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[Jul. 18th, 2008|06:52 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cranky | ] |
Quick post. I'm super crabby. Every little thing is irritating me. even the things you normally just overlook or not even notice.
trip was fine. exhausting. 11 hour work days. 2 hour time change. hard work. catching up today.
Had issue with Paige and boarding. nothing life threatening but was not handled well in my opinion. She is of course, irritated with me for boarding her. but she'll get over it. In the end, I think she knows she's got a sweet deal.
work continues to suck.
found out I didn't get the job with US Salt even though I was lead to believe again I was one of 2 choices. I told the recruiter that I was going to take a break but he had already sent my info to another place. I'll interview there and see what's up but not in the mood to deal with the interviewing process.
ok, going to find a beer to drown the stress in.
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| Dedics |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|05:16 am] |
Dear Imman, sa Puerto Galera. Leaving in a while. Mainggit ka, lol. Haberday!
Dear the rest of Metro Manila, see you again on Monday /wave |
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| Batty Bullets... |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|03:04 pm] |
Today's the day. The day we've been waiting months...no, years for: "Mamma Mia" has finally been released. I for one will rush right to the theater the first chance I get before the lines get too long. Until then, Bullets...
*Really, Pierce Brosnan in a musical? Please tell me he shoots something with a cool futuristic weapon at least.
*I had a meeting early this morning and late this afternoon. That is not how to do a Friday.
*I appreciate when a plan comes together as anticipated...and I'm thankful.
*Obligatory Cryptic Omphaloskeptic Comment: Oh no, I'm Batman!
*We're about halfway through Summer. What's the anthem for it? We need to have an anthem.
*Did you realize the Olympics are only three weeks away? Me neither. I really could not care less this year.
*Volatility is tomorrow at MadLab. You should be there, even if you are square.
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| QotD |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|01:45 pm] |
"When all you have is a carrot and a stick, everyone starts to look like donkeys." -- ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ineffabelle |
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| 450 strips and he hasn't caught on |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|12:36 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  mischievous | ] |
"So, Randall. I couldn't help noticing your Universal Female Geek exists as a supplement to your Universal Male Geek. By translating your notion of whimsy into an unassimilable Other, I think you're actually abstracting it into something safely unachievable. Your authorial voice may denigrate, romanticize, or even insist upon the irrational, but never actually integrates it into a coherent sense of self. He wants to see the feminine, protean, ecstatic world. He wants to quest after it. He wants it in his gaze. It's obliged to transport him and enthrall him but is not permitted to transform him. But to actually attain it, to make it something worthy of his silence and impervious to analysis, would destroy him."
There. 29 Seconds.
(Hey, just teasing him back. Lit nerds represent. :) Many thanks to lhexa for a far more insightful version of the above.) |
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| Marital Status: Single. |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|03:29 pm] |
I got an email from Fredrik today. As of this morning, our divorce is official. I can't really say that I'm sad about it, although from time to time I get a bit nostaligic and then angry that we didn't make it work, that we will never be one of those couples who made it. But then I look at the years we spent together, and you know, it's like the line from a Pearl Jam song, "... Sure feels so much clearer, once you... are in my... rearview mirror." A couple years back, I'd pretty much figured out that it wouldn't work, but I tried to convince myself and just hang in there. But we fucked it up. And now, well, there's nothing left to do. I'm okay with that. In fact, it's just fine. But it feels a bit odd today, like I've catapulted back into a less secure world, where instead of being part of some union, I'm all on my own. This feeling is a little magnified for me since I don't really have any strong family ties. Now I'm just a single girl living in Ireland in a house with her boyfriend and housemates.
That's not really accurate either. I'm not "just" a single girl living in Ireland with her boyfriend and housemates. I have an amazing boyfriend, which makes the bounce back into that less secure world really just a trivial thing. Today I'm divorced, but today I'm also blessed, and that makes everything okay. In fact, it makes everything just fine. |
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| Dokken! |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|09:29 am] |
Somehow or another I found myself at a Dokken concert last night. Mark from my old work knows someone who works at Toad's Place, who apparently unloaded a bunch of free tickets onto him, who then unloaded a bunch of free tickets onto Christine, who called me at 8 last night asking about going.
