Libby Says...
When I started Notesgirl.com, my goal was to market my book(s), participate in the Lotus community, and use it as a jumping off point for my contract work. Since then, I've been in various careers, in multiple fields, but I've kept my Notesgirl persona. Actually, I'm not sure persona is the right word - a persona implies that it's not the real me, and it is - there was a long-ago conversation with vowe and others that convinced me (if I needed convincing) that being as genuine as possible online as I am in person is the right thing. But as I've grown and changed, I've changed the content here to fit more what's appropriate for what's going on at one time. Right now, for example, I'm writing my little fingers off for a few clients and job hunting and enjoying being a newlywed and worrying about a multitude of personal issues. In the past, I might've written about those personal issues - when I was confident that my employer and I had a meeting of the minds about personal blogging versus my professional duties. When your primary job is job hunting, however, you look at blogging completely differently. If I were looking only in one field, I might try to spend more time writing pertinent content for the site. Since my search is more broad, I have to look at the site as a potential early impression (yes, I know I need to revamp the color/layout). I hope that people will read what I write and see a person they're interested in working with. I hope to have them see me - the real, genuine person - and want to work with that person. But thinking of various interviews and conversations the past weeks, I have to consider: what if my admission of problems and issues - among other blog entries of course - comes across the wrong way? Should I keep those personal preoccupations to myself? Does it help anyone, myself included, to write about them here? When I had a specific place in a community, my occasional forays into writing about my personal life were a way of keeping my personal connection to a community that has been wonderful to me. Most of the readers of my blog knew me in real life, and actually cared when something was on my mind. When some others have posted about their problems and processes, we have felt as though we were not alone, and understood ourselves and our friends better (thanks Duff, and others). Of course, when I write, my thoughts become more clear, so I write at least partially to help me work through things (and just writing a diary doesn't work the same way - we think differently when we we write knowing there's a potential audience), So, the questions are on my mind at the moment: who reads notesgirl.com, what are they (you) interested in, for whom do I blog - myself or my readers, when does my blog help me and when does it hurt, how do I best balance all the things I'm interested in writing and thinking about with what readers might be interested in reading and with a changing professional life... All of you who blog and write for public consumption have dealt with these issues in one way or another - and some of you have changed what you share over time, as I have. I don't think I have a conclusion right now, but thanks for letting me think aloud with you. And for a few personal tidbits:
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Realized just how uncommunicative I've been on the blog of late, so I'm dropping a quick multi-tasking post off between appointments today. Under the Congratulations banner: My friends Cindy, Dave, and Audrey added a new little Sunshine to their family yesterday. It took Cindy less time to have the baby than it did for me to drive to the hospital to visit them. A reminder of how lucky I am not to have to drive in Houston rush hour very often. Yay! for the Claytons! My friends Warren and Kitty walked 26.2 miles at night for breast cancer research. Wow. I'm a half-marathoner, but the combination of at night, in bras, and the entire mileage makes me so proud of their accomplishment! Congratulations to anyone who was part of the class of 1989. Philip and I went to my 20th high school reunion last weekend... I'm not exactly sure what to say or think about it - I'm still processing. Loved running into some folks I hadn't seen in a long time. So many of them are doing great things and look wonderful. I'm hoping to keep in touch with some of them going forward. I'm always grateful to my friend Julie - she's been with me through everything (since 4th grade). Besides being a wonderful friend, she always helps me keep my life in perspective. Happy Birthday to my friend Chris! I'm hoping to visit you in SF in October as usual, but I'm thinking about you today! General Busy-ness: Someone commented that jobless or unemployed don't have a very inspired ring. I agree - thanks Gaelyn, for the reminder to look at things as opportunities and to have my speech and writing support that. I'm considering myself a freelancer for the moment (or that's what I answered when folks asked at the reunion). That doesn't mean I'm not looking for more permanent work - I am, and actively - but I'm trying to see myself as being in process rather than anything more...negative. Thanks for those who have wished me well, given me hints or tips, and other supportive activities. To those who might be waiting on something from me, I'm back in the saddle and working on it. My friends Margo and Ange bought me a Clutter-fairy workshop a couple of weeks ago and Ange and I have been spending