... for a bit of unscheduled silliness.
I am a computer geek wife, and a bit of a geek in my own right. We had an electronics rack in place of what was our linen closet. I've had to distinguish between typical, non-geek screws and rack screws for nearly eight years now.
So why is it that reading Slashdot over lunch, my brain stopped at the phrase "rack-mount" and won't stop giggling?
Sigh.
9.25.2008
Stereotypes
So, apparently, "survey says" conservatives are boring and liberals are messy. I'm offended on behalf of both sides of the aisle.
Granted, my quirky mindset (aka "moderate") is such that I'm labeled either liberal or conservative, usually whatever is the opposite of the person I happen to be chatting with. This is one of those many reasons I don't tend to volunteer a lot of political opinions. So I suppose that, having been labeled as both, it's easy for such a vapid article to get under my skin.
Then again, there's just the eye-rolling aspect of it. Surveying political opinions and then having strangers rate the tidiness or stylishness of workspaces? Somebody has a heck of a lot more time on their hands than I do.
Of course, then there's this David Cronenberg quote:
"All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true."
When means... I'm boring and messy? Touché!
Granted, my quirky mindset (aka "moderate") is such that I'm labeled either liberal or conservative, usually whatever is the opposite of the person I happen to be chatting with. This is one of those many reasons I don't tend to volunteer a lot of political opinions. So I suppose that, having been labeled as both, it's easy for such a vapid article to get under my skin.
Then again, there's just the eye-rolling aspect of it. Surveying political opinions and then having strangers rate the tidiness or stylishness of workspaces? Somebody has a heck of a lot more time on their hands than I do.
Of course, then there's this David Cronenberg quote:
"All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true."
When means... I'm boring and messy? Touché!
9.21.2008
Fall Semester Slog
Actually, this semester is going quite well, but "slog" conveys how I'm feeling about all the things that I'm trying to keep track of... and thus the reason that I'm hitting my usual long-semester slow-down of personal blog posts.
Alex is on his way to Kharkiv, Ukraine at the moment--he should be on the plane from Kiev to Kharkiv now, his last leg of the journey (he had stopovers in New York and London). He'll be back Friday (after an overnight stay in London on his way back, lucky duck!). I'm in my usual state of Alex-ness. That is, I have a list of tasks to accomplish, since I don't have my BFF to interact with, I therefore should have no excuse for being excruciatingly productive... but his absence makes me feel off-kilter, and thus I'm dragging a bit on the productivity front. Meh.
Yesterday's absence of useful activity, however, was partially due to several scheduled activities (such as dropping Alex off at DFW Airport). The other portion was feeling rotten, both emotionally (attending a memorial service with other members of my department), and physically (almost not being able to drive back from Denton with an immense migraine, then throwing up promptly upon arriving home). In fact, I got home at 6:30 and immediately went to sleep at 7pm... and didn't wake up until midnight. Which actually worked out kind of well, considering Alex called 45 minutes later from London to say he was safely there. Then I read for a couple of hours and went back to sleep.
The only good part of the day was that, feeling rotten, I treated myself to Recycled Books trip before I left Denton. I managed to find a great reference work on Egyptian mythology for $4 that Alex will love perhaps even more than me, a London guidebook for half-price that also included a laminated street map someone had tucked inside (score!), and a couple of comics (Batgirl and Thessaly). (This, the day after I scored three cheap books at the campus bookstore, one of them a Catwoman compilation for $6.)
This morning, I've still felt a bit physically under-the-weather, so I started slow with a chapter of the book "Drawing Words, Writing Pictures," a textbook on how to create comics. First Second Books graciously gave me a free copy of this and the comic Prince of Persia (yep, based on that awesome old video game) to review on my professional blog, and so far I am thoroughly enjoying both. First Second always publishes interesting, artistically distinctive stuff, but in addition I am continually impressed by the quality of their printing. Their books are ridiculously inexpensive for the high quality of paper, color, binding, and printing. Open any of their books and compare it to a regular DC or Marvel hardback--it's a huge difference.
I keep meaning to post brief takes on movies we've been watching, and have neglected to do so all summer. Instead, I find myself reading a friend's blog, and commenting when he review movies that I watched recently (like The Fall, which was awesome!). Although now that it's fall, my movie-watching is pretty limited anyway.
Okay, enough stalling--time for homework. Well, actually it's nearly lunchtime... so on to stalling by way of food!
Alex is on his way to Kharkiv, Ukraine at the moment--he should be on the plane from Kiev to Kharkiv now, his last leg of the journey (he had stopovers in New York and London). He'll be back Friday (after an overnight stay in London on his way back, lucky duck!). I'm in my usual state of Alex-ness. That is, I have a list of tasks to accomplish, since I don't have my BFF to interact with, I therefore should have no excuse for being excruciatingly productive... but his absence makes me feel off-kilter, and thus I'm dragging a bit on the productivity front. Meh.
