A short while back, I came across this link, by a guy on Slate.com, listing his most-used computer applications.  Here are some sites/applications that I like (that I could think of off the top of my head).  Anything out there I'm missing?  What are your favorites?

AP News (Top stories)
Reuters (Top stories, World news, politics)
New York Times (Top stories)
Yahoo News (Most Viewed)
San Jose Mercury News (local)
Digg.com (the first several pages)
Reddit.com (the first several pages)

Did I mention I'm in the middle of a career change?  I work on computers now.  I may teach again someday, when the kids are older, and I definitely hope to coach again someday.... when the kids are older.  :-)  For now, though, I am on a new path, and I really like it.  Also, we are moving again.  The house is cute and cool and three houses down from the school Tommy will go to next year.  So that rocks.  We did decide to keep renting a little longer.  We actually had an offer accepted on a house we were trying to buy *right after* we decided we didn't want to buy right now.  :(   Agonizing decision ensued, but we just can't shake the feeling that if we wait, we're going to be able to get more house for the same price later.

I'm on the treadmill fairly consistently M,T,W, and F but still having a tough time on the weekends.  Will keep trying.  Not lifting weights at all right now.  Hope to pick that up after the move.

Even though I'm not teaching any more, or perhaps *because* I'm not teaching any more, my interest and love of languages and linguistics has been quietly resurfacing.   That feels nice.  Yet another thing to do "when the kids get older"... travel and do language immersion. 

Ok, enough for today.  See you!

Mary

We've been looking at houses, and making offers on houses, but the economy is sure getting creepy.  We're thinking we may just sit tight and rent for another year or two.  We are going to move soon though either way.  If we do keep renting, we're planning to go rent in the neighborhood/area that we hope to buy in.  That way, Tommy can start school next year and (hopefully) not have to switch later.  And we can start to meet people, and get to know the area, and generally just kind of "settle in."   We're still going to live in Silicon Valley, we're just moving farther out.  We're looking for at areas with good schools (www.greatschools.com) and good walk scores (www.walkscore.com).  Near the lightrail, if possible.  :-)  (We've got quite a list going).  We've found a few spots that seem right, and now we're just trying to narrow in.  And this... is what we've been spending many many hours on lately.  :-)

I'm trying to be on the treadmill an hour a day, but it's a tall order.  I can usually find 45 minutes, but that last 15 minutes is proving to be a bit of a struggle.  For a long time I was thinking 45 minutes was fine, but now I'm really trying to focus my brain on that fact that it's 25% less than an hour.  25%.  That's a lot.  I think this is a case where that last 15 minutes is really the *key* (if there is one) to making faster progress.  I am making good progress though.  My knee feels better than it has in years.

Anyway, still working on it.

Ok, so.... Facebook.....  Wow.  It has really captured my attention the last week or two.  It seems to be what I was originally hoping LiveJournal would be; a place to keep in touch with lots of people that I don't live close to anymore.  What I didn't understand when I was trying to push LiveJournal on everyone, is that not everyone likes to write!  But facebook lets you do one sentence updates, or no updates, and is still very fun.  I can't believe all the blast-from-the-past names I've seen float by recently.  :-)  People from high school, college, some of my old students, family members, local friends, far away friends, all on one site.  I'm embarrassed by how much I like it.  I've been up too late several nights recently, catching up with people.  :-)  And it's about the level of catching up I can handle too.... daily life is just packed already, and I could never make time to see all these people in person right now (I'm having trouble even finding time to make a phone call at a decent hour), but reading a quick blurb about someone that I have fond memories of is satisfying in a strangely deep way.  Man, the web just keeps getting better and better!!!

I just removed some really prolific writers from my friends list on this blog because I'm trying to make it a friends list filled with friends and family that I mostly know in real life, and their posts were getting buried (with awesome writing) by people I don't know.  Every person I took off this list is still on my other LJ, so I'm still reading your stuff.  :-)  Peace!

Ok, soooo in a dinner rut again. Stuff that comes to mind to make:

• Spaghetti and Meatballs, and salad or veggie
• Chicken kabobs, rice, veggies (chipotle, or with peanut sauce, or with some other kind of sauce)
• Burritos or tacos or enchiladas (hamburger or ground turkey or chicken or beans and rice)
• Frozen Pizza, Homemade pizza, or boboli pizza (tomato sauce, pesto, or just cut up tomatoes/onions/garlic/olive oil)
• This awesome pasta dish from my sister-in-law:  Pasta with olive oil, ground italian sausage, red and green peppers, onions, red pepper, and halved cherry or grape tomatoes.  It's soooo good.
• Hamburgers and regular fries or sweet potato fries.
• Grilled or regular sandwiches
• Mac n cheese
• Stir fry and pot stickers
• Left-overs
• Take out / Drive-thru
• Eat out

That's all I can think of right now.  Going to try and add some new ideas.

Chicken, brown rice, snap peas. (Already in a rut again! Gotta break out!)

Went to the library this afternoon, and Tommy found a book called, "Underwear Do's and Don't's" He's so happy with this book. 4 year olds *really* like to talk about things like underwear. :-)

My mother-in-law made this awesome pasta dish. It was linguini with a mildly spicy sausage, cherry tomatoes, red, orange, and yellow peppers, mushrooms, and some other stuff. No particular sauce, it just all worked together. It was sooooo good.

I added Broccoli, asparagus, french bread, and some chicken for Tommy because he had the pasta for lunch.

The kids are sick again. Blah.

Dinner was grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, french fries, roast broccoli and peppers. Broccoli was great, peppers were soggy.

I'm writing this from my new linux install! I'm goofing around with puppy linux. It's pretty cool.

Silestra started a community for posting dinners. I'm too excited about playing around with the computer right now to go post there, but I'll probably get ideas and post stuff there too. I'll find the link and pass it along later.

Goodnight!