DuchessAmpersand

hi :)

LAPTOPS

omg... i LOOOOOVE MIT.

here's the scoop: so i'm looking for a laptop, right? and i want a nice laptop becuase i like nice things. okay, this is going to be really complicated, but stay with me...

The basics: Three Sites:
1. Yale Purchasing Options - Preconfigured Yale Recommended Options
2. Yale Purchasing Options - Dell.com basically with added "discounts" (what a lie...)
3. Dell.Com Small Businesses Site

i can't purchase from Dell.com Home because i want a Latitude and the Dell.Com Home only has those darn inspirons. Here's the lowdown on each site.

Under Site ONE, they give a pretty good price, but it only offers a WXGA display (1280 x 720) and 4200 RPM. And they do not allow ANY upgrades. However, they have a 4-year complete care warranty.
Under Site TWO, there are really no discounts for latitudes because they assume students will all want to buy Inspirons.
Under Site THREE, i'm allowed to get pretty much exactly what i get in Site Two for about $200 bucks cheaper. Still quite expensive. So if i buy from Site THREE, i'll be paying $400 more for a WSXGA+ display and 60 GB at 5400 RPM and i won't even be getting 4-year plan.

In reality, such upgrades to a better display and increased RPM should only cost $80. i am at a loss for what to do... i really want the better display because i'm already getting a 15.4" computer so i ought to take advantage of it and get the higher resolution. but there is little hope...there is not much i can do! the price just can't go down...

DRUMROLLLLL-
Here comes Site FOUR: MIT's Student Computing Site... The Latitude D800 MIT's offering has a video card double the memory of the one Yale offers, a 1 DIMM 512 MB (Yale's was 2 DIMM), not only WSXGA+ but WUXGA (1920 x 1200)and while it comes in 40GB, they offer 60 GB at 5400 RPM. Not only is it better overall and has what i want it to have and more, but it is also a LOT cheaper.

So i'm on the phone with the lady at Dell who's in charge of all the educational purchase plan purchases and i suddenly pretend to go to mit as opposed to yale and she chuckled asked a couple questions about the relationship between yale and mit and then let me go through with the order. she was realllly nice... i'm lucky i bumped into her. goodness...i'm so happy, i saved $600...it's still on the expensive side of things, but it's not as crazy as it was before. Yale really ought to have gotten a better plan. haha, i guess it's because MIT can't dupe its students like Yale could... apparently, these dell people don't really need proof of attending the university. i mean, isn't it good for the university? i think my purchasing through mit helps get them better discounts because the volume of sales from MIT increases. anyway, i just hope there's not a big MIT sticker plastered to it...

CELL PHONES:

I'm IN! I'm on Verizon and i'm in. and i have a really super hot new phone. It's the KYocera Slider SE47. I didn't want a flip because i like being able to slip my hand in my bag where my phone is and turn it off (like if it starts ringing in class) with a flip, you ahve to actually flip it open and bags generally don't have enough room for something to be flipped. in any case, same number, hot new phone and plan. Call me.

IPOD:
Darn...Duke's getting hte free iPods. i think i'll be buying one (through the Yale site i get $30 off ) especially since i saved so much on my laptop.

FUTURE:
Wow... i have absolutley no time left at home. I'm goign to boston wiht friends sooN! :) and i'm getting my wisdom teeth out soon :( i'm so scared about that. GRRRR - i wish summer were longer!

Life: oh man... i haven't had a chance to touch my computer for such a long time. Way too much playing... whether it be grad parties, after parties, graduation, and senior gala. It's been a blast. I'd like to recount it all but what difference does it make. Fun times all around.

Work: I quit Macy's yesterday. i left a message on the answering machine at 1 a.m. so i wouldn't have to talk to a live person... wow, i'm bad. oh well. i worked there for a day, and i was totally discouraged by the incredibly boring 9 hr shift! I was in the dresses department. but not anymore! i'm a full time banquet server at you know where! and it's stuch a wonderful job. It maximizes money and minimizes time spent becuase it's really all based on the gratuity and they usually just have one server out at a time. I really don't want to spend my entire summer working.

Today: I started cardio kickboxing!