time together de-cluttering our houses since then. Way too much clutter. It feels good to work on it, though, and it's much easier with a friend. Thumbs up. Haven't been going to yoga (saving $$), but am doing some at home. I'm thinking it's time to find someplace to take my yoga style to a studio and see if I can add it to my freelancing life. Annoyances: Had some Blackberry/Sprint difficulties of late. Not sure what the problem is, but I need to make a trip to the Sprint store to see if they can help me troubleshoot. One hint: definitely leave a message if you call, as my call log is among the things not working correctly. Tried to see the shuttle launch, but they had to postpone it. After my husband, and his parents, and I drove from Houston to Florida. Four days driving (to and from) for one day of being disappointed and tired. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather they postpone and fix and problems, but it was a lot of driving for what we got. The in-laws are planning to fly out for the July 11 reschedule; Philip and I have to decide if it's in the budget for us. I'm sure there's more, as there's a lot going on, but for now, I'm off to another appointment. Wishing peaceful, happy, healthy, good things to all of you out there. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I could say that my mom taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. That might convince you. Or I could blame my newlywed status. The truth? My life has just been a little bit out of control since January. I moved my mom to California in December...and moved her stuff out of her house in Van in January. My sister-in-law was living with us for a while. Love her. Having another adult in a small townhome? It's a good thing we get along really, really well. As it is, now that she's gone, I miss her. I got laid off. Immediately following Lotusphere. Fascinating! I took a part time gig teaching a community college class - with an immediate turn around. Great in terms of helping a friend and feeling like I'm not completely unemployed. I'm applying for 3-5 jobs per week to keep my unemployment benefits, but there aren't as many jobs on the rolls as I might like. So, I took a few contract gigs in there - which I'm loving. Of course, I've been trying to keep my productivity on those where it should be... Then my mom, who had moved to CA in December was in the hospital - necessitating a quick trip to CA... And another move for my poor mom. I fell down a flight of stairs. Into a fire-ant bed. The week of the wedding. And then there was this lovely wedding. We kept it pretty small (see: no job) and did a LOT ourselves (of course, when I say "ourselves," I mean I did a little, my sister in law and her mom did a TON, and I ran a bunch of errands and made lots of decisions). Then we had this gorgeous, beautiful, extremely fun and personal (I still promise a whole blog post about this) wedding. Whew. Should be enough right? Oh, there's more. But let's move on. My moods have been a little up and down, but in general, I'm feeling surprisingly positive. Maybe it's that I keep telling my kids about Rule #6 (don't take yourself so goshdarn seriously!) and that lets me laugh at myself and my life when I need to. Maybe it's the vows Philip and I used in our wedding, which focused on gratitude and the four Buddhist immeasurable elements of love: Love, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity. So, I'm grateful to all my friends and family who never cease to amaze me, the contacts who've helped me get some contract work, the social network of friends who always have a kind and uplifting word, and my dear husband, who is the most supportive, compassionate, generous person I know. For now, I'll think about possibilities, finish work for an impending deadline, and see where tomorrow leads. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Speaking of fascinating turns of events... Well, it looks like the economy is not going to sustain my current gig. So, I'm job hunting. The folks at WorkFlow are Good Folks and I wish them all the best. I'm sure we'll continue our association in various ways. For now, I'm off to reconsider my wedding plans, think about my best skills, and contact everyone I know to see what their advice might be. If you have advice (or jobs!), please leave a comment or drop me an email/Skype/Sametime/IM/call. I'd love to hear from you. I must say, it's harder to look at the radiating possibilities just now when what I'm feeling in my gut is the downward spiral, but on the other hand, thinking about this turn of events as just that... new possibilities is all I've got at the moment, so there you go. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I wear a ring on my thumb that says "Freedom" on one side and "True Bliss" on the other side. I purchased this ring following my divorce as part of the process of determining where I should go from there. While I wear the ring every day (or almost), I realized recently that I'd started to let the meaning behind it drift; in at least some areas of my life, I was no longer searching for the things that truly give me bliss and I was feeling trapped instead of free. Even in the things that make me happiest, I was losing the joy and instead seeing the stress and frustration and negativity. WellAfter the closing session at Lotusphere, where Benjamin Zander gave his inspiring talk on radiating possibility, one thing is clear. That.Won't.Do. So I'm rededicating myself to finding bliss and possibility in the moment and feeling the freedom to make healthy, joy-inspiring choices. For all the mistakes and bad choices I've made up to this point: How Fascinating! :-) Let's see what I can learn today. