Tuesday, September 14, 2004
i am jealous
Mel found herself a good coffee shop, and to hear her talk about it reminds me of just how important a good coffee shop is to one's well-being. I am currently without a good coffee shop. Sure, there are plenty of places where I get coffee/other drinks (big fan of bubble tea and red bean smoothies) but there's not that one place where I want to sit, drink coffee, decompress, feel comfortable. I've had "my coffee shop" everywhere I've ever lived, except for two—my hometown, and the town I live in now—neither are places I actually want to live. Maybe there's a connection...
When I went to college, I had a coffee shop that I visited almost everyday. I hadn't yet begun my trip into the highly caffeinated world; I drank tea. But the concept was the same—this was the place we went to hang out, to feel comfortable, to decompress from school. Of course, my little gaggle of people didn't belong anywhere on campus...the big kids didn't want us around and we didn't want to be around our fellow special-program members (they tended toward the gooberish side). So, we drank tea and ate brie sandwiches. It worked out.
I went to grad school for half a semester (it sucked) but I had two really great coffee shops: one crunchy hippie place that smelled of incense and had walls covered with the standard fare of music/march/rally/free tibet posters, and one "uppity academic" place. I managed to enjoy both places equally...as far as I was concerned, it was a place that wasn't my apartment, and that's all that mattered. After a few months, I left and found my way to a kick-ass college town, where I worked in a great coffee shop. At least I thought it was pretty great, and there were plenty of people who hung out there all day and until midnight so they thought it was pretty great. When I wasn't working, I hung out there because everyone I knew and liked was there, except for the coolest person I knew in that town. She didn't like it there and never came in, and that was sad for me. But anyway...around the time that I worked at the coffee shop, I realized my love for coffee...probably because it was free.
I moved away from there after a few years, and came out here to California. It took me about three years to find a decent place where I felt comfy and the atmosphere was good, and that was a bad, bad move. I started running with a bad crowd. Actually, it was more like I started taking care of the wrong crowd and did everything I could to keep the owners and employees from getting thrown in jail or rehab. I eventually left the state, moved to Richmond. I love Richmond. I would live there again in a heartbeat. Betsy's in Carytown was my place. But then I switched jobs, moved up to Alexandria, worked in Georgetown, and became a Dean & Deluca person (it was next door to the office).
I've been back in California for four years, and I haven't had a good coffee place in all that time. There are a few indie places that I visit when I remember, but my days of sitting and decompressing from the world seem long gone...not because I can't find a good coffee place, but because "down time" isn't something that works itself into my everyday life, which sucks. I would love to sit and sip coffee at Willow Glen Coffee (5 mins away) or even Cafe Pergolesi (30 mins away), but there's just no space for that...there's always work to be done, or work to try to find, or work to stress about.
Come to think of it, I think I'm more jealous of Mel's ability to take the time to hang out in a great coffee place. :( Even if I found a place that I really enjoyed, work would find a way to seep into the experience...probably in the form of WiFi...because when your company's largest client is one of the world's leading WiFi hotspot aggregators, I tend to think of places in terms of their WiFi-ness (or lack thereof).
I had a friend once who really wanted to go off to Mexico and live in a cave. I think that's the only way I'll ever get some happy peace and quiet ...but there'd have to be a really good coffee shop nearby.
Mel found herself a good coffee shop, and to hear her talk about it reminds me of just how important a good coffee shop is to one's well-being. I am currently without a good coffee shop. Sure, there are plenty of places where I get coffee/other drinks (big fan of bubble tea and red bean smoothies) but there's not that one place where I want to sit, drink coffee, decompress, feel comfortable. I've had "my coffee shop" everywhere I've ever lived, except for two—my hometown, and the town I live in now—neither are places I actually want to live. Maybe there's a connection...
When I went to college, I had a coffee shop that I visited almost everyday. I hadn't yet begun my trip into the highly caffeinated world; I drank tea. But the concept was the same—this was the place we went to hang out, to feel comfortable, to decompress from school. Of course, my little gaggle of people didn't belong anywhere on campus...the big kids didn't want us around and we didn't want to be around our fellow special-program members (they tended toward the gooberish side). So, we drank tea and ate brie sandwiches. It worked out.
I went to grad school for half a semester (it sucked) but I had two really great coffee shops: one crunchy hippie place that smelled of incense and had walls covered with the standard fare of music/march/rally/free tibet posters, and one "uppity academic" place. I managed to enjoy both places equally...as far as I was concerned, it was a place that wasn't my apartment, and that's all that mattered. After a few months, I left and found my way to a kick-ass college town, where I worked in a great coffee shop. At least I thought it was pretty great, and there were plenty of people who hung out there all day and until midnight so they thought it was pretty great. When I wasn't working, I hung out there because everyone I knew and liked was there, except for the coolest person I knew in that town. She didn't like it there and never came in, and that was sad for me. But anyway...around the time that I worked at the coffee shop, I realized my love for coffee...probably because it was free.
I moved away from there after a few years, and came out here to California. It took me about three years to find a decent place where I felt comfy and the atmosphere was good, and that was a bad, bad move. I started running with a bad crowd. Actually, it was more like I started taking care of the wrong crowd and did everything I could to keep the owners and employees from getting thrown in jail or rehab. I eventually left the state, moved to Richmond. I love Richmond. I would live there again in a heartbeat. Betsy's in Carytown was my place. But then I switched jobs, moved up to Alexandria, worked in Georgetown, and became a Dean & Deluca person (it was next door to the office).
I've been back in California for four years, and I haven't had a good coffee place in all that time. There are a few indie places that I visit when I remember, but my days of sitting and decompressing from the world seem long gone...not because I can't find a good coffee place, but because "down time" isn't something that works itself into my everyday life, which sucks. I would love to sit and sip coffee at Willow Glen Coffee (5 mins away) or even Cafe Pergolesi (30 mins away), but there's just no space for that...there's always work to be done, or work to try to find, or work to stress about.
Come to think of it, I think I'm more jealous of Mel's ability to take the time to hang out in a great coffee place. :( Even if I found a place that I really enjoyed, work would find a way to seep into the experience...probably in the form of WiFi...because when your company's largest client is one of the world's leading WiFi hotspot aggregators, I tend to think of places in terms of their WiFi-ness (or lack thereof).
I had a friend once who really wanted to go off to Mexico and live in a cave. I think that's the only way I'll ever get some happy peace and quiet ...but there'd have to be a really good coffee shop nearby.
Monday, September 13, 2004
oh dear.
Senior Photo Gallery [via ~profgrrrrl~]
So very glad I did not go to high school...else I fear I would be in this gallery.
Senior Photo Gallery [via ~profgrrrrl~]
So very glad I did not go to high school...else I fear I would be in this gallery.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
i took the long way home from starbucks
Right then...so, I got up early and wasn't in the state of mind to work quite yet, and I didn't want to go to the gym, either. I needed coffee, so I went out to get some and decided to keep driving. It wasn't even 7am, so I knew I could get a good drive in and still be back in time for football to start. The drive over the hill was foggy, but it always is at 7am, so I wasn't too concerned. I saw no less than five cops in a 25m span...good thing I drive the speed limit or thereabouts (now).
I was going to take photos from the wharf, where if you turn to your left you have a good view of the entire boardwalk (too early for deep-fried mars bars, I'm afraid) and if you look down you can see a bunch of sea lions who live underneath the pier, but the whole area was blocked off for some reason. So I headed up Highway 1 and figured I'd take pretty pictures of various beaches. I got to the last red light on the way out of town and we waited...and waited...and waited...for a lot of cyclists to get through the intersection. Apparently, on the same day as the T-Mobile International in San Francisco, there was some other race happening, at least 60m (I saw the mile marker signs). It was a wee bit unnerving, driving up a foggy Highway 1 with a bunch of cyclists on the road. I had the cruise on, just under the speed limit, and there were people passing me, of course, but call me crazy—I just didn't want to run over a guy on a bike. Eventually, I had passed all the cyclists, and in the process saw another seven cops at various points along the road. So, if anyone wants to know where all the California Highway Patrol cars are today, they're in Santa Cruz County.
Now it gets interesting, because no matter how many times I do the San Jose-to-Santa Cruz-to-HMB-to 280 and back home drive, I invariably have to potty near Pescadero, which offers no real pottying opportunities and there's no way I can hold it until Half Moon Bay. Yes, I'm an idiot. But have no fear, because the Bean Hollow beach has a fairly clean potty spot, and thus I went. That's one reason I like Bean Hollow...not only is it a nice little beach, with both sand and surf and rocks and a little inlet off to the side, it has an ok bathroom situation.
The rest of the drive was a dud—I passed all the beaches I normally would have stopped and photographed, because it was still so dang foggy! In fact, by the time I got to HMB and made the turn onto the winding road that goes to the freeway, it was actually raining. That's too bad, because the winding road is quite photogenic—in a one-mile stretch of road you have 20-foot carved dinosaurs, several nurseries, a winery, a christmas tree farm, a large pumpkin patch, and a really old cemetery.
As I made it back onto the freeway, the sun was shining very brightly and I left the little world of the coastal highway. I like the coastal highway and all the cruddy little farms and houses and wanna-be towns, with their side-of-the-road produce stands—it reminds me of where I grew up, except for the big ocean. There's no ocean in Pennsylvania.
Right then...so, I got up early and wasn't in the state of mind to work quite yet, and I didn't want to go to the gym, either. I needed coffee, so I went out to get some and decided to keep driving. It wasn't even 7am, so I knew I could get a good drive in and still be back in time for football to start. The drive over the hill was foggy, but it always is at 7am, so I wasn't too concerned. I saw no less than five cops in a 25m span...good thing I drive the speed limit or thereabouts (now).
I was going to take photos from the wharf, where if you turn to your left you have a good view of the entire boardwalk (too early for deep-fried mars bars, I'm afraid) and if you look down you can see a bunch of sea lions who live underneath the pier, but the whole area was blocked off for some reason. So I headed up Highway 1 and figured I'd take pretty pictures of various beaches. I got to the last red light on the way out of town and we waited...and waited...and waited...for a lot of cyclists to get through the intersection. Apparently, on the same day as the T-Mobile International in San Francisco, there was some other race happening, at least 60m (I saw the mile marker signs). It was a wee bit unnerving, driving up a foggy Highway 1 with a bunch of cyclists on the road. I had the cruise on, just under the speed limit, and there were people passing me, of course, but call me crazy—I just didn't want to run over a guy on a bike. Eventually, I had passed all the cyclists, and in the process saw another seven cops at various points along the road. So, if anyone wants to know where all the California Highway Patrol cars are today, they're in Santa Cruz County.
Now it gets interesting, because no matter how many times I do the San Jose-to-Santa Cruz-to-HMB-to 280 and back home drive, I invariably have to potty near Pescadero, which offers no real pottying opportunities and there's no way I can hold it until Half Moon Bay. Yes, I'm an idiot. But have no fear, because the Bean Hollow beach has a fairly clean potty spot, and thus I went. That's one reason I like Bean Hollow...not only is it a nice little beach, with both sand and surf and rocks and a little inlet off to the side, it has an ok bathroom situation.
The rest of the drive was a dud—I passed all the beaches I normally would have stopped and photographed, because it was still so dang foggy! In fact, by the time I got to HMB and made the turn onto the winding road that goes to the freeway, it was actually raining. That's too bad, because the winding road is quite photogenic—in a one-mile stretch of road you have 20-foot carved dinosaurs, several nurseries, a winery, a christmas tree farm, a large pumpkin patch, and a really old cemetery.
As I made it back onto the freeway, the sun was shining very brightly and I left the little world of the coastal highway. I like the coastal highway and all the cruddy little farms and houses and wanna-be towns, with their side-of-the-road produce stands—it reminds me of where I grew up, except for the big ocean. There's no ocean in Pennsylvania.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
from the back porch
I finally got a cheapo digital camera. I've had different ones over the years, but you know how it is, sort of like CDs—buy them, use them, sell them, eventually start over. I was going to get one of those $35 credit-card sized cameras, but the Vivitar ViviCam 3750 was on "rollback" at Wal-Mart and was only a little chunk more, so I figured what the heck. Now we'll have a little life in this blog...although all I've started with is this photo of my fake pond. No ducks were in it at the time, which is unfortunate because parts of them are unnaturally blue-colored from the soap/other random chemicals that live in the fake pond.
I finally got a cheapo digital camera. I've had different ones over the years, but you know how it is, sort of like CDs—buy them, use them, sell them, eventually start over. I was going to get one of those $35 credit-card sized cameras, but the Vivitar ViviCam 3750 was on "rollback" at Wal-Mart and was only a little chunk more, so I figured what the heck. Now we'll have a little life in this blog...although all I've started with is this photo of my fake pond. No ducks were in it at the time, which is unfortunate because parts of them are unnaturally blue-colored from the soap/other random chemicals that live in the fake pond.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
the federal assault-weapons ban
Did anyone catch the interview on NPR today during Lehrer, with Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California)? I listed to it, then I read the transcript and I'm terribly confused. Or incredulous. I think I'm more incredulous than confused. Basically, it seemed to me that Craig was saying that they weren't even going to put it to a vote "just because we don't want to". Hell, even Bush says he'd sign the bill to renew the ban. Two-thirds to three-quarters of Americans support the ban. It seems pretty straightforward: assault-weapons bad, ban good. Ban is expiring, let's renew the ban.
Craig just sounded like a complete idiot. Check this out:
Anyway, I'm either confused or incredulous, I don't know. Seems obvious: assault weapons bad, ban good. I'm not even going to get into the whole "and you want to legalize the arms for the terror cells in the US" thing. Jeebus.
