"Snarky" is a fun word.

One thing for which I'm thankful from this semester is the amount of walking I've done. Due to a combination of laziness in several arenas and the rising price of gas, I've been walking as much as possible, and I think this will put me in good stead for being in Japan and walking/riding a bike a lot.

Random segue.

I'm starting to dislike many of the other JETs I'm getting to know via the email groups I am on. When a question has been answered several times, in several different places, stop asking the question. Someone recently asked when we were going to hear about placements - we've been told "late May" for months. The man in charge of the Chicago-area JETs, which includes me, made the absolute best response to this worthless question (it almost made me want to drive to Chicago to give him a hug):
"Hopefully within the next few weeks.
I haven't finished making up the
'Placement Dartboard' yet, in which I
attach slips of paper with your names
on them to darts and then throw them
at a wall-map of Japan. I always aim
at Kyoto and Tokyo, but I also drink
more and more beer as I go down the
list, so it's not unheard of for late
upgraded alternates to end up with
placements on buoys in the middle of
the Sea of Japan or, like last year, in
Tajikistan."
(Gotta love people with snarky senses of humor.)

My new laptop was ordered on Monday and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. It's a Mac, which makes me feel unclean in a way that soap and water won't solve. That being said, I'm still very excited at the prospect of getting a new shiny with which to play. I'm in the process of shopping for accessories (laptop bag, external hard drive, etc) - always fun.

I've joined a rewards program in an effort to not spend money on accessories for my shiny, and it's a pretty nice deal. You write reviews for restaurants, stores, and the like, and then get points for said reviews. The points then can be redeemed for gift cards to restaurants, stores, or prizes. Plus, the points-to-dollars conversion is pretty high; it's about a dollar per review.
AKA: Let me know if you're interested in joining, and I'll send you an email for it. :D