Sunday, December 31, 2006

End of Year Wrap Up

Yep, I'm following the meme which I've seen on so many blogs. It's good to look back and just assess everything, even in a cursory manner.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
Visited Orlando, New Orleans, and East St. Louis, Illinois.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Hah! It is to laugh. Of course I'll make more.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, but the night is still young.
5. What countries did you visit?
None. Although New Orleans almost counts.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More money. But that ain't very likely, being that I'm in Grad School.
7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Can't think of any.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving the first full-time semester of Grad School!
9. What was your biggest failure?
I have two incomplete grades to clear up.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Broke a toe, twisted an ankle, a few colds, and the normal asthmatic episodes.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My MacBook! And bedroom furniture.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine! I donated blood for the first time ever.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Our President's, in general.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, food, car. Bah.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to Pennsic for the first time in about 6 years.
16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Can't think of any.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? about the same
c) richer or poorer? poorer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Traveling! I like it so much. And public singing. Now that the bars here are going to be smoke-free, I'm sure I'll have more opportunities.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Procrastinating on school assignments.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my two cats in my own place. But that was planned, so it was okay.
21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
How about falling in deep like? In that case, yes.
22. How many one-night stands?
None. Which is a nice change from last year.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Lost, Arrested Development, and The Daily Show.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope!
25. What was the best book you read?
Maybe Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. Or Y: the Last Man by Brian Vaughan.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I've been introduced to lots of good stuff like Devotchka, Iron and Wine, and Dead Can Dance.
27. What did you want and get?
My MacBook! I'm so materialistic.
28. What did you want and not get?
A new car. Bummer.
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Probably Stranger Than Fiction. Sooo good.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 34. And I have apparently contracted CRS, because I really can't remember beyond going out to lunch and dinner with friends. It was low key.
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Finishing the previously mentioned classes.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Jeans and tshirt, just like always. And nicely painted toenails.
33. What kept you sane?
Talking with my friend Steph A. over brunch at Perkins on many, many Sundays.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
That guy from Casino Royale. Hummina hummina.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Sigh. Too many to count.
36. Who did you miss?
My best friend C. I wanted to talk to him so many times this year.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
Three of them. My team from LIS 451, Wayne, Hana, and Lori!
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006
Just breathe!
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
"Good times never felt so good!"

Friday, December 29, 2006

Hair today...

...and much less of it, uh...now.

I got a haircut on Wednesday. For those who haven't known me all that long, perhaps you do not understand just how momentous an event this was for me. I have a slight hair-cutting phobia, you see. I even have dreams (nightmares, really) of my locks being snipped off by strangers or it getting caught in things and ripped out. This is the first haircut I've had in over two years; the last being the day after my best friend C died, September 2004.

I've had the Dorothy Hamil bowl cut, the Little Orphan Annie perm, the "I'm only learning how to cut hair, oops, let me just wipe that blood off" trim. Not a lot of good hair experiences in my youth. When I left home, I decided to just ignore my hair and only cut it when it really, really started to annoy me. So, since I was about 20 or so, my hair has been down to my tailbone, which seems to be the extent of its natural length. But letting it go without even a trim means that it can get pretty scraggly, even if it is still gorgeous.

Now, instead of super-long, my hair is simply normal-long, hitting at about the middle of my back. I am currently still panicking whenever I notice that I can't feel my hair brushing my elbows. But I'll get used to it ("It'll grow back, it'll grow back..."). There's much less of it to shampoo, which feels weird, but will save me a tiny bit of money. Except that I did buy some product at the salon, because I have no willpower when it comes to such things, so there went the shampoo savings. Oh, and the natural wave in my hair is much more pronounced, now that there isn't as much weight pulling it straight. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I should've chopped it off this summer, when I could have appreciated the breeziness more.

I lost about ten inches of length total. Shea thinks that I should have gathered up all the clippings and given them to Richard as a Christmas present ("Here! See how much I like you?! Never go away again!!!"). But I refrained. I didn't think that would go over so well, for some reason.

And now for the pics. You can go to the Flickr set, too.

Before the cut, my hair all spread out and making me look like a Hindu goddess. I can relate to that.
Before the cut, all spread out

Before

Side views
Before the cut, view 3

Before, view 2

And now what you've been waiting for...

After the cut!
After the cut

After the cut, 2nd view

This is the only front view that looked decent, sorry.
After the cut

And here it is today, with my natural wave showing a hell of a lot more. The day of the haircut the stylist ironed my hair straight and put lots of product on it. Yeah, I don't usually go through that much trouble, but we'll see. Now, how long before the next cut...?
Wavy

Thursday, December 28, 2006

I just found a new use for my camera

Oh, baby. I've always known that librarians were hot (I'm one of them, after all), but I just found something just as nice. Babes With Books.

Sweet. Now I just need to find a site with pretty boys and books, just to be balanced, you know. Or maybe I should suggest a calendar as a GSLIS fundraiser. But which student group would be most appropriate/have the most willing models? ALA? ASIS&T? SLA? Hmm...

Sunday, December 10, 2006

End of semester, pre-final wrap up thingy

Almost done with my first semester as a full-time grad student. Feeling tired and annoyed at my (lack of) study habits, and vowing to do better next semester.

I'm taking an incomplete in my Collection Development class, with the agreement that I finish up before the first day of Spring classes, which is entirely reasonable. I'm not very happy with myself for having yet another incomplete under my belt (I had one last semester), but according to my fellow students, this is not an unusual occurrence. I just don't want to make it a habit.

I'm getting together with my Intro to Networking team this week to finish up our group project and prepare for our Thursday presentation, and I have no worries that everything will go fine (knock on virtual wood). And I have to remember to make something for the class potluck that follows the final presentations. Something vegetarian, I think.

The annoying (required) and unorganized (ironic) Information Organization and Access class is almost over. I am finishing up my part of the group presentation and have completed the web site. I hate group projects. Or, rather, I hate that I volunteer to do too much on group projects and then get behind in everything else. And that my teammates get to put up with me being a neurotic procrastinator-perfectionist. Bad combination. But the website looks pretty.

And to boot? I've been smelling cigarette smoke all day and it's giving me a headache. Where is it coming from? My neighbors. The insulation/duct work/whatever is so poor in my duplex that the smoke from next door is coming through the heating ducts or cracks in the walls or the ether or something. Not. Helping. With. The. Writing!

Back to the Info Org and Access writing. Sigh.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Washing the floor, the hard way

I am back safe and sound from our second and final trip to East St. Louis. More on that later. For now, I am stuck at home cleaning up my utility room because my washer has decided that it is more fun to spill water all over the floor instead of into the sink, where it should go. The cats were not amused, especially since that's where their litter boxes are kept.

Can we say "ick?"

My jeans and shirts are clean, but I have no clean underwear, and I'm not washing another load until my landlord comes over to unclog the sink. Guess I'm going commando tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

More life lessons

It does me no good to own a multimeter in order to test batteries when the batteries in the multimeter are dead.

I'm off to the store.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Does my Master's degree come with a lifetime gym membership?

Forgot this little tidbit from a few days ago.

Librarians should be sexier
According to the marketing guy in the article, we should use "good-looking" staff, recommend "racy" titles, and not use the word "librarian" any more. No idea what the hell we're supposed to use instead, though ("information choreographer" anyone?).

Hey, I consider myself a very hot (or "hott") librarian! It all depends on what you consider sexy, after all. Okay, I don't wear lipstick (I end up licking it all off...) and I can't fit into my black lace bustier right now, but the cone-shaped cups made funny dents in my blouses anyway, so no big loss. But watch out when I take my bun down!

Hummina, hummina. :-)

Aaaaaaaaa!!!!! [deep breath] Aaaaaaa!!!!

My nightmares have come true! Luckily, it wasn't me who was the victim. And it happened across the ocean in an entirely different country. But it was on a bus! Just like in my dreams! Waaay too close to (imaginary) reality!

Man arrested for cutting women's hair [and possibly murder]

I'm going to go have a small anxiety attack now.

