Do I threaten to kill myself if fandom doesn't give me an iPod? Do I fake a terrible illness so that fandom buys me an iPod?

You should do them ALL so you're sure to get an iPod.

1) I think terrible illness, definitely. "Buy me an iPod before I die."
2) You should claim your iPod got stolen and darkly hint that some faction of fandom is responsible.
3) You should develop a medical condition that requires you to listen to music all of the time.
4) You should threaten to never write again unless fandom buys you an iPod.

I'll set up a "secret" comm that you know nothing about and get people to PayPal me. I'll have to take a cut, of course.

I loved the "You Had Me At Klaatu" t-shirt.

My sister's in retailing, so I get to hear all the Black Friday stories. In the mall she works in, some of the stores are having big sales starting at 3:00am !!! Her store, which doesn't have a big sale, isn't opening until 6:00am ... the mall is requiring that everyone be open by then !!!

Hope the things open include coffee places.

I plan to go to a mall on Friday - if you don't have to park and don't especially want to buy anything (except some coffee, maybe) it's some of the best cheap entertainment there is.

Timeliness is also key. Say that the studios stole your iPod.

I loved the "You Had Me At Klaatu" t-shirt

I think I have to buy my brother the "Stereotype Me; I'm Irish" t-shirt.

Also, nothing on god's green earth would get me to shop on Black Friday.

(Of course, now that I've said that, I've all but confirmed that I will inevitably shop on Black Friday. Perhaps not *this* year, perhaps not next, but because I made the absolutist statement, you know something will occur to make me eat those words.)

Huh. OK. I"m wondering, if 100 is supposed to be "average", at what point people are noticeably smarter/dumber than average.

Some kids who were tested with the highest IQs acted like the stupidest sacks of shit imaginable.

I am full of crank today. Why yes, I am at work.

I'll set up a "secret" comm that you know nothing about and get people to PayPal me. I'll have to take a cut, of course.

Well, sure. This secret cabal isn't gonna fund itself!

I did it in just under 6 minutes so it's sorta crude.

[link]

Our school district requires an IQ of 140 for the gifted program. It's as much a function of limiting the number of students to the funding available as anything else.

Also, some gifted programs aren't IQ dependent. If you are listed as musically gifted, artistically gifted, or even language arts gifted or math gifted, your IQ isn't relevant to placement.

Lots of programs use designations based on standards-testing instead.

I was feeling like I was getting a cold so I preemptively asked my boss if I could work from home today. Still have to work all day but at least I'm here. And feeling more like it's bad allergies than a cold. I'm sure sleeping a couple of extra hours helped.

At least I'll have a chance in between work tasks to clean out my car and pack up my stuff to bring up to Wilmington. I'm leaving around 10 pm in hopes of missing some of the horrorshow 95 traffic but, generally, driving up to DE this Wednesday is not a good time any time you do it. And there's no way to avoid Delaware if you actually have to go to Delaware! (Although I do know the back ways around the stateline toll at least.)

There was an ad here last night for a store whose post-Thanksgiving sale starts at FOUR AM Friday morning.

My son has asked repeatedly if he can go to Wal-Mart at 3am or some such. Or the mall. I told him I would sooner walk a rope bridge over the grand canyon.

Gifted and unmotivated is how they classified Brendon. Minimalist. At least now in HS he can be in one gifted class, another advanced class, and other mainstream classes depending on his willingness to put forth any effort. Usually the determining factor is the teacher. Somehow the teacher that he hated with passion at the beginning of last year is now his favorite. Huh.