Power is OUT!

Well it was.  Last Friday we had two power cuts/outages.  Both were during class hours.  One at ten in the morning for about forty five minutes.  The power went back on for about an hour and then back out for another ten or fifteen minutes.  Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep a handle on a class of forth graders with the power out?  The classes immediately get hot and sticky.  The visibility in my rooms was reduced greatly; the kids had a hard time seeing the chalkboard.  As you might remember from your school days, it seemed like the prefect opportunity to start screaming and trying to run about.

Courtesy of deskofbrian.com

My 4-1 class was twenty five minutes in to a forty minute class when the second power cut hit.  There was about a five second pause when no one moved or said anything.  Then it was like a wave, the shouts of joy came rumbling down the halls and reached us at the end.  These kids erupted too and I gave them a minute to hoot and holler while I laughed.  Windows were opened. Desks moved closer to the board, and we slogged on. 

Courtesy of tulikapublishers.blogspot.com.  I'd love to get a hold of this book to read in class!

We had a loss of power last Wednesday as well, at three o'clock when we are permitted to leave at three thirty.  The rub of it was I'd just spent several hours doing all my paper correcting, things I didn't need the computer for.  I had entered two of the forty five scores I'd marked and the power went out.  We all spent the next thirty long minutes staring at each other and the blank screens.

Courtesy of picturesof.net

When I worked in Pluit, we would go through spells of daily power cuts.  The school turned in to an absolute broiler with most of the classrooms reaching one hundred degrees or more.  The kids sweat, the teachers sweat, it was easily the most miserable I've been over a prolonged period of time. I'll never forget the look on my three year old's faces as they turned in to absolute puddles.  They didn't understand what was happening or why and still trudged along like troopers.  It wasn't until the school finally got into action and got a generator that the power cuts stopped.  Murphy's Law (Sod's if you're from across the pond).  They'd affect school, but since the shared houses were on the same grid, we'd leave work only to sweat it out at home.  Now that I'm in central-south Jakarta I'm rarely affected by power cuts and I don't miss them a bit.

Courtesy of blog.greenearthbamboo.com.  We all ranged somewhere between THIS sweaty. . . .

Courtesy of carrotsncake.com.    And THIS SWEATY!!

Yesterday the school didn't suffer from power cuts, instead the wi-fi was out.  As a result you'll notice there is a lack of blog from both Friday and yesterday.  I do allow myself the weekends off (and this weekend that time was put to fantastic use) but try to journey on during the week, especially as I can normally write from school.  Please forgive the absence.  As a note, I will also be away starting Friday until next Thursday.  I am heading to Singapore for more fun than can be imagined.  I promise to blog all about it after so you might enjoy the ride too.

DVDs from Here to Infinity

Since I seem to be on a roll with the potential benefits of living in Jakarta lately, I'll continue. As an aside, I'm not sure why I have been touting Jakarta lately as living here generally drives me up a wall, but I shall push on all the same.

Another pro of life here is the "black market".  I use the air quotes (or they would be if I was talking) because I used to think of the black market as some scary, underground, underworld organized market.  That's where one can obtain heroin, rhinoceros horns or  blue whale semen.  If you are seeking help from a shaman whose traditional medicine needs parts of endangered animals, he'll go to the black market.  If you want to buy famous artwork that's been stolen for a reduced price with a suitcase full of cash, you'll go to the black market.  The woman who is hooked on opium definitely heads to the black market.  That was the picture in my head.  It was blockbuster movie worthy. I was expecting to find this:

courtesy of kobreguide.com

In Jakarta the black market is made up of counterfeit purses, wallets, sunglasses and DVDs. It's the stuff that you could get arrested for selling in the US, but is so commonplace here that there are five story malls dedicated just to these products.  If you want a real Gucci, go to Grand Indonesia Mall.  If, for the same price, you'd like to get a knock off of the same Gucci bag, some fake Jimmy Choos, a Prada wallet, a little Louis Vuitton accessory and some very believable imitation raybans, go to Mangga Dua Mall; large parts of which look like this:

courtesy of scrapetv.com

Any of you know me know I'm not big on hand bags/purses/wallets.  I have a bag I love and a wallet that is cute and functional.  I will probably use them both until they fall apart.  Since neither are bogus famous brands, that should be quite a while longer.  I do however take advantage of the copied DVDs.  I don't have cable as I find there is entirely too much reality TV for my taste.  There are few shows I can sit through, especially when StarWorld's commercial breaks are ten minutes at a time. The ones that are worth watching are worth buying cheaply.  Most shops sell DVDs for 7,000 Rp each, buy ten get one or two free.  Example, the season of Hawaii 5-0 that I recently acquired was three discs.  So I also bought two seasons of Californication and one season of Sea Patrol.  That took me over the ten mark.  Eleven discs for eight dollars US or 5.70 Euros is worth it every time.  Not to mention there are no commercials! There is the occasionally dodgy copy: one that gets stuck twelve and a half minutes in, or the audio is only in Russia and the subtitles in Thai. For what they cost, it's still a good gamble.

I have a drawer full of DVDs I've already seen.  I am not a person who re-watches many shows/movies. I'm thinking of reincarnating the book swap from Madrid as DVD swap in Jakarta. Should I feel bad that the  production companies and the like aren't getting their cut of the movies I buy illegally? Should is such a mushy word.  Do or do not. I do not. I just think it's in place of rentals, since I don't think I've seen a single rental shop, definitely not a Blockbuster or Hollywood like we'd have at home. So until I get home, bring on the popcorn, and dim the lights. 

courtesy of wired.com

Does the nook have a niche?