Future: Morse 2008. E-mail's anna.s.yu@yale.edu but i can't check it yet. Going on a cruise soon.

Pics have been updated!

So it was the last day of high school today. :(...not really. i'm trying to be sad but the tears just aren't coming! the end of high school years are awful. I remember graduating from elementary school and being sad...because there was like a final day...and in middle school, there were final days too. But in high school, it's a wreck and full of free blocks!

Anyway, i went rolleblading with jon and lisa today and i HURT MYSELF AGAIN!!! Right elbow, once again. and my butt realllly hurts. Aargh... i won't be doing that again too soon!

In other news...things are going very strangely.

Yay...next year...
We had MCS elections today! They were quite thrilling. I'm quite happy with the results, although there's one person i think deserves a position who didn't get one. Perhaps Karen can be in charge of all fundraisers?

In other news, I'm having a graduation party and it's gonna be the hottest thing ever, right jeff? :)

There are tooo many final projects to do.
1. Bottle Rockets - Phyiscs
2. Presentation on whatever - Physics
3. Presentation on Renee Descartes - French
4. No Child Left Behind (Bush) Debate - Micro
5. NAFTA (Bush) Debate - Govt
6. In class stuff - English
7. Beethoven and PRISM - Orchestra!!! (i need to learn how to play!)

so that all adds up, making my life still quite busy! I just got myself all caught up in terms of Catch-22...i've read all of the first 25 chapters! this is the "funnest" book i've read in awhile.

Happy Birthday Jessica!
And happy 50th Birthday Niskayuna!

hung out with elspeth for 1.5 blocks today...
spinach and anchovies are yummy.

am mad at several people/things including but not limited to mr. edgar, his., and lonestar steakhouse.

seriously, teachers ought to have tact.

kind of a sucky day - nice out in terms of weather though and elspeth is fun and we relate :)

furthermore, i actually have a ton of homework tonight. major physics test tomorrow, stuff i ought to research for micro and gov (nclb and nafta), and english i should read. and i feel like i should put more effort into english. i'm sad suby's retiring.

somehow, that magazine is still in my possession.

...a great success!!!
therey were tons of people, the line was too long, we should have made a run to dragon buffet because of food issues, the acts went rather well, it was really hot, and we made $320 in donations! we're suddenly such a rich club. i think we have enough money to buy not just one goat, but TWO goats. Although, i think alice wans to hoard the money for next year. wow, i can't believe it's over... having worked on it every year for 4 years. It's so much work and when it's over, it's like over and it's sad. i think this year's show was a great way to end my mu sigma career. last year's was sort of empty becuase the space was huge, but yeah.

actaully, i just found out today that my mom left the Tiramisu and European pastries including eclairs, etc., whcih i bought for the show in the freezer in my basement...and she also left two bags of mexican chips in the car, all by accident. aaah!!! considering we had food issues, those extra items would have been helpful. so we'll be eating them at some meeting.

anyway, thanks so much to everyone that came or helped out.

oh, and after the dinner show, MCS people hung out at Ralph's and that was fun.

Today, i had a very unsuccessful job search :( i will try again tomorrow.

Dinner Show Pics
the later the pics, the better the pics.

man, i am so stressed...
it was so nice to go out and have quite a bit of fun but now i have so much work to do! the thing is, i enjoy doing what work i have coming before me - it's kind of relaxing to study gov, micro, and macro because it's just like refreshing and the multicultural society means a lot to me and i really want to do so much to make the dinner show come out well. However, with gov on wednesday and macro and micro on thursday and coming up so quickly, i don't feel like i have enough time to prepare! to cook all the things i want to cook...to buy all the things i want to buy... to read all the review books i want to read...and do all the practice problems i want to do...

alas... i don't want to go to school but there's really not much school i'd be able to skip, besides the fact i don't skip. i have to be after school like every day this week...

Last Thursday was a day to go down in Niskayuna fundraising history: $561.10. Imagine what we could have made...

So i had an AP Monday - French language. it was awful. oh well... but i really want a 4-5 for the lang req. now i must hope.