Did anyone catch the interview on NPR today during Lehrer, with Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California)? I listed to it, then I read the transcript and I'm terribly confused. Or incredulous. I think I'm more incredulous than confused. Basically, it seemed to me that Craig was saying that they weren't even going to put it to a vote "just because we don't want to". Hell, even Bush says he'd sign the bill to renew the ban. Two-thirds to three-quarters of Americans support the ban. It seems pretty straightforward: assault-weapons bad, ban good. Ban is expiring, let's renew the ban.
Craig just sounded like a complete idiot. Check this out:
MARGARET WARNER: But do you think there will be a very vigorous sale of these?So, that would be a "yes"...if you lift a ban, people who had previously not purchased assault weapons would now go purchase assault weapons, because it would be legal...and that's a good thing? Huh? Also, what the heck does "more women than ever own a firearm for self-protection" have to do with anything? Do they? That's nice. Nice, legal firearms, 2nd Amendment, that's wonderful. What exactly does that have to do with fully automatic assault weapons? The logic is...what now? Or...what ever was it?
SEN. LARRY CRAIG: Any time you lift a ban, if you had banned Lincoln automobiles for five years and you lifted the ban, there would be a pent-up demand in the marketplace for anything. Americans own firearms. More Americans today and more women than ever own a firearm for self-protection, and yet crime by the use of a firearm has dramatically dropped and is continuing to drop because the law enforcement community goes after those who in illegal fashion use a firearm.
Anyway, I'm either confused or incredulous, I don't know. Seems obvious: assault weapons bad, ban good. I'm not even going to get into the whole "and you want to legalize the arms for the terror cells in the US" thing. Jeebus.
everyone give props to Mac
Mac at pesky'apostrophe has been putting together a detailed comparison of election issues from the Bush and Kerry camps. They are very long, very detailed, and are also available in handy PDFs for easy printing and sharing.
So far, she's done Healthcare, Education, Environment & Energy and Veterans & the Military. A must read for those (of us) who wish to be informed voters.
Mac at pesky'apostrophe has been putting together a detailed comparison of election issues from the Bush and Kerry camps. They are very long, very detailed, and are also available in handy PDFs for easy printing and sharing.
So far, she's done Healthcare, Education, Environment & Energy and Veterans & the Military. A must read for those (of us) who wish to be informed voters.
it's all about the upper left
The Best of Eyetrack III: What We Saw When We Looked Through Their Eyes
[via Dan Gillmor]
The Best of Eyetrack III: What We Saw When We Looked Through Their Eyes
In Eyetrack III, we observed 46 people for one hour as their eyes followed mock news websites and real multimedia content.The results are fascinating, as you would imagine. I really like it when other people go off and do scientific research to back up the things that we tell our clients. Very handy!
[via Dan Gillmor]
there's a "talk like a pirate day"??
Apparently, there is, and it's on Sept 19th. Arrr!
[via Language Log (this permalink actually has interesting information about pirates and history)]
Apparently, there is, and it's on Sept 19th. Arrr!
[via Language Log (this permalink actually has interesting information about pirates and history)]
like rabbits...
My GMail invites (as with everyone else's) are multiplying. I'm back up to having6 5 4 6 5 available, and I've even given away like 10 already! If you'd like one, just leave a comment.
My GMail invites (as with everyone else's) are multiplying. I'm back up to having
i actually remember Franklin
Starting the day off right, with a quiz:
You are Franklin!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
[via Frogs and Ravens, where Rana is Rerun (and I remember him, too!)]
Starting the day off right, with a quiz:
You are Franklin!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
[via Frogs and Ravens, where Rana is Rerun (and I remember him, too!)]
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
jeez, I'd hate us too
Read the rest...
[via email]
"The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous."-- From "We're Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore", by Garrison Keillor, appears in In These Times.
Read the rest...
[via email]
some thoughts, on a Tuesday
It really feels like a Monday. I have a sneaking suspicion that this week is going to suck at work. I don't know why, because it's not the end of a quarter, but I just have this feeling.
Yesterday, the power went out at 5:05pm. This happens occasionally, it being California in the summertime. But this wasn't a rolling blackout or some other "oh, we don't have enough money to pay the power bill" type of thing, for it was only my building and the two next to me, not the ones behind us or any other part of the street. No one seemed to know why, no one had run into a pole or a transformer, or any of the other usual causes.
The handy "outage" phone number for the electric company kept saying they had no status, that usually power is restored between 1-4 hours (that's true). So I hunkered down with Bleak House, the remnants of daylight, and my trusty flashlight. I read several chapters and daylight went away, and my trusty flashlight just wasn't emitting enough light for me to read the tiny Penguin Classic print. So I called the outage status line once more, then went to sleep. At 8:30. Actually, I probably would have been asleep at that time anyway, just while watching TV, if I had power...I still hurt like crazy from my workout the other day.
I tossed and turned, turned and tossed, called the outage status line again around 11pm and found that my power would be back on between 7-9am. Great—there's nothing I like more than brushing my teeth and getting ready for school in the pitch black (although having worked for a summer at a camp for the blind, I know some tricks!). But at 2:43am, the power came back on. Microwaves beeped, printers readied themselves, the fishtank gurgled and the cats freaked out. I'm so looking forward to cleaning out my fridge/freezer and seeing what's no longer salvageable after nine hours without power.
Oh, and Mel has a robot in her house, and I completely biffed a deadline by writing down "finish chapters" on Sept 8 instead of Sept 1 in my calendar. Brilliant. It's going to be an interesting week.
It really feels like a Monday. I have a sneaking suspicion that this week is going to suck at work. I don't know why, because it's not the end of a quarter, but I just have this feeling.
Yesterday, the power went out at 5:05pm. This happens occasionally, it being California in the summertime. But this wasn't a rolling blackout or some other "oh, we don't have enough money to pay the power bill" type of thing, for it was only my building and the two next to me, not the ones behind us or any other part of the street. No one seemed to know why, no one had run into a pole or a transformer, or any of the other usual causes.
The handy "outage" phone number for the electric company kept saying they had no status, that usually power is restored between 1-4 hours (that's true). So I hunkered down with Bleak House, the remnants of daylight, and my trusty flashlight. I read several chapters and daylight went away, and my trusty flashlight just wasn't emitting enough light for me to read the tiny Penguin Classic print. So I called the outage status line once more, then went to sleep. At 8:30. Actually, I probably would have been asleep at that time anyway, just while watching TV, if I had power...I still hurt like crazy from my workout the other day.
I tossed and turned, turned and tossed, called the outage status line again around 11pm and found that my power would be back on between 7-9am. Great—there's nothing I like more than brushing my teeth and getting ready for school in the pitch black (although having worked for a summer at a camp for the blind, I know some tricks!). But at 2:43am, the power came back on. Microwaves beeped, printers readied themselves, the fishtank gurgled and the cats freaked out. I'm so looking forward to cleaning out my fridge/freezer and seeing what's no longer salvageable after nine hours without power.
Oh, and Mel has a robot in her house, and I completely biffed a deadline by writing down "finish chapters" on Sept 8 instead of Sept 1 in my calendar. Brilliant. It's going to be an interesting week.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
i don't do movie reviews
So I'll just say that María, llena eres de gracia (Maria Full of Grace) was really good. I also saw the preview for The Motorcycle Diaries and it looked really good, too. I'll have to save my moola, though, because I've been waiting for Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow to come out for A Really Long Time and it's almost here! It had better not suck.
So I'll just say that María, llena eres de gracia (Maria Full of Grace) was really good. I also saw the preview for The Motorcycle Diaries and it looked really good, too. I'll have to save my moola, though, because I've been waiting for Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow to come out for A Really Long Time and it's almost here! It had better not suck.
vindication!
As previously noted, I voted for Beaker & Honeydew as my favorite tv/movie scientist(s). You know what? I wasn't the only one, because they won! So there. Take that, Dr Strangelove, Scully and Spock. Nyah.
As previously noted, I voted for Beaker & Honeydew as my favorite tv/movie scientist(s). You know what? I wasn't the only one, because they won! So there. Take that, Dr Strangelove, Scully and Spock. Nyah.
a good workout, i think
I just got back from the gym, and I did my first Power of 10 workout, so it was pretty quick. I felt kind of bad that it went so fast (about 25 mins), but I wobbled out of there like I had been there for a really long time, so I think it was a good workout. I have a hard time with the 10 seconds up, 10 second down on some of the exercises—triceps extension in particular. I can usually do 7 or 8 seconds, but slowing down is not something I'm good at, in anything, so that will be a problem. Maybe I'll switch to the machine to do the triceps extension, rather than the cables. I don't feel especially tired, but I worked up a good sweat and was quite wobbly (you know, when your brain says walk or move your arms and your legs and arms are about half a second behind your brain?). So, if "wobbly" and "hungry" are good indicators of a successful workout, then I probably had one. I'll know more in the morning, I'm sure!
I just got back from the gym, and I did my first Power of 10 workout, so it was pretty quick. I felt kind of bad that it went so fast (about 25 mins), but I wobbled out of there like I had been there for a really long time, so I think it was a good workout. I have a hard time with the 10 seconds up, 10 second down on some of the exercises—triceps extension in particular. I can usually do 7 or 8 seconds, but slowing down is not something I'm good at, in anything, so that will be a problem. Maybe I'll switch to the machine to do the triceps extension, rather than the cables. I don't feel especially tired, but I worked up a good sweat and was quite wobbly (you know, when your brain says walk or move your arms and your legs and arms are about half a second behind your brain?). So, if "wobbly" and "hungry" are good indicators of a successful workout, then I probably had one. I'll know more in the morning, I'm sure!
two weeks down, fourteen to go
Or something like that...my classes started last week. I'm actually into the flow and everything. So, for the sake of the few people who wonder how I've been spending my non-work, non-writing time, it goes something like this:
Monday night I have a 6:30pm-9:15pm class, "International & Comparative Management". I sit in the back of the cavernous room with my laptop on and the wireless up, and take notes and/or handle any work-related things that pop up/didn't get done during the day/should get done before the morning. Sometimes I've been known to read blogs during this time. This is because the prof and the class are quite boring. Not that the information isn't good—it is—but it is also dreadfully boring. I actually do take notes, should he say anything noteworthy. Lest you think I'm a terrible student, I'm not...I do all the reading, dutifully take reading notes and write my case responses. The one good thing so far about the class is the writing requirement. I love a class with a writing requirement, even if it is only a page or two per class. There's nothing special or noteworthy about this class—no group work, no big paper, just the weekly writing and a few midterms
Tuesdays are a big day. It starts with my 7:30am-8:45am class...actually, it starts with my 6:30am trip to the diner. I figure if I'm going to get up that early, might as well start the day off right, with a hearty breakfast. This class, "Organizational Change and Design", has a significant amount of group work, which I hate. But I knew about it, going in, and it is a class on managing orgs, a group being an org, so it makes sense. There is also a writing component in the class, which is good, but it's in pairs, which sucks. I don't particularly like having my grade tied to the work of another, especially when it comes to writing. Knowing we'd have to be paired off for case writing, I scoped out the class members and tried to figure out who I could stand to share the tasks. I had a few picked out, who had either been in the first half of this class with me, or who are in some of my other classes...but they either already paired up or packed up and left class when it was over, before I should track them down. That left the guy sitting next to me...a senior, frat-boy kind of guy, perfectly nice but sort of a goof. He sat near me in the first half of this class, last semester, so I know what grades he got on his tests and papers. He didn't fail or anything, but he didn't get As. Of course, neither did I, but I came a lot closer. :) Anyway, he's my partner. We teamed up with two other sets of people, to form our group. The group will be doing a semester-long study on a particular company of our choice, resulting in a paper and a presentation. I will be lobbying throughout the semester for my group to let me be the person who pulls the paper together, based on all of our responses, etc. I hope it works. Oh, because this class bleeds into the start of the workday, I have my laptop with me and my eth cable for wired access. I don't like being unavailable to my boss, although I rarely have anything to deal with at the start of the day.
Tuesday afternoon, I have a 4:30pm-5:45pm class: "Business Systems and Policy". This is the class where I get to learn all about the use of Microsoft Access as an enterprise database system, or some shit like that. Oh, and how to develop IT solutions for companies. Yes, it's a required class, else I sure wouldn't be taking it. First, I know how to develop IT solutions (and if I didn't, the company I work for would be in a world of hurt!) and second, don't even get me started on Access... But the fellow teaching it is awfully nice, and despite the sarcasm apparent in this description, I don't have a bad attitude about it. There's group work in here as well, for writing up some cases, and I had no real opportunity to pick group members based on anything other than geography...four of us sitting next to each other decided to be a group. They're all quite freaked out by the case writing thing, so I am going to generously volunteer to be the team leader for the first case. We all have to be team leader twice (there are eight cases), so they'll have to do their part, too...but I'd like to start us out on the right foot, and writing cases in the format provided by the prof doesn't freak me out.
Tuesday night, I have a 6:00pm-8:45pm class: "Management Issues in High Technology Companies". The prof is very nice, and funny in that sort of off-beat way where only I seem to laugh at his jokes. I have my laptop in this class as well, with the wireless, but more for notetaking than anything else, as it seems to be an engaging sort of class. The first class meeting was just an overview of the various high tech (semiconductors, telecom, hw/sw/services, etc.) firms worldwide and their relative revenues, but it was really funny because we were all wrong a lot of the time and just sat there yelling out names of companies that we thought might possibly be in the top ten of something. It wasn't graded, it was more like an ice-breaker and a way to kill the first class period when none of us had any assignment to do for that day. The funniest part of the class was at the end, when a woman went up to tell the prof that he didn't call her name during roll call, and it was determined that she actually should have been in the class across the hall. Now, not only did she sit through almost three hours of the wrong class, "Management Issues in High Technology Companies" and "Diversity in HR Management" are pretty damn different classes. If she didn't clue in to that, as we were discussing the relative revenues of, say, IBM and Dell, and the differences in their product offerings, methinks she ought not be in either class and instead may want to spend some time back in Business 10 or some other introductory course. Those of us still in the room were all suitably aghast. Oh, there's a group project (paper) in this class as well. One of the team roles is "Project Writing Coordinator". Guess who will be lobbying hard for that one?
