For me, Christmas starts when Santa goes across the screen at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The holidays are officially here!

TiVo, in a rare moment unreliability, decided to delete the parade before I got a chance to watch it. Grrr . . .

So I started Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Mama and I went and bought a very real(istic fake) tree for my apartment. My first Christmas tree! I brought up all my Christmas decorations from Florida the last time I was home, so I put out all my Nutcrackers and my nativity set, and then left the tree for another day (since I wasn’t feeling well).

Last night I got the tree all set up - AJ helped me by putting it together and helping me fluff out all the limbs (he’s pretty good at it, LOL)! I then sorted through all my ornaments. There was a bag that I set aside that would be great for a little girl (but are a little too young and pink for me), and the rest I put on the tree. Drumroll please . . .

This is my lovely decorated apartment !

My first Christmas tree!

And a little close up of some ornaments:

Some of the ornaments are newer, like the little Cavalier King Charles Spaniels that look just like Ella and Olive and the little Moravian star to remind me of Winston-Salem, NC (where I attended both undergraduate school at Wake Forest University and graduate school at North Carolina School of the Arts). Others are very old, like the pink sand dollar with a Nutcracker (this was given to me when I danced in the Nutcracker for the first time) and the blue and yellow angels (these hung on my mother’s Christmas tree when she was a girl)!

As I have mentioned, I have a Nutcracker collection, so here is a look at it:

Hmm, let’s get a little closer! Here are Steinbach wisemen . . .

And Steinbach Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare!

And a few more that I have on a bookcase near the kitchen (the short one on the left was my mother’s first nutcracker from before I was born - it’s the first in my collection)!

And my nativity set - I just got this last year and LOVE it!

The only thing I’m missing is an Advent wreath for my table, but that may have to wait until next year.

So, now I’m ready for Christmas for the first time in my adult apartment. Ahhh! I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It occured to me that in all my panic about my old computer crashing, I never posted about my new computer!

As many of you know, I went to undergraduate school at Wake Forest University, and they are nationally known for their excellent technology program, particularly for the fact that upon entering the school, every student and faculty member receive an IBM ThinkPad. Upon entering their junior year, all the students trade in their ThinkPad for a newer model, and when they graduate, they get to take it with them.

I recently started graduate school at the Babcock School of Management at Wake Forest. The majority of the people in my program went to Wake Forest undergrad, and when we were told we would be receiving a new computer upon entering this program, we all assumed we were getting the newest ThinkPad.

Not so.

Day one of orientation, and the IT department rolls in with these babies.

It’s a Convertible Notebook, which basically means it’s a laptop, but if you swivel the screen around, it’s a tablet. It’s pretty cool. So far the tablet has been useful for taking notes in class, especially in classes like accounting where I have to draw graphs from time to time.

It’s also a fast little bugger - waaaaaaaay faster than the ThinkPad. That makes me happy, because I HATED how slow that computer was. From day one it was slow.

Downside - there’s a ton of stuff running in the background. It doesn’t run on regular Windows XP Professional or Home or anything . . . it has it’s own XP Tablet Edition, which means there are some additional software features that are running on the computer that area always running.

I haven’t fully decided if I like it or not. There are a lot of features that I do like (the graphics card is pretty decent, and I LOVE the widescreen monitor - that is something I will never go back from), but it is kind of funny to get used to it. Plus, I couldn’t get too excited about it at first because I was so bummed about the crash of the old computer.

So, that’s my newest toy. Does anyone else have a tablet (of any kind)? Any tips or horror stories?

Did anyone see Oprah today?
It reminded me about something I wanted to talk about . . .

It has only been in the past couple of years that I have become aware of the education problems in the United States. I was very fortunate in that I went to a wonderful high school with many great resources and programs, and this school prepared me very well for my undergraduate career. At the time, I knew that I was very lucky to be where I was, especially after going to public schools from kindergarten through 9th grade. The elementary schools that I went to were pitiful - I was in a very rural, small town in southern Georgia, not far from where both of my parents were raised. I can only imagine what my life would have been like had I gone through that public school system through my entire school career. I know for sure - 100% sure - that I wouldn’t have been at Wake Forest the past four years.

Since coming to school, I’ve heard about how bad things have truly gotten through Teach for America. I first heard about it my freshman year, and my best friend Stephanie just finished her first year of Teach for America teaching in the Bronx in New York City. Teach for America is an AMAZING organization that I truly admire. From their website:

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in ensuring educational equity and excellence for all children. Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort.

This sounds like a really cool idea, but I didn’t realize just how amazing it truly is until Stephanie got involved. I encourage you to check out her blog Culture Shock - it’s all about her TFA experience (the posts are password protected, but she will give the password to most anyone who requests it). Not only is she truly making a difference in the lives of these children, but you can see how no matter how hard she tries, there are still obstacles to overcome. She has had kids dropout, sent to jail, become pregnant . . . and she has also had kids who have decided that they want to go to college. Kids who passed their state exam who wouldn’t have otherwise done so. It is facinating and inspiring to hear her stories.

A few months ago Time did a cover feature about the absurd dropout rates in America. Check out “Dropout Nation.”

If you haven’t taken a look at the problems in our education system, I recommend you give it some thought. If you are a parent, take an active role in your child’s education. If you have an interest in making a difference, check out StandUp.org.

And check out Part II on Oprah tomorrow - it will open your eyes.

I’m Lindsey, and thanks so much for stopping by Suspension of Disbelief. You might want to know a little bit about who is writing all this babble on this blog, so I thought I’d share a little bit about myself!