Yesterday's absence of useful activity, however, was partially due to several scheduled activities (such as dropping Alex off at DFW Airport). The other portion was feeling rotten, both emotionally (attending a memorial service with other members of my department), and physically (almost not being able to drive back from Denton with an immense migraine, then throwing up promptly upon arriving home). In fact, I got home at 6:30 and immediately went to sleep at 7pm... and didn't wake up until midnight. Which actually worked out kind of well, considering Alex called 45 minutes later from London to say he was safely there. Then I read for a couple of hours and went back to sleep.
The only good part of the day was that, feeling rotten, I treated myself to Recycled Books trip before I left Denton. I managed to find a great reference work on Egyptian mythology for $4 that Alex will love perhaps even more than me, a London guidebook for half-price that also included a laminated street map someone had tucked inside (score!), and a couple of comics (Batgirl and Thessaly). (This, the day after I scored three cheap books at the campus bookstore, one of them a Catwoman compilation for $6.)
This morning, I've still felt a bit physically under-the-weather, so I started slow with a chapter of the book "Drawing Words, Writing Pictures," a textbook on how to create comics. First Second Books graciously gave me a free copy of this and the comic Prince of Persia (yep, based on that awesome old video game) to review on my professional blog, and so far I am thoroughly enjoying both. First Second always publishes interesting, artistically distinctive stuff, but in addition I am continually impressed by the quality of their printing. Their books are ridiculously inexpensive for the high quality of paper, color, binding, and printing. Open any of their books and compare it to a regular DC or Marvel hardback--it's a huge difference.
I keep meaning to post brief takes on movies we've been watching, and have neglected to do so all summer. Instead, I find myself reading a friend's blog, and commenting when he review movies that I watched recently (like The Fall, which was awesome!). Although now that it's fall, my movie-watching is pretty limited anyway.
Okay, enough stalling--time for homework. Well, actually it's nearly lunchtime... so on to stalling by way of food!
9.19.2008
Happy Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!
My pirate name is:
Mad Mary Bonney
Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network
9.03.2008
City Girl (Our NYC Trip)
Tihleigh (with further encouragement from Laura and Astrid, but T you're the one who convinced me): you're a genius. The neti pot seems to be working, inasmuch as it stopped six days of NYC pollution from instantly replaying my recent sinus infection. Woohoo!
So, here's the briefest of summations of our 6-day New York City vacation, with no work in sight for either of us. It was a blissful time, and I'm realizing it's super-awesome to travel places that aren't attached to work-related trips.
Thursday:
Well, a girl can dream, anyway.
So, here's the briefest of summations of our 6-day New York City vacation, with no work in sight for either of us. It was a blissful time, and I'm realizing it's super-awesome to travel places that aren't attached to work-related trips.
Thursday:
- flight in, finally seeing Manhattan for the first time
- decided that Times Square is actually more over-stimulating, crowded, and neon than Vegas. WOW.
- love love LOVE Central Park.
- discovered that H&M has 1) awesome clothes that 2) fit me and 3) are about as affordable as Old Navy. Rock on.
- began to figure out the complex subway system
- Chinatown: fantastic food, fun shopping (and I can finally use chopsticks)
- Yankees game (tromped Toronto 2 - 1, woohoo!)
- walking down the street after Yankees game
- Gray's Papaya
- finding out Sarah Palin was McCain's VP pick outside of Gray's Papaya (a great day for women, no matter your politics!)
- um… we did… stuff… in the morning. I will probably remember what it was when I look at photos.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: Egyptian collection, Assyrian winged guards, Degas, Madame X, and Vermeers
- “The Lion King” on Broadway (awesome—especially loved the dance and use of performers as set pieces)
- street hotdogs—yum!
- Southside Seaport and Brooklyn Bridge
- decided not to wait in TKTS ticket line
- Wall Street
- walking alllll the way up Broadway
- lunch in Soho
- matinee showing of "Boeing Boeing." So. Freaking. Incredible. Best show I have ever seen, period!!
- dinner and dessert in Little Italy (sampled both pastries and gelato)
- more Central Park walking and street hotdogs
- American Museum of Natural History: elephants, dinosaurs, huge whale
- dinner at the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien--tiny, impossible to find, amazing burgers
- another stop at H&M (purple cordorouy blazer!)
- walking along Fifth Avenue by Tiffany & Co., Trump Tower, St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center
- Ellis Island
- Statue of Liberty
- taxi driver getting lost
- flew out, and first class flying for my first time!
Well, a girl can dream, anyway.
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