There was much rocking that took place at Toad's Place that night. 40 year olds reliving their hair metal days, yeah! It was actually nice to not be one of the older people at a concert, for once. Admittedly, there was no particular song that was played where I could actually say 'hey, I know that song!'. Several seemed rather familiar, though? My excuse is that I was a toddler during their heyday, yup. The people watching was excellent.
I really wanted to get Drew a t-shirt, but it turned out that I only had $2 in my wallet. Which also meant that I couldn't even have a beer, as apparently the cheapest drink there (PBR) started at $4 a can. Now, I know some places mark up their drinks, but I would feel like I was doing society a disservice somehow if I payed that much for a single crappy beer. Aside from that, I liked the venue. Nice and mid-sized. I wonder if VNV could be convinced to come to Richmond, that would be a good size for them. It would be a great space for Basshunter to play at, but first they need to be convinced to come to the US period, much less a place like Richmond.
Apparently at The National (another new venue I've yet to go to) next week they're having several Michael Jackson impersonators. I'm almost tempted to go. |
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[Jul. 18th, 2008|12:57 pm] |
I feel the need to repost this from Adam's journal...
Why we should ban the word "Chav"
Admittedly I wouldn't personally advocate "banning" any particular word or words, however I do agree with much of their reasoning. |
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| Thursday |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|07:41 am] |
The day should be a hot and humid one.
Yesterday was one of those long slow days. The lab meeting just dragged on and on. I think I almost nodded off a few times. My Boss was looking at me one time when I opened up my eyes but he was too into the meeting. The speaker was getting picked apart by my Boss and others because he organized his thoughts too well. And the material was pretty dry too.
One of my coworkers refused to go because he had too many things to do and he thought the meeting was a waste of time. I agree. Though I think the meetings are good for the post-docs because they need to learn to present and talk about their data in front of people. Thank goodness I don't. smirks. I just get to editorialize on occasion and point things out if need be...
After the meeting I just relaxed. I really didn't have much to do.
I did leave a little early and got home. My sister and her kids were over for the day. They had been enjoying raiding my gum collection and watching cable tv. Hmmmp. Poor Suzi was hiding from them.
I had to mow the lawn because the next few days are going to be absolute ovens outside. Much more than it was yesterday. I thought I'd be sweatier but I really wasn't. Either I was dehydrated or it wasn't too hot out. The clouds did block out the Sun for a little bit and there was a nice gentle breeze. It felt great.
The kids were their usual self. Billy was picking on me. Hmmmp. He always enjoys patting my bald spot. HMMP!!! It was still fun to see the kids though. I miss seeing them.
Today, I don't have a lot of work again. I'll make up for it next week. blah. |
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| Things I don't understand |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|09:43 pm] |
I don't understand how people can watch baseball.
I don't understand fruity drinks, dirty martinis, or why all Mexican liquor sold in the US requires lime.
I don't understand how any God who can be called merciful sends anything so wicked as our emotions into the world.
I don't understand how people say I love you and then aren't willing to get hurt.
I don't understand why Aristotle was wrong about slavery.
I don't understand why the only thing in lj Catholicism to break 100 comments is Abortion stupidity.
I don't understand why people deny what they are.
And I understand exactly what friends are, but I don't understand how the fuck anyone can push a person they claim to care about into a little category to ensure that their emotions don't lead them into feeling something genuine for another person just because it's hard. I don't understand why geography matters. I don't understand how someone who sees what pain there is in this sort of life can decide to make it worse with as vile a title as brother, and I don't understand why they won't even give me the courtesy of "best friend."