I have no classes on Wednesdays, and Thursdays have the same 7:30am and 4:30pm classes, but my evening class is different. From 7:00pm til 10:15pm, I have "The Victorian Age", and although the classroom is wireless-enabled, this is a seminar class with all our desks in a circle...having my laptop open for notetaking and work-related connectivity just seems wrong, so it's back to pen and paper for this one. I check my mail and what not during the hour before this class, so if some emergency arises, I'm all over it. None has, so far. We're opening this class by reading Bleak House, so I have read the first 200 pages or so, and I have to say, I don't hate it. I am rather enjoying it, actually. The class itself is a strange mix of folks. Now, let it be known that my school of 21K undergrads is 32% Asian, 27% White, 12% Mexican American/Other Hispanic, 7% Filipino and 4% African American (plus 18% not stated). In other words, pretty damn diverse. In the business school, I'd say my classes run about 60% Asian, 20% Mexican American/Other Hispanic, 15% White, 5% other. In this class, we have about 20 people, and 18 are white. There goes the diversity. But what this class lacks in ethnic diversity, it makes up for it in the range of ages present. I'd say there are 5 people around normal college age, about 7 of us in the 30s, and no less than 8 people eligible for AARP. So far, the AARP folks haven't said much, and the conversation has been dominated by the ultra-annoying 19 year old boy who has managed to work in every book he's read plus his knowledge of trepanning. Now, I've only read the first thirteen chapters of Bleak House, but I don't think there's any mention of trepanning in it...or any of the other novels we'll be reading in that class, for that matter.
Fridays are off days, but I do have one online course and the work for it tends to happen on Fridays. This course, "Philosophy of Science", is a WebCT class and it's just fascinating. My fascination is less of the subject matter (which I've already read, having taken half of this course before) than it is the participation. There are 40 students in the class, but the first week has generated 374 messages. Yes, participation in the discussion board is graded (and required), but in an offline class, participation is graded as well—any of you teacher folk ever had 73 distinct, thoughtful student comments on something that wasn't part of the required reading (and 113 on reading that was required)? Maybe you have, and maybe my surprise stems from the lack of participation and intelligence that I've seen in my other classes. It should also be noted that this class contains zero Philosophy majors—it's an advanced general education course and the majority of the class are in business or science (the two largest schools on campus), so it's not like the discussion is dominated by anyone with any academic experience in Philosophy. It's quite heart-warming to watch and participate, because not only would I have participated less in an offline class, I'm sure the rest of the class would have been similarly quiet. Except, of course, the loudmouth on the message boards who seems intent on responding to each and every comment like a pompous ass. I'm sure he would have been like that in person, too.
All in all, an interesting mix of stuff, so far. Keeps me busy, at least.
Or something like that...my classes started last week. I'm actually into the flow and everything. So, for the sake of the few people who wonder how I've been spending my non-work, non-writing time, it goes something like this:
Monday night I have a 6:30pm-9:15pm class, "International & Comparative Management". I sit in the back of the cavernous room with my laptop on and the wireless up, and take notes and/or handle any work-related things that pop up/didn't get done during the day/should get done before the morning. Sometimes I've been known to read blogs during this time. This is because the prof and the class are quite boring. Not that the information isn't good—it is—but it is also dreadfully boring. I actually do take notes, should he say anything noteworthy. Lest you think I'm a terrible student, I'm not...I do all the reading, dutifully take reading notes and write my case responses. The one good thing so far about the class is the writing requirement. I love a class with a writing requirement, even if it is only a page or two per class. There's nothing special or noteworthy about this class—no group work, no big paper, just the weekly writing and a few midterms
Tuesdays are a big day. It starts with my 7:30am-8:45am class...actually, it starts with my 6:30am trip to the diner. I figure if I'm going to get up that early, might as well start the day off right, with a hearty breakfast. This class, "Organizational Change and Design", has a significant amount of group work, which I hate. But I knew about it, going in, and it is a class on managing orgs, a group being an org, so it makes sense. There is also a writing component in the class, which is good, but it's in pairs, which sucks. I don't particularly like having my grade tied to the work of another, especially when it comes to writing. Knowing we'd have to be paired off for case writing, I scoped out the class members and tried to figure out who I could stand to share the tasks. I had a few picked out, who had either been in the first half of this class with me, or who are in some of my other classes...but they either already paired up or packed up and left class when it was over, before I should track them down. That left the guy sitting next to me...a senior, frat-boy kind of guy, perfectly nice but sort of a goof. He sat near me in the first half of this class, last semester, so I know what grades he got on his tests and papers. He didn't fail or anything, but he didn't get As. Of course, neither did I, but I came a lot closer. :) Anyway, he's my partner. We teamed up with two other sets of people, to form our group. The group will be doing a semester-long study on a particular company of our choice, resulting in a paper and a presentation. I will be lobbying throughout the semester for my group to let me be the person who pulls the paper together, based on all of our responses, etc. I hope it works. Oh, because this class bleeds into the start of the workday, I have my laptop with me and my eth cable for wired access. I don't like being unavailable to my boss, although I rarely have anything to deal with at the start of the day.
Tuesday afternoon, I have a 4:30pm-5:45pm class: "Business Systems and Policy". This is the class where I get to learn all about the use of Microsoft Access as an enterprise database system, or some shit like that. Oh, and how to develop IT solutions for companies. Yes, it's a required class, else I sure wouldn't be taking it. First, I know how to develop IT solutions (and if I didn't, the company I work for would be in a world of hurt!) and second, don't even get me started on Access... But the fellow teaching it is awfully nice, and despite the sarcasm apparent in this description, I don't have a bad attitude about it. There's group work in here as well, for writing up some cases, and I had no real opportunity to pick group members based on anything other than geography...four of us sitting next to each other decided to be a group. They're all quite freaked out by the case writing thing, so I am going to generously volunteer to be the team leader for the first case. We all have to be team leader twice (there are eight cases), so they'll have to do their part, too...but I'd like to start us out on the right foot, and writing cases in the format provided by the prof doesn't freak me out.
Tuesday night, I have a 6:00pm-8:45pm class: "Management Issues in High Technology Companies". The prof is very nice, and funny in that sort of off-beat way where only I seem to laugh at his jokes. I have my laptop in this class as well, with the wireless, but more for notetaking than anything else, as it seems to be an engaging sort of class. The first class meeting was just an overview of the various high tech (semiconductors, telecom, hw/sw/services, etc.) firms worldwide and their relative revenues, but it was really funny because we were all wrong a lot of the time and just sat there yelling out names of companies that we thought might possibly be in the top ten of something. It wasn't graded, it was more like an ice-breaker and a way to kill the first class period when none of us had any assignment to do for that day. The funniest part of the class was at the end, when a woman went up to tell the prof that he didn't call her name during roll call, and it was determined that she actually should have been in the class across the hall. Now, not only did she sit through almost three hours of the wrong class, "Management Issues in High Technology Companies" and "Diversity in HR Management" are pretty damn different classes. If she didn't clue in to that, as we were discussing the relative revenues of, say, IBM and Dell, and the differences in their product offerings, methinks she ought not be in either class and instead may want to spend some time back in Business 10 or some other introductory course. Those of us still in the room were all suitably aghast. Oh, there's a group project (paper) in this class as well. One of the team roles is "Project Writing Coordinator". Guess who will be lobbying hard for that one?
I have no classes on Wednesdays, and Thursdays have the same 7:30am and 4:30pm classes, but my evening class is different. From 7:00pm til 10:15pm, I have "The Victorian Age", and although the classroom is wireless-enabled, this is a seminar class with all our desks in a circle...having my laptop open for notetaking and work-related connectivity just seems wrong, so it's back to pen and paper for this one. I check my mail and what not during the hour before this class, so if some emergency arises, I'm all over it. None has, so far. We're opening this class by reading Bleak House, so I have read the first 200 pages or so, and I have to say, I don't hate it. I am rather enjoying it, actually. The class itself is a strange mix of folks. Now, let it be known that my school of 21K undergrads is 32% Asian, 27% White, 12% Mexican American/Other Hispanic, 7% Filipino and 4% African American (plus 18% not stated). In other words, pretty damn diverse. In the business school, I'd say my classes run about 60% Asian, 20% Mexican American/Other Hispanic, 15% White, 5% other. In this class, we have about 20 people, and 18 are white. There goes the diversity. But what this class lacks in ethnic diversity, it makes up for it in the range of ages present. I'd say there are 5 people around normal college age, about 7 of us in the 30s, and no less than 8 people eligible for AARP. So far, the AARP folks haven't said much, and the conversation has been dominated by the ultra-annoying 19 year old boy who has managed to work in every book he's read plus his knowledge of trepanning. Now, I've only read the first thirteen chapters of Bleak House, but I don't think there's any mention of trepanning in it...or any of the other novels we'll be reading in that class, for that matter.
Fridays are off days, but I do have one online course and the work for it tends to happen on Fridays. This course, "Philosophy of Science", is a WebCT class and it's just fascinating. My fascination is less of the subject matter (which I've already read, having taken half of this course before) than it is the participation. There are 40 students in the class, but the first week has generated 374 messages. Yes, participation in the discussion board is graded (and required), but in an offline class, participation is graded as well—any of you teacher folk ever had 73 distinct, thoughtful student comments on something that wasn't part of the required reading (and 113 on reading that was required)? Maybe you have, and maybe my surprise stems from the lack of participation and intelligence that I've seen in my other classes. It should also be noted that this class contains zero Philosophy majors—it's an advanced general education course and the majority of the class are in business or science (the two largest schools on campus), so it's not like the discussion is dominated by anyone with any academic experience in Philosophy. It's quite heart-warming to watch and participate, because not only would I have participated less in an offline class, I'm sure the rest of the class would have been similarly quiet. Except, of course, the loudmouth on the message boards who seems intent on responding to each and every comment like a pompous ass. I'm sure he would have been like that in person, too.
All in all, an interesting mix of stuff, so far. Keeps me busy, at least.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
zell, the RNC and that pesky election thing
I've been busy with work/school/writing this last week...I thought about it a lot, and who couldn't, after hearing Zell Miller speak at the RNC? I didn't catch the live speech, but I heard snippets of it on NPR while I was driving to school one morning. I thought something along the lines of "wow, that was a little loud and hate-filled", and made a mental note to write something about it. Now, when I got home that day and read through my blogroll, I found that plenty of my very intelligent regular reads had already posted with mucho gusto about ol' Zell: Dan Gillmor, David Morgen, Mac at pesky'apostrophe, among others. So, I'll just say "what they said!" and move on.
Now, David Morgen posed the question "Why are you wasting time reading my blog when you could be reading Michael Bérubé?" to which I thought "by golly, you're right!" Seriously though, David's blog, scrivenings, is really quite good. So David, I read your blog because it's well-written, interesting as heck, you have cute kids and seem to be a good dad. I like to support folks like you, with the linking and the reading and what not. But back to Bérubé, he had written this post way back in May, which includes:
I've been busy with work/school/writing this last week...I thought about it a lot, and who couldn't, after hearing Zell Miller speak at the RNC? I didn't catch the live speech, but I heard snippets of it on NPR while I was driving to school one morning. I thought something along the lines of "wow, that was a little loud and hate-filled", and made a mental note to write something about it. Now, when I got home that day and read through my blogroll, I found that plenty of my very intelligent regular reads had already posted with mucho gusto about ol' Zell: Dan Gillmor, David Morgen, Mac at pesky'apostrophe, among others. So, I'll just say "what they said!" and move on.
Now, David Morgen posed the question "Why are you wasting time reading my blog when you could be reading Michael Bérubé?" to which I thought "by golly, you're right!" Seriously though, David's blog, scrivenings, is really quite good. So David, I read your blog because it's well-written, interesting as heck, you have cute kids and seem to be a good dad. I like to support folks like you, with the linking and the reading and what not. But back to Bérubé, he had written this post way back in May, which includes:
"I've devised a handy pop quiz that we can distribute to Bush supporters, in order to discover (in the best traditions of Gramscian cultural studies) the continuing appeal of the Bush presidency.There are eight other "reasons" that really, any swing voter (hell, any "committed to Bush" voter) ought to ponder. For example, my parents, who live in a battleground state, are apparently on the fence. Upon hearing this, I was suitably appalled. Not that my parents and I agree on much of anything, but I still don't understand how anyone could (with a clear conscience) vote for Bush. My folks, and any of their like-minded swing-voter friends, ought to read Bérubé's quiz. Actually, given that Bérubé teaches right over the mountain from this enclave of swing voters, I wouldn't mind if he sent one of his students over the hill and plastered the damn thing on telephone poles. Hell, if I lived there, I'd do it myself, but luckily I live in a Blue state.
What is it you like most about the Bush administration and its policies?
___ I like the lying! It turned me on when the President spiked that EPA report on the toxic air quality around Ground Zero, thereby consigning thousands of firefighters, police, Guardsmen, rescue workers, and ordinary citizens to debilitating lifelong respiratory illness! If people are so worried about a few tiny particles floating around, let them buy those little fiber masks, for goodness' sake! Every Ace Hardware sells 'em.
beslan
About the terrible goings-on in Beslan, Bitchphd writes "I was amazed that I saw nothing in any of the blogs I read about it. I think the commenter [at Crooked Timber] who said that no one is talking about it because everyone is struck dumb with horror is, of course, right."