Things I Did Not Anticipate...

...When I Decided To Keep Cats As Pets, Number 5,347:

Needing to know how to get cat barf off my MacBook.

Sigh. I'll spare you the photo.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Woman, know thy limits

I knew there was a reason why I'm not a good student. I just don't know my limits! And all the knowledge pours out of my head after awhile.

Also? Party Girl is even funnier when you're in the middle of getting your LIS degree. Best line: "He's not a dick, he's a patron."

Thanksgiving was great; good friends, good conversation, good food. Except that since I don't have any leftovers (Kathleen and Shea provided most of the meal) beyond the pumpkin cheesecake which I made, I now have a powerful urge to roast an entire turkey.

And now back to my silly little paper.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Someday I'll get the hang of this...

Good reason why you shouldn't wait until the last minute to turn in an assignment? Because that way, when your internet connection goes down 15 minutes before your paper is due to be emailed in, you don't give yourself a panic attack in the ensuing rush to figure out what just is wrong with your home network this time.

The paper was successfully turned in just 2 minutes ago, but 'm going to go bang my head against the wall for a bit, just to remind myself NOT TO DO THIS EVER AGAIN. Yeah, that'll work.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Maybe I'll start a new annual tradition...

Well, Winter Solstice...comes but once a year, and these folks want to make sure that everyone celebrates together. On December 22 join in the Global Orgasm.

The goal is to add so much concentrated and high-energy positive input into the energy field of the Earth that it will reduce the current dangerous levels of aggression and violence throughout the world.

And here I thought that by joining the Free Hugs movement I'd be doing the world some good. Looks like I was setting my sights too low...or not low enough.

Seriously, check out the Free Hugs video on You Tube. It's really sweet.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

W00T!

Yay! I finally got my wireless internet working again after over a month of wired-only access! Woo hoo! Now I can play Kingdom of Loathing...I mean, studiously read my class forums and perform important research, all from the comfort of my living room.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Hey, could be worse. Could be raining.


How Will I Die Quiz

How Will I Die Quiz

You will die at the age of 110

You will after a long battle with wasabi addiction

Find out how you will die at Quizopolis.com

Quizopolis


Thanks, Mark. Yet another thing to distract me from my 501 homework. And now I'm also hungry for Japanese food...

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Like Grad school isn't hard enough already

I'm going a leeetle bit crazy tonight. Not only was the system down for 3 hours after my first available time to register, the one class that I have been looking forward to for over a year is already full!!!

I have enough credits that I should have been able to register earlier than tonight, but since I can't actually transfer those credits until I've been a "real" grad student for this semester...

Gah! Bah!

Yes, I wrote to the teacher and GSLIS admin to get on the waiting list. Oh, it's for the Cataloging II class with Bial, in case you were wondering.

So far, I am registered for the following:

502 Libraries, Information, and Society (2 credits, required course)
490 Storytelling (2 credits)

...and that's it. I need 10 credits to get my tuition waiver. Cataloging II would've given me another 4 credits, still leaving me to find another class. I've already taken Reference, Cataloging I, and Museum Informatics. This semester I'm taking 501 (other required course), Intro to Networking, and Collection Development.

Damn it! I'm off to look at the listings for the umpteenth time. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Edited to add:
Here are two other classes I've thought of, but they are offered at exactly the same time. Which to take? This doesn't help!

590ILE Indexing & Abstracting with Frank Kellerman
590MD Metadata in Theory and Practice with Jerome McDonough

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Boobage! And nicely rounded dipthongs.

Heard on the quad a few weeks ago:

"Save the boobies!"

[long pause]

"Support breast cancer research!"

--------

I was giggling all the way to the bus stop.

So, boobs. I like boobs. I like other women's boobs (whoops, there go all my female friends, running off screaming). I especially like my very own boobs, which I have never named, nor ever will. Just thought that needed to be said. Ahem.

And if I had known about this before the deadline, I might have participated. My political career is already over before it began due to some questionable photos from years ago, so why not contribute (and I have a lot to contribute, har har) to a good cause? Oh well, there is always next year.

What? You want to hear more about tits? Don't mind if I do.

Unlike many young girls, I was never really embarrassed about my breasts. Apparently, this attitude was present even before I can remember. My mother recorded in my baby book that I pronounced the word kitties as "titties" for years (that damned k sound) and that I often embarrassed her in public with my observations, once by pointing to the bras in a department store and shouting, "Look Mommy! Boobie holders!" I'm sure that you can blame my father for that phrase. When I was going through puberty I was very shy about lots of things (ie., normal), but as far as I can recall never much about my breasts.

Shopping for a bra *was* an ordeal, but mostly because of the fuss surrounding it (and the fact that my father is can be an automatic source of embarrassment in public, especially when one is an adolescent and hates being seen with her parents anyway) and because my parents were very frugal when it came to clothing. I only got bought basic white, boring underwear, even when what I really wanted was the "fancy" set with the days of the week on them. Sigh, poor young me. Not that I have much in the way of fancy underthings today, but that is more because of size restrictions, and a horror of the tiny bows that manufacturers seem to think that a bra is just not a bra without. For example, Victoria's Secret doesn't routinely carry larger sizes in their stores; you have to buy them through their catalog, and shopping for bras via catalog is an exercise in futility.

[Quick aside: the day I started writing this was "Love your body day." I can't say that I *totally* love my body (that's been a struggle since before I was an adolescent), but the hair, eyes, and boob parts are nice. They could be a bit perkier (boobs, not the other parts), but then they'd also have to shrink quite a bit. Win some, lose some. Anyway.]

Other great moments in boob history:

I distinctly remember my paternal Grandmother deciding that the reason I wouldn't wear dresses was because I was embarrassed about my breasts. I still have no idea why she came to that conclusion. I didn't like dresses because I was too much of a tomboy. I could never sit "properly" in a dress and was always showing off my underwear to the world. Hey, at least it wasn't lack-of-underwear, like my little sister. We made many an emergency trip to KMart to buy underwear. And I didn't willing wear a dress until I was in my late twenties.

In honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday: I once had a (male) roommate who would shout "turkey's done!" whenever I walked through the house and it was chilly. Figure it out for yourself. He frequently got things thrown at himself.

When I first moved back to Chambana in 2003 I didn't find (or really look for) a job right away. I took the opportunity to "let it all hang out" (How about "Free the boobages!" for my own personal slogan, Mark?) for almost 9 months, only wearing a bra when I was going to a nice restaurant or when the clothing demanded it. Some tops just don't fit right unless there is major lifting and separating involved. And architectural trusses.

Let's see, what else? My mom will kill me for this one: whenever she got dressed, she always put her bra on first. So now I have permanent images of my mother walking around the bedroom in a bra and nothing else. It is a wonder that I am as stable as I am today.

Did you know that in Ontario (and other areas) a woman can walk topless in public without being arrested for indecent exposure? And that there is an entire movement pushing for equal topless rights? Cool. And no, I'm not a nudist, nor am I ready to bare my breasts to the world (guess I'm not *that* comfortable). Only select friends get the pleasure of encountering the magical shirt that comes unbuttoned if I simply breathe wrong. It's been a hit at numerous dinner parties where I've forgotten that I was wearing that particular top. Luckily (I think), I was always wearing a decent bra.

Enforced procrastination

You know, my (required, and therefore hated) LIS 501 class is making it very hard to focus on our database assignment. We are "reverse engineering" LibraryThing, creating entity-relation diagrams and a paper explaining it all. And this requires me to poke around LibraryThing in order to figure out how it works.

Do you know *just* how many books I've either ordered or put on my "to read" list or gone to Wikipedia to read more about, just today? Gah! I really want to sit down and catalog my personal library (I already keep track of what I've read using LT, but haven't gotten around to adding in books that I actually own), but it has to wait until the semester's end so that I can get this project (and others) done!

And to boot, I actually like creating and playing with databases and was looking forward to this assignment. Hell, I get paid to do that at work. But I really don't think that LibraryThing was a great example for the poor people in my class who have had little or no previous experience with databases. I mean, I consider myself an intermediate database creator and *I'm* having problems with the assignment.

