Whitewashed, Beethoven and stuff

I'm from Fredericksburg, VA, and as of 7 PM last evening the entire 103.5 WTOP listening area was issued a winter storm warning, predicting 1-2 feet of snow, the highest average of snowfall per hour falling in points south of Washington, DC. That would be Fredericksburg.

Thank heaven for interrupted days--time out to just hole up and do things out of the ordinary. I re-watched the movie Julie and Julia (bordering a little on obsessed with this movie, I know), and so I was re-inspired to continue blogging about doing what I love.

Today I am working on my cello teaching portfolio, blog networking, and trying to figure out how to get myself on the first page of Google when people type in "musician Fredericksburg," "music teacher Fredericksburg," or something along those lines. Any tips would be welcome.

I'm also in sore need of a laptop. The term "starving artist" is exceptionally appropriate in my case, and although I'm happy and have little to complain about, I realize the very practical necessity of having a technological means by which to make myself known to the area public.

So another one of my holiday projects is figuring out how to finance a new computer. My use of the computer is limited to the very basest form: e-mail, facebook, and blogging...so a very bottom of the line-yet functional machine will suffice.

I do shy away from Dell, although I know it's probably the cheapest; my first laptop, a Dell notebook crashed twice within three months. My current IBM Thinkpad technically works, but half of the screen is a distorted mess, and it regularly freezes.

Speaking of freezing, I am looking outside and the white inches are sticking to the tree branches in the loveliest way. Beethoven's birthday was this week, December 16...happy birthday, Mr. Ludwig. I celebrated by driving back and forth from my day job faithfully listening to classical 90.9, which played only Beethoven compositions on the day.

So, snow, Beethoven, and boring practical needs are all on my mind. I do not intend to twitter the day away dreaming about them, but fortunately for me, the weather interruption enables just a bit more twittering than usual.