Getting on the Bandwagon

Yep, I'm joining the Mac Bandwagon. Want to help me decide what I'm getting?

Tablet-y Goodness

Yay, I finally broke out my Wacom tablet! (It's at work, not at home, but ah well. At least I'm finally using it.)

I hope your Tuesday was both Super and Fat. Mine was very, very long... but it ended in being migrated to Outlook (a big "Huzzah!" all around, now) and learning that 4 hours of no access to email leads to a very sparkling clean office. A silver lining to every cloud, eh?

My Big Score

So, I went to Half-Price Books last night to pick up the last Christmas present. That was all--I was going to look through their comics, but knew I wouldn't purchase anything. But then... I saw the magical "clearance" sign over the audiobook section...

So, the final score was pretty impressive:

• Ya-Yas in Bloom (3 CDs), Rebecca Wells - $3
• The Adventures of Guy Noir (1 CD), Garrison Keillor - $3
• Wobegon Boy (5 CDs), Garrison Keillor - $13
• Pontoon (8 CDs), Garrison Keillor - $14

I also scored my favorite volume of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, #3 Dream Country, which has a fantastic retelling of the Midsummer Night's Dream as illustrated by Charles Vess of Stardust fame. For $8. Gah!!!

And then, the big score.

The complete 9-CD dramatized Lord of the Rings set, complete in wooden case... for $15.

I almost fainted right there in Half-Price Books. I walked around the store for another fifteen minutes with that set in my clutches, pondering my fortune, wondering if this was a stressed-out hallucination.

So for all your media needs, I highly recommend the McKinney branch of HPB. And if you're a big audiobook fan, or you commute at all, get yourself over there while they still have a bunch of CD titles for $3. Dude, that's less than the late fees are when I check them out from the public library (I hate to confess it as a librarian myself, but I'm terrible at being late with those things).

Today I have a few work things to wrap up from my remote spot (at Alex's place of work), then in the afternoon it's off to DFW airport and San Antonio! We'll be back Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas evening we're off to Vegas for four days. Woohoo!!!

Oh, and a quick plug here--as of Black Friday, I've replaced my former 17" monster laptop with a 14.1" one and I haven't missed the screen real estate yet--it's 3.5 pounds lighter, and I've already taken it on two work trips. Thus far I've been impressed with the performance--I have 2GB memory in this Gateway; it's not their top of the line, but it's running nice and speedy, even running Vista (not my idea--I'm thinking about dual-booting OS's). Yay for portable technology!!!

Color Me This

(Apologies for cross-posting this, but it applies equally to all groups.)

Okay, file this under the "sheer genius" category-- the site COLOURlovers.com not only provides ever-changing color palettes that are ranked by users, but you can download palettes in a variety of formats, including CSS. You can browse palettes by newest, top, or search by specific color combinations.

So, so pretty. Good for adventures in interior design, graphic design brainstorming, or a CSS recharge for your website.

Ta-Daaa!

Check out my new, improved, no-longer-just-my-Portfolio website, aka your Portal to all things Geeky Artist Librarian.

And, um, yeah I still need to add in my previous positions under Experience, etc etc, but I'm just happy that I finally made the portal page I'd dreamed of for the past year.

Now, if I can only get my snazzydecor.com domain to point to it...

Fiiiinally

...I'm perhaps half done migrating and updating my ePortfolio, as my web server's been down for several months and shows no sign of resurfacing. Stay posted for completion.

Cool God-stuff

• My church has posted a (favorable, nonetheless) review of Spiderman 3 online.
• This page uses Google Earth to find "every identifiable place mentioned in the Bible." How cool is that?
• .... so, Church 2.0, coming soon? (and yes, my church already posts sermons online, as Karen the Free Range Librarian suggests)
  

Indifferents, Beware!

I'm an omnivore!

PC: Definition of the Phrase "It's Personal"

Can someone explain to me how it's even possible for a computer-driven device to have a personality?

I've had my share of tempermental bits of technological equipment before. During the three years that I worked as Dr. Brunner's student assistant, his HP inkjet printer gave me fits. But although it seemed to be infuriating on purpose, it was a logical problem, as the majority of the issues were paper-jam-related.

This printer, however, has a bonafide grudge against me. Several weeks ago, it randomly printed every blessed document I sent to it--but it must have been gracious on purpose because it was Monday, as evidenced by the fact that every print job I have sent before or since, no matter how short, is missing pages. I just sent a print job to it: ten copies of one page each, and it printed nothing. I sent the job a second time, and it printed them--but it had a definite smirk when I retrieved the papers.

Logically, if my computer's having some issue communicating with the printer, shouldn't I get all or nothing? Why do I keep getting only 5 pages printed of a 9-page document, or 3 pages of a 5-page doc? Why did it take me three separate prints this morning to print a 12-page document?

Honestly, if there are any real insights as to a logical solution to, or even a reason for, this problem, I will gratefully listen. I'd like to think that this isn't personal, considering the thing is a mass-produced item of plastic and metal.

Brief Overview, This Week in TV:

Eureka's season-ender (boo!), Lost's season opener (yay!), and BSG's season opener (wild, crazed screaming ensues). I read a quote yesterday from the current season of Gilmore Girls (it's four more seasons on DVD before I catch up) that I thought truely displayed the show's awesome genius:

"Don't underestimate me, Luke. I read books. And I watch Battlestar Galactica."

On a parting note, let me reassure you that my sudden lack in posts here isn't because I've forgotten or lost interest--in fact, I'm regularly making notes for posts, but haven't had the opportunity to post. The few minutes a day I've had for blogging has been spent on my professional blog lately. So, if you're desperate enough for my ramblings to read library-related info, hop on over.

The Templates, They Are A-Changin'

Bear with me while I switch my blog over to Google's new, nifty features. Unfortunately, they're not yet offering raw HTML editting, which means that, as you've probably noticed, I no longer have an all-lowercase blog title or a nifty flickr badge. Also, some formatting seems a little wonky. And furthermore, I can't track any blog stats until they let me edit the HTML. Sigh.

It's kinda hard to switch over to something so easy.

P.S. Look, I've got categories!

A Weekend Well-Spent

• two cheaply-purchased panel monitors
• a hearty helping of HGTV
• a cleaned and repaired (cross your fingers) fridge
• an interesting and brief gunshow
• an awesome, awesome ballgame with fantastic seats [Lexus Club Box], which included:
• catering at our seats
• tasty seven-layer dip & chips
• chili dogs
• ice cream in a hat (it's tradition, man)
• incredibly-painful-but-awesome-shoes
• a hilariously fun near-rain-out
• a whomping of the Mariners (well, it was a whomping until the seventh, but we still won)
• a clean (and-soon-to-be painted, floored, and cabineted) laundry room
• a well-laid-out plan for said laundry room (forethought: amazing!)
• a tasty and always-fantastic episode of Feasting on Asphalt
• snuggling funtime
• frozen fruit-bars

...and a happy congrats to my pal Auntie K!

Unrelated Banter:

• Just to continue the theme, here are some jolly Trekkie inspirational posters. ("Expendability"--reminds me of a family joke: Ensign Justin Case.)
• Userfriendly answers the age-old question: What happens when an AOL employee gets fired?
• Nice barcode placement.

Our Priorities

I just found out in a roundabout way that The Man has a Skype account. And I think--What? How did I not know this?

Then I think--Well, does he even know I have an AIM account? What the heck do we talk about, anyway?

And then the answer hits me: we talk about home improvement, which ice cream flavor we're craving, and the sci-fi/cartoon OOTM (obsession of the moment).

Gotta have your priorities, man.