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.