This class really is a bonding/hazing experience for all of us proto-librarians.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Boo!

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate:

Going to see Saw III tonight with Shea and possibly Tom. Apparently I am the only one in our group that possesses both estrogen and a strong stomach. Dinner before or after the show?

I am wearing spider web earrings and a rubber spider. Must remember not to go anywhere near Kathleen.

Listening to SomaFM's "Doomed: Dark music for tortured souls" channel.

Prepared myself for the zombie hordes by listening to "When zombies attack" and also reminisced a little about World War Z.

Have to remember to watch Wicker Man tonight (the 1973 version, not the awful 2006 one), as it has become my annual thing. Burn baby, burn!

Hopefully all the above will make up for my being lame and missing the GSLIS Halloween party this past weekend. Isn't it ironic that the costumer (me) never has a costume for herself? Kind of like the saying about the cobbler's children having no shoes.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Stupid Grad School lack-of-money

Damn it! Now I REALLY want to go to ALA Midwinter in Seattle this January. Mostly so I can go visit this:

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.

Oh well, at least I got to go to New Orleans (librarians party HARD) and Kennedy Space Center this year. So, I guess I already got to see a nice representation of retro-space age life (Kennedy) and what it will look like after the nuclear apocalypse (New Orleans). Sort of.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Not enough time (or hardware)

I seem to be one of the few people on the social sites that I frequent who actually watches TV, much less owns one. Well, I do. I even pay for cable! Gasp. Anyway, I either need to get a TV tuner card for my computer (and a DVD burner) or buy about 23 more VCRs (yep, I still don't have TIVO). Here are tonight's shows that are making me wish that I had finished my paper and readings earlier. And that they weren't all on at the same time:

Dirty Jobs (The man has luscious forearms. And it's on multiple times today)
House (all-day marathon on USA!)
Shaun of the Dead (hee! zombies are cool.)
Great Museums (even though I am a heathen TV-owner, I do watch PBS)
Desperate Housewives (brainless and fun)
Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp. Enough said.)

34, going on 12

I'm going to take a lesson from Dooce:

You should know that I never say things on this website about my family that I wouldn’t say to their faces. That is a lesson I learned the hard way (what lesson have I not learned the hard way?).

Guess who read my blog recently? Yep, I'm off to eat some crow. Mmmm, crow.

Monday, October 23, 2006

The 'rents

Just got off the phone with my parents. They're coming to visit, which is nice, except for the fact that they are visiting the week before Thanksgiving. Why? I have no fucking idea. I tried to gently suggest that maybe Turkey Week was a better time, due to the fact that I won't have SCHOOL and WORK that week, but that was shot down. At least they are staying in a hotel and they are *not* bringing my sister with them, which is always a recipe for pouting (on her end) and a fight of some kind on everyone's part). No, she's not a teenager, she's 31. And still lives at home.

And every time they call I get the same thing:
"What are you up to?" Homework. "Still?" Well, it doesn't really end, I just have other assignments to work on. "What else are you doing?" Working, or other forms of schoolwork, mostly. Sometimes I actually go someplace other than campus, but not often, lately. "How much longer do you have until you are done with school" [gritting my teeth at this point] Well, I just started, so probably another year or so. "And then you'll get a job?"

That's when I start crying (no, not really).

They don't really get this whole "grad school" thing. I've dealt (still dealing with) the whole "you have to have a degree to be a librarian?" thing, but it was hard enough when I was "just" getting a Bachelor's degree. They really couldn't understand why I didn't magically get job offers stuffed under my door after graduation. Well, a BA in Anthropology just doesn't get you very far. Much less apparently prepare you for having to explain to the family every holiday just what anthropology is (professional people watching) and what kind of jobs anthropologists get (none, which is why I'm heading into Library-Land). Of course, none of this is helped by the fact that I've been working in libraries for the past decade or so. "So after you get your degree...you'll go back to your old job?" Oh, hell no.

Back to that thing I'm always doing.

Slow start to the day

I didn't go to school or work today (hmm, better let my boss know that I didn't show up) because I was feeling sick and exhausted. Some day, I will get the hang of NOT WAITING TO THE LAST MINUTE TO FINISH ASSIGNMENTS and become a better student. Yeah, right. I simply have become physically unable to stay up past midnight. At least, stay up and remain a coherent person, partying is another matter.

And then I spent most of today not catching up on other schoolwork, but upgrading my wireless router and troubleshooting the connection. But it appears I was successful, so my neighbor (I am a wonderful and generous person who doles out free internet access) and I will have our normal laptop connections again. And I discovered my PC's motherboard manual, so I can go and buy some much needed memory for my poor 4-year old PC that's been limping along on only 256 MB of RAM while running Windows XP. I'm tired of screaming at the computer to hurry up when loading Firefox. Damn, I've become quite the computer geek, haven't I?

But my day just got a little bit better when I spotted this on CuteOverload, a site that I most heartily recommend to those of us who need a little humor and warm fuzziness (or cute reptile stares) to get us through the day. Go look. And shriek like a little girl at the cuteness. Hmm, I wonder how long my plecostomus would sit still...

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Mmmm, chicken fat! You know me too well.

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?



You will sink in a mire. You like to think you're normal, but deep down you really just want to strip off your clothes and roll around in chicken fat.


Take this quiz!

Cat-tease

I took great joy today in giving Missy her weekly treat of canned cat food. Normally, both cats just get dry kibble, but Missy really, really likes the (too expensive and stinky for every day) canned stuff. Misha could care less. I only buy the best quality food; no strange fillers and floor-sweepings for my kitties. Anyway, I had bought a can of food from the local health food store; it was rabbit-based. That's right, canned bunny!

Me: [in a really annoying, high-pitched voice, waving the can around] Bunny! Canned bunny! Who wants bunny for lunch?!
Missy: Meeeeeoooww!!! [which translates to "put the food down, bitch, I can't wait any longer and will trip you in two more seconds. Why the fuck do you feel a need to make me dance for my food?! Putitinthebowl. Putitinthebowl. Putitinthebowl. Now!]

Sigh. I need a life. It was funnier in my head.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Oh, for crying out loud...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAA!!!! (that was screams of pain, not joy). Oh, please.

Ms. Dewey is working the Reference Desk this evening.
===================
So I decided to ask her the questions that I got asked when I worked the Reference Desk.

Where are the fiction books located?
"Personally, I like nothing better than to curl up in front of the fire with a good book."
Then she pulled out a copy of the Kama Sutra. Naughty librarian! I mean, I know librarians are hot, but...

Can you proofread this for me?
"I can't make sense out of anything that you are saying. Wait, have you been at the pub all day?"
Ahhh! She does exist! And she deals with Undergrads just like I do!

Where did you get your MSLIS degree from?
"That's interesting, in an anthropological way. Would you care to rephrase the question?"
And then she sucked on her pen for a bit. Eeeee!!!

How late is the library open?
"Oh, you're one of those! Save yourself, it's not too late to meet a real woman." Okaaayyyy...

Where is the bathroom?
...and she never answered.

Yep, time to stop poking the virtual Hott Librarian. I would've prefered an orangutan.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Ooowww!

Do you know how painful it is to watch The Colbert Report when you can't laugh out loud because you'll start coughing?

Oooooo, I hurt right now. Green screen challenge, indeed.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A need for tunes. Or something.

So yesterday, while home sick (yes, still. i can't believe it either) and doing entirely too much web surfing, I entered a Consumating conversation about music and bemoaned the fact that without a boyfriend, my music collection has become quite stale.

Yeah, that was me, being pathetic. I don't need no stinkin' boyfriend, I have friends to introduce me to new music! And the local radio stations, but that's besides the point.

So now I call upon my peeps (because I'm hip like that) to send me recommendations for music I should be listening to. If you can copy me on some that would be great, but a playlist or the like is welcome too. Luckily, the local public libraries are pretty well stocked on the music end of things.