I love living in the South. Born and raised in Georgia, live in Florida, school in North Carolina – it just doesn’t get better. I went to undergraduate school in Winston-Salem at Wake Forest University, and graduated with my BA in May 2006. I double majored in theatre and English – too much reading for my own good! After briefly dabbling as a business school graduate student, I took a year off from school and just enjoyed life working as a barista at Starbucks and as the assistant project manager for E. Webscapes (I’m still working at both of these places, though I was promoted to Shift Supervisor at Starbucks in November 2007). Now I am in the MFA in Performing Arts Management program at North Carolina School of the Arts, and will be doing that until 2010 - yay grad school! When I get tired from all the school and work, I just go home and cuddle with my ADORABLE kittens, Oscar (Peterson) and Miles (Davis)!

I’ve been blogging since August 2004, and I’ve been on WordPress since February 2005 . . . I consider my blogiversary to be February 24, 2005. I opened my first website, the now defunct site Doodlebug, in July 2004. It had a paid member’s area (Doodlebug Designs) which offered design services for email stationary on several email platforms. Unfortunately, my interests shifted and I no longer had the time and energy it required to maintain Doodlebug Designs along with my other endeavors, so I closed the doors for good in March 2007. I also switched my hosting over to Blogs-About Hosting in December 2006, and have been very happy with the service I receive there!

As with most people, everything hasn’t been rosy in my life. In May 2000, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has been in remission since August 2000, and she is an incredible woman! In February 2003, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer (he has been in remission since March 2003), and in March 2006 he was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis. However, throughout all of this, our family has only grown closer to each other, and to God.

I am a strong Christian, and am committed to my faith. I was always raised in a Christian home, but didn’t realize just what it meant to be a Christian until I gave my life to Christ in July 1998, when I was newly 14. In high school I was a co-president of Brothers And Sisters In Christ (BASIC) and for all four years of undergrad I was a devoted member and leader in Living Parables Christian Drama Troupe. I also have a faith blog called Reading Red Letters. My favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11.

My whole life I have loved reading. When I was a little kid, a lot of kids’ parents would punish them by taking away television, not allowing them to go play with friend . . . nope, not mine. My punishment was that they would take away my books. It was the ONLY way they could get me to mind, LOL! Since graduating I have found that I am reading a lot of frivolous books (read: chick lit), which I can only attribute to exclusively reading real literature and theatrical works for the past eight years of my life. Chick lit authors I like include Sophie Kinsella, Sue Margolis, Jennifer O’Connell, and Carole Matthews. I am an active participant on Bookcrossing, and I HIGHLY recommend all readers check it out!

I have loved music since I was a small child – really, as long as I can remember. My dad has loved music his whole life and he just kind of passed it down to me I guess. My favorite music is old rock’n’roll and R&B from the 1960’s and 70’s (thanks Daddy), but I also listen to current popular music, hip-hop and rap particularly. I’m game for pretty much any music, as long as it’s not country. My all time favorite band is The Beatles, but I also love the Temptations, Chicago, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and Ludacris (yes, random). A more extensive list includes:

Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Black Eyed Peas, Blue Man Group, James Brown, Burlap to Cashmere, Busta Rhymes, Caedmon’s Call, Carole King, Ed Cash, Chicago, Cirque du Soleil, Eric Clapton, Nat King Cole, Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dave Brubeck, Dave Matthews Band, Miles Davis, dc Talk, Bob Dylan, The Embers, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Stan Getz, Al Green, Hair, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Jars of Clay, Jay-Z, Jefferson Airplane, Elton John, King Floyd, The Kinks, Gladys Knight and the Pips, John Lennon, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Ludacris, The Mamas and the Papas, Bob Marley, Maroon 5, Medeski Martin and Wood, Missy Elliot, Lee Morgan, Nappy Roots, Nelly, Nickel Creek, Outkast, P.O.D., Paco de Lucia, Paul McCartney, Art Pepper, Oscar Peterson, Pillar, Pink Floyd, Bud Powell, Queen, Rent, Santana, Will Smith, Snoop Dogg, Star Wars, Steppenwolf, Sweetwater, James Taylor, Tchaikovsky, The Temptations, Thelonious Monk, Chris Thile, Third Day, Three Dog Night, Justin Timberlake, TobyMac, War, Wicked, Stevie Wonder, Victor Wooten

I’m also big into movies, though I don’t know as much about movies as I do about music. I guess I’m a music aficionado, but just hold an appreciation for movies. I am a HUGE fan of Netflix ;-)! My all-time favorites are Star Wars (V, VI, IV, II, III, I) and the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. More recent favorites include Men in Tights and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. I also love television. My favorite show of all time is Sex and the City, and I also really enjoyed OZ and Friends.  I’m a pretty big Law and Order junkie too, including SVU and CI. My TiVo Stevo records a variety of shows for me every week, including Oprah, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Heroes, Lost, Medium, Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and Private Practice.

Being from the south, cooking has been a big thing for me. My dad was raised on a farm, and when my parents got married, his mom taught my mother everything she knew. Which was a lot, LOL! I still have a ways to go, but I’d like to think that I’m pretty good at what I do for my age. And my friends are always coming over when I say I’m cooking! My favorite meal is fried chicken, rice and gravy, and zipper peas . . . ooo buddy! And, like the good southern girl I am, I am obsessed with grits and sweet tea. I’m a huge coffee drinker, which has only gotten worse since I started working at Starbucks. Used to be that I had my black coffee every morning and went about my day, but now? If I get something right before or after my shift, it’s free, so of course I have to take advantage of that! I’m also interested in learning more about wine (red wine in particular).

And in case that wasn’t enough info about me, I am ALWAYS open to questions. I love responding to questions that people ask me on my blog! So, wanna know something? Ask!