In the early afternoon today Laura suggested I use Amazon's wishlist system to keep track of what I want to purchase, and allow others the chance to possibly get those items for me. So I started a list and added four items I could think of that I either need or want right now. They were, in order of most urgent and necessary to least (coincidentally also in order of least to most expensive): an external hard drive, a printer/scanner, a Wacom Cintiq, and an iMac 27".
At four O'clock, after doing some research, I hurried over to the Future Shop at the Forum and bought myself a Canon PIXMA MP560 printer/scanner and a Seagate FreeAgent 2TB hard drive, both for $169.99. Laura tested out the printer with a photo of her and Ada. We were quite impressed with the quality. She's giving the photo to her mom.
I'm happy with my purchases.
I only have two things on my wishlist now.
I had since Thursday to do work that Arun Daniels wanted done tomorrow. I just got most of it done in an hour and a half. All except the most important part, that is. The menu doesn't work at all in Internet Explorer 7. I don't understand why people still use IE 7, let alone why it was even released in the first place. It destroys hacks made for IE 5.5 and 6 to work, creating new problems, but still has so many old problems as well. I suppose it was an intermediary step before IE 8, which works surprisingly well. I suppose Microsoft is starting to feel some pressure to make a better browser as more and more people are switching to alternatives. Same goes for the operating system, I guess.
Anyway, now that I'm on a Mac, the only way I have of checking out a site in IE is Net Renderer, a handy site that opens a URL in whichever version of IE you choose then displays a screenshot. Unfortunately that is limited to the static appearance of the site. In the case of checking JavaScript functionality and items hidden by JavaScript, I would have to use Laura's computer. Of course, Laura is usually using her computer, and rightfully so. My parents still have my old computer, which would be handy for precisely this use. Perhaps I could get it back from them soon.
Laura will often have waking dreams when I'm working at the computer while she sleeps. These cause her to sit up, look around, and usually say something to me, comprehensible or otherwise. I respond, which usually satisfies her, and she lays back down and falls asleep. These moments are somewhere between sleep and wake, but she almost never remembers them. As they are usually very funny, I e-mail her transcripts so she can appreciate it in the morning.
Tonight, however, while I was working I heard some shuffling and turned around. With panic in her eyes, Laura was kicking the sheets away and clambering out of bed. I got up and met her with an embrace, telling her to wake up, that it was alright, as she muttered about things being in the bed and on her. This was the first time, as far as I know, that she's had a waking nightmare. I ushered her back to bed and pulled the blankets up for her. I stuck around for a moment but she dismissed me, saying she was alright.
The nightmare may have had to do with the bed slats collapsing again just before she went to sleep. My father suggested I use condensed wood putty or whatever it's called, and try and get the screw back in there. I should get some of that stuff. Or maybe just some epoxy glue.