But before I let go of the whole "boyfriend = new music" thing, I would like to thank my most recent, uh...suppliers for their contributions to my collection. Thank you Steph for Sufjan Stevens. I listen to him over, and over, and over again. Thank you Half-Normal Mult, for letting me snag 5 albums worth of music, much of it unfamiliar. And thank you Brandy, for last year's Holiday, Children's, and Easy Listening mixes.

So with that, I now declare Brandy to be my new boyfriend. Because on the Internet, you can be any sex that you want to be. Or gender. Or species, for that matter. But Brandy, you've been treating me bad. You never call, or write. Baby, where have you been? Gimme a call, update your blog, I miss youuuuuuuu!!!! [sob!]

Hey. I blame it on the cold medicine.

Monday, October 09, 2006

A new use for ratty stuffed animals

Love this! Fashion and the Milwaukee Public Museum

A Fashion shoot in a natural history museum using the dioramas as the setting. Ooops. Reading more closely, I see that the models were Photoshopped in. Still, I think this could make a great fundraiser oportunity. Showcasing local or University talent, maybe?

via BoingBoing

Edited to add: Yes, I know having the public traipsing about the exhibits would be bad, on many different levels. But maybe something like those "you are there" photo thingies, like you see at touristy destiniations? At the Hancock Building in chicago, they have several places you could stand in front of a giant backdrop and get your photo taken so that it looked like you were out on a girder or whatnot. Or the giant set of shark teeth (not life-sized, mind you) at the New Orleans Audubon Aquarium that you could crawl up into.

Oh, for hacking out loud

I can't believe that I am still sick! All night long with the coughing and the hacking and the sore throat and the drainage. Ugh! I probably averaged about 4 hours of sleep. Not quite enough for someone who is sick. I hate being sick and I hate having asthma, which just extends the whole "being sick" thing.

It is times like this that it is probably better that I'm single (!), just because I know that it is impossible to share a bed when I'm sick like this. Who wants to be kept up all night listening to me hack away? But I do have this question for my readers: if your mate was sick, and you couldn't sleep because of it, would you a) give them a kiss and sleep elsewhere so that they could do their best to get some rest or b) tell them that they should move to the couch so that *you* can sleep? Guess which one my ex would choose? Yeah. Yet another reminder of why I am now better off.

Anyway, so I didn't go to class today, which I really wanted to (for a change) because the lecture was on metadata. Bummer. I think that they are still recording classes, though, so I'll hopefully listen to that later.

And to boot, I woke up to a strange sight. My cat with her head stuck down inside the glass of water that I had on my bedside table. I guess my water tastes better than hers. All you could see were her ears. Entire head. In the plastic glass. I'll add that to my list of reasons why I need a smaller, more portable camera.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Sicky

So, here I sit feeling sorry for myself because I am sick. I didn't go out last night because I was trying to preserve my health for an out-of-town trip today to the Festival of the Hunter's Moon. But I woke up at 8:30 feeling like death-warmed over (mmm, leftover death...) and decided that it would be better to stay home than wander around a park outside all day hacking and blowing my nose. I'm sure I would've been such a pleasant companion.

But now I'm bored. And still feeling yucky. And there is nothing good on TV on Saturdays and I've downloaded and watched all the episodes of The Office that I could. And now I want a hug. Or at least someone to go buy me some more Sudafed.

...
And I just looked over at my aquarium and realized that about 6 fish seem to be missing. I thnk that the plecostomus might be the culprit. Stupid giant catfish. He's supposed to eat algae, not other fish.

Great. Now I'm sick AND I've lost a third of my pets.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Guilty Pleasures

Things I only eat once in a great while and only when I feel the mood upon me. Honest.

  • Saltines smeared with real butter
  • Peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, with the bread toasted
  • A spoon of white sugar, topped with lemon juice
  • Sugar cubes [crunch, crunch, crunch]
  • Corn-on-the-cob, spread with mayonaise, sprinkled with seasoning salt, ala-Chicago street food
  • Doritos topped with shredded cheese and then microwaved (trailer trash nachos)
  • Doritos dipped in warmed-up cream cheese and salsa (just-moved-out-of-the-trailer-park nachos)
  • Canned spaghetti-Os with meatballs

    And now I will go and make myself a healthy snack and avoid eating any of the above things. What guilty food choices do *you* make?

  • Wheeeeeee!!!!

    Just got done watching the first few minutes of the new season of Lost. I was witing for the water to heat up for some tea, walked into the living room to catch the opener, and just stood there with a big-ass grin on my face, hands over my mouth, chanting "oh, my god, oh, my god" and laughing a bit.

    I freaking love this show!
    ===============

    Oooo! That was good. I look forward to squealing with Andy tomorrow in class.

    Wednesday, September 27, 2006

    Bangkok Bites

    I just had to share the blog I've been reading. The author is eating her way through Bangkok right now: Blitzing Through My Baht in Bangkok
    (2nd of 3 parts)
    The food is so overwhelmingly bright and tasty looking! I really need to move to a bigger city where I can at least pretend I have access to cuisines like this.

    If I had tons of money, I would spend it on traveling and trying new foods. And going to weight-loss spas in the interim.

    Tuesday, September 26, 2006

    Unbalanced

    Note to self: you are never, ever, EVER again to attempt to do simple addition or subtraction, especially when dealing with negative numbers, without a calculator. Ever.


    I just spent 4 HOURS last night and tonight balancing my checkbook. Sheesh.

    Thursday, August 24, 2006

    LIS 451 rocks

    Can I take a moment to be incredibly proud of myself for a moment? Thanks.

    Today I took apart a computer, all the way down to the motherboard. And then I put it back together again. And it *worked*.

    I think I'm going to love this class.

    Monday, August 21, 2006

    Best threat ever

    So, I'm back from Pennsic , safe and sound (only re-broke my toe once and gakked up my ankle once) and I'm feeling better about participating in the SCA , although I'm still resigning as seneschal. [In normal-world speak: "so, I'm back from a national 2-week-long conference (11,000+ attendees)...and I'm feeling better about continuing to be active in the organization, but I'm still resigning as President of our local group."]

    And now I'm planning my September schedule of SCA activities and looking at event announcements and the like. For the following to make sense, you need to know that at SCA events, wandering, unsupervised children are a continual problem that no one seems to be able to solve successfully. But I think that an SCA group in Indiana may have the solution:

    "Please keep track of your children. Children left un-attended too long will be given an espresso and a free puppy."

    Best. Threat. Ever.

    Sunday, August 06, 2006

    Pennsic Prep

    I'm off today to Pennsylvania for two weeks of Medieval- at the Pennsic War. But I'm getting a late start (haven't left yet, obviously, since I'm blogging) due to a need for sleep.

    And because I managed to break a toe yesterday. The pinky on my driving foot.

    Looks like two weeks of limping around the campground and wearing tennis shoes with long gowns. Oh well. I'm still going to have a great time!

    See you in two weeks!

    Wednesday, July 26, 2006

    Remember, tampons don't kill people....

    I currently have the hiccups from swallowing my laughter (I'm still at work).

    Tampon Shooter : For anytime of the month

    Do not use tampons that have been worn. This is unhygienic and the expanded tampons will clog the gun barrel.


    Well, naturally. That's kinda what they're designed to do...

    Be sure to check out the other, um, "crafts."

    Oooo, my heart.

    Scariest thing I saw this week? An 80 year old woman. Attempting to park her ginormous car in the Schnuck's grocery store lot. While talking on a cell phone.

    You just know that it's going to show up on the Archery Field...

    14-foot inflatable sheep stolen

    I can't figure out what someone would do with a 14-foot sheep," [the store-owner] said. "It can't go in your basement and if it's in your back yard, your neighbor will notice. If it's target practice, it only lasts once.


    I'll be on the lookout for it at Pennsic. Only 10 more days!

