THE MEANDERWALKER

I haven’t written in my blog in a long time. And so much has happened, both in my own life (grad school, new jobs, etc) and in the world (Barack Obama is president-elect).

But I’m not going to talk about any of that. Instead, in order to usher in this rapidly approaching holiday season (I can’t wait until Thanksgiving!) I’m going to post my ideal Christmas List:

Williams-Sonoma Cooling Rack – $20 (2 @ $10 each)

I’ve been super busy for the past two and a half months. I go to graduate school full time, I have an assistantship for my fellowship that pays me to go to school, and I have three contract jobs on the side. But, despite this overwhelming amount of work, I always find time to bake cookies on a weekly or biweekly schedule. I don’t even need to look at the recipe anymore. But my cooling method of using a giant plate that makes the cookies bend in weird ways tends to make the activity rather unpleasant. This cooling rack would make the whole endeavor a lot easier and stress-free, and maybe I’d start making a lot more cookies and actually share them with other people!

Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 – $259.00

I’ve always wanted to be fluent in another language. Well, “always” might not be accurate, seeing as I chose to study Latin, a dead language, for seven years rather than something more practical like Spanish or French. So “recently” I’ve wanted to be fluent in another language. Considering that possibility that I might be spending a month in a South American country this summer, Spanish seems like the most logical choice. See, the Journalism school has a summer class called “Documentary Multimedia Storytelling,” where a class of about 20 students go away to a remote foreign country and document the stories of the people who live there through photos, audio recording, video, text and graphic design. Last year, they went to Thailand. This summer’s trip hasn’t been confirmed yet, but I will hopefully be participating. Plus, I think learning Spanish would be awesome.

Refurbished Apple 20-inch Flat Screen Display – $499.00

Yes, I chose a “refurbished” model. Why? Because I tend to be thrifty when it comes to $800 computer displays. But really, this little gem would make my life so much better. As you may know, I am in a Visual Communication program focusing on Multimedia. That obviously involves working with graphic design software and Flash and Final Cut Pro for extended periods of time. While I have Adobe CS3 on my Macbook, and that is awesome, you can only work with that stuff on a >15-in display for so long. It gets tedious and frustrating! Also, I’m taking at least three classes next semester that will require a large amount of work using these programs — Advanced Multimedia Narratives, Photojournalism, and Multimedia Programming — so a nice home set-up would be a good way to avoid long hours in the multimedia lab in Carroll Hall. The plan would be a 2-monitor set-up running off my Macbook. I dream about this. Seriously.

Apple Wireless Keyboard – $79.00

Okay, this is just a necessity considering my planned set up and a lack of additional USB ports.

Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse – $69.00

So is this.

The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3 with CSS, Ajax, and PHP (Paperback) – $31.49 + shipping

I also really need a good web design book that will teach me basically everything. I know that I can’t just build sites in Flash for the rest of my life. I need to know more HTML, CSS and PHP. Like, from the very beginning. But if anyone has better suggestions than just this book, I am actively taking recommendations!

There’s also a fair amount of nonspecific clothing and shoes on this list. I’m in one of those phases again in which I want to dress like a hip, stylish adult and not the poor college kid that I am. I think this also involves purging my closet again and selling whatever Plato’s Closet will buy from me. But that’s not really a wishlist item.

Isn’t it kind of funny how this alleged “wishlist” actually turned into an update about my life!