault :

Vous ne marchez pas très bien. Il se trouve qu’il faut cliquer sur les liens au moins deux ou trois fois pour accéder aux pages suivantes. Je ne sais pas s’il s’agit du logiciel qu’on emploie ou si vous n’aimez simplement pas les anglophones.

Je ne veux qu’acheter deux dictionnaires. Ça ne devrait pas être difficile…

Je vous prie d’accepter, Monsieur, l’éxpression de mes salutations distinguées.

Une cliente frustrée

ETA: Okay, I take it back. Archambault, you are awesome! I love that you will send me a free Bescherelle with my dictionaries. Never mind the fact that I have never used a Bescherelle in my life. I also love that you are selling Le Petit Robert 2009 for just over half the price of the university bookstore. AND WITH FREE SHIPPING.

This story about teachers in one school being allowed to carry concealed firearms scares me. A lot.

But then again, what do I know? I’m just a bleeding-heart-liberal Canadian.