    Tuesday, July 25, 2006

    Computer (and other sorts of) lust

    So, I've got this new MacBook, which I really, really like (it's not love, yet, simply because I'm not nearly as conversant with its interface as I am with a PC). And I've got an iPod, which I am much, much more in like with (it has come in very useful for ignoring my coworkers). I recently found out that just like a computer disc (remember those?), an iPod can either be formatted for use with a Mac or with a PC, not both. Bummer.

    After bouncing between keeping my iPod (it's the black 30 gig video one, in case you were wondering) hooked up to my PC or reformatting it to work only on my Mac (mine's white, because black is not worth $200 more), I started using Senuti, which allows me to leave my iPod the way I originally set it up, and simply copy my music from the iPod into my Mac (which I named "Lilith," by the way).

    Cool, yes? Very. That is, until Lilith informed me that she was almost out of memory. WTF? How the hell did I manage to use up 60 gigs in the space of a month? Especially since I only have a total of 9 gigs of music? Huh?!

    Well, I finally figured out how to tell how much memory was in each of Lillith's folders and I've discovered where iTunes likes to squirrel away music files (in the music folder, but not where you'd think). And why have I used more memory than I ever thought possible?

    .
    .
    .

    Because I managed to copy my entire iPod four times. Doh!

    So I'm carefully re-reading Senuti's instructions so that this doesn't happen again. And deleting lots of files.

    And now you know entirely too much about my personal hardware. Hubba hubba.

    Back to my evening soaps. Tonight it's Dirty Jobs. I think I'm in heavy-duty lust with the host. Totally my type of guy. Tall, handsome, nice forearms, and not afraid to get filthy! Ahhh....

    Monday, July 10, 2006

    Spam subject lines, pt 2

    "Carbonated amphibian"

    I think I may have found my new site name...

    Sunday, July 09, 2006

    Garage Sale-ing Away

    So, my friends and I are having a garage sale on July 29. Which is good, because I have a ton of clothes and two big boxes of books sitting in my office from my Christmas 2005 stay-at-home-and-clean holiday extravaganza.

    I have about three weeks to weed, sort, haul, and price all my extraneous belongings over to Steph's house. I'm hoping that blogging this experience (I haven't had a garage sale since 1994 or 95) will keep me on track and get my place cleaned out and easier to keep up. On to this weekend's progress...

    • Dragged out my old student drafting table and found all its parts
    • Cut my video collection in half
    • Pulled out my cassette tapes and started ordering CDs to burn replacement copies
    • Levered out my old ten-gallon fish tank and stand out of my office closet
    • Weeded my closet yet again. I only wear the same dozen outfits, so why have all these clothes I never wear? I kept a few choice pieces for dressy occasions.
    • Updated my master list-of-crap-to-get-rid of, which includes a deep fryer (don't need to extra grease), a popcorn maker (sorry, I like the microwave stuff just fine), and a dresser (I bought a brand new bedroom set this winter)
    Yep, I'm feeling pretty good about all this. Now, if I can just decide whether to sell my books and graphic novels on eBay, or at the garage sale.

    Friday, July 07, 2006

    Adding this to my camping checklist

    Just in time for Pennsic! I always knew that something was missing from my camping supplies pile...


    New KittenHolder from REI

    Of course, my current cats are not easily transportable. Must get portable-sized kitty...

    Friday, June 30, 2006

    Ow

    Bad things to do just before spending the evening on your new Macbook? Burning the first two fingertips of your right hand. Mac users, you will understand why I'm annoyed. Beyond the pain, that is.

    Note to self: buy a mouse for the new computer.

    Wednesday, June 14, 2006

    Road construction makes the baby Jesus cry

    Best item in my spam-box today?

    "Hell is paved with infant skulls"

    I actually clicked on it. Heh. I am truly sick.

    Tuesday, June 13, 2006

    Thy name is vanity. Or something like that.


    Another me
    Originally uploaded by yanajenn.

    So, I have new toy. I'd like to introduce everyone to my new MacBook. So far, so cool! And it doesn't take half-bad photos, does it? I love this particular filter.

    My MacBook is my present to myself for getting into Grad School. Oh, didn't I tell you about that? Sorry, let me restate that...

    I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!!

    I've signed away my financial life (yet again), but it feels so good...

    This laptop is also a practical thing, since I'm going to need something portable to work on when I'm studying because I've finally realized that I don't study very well when I'm sitting at home in front of the TV. Funny, that. And it only took me 20+ years to figure it out.

    Now if I can just figure out my video iPod...

    Hey, I got a discount when I bought the MacBook, gimme a break.

    Thursday, May 25, 2006

    For those in Illinois

    I just wanted people to know (if you could even avoid the TV ads, that is) about Illinois' new organ and tissue donor registry. I just updated me info today. All you need is your Driver's License or State ID.

    According to the website:

    A new law, effective Jan. 1, 2006, created a new Organ/Tissue Donor Registry making a person’s wishes to be a donor legally binding. Additional witnesses or family consent is no longer required for donation to occur.

    If you are listed in the old registry, family consent is still required for donation to occur. To ensure that your decision to be an organ/tissue donor is honored, you must join the new registry!

    Tuesday, May 23, 2006

    I am currently 1,062,803,582 seconds old...

    This Birthday Calculator is too fun! Put in your birthdate and it gives you all sorts of neat facts.

    According to the page:

  • My date of conception was on or about 27 December 1971 which was a Monday.
  • I am 4.81409001956947 years old, in dog years.
  • The number of candles on my next birthday cake (which will be lit in 118 days) will boil 3.89 US ounces of water
  • The moon was waxing gibbous when I was born.

    Cool. Much better than those fake birthday newspapers you can buy at the Fair.

  • Sunday, May 14, 2006

    Stupid weather...

    What the hell is up with all the cold weather lately? It's May for crying out loud, not March! I am currently in my computer room, huddled next to my space heater because I refuse to turn the heat back on.

    I've been watching anime (Furuba, anyone?) all weekend, in between finishing up (or avoiding finishing) my final project for my Museum Informatics class. Right now I really wish my place had a kotatsu. Must be a great place to do homework. I usually live on the floor anyway, since I like to spread everything I'm working on in a horseshoe around me.

    And then later I'd take a trip to the local onsen and soak, followed by a good meal. Ahhh....

    But that will have to wait until later. Back to school work in my chilly home.

    Thursday, May 11, 2006

    I also fucking love my job

    You know what's even better than being paid to play...uh, I mean test game consoles and portable DVD players all day today?

    Choosing to watch Office Space for the test DVD.

    I totally fucking LOVE The Onion

    Best (and scariest) Onion article ever!

    New 'Anti-Abortion Pill' Kills Mother, Leaves Fetus Alive

    Frighteningly enough, I'm sure that there are many rabid right-wingers out there that would think a "last morning ever" pill (named UR-86, figure it out yourself) would be useful. Scary shit, man.

    Wednesday, May 10, 2006

    I'm so proud of my monkey!

    One of my monkeys (read: student workers) is the 500,001st graduate from the UIUC. Very cool. Okay, a random honor, but cool nonetheless.

    UIUC article

    News Gazette (local paper)

    And what does Mark get for this honor? A free mug. Heh.

    Wednesday, May 03, 2006

    Cuidado: Vomito de Gato

    Hee!

    I really, really could use one of these signs, especially for early mornings when the "hurka hurka hurka" noise wakes me up, and I have to groggily file away the information that I need to be veeeerry careful stepping out of bed when I get up.

    hmm...think I'll add this to my summer craft list...

    Monday, April 24, 2006

    Helpful Hints

    Today's notes-to-self:

    • You know the funky cool ramen that you bought at the local Pan-Asian grocery? Look a bit harder at the packaging next time. Because apparently, indicating that something is spicy (make that, really spicy) isn't as important as it is on American packaging.
    • Taking a nap after getting home from an all-day conference is fine, but don't nap for an hour on the couch, wake up and decide that you're cold, and then crawl into bed, fully clothed, with your contact lenses still in. Waking up extremely groggy two and a half hours later, feeling like there is shredded glass in your eyes, and realizing that you'll never get to sleep tonight is not a good thing. Especially when you have an early morning class the next day.