Anyway, I'm really excited about Saturday-Sunday ;) It's going to be awesome, and Heather is going to be there!!! and i love underclassmen! It's nice that there's an actual theme this year, instead of just a night of elegance... well a night in paris is pretty similar but at least it's a tangible object or what not. oh, and i'm stuck in the stretch escalade - the "suv limo"...

EDIT: You know what sucks? the weather saturday. that means the walk-in'll be inside and nobody'll get to even see the beautiful suv limo...

Hello friends-
i need help buying a digital camera. i really want to get one before i go to college and get out of high school. which one do you think i should get? size and weight is a big factor to me... but i also want quality. Vote on your favorite!

-Canon PowerShot S410 Digital Elph
-Canon PowerShot A80
-Minolta DiMAGE G500
-Minolta DiMage Xt
-Casio QV-R40

alright, alright... i know nobody's gonna spend hours researching for me. but if you do! let me know what you think.

Edit: I'mg going to make it easier folks. i am leaning towards the canon powershot S410. is there anything significantly bad about it taht i should be aware of?
Canon S410

Guess what?! i had lots of fun yesterday!

well first of all, i went shopping with alice for Mu Sigma from 1-6...that's a lot of shopping. that included party warehouse, linen & things, JoAnn etc., Asian Market, and uh... David's Bridal. we lost the tax exempt form... but no! it turned out all right. jeff got out of going shopping wiht us by saying he had to play tennis with sid... on this windy (rainy) day??

then i went over to Kevin's arond 8:30. they had ordered pizza so they ate pizza. and then we didn't really do much, but talk. Sid and Jeff were there too...as was jeremy who was watching a hockey game and cut into our conversation intermittently. Peter! was supposed to be there but he apparaently had a curfew for some super odd reason. I had thought we were going to see animal house, but we just chatted until 1:30 a.m.... and that was totally cool. i think sid was making jeff uneasy towards the end... sid has scary toes.

i got an A- in gym, which i am exceedingly upset about... i always changed into my gym clothes, tried by best, and was 1 of 4-5 of a class of 30 who actually participated every single time in the swimming unit!!! i think i'l stop trying in gym now... i was sure i'd get an A+!

anyway... rollerblading, pancho's today?

Hey everyone!
i'm so excited about this break!!! it's gonna be great!
and i'm excited about animal house!

how is everyone doing?
school's like over... i was quite stressed the past couple of days in terms of homework. but now, i am fine.

Welcome dliebers to the LJ community!

In orchestra Friday, I sat next to Heather and Manny! because nobody was there.

In order to find excitment in my life, I volunteered for St.Peter's Journey Through the Body athe mall. Well, it wasn't that exciting, but it was rather interesting and thought-provoking. First, I got this lovely navy T-shirt. Then, I asked around about where help was needed and I ended up at the Infection Station which was teaching little kids about the importance of washing hands. I had to squirt some UV-reacting lotion in little kids' hands and tell them that they were germs and to rub it all over their hands. Then, they'd put it under the UV light and I'd say, "See everythign that's glowing?? Those are all the germs on your hands! Now, try to get rid of as many germs as possible!" and i'd give them a moist towlette with whihc to wash their hands. And then they'd wash their hands, put their hands back under the light and i'd say, "did you get all those germs off? nope?! you haven't washed well enoguh! Remember to always wash your hands wtih soap and rub them together realllly well for as long as it takes you to sing the ABC's." Amazingly, there were a lot of kids who were interested in my station and they were so fascinated by it. It's really interesting, becuase the lotion and the UV light machine was SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to teach kids about the importance of washing hands...the brand was like "BugKiller!" (in a childish font). i can't exactly remember. i find that funny. So that was fun. And there was a male nurse guy taking pictures and all the doctors were making fun of him :( and then they asked his daughter if she was going ot be a nurse and she was like no and then they were like, "your dad works very hard..."

and then later, too many people started volutneerting there so i switched to another station. i saw liliya so we decided to go to the muscoskeletal section and i put casts on little kids' fingers. First the gauze goes on, then the paper mache.... haha, that was pretty cool.

After goign out for dinner, i finihsed up Lost in Translation, which i had started the other day. It's not that interesting.... Someone said that it's short and sweet but it's really just kind of boring after awhile.

