Woo! Just one week until school starts. My open house is on Thursday (8/20) from 2:15-4:45. I'm trying to get Ding over beforehand so we can work on our summer assignments, then walk over to the school together.

In other news, my mom is reconsidering getting me the G1. Her main reason is the price. The primary reason I want the phone is that it offers Internet access almost anywhere. However, that is the largest addition to the price tag. Adding my phone service, plus the upgrades she needs to make to her own plan, would send the bill through the roof. At one point she suggested switching each month - one month her phone would have Internet and mine text-messaging, the vice-versa the next month. I said of that were the case, then we may as well just drop the phone idea and focus our resources on getting me a laptop.

Since mentioning that, I've given the idea some thought, and I'm thinking that it would be the best course of action. While expensive, a laptop is a one-time expense; a phone bill is a monthly ding in the paycheck. So over the past few days, I've been looking at reasonably priced laptops and discovered a category of laptops called 'budget laptops,' meant for high-school or college students on a budget. That fits me just fine. The one I like most right now is the Dell Inspiron, which offers everything I need and has a price tag my mom won't entirely object to.

Speaking of the price tag, I've decided to throw the $100 I saved for the G1 into the laptop effort. So, if we consider a $450 laptop, it suddenly becomes a $350 laptop with my assistance.

Wow. This entry is much longer than I anticipated. I'm going to end it here. My next entry, unless something of note happens between now and then, will probably be on the day of open house.