happy mid-autumn holiday! happy mooncake day!

I'm trying to deal with Mark's new laptop. All the critical keys are in a slightly different location than his Toshiba, so I'm often pressing stuff, and nothing happens. *sigh*

Going to the Exploratorium was fun, even if it was a nightmare to actually get there. I swear, San Francisco is out to get us, with its deliberately non-existent signs and streets that end without warning. I mean, I've lived in the area forever and I love everything in San Francisco. If only I could actually get to them.

Kaitlin had fun, too at the Exploratorium, but she didn't really pay attention to the stuff she was actually doing. She just ran around playing with all the different displays. That girl has a freakishly short attention span, and she doesn't listen. It's so frustrating - oh, and she's not doing well in social studies, vocabulary or grammar. I wish I could convince her parents to hire a tutor for her, because I'm not in Oakland enough to kick her in the butt to study. She's doing fine in spelling, though - so I think the biggest problem she has is reading comprehension. I probably can't get them to hire an out-sourced tutor because they don't have an Internet connection.

And apparently she can talk for hours about cartoons.

Of interest:
Sara's Sunday rant, in which she debunks all the myths about Canadian health insurance.
One of Mark's colleagues, Val, got fed up after one of her community sites Linux Chix got digged and outed herself as a MAN.

thoughts of the day

It's easier for me to deal with sexism than it is to deal with racism. Is that weird?

The Departed got really good reviews. I need to watch the Chinese version again, and yes, I'll even willingly admit this remake is good if I see it. Better? Um...

Watching Kevin Smith review movies on Ebert & Roeper is awesome, because 1. he keeps insulting Roeper, 2. he actually has good taste and is very articulate about the stuff he does and doesn't like (why he can't translate that great perspective to his non-Jersey-type movies I don't know), and 3. his video pick was Battlestar Galactica.

I visited the Bloomingdale's in San Francisco that just opened today with some friends. The power went out in one of the sections and they closed early. I don't think I'll be shopping there much, given that everything's really expensive.

I had Mark TiVo Ugly Betty, because I heard it was good. It's a remake of a telenovela, which explains the Latino cast. I liked it, and Salma Hayek is one of the executive producers. I found it hard to watch, though - it's the same reason I can't watch either versions of The Office - so much awkwardness and humiliation.