Friday the "13th"

[jcollie719]

days until I leave for Furry Fiesta!

My dad filed my tax returns for this year. I will be getting $882 back from the federal return and $114 from the state return. The federal check is supposed to arrive at the end of February, though I'll be at Furry Fiesta then (and my mail will be held while I'm gone.)

My 7" laptop and caffeinated soap arrived in the mail today. My current laptop's screen occasionally dims if I move the laptop with anything more than a feather-light touch due to the two-foot fall it took a while back. I didn't want to risk damaging it further by taking it with me to Furry Fiesta. The new laptop will merely be used for travel and a backup at home until I can get the old one repaired. The soap from Contact Caffeine is bamboo grass-scented. (What goes better with a panda kigurumi than bamboo!)

Today's Toastmasters meeting had an interesting theme: distractions. Everyone was encouraged to distract the speakers by talking, coughing, having cell phones go off, etc. The purpose was to simulate the distractions many public speakers deal with. I had to do both a Table Topics speech and an evaluation of another member's speech. I actually won the ribbon for best Table Topics. My evaluation went fairly well, though it just barely met the minimum time requirement.