That pretty much sums it up, for me. All I know is that atrocities occurred, and it makes me very, very sad. I can't string together any words that make the situation any better, or that provide any comfort, or bring any new information to light about why the Chechen terrorists did what they did.
I was sitting around the cookie-eating station at the blood center today, with a bunch of other post-donation people, and we were all reading various parts of the newspapers. One man, wearing police-issue shirt/pants/boots, put his paper down and said to no one in particular "I can't believe people would use children like that". This, from a guy who has probably seen his fair share of tragic behavior. Children as political pawns, children as shields, children as targets—I'll never be able to wrap my brain around that one.
I also haven't read a lot in the blogosphere about it, save for what people on my blogroll have written (Hugo Schwyzer, Mac at pesky'apostrophe), but I agree with what one commenter of bitchphd's said: "I think people were silent because they didn't have anything illuminating to say. It wasn't just that they were struck dumb by horror." I don't have anything illuminating to say, but the five people who read my blog don't come here for illumination...at least I hope they don't.
About the terrible goings-on in Beslan, Bitchphd writes "I was amazed that I saw nothing in any of the blogs I read about it. I think the commenter [at Crooked Timber] who said that no one is talking about it because everyone is struck dumb with horror is, of course, right."
That pretty much sums it up, for me. All I know is that atrocities occurred, and it makes me very, very sad. I can't string together any words that make the situation any better, or that provide any comfort, or bring any new information to light about why the Chechen terrorists did what they did.
I was sitting around the cookie-eating station at the blood center today, with a bunch of other post-donation people, and we were all reading various parts of the newspapers. One man, wearing police-issue shirt/pants/boots, put his paper down and said to no one in particular "I can't believe people would use children like that". This, from a guy who has probably seen his fair share of tragic behavior. Children as political pawns, children as shields, children as targets—I'll never be able to wrap my brain around that one.
I also haven't read a lot in the blogosphere about it, save for what people on my blogroll have written (Hugo Schwyzer, Mac at pesky'apostrophe), but I agree with what one commenter of bitchphd's said: "I think people were silent because they didn't have anything illuminating to say. It wasn't just that they were struck dumb by horror." I don't have anything illuminating to say, but the five people who read my blog don't come here for illumination...at least I hope they don't.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
things that skitter in the night
Admittedly, none of the creatures in my story actually skitter, but I like the word. Rana [Frogs and Ravens] posted about Creepy Crawlies, or "various invertebrates that have creeped me out over the course of my life." Boy, she sure has a list, from ants to earwigs to leeches. If you know me, you know this little fact: I hate spiders. I can deal with fleas, flies, mammoth horseflies, worms, moths, whatever. But not spiders...and I have two damn good reasons...
One day, when I was little, maybe...eight? ten? (mom or dad, feel free to tell me how old I really was, because I'm guessing) I was with my mom in our basement. Now, this was a finished basement, in that it had wonderfully hideous orange patterned carpet and wood paneling, a orange laminate bar, and pool/pingpong/air hockey tables. We lived in the middle of the woods, and it was always damp, musty and had its fair share of bugs. One day this big ol' spider walks across the floor. Little spiders, I can handle. Really, I can. But as soon as they start getting squishy and what not, I leave it to someone else to squish. Anyway, I jumped up on the ping pong table and wouldn't come down until someone took care of it (note: I have no issues with mice. Go figure.) and that person was my mom. She smacked the hell out of it with her Dr. Scholl's...and a thousand baby spiders skittered across the basement floor. Mama spider was dead, but karma sent us a thousand little ones in her place.
But that's not all. We also had a swimming pool in the backyard, and it collected a lot of bugs. In fact, if there were visible bugs on the bottom, I wouldn't go in, such was my dislike of bugs. If there was a dead rodent in the skimmer (which happened frequently), no problem, just toss it in the woods. But bugs, not my favorite. One day, I was hanging on the rope that separated the 3' area from the "deep end", and a big ol' spider came trotting along the rope. My mom got up and smacked it. You think she'd have learned her lesson, but no....and a thousand baby spiders floated on top of the water, toward me.
I don't like spiders.
Admittedly, none of the creatures in my story actually skitter, but I like the word. Rana [Frogs and Ravens] posted about Creepy Crawlies, or "various invertebrates that have creeped me out over the course of my life." Boy, she sure has a list, from ants to earwigs to leeches. If you know me, you know this little fact: I hate spiders. I can deal with fleas, flies, mammoth horseflies, worms, moths, whatever. But not spiders...and I have two damn good reasons...
One day, when I was little, maybe...eight? ten? (mom or dad, feel free to tell me how old I really was, because I'm guessing) I was with my mom in our basement. Now, this was a finished basement, in that it had wonderfully hideous orange patterned carpet and wood paneling, a orange laminate bar, and pool/pingpong/air hockey tables. We lived in the middle of the woods, and it was always damp, musty and had its fair share of bugs. One day this big ol' spider walks across the floor. Little spiders, I can handle. Really, I can. But as soon as they start getting squishy and what not, I leave it to someone else to squish. Anyway, I jumped up on the ping pong table and wouldn't come down until someone took care of it (note: I have no issues with mice. Go figure.) and that person was my mom. She smacked the hell out of it with her Dr. Scholl's...and a thousand baby spiders skittered across the basement floor. Mama spider was dead, but karma sent us a thousand little ones in her place.
But that's not all. We also had a swimming pool in the backyard, and it collected a lot of bugs. In fact, if there were visible bugs on the bottom, I wouldn't go in, such was my dislike of bugs. If there was a dead rodent in the skimmer (which happened frequently), no problem, just toss it in the woods. But bugs, not my favorite. One day, I was hanging on the rope that separated the 3' area from the "deep end", and a big ol' spider came trotting along the rope. My mom got up and smacked it. You think she'd have learned her lesson, but no....and a thousand baby spiders floated on top of the water, toward me.
I don't like spiders.
on wikipedia
There's been a big ol' kerfuffle recently about the "validity" of wikipedia. Let it be known that I love wikipedia. I use it all the time, and there's a link to it over yonder in the sidebar. Never has it even crossed my mind, that wikipedia was unreliable or in any way an invalid source of information.
But the other day, in the Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard, appeared an article by one Al Fasoldt: "Librarian: Don't use Wikipedia as source. Read it for yourself, if you're interested, but the main idea is that "Wikipedia is a do-it-yourself encyclopedia, without any credentials" and therefore, it goes on, it's A Bad Thing. A good summary is found at BoingBoing.
As you can imagine, there's been much discussion—all of which I find terribly fascinating. One of the naysayers' issues is an inability to understand how "a site written entirely by its readers—and where every page can be edited by anyone—could meet any kind of 'standards' of accuracy and reliablity." [Dan Gillmor] Because, you know, journalists are so very standards-driven, accurate and reliable...and today my little spaceship touched down from my trip back home to Mars. Also from Dan's site is a link to a deconstruction of the debate by Ross Mayfield. Other links of interest are a Slashdot Q&A with Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and an experiment by Alex Halavais to see just how well the whole editing process works.
This all goes back to Why Wiki Works: "Everybody feels that they have a sense of responsibility because anybody can contribute." It's such a simple concept, responsibility. Seems to me that when people question the validity of something that essentially runs on personal ethics, they may be a little lacking in that category themselves. Can't understand what you don't have, right?
There's been a big ol' kerfuffle recently about the "validity" of wikipedia. Let it be known that I love wikipedia. I use it all the time, and there's a link to it over yonder in the sidebar. Never has it even crossed my mind, that wikipedia was unreliable or in any way an invalid source of information.
But the other day, in the Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard, appeared an article by one Al Fasoldt: "Librarian: Don't use Wikipedia as source. Read it for yourself, if you're interested, but the main idea is that "Wikipedia is a do-it-yourself encyclopedia, without any credentials" and therefore, it goes on, it's A Bad Thing. A good summary is found at BoingBoing.
As you can imagine, there's been much discussion—all of which I find terribly fascinating. One of the naysayers' issues is an inability to understand how "a site written entirely by its readers—and where every page can be edited by anyone—could meet any kind of 'standards' of accuracy and reliablity." [Dan Gillmor] Because, you know, journalists are so very standards-driven, accurate and reliable...and today my little spaceship touched down from my trip back home to Mars. Also from Dan's site is a link to a deconstruction of the debate by Ross Mayfield. Other links of interest are a Slashdot Q&A with Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and an experiment by Alex Halavais to see just how well the whole editing process works.
This all goes back to Why Wiki Works: "Everybody feels that they have a sense of responsibility because anybody can contribute." It's such a simple concept, responsibility. Seems to me that when people question the validity of something that essentially runs on personal ethics, they may be a little lacking in that category themselves. Can't understand what you don't have, right?
Monday, August 30, 2004
a funny thing happened on the way to now
Between Friday and this afternoon, I got a lot of work done. All of it, in fact. Every damn bit of it. I am now on schedule with regards to work, writing and classes. I even took the time to do some silly things like I went to donate blood (but had low iron and had to reschedule), I cleaned the fishtank, checked out the new Wal-Mart, and horror of horrors, I read a book. A whole book! Not even for school!
But let's back up. Not one bit of this euphoric feeling would be possible if it weren't for my boss leaving me alone on Friday...I don't think it was purposeful (I think maybe we just didn't have anything specific to do) but if it was (and you're reading this), I am grateful. So I fixed up a few chapters for the PMA AiO 2e book, turned in one of my two remaining lessons for the class I'm developing, and asked my boss what the plan was for the weekend (the typical plan for the weekend consists of having a bunch of stuff to get done before Monday's deluge). I was shocked to discover there was no plan. No plan? Could it be....I could do my own stuff? I had high hopes, then I took a nap.
The thing is, I don't really sleep. I have a bedroom with a bed in it, but I'm never in there. I think that bed's been slept on maybe 10 times since I bought it three or four years ago. I sleep on the couch. It's a nice, cushy couch. But I don't really sleep. I doze, often with the TV on, then I just get up and start my day at 2am or 4am or whenever I'm bored enough with dozing. My mom says I wasn't always like this, she says she used to never be able to wake me up in the morning. I don't remember that, I just remember college and life after, and just not sleeping. You can get a lot done when the rest of the world is still sleeping.
Anyway, I didn't do a lot of dozing these last few days. I just worked...and worked and worked and worked. It was very strange, because I didn't even have the TV on, or even music. Just the fishtank (it's sort of like a waterfall sound) and the artificial pond, the ducks, and a really annoying, territorial squirrel who likes to sit the tree outside my door and chitter his little heart out. I had a plan: Saturday = schoolwork, Sunday = writing work.
Saturday was also blood donation day, but my iron was two-tenths below the cutoff so I had to reschedule for next Saturday. So I came home, and sat down with my very exciting textbook for my Business Systems and Policy class, read my chapter and wrote my reading notes. Then I sat down with my Organizational Change and Design textbook, read my chapter and wrote my reading notes. I was on a roll! Next on the list was Philosophy of Science, which consisted of reading a few essays, some stuff in the text, and then participating in discussion via WebCT. I will write a separate post about this, because the utilization of WebCT is fascinating. But moving on...
I felt that I deserved a reward for all this work, so I started to read Middlesex (plus, it was due back to the library in two days and there were 12 people on the waiting list, so I had to read it or give it back and get on the waiting list again). I read the first 136 pages and I did not want to put it down. Set the backstory in Italy, make the siblings first cousins, and you'd have my great-grandparents. Two sets of them in fact (that's a story for another time). So, now I was obsessed with finishing the book, but I still had Sunday's work to do.
I made myself a deal: finish a chapter, read 50 pages. I had several chapters to edit, so this worked out. It also worked well with my short attention span. So, on Sunday I finished the edits that were due, and half of my final lesson. It was getting late, nothing was on TV, but I needed to clear my mind. So I finished the book. Boy howdy, was that ever a good book. I honestly don't remember a time that I laughed out loud in a piece of fiction. Not only did I laugh out loud several times while reading it, I cried real tears in several places as well. What can I say, I'm an emotional girl.
Anyway, with that out of my system, I went back to my writing. I finished my final lesson and submitted it for testing and editing. I turned in all the chapters that were due. I AR'd the first batch that had come back to me. My schoolwork is done for M/T/W...and I only have eight more chapters to update and edit, for Wednesday. Oh yeah, I have thirteen chapters of Bleak House to read for Thu night, but even that isn't dulling the high right now.
Between Friday and this afternoon, I got a lot of work done. All of it, in fact. Every damn bit of it. I am now on schedule with regards to work, writing and classes. I even took the time to do some silly things like I went to donate blood (but had low iron and had to reschedule), I cleaned the fishtank, checked out the new Wal-Mart, and horror of horrors, I read a book. A whole book! Not even for school!
But let's back up. Not one bit of this euphoric feeling would be possible if it weren't for my boss leaving me alone on Friday...I don't think it was purposeful (I think maybe we just didn't have anything specific to do) but if it was (and you're reading this), I am grateful. So I fixed up a few chapters for the PMA AiO 2e book, turned in one of my two remaining lessons for the class I'm developing, and asked my boss what the plan was for the weekend (the typical plan for the weekend consists of having a bunch of stuff to get done before Monday's deluge). I was shocked to discover there was no plan. No plan? Could it be....I could do my own stuff? I had high hopes, then I took a nap.
