cafenation: Spring time news

So, I'm emerging from my lonely general exam cocoon, here's some news:

School

I passed! Woo hoo, this means I'm now a Phd candidate instead of student. My committee was super fabulous and I ended up learning a great deal (go figure). Now...onto the dissertation!
No rest though, lots of exciting school and work related things going on right now. I'm taking a really awesome studio class in Value Sensitive Design.
I'm also TA'ing a class in Computer Science on Computing for the Developing World. The topic is fascinating and close to my area of interest and seeing the CSE from the inside is also quite a treat in terms of interdisciplinarity. The class is being simulcast at Microsoft and also at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan.

Work

Local and personal

This weekend is the famous Olympia procession of the species - I've never been but it's supposed to be super fun. According to the web site, "The intent of the Procession is to elevate the dignity of the human spirit by enhancing the cultural exchange that we have with each other and with the natural world..." - a tall order!
The farmers market is open! Yay! We went a couple weeks back but there was hardly any produce - too early still, but rumors abound of asparagus - so we'll have to check it out again.
We FINALLY got over our narrowband dilemma and put up the cash for satellite Internet. It's not the fastest connection in the world, but it beats the pants off of dial-up. The worst part is there is this punitive penalty for going over your 200MB daily download limit. If you do (or in my case when) the ISP slams on the breaks and slows your connection to a trickle. They call this their "fair use policy" - I call it BULLPUCKY. Although I can't believe I went almost a year without Internet at home.
Also, trying to catch up with folks since I've been one of these the past couple of months:

cafenation