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Randomly Friday

Company asleep at home  in the guest room, me sitting in my new office (I love my job), and I’ve just awakened my husband at 6AM PST because I got distracted and wasn’t paying attention to the fact that I was in “Recent Calls” rather than “Voicemail.” I think that all sends a pretty mixed message about how my Friday will play out.

So do my links:

Otherstream Mobile

If you’re reading this on your phone, you’re probably having a much easier time of it today. Assuming, that is, that you’re one of those two or three people who still bother at all.

I’m curious about whether most of the “regulars” keep up by RSS feed (using Google Reader, live bookmarks, or whatever) or by just dropping in from time to time. I can’t imagine doing it the old-fashioned way anymore, but I know some people still do. Anyone care to comment?

Cafeteria Line of the Damned

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Thanksgiving dinner at the K&W.

Thanksgiving has never been one of my family’s bigger traditions. When I was young, we usually spent it with assorted aunts and uncles, but we always left the big celebrating to Christmas. In recent years, my mom and dad have taken to having their turkey at the cafeteria (except for 2007, when the hubby and I had them over for a big feeding). The past two years, Mark has been on the west coast for the big day, so I’ve joined them (and hundreds of others) in this charming New South tradition of turkey, two vegetables, bread, dessert, and tea for $6.49.

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It’s not such a big deal. Mark and I had our own spread last Sunday before he left, anyway. I’m glad I married a boy who not only cooks, but even makes his own pie crust (sans dodgy Japanese ingredients).

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Now I get to spend the rest of the holiday weekend writing my last paper as a graduate student, as well as preparing for my final final.

The Great Winter Road Trip of 2009-2010

I’m graduating in a few weeks. I’m working full-time but the university is closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s a paid holiday (did I mention that I love my job?). I have Red Roof Inn free nights that are expiring soon. These three facts taken together suggest “winter road trip” to me. But I can’t quite decide where to go.

My inclination is almost always to head north, and the Philadelphia and DC areas are among the most enticing destinations right now. Anything much farther north (or more midwestern) brings a bit of a weather threat. In fact, even DC and Philly might pose threats, which is why I’ve also considered pointing the Buick southward. That would sort of limit me to some combination of Atlanta, Tampa, and maybe Jacksonville or Miami, since I’m not feeling New Orleans and since I’m only interested in urban destinations (which pretty much rules out the rest of the Southeast). Florida is tempting, since I haven’t spent any real time there in almost thirty years, and this is probably the only time of year I could even tolerate being there, weather-wise. It might be a nice change of pace; as I remember Florida’s biggest cities (Orlando doesn’t qualify under my definition of “urban”), they had a rather dense, mildly gritty urban feel that set them apart from the rest of the region–not like the Northeast, really, but more like California, without that unfinished, semi-rural quality so many Southeastern cities have.

That said, part of me still leans to northward because I want to use those freebies in the most expensive areas possible.

Yeah, I know. This is the kind of dilemma lots of people would love to be facing right now. And it’s not really causing me stress. I’m just sort of thinking  out loud rather than specifically soliciting suggestions. But if any of you feel strongly about anyplace (and have some specific reasons), I’ll listen.