Today, I attended 17th Annual Siena College High School Programming Contest! It was very intense. Big competition goign on between our team (mike, mack, armenia) and the Nisky B(jeff b, jc, lamanna, and comstock) and being scammed by the judges :). We knew we were gonna come in second. The weather(drizzling grayness), the room, the SA's gender, were exactly the same as last year...go figure. nisky A get second, nisky b gets first. no speakers this year as prizes!!!!! we were so sad. there was only a trophy :(.

so that's that.

okay, i'm not one to put lyrics in my journal, but speaking of the weather...
Excerpts From Camelot:
If ever I would leave you
It wouldn't be in summer;
Seeing you in summer, I never would go.

If ever I would leave you,
How could it be in springtime,
Knowing how in spring I'm bewitch'd by you so?
I know you in springtime
And I must be there.

Oh, no! not in springtime!
Summer, winter or fall!
No, never could I leave you at all!

Friday-Saturday Recap

In orchestra Friday, I sat next to Heather and Manny! because nobody was there.

In order to find excitment in my life, I volunteered for St.Peter's Journey Through the Body athe mall. Well, it wasn't that exciting, but it was rather interesting and thought-provoking. First, I got this lovely navy T-shirt. Then, I asked around about where help was needed and I ended up at the Infection Station which was teaching little kids about the importance of washing hands. I had to squirt some UV-reacting lotion in little kids' hands and tell them that they were germs and to rub it all over their hands. Then, they'd put it under the UV light and I'd say, "See everythign that's glowing?? Those are all the germs on your hands! Now, try to get rid of as many germs as possible!" and i'd give them a moist towlette with whihc to wash their hands. And then they'd wash their hands, put their hands back under the light and i'd say, "did you get all those germs off? nope?! you haven't washed well enoguh! Remember to always wash your hands wtih soap and rub them together realllly well for as long as it takes you to sing the ABC's." Amazingly, there were a lot of kids who were interested in my station and they were so fascinated by it. It's really interesting, becuase the lotion and the UV light machine was SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to teach kids about the importance of washing hands...the brand was like "BugKiller!" (in a childish font). i can't exactly remember. i find that funny. So that was fun. and then later, too many people started volutneerting there so i switched to another station. i saw liliya so we decided to go to the muscoskeletal section and i put casts on little kids' fingers. First the gauze goes on, then the paper mache.... haha, that was pretty cool.

After goign out for dinner, i finihsed up Lost in Translation, which i had started the other day. It's not that interesting.... Someone said that it's short and sweet but it's really just kind of boring after awhile.

Today, I attended 17th Annual Siena College High School Programming Contest! It was very intense. Big competition goign on between our team (mike, mack, armenia) and the Nisky B(jeff b, jc, lamanna, and comstock) and being scammed by the judges :). We knew we were gonna come in second. The weather(drizzling grayness), the room, the SA's gender, were exactly the same as last year...go figure. nisky A get second, nisky b gets first. no speakers this year as prizes!!!!! we were so sad. there was only a trophy :(.

so that's that.

Today...!
Josh Y. visited and He, his friend Jack, Matt E., and I went to Gershon's to eat! it was a lovely fun lunch and it was really nice to see him again! he managed to see everyone he set out to see, amazingly! He was supposed to visit the hs and go to the old cafe monday but he set his alarm clock and forgot to turn it on. he got braces yesterday so he had to eat soft foods. and Jack had a thing for this fragrant-smelling waitress...

Today was a beautiful day.
Keep the beautiful days coming!
Something about these days reminds me of last year's days, yet they're not.

I'm troubled by the fact that there are only 10 more weeks of school left. Third quarter whizzed by so first. I can't believe it's ending next Wednesday. There are still so many more things I want to do. I want to make friends with more people who I don't know so well. Not like random people, but people I know a little and already find agreeable (I don't plan to "discover" any new friends.) I want to be able to come back to Niskayuna in the future and (pretending that everyone still lives here) have the chance and excuse to see more than just my current close friends. it's sad that there are so many people whom i'll never have the excuse to talk to ever again after high school. some may ask why would i care about seeing anyone again anyway? life goes on. right? well, i don't know. i like people. they're exciting. I'm sick of homework. I just want to hang out wiht people all day instead of wasting time doing homework. Lately, I've been goign home too mcuh and such becasue i tell myself i have work to do. but really, i ought to stay in the old cafe and eat. Nisky has so many exciting people! i want to organize a social dinner with my friends again like we used to do in the good old days!!! I miss them so much. Or ice/roller skating - anyone want to go rollerblading this saturday night?!

