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I should mention this. I withdrew from the university this week and ended my semester. Those who know me, affectionately refer to this move as “dropping out of school,” and we’ve all seen me do it before. To my credit, however, I always go back. Also to my credit, I have a 4.0 GPA from all six colleges I’ve attended (yes, SIX). I just haven’t attended for more than two semesters in a row without getting distracted and doing something else. Going to China, starting a nonprofit, starting a business… I guess you could say I put my life first. So what happened this time? I got a job. No, not a real job. Sarah doesn’t do crazy-stable things like THAT. No, I got contract work at a design firm in downtown San Francisco. My work is to take beautiful, professional designs and turn them into website-ready HTML templates. In other words, I get to arm wrestle with graphic designers over font size and try to trick multiple browsers into displaying a website in exactly the same way. It’s fulltime, it’s fun, it’s challenging, it uses my skills, it pays at industry standards (read: enough to support me for the next semester or two of school), and it will probably end mid-May. So to all the little kiddies out there looking for a role model… Yes, it’s okay to drop out of school.Now go read your HTML primers like good citizens of the Information Age.p.s. Don’t worry. As my governor so famously used to say, “I’LL BE BACK!” (Trust me, we’ve been through this before.)

Heads up, this content is 20 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading.

This morning I awoke to find my pet mouse dead. She was a good mouse, but admittedly, I didn’t love her. I’d been ready for her to die for awhile, hoping it would come sooner rather than later. Seeing her there, though, shocked me, and flooded me with a whirlwind of cranky old memories. This isn’t the first time I’ve wished death on someone and been overwhelmed with pain when it came true. The first time was with my father.And it all poured out in writing, so I invite you to read the reflection at The Writ: Irreverence: A Eulogy.

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Congratulations to Sarah Dopp (B.A. expected 2006) winner of $1000 scholarship sponsored by the San Francisco Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

Yeah, I’m cool.