The thing is, I don't really sleep. I have a bedroom with a bed in it, but I'm never in there. I think that bed's been slept on maybe 10 times since I bought it three or four years ago. I sleep on the couch. It's a nice, cushy couch. But I don't really sleep. I doze, often with the TV on, then I just get up and start my day at 2am or 4am or whenever I'm bored enough with dozing. My mom says I wasn't always like this, she says she used to never be able to wake me up in the morning. I don't remember that, I just remember college and life after, and just not sleeping. You can get a lot done when the rest of the world is still sleeping.
Anyway, I didn't do a lot of dozing these last few days. I just worked...and worked and worked and worked. It was very strange, because I didn't even have the TV on, or even music. Just the fishtank (it's sort of like a waterfall sound) and the artificial pond, the ducks, and a really annoying, territorial squirrel who likes to sit the tree outside my door and chitter his little heart out. I had a plan: Saturday = schoolwork, Sunday = writing work.
Saturday was also blood donation day, but my iron was two-tenths below the cutoff so I had to reschedule for next Saturday. So I came home, and sat down with my very exciting textbook for my Business Systems and Policy class, read my chapter and wrote my reading notes. Then I sat down with my Organizational Change and Design textbook, read my chapter and wrote my reading notes. I was on a roll! Next on the list was Philosophy of Science, which consisted of reading a few essays, some stuff in the text, and then participating in discussion via WebCT. I will write a separate post about this, because the utilization of WebCT is fascinating. But moving on...
I felt that I deserved a reward for all this work, so I started to read Middlesex (plus, it was due back to the library in two days and there were 12 people on the waiting list, so I had to read it or give it back and get on the waiting list again). I read the first 136 pages and I did not want to put it down. Set the backstory in Italy, make the siblings first cousins, and you'd have my great-grandparents. Two sets of them in fact (that's a story for another time). So, now I was obsessed with finishing the book, but I still had Sunday's work to do.
I made myself a deal: finish a chapter, read 50 pages. I had several chapters to edit, so this worked out. It also worked well with my short attention span. So, on Sunday I finished the edits that were due, and half of my final lesson. It was getting late, nothing was on TV, but I needed to clear my mind. So I finished the book. Boy howdy, was that ever a good book. I honestly don't remember a time that I laughed out loud in a piece of fiction. Not only did I laugh out loud several times while reading it, I cried real tears in several places as well. What can I say, I'm an emotional girl.
Anyway, with that out of my system, I went back to my writing. I finished my final lesson and submitted it for testing and editing. I turned in all the chapters that were due. I AR'd the first batch that had come back to me. My schoolwork is done for M/T/W...and I only have eight more chapters to update and edit, for Wednesday. Oh yeah, I have thirteen chapters of Bleak House to read for Thu night, but even that isn't dulling the high right now.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
my thoughts on gmail
After my initial period of furrowed-brow when using my new GMail account, I've settled on only two really problematic things....inability to sort, and inability to have multi-level labels. Before I talk about them, let it be known that I don't use GMail for my "work" mail, just my non-work/school mail. There's really no difference in the volume, though, but the content is different, less categorized. I absolutely could not use GMail for my work mail, with the problem areas I stated above.
The inability to sort is really annoying, because the default sort order (recent mail at the top) is not the way I sort my mail. I'm a recent-mail-last person, because to me, mail is a "to-do" list, and I when I look at my list, I want to know which is the oldest. Of course I can make the one extra leap and say to myself "Oh but remember, things on the bottom are the oldest", but why should I? Why should I have to change when any other e-mail client will allow me to sort my mail by any of the main criteria (subject, sender, date)? Taking away such a feature, regardless of whatever else you add, is still taking away a feature, and a fairly basic one, in my opinion.
The labels are another issue. Labels are supposed to replace folders. Gmail describes "the old way" as "You create an elaborate filing system of folders and subfolders, then decide where to file a single message." Uh yeah, I do. A LOT. What's wrong with that? I am a very organized person. Can I be the same organized person using labels? No, because there's no concept of sub-labels. You can attribute multiple labels to a mail/discussion, and "that way, if a conversation covers more than one topic, you can retrieve it with any of the labels that you've applied to it. And, of course, you can always search for it." So, instead of allowing me to file things however I want, into a natural hierarchy of folders, I have to apply one or more labels to it, so it shows up in more places, so much so that if I lose it, I can search for it? Why can't I just put it where I want?
Being the good little beta tester that I am, I filled out the suggestion form. Several items are already listed, allowing you to "vote" on them. This would indicate, to me, that some things have already made it to an internal list of possibilities. One is "Sort by sender, date, and/or message size" and I absolutely checked that box! There were maybe 20 others, and only one, "Save drafts of my message" was something else I voted for. Any of the other 18, if they were present in the application, that would have been fine, but their lack of presence doesn't affect me as dramatically (or at all) like these other things. But hierarchical labels was not listed, so I wrote my own schpiel about it. I used the analogy of school and classes: I have mail that is general school stuff, then I have mail that is class-specific. Sure, I can have six labels for my classes this semester, plus the main school label, but then next semester I'll have five or six more...that's upwards of twelve labels that I have to look at in my list of labels, that I also can't order (leading me to have to name things with a prefix that will put them in the order I want them to be in). If I could assign all twelve of those sub-labels as children of the school label, and parent/children pairs were collapsible, all I'd have to look at/look in would be the school label, and I could open it and look at the others. If GMail is supposed to increase efficiency, tell me why that is less efficient than being faced with a non-controlled (by me) order of items, that are all in one big list, that I may or may not, then, have to use "search" to find?
On to other things...I don't particularly care that the whole thing is JavaScript. It's not fundamentally a good thing to build an application that one can potentially turn off, or have turned off for them by security settings. But, if you're going to use it, and you know ahead of time that's a requirement, you can make the informed choice. They are working on an HTML-based version, though, and I would be more comfortable with that from a standards point of view. I haven't had any issues with it in Firefox, so it doesn't bother me, really.
I do like the threaded/grouping/relation of messages; the display is cool. I like the immediate visibility/hidden aspects of all mails in a thread, and the fact that I don't have to do anything extra to make it so. That is very cool, but not cool enough to forgive the other issues. Also, there's the "all mail" feature, which is "the holding place for all of the messages you've sent or received, but not deleted". It would be cool, but only if I could sort it, which I can't. It's sorted by date, recent-first, like all folders/boxes/slots/whatever they're called. Sure, I've labeled my non-deleted mail, but what good does it do me if it's still a reverse-date-based list? If I want to find something, I have to use "search", instead of relying on my usual pre-sorted/just scan the list method. Sure, I can scan the list as it is, but it's not ordered...my brain focuses on the unordered aspect of it and thus has to spend more time reading it than I would if I were looking down an ordered list.
I have no problem with A New Way of handling mail. It's just that when you start removing some of the features of mail that we've been used to for oh, 15 years or whatever, it's going to be a hard sell to anyone beyond the early adopters. The concept of e-mail is hard enough for people to grasp (and many still don't), now we're going to stop calling it "mail" and start calling it "a discussion"? It's not a discussion—if a band sends me their tour schedule, that's not a discussion, it's a single piece of mail. I won't be discussing it with them. But I will dutifully label-and-archive the item. Which is another thing...why do I have to perform the mouse task to label something, then perform the mouse task to "archive" the piece? So, label + archive = "put in folder". I just want to put the darn thing in a different slot, I don't want to have to do more steps than usual!
I love Google, I mean really, I use Google Search every day, and this blog is obviously Blogger-based, so I'm totally open to Google stealing me away from Yahoo!, which has been my portal/non-work e-mail for six years now. But there's work to do, if they want complete loyalty from me.
After my initial period of furrowed-brow when using my new GMail account, I've settled on only two really problematic things....inability to sort, and inability to have multi-level labels. Before I talk about them, let it be known that I don't use GMail for my "work" mail, just my non-work/school mail. There's really no difference in the volume, though, but the content is different, less categorized. I absolutely could not use GMail for my work mail, with the problem areas I stated above.
The inability to sort is really annoying, because the default sort order (recent mail at the top) is not the way I sort my mail. I'm a recent-mail-last person, because to me, mail is a "to-do" list, and I when I look at my list, I want to know which is the oldest. Of course I can make the one extra leap and say to myself "Oh but remember, things on the bottom are the oldest", but why should I? Why should I have to change when any other e-mail client will allow me to sort my mail by any of the main criteria (subject, sender, date)? Taking away such a feature, regardless of whatever else you add, is still taking away a feature, and a fairly basic one, in my opinion.
The labels are another issue. Labels are supposed to replace folders. Gmail describes "the old way" as "You create an elaborate filing system of folders and subfolders, then decide where to file a single message." Uh yeah, I do. A LOT. What's wrong with that? I am a very organized person. Can I be the same organized person using labels? No, because there's no concept of sub-labels. You can attribute multiple labels to a mail/discussion, and "that way, if a conversation covers more than one topic, you can retrieve it with any of the labels that you've applied to it. And, of course, you can always search for it." So, instead of allowing me to file things however I want, into a natural hierarchy of folders, I have to apply one or more labels to it, so it shows up in more places, so much so that if I lose it, I can search for it? Why can't I just put it where I want?
Being the good little beta tester that I am, I filled out the suggestion form. Several items are already listed, allowing you to "vote" on them. This would indicate, to me, that some things have already made it to an internal list of possibilities. One is "Sort by sender, date, and/or message size" and I absolutely checked that box! There were maybe 20 others, and only one, "Save drafts of my message" was something else I voted for. Any of the other 18, if they were present in the application, that would have been fine, but their lack of presence doesn't affect me as dramatically (or at all) like these other things. But hierarchical labels was not listed, so I wrote my own schpiel about it. I used the analogy of school and classes: I have mail that is general school stuff, then I have mail that is class-specific. Sure, I can have six labels for my classes this semester, plus the main school label, but then next semester I'll have five or six more...that's upwards of twelve labels that I have to look at in my list of labels, that I also can't order (leading me to have to name things with a prefix that will put them in the order I want them to be in). If I could assign all twelve of those sub-labels as children of the school label, and parent/children pairs were collapsible, all I'd have to look at/look in would be the school label, and I could open it and look at the others. If GMail is supposed to increase efficiency, tell me why that is less efficient than being faced with a non-controlled (by me) order of items, that are all in one big list, that I may or may not, then, have to use "search" to find?
On to other things...I don't particularly care that the whole thing is JavaScript. It's not fundamentally a good thing to build an application that one can potentially turn off, or have turned off for them by security settings. But, if you're going to use it, and you know ahead of time that's a requirement, you can make the informed choice. They are working on an HTML-based version, though, and I would be more comfortable with that from a standards point of view. I haven't had any issues with it in Firefox, so it doesn't bother me, really.
I do like the threaded/grouping/relation of messages; the display is cool. I like the immediate visibility/hidden aspects of all mails in a thread, and the fact that I don't have to do anything extra to make it so. That is very cool, but not cool enough to forgive the other issues. Also, there's the "all mail" feature, which is "the holding place for all of the messages you've sent or received, but not deleted". It would be cool, but only if I could sort it, which I can't. It's sorted by date, recent-first, like all folders/boxes/slots/whatever they're called. Sure, I've labeled my non-deleted mail, but what good does it do me if it's still a reverse-date-based list? If I want to find something, I have to use "search", instead of relying on my usual pre-sorted/just scan the list method. Sure, I can scan the list as it is, but it's not ordered...my brain focuses on the unordered aspect of it and thus has to spend more time reading it than I would if I were looking down an ordered list.
I have no problem with A New Way of handling mail. It's just that when you start removing some of the features of mail that we've been used to for oh, 15 years or whatever, it's going to be a hard sell to anyone beyond the early adopters. The concept of e-mail is hard enough for people to grasp (and many still don't), now we're going to stop calling it "mail" and start calling it "a discussion"? It's not a discussion—if a band sends me their tour schedule, that's not a discussion, it's a single piece of mail. I won't be discussing it with them. But I will dutifully label-and-archive the item. Which is another thing...why do I have to perform the mouse task to label something, then perform the mouse task to "archive" the piece? So, label + archive = "put in folder". I just want to put the darn thing in a different slot, I don't want to have to do more steps than usual!
I love Google, I mean really, I use Google Search every day, and this blog is obviously Blogger-based, so I'm totally open to Google stealing me away from Yahoo!, which has been my portal/non-work e-mail for six years now. But there's work to do, if they want complete loyalty from me.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
dang, that didn't take long!
I have 6 GMail invites, if anyone wants one...
I admit, the thing is growing on me. More later.
UPDATE: invites countdown kept in sidebar, 'til I run out.
I have 6 GMail invites, if anyone wants one...
I admit, the thing is growing on me. More later.
UPDATE: invites countdown kept in sidebar, 'til I run out.
a slight, irrational fear
It's t-21 minutes until my Victorian class. I'm dreadfully afraid that I'm going to be "that" person in the class. You know, the oldest one, who has returned to school and wants to be all smart...because they've taken this same type of class a billion (12) years ago and want to make sure everyone knows it.
Oh wait, I can't be that person: I don't talk in class, unless I'm absolutely sure it's relevant (if not "right"). I sit in the back. I try not to be noticed. I would rather people not know that I read these books already, because then I'd be held to a higher standard. That leaves the "oldest" part. I doubt it, I'm only 30 and I only have two grey hairs. There's bound to be another "that" person....otherwise I'll be "that" by default. Oh no!
Ok, irrational fear is over. I'm not a dumbass. People never know I'm 30. This is my 5th semester back in school. I'm not some newbie Open University person trying be hip...I'm hip all on my own! Ok, that last part was crap. :)
It's t-21 minutes until my Victorian class. I'm dreadfully afraid that I'm going to be "that" person in the class. You know, the oldest one, who has returned to school and wants to be all smart...because they've taken this same type of class a billion (12) years ago and want to make sure everyone knows it.