Liebers needs to ask mystery person to prom.

My first concert as a high school violinist is tonight at 7:30! Come watch me air-bow!

...of not updating and not being online! It's Ned's fault! he's been wasting my time talking about morals!

HEre's a quick recap of what's happened:
-I saw Dirty Dancing Havana Nights Friday night. They could have done a much better job. the storyline was screwy and unrefined and incomplete.
-Saw the Saturday matinee of Titanic. Good job to everyone in it!

Exciting News:
-Science Olympiad States Friday-Saturday!

why don't we have student teachers anymore? i remember having so many in elementary school, and it was fun becuase we could always take advantage of them.... we don't have those anymore. Is it because they don't trust them with high schoolers? or is there a lack of people wanting to be high school teachers?

i wonder if that guy in englihs class will turn out to be a student teacher...

check it out! it's fun to sum up my travels like this... it makes me want to travel so much more!!! i'm rather proud of myself so far. but what annyoys me is that i haven't been to any of the states in the middle! it just irks me so badly, like how can i have not. i mean, ti's the just the U.S. - i feel like i've been everywhere already! (you probably don't understand what i mean)

Furthermore, what irks me about hte country map is that some countries are just so big and others are just so small!!! for instance, none of the many countries i have visited in europe make me look well traveled at all! and i have only been to one or two cities in China and it wasn't very extensive. i don't really consider myself as having seen china since it was only this side tour on a trip to hong kong and it was really sucky and i dind't get to see any of the great places like the great wall and just beggars on the street. i've been to hong kong and taiwan. and like, it makes me look like i've been to all of canada, which i have not. i wish italy, germany, austria, france, and monaco were BIGGER! it really annoys me when i haven't been places. i feel like i've been to africa, s. america, australia, like i must have, but i haven't. i probably seem very incoherent...






create your own personalized map of the USA
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

We have a Code Adam...
My Lilo & Stitch Stitch pin has disappeared. The Stitch pin where Stitch is sitting under a beach tree relaxing? It is gone! I'm such an idiot, i knew i shouldn't have put it on my backpack, but i wanted to show it off so i did...
But now i have lost it (it came off somehow).

I first noticed that it was not on my backpack Monday evening, but i might have lost it before then. Help me find it!!! if you find it, REWARD! It is very dear to me and i bought it in Disneyworld after contemplating long and hard about which pin to buy (there were so many! Trading pins are the hot new thing in Disneyworld) and i love it so... please help me find it!!!

I know it's been a whole week, but I feel like I need to address the death of Stephanie Bomiesl. It's easy to ignore in my livejournal: wait a couple weeks and then suddenly pop back with a new entry, or I could state that I make private entries. i mean, this journal isn't really serious - it's just something i write in once in awhile and it's fun and all to put out ideas, but i'd feel like it'd have a hole. I had an entry on Friday about how i lost my lilo and stitch pin and how sad that made me feel, but then i felt bad and made it private because it just seems so trivial if you know what i mean.

I don't really feel like a part of this entire occurence, mainly because I didn't know her at all and I don't know who her friends are and none of my friends really knew her. When I found out on tuesday, I looked through the yearbook, and seeing her in so many clubs and activities, it did make me feel sad. To have come this far in life and done so much and be so involved in the activities one does with a life. And from waht i know, it seems to have happened so sudden. i don't know. i really don't understand how anybody can joke about it(which i heard some people do). i wonder how her firends feel. i was in warrior on monday and one of her friends were there to be interviewed and leanne asked if stephanie's parents were home and she's siad, "yeah, i was just there," and for some reason, that touched me. i know i'm not saying anything very eloquent or particularly heartfelt, but it's just becuase i don't know how...