calling all XO-1 owners

I know several of you bought XO-1s from OLPC as part of their "Give 1 Get 1" campaign last fall or got one through the developer's network. I'm working on a research project involving the social meanings of the OLPC project and am quickly approaching the stage where I'd like to play around with a few XO-1s. I'd also like to interview a few of the G1G1 donors on how they're using their laptops (hopefully they've arrived by now!) and why they decided to buy one.

Could you leave a comment if you have an XO-1 and are in the Bay Area? We can decide where to go from there. (Maybe a meetup is in order!) If I don't have your contact information, could you leave that, too? Comments are screened for now.

(no subject)

Tonight, despite cloudcover, I did manage to see the lunar eclipse (the last until December 2010). We walked along the edge of a dark canal dense with a chorus of frogs and caught glimpses of the dim ruddy moon, with Saturn to the lower left and Regulus above, through the wispy cirro-stratus clouds. Closer to the edge of the bay, the wind chilled our ears and the frogs thinned and became more timid, falling silent at the hint of any intruder. When our shoes began to stick to the muddy track, we turned back.

The housing hunt might be drawing to a close, with a gorgeous Victorian in Hayward, sporting wood floors, original mouldings, and an old-fashioned W.C., edging out the dingy 60s-era boxes in Daly City and the charming but run-down 20s bungalows in San Bruno. Both Hayward and Daly City turn out to be about the same distance from Palo Alto. Hayward's downtown, just a few blocks from the rental, is surprisingly charming (full of bookstores, restaurants, and interesting architecture), and BART is less than a mile away, too. Let's hope the applications go through. Drifting is difficult.

I've been dancing again. My dance partner and his wife had their twins almost two months ago now, so his life is very full, but if he goes into work an hour early he can steal an hour in the afternoon to practice a few times a week. We may even compete a couple times this spring. Blues and Argentine Tango round out my current repertoire, and the occasional yoga class keeps me limber.

My piano is in storage, so I've snuck into the recital halls in the music building a few times to play. I'm looking forward to having access to my piano -- and my books! -- again, hopefully soon.

I've also witnessed some amazing sunsets in the last month. Here are two of them. Flickr has more pictures.