    Sunday, April 23, 2006

    Sunny Sunday

    What makes for a good Sunday?

    • Sleeping in until 10:30 am
    • Cheddar omelet, ham, and an English muffin topped with ginger marmalade. And coffee and orange juice, naturally.
    • Opening all the windows in the house
    • Giving the bedroom a good vacuuming, including the windowsills
    • Cleaning out my closet, dumping another load of clothes that are too big for me
    • Washing dishes, looking out the window at rows of clean laundry drying in the sun
    • My cats, Missy and Misha, lazing about the yard, nibbling grass and playing jungle-kitties
    • Eating homemade sticky rice with mango and strawberries for lunch
    Aaaaaahhhhhh.....

    Tuesday, April 18, 2006

    Museums and Money

    You can blame my current library course for this post. I'm taking a class called Museum Informatics, so I'm basically primed for any museum-related info that crosses my path. Just look at my del.icio.us account to testify to that fact.

    Anyway, it looks like the Chicago Art Institute, which has long had a "pay what you can" policy, is going to start charging for entry. Bummer.

    Saturday, April 15, 2006

    Happy easter

    In honor of tomorrow's holiday (and before I forget), I offer this classic: Peep Research: a study of small fluffy creatures and library usage. It illustrates many of the daily problems we have at the Undergrad Library.

    Like students, the Peeps have failed to used the Print Preview command before printing pages from an obviously large website
    .
    Under the category of "inappropriate behavior":
    Food: The photograph above illustrates that Peeps are just as likely to eat snacks in the library as are college students. It should also be noted that the Peeps attempted to finish their candy as quickly as possible when they became aware of the presence of library staff in the area.

    Well, at least none of my patrons have guillotined themselves on the papercutter. Yet.

    Thursday, April 13, 2006

    Turkey Lurky

    So, I'm driving to work yesterday morning and I'm stopped at the light on the corner of Florida and Lincoln. It's a beautiful morning, and I'm looking around, enjoying some people-watching, window rolled down. And then I see it. I could have entered it on "World's Funniest Home Videos" or whatever the show is called now, if I'd had a camera on me, and the other cars weren't blocking the view.

    There's a guy. Rollerblading along the sidewalk. Blue shorts and orange shirt (the UIUC colors). Followed by two wild turkeys, running along behind him, as fast as their little legs can carry them!

    I swear, my jaw hit the steering wheel.

    I'm not kidding! There were TWO wild TURKEYS chasing this guy. They even followed him around the corner. He didn't even look back. Were they his normal skating companions? Perhaps they were angry at him for skating on the sidewalk, when he should've been on a bike path? Maybe he was afraid to look back and acknowledge their presence? "Just keep skating and the turkeys will disappear. Man, I shouldn't have smoked anything before I went out this morning..."

    I love living in the Midwest.

    Sunday, April 09, 2006

    Just blow

    Dammit, I'm still sick!

    Okay, I can breathe, for the most part, but the goo that lives in my lungs and sinuses is JUST NOT LEAVING! Gah! Or rather, G- [*hack!* *snort*] -ah!

    I, for one, am anxiously awaiting some warmer, drier weather.

    Tuesday, April 04, 2006

    Huffy puffy

    Well, I'm safe and sound after this weekend's storm. An exciting weekend; Chambana made CNN (we had a tornado touch down) and I went without power, heat, or hot water until around noon on Monday.

    I'd just settled in for a strenuous evening of TV watching (hey, I'd been sick all week), when the tornado sirens sounded. Of course, I thought it was part of The Simpsons, since FOX hardly ever rolls weather announcements across the screen (sports alerts, on the other hand...). It was still fairly light out, so I did what any normal person who was raised in the Midwest does; I ran to the window to see if I could spot a tornado. Nope, didn't see one, although I *did* see the ominous black clouds rolling in from various directions and decided that a wiser course of action would be lighting some candles. I decided against my usual shoving of cats into their portable jails (cat carriers), since that just freaks all three of us out. I turned on the radio, finally found a station that had a weather report (not my usual station, WPGU, they're too cool to cut in the middle of a song to a tornado warning) and figured out which of my ten zillion cable channels was the one with the weather.

    After a terse argument with myself ("from now on, we keep the batteries next to the flashlights, not with the sewing supplies! How the hell did you come up with that storage strategy, anyway, oh future librarian?") and shutting down the computer, I set up a safe nook in the kitchen, between the fridge and the pantry (at least I wouldn't starve). I have no basement, so that's the only windowless interior area in my duplex.

    So...lots of wind and noise, one of the cats freaked out and disappeared, and the other one fell asleep on top of the couch. And I wandered around, keeping a wary eye on the windows. And nothing happened.

    The storm had gone on by, or at least the tornado-y part of it. The house was in one piece, the neighbors looked alive, so I went back to watching TV and reminding myself about future battery storage. And then the lights went out.

    Luckily, being female, I come automatically equipped with candles (especially scented ones). I set up a small forest fire of candles around the house and waited for the power to come back on. And waited. And waited. Nothing.

    Bored. Nowhere near bedtime. Ate the partially-popped popcorn that I had started just one minute before the power went out. Still bored. Decided to try some candle-light yoga. No go, still couldn't breathe properly from being sick. Besides, the cats always look at me funny when I do yoga at home.

    I finally went to bed, after gathering all the candles in the house on my bedside table, so that I could maybe have a chance at seeing the words in my book. Did a small happy dance after remembering my clip-on booklight in my travel kit. Read and fell asleep.

    Next morning, I woke up to a very cold house. Power still wasn't back on, obviously. I called into work and told them that I wouldn't be in until later, especially since I couldn't take a shower (no hot water!). They said they appreciated my thoughtfulness.

    My power company had no idea when the electricity would be back on ("...we have 29,000 customers without power...don't hold your breath"), so I consoled myself with a late breakfast at Perkins (oh, great Country Club Omelet with pancakes, you soothe me so much"). And I took a shower at Shea and Kathleen’s, who always look out for me, even though I’m sure I also greatly confuse them at times (“explain to us once again why you are calling us at work asking about our shower…”). And by the time I got home, all the power was back on, the cats were yowling and happy, and the poor fish in the aquarium were slowly warming back up and swimming again, instead of sitting at the bottom of the tank, wishing I'd knit them sweaters.

    No long-lasting damage, unlike lots of people in the area, and all my gadgets are up and running again. According to AmerenIP, there are still 62 people in my area without power, so I was definitely only minorly inconvenienced.

    In all, a happy, if long-winded story.

    Monday, April 03, 2006

    One small step

    A few weeks ago I got the most scary/exciting news of my life:

    "We are happy to let you know that you have been accepted to the University of Illinois Library and Information Science program. Congratulations!"

    I nearly wet myself. But Grad Students are expected to be able to control their bodily functions, so I didn't.

    Saturday, April 01, 2006

    True love is only a search away

    Looks like Google has finally gotten into the matchmaking game!
    Google Romance
    I'm uploading my standard dating profile right now!

    April Fool's!

    Yeah, guess who was really slow on the uptake today and clicked around for awhile? Hey, at least I have an excuse. I'm still battling this nasty cold.

    Please. You *must* take the tour.

    User A uploads her profile.
    User B uploads several different wildly divergent profiles.
    ...
    Note: those who generally favor the “throw enough stuff at the wall” approach to online dating might find it useful to employ our Batch Profile Uploading option.

    Hee! And I love their FAQ:

    6. What is Contextual Dating?
    It’s a free date plus the added accrued value of the past decade’s worth of post-Industrial Age online marketing genius, all tied into a real-time, video-based, GPS-tracked, psychographically astute and environmentally pervasive promotional system.

    7. Come again?
    You see ads that might make your date better.

    Damn, I wish Google would do something like this. It can't be any worse than the other Personals sites I've tried in the past. But maybe that's the cold talking.

    Friday, March 31, 2006

    Hat


    Hat
    Originally uploaded by yanajenn.

    And my parents wonder why I'm so messed up. Maybe if they hadn't plied me with cigars from a young age...