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, since the gift-giving season is almost upon us (and because my good friend Jonvon asked so nicely), I thought I'd blog about my Kindle. Right before ILUG this year, I thought I might be doing more travel in 2008 and beyond than I'd been doing for a few years, and I decided to give myself a lovely graduation gift, so I started looking at electronic books. Warren has a Sony e-Reader that he'd let me paw at Lotusphere, and I liked it, but he was already having to jump through some hoops to get books, so that seemed like a bit of a negative to me. The Kindle had been out for a while, but I was leary of spending almost $400 without touching it for myself. Still. I figured if I bought it and hated it, I could return it, so I went for it. Wow. I have been overjoyed with this purchase. As my poor long-suffering fiance comments - he's a Kindle-widow. I try to tell him he's a book-widow, but... Well, those of you who know me at all, know that I LOVE to read. When doing almost anything else for fun, I always have to ask myself, "But, would I rather be reading?" (Hence, my picking up and putting down all knitting and stitching type projects, stamping, jewelry-making, and other other cool hobbies that many of my friends do!). The Kindle, therefore, has made my travel life much easier - I no longer have to put 3, 4, or more books in my carry-on and my suitcase just to see me through a couple of plane flights. Instead, I pack one paperback or magazine for take-offs and landings... and my Kindle, with its over 120 books on it currently. But let's get to the nitty gritty of this review - details! Kindle is available exclusively from Amazon.com and the current price is US$359. It comes with USB capability, so you can upload books, text files, MP3 files, PDFs, and etc. to your Kindle from your computer. I've never used my USB cable. Instead, I take advantage of the proprietarily named Whispernet. When I turn on the wireless access, I can connect to the Web (very minimalist surfing capabilities - I'd rather use my phone's browser most of the time)... and to the Amazon Kindle Store. The Kindle store (neither via browser nor via Kindle)is not great for browsing, although you can search by genre, and the Amazon recommendation engine is at work. On the other hand, if you know what you want to buy -- in under 3 minutes, you can find, purchase, and have downloaded the next book in that series you're reading, the new book by that author, or whatever you're looking for. Your Kindle is tied to your Amazon account, so your credit card on file is automatically charged (which can be dangerous if you're not paying attention to how many books you're buying), but the speed and ease of delivery made me a chain reader for a while when I first got my device! Kindle books are less expensive than most of what you'll buy for a paper book, although just in the last few weeks, the prices have gone way up. For the longest time, I didn't find any books - including those brand-new hardcover bestsellers - that were selling for more than $9.99. Most paperbacks were more like $5.99 or around there. The last hardcover I bought, however, was more. Still, a quick glance through the front page of the Kindle store at Amazon shows that only three or four books on the first few pages were more than that $9.99 standard -- new hardcovers for $11.99 and $14.99. Searching from high-to-low on price shows that there are some multi-thousand dollar text and reference books available, but if you're talking your every day fiction and non-fiction that you might pick up in the airport bookstore -- you'll pay between $5-$10. One of the things that most concerned me when I considered picking up the Kindle was book availability. I do read many of those airport books, but I also like literature, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction... You get the idea. I didn't want to invest in this and realize I couldn't get the books I wanted! There are currently around 200,000 books available for the Kindle from the Amazon store, about 85,000 of which are fiction. I have been a little disappointed at not finding some books I truly wanted to read on the Kindle, but the selection of books they do have is pretty good. I'm not going to kid you - it's one of my wish-list items that more books in the genres I like most would be available, but I've also found many new authors through trying what I found on my Kindle. I've liked being able to download a sample. It's about a chapter or two of the book (from the beginning) that lets you get a pretty decent page test in before you buy. Once you buy, you do have one quick chance to return (oops, I clicked the wrong one type of thing), but after that, the book is yours. No sharing (or so the rules say - I haven't tried it). It's easy to store books on the Kindle - I think I had almost 80 or 90 before I started wondering what my space was like. I bought an SD card and slid it in the back and feel like I can go on forever now. You can also delete books and redownload from your Amazon account or computer. Battery life is great. Right up until you spend a lot of time with the wireless turned on. Wireless use really whacks the battery life, but since I'm