The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Personal / Random

Thoughts and advice on surviving seasonal allergies

I never had seasonal allergies until I moved to Georgia. I always figured it was something I’d grown into, as it seemed to get worse the older I got. (I was out sick for a week my senior year of high school because the spring pollen orgy, and I found myself heading to the doctor 4+ times a year with allergy-induced tonsillitis during my first three years in college.) Aside from allergies, I don’t get sick much at all. But pollen and mold can turn me into a useless lump of flesh and mucus for weeks at a time. Over...

Random

On blogging and grad school

I think that it’s safe to say that enough has happened in the last few months that if I’d had (or made) time to blog about them all, I may have established some sort of niche readership by now. Or at the very least, I can pretend that things would have worked out like that, because the reality of things is that I didn’t, and I don’t. It turns out that grad school keeps me just busy enough that regular updates are difficult. Who knew, right? So, the things that I could have (and should have) written significant posts about...

Personal / Random

Return of the Backpack

I got my backpack back from Jansport yesterday, and I must say that I am more than impressed with the quality of the repairs. In fact, I’d say that they went well above and beyond the repairs I sent it in for. In the letter that I included with the backpack when I sent it, the only repairs I mentioned were that it needed the main compartment zipper replaced, and I needed the straps replaced. The zipper had contracted the dreaded “zipper disease,” and the foam in the straps had compressed so much that it might as well not have...

Personal / Random

Pen wanted

Continuing with what appears to be a theme of posts about my favorite things, this post is about my favorite pen. I found it on the ground…somewhere…a couple of years ago. It is unusual in most respects, particularly compared to most pens that I’ve ever used. First and foremost, it has a nib width of 0.4 mm. Yes, you read that correctly, and I did not make a typo. Outside of specialty pigment pens and imported pens, the smallest nib you can find here in the U.S. is 0.5 mm. The narrower and more precise line is what made this...

Personal / Random

The Journey of my beloved backpack

I have had the same red Jansport backpack since I was about 14 years old. It had taken a good two years for me to convince my mom that it was worth it to invest $40 in a backpack, particularly when every other backpack my younger sister or I had ever used lasted for a maximum of two years. From her vantage point, it made sense. If you don’t spend more than $15 or $20 on a backpack, and it lasts two years, it’s more cost-effective than spending $40 on a backpack that lasts two years. However, I had a...