    Really, they're just plastic cigar tubes.

    Tuesday, March 28, 2006

    *cough*

    Rundown of symptoms:

    Chest tight, cough starting up. Sniffly, throat getting more sore. Body aching, and not from Monday night yoga. Eyes scratchy, burning. And I'm feeling a bit loopy and unfocused, which means it must be time for a Spring cold to kick in.

    I'm going home, stopping at the public library (have to pick up my holds before they expire) and my favorite Chinese place for hot and sour soup and steamed dumplings, my favorite "I need comforting" foods. Hopefully I can beat the cold into submission before it sets of my asthma, which would at least double the length of my being sick.

    Gee, wonder how many people I've managed to infect today (sorry classmates, coworkers, and library patrons). Just sharing the joy!

    Friday, March 10, 2006

    More on stupid smart filters

    Another great BoingBoing story today, this one about the apparent inability of SmartFilter to catch what to most people would obviously be porn. Or at least, not appropriate for children.

    ...while Smartfilter "overblocks" non-pornographic sites like BoingBoing as "nudity sites" a quick check of their filtering engine reveals that some of the more popular "Adult Baby" fetish websites do not appear to be blocked as adult content: babyapparels.com, diaperproject.org, adultbabycamp.org, and ldfashions.com, for instance. Some contain erotic fiction, some are indistinguishable from regular kid-ware stores. But they're not Toys-R-Us, they're fetishware sites for adults.
    ...Further proof of SmartFilter's lack of smarts.

    Friends of mine will know immediately why I find this incredibly hilarious.

    Friday Funnies

    We're all slacking off at work since the boss is out sick (we're not really, Mary, no worries), so I thought I'd share the following webpages. Warning: do not drink anything while reading, you may choke to death.

    Chinese menu in broken (seriously broken) English. Mmmmm, fragrant spring onion sauce explodescow son, my favorite.

    The last menu item is the best: "Fuck the salt(beautiful pole) duck chin"

    "and with that, I'm stuffed. Duck Bukkake always makes me feel full."

    More pages:
    Another Chinese menu

    Episode III: The Backstroke of the West

    And just to assure everyone that I'm all far equal opportunity cultural embarassment, here's a collection of mangled Chinese and Japanese symbols. Usually tattooed on someones ass.

    http://www.hanzismatter.com/

    Of course, I shouldn't poke too much fun. After all, I have two Chinese (Japanese?) dragons tatooed on my left hip. Who knows what that signifies. :-)

    Sunday, March 05, 2006

    2006 Me


    2006 Me
    Originally uploaded by yanajenn.

    Or it might be a very late 2005 me, I can't really remember. Either way, compare this photo to the one in my profile (the black and white one) and, damn, I actual *have* lost weight! Yes, I know that from my weekly weigh-ins, but sometimes it takes one of your student workers telling you that you don't look much like your photo on Facebook to really underline the fact.

    Time's a wastin'

    Yesterday:

    Got out of bed around noon. Granted, I did lay there and read for awhile, but still...

    Got showered, dressed, and headed out to get rolls of quarters from the bank (stupid laundry day) before it closed. Stopped at Schnuck's for doughnuts/pastries/things to eat that I didn't have to cook. Wandered by their "housewares" section and amazingly, surprisingly, found some cooking gear that I had been in search of for the past few months. Very serendipitous. Went home, ate "breakfast" and settled down in front of the computer to ostensibly decide what I was going to do for my Museum Informatics class project.

    A round of the Sims, an episode of Carnivale, several hours of trying to figure out why I couldn't load the Second Life module onto my computer (still haven't quite fixed the problem), and a lot of dinking around the web later...and I still hadn't decided on a project. No big surprise there, unfortunately. And Second Life might have had bearing on my deciding on a project, dammit. Earlier in th eweek I had watched a taped epsidoe of Samurai Champloo, so I also just *had* to make absolutely sure that there was one more episode left in the series, because if there wasn't, I was going to just *die* from Wednesday's cliffhanger ending.

    Things I actually accomplished:


    • went to (finally) check and see that the water heater was turned down to 120 degrees and discovered that a previous tenant made off with the thermostat face. No idea what temp the heater is at, so that task got checked off my list.
    • Gave up on copying yet one more craft project from various books and put said books by the door to return to the library on Monday.
    • Deposited a refund check at the bank. And got quarters for laundry.


    Today:

    Well, it's 2:00pm and I'm on the computer again, you guess how I'm doing. At least I've eaten breakfast. At 4:00 I go over to my yoga instructor's place to set her up with a website (she's also a massage therapist, guess what I'm doing this in exchange for) and at 6:00 I head to Carrie's for Oscar Night. Not much time left to decide on a project (the needs analysis is due on Tuesday), and the dishes still need washing. And I need to do my taxes. And I need to look over my to-do list and see what else is coming up that I need to accomplish. Bah.

    But I'm alive, and healthy. I've got friends and cats who love me. A roof over my head, heat on a snowy afternoon, a full belly, and a place of my own. Life's pretty good.

    Thursday, March 02, 2006

    Recipe for Fruit Pizza

    I figured that since I've been procrastinating for, oh, about 4 months now , that I might as well put it on my blog, so that I could just tell people where to go (...) when they wanted it. So, here is the perennial favorite, the dish that won second place in the 2005 Library Holiday contest, the dessert that leaves you crying out for more (and it even makes good breakfast eatin', if there are actually any leftovers), the Miller family's famous Fruit Pizza.



    Fruit Pizza


    Crust
    1/2 cup butter or margerine
    3/4 cup white sugar
    1 egg
    1/8 teaspoon salt
    1 1/3 cup flour
    1 t cream of tartar
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 to 1/2 cup ground nuts (almonds preferred)

    Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in egg. In separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and stir well until blended. Press in to greased pizza pan. Bake 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees, or until golden brown. Cool.

    Topping
    1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
    1/4 cup sugar
    1 small can pineapple slices or chunks
    1 can mandarin oranges
    1 banana, sliced and dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning
    1 pint fresh strawberries
    2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

    Drain canned fruit, reserving the juice.

    Blend cream cheese, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the reserved juice together. Spread on crust, not quite up to the edges.

    Slice and arrange fruit in a pleasing pattern on top of the cream cheese.

    Combine remaining juice with cornstarch. Heat in microwave oven or on stovetop until juice has thickened slightly. Drizzle mixture over fruit.

    Cover Fruit Pizza with plastic wrap and cool in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.



    Serve and stad back!

    Tuesday, February 28, 2006

    Stupid "Smart" website filtering




    Just doing my small part to protest so-called "smart" webfilters. See the Boing-Boing report that started this all.

    They also have created a guide on how to defeat unwanted censorware.

    The monkeys are loose!

    My little monkeys (student workers) have been busy...or, perhaps, not busy enough!

    http://mrcuiuc.blogspot.com/

    Is it time for bananas (rewards) or hammers (um...non-rewards)? Because it is well documented in the Media and Reserve Center that both items are appropriate tools for the management of monkeys.

    Thursday, February 23, 2006

    They call me "the Hammer"

    Well, my alter ego apparently has a thing for eyeballs. How I manage to dig them out using a sledgehammer, I think I'll leave up to the imagination.

    Prickly Pear

    People Iced:Thirty Nine
    Car Bombs Planted:None. Pathetic.
    Favorite WeaponSledge Hammer
    Arms Broken:One
    Eyes Gouged:Twenty Four
    Tongues Cut Off:One
    Biggest Enemy:The Arm Breaker

    Get Your HITMAN Name



    And the really weird thing? At work I actually *do* threaten my student-workers with an encounter with a hammer if they don't check cases for DVDs before shelving them.

