Sunday at Home

So, last night I took a break from blogging and just enjoyed a day of nothing to do and cool weather Milan. It started raining cats and dogs at some point yesterday evening and I opened all my windows up to let the cool air in, and just enjoyed the breeze. I didn't leave the apartment yesterday. I got up and ate, and washed my hair (I told y'all it was getting close to that time) with some Sunsilk (courtesy of Unilever by way of the Wharton Marketing Conference - thanks!). Then, I spent a few hours reading through articles and studies for this research project (there's some interesting stuff in these readings - did you know there were 178 new billionaires in the world in 2007? hmmm, at that rate, I'm wondering how long it will take for me to get there). One of the articles I was reading referred to "the mere millionaires", as if somehow being a millionaire is not good enough...now, apparently being a billionaire is the new 20...anything else is second best, lol. I most enjoy reading the articles about the lifestyles of the "super affluent" and the ways in which companies bend their backs to cater to them. Some of it is so unnecessary, although I wouldn't mind someone bringing all of my favorite designer clothes to my home and allowing me to choose what I want. I could get used to that.
Once the rain came, I decided it would be a perfect time to do some tae-bo. Rather than having to navigate to youtube to find Billy Blanks online, I decided to do my own customized tae-bo workout. Basically, I took all the exercises that focus on abs, and did those, with a little bit of cardio and stretching thrown in for good measure, lol. Hey, me and Billy Blanks go way back - I should have this down by now. After tae-bo, I decided I would attempt to download a movie since I haven't turned on a television since London. My first stop was Amazon unbox, and right as I was about to check out, I got a message that their movies can only be downloaded in the U.S. - even if you are a resident of the U.S. in another country (yes, it actually said that - it must have detected that based on my computer). Great. Next stop was MovieLink. They were a little more direct. As soon as the page loaded, it said they didn't offer downloads outside of the U.S. Aaaggghhh...the things we take for granted in the states. Y'all know I'm a trooper though, so I wasn't giving up. I tried to go with what I thought would be the most reliable: iTunes. Now they would allow me to download...however, it would take me a good 4 hours to download Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?. Nice. Well, I had time to kill so I set it up. Despite having the connection interrupted about four or five times, it kept chugging along...until about 15 minutes left. Then, you know what happened? My computer crashed. Yep. Of course, something like that would only happen to me. When I attempted to reboot, you know what I got? This message: "No hard drive detected." Even better. Now, some of y'all know that my laptop is possessed (don't ever buy a Dell) and has temper-tantrums sometimes, so I just chalked it up as one of those moments. I shut it down and rebooted it about three or four times before it finally recognized my hard drive and booted up (I told you it's possessed). I gave up on iTunes....for the moment. I spent the rest of the evening sending and checking emails and reading more articles and adding them into the spreadsheet tracker.
This morning, I got up extra early so I wouldn't have the cleaning lady barge in on me sleeping again (yes, today is cleaning day again). I attempted the iTunes download again (fortunately, it picked up where it left off, however, both times it froze my computer). I decided to check for updates and of course, there was a recent update I was advised to install. Once that completed, I decided to leave the apartment (the cleaning lady was there by that time) and come to Bocconi to give the cleaning lady space to clean the apartment and so I would be nice and relaxed before my Italian language class today. Of course, me being paranoid, I packed up my valuables in my suitcase and locked it (with my $7.99 TSA approved luggage lock, courtesy of my people - Target). Not that I think she would steal anything, but you know, better to be safe than sorry. The walk to Bocconi was pretty boring - most of the stores here do not open on Mondays until 3pm so there was not much to look at. I passed the white dress again- the one I drool over everytime I walk to Bocconi (it has made it onto my wish list). It's in the window of a store about three blocks from our apartment, and costs about 58 euros. Every time I walk by I check the price, as if it will magically change one day. I will take a picture one of these days and post it. It's so "me." Lol. I don't particularly care for white but the style is so adorable. I also passed the lady in Ticinese plaza who sells shirts and dresses in the middle of the plaza. She has her own little Forever 21 right there in the middle of the square, and always has really cute dresses and tops. Today, she had something new - a red dress with black trim. Very cute. 11 euros. I'm still thinking about it. I stopped into the dollar store...well, the euro store (of course they were open) and bought something that for all intents and purposes will function as a folder although it's quite odd looking to me. It's made of very soft plastic and the folder flaps inside are not very wide. I'm at Bocconi at the moment, in a nice air-conditioned study room. Susanna just walked in a bit early and called us for class so off I go. I'll keep you all posted. Enjoy your day!