Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

Am I nuts for thinking about this?

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8259254/detail.html

You know what I’d do if I didn’t have kids to take care of? I’d go into one of these bars, totally sober, but act drunk. Really drunk. Let them arrest me. Take a breathalyzer. Laugh at them.

But that’s just me.

I did a sleep study last week because I keep waking up with migraines. They didn’t put a CPAP on me during the night so I figured I got off scott-free. Apparently not. They called today to say they wanted to do a followup study, this time with the CPAP all night.

It’s funny because this seems to be a new thing. Even when I was over 30 lbs heavier, I wasn’t having all the apnea symptoms. Ain’t it great getting older?

Creative Embassy asked me to call in to his radio station today for an interview on Alternate Reality Radio. If I can find an audio file and get permission, I’ll upload it for listening.

No child left behind. Except for the bright ones, because I’m pretty sure they’re just showing off.

Texas law states that kids have to be five years old by September 1 to get into kindergarten. If you want to try to place a younger child into kindergarten, they have to take the third grade TAKS test and pass it.

Caroline misses the cut-off by a couple of days. Even though she’s reading, spelling, and writing, she can’t get into public school. The decision is not left up to the school districts, who would be in a position to evaluate and assess what kids are ready. It’s a state law, faceless, with no accountability and no flexibility.

Looks like we’re going to have to send her to private kindergarten next year and then hope they can place her into first grade the next year. That’s a real shame because Jo’s kindergarten teacher wanted to have Caroline in her class (and vice versa).

The law is an ass.

Over the last few days I’ve been attending panels at South by Southwest Interactive and covering them for ARGN, the Alternate Reality Gaming Network. Here are the articles I’ve written:

The Wisdom of Crowds
Designing for Global and Local Social Play
Serious Games for Learning
Cluetrain: Seven Years Later
Interview with GMD Studios’ Brian Clark

I had a fantastic time hanging out with Brian Clark and Dan Hon and learning more about the corporate/consumer relationship, marketing, groups, and play.

I’m on a press pass for SXSW Interactive this year, covering it for ARGN. I was also invited to a party hosted in part by GMD Studios on Sunday night.

My problem was that I did not have any suitably hip clothing to wear. So I headed over to my trusty shopping mecca, Stein Mart and grabbed a bunch of fairly business-like but slightly hipster clothing, plus something cocktail-ish with enough cleavage showing to make hubby mutter.

On the way home I had the window of the Prius rolled down and was enjoying the perfect weather. I was silently coasting downhill, the engine not running, when suddenly from the yard I’m passing comes a hellacious booming noise. “Oh crap,” I thought, “I’m shot!”

Turns out it was some guy pounding his canoe. This is not a euphemism. Hope he got it straight. *cough*

I landed my first paying gig. Started work on it tonight. I’m tickled pink.