Oh wait, I can't be that person: I don't talk in class, unless I'm absolutely sure it's relevant (if not "right"). I sit in the back. I try not to be noticed. I would rather people not know that I read these books already, because then I'd be held to a higher standard. That leaves the "oldest" part. I doubt it, I'm only 30 and I only have two grey hairs. There's bound to be another "that" person....otherwise I'll be "that" by default. Oh no!
Ok, irrational fear is over. I'm not a dumbass. People never know I'm 30. This is my 5th semester back in school. I'm not some newbie Open University person trying be hip...I'm hip all on my own! Ok, that last part was crap. :)
light at the end of the tunnel
Despite school having started last night, and the fact that I also do have a real job, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with regards to writing chapters and lessons. I only have one lesson remaining, and 12 chapters to go run through and send over. Then I'll be done with the tremendous list of things all due at once, until...Monday! That's good, because I will be giving blood on Saturday morning, thus rendering me knocked on my butt for the rest of that day.
Despite school having started last night, and the fact that I also do have a real job, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with regards to writing chapters and lessons. I only have one lesson remaining, and 12 chapters to go run through and send over. Then I'll be done with the tremendous list of things all due at once, until...Monday! That's good, because I will be giving blood on Saturday morning, thus rendering me knocked on my butt for the rest of that day.
so, this gmail thing...
Thanks to kmsqrd, I have a gmail account now. I will write more later about it...I have some definite opinions, but I have to take a step back and read more from Google about why they've developed this, and the fundamental problem they're trying to solve with the product. I wouldn't want to write about something, having completely missed the point of it, so I had better get the point first! One thing that is very cool is the GMail Notifier extension for Firefox. Good stuff! Very well done.
Thanks to kmsqrd, I have a gmail account now. I will write more later about it...I have some definite opinions, but I have to take a step back and read more from Google about why they've developed this, and the fundamental problem they're trying to solve with the product. I wouldn't want to write about something, having completely missed the point of it, so I had better get the point first! One thing that is very cool is the GMail Notifier extension for Firefox. Good stuff! Very well done.
I'm sure I'll burn in hell for this, but...
A new Wal-Mart opened in my neighborhood, yesterday, and I'm happy about it. I know there are reasons I should hate Wal-Mart, related to their employment/hiring practices, etc, but I look at it this way: they just brought a ton of jobs to my crappy East San Jose community, which desperately needs them.
This particular Wal-Mart is not a superstore. Even if it were a superstore, I doubt it would affect the SaveMart across the street, or the huge Vietnamese grocery at the end of the block. It won't affect the other twenty or so businesses around it: nail salons, Vietnamese & Mexican restaurants, a taco bell, a togo's, a blockbuster, etc...there's room for all of them. So, that argument against it goes out the window. The other three Wal-Marts in the area, each within a 20 minute drive, are always packed...as are the businesses around them. So, the argument about Wal-Mart hurting local businesses doesn't fly, at least not in my neck of the woods.
The employment/hiring practices—their issues with discrimination, not being unionized, things like that, sure, that's not good. But they do pay their workers the "Bay Area" premium...it's not like the folks out here get paid the same as the Wal-Mart workers in my central-PA hometown. That would completely suck for them. But like I said, there are probably hundreds of people that have jobs today that didn't have jobs yesterday, or lost their jobs when the SuperKmart (which was what this building was before Wal-Mart stepped in) closed a couple of years ago. Jobs are a good thing.
So, at the same time that I'm thrilled there's a Wal-Mart a mile from my house, I'm similarly thrilled that I found Bluefly, where I can get Calvin Klein/Diesel/Lucky Brand (and more!) shirts and pants for ridiculously low prices. $17 Lucky cargo pants? I'm all over that.
A new Wal-Mart opened in my neighborhood, yesterday, and I'm happy about it. I know there are reasons I should hate Wal-Mart, related to their employment/hiring practices, etc, but I look at it this way: they just brought a ton of jobs to my crappy East San Jose community, which desperately needs them.
This particular Wal-Mart is not a superstore. Even if it were a superstore, I doubt it would affect the SaveMart across the street, or the huge Vietnamese grocery at the end of the block. It won't affect the other twenty or so businesses around it: nail salons, Vietnamese & Mexican restaurants, a taco bell, a togo's, a blockbuster, etc...there's room for all of them. So, that argument against it goes out the window. The other three Wal-Marts in the area, each within a 20 minute drive, are always packed...as are the businesses around them. So, the argument about Wal-Mart hurting local businesses doesn't fly, at least not in my neck of the woods.
The employment/hiring practices—their issues with discrimination, not being unionized, things like that, sure, that's not good. But they do pay their workers the "Bay Area" premium...it's not like the folks out here get paid the same as the Wal-Mart workers in my central-PA hometown. That would completely suck for them. But like I said, there are probably hundreds of people that have jobs today that didn't have jobs yesterday, or lost their jobs when the SuperKmart (which was what this building was before Wal-Mart stepped in) closed a couple of years ago. Jobs are a good thing.
So, at the same time that I'm thrilled there's a Wal-Mart a mile from my house, I'm similarly thrilled that I found Bluefly, where I can get Calvin Klein/Diesel/Lucky Brand (and more!) shirts and pants for ridiculously low prices. $17 Lucky cargo pants? I'm all over that.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
my dad complained...
He said I was writing about stuff so over his head that he couldn't comment on it anymore. I pointed out that I wasn't really writing about anything at the moment, at least nothing remotely intellectual, just trying to get a bunch of work done especially since school starts tonight. But just to appease him, I'll take a moment and talk about food. I like food. He likes food. We're a very food-oriented family.
Right now, I'm making Chicken Chili Verde. I brought some home from Whole Foods the other day and it was good, so I looked in my handy Whole Foods Market Cookbook and of course it wasn't in there. That would have been too easy. So, I looked around and found a recipe that had things in it that I liked...and it's simmering right now. So far, it smells really good, and rice is cooking too....mmm!
Here's the recipe:
1 dry chipotle chile
1 tsp dry oregano (sub: 1 healthy shake or 2)
8 skinned/boned chicken thighs (sub: a few cut up chicken breasts)
1 4oz can diced green chilis
1 can chicken broth
1/2 c cilantro (sub: more cilantro!)
1 tsp ground cumin (sub: a couple healthy shakes)
2 tbsp lime juice (sub: however much juice 2 limes makes)
1 lb tomatillos, quartered (sub: a bunch. I grabbed, didn't weigh)
3 cloves garlic (sub: more garlic!)
1 onion, chopped
throw everything into a saucepan, bring to boil. simmer for 40 mins. eat.
As you can tell, I'm not very Martha Stewart. I'm all about the eyeball and the sampling. That's probably why I don't make a lot of food for other people to eat. :)
He said I was writing about stuff so over his head that he couldn't comment on it anymore. I pointed out that I wasn't really writing about anything at the moment, at least nothing remotely intellectual, just trying to get a bunch of work done especially since school starts tonight. But just to appease him, I'll take a moment and talk about food. I like food. He likes food. We're a very food-oriented family.
Right now, I'm making Chicken Chili Verde. I brought some home from Whole Foods the other day and it was good, so I looked in my handy Whole Foods Market Cookbook and of course it wasn't in there. That would have been too easy. So, I looked around and found a recipe that had things in it that I liked...and it's simmering right now. So far, it smells really good, and rice is cooking too....mmm!
Here's the recipe:
1 dry chipotle chile
1 tsp dry oregano (sub: 1 healthy shake or 2)
8 skinned/boned chicken thighs (sub: a few cut up chicken breasts)
1 4oz can diced green chilis
1 can chicken broth
1/2 c cilantro (sub: more cilantro!)
1 tsp ground cumin (sub: a couple healthy shakes)
2 tbsp lime juice (sub: however much juice 2 limes makes)
1 lb tomatillos, quartered (sub: a bunch. I grabbed, didn't weigh)
3 cloves garlic (sub: more garlic!)
1 onion, chopped
throw everything into a saucepan, bring to boil. simmer for 40 mins. eat.
As you can tell, I'm not very Martha Stewart. I'm all about the eyeball and the sampling. That's probably why I don't make a lot of food for other people to eat. :)
Labels: food
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
oh FUUUNY, funny stuff
I love a good cartoon. Mr. Otto in "Olympics" is one such cartoon. (By Bruno Bozzetto & Roberto Frattini) I laughed. A lot.
[via Frogs and Ravens]
I love a good cartoon. Mr. Otto in "Olympics" is one such cartoon. (By Bruno Bozzetto & Roberto Frattini) I laughed. A lot.
[via Frogs and Ravens]
"don't worry, browse happy"
Check out the new site from the Web Standards Project, re: the whys and whatfors of using certain (*cough* *cough* not IE *cough* *cough*) browsers.
[via molly.com]
Check out the new site from the Web Standards Project, re: the whys and whatfors of using certain (*cough* *cough* not IE *cough* *cough*) browsers.
[via molly.com]
a typo-free quizilla quiz!
At least, I didn't notice any, but then again, I'm half-asleep. Turns out:
Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
[via a bunch of people like bitchphd, ~profgrrrrl~ and Another Damned Medievalist]
At least, I didn't notice any, but then again, I'm half-asleep. Turns out:
 |
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose You are a mystery novel dealing with theology, especially with catholic vs liberal issues. You search wisdom and knowledge endlessly, feeling that learning is essential in life. |
Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
[via a bunch of people like bitchphd, ~profgrrrrl~ and Another Damned Medievalist]
i was inadvertently SP2'd last night
I totally forgot about that "automatic downloads" feature....which I'm usually just fine with, but last night I noticed the little windowy icon thing and moused over it...it was at 45%, then very slowly made it to 50% and I thought, "what on earth could be so...oh shit" -- I was being SP2'd. I crossed my fingers and continued on. Seems fine so far [knocking on wooden things now...] but since I have two layers of Norton protecting my machine and I use Mozilla products, I'm not exactly sure what I'll be getting out of this upgrade. Oh well, we'll see...
I totally forgot about that "automatic downloads" feature....which I'm usually just fine with, but last night I noticed the little windowy icon thing and moused over it...it was at 45%, then very slowly made it to 50% and I thought, "what on earth could be so...oh shit" -- I was being SP2'd. I crossed my fingers and continued on. Seems fine so far [knocking on wooden things now...] but since I have two layers of Norton protecting my machine and I use Mozilla products, I'm not exactly sure what I'll be getting out of this upgrade. Oh well, we'll see...
i don't mind B pluses, but...
when it's an 89.freaking5 B+, that's just annoying. Son of a .... well, you know. Stupid HR Management class. Nah, it's my own fault. I can never get an A on objective tests. It's just not in my nature. I always find a way to argue (with myself) for wrong/strange answers because it just doesn't "look right" to have 4 E's in a row on my scantron, or something stupid like that. Since the majority of the graded work was in objective test form, it makes sense I didn't get an A. But missing by half a point, that's just annoying. I feel like such a loser! Well, not really. Right now I just feel really tired and I'm still not done with my Very Late Things. :(
when it's an 89.freaking5 B+, that's just annoying. Son of a .... well, you know. Stupid HR Management class. Nah, it's my own fault. I can never get an A on objective tests. It's just not in my nature. I always find a way to argue (with myself) for wrong/strange answers because it just doesn't "look right" to have 4 E's in a row on my scantron, or something stupid like that. Since the majority of the graded work was in objective test form, it makes sense I didn't get an A. But missing by half a point, that's just annoying. I feel like such a loser! Well, not really. Right now I just feel really tired and I'm still not done with my Very Late Things. :(
Monday, August 23, 2004
you'll notice no posts of joy
I have not completed my work. Nothing like being 1 week late on one thing, and 4 days late on another thing. It's not like I was off having fun. Well, except for 2 hours of youngster soccer (go raptors!) and food afterwards, but that doesn't count. I even have a whole list of rewards that I can't have. It's like geez, finish your damn work so you can tell ~profgrrrrl~ how to get pink dots on her blog, and write replies to all sorts of posts that popped up over the weekend.
Stupid, stupid work. (I'm kidding. Work = money and money is a good thing.)
I have not completed my work. Nothing like being 1 week late on one thing, and 4 days late on another thing. It's not like I was off having fun. Well, except for 2 hours of youngster soccer (go raptors!) and food afterwards, but that doesn't count. I even have a whole list of rewards that I can't have. It's like geez, finish your damn work so you can tell ~profgrrrrl~ how to get pink dots on her blog, and write replies to all sorts of posts that popped up over the weekend.
Stupid, stupid work. (I'm kidding. Work = money and money is a good thing.)
Sunday, August 22, 2004
spam actually proved useful!
I just got one of those vitamin-related spam messages, with the subject "take your vitamins". It made me stop and think, "oh yeah, take my vitamins," whereupon I walked over to the kitchen and did just that.
While I most certainly didn't follow any links in the message, and I'm perfectly happy with my Whole Foods generic brand multi-vitamins, this may have been the first time in the history of the Internet when spam actually served a purpose.
I just got one of those vitamin-related spam messages, with the subject "take your vitamins". It made me stop and think, "oh yeah, take my vitamins," whereupon I walked over to the kitchen and did just that.
While I most certainly didn't follow any links in the message, and I'm perfectly happy with my Whole Foods generic brand multi-vitamins, this may have been the first time in the history of the Internet when spam actually served a purpose.
Friday, August 20, 2004
i finished i, robot
My brain was pretty much fried from work all day, so I finished the last little bit of I, Robot. I originally wanted to read it after I saw the movie, because I had heard so much about how the point of the movie and the point of the book were at odds. After reading the book, I agree with the critics' constant use of "suggested" (in quotes), as in "Asimov's novel 'suggested' the new movie..." because the similarities seemed to end at:
- robots
- three laws
- names of characters
As in "there were robots, robots adhered to and struggled with three laws, and characters named Calvin and Lanning were in the movie." Sure, the bit about the one rogue robot hiding among the non-rogues, and how to go about figuring out who was the "bad" one, that was in there, too.