    Ode to Josh

    To the tune of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow

    Oh Josh
    You came and you left me a comment
    On my last.fm post
    But then you didn't leave your user name so that I could friend you, which would've been really nice of you, since I only have one friend on last.fm right now and being a social networking site, it would be good to connect with more people, but you don't even have your email address anywhere on your personal website, at least that I can find, so I couldn't send you a private email asking for your addy, and I couldn't IM you because...well, I don't really know why, but I didn't, so you'd better friend me or tell me your user name so I can friend you.
    Oh Josh

    Sunday, February 19, 2006

    Boogie down

    I am a new member of last.fm. If nothing else, everyone will know how many times I listen to Rubberband Man by the Spinners. My disco-fetish will now be revealed to the world! Mwah-hah-hah!

    Porny, porn, porn

    Do you know how effin' busy I'd be if my job required this?! I can think of one patron that we'd have to kick out the minute they walked up to the desk to watch a movie (I have to tell our students to get me if he needs help with his sometimes "uncomfortable" subject searches)...and our anime section would likely need to be weeded. You know, it is hard enough to explain to people how to print a website page (use "print preview," for all that is holy) or how to search for a movie title, I can't imagine trying to explain what they could or couldn't look at on the web. Besides, as the American Library Association, says, "libraries are not the hotbed of looking at porn sites." Hee.

    Policing porn is not part of the job description

    Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

    Wednesday, February 15, 2006

    Wiki-riffic

    Partially I'm writing about wikis in order to get more space on my personal wiki, but I'm also writing to sing the praises of the Wiki which my Museum Informatics class uses.

    I use the free PB Wiki for my personal lists. It tends to be a bit more flexible in structure than other free wikis that I've seen and has a nice, soothing color-scheme. Right now, my account is private, but I'll likely be making it public soon. It's just too messy to share at the moment, since I haven't pinned down exactly what I want to use it for, but I have fun with it.

    The class that I am taking extensively uses the "unofficial" GSLIS wiki. I think we're the only class in LIS that is exclusively using a wiki for our course-planning and presentation. It's an interesting concept and allows us to do a lot of collaborative work outside of class time.

    Anyone have suggestions about how to use wikis? One of the SCA groups that I'm involved with, the Slavic Interest Group, had a discussion about using a wiki to gather research information, but the main problem which we were anticipating was that we'd likely get a lot of "bad" information that we'd be continually having to delete or annotate on the wiki. Not a horrible thing in an of itself, but we just ended up not wanting to mess with the possibility of having to edit racist, nationalistic junk every hour or so. It's hard to figure out a way to allow freedom of speech while maintaining a civil discussion when you get into themes such as whether the early Rus' were Viking-origin or locals. But that's another blog for another day.

    Tuesday, February 07, 2006

    Yet another reason to love my job

    Guess what I did all day? After fixing tons of problems at the service desk after being gone yesterday, I mean.

    I added a TON of anime links to my bookmarks, investigated anime distributors and retailer webstores, poked around some fan sites, avoided (mostly sucessfully) opening any hentai sites (only because I'm out in the public view and would rather not deal with it), and started a wishlist of anime titles.

    And I got paid to do so, because we are going to start developing an anime collection.

    Gods, I fucking [heart] working in a library!

    Friday, February 03, 2006

    Can we add "pissed off" in there somewhere?

    I may not be a librarian yet, but I will be sporting one of these soon. Radical Militant Librarian, indeed.

    Thursday, February 02, 2006

    Starchy Roots

    Earlier this week I grew potatoes in my hair. They were only a few inches across and most of them were Yukon Golds, while a few others were a hybrid of sweet potato and regular potatoes. In fact, if you broke them open, you could see the white and orange flesh mixed together. It pinched a bit when I pulled them out of the skin by my hairline, but I could also just comb through my hair and they would pull out easily. My scalp is itching right now, while I am remembering what it felt like. It wasn't unpleasant, but it felt downright weird.

    I didn't try eating any of them, but they looked tasty.

    And yes, this was all just a dream I had. But what did I learn from all this?

    That I really should wash my hair before going to bed after a very sweaty yoga class.

    Friday, January 27, 2006

    Reading List

    I just wanted to point out a new feature of this blog. If you scroll most of the way down the page, on the right sidebar you can see the five most recent books which I have read. One of my New Year's resolutions was to keep track of what I actually read and so far, so good. But I do have a question: should I keep track of all the recipe books that I continuely check out? I mean, I'm not reading them cover-to-cover, but I do essentially read them. What do you think?

    It's.....bacon!

    The following is not by me, but by a co-worker. I thought it deserved a little online-immortality. Plus, I'm trying to encourage her to start a blog. Enjoy!
    =========================

    An entire package of bacon. One 30-minute span of time. One woman, not really hungry, but finding it impossible to ignore the call of the wild game in the refrigerator.

    She cooks

    and eats

    3 pieces.

    The bacon is talking!

    "Eat me, eat me!"

    "But I don't even really want you anymore! I know if I eat he rest of you, you'll just make me sick to my stomach!"

    "No, baby! This time will be different! I've learned my lesson! C'mon back to me now!"

    "No, I really am not hungry anymore. I'm going to put you back. And besides, I got distracted watching the cats and now you're kind of burnt."

    "Naw, baby! You know what they say; the blacker the bacon, the sweeter the juice!"

    "Well.....ok...but just this last time! I can't keep sneaking around behind my husband's back and eating you like this! I don't know if he noticed you in here the other day, but if he did and he comes home this morning for a piece of you, I am a dead woman!!"

    [proceeds to cook and eat entire package]

    [bacon proceeds to do like he always does--float around on a little raft on the grease river sipping his jack and coke and thinkin' about which woman's life he can destroy next]

    Tuesday, January 24, 2006

    Momentary lapse of sanity

    I just had a double-take that was so powerful that I think I strained my fingers scrolling the mouse-wheel back so fast.

    As part of my job, I'm creating numerous links within our online catalog. One of the things I'm linking is instructor names. So, I'm looking for "Griffin" and I'm zipping through the "Gs."

    And my head snaps to attention as I think I see someone with the last name of "Goatse." EEeeeeeeeee!!!

    Well, after furiously scrolling back up, I discover that this poor unfortunate instructor's name is actually Goetze.

    Close enough. Especially when you read as fast as I can.

    Ick.

    Monday, January 02, 2006

    More curvy, less bloopy

    Okay. First off, I just want to make it clear that this blog was never intended to become a weight-loss blog. But, I've been thinking (and thinking, and thinking) a lot recently and I need to share. This sharing was also prompted by a recent visit to the doctor (not my usual practitioner) for a problem with my ankle. He told me that losing weight would help, which is always annoying (and often not completely accurate) to hear, so I pointed out the following to him.

    As of today, I have lost over fifty-three (yes, 53) pounds.

    It was fun to watch him flip madly through my chart.

    I am now considered (medically, anyway) overweight, instead of obese. That's a lot of weight (hah!) off my mind. I have quite a number of pounds to go before I'm in my so-called "healthy weight range (yeah, I'm still cynical about a lot of the medical/insurance industry's guidelines, gimme a break), but it doesn't seem so unattainable now. I haven't been dieting for the past three months, but I've been continuing to exercise (I love yoga) and my weight has been stable, so I'm taking it as a sign that I'm going to be successful in keeping the 53 pounds off.

    Most of the clothes in my closet no longer fit me (they're too big!), so I finally had to go through the closet and weed heavily. I also need new underwear (they keep sliding off my ass) and I just discovered this morning that my favorite pair of jeans, which I haven't been able to wear since 2000, are now a bit baggy.

    So, what are my plans now? I'm going back to Weight Watchers, but I'm going to use the "Online meetings" option. I just signed up today and am realizing that the gingerbread that I am currently baking (the house smells wonderful!) is likely going to last a loooong time, unless I want to use up all my points on it today.

    I am now about the size that I was when I got married in 1997. I have lost almost all the weight that I put on while I was married and while I was getting divorced. Yay me!

    That's enough for now.

    Rejoining Weight Watchers

    I’ve been on WW before and it was great, except for the touchy-feely meetings and the expense. This time around, I’m going to try the Online option and see if I can still lose weight on the plan. Going to meetings I lost 23 pounds (I lost 30 pounds on my own before joining WW), so hopefully I will have similar results with the electronic meetings. Wish me luck!