When I went home for Christmas, I was convinced by my wise and technically savvy younger sister that I should consider, and then buy, an e-reader. The biggest name among e-readers is the Kindle put out by Amazon.   Every e-reader (often inaccurately called e-books) is linked to a big company.  Sony makes one, Borders bookstore makes the Kobo and Barnes and Nobles bookstore makes the Nook. Many other devices, like blackberry and ipad, both have downloadable software that allows e-books (which are the downloadable books, not the device) to be read on them.

After lots of comparison and consideration, I went with the Nook.  There are black and white and color versions; I have the black and white which has a color touch menu screen. The biggest selling point for me is that my local (in South Puget Sound/Seattle) library has an adequate and growing selection of books that can be checked out for 21 days at a time for FREE.  Just like traditional library books, these books are for rental for a short time.  I check them out on line, download them on to my computer and, via Adobe Digital Publishing, transfer them on to my Nook. Barnes and Noble is also pretty good about offering free books on their website; a nice combination of classics, unwanted books and new authors. They also have specials, sales and regular price books.

courtesy of news.cnet.com

The battery lasts much longer than I expected. It was five days in Penang, reading Dracula non-stop, before I ran the battery dead. Even though the packging said it would be days worth of reading, I had been skeptical.  The touch screen menu took me a couple days to get accustomed to, but now I find it easy to use.  The wi-fi not a problem to connect and once connected, it automatically checks for new books from barnesandnoble.com.

courtesy of gearlive.com

Jen is hands down responsible for my purchasing this new fangled gadget.  She pointed out that when I go back to The States I always stock up on books; that while I can find English books in the places I live, they tend to be quite expensive and finally but most importantly, that I'm a big reader and if the e-reader wasn't designed for someone like me (traveling, moving abroad, big reader) then who the heck was it designed for? So I was gifted it by my wonderful mother for Christmas.  At the adamant insistence of my sister, I also immediately bought a protective case and screen shield.

courtesy of geeksugar.com.  Mine is just plain black, but I think a slick case like this will be on this years Christmas list.

I was skeptical.  I had a PSP for several years.  I bought it thinking I would play games and watch DVDs on planes, trains and in automobiles.  I did very little of that.  The screen was too small for comfortable DVD viewing and I think I lack the typical Gen X / Gen Y gamer gene. The Nook has found a nook in my heart, and I hope it finds a niche audience to sell to.  I've read Dracula, Sh*t my Dad Says, part of Bill Bryson's A short History of Nearly Everything (I gave up after repeatedly falling asleep in the space section), a couple of puffy girly books and now I'm working on Blink. I've got a word morph game, chess and sudoku (that I never play) and a 25 language phrasebook. My library is up to 48 books just from the website freebies. Now my problem is which to read next!
           Fingers crossed it doesn't go the way of a lot of the technology I lay my hands on.

Do I generate my own magnetic field?

For this blog, I owe creative inspiration to my mom. It's become a long running joke between us that I ruin technology like no one else. There's been another bout of "Melissa as the technological Bermuda Triangle" over the last couple months.

couresty of superphysics.netfirms.com.  I imagine my magnetic field looks like this.

I roughly estimate that in the last six years I've gone through two laptops (I'm on the third), a hard drive (on the second), two i-pods, several cameras and more headphones than I can remember.   I believe most technology was built with planned obsolescent in mind.  Even if you buy the best digital camera available now, in two months it will quickly be on it's way to the rubbish bin.

My sister is usually quick to hop on to new technology.  She implores why I don't have a _______ yet, and ______ could be anything from a model cell phone to a computer program.  I always wait several versions, waiting for the manufacturers to realize what they screwed up and fix it in the successive models.  Great example was the i-phone that was released last year that couldn't make phone calls.  Seems like that might be a requisite for something called an i-PHONE!!!

As much as I love music,  it wasn't until generation 15 or so that I got an i-pod.  Last week I dropped my beloved 120gb classic i-pod off for a battery replacement.  In Indonesia that mean that you will actually be getting a new i-pod of the same model.  My old one went out after a power surge at the crap hole boarding house I was staying at before. That power surge also blew out my blackberry, of which all the innards have been replaced. My mother very kindly lent me her old i-pod, a skinny one that holds a whopping 125 songs.  I scoff but I would have gone crazy the last month on the back of the ojek without it.

courtesy of methodshop.com  The frown is how I felt. The battery went out on my so I didn't even get this icon.

Now my blackberry is going out again.  I'd been in Indonesia about three months when my first phone went missing.  I replaced it with another cheap brick phone and kept that one when I upgraded to a Blackberry last August.  The blackberry was stolen in October and I bought a used one from a friend.  This is my current phone.  It's at least three models old now,  has had the screen, battery and circuitry replaced once and spent three nights in rice drying out (dessicant is my current favorite word).  I had a leaky water bottle in my purse the first time, the second was a fall into a small amount of water that couldn't even be termed a puddle.  The third time in the rice was Sunday night.  I don't know what happened to my phone so I thought I'd stick it in rice over night anyway.  Monday I had to reinstall several programs and blackberry messenger still isn't working well.  The keys are also sticky.  I either get five i's or none.  Looks like I'll be phone shopping again shortly.

courtesy of bgr.com

When I went home for the Christmas holidays the internet went out.  Actually, within 48 hours of my arrival the router went out.  Not just the internet signal, my mom had to buy a new router.  She swears I caused it.  I think it should be remembered that I was the good luck charm when we went Christmas shopping and found stellar parking spots but I'm not sure if they cancel each other out.  Printing the final copy of the new science book after returning from holidays was nearly impossible, as are many technically related tasks at work. Printing, internet and access to the server are all out of service on an at least twice weekly basis.

courtesy of cabq.com.  Wave of the future?

I don't think, however that I generate my own gravitational pull.  On the day I do, someone must say something!