I'm not sure if I liked the book, though. I think I just don't "get" science fiction. I'm currently reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and I'm not really "getting" it, either. Ok, of course I understand the themes running through these books—they're obvious. I think I just had higher hopes for them. If I'm going to take the time to read a book, I want to have to use my brain a little bit. Now, The Diamond Age, that was a good sci-fi book. So rich, and there was much thinking on my part. So maybe I do get sci-fi, I'm just picky. Yeah, I'll go with that.
My brain was pretty much fried from work all day, so I finished the last little bit of I, Robot. I originally wanted to read it after I saw the movie, because I had heard so much about how the point of the movie and the point of the book were at odds. After reading the book, I agree with the critics' constant use of "suggested" (in quotes), as in "Asimov's novel 'suggested' the new movie..." because the similarities seemed to end at:
- robots
- three laws
- names of characters
As in "there were robots, robots adhered to and struggled with three laws, and characters named Calvin and Lanning were in the movie." Sure, the bit about the one rogue robot hiding among the non-rogues, and how to go about figuring out who was the "bad" one, that was in there, too.
I'm not sure if I liked the book, though. I think I just don't "get" science fiction. I'm currently reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and I'm not really "getting" it, either. Ok, of course I understand the themes running through these books—they're obvious. I think I just had higher hopes for them. If I'm going to take the time to read a book, I want to have to use my brain a little bit. Now, The Diamond Age, that was a good sci-fi book. So rich, and there was much thinking on my part. So maybe I do get sci-fi, I'm just picky. Yeah, I'll go with that.
and....bugmenot is back
Everyone can go back to their normal routines. Just a little blip in the Internet.
Everyone can go back to their normal routines. Just a little blip in the Internet.
funny slashdot poll
Usually, I only laugh out loud at semi-funny things when I am really tired, so when I laughed out loud at this poll regarding "What Do You Call This Decade?" I knew that I was really tired. I laughed at the now() answer, which is funny if you work with databases. It's probably not funny, if you don't. If you don't, then let's just say I thought "Just awkwardly avoid naming it whenever the topic arises" was funny. Yeah, that's it...
Usually, I only laugh out loud at semi-funny things when I am really tired, so when I laughed out loud at this poll regarding "What Do You Call This Decade?" I knew that I was really tired. I laughed at the now() answer, which is funny if you work with databases. It's probably not funny, if you don't. If you don't, then let's just say I thought "Just awkwardly avoid naming it whenever the topic arises" was funny. Yeah, that's it...
kennedy, a terrorist? help me, jeebus!
Via Yahoo! News, Sen. Kennedy Lands on 'No Fly' List
Via Yahoo! News, Sen. Kennedy Lands on 'No Fly' List
"Kennedy -- one of the most recognizable figures in American politics -- told a Senate committee hearing on Thursday he had been blocked several times from boarding commercial airline flights because his name was on a 'no-fly' list intended to exclude potential terrorists.Not politically motivated...sure....but I'd still recommend anyone with the last name of "Kerry" or "Edwards" to check with Homeland Security before flying, just in case.
...
A Kennedy spokesman said the whole thing had resulted from a simple error and had not been politically motivated."
currently playing...
Diversity is a good thing. My music playlist for today's work session is:
- Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass
- Metallica / San Francisco Symphony: S&M
- Massive Attack: Mezzanine
- Doves: The Last Broadcast
- Twilight, as played by the Twilight Singers
- Maroon 5: Songs About Jane
- Sunny Day Real Estate: The Rising Tide
- one of five more Toad the Wet Sprocket CDs
- Throwing Muses: Hunkpapa
There are more, but this is the core. The core doesn't often vary...I need more variety but I am very picky about work music. Not that you could tell, as this list looks awfully random.
This is not my "list of favorite albums ever" -- I don't really have one of those. I have a list of work music, a list of road trip music (not that I've taken one in years, but still) and a list of CDs I just listen to in the car when sports talk radio or NPR sucks at that moment. All of those lists are different. Fascinating, I'm sure.
Diversity is a good thing. My music playlist for today's work session is:
- Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass
- Metallica / San Francisco Symphony: S&M
- Massive Attack: Mezzanine
- Doves: The Last Broadcast
- Twilight, as played by the Twilight Singers
- Maroon 5: Songs About Jane
- Sunny Day Real Estate: The Rising Tide
- one of five more Toad the Wet Sprocket CDs
- Throwing Muses: Hunkpapa
There are more, but this is the core. The core doesn't often vary...I need more variety but I am very picky about work music. Not that you could tell, as this list looks awfully random.
This is not my "list of favorite albums ever" -- I don't really have one of those. I have a list of work music, a list of road trip music (not that I've taken one in years, but still) and a list of CDs I just listen to in the car when sports talk radio or NPR sucks at that moment. All of those lists are different. Fascinating, I'm sure.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
no more bugmenot
Wah. According to Boing Boing, bugmenot seems to have gone away. Xeni says, "I'd bet dollars to downloads that lawyers were involved." Yeah, no kidding. Too bad. Then again, I didn't mind registereing for the three papers I tend to read on-line (San Jose Mercury News, LA Times, Washington Post)...I still don't think I'll register for any more, though.
--> update available
--> more update: it WILL be back
Wah. According to Boing Boing, bugmenot seems to have gone away. Xeni says, "I'd bet dollars to downloads that lawyers were involved." Yeah, no kidding. Too bad. Then again, I didn't mind registereing for the three papers I tend to read on-line (San Jose Mercury News, LA Times, Washington Post)...I still don't think I'll register for any more, though.
--> update available
--> more update: it WILL be back
workout extravaganza
I hadn't been to the gym in weeks. I kept holding it back as a reward: finish list of things, go to the gym. Unfortunately, my "list of things" never gets shorter. So today, although I haven't finished writing my lessons and I haven't finished editing my chapters (but I did finish everything that was due yesterday, at work), I figured screw it, I'm going to the gym.
This was at 4:15am, and the other reason was that I figured it would wake me up. I was still very tired. After fiddling around checking mail, getting ready for the day, I left the house around 5, shot a few hoops, did a shortened amount of work on the elliptical (weird bottom-of-foot problem), and then did a circuit of the Nautilus machines. I know a lot of people do all legs one day, all arms the other day (or something along those lines), but since I'm in it for tone rather than strength, I always do a full-body weights circut. I always do 4 sets of 12, except for one stupid thing that I suck at: overhead press. I look like a little old woman when I do that one, and I don't know why. Lat pulldowns, rows, chest press, all fine. Overhead press, not so much. I like to make up for looking like a fool on that one, by doing 200lb leg presses. That's one thing I can do.
Now I'm back home, drinking my coffee, still not really ready for the day.
I hadn't been to the gym in weeks. I kept holding it back as a reward: finish list of things, go to the gym. Unfortunately, my "list of things" never gets shorter. So today, although I haven't finished writing my lessons and I haven't finished editing my chapters (but I did finish everything that was due yesterday, at work), I figured screw it, I'm going to the gym.
This was at 4:15am, and the other reason was that I figured it would wake me up. I was still very tired. After fiddling around checking mail, getting ready for the day, I left the house around 5, shot a few hoops, did a shortened amount of work on the elliptical (weird bottom-of-foot problem), and then did a circuit of the Nautilus machines. I know a lot of people do all legs one day, all arms the other day (or something along those lines), but since I'm in it for tone rather than strength, I always do a full-body weights circut. I always do 4 sets of 12, except for one stupid thing that I suck at: overhead press. I look like a little old woman when I do that one, and I don't know why. Lat pulldowns, rows, chest press, all fine. Overhead press, not so much. I like to make up for looking like a fool on that one, by doing 200lb leg presses. That's one thing I can do.
Now I'm back home, drinking my coffee, still not really ready for the day.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
things I've learned by using "next blog"
- people can't spell
- people really, really can't spell
- there are a lot of Finnish bloggers
- there are a lot of Argentinean bloggers
- the rEaLLy aNnOYinG uSe oF MiXEd cASe seems to be constrained to Asian bloggers
- sometimes you will see pictures of kids, dogs and flowers
- sometimes you will see pictures of penii and/or breasts
- it only took about 30 clicks to run into a blog I've already read
- i haven't landed on a blog that was in my blogroll
- i've added to my blogroll, after next-blogging
Through next-blogging, I managed to find a really lame attempt at plagiarizing from my books, in the tutorials at www.tizag.com. Their PHP and MySQL tutorials contain text that's either lifted from my books and slightly modified (in examples, students become employees, etc.), or there are people out there who use the same voice and phrases that I do (only I do it better). People suck.
UPDATE (1/Sep/2004) The person from www.tizag.com who wrote the ariticles I mentioned above, has written to me to assure me that he has never read a single one of my books (or Matt Zandstra's book, I assume, from which content is included in TYPMA24 and PMA AiO). Apparently, I have a writing doppelganger, to which I say "good for him" because I write well (so say my publishers when I, the worrisome author say "does this suck?" and they say "books that suck don't sell this much" and I say "neat" and move on) and hopefully he makes money from writing well, too. All I know is that I have never before read something so eerily similar my published content, so much so that my stomach did flip-flips. Doesn't matter, though, because I don't own my content anyway, Pearson and Thompson do. But it sure was creepy.
- people can't spell
- people really, really can't spell
- there are a lot of Finnish bloggers
- there are a lot of Argentinean bloggers
- the rEaLLy aNnOYinG uSe oF MiXEd cASe seems to be constrained to Asian bloggers
- sometimes you will see pictures of kids, dogs and flowers
- sometimes you will see pictures of penii and/or breasts
- it only took about 30 clicks to run into a blog I've already read
- i haven't landed on a blog that was in my blogroll
- i've added to my blogroll, after next-blogging
Through next-blogging, I managed to find a really lame attempt at plagiarizing from my books, in the tutorials at www.tizag.com. Their PHP and MySQL tutorials contain text that's either lifted from my books and slightly modified (in examples, students become employees, etc.), or there are people out there who use the same voice and phrases that I do (only I do it better). People suck.
UPDATE (1/Sep/2004) The person from www.tizag.com who wrote the ariticles I mentioned above, has written to me to assure me that he has never read a single one of my books (or Matt Zandstra's book, I assume, from which content is included in TYPMA24 and PMA AiO). Apparently, I have a writing doppelganger, to which I say "good for him" because I write well (so say my publishers when I, the worrisome author say "does this suck?" and they say "books that suck don't sell this much" and I say "neat" and move on) and hopefully he makes money from writing well, too. All I know is that I have never before read something so eerily similar my published content, so much so that my stomach did flip-flips. Doesn't matter, though, because I don't own my content anyway, Pearson and Thompson do. But it sure was creepy.
congestion
Aerial views are cool. I live here. Actually, I live about 30 feet to the right of the marked spot. Oh well.
[via little. yellow. different.]
Aerial views are cool. I live here. Actually, I live about 30 feet to the right of the marked spot. Oh well.
[via little. yellow. different.]
the allconsuming.net books list
Following Mel's lead, I made an allconsuming.net "currently reading" books list and linked it over thar in the right-side column (after the blogroll). It sure makes me look edumacated, huh?
You know, I really don't get all my good ideas directly from Mel, just a bunch of them. If you read her blog, and you read mine too (for whatever reason), you may occassionally see some joiner activity on my part. But what you don't know, and what I do know because I've had the good fortune of knowing dear Mel for a bazillion years in real-life, is that Mel is ultra-cool. I mean really, really cool. Like top-3 people I've ever known, cool. So for those of you who read/post comments at her blog but don't know her in real life: neener neener neener. :)
I'm just kiddng...at least, I'm kidding with the teasing. Mel is cool. Ed needs to stop bothering Mel.
Following Mel's lead, I made an allconsuming.net "currently reading" books list and linked it over thar in the right-side column (after the blogroll). It sure makes me look edumacated, huh?
You know, I really don't get all my good ideas directly from Mel, just a bunch of them. If you read her blog, and you read mine too (for whatever reason), you may occassionally see some joiner activity on my part. But what you don't know, and what I do know because I've had the good fortune of knowing dear Mel for a bazillion years in real-life, is that Mel is ultra-cool. I mean really, really cool. Like top-3 people I've ever known, cool. So for those of you who read/post comments at her blog but don't know her in real life: neener neener neener. :)
I'm just kiddng...at least, I'm kidding with the teasing. Mel is cool. Ed needs to stop bothering Mel.
it's an appropriate logo
since American Mariel Zagunis beat Tan Xue of China 15-9 in the sabre final to win the first Fencing medal EVER for an American woman, and the first Fencing medal at all for the US since 1984, and the first Fencing Gold for the US since 1904. Sada Jacobson (US) got the bronze, and that would have been a big story, too, had Zagunis not won the gold!
Oh yeah, and Phelps won two more, and the men's basketball team stinks, the women's volleyball team has lost twice and probably won't medal, the soccer team tied the Aussies in a throw-away match. As for the "other" sports, you know, the ones that aren't "popular" in the US: Deirdre Demet-Barry (US) won silver in the cycling time trial and Christine Thorburn (US) was 4th, Rebecca Giddens (US) won silver in the Women's K1 Kayak Single and Kim Rhode (US) won gold in the Women's Double Trap.
