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Friday, May 10, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:50 PM
 Okay, I'm vaguely thinking of trying to build another compilation CD. Here are the tracks I've come up with so far:
I think you can probably figure out the theme. If you can think of other songs, please post them in the comments or e-mail them to me. Thanks. Meanwhile, I realized I forgot to provide the punchline to the Demotivators website. They provide a link to Bill Gates's homepage -- which uses an image disturbingly similar to Cluelessness. Posted by Lis Riba at 8:00 PM
I just played with the new Sony handheld at Circuit City. Drool... On the other hand, if OQO actually manages to get something cheap to market, that might be preferable. [I've wanted to be able to run full-scale Lotus Organizer in something as small and lightweight as my paper planner for about seven years.] Posted by Lis Riba at 5:05 PM
Thru Fury I found a link to this Salon article about blogging. Frankly, it reminded me a lot of what Steven Johnson said in his book Interface Culture about "information filters" -- a section of the book that really hit home when I read it. Then I noticed that this new piece was also written by Steven Johnson, rendering moot most of the erudite comments I was going to make... Tomorrow night, I'll be attending the Cambridge Research Annual Party, and seeing many of my former coworkers for the first time since I was laid off two weeks ago. I already know that everybody's going to ask how I am, and it's all I can do to resist some variant of "I'm feeling a little blue." And then on Sunday morning, Ian's parents, Ian and I are going to walk over, around and across the Zakim bridge. Cool! So, those are my plans for the weekend (plus, of course, some more reading). For those of you who remain overworked and underpaid, for whom weekend is majorly different from the rest of the week, here are a few humorous sites to lighten your load: Dumbentia's Seven Deadly Motivation Posters and Despair's Demotivators are variations on the same theme, and are both quite funny. And for some good, free, games, I've been very impressed by the Flash-powered games at Orisinal. Posted by Lis Riba at 2:25 AM
I think this news story may severely lower my chances of getting another job in IBM. I just hope all my friends who are still working there are and will be okay... Thursday, May 09, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:15 PM
Okay, so here are my plans for the summer: I'm going to take 4 (four) classes at Simmons. It's a heavy workload, but it means I have a good chance of finishing all the requirements in just two more semesters (with a schedule that should be manageable around a full-time job). And that would enable me to graduate next May in their main commencement ceremony. The courses I plan on taking are:
While this may seem prohibitive, the schedule isn't actually that bad. The first class is taught over two-and-a-half days: June 1, 7, and 8. The second class will be the week of June 10 - 14, but only in the mornings. And, as of June 20th, I will only have classes on Tuesdays, 6 - 9pm and Thursdays, 2:45 - 9pm. In other words, after June 14th, I should be available to work full-time, provided I can get Thursday afternoons off. [And if the new job seems really lucrative, I can drop classes for a full refund up to the day before the first session.] This schedule also leaves Mondays completely free to finish going thru the Sunday want-ads and to write up and send out resumes based upon them. And in the meantime, I'm going to find a part-time job where I can earn up to $170/week without reducing my unemployment benefits. How's that for a plan? I visited Simmons this morning to do some last minute research on the classes and drop off my registration form. To help students with course selection, Simmons has binders with old syllabi and course evaluation forms. I've found old syllabi for all the courses I'm taking -- I actually already own the primary textbooks for two of the classes. I think I'm going to drop most of the books I'm currently in the middle of reading (Alison Weir, The Wars of the Roses; Charles Mackay, Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds; Page duBois, Trojan horses : saving the classics from conservatives; Michael Chabon, The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay; and Lemony Snicket: the unauthorized autobiography) and start reading the textbooks now, in order to get ahead of the game. Heck, I already have a topic in mind for the paper/project required in one of the courses... Thinking about these classes makes me feel so incredibly gung-ho excited that I know this is the right choice for me. Posted by Lis Riba at 9:15 AM
Just some miscellaneous ramblings for the morning (stored up over several days)
That's it for now; I'm heading over to Simmons to read up on course evaluations and job postings... Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 8:55 AM
Sorry for not posting in a couple days (has anybody noticed?) My husband's Uncle Gus passed away on Monday. The funeral is this morning at 11; we'll go over for a shiva visit on Thursday. He was 94 years old, and had been ill recently, so it isn't terribly surprising, but still... I've come up with lots of interesting and amusing observations over the last several days that I want to share, but somehow they don't feel appropriate this morning. Monday, May 06, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 12:48 PM
Well, my goal for today is to try to start planning. As much as I'd like to think of this time as a vacation, I don't want to fritter away all my time in front of a computer. One thing I'm considering is taking some summer courses towards my library science degree. Since my severance package provides a small education allowance, I should take advantage of it, but I feel somewhat reluctant. Taking a class that runs through mid-July (for example) seems to acknowledge that I won't be able to find a job by then. And even though I know that I probably won't find another job immediately given the current economy, it still feels like setting myself up for failure to take any actions based around that fact. Incidentally, if any IBMers are reading this, one of the classes I'm considering is taught by Eric Lesser, Executive Consultant, IBM Center for Knowledge Management. Anybody know him? Here's the class description. [I already sent one person an e-mail asking about him, but I may as well try harnessing the power of this journal in this effort.] Yesterday, in Harvard Sq. and Coolidge Corner, I noticed a few retail stores were hiring. Since unemployment allows me to earn up to $170 per week without cutting my checks, I may as well find something small like that to keep me busy. Of course, I'm going to look around for something a little closer to home to minimize transportation costs. So, this afternoon, I'm going to the library, to volunteer, to look at their local job book, and maybe just to hang around. Tomorrow, I'll head down to Simmons to look at their job book, look up evaluations and texts for the classes I'm considering, and possibly register. BTW, a couple amusements seen in my web wanderings this morning:
And, well, that's all for now. BTW, please feel welcome to post in the comments link. It may not be as pretty or easy as those on LiveJournal, but I like the way LJ supports conversations and wouldn't mind something similar in my journal. Sunday, May 05, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:56 PM
Okay, that's just a bad headline: Boston's Law Under Siege. It's about Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, not general criminality in the area. Maybe if newspaper articles used a better capitalization scheme (like titles in the AACR) and didn't proper-case every word, this wouldn't be as confusing. Also, the cover story in today's Boston Globe Magazine is a very thought-provoking piece on "The $35,000 question: Why does one year of college cost so much, and what does a student get?" Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 PM
Sigh... so many beautiful temptations... The weather and the May Fair were marvelous. Every day I see lilacs, they're a step closer to being in bloom. Until now, most of the petals have been closed up -- they resemble teeny bunches of grapes. But the petals are finally starting to unfurl, which means I can start to smell their fragrance. I love lilacs... Anyway, the walk to Harvard Square was filled with flowers. I don't know what they are, but I saw several types of trees that were nothing but pink flowers. Some had just an even spread of pink, while others had irregularly spaced puffballs. Very pretty. The fair itself was a lot of fun. So many things for sale that I wanted, but I resisted. I was particularly drawn to the Indian-style dresses, which many vendors were offering. I rarely wear anything with skirts, but last summer I found a nice sundress from a street vendor on the Lower East Side and I actually like and wear that one. Several booths had other dresses and shirts in that style, and they were quite tempting... I also really liked the official May Fair t-shirt, because the motto "Life is good" really described how I've been feeling. But there were many other goodies to buy, all of which I looked at but didn't buy. Two booths were selling bonsai trees, and if my parents can get a good source of cheap pots, they might make good money selling "lucky bamboo" to gullible tourists (several years back, my parents planted a bamboo hedge along their back fence; now, my father goes on regular patrols to cut down the shoots that spring up everywhere else in the yard). There were henna tattoo artists and fortune tellers and I almost bought a button for Ian which said "Bartender" in one direction and "Therapist" in the other (the wearer can choose which side is up). I saw a martial arts demonstration in which people actually broke boards with their fists, briefly watched bike stunts, listened to musicians, even picked up a recruitment flyer from the NYPD, who seemed somewhat far afield (it's not my kind of job, though I'm somewhat curious whether I'd pass the exam). And there was lots of food, which was where I did spend some money. My biggest ticket item was $4 for a large bag of fresh-popped kettle corn. Mmmm... I also ran into my friend Ayesha while in Harvard Square. Given how close we live, we don't see each other often enough. Ian and I will have to rectify that. Then I headed back to Western Ave to hang out until Ian's game ended. It ran late, and I got rather annoyed by that. I don't know why, but somehow Ian (and Joe) have been quite good at always ending the Wednesday night games by about 10pm (plus or minus ten minutes), but the Sunday games... sometimes they end at five and other times (like tonight) they run on past 6:30pm, and unless somebody else has to leave at a particular time, nobody can ever give me a good estimate of when they're going to end. Anyhow, I realized that it isn't working for me to both drop Ian off and pick him up from game. Two round-trips to Cambridge eat up too much of my time, and I'm tired of the waiting game. For Ian to T home takes way too long, so I may ask if one of the other players can give him a lift. We've done that often enough for other players, so hopefully the return favor won't be too onerous. [Okay, is this paragraph too passive-aggressive? I mean, I've already talked about all of this with Ian, and I was planning on talking to the other parties directly when I see them on Wednesday, but some of them may read this before I speak with them...] In other news, for those still curious about the names for animal groups (my previous entry), take a look at the book An Exaltation of larks by James Lipton. He has several essays explaining the history of these terms, along with exhaustive lists. I flipped through a copy at WordsWorth, but didn't buy it (trying to avoid unnecessary purchases; I also made a list of several other interesting-looking books seen at the bookstores which I'm going to try to find at the library). That's about it for this evening. I had leftover chili for dinner, and submitted my application to be a Researcher at Google Answers, so we'll see where that goes. And I'm still working on a response to Jen's question about why one keeps and/or reads an online journal. I think my final answer will probably wind up as an essay off my Writing page, rather than a journal entry, since it's getting rather long. Posted by Lis Riba at 10:20 AM
While writing my last post, I had to look up the term for a group of swans (a bevy). In the process, I found a website of "Bird Group Names" and started wondering about the various derivations. How and why did English evolve such different terms as bevy, gaggle, exaltation, flock, and so forth? Well, thanks to the Internet and access to the online OED, I can try to find out.