There's a lot I don't understand, and it turns out that that makes me not worth it to you people. |
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[Jul. 17th, 2008|09:06 pm] |
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Kids, don't try this at home. tracerj is a trained ramen-eating professional, which I presume means she's got a cardiovascular system built like a Roman aqueduct. ;p Plus, she's a damn funny woman. Like, on purpose. |
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| democracy vs. participation: squaring the circle |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|08:00 am] |
On the one hand, I've always been in favor of member democracy at conventions. The Worldcon business meeting, while occasionally afflicted with a certain amount of smoffish obscurantism, and as such is much too long, and as such has too low a participation level among the membership, is still a good example of how to permit and encourage member input into the running of the organization. One of the best examples of this was the annual general meeting at Ad Astra, I believe in 2003, where the feedback panel ("darts and laurels"), closing ceremony, and AGM was combined into a single event. 150 people in the main room participating in the selection of board members; it was great.
However, there is a feeling that unrestricted member participation can have negative consequences. This hasn't been my direct experience, but I've heard plenty of stories. As I support the general idea of democracy, I can't assume I have a monopoly of wisdom, so I have to take this position into account. I can see how some effective committee members could be demotivated by having decisions made by what they consider to be unqualified opinions.
So the solution which occurred to me involves compromise, a suitably Canadian approach. We can split the difference: have half the board elected by the membership and half by the committee. As the committee is chosen by the chair, the way to avoid having this be completely self-reinforcing is to give the tie-breaking seat to the general convention members. This would break down as:
Voting members are in two classes: paying members and working members.
Paying members are people who have paid for a full convention membership.
Working members would be people working hard on the convention. My thought is to count any two of the past two conventions and the upcoming convention.
Note of course that not all "working members" will be "paying members". I expect to have a policy on comp memberships. This will create a moral encouragement for committee members who can afford it to both work and pay for their membership, while still allowing the less-well-off staff who work very hard to get in for free.
Board members would be elected as follows:
Four members elected by the paying members at an AGM at the convention, two each year for two-year terms.
Three members elected by the working members at a special general meeting four to eight months after the previous convention, one elected each year for a three-year term.
I'm thinking some sort of term limit on board members, which can be waived with a two-thirds vote of the eligible voting members (i.e. to encourage new blood, but to ensure that directors are minimally qualified). Overall this allows a broken organization to be fixed relatively quickly, but also ensures that someone around will remember what happened a few years previously. Often times an inactive board can be revitalized by a single energetic new board member willing to take on project and planning tasks.
Put together, this creates lots of institutional continuity, while also ensuring that the voice of the fan community is heard. I'll see what people think of this idea. |
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| Package Swap |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|09:52 pm] |
Anybody in the UK want to do a swap? £20 or so, plus postage?
I would send the types of things I would like to get: teas, foreign sweets, music, pampering stuff, foodie things (ingredients, kitchen gadgets), that kind of thing. (I have linked to one of my swapping entries on my profile page.)
Let me know... :-D |
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| 5 баллов! |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|12:13 am] |
Мне в начале казалось (на это повлияло наличие "Институт российской истории РАН" в списке участников нэймофрашша), что проект делают демократически настроенные граждане, адекватные, но все же с некоторой аффектацией либерализмом.
Теперь понял. Они или глупы - так как не понимают, что делают подлость, или они подлы, принимая нас за дураков.
http://www.nameofrussia.ru/doc.html?id=2106
"Нам потребовалось несколько дней, чтобы в гигантском потоке запросов на наш ресурс www.nameofrussia.ru выявить тех, кто превратил Сталина в компьютерный вирус. Это те же люди, которые ежедневно рассылают на ваши компьютеры горы спама.
Вирус «Сталин», – это и «Руководителю предприятия «зарплата в белую», и «на дворе жара, и вы можете на этом заработать» и «a solution to your failures in bed».
Эти люди – паразиты Интернета. Своими действиями они многократно увеличивают трафик каналов связи и задерживают доставку действительно важных сообщений, они скупают доменные имена и перепродают их законным владельцам, они расцветают на полулегальном бизнесе в сети. Они нарушают российское законодательство о рекламе и негласные правила поведения в виртуальной паутине."
А вот настоящий проект. Сделанный энтузиастами. Честно и грамотно. Персон для голосования можно предлагать своих. На голосования поставлена каптча, так что роботам путь заказан. Вот это демократия...
Пиарьте - http://nameofrussia.su/ |
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