I've had the good fortune to have held an Olympic gold medal in my hands (no, I didn't win it, I was friends with someone who did). It was heavy!
since American Mariel Zagunis beat Tan Xue of China 15-9 in the sabre final to win the first Fencing medal EVER for an American woman, and the first Fencing medal at all for the US since 1984, and the first Fencing Gold for the US since 1904. Sada Jacobson (US) got the bronze, and that would have been a big story, too, had Zagunis not won the gold!
Oh yeah, and Phelps won two more, and the men's basketball team stinks, the women's volleyball team has lost twice and probably won't medal, the soccer team tied the Aussies in a throw-away match. As for the "other" sports, you know, the ones that aren't "popular" in the US: Deirdre Demet-Barry (US) won silver in the cycling time trial and Christine Thorburn (US) was 4th, Rebecca Giddens (US) won silver in the Women's K1 Kayak Single and Kim Rhode (US) won gold in the Women's Double Trap.
I've had the good fortune to have held an Olympic gold medal in my hands (no, I didn't win it, I was friends with someone who did). It was heavy!
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
new Angry Alien/30-second bunnies movie!
It's Jaws in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies. A MUST SEE!
It's Jaws in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies. A MUST SEE!
i get it....
like evhead (evan williams), I am also addicted to the "next blog" feature of the new blogger navbar. That was pretty sneaky...
like evhead (evan williams), I am also addicted to the "next blog" feature of the new blogger navbar. That was pretty sneaky...
i am so bored
I am (at this very moment) formatting my lessons for my Sessions.edu class. It's mostly pulling together all sorts of things I've written before, tweaking it a bit, and modifying some images. These were all due yesterday. I suck beyond belief at deadlines...especially those I set myself. This one even had an "early completion" bonus attached to it, but I lost a whole weekend of work time, because I was housesitting again. When I set the deadline, I didn't know I'd be doing that, and I can't sit and work for 18-20 hours at my friends' house like I can in my own (it just doesn't have the right furniture). Couldn't do things earlier, because we're busy at work. In fact, we're still busy, I'll have to do a lot of work today, and I'll probably only turn in two of the six lessons today....at this very moment I am working on number 2, and it's 3:40am. These are probably going to drag out another two or three days, which is unfortunate becuase I have eight chapters to edit and submit on Thursday.
I do love my coffee.
I am (at this very moment) formatting my lessons for my Sessions.edu class. It's mostly pulling together all sorts of things I've written before, tweaking it a bit, and modifying some images. These were all due yesterday. I suck beyond belief at deadlines...especially those I set myself. This one even had an "early completion" bonus attached to it, but I lost a whole weekend of work time, because I was housesitting again. When I set the deadline, I didn't know I'd be doing that, and I can't sit and work for 18-20 hours at my friends' house like I can in my own (it just doesn't have the right furniture). Couldn't do things earlier, because we're busy at work. In fact, we're still busy, I'll have to do a lot of work today, and I'll probably only turn in two of the six lessons today....at this very moment I am working on number 2, and it's 3:40am. These are probably going to drag out another two or three days, which is unfortunate becuase I have eight chapters to edit and submit on Thursday.
I do love my coffee.
Monday, August 16, 2004
i was too embarrassed to post this earlier
I had no problem indicating I was a 7th-level'er in Jimbo's or Rana's blog, but I didn't want people to see the details. Truly, I am not violent (gluttonous, yeah). I just answered the "do you like violent movies or video games" question with "yes" because I'm all for fake gory schlock, and first-person shooter games in the Star Wars vein are a great way to kill time. Really, though, I'm not a terrible person. I could always blame this on Catholic school...somehow.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
I had no problem indicating I was a 7th-level'er in Jimbo's or Rana's blog, but I didn't want people to see the details. Truly, I am not violent (gluttonous, yeah). I just answered the "do you like violent movies or video games" question with "yes" because I'm all for fake gory schlock, and first-person shooter games in the Star Wars vein are a great way to kill time. Really, though, I'm not a terrible person. I could always blame this on Catholic school...somehow.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Moderate |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Very High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Moderate |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | High |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | High |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Very High |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | High |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Moderate |
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
swimming IS a major sport
Sorry pjm...Google thinks that swimming is a logo-worthy event:
Although Phelps won't win 8 golds (or even 7 golds), he can still win a buttload of medals. I know it's not very patriotic, but I've been an Ian Thorpe fan since the last Olympics, and I'm glad he's won his individual events so far, including the head-to-head vs Phelps. Kudos to NoCal's Natalie Coughlin, who won gold in the 100m Backstroke. Also, in the "someone really should highlight these things" category, 53kg women's weightlifter Udomporn Polsak won a gold medal—the first Thai woman ever to win a gold medal in anything. Good for her.
Sorry pjm...Google thinks that swimming is a logo-worthy event:
Although Phelps won't win 8 golds (or even 7 golds), he can still win a buttload of medals. I know it's not very patriotic, but I've been an Ian Thorpe fan since the last Olympics, and I'm glad he's won his individual events so far, including the head-to-head vs Phelps. Kudos to NoCal's Natalie Coughlin, who won gold in the 100m Backstroke. Also, in the "someone really should highlight these things" category, 53kg women's weightlifter Udomporn Polsak won a gold medal—the first Thai woman ever to win a gold medal in anything. Good for her.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
oh, thank god
Once again, I have triumphed over genetics!
I AM 11% WHITE TRASH!
I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box. [This is all true, actually.] Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com
[via if you don't have cable and your library card has expired]
Once again, I have triumphed over genetics!
I AM 11% WHITE TRASH!
I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box. [This is all true, actually.] Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com
[via if you don't have cable and your library card has expired]
preparing for all sorts of school
My second summer class is over; I turned in my final exam on Friday. No more "Fundamentals of Human Resource Management" for me, thank god. Actually, it was a fine class. The prof was a hoot, and if you're going to sit through four hours of HR lectures twice a week, the prof being a hoot is definitely a plus. The next two weeks are school-free, as classes start on the 25th. Crap, that's not really two weeks, is it? More like ten days. Oh well.
Here's something for all you professor types: as soon as you know the books you're going to use in your classes, post them on your faculty web page. Please, I beg of you, on behalf of all my fellow students. With a head-start, and armed with all the ISBNs for the books I need for the fall, I managed to cut my textbook bill by a significant amount ($165 compared to $325). The half.com textbook market is awesome. While most of my books were the actual editions, I also got a few of the international editions of textbooks -- exactly the same, just not printed in the US. The knock on int'l editions is that obviously you can't resell them at your school's bookstore, but you sure can resell them on half.com. But I did manage to turn a profit on my summer book: bought the real, hardback edition on half.com for $50 (compared to $90 used/$125 new at the bookstore), then sold it back to the bookstore for $60. I also got a Norton English Lit anthology (v2) for less than $20, because it was grimy around the edges. I don't mind a little grime. Anyway, the point is that textbook prices are insane, so if you can help your students out by giving them a head start, that's a good thing. Here's the fall lineup:
- Organizational Change and Design: a required class for the management concentration, this is part two of a course I took last semester. I picked the one taught by the same prof as part one, because I really liked him. I like interesting profs who expect a lot out of their students, and reward them fairly for their efforts. There's also more writing in this fellow's class than in most of the other biz classes I've taken, and I appreciate that. I am so terrible at objective tests, I need the essay questions and case analyses in order to show that I'm not a complete dumbass. However, in this class there's a group paper. I hate group projects, period, and a group paper is even worse. I am not against the concept, I'm against the fact that the majority of people can't write, don't do their work and generally do things to bring down the group's grade. I do know that this prof engages in 360-degree evaluations with regards to group members, and takes things like "this person didn't do jack" into consideration. Depending on how I do in this class, this prof might be one of the guys I go to for a rec letter; even though it will be for the English Dept, he's able to judge my ability to synthesize info and write coherently about it.
- International & Comparative Management: a required class for the management concentration, and I know nothing about this prof, except what I read on ratemyprofessors.com, which is "he's really boring and kinda hard, but a nice guy". Of course, I take these ratings with a grain of salt, so this class will probably just be another in a long list of incredibly mind-numbing biz classes. There's a written assignment for each class, probably something in the case analysis vein, so that's a plus in my book. It's probably what garners the "hard" rating from other students, though.
- Management Issues in High Technology Companies: a management elective. I'm not taking it because I have some great interest, instead I'm taking it because we need three electives and I only had one to date and can't count on any electives at "good" times next semester (my last), so best to get one while I can. I know the prof is well thought of by other profs, and that's good. There's a group paper in this class, too (ugh)...but I have a slightly better feeling about this one, because this is a seniors-only class. We'll see.
- Business Systems and Policy: a required class; this is where I get to learn all about Microsoft Access and how it's so wonderful for business integration (sarcasm intended). Give me a freaking break. I'm trying very hard not to have a bad attitude about having to take this class. I work with real database systems every day. I've written books about them. Don't tell me that Access rocks. Grr. Now watch me flunk it and have to take it twice. :)
- Philosophy of Science: I took this class in Spring '03 but had to withdraw at midterm because we were tremendously busy at work. I was getting an A, too, goshdarnit. I'm taking the online/tv lecture version of the class this time, and since I've done the hard part (reading and understanding the texts), I can focus on the writing. I'm doing this to replace the "W" on my transcript with an actual grade, and also to help get my brain prepared for work in the humanities.
- The Victorian Age: if I get through this class, I'll do an English MA. I am now supremely confident in my ability to do so (but not cocky-confident, that would just be stupid), even if I haven't yet finished Middlemarch. I did buy my own copy, though, and that's saying something. :)
Then there's the course I'm developing and then teaching at sessions.edu, "Databases and Dynamic Web Design". In fact, I should really go finish writing/formatting the lessons, since they're all due tomorrow....
My second summer class is over; I turned in my final exam on Friday. No more "Fundamentals of Human Resource Management" for me, thank god. Actually, it was a fine class. The prof was a hoot, and if you're going to sit through four hours of HR lectures twice a week, the prof being a hoot is definitely a plus. The next two weeks are school-free, as classes start on the 25th. Crap, that's not really two weeks, is it? More like ten days. Oh well.
Here's something for all you professor types: as soon as you know the books you're going to use in your classes, post them on your faculty web page. Please, I beg of you, on behalf of all my fellow students. With a head-start, and armed with all the ISBNs for the books I need for the fall, I managed to cut my textbook bill by a significant amount ($165 compared to $325). The half.com textbook market is awesome. While most of my books were the actual editions, I also got a few of the international editions of textbooks -- exactly the same, just not printed in the US. The knock on int'l editions is that obviously you can't resell them at your school's bookstore, but you sure can resell them on half.com. But I did manage to turn a profit on my summer book: bought the real, hardback edition on half.com for $50 (compared to $90 used/$125 new at the bookstore), then sold it back to the bookstore for $60. I also got a Norton English Lit anthology (v2) for less than $20, because it was grimy around the edges. I don't mind a little grime. Anyway, the point is that textbook prices are insane, so if you can help your students out by giving them a head start, that's a good thing. Here's the fall lineup:
- Organizational Change and Design: a required class for the management concentration, this is part two of a course I took last semester. I picked the one taught by the same prof as part one, because I really liked him. I like interesting profs who expect a lot out of their students, and reward them fairly for their efforts. There's also more writing in this fellow's class than in most of the other biz classes I've taken, and I appreciate that. I am so terrible at objective tests, I need the essay questions and case analyses in order to show that I'm not a complete dumbass. However, in this class there's a group paper. I hate group projects, period, and a group paper is even worse. I am not against the concept, I'm against the fact that the majority of people can't write, don't do their work and generally do things to bring down the group's grade. I do know that this prof engages in 360-degree evaluations with regards to group members, and takes things like "this person didn't do jack" into consideration. Depending on how I do in this class, this prof might be one of the guys I go to for a rec letter; even though it will be for the English Dept, he's able to judge my ability to synthesize info and write coherently about it.
- International & Comparative Management: a required class for the management concentration, and I know nothing about this prof, except what I read on ratemyprofessors.com, which is "he's really boring and kinda hard, but a nice guy". Of course, I take these ratings with a grain of salt, so this class will probably just be another in a long list of incredibly mind-numbing biz classes. There's a written assignment for each class, probably something in the case analysis vein, so that's a plus in my book. It's probably what garners the "hard" rating from other students, though.
- Management Issues in High Technology Companies: a management elective. I'm not taking it because I have some great interest, instead I'm taking it because we need three electives and I only had one to date and can't count on any electives at "good" times next semester (my last), so best to get one while I can. I know the prof is well thought of by other profs, and that's good. There's a group paper in this class, too (ugh)...but I have a slightly better feeling about this one, because this is a seniors-only class. We'll see.
- Business Systems and Policy: a required class; this is where I get to learn all about Microsoft Access and how it's so wonderful for business integration (sarcasm intended). Give me a freaking break. I'm trying very hard not to have a bad attitude about having to take this class. I work with real database systems every day. I've written books about them. Don't tell me that Access rocks. Grr. Now watch me flunk it and have to take it twice. :)
- Philosophy of Science: I took this class in Spring '03 but had to withdraw at midterm because we were tremendously busy at work. I was getting an A, too, goshdarnit. I'm taking the online/tv lecture version of the class this time, and since I've done the hard part (reading and understanding the texts), I can focus on the writing. I'm doing this to replace the "W" on my transcript with an actual grade, and also to help get my brain prepared for work in the humanities.
- The Victorian Age: if I get through this class, I'll do an English MA. I am now supremely confident in my ability to do so (but not cocky-confident, that would just be stupid), even if I haven't yet finished Middlemarch. I did buy my own copy, though, and that's saying something. :)
Then there's the course I'm developing and then teaching at sessions.edu, "Databases and Dynamic Web Design". In fact, I should really go finish writing/formatting the lessons, since they're all due tomorrow....
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