The perks of graduate school! Yes, they do exist!

The perks of grad school are far and few between.  But the best one is having student status when shopping for a Macbook.  Because now, if you're a student and you buy a computer, you get a free iPod.  But not just ANY iPod.  Now you can get an iPod Touch.  

For free!

With an Apple purchase!

With a DISCOUNTED Apple purchase!  Because I'm a student!  And I suffer a lot!  So I deserve it!  

(Yep.  I'm excited about a gadget.  I'm officially Danny's girlfriend.)  

I got the basic macbook - which I've been playing with for the last day or so.  I think I'm going to post a picture I just took of myself here.  Now you all know what I look like.  How narcissistic of me.  But anyway, my techno-items are mas awesome.  And the iPod Touch is pure sex.  I mean, here's a gadget that not only has 8 GB of memory, but its 8 GB of memory is flash, so that means when I jog or engage in another bouncy activity, I can listen to my music sans overtones of guilt for jarring my player's fragile insides.  My old mp3 player (which is roughly the size of a 6-inch Subway sandwich; it's a Creative Labs Zen Nomad Jukebox) has served me exceptionally well, despite its more traditional hard drive insides.  It has survived getting doused in the contents of a nalgene to regain full function; it endured a flying trip off the treadmill during which it shot across the floor and bounced a few times, and it has to stay in those rank mp3 player holders on the machines at the gym (which it does without picking up too much crud or breaking in protest).  I put it in there so it doesn't suffer from the mp3 player version of shaken baby syndrome.  

However, now I can strap the iPod Touch to my arm and leap on a trampoline if I so desire.  

But it's so sad... my old one has served me so well, and it still works beautifully.  Its memory is HUGE; I can fit multiple books on tape on it and still have plenty of room for music.  And it's resilient as all hell.  I can't bring myself to throw it away; I love it too much.  I think I may load it up with lots of nice music, and give it to my mom.  She teaches art, and recently the school prohibited access to any streaming websites, so that put an end to listening to the radio in her room.  She can't get radio normally, so my mom's got nothing.  I think that'll be the best way to give it a new life, so my guilt is assuaged.  Sweet.

Now, I'm confronted with another issue; what kind of laptop bag should I get?  There are some  colorful patterned ones that I really like, there are some purely utilitarian ones that are butt-ugly, casual ones that are just eh, and there are some gorgeous designer ones I'm salivating over but won't be able to afford pretty much ever.  The cute ones would be ok if I was in a creative field, but I get the feeling they would need to be matched to an outfit, which cuts down on the number of total possible uses.  I'm thinking something classic and leather with a lot of interior pockets under $100, maybe with a brilliantly colored lining so there's something colorful about it.  But I need to take the possibility of having to cart it with me to a talk or an interview into consideration.  I'm in science.  Socks and sandals are ok, but anything beyond Dockers and a polo shirt is totally unacceptable.  People look if you accessorize a white button down and a tan pencil skirt with a red belt.

And in other news, I'm going to Barbados tomorrow.  Danny and I found a guesthouse a 10 minute walk from the beach for US$45 a night.  It comes with a kitchen and linens and it's run by a couple, a scientist and an artist, German and Dutch expats.  I'm looking forward to some beautiful beaches, trade winds, lots of rum, eating a lot of very fresh fish and taking surfing lessons.  Oh yeah, and I'm going to try not to get a sunburn.  I'm so white I can be used to reflect sunlight and tan people at right angles to my body, but Hawaiian Tropics 60+ Ozone Sport practically promises to protect you from everything short of a full nuclear blast.  Other practical preparations included buying Army-strength bug repellant from Campmor.  

Oh yes, there was one other very important thing.  Purchasing a couple bathing suits with fixed cups.  You know how some bikinis have sliding triangle tops?  They are ideal for lounging, perhaps going for a ladylike dip in a pool, and soaking up rays and the stares of gentleman passersby.  However, they are utterly inadequate when you actually enter the ocean.  They are especially lousy when you're the kind of chick who hates sitting still at the beach and likes to bodysurf and swim.  I fund this out when I was at the beach with Danny and his brother.  I had just spectacularly rode a particularly violent wave which threw me all the way up the shore - I like to think of it as insta-exfoliation.  I got up, disheveled and laughing, flipped my hair out of my face, and Danny gave me That Look.  You know, the "I-UNEXPECTEDLY-SEE-BOOBIES" look.  I think in England they say "Phwooooaaaaarrr!"  It was the American version thereof.

Happily, his brother (and most of Hilton Head, SC) missed the show.  But that taught me something.  Save the string sliding cups for lakes and cool weather sunbathing.  I will be going to Barbados with 2 lovely Victoria's Secret bikinis that will keep the girls locked in and loaded.  My need and resultant research combined with a free shipping and returns offer from VS made me admit they really know their bathing suits.  I figured they'd be for waify modelesque women, but they are actually well-cut and well-sized.  I'm not plus-sized, but for a 5'11" 24-yr-old, I'm a small on top and a large on the bottom in one, (I own a different pattern and it doesn't make your boobs look ridiculous; they feel more locked in, actually), and in the other, a small on top and a medium on the bottom (slightly skimpy in the rear, but the wide bands make it all ok).    They fit well at 152 lbs.  Nothing's squeezed or bulging over.  Truth be told, I'd like to drop back to 145-150 lbs (which was my competition weight when I was fencing in college and I was in badass shape), but I'm happy with how everything looks now, and I can envision them fitting well even after I tighten up a little more.

The only thing that's missing is a cute sundress/coverup.  I'm too tall for most things.  So, I'm making do with shorts and a shirt.  Definitely not as pretty, but, well, we can't have it all, can we?  I'm just happy I found bathing suits that have enough material to cover my butt top to bottom!  Plumber's cleavage in a bathing suit is just nasty.