Interestingly enough, gaggle includes the following commentary in its definition: One of the many artificial terms invented in the 15th c. as distinctive collectives referring to particular animals or classes of persons; but unlike most of the others, it seems to have been actually adopted in use. So, someone or someones in the 1400s came up with these words? We now have a timeframe, but still no motive. Was it whimsy or did it serve a deeper purpose? An interesting thought for further reflection... Posted by Lis Riba at 9:55 AM
Good morning, everyone! Well, yesterday was a fairly full and satisfying day. It started out as most Saturday mornings do -- with cartoons. My husband and I don't watch that much television. Although we have a cable modem (and thus still spend a lot of time in front of the tube), we don't have cable television. There are a lot of shows on cable that I wish I could see regularly, but that's part of the reason why we don't have cable -- to help us avoid temptation. When my hair was being dyed, the stylist warned me not to wash my hair at all for the first week. So, I finally shampooed it. Let's put it this way, even after purchasing special shampoo & conditioner for dyed hair, after I was done, my hair had a definite aqua/greenish cast to it. :( I'll have to "refresh" my haircolor with another application of blue (this time by me at home). Dying one's hair requires much more maintenance than I initially thought, another reason why I probably won't do this again after it grows out. Ian & I spent an hour or so cleaning out and rearranging our refrigerator. Nothing gross there, but things were just such a mess that it was hard to find anything. After we were done, and got everything into some semblance of order, I smiled and said "That looks civilized!" To which Ian replied, "Yeah, but if we had been allowed to hunt, that root cellar would've been full of game." Cracked me up, though I suppose you have to have seen Frontier House to get the joke. Ian's come up with an interesting theory about how the interpersonal conflicts and relative successes on the show relate to the people's expectations regarding gift or market economies. I'm trying to get him to write that down... In the afternoon, we went out for a walk. We've always seen geese and ducks at Ell Pond, but lately, we've seen a bevy of swans. (Last week, we actually saw a heron, but it flew away when we tried to get a closer look). We found a lone swan resting on a nest(!?) and Ian snapped a few pictures. Back at home, I got a lovely letter with some stamp art from my dear friend, Jeff. Online, I discovered that somebody on eBay was auctioning off a book of Shakespeare's sonnets in Yiddish that I tried to get. I was the first bidder, but was outbid shortly before the auction closed. [I didn't want to go more than $10, including what the seller was charging for shipping.] Oh well. No big loss. Then, in the evening, we got together with Ben & Jen. We made a kind of "Quatro de Mayo" themed dinner. Ian made a pitcher of really good margaritas (though we had to drink them out of salted martini glasses, since we don't have margarita glasses (considering that this was the first time we've made margaritas, it's not a lack we've noticed terribly much)). He made salsa and chili from scratch, and we also had chips and guacamole. It was a fun evening. Ian mixed drinks -- most of them experimentally. We did some taste-testing of various gins (I think we have three brands in our liquor cabinet). On a whim, I asked Ian to make me a layered drink of blue curacau and creme de cacao. I liked it so much, that he poured me a second, mixed version, that wound up exactly matching my new shade of hair. Otherwise, we mostly chatted -- it was a fun evening. Jen asked some interesting questions about the purpose of online journals, which I'm going to think about and possibly post more on later. We talked about rules in AD&D, and a possible campaign Ben may run. Jen showed me the Warped Canon site -- Pachelbel's Canon played in all kinds of alternate tunings -- which is more her and Ian's thing than mine. I retaliated by showing everyone Dictionareoke -- songs with a vocal track courtesy of online dictionaries, with sometimes hilareous results. "Video killed the radio star" and "She blinded me with science" work perfectly, but some other tunes are pretty bad. I'm tempted to try my hand at Spider-Man's theme... And that's about it for this Sunday morning. Ian's got his weekly game this afternoon; I think I may wander down to the May Fair at Harvard Square. Whoever you are reading this, hope you have a good day, too. TOP |
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