mostly using it to buy and download a book, it doesn't impact me too much. I've gone for a long weekend with fairly heavy book reading with no need to recharge. If I don't turn on the wireless, I've gone almost a week, in fact. The joys of the electronic paper, where the battery power is only being used to turn the pages. Related to this is the backlighting and readability. There is no backlight. This keeps the battery life long and the readability high. Have you noticed that when you try to read on a computer, your eyes get tired? A lot of this is the backlighting. Kindle has none, which means that you can read just fine in bright sunlight (out by the pool, where you can't read a laptop mostly) and in any other normal lighting. I did buy an LED booklight to take for night-time flights, when the overhead light doesn't always do enough, but that's more about me getting old than it is about the Kindle, I think. I find the Kindle very easy to read. Easier in fact than some paper books, as I can up the font size at any time when I'm feeling tired or have been reading too long. Maybe that's a bad thing, but the ability to choose from about 6 font sizes on the fly makes readability pretty good. Screen is clear and electronic ink is so much like reading a printed book that almost everyone I show it to does a double take just on that aspect. My biggest issues with the Kindle have been around how to hold the darn thing. Where the hands in the image are holding it always seems awkward to me and doesn't really work for the lying in bed reading. I often hold it where the left thumb is, but I use my my index and middle fingers (one on each side of the device), with my thumb supporting the bottom. Sometimes I use the top area to hold it. If you try to hold on the left or right wide areas, you'll see that you'd be hitting the buttons that you use to turn the pages. Which means that sometimes, you accidentally turn a page when you don't mean to do so. Not that big a deal, but... Okay, a few more complaints and then we'll wrap it up.
Bottom line, if you are a ready who travels, this is absolutely a must-have. If you need to cut down on the number of paper books you're trying to to store in your house - again, awesome. It will never completely replace paper books for me, even though I believe in trying to live a greener life - I just love books. However, I've bought more Kindle books than paper books in the almost 6 months I've had my Kindle and look forward to the improvements that will invariably come in selection and technology to improve it. If you want to ask anything about a Kindle, just drop me a note or a comment. If you want to try before you buy, I know Amazon has a way to do that, but I'm also happy to show you mine whenever you like. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I've been busy traveling for the past little while, with short trips to Dallas and Nashville over the past two weeks. Nashville was great - I enjoyed making some new friends and connections, catching up with some from the "old days," and getting the skinny on WebSphere Portal and the accelerators. While I didn't stay for the entire week, I did learn some things that we'll be putting into play soon. I'm looking forward to adding some additional portal work to what we do at WFS. Now I'm getting ready to head out on another trip - to California! I'm visiting my college friends in San Francisco and running a half marathon. Okay, let's be honest. I'm not going to actually run this one, as my training has been crap. Instead, this one will be a run/walk with the emphasis on walk. I can do that for this event, as they're pretty generous about the time limits. I can't, however, do that for the next half marathon I've got scheduled - in Houston, in January, right before I head out to Lotusphere, as they're much more strict (training in Houston is much easier in the winter, though!). Still, even when I haven't gotten fully trained, I'm glad to be doing half marathons. I started running during a very sad, painful time in my life, and it was the one healthy thing I was doing for myself at the time. It continues to be a time when I can either have a nice talk with a friend or with Philip, or it can also be a great time for some silent meditation - time NOT to think - just to be. My yoga studio has been closed for the past 2 months, and meditating at home hasn't been working extremely successfully for me, but when I run or walk, I get it. So, I'll run/walk/meditate through my half marathon on Sunday and come back to Houston ready to train much more actively for the next one. Then I'll head down to southern California to visit my Oma for her birthday. I hope to be as full of life...well, even now, as she is in her 90s. I won't be taking off from work completely, as I've got plenty to do to get ready for the Lotus Collaboration Summit that we're hosting in San Antonio and Dallas (if you're in town, sign up and spread the word!). Still, a short trip with Philip will be relaxing, giving us some time to talk and plan for the future, and will be a chance to see some of the folks I care about. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Today's Word of the Day from Dictionary.com is edify: to instruct and improve. Seems particularly appropriate as so many folks (including me and mine) are rushing to get Lotusphere abstracts submitted before tomorrow's deadline. It's also one of those words I use in my personal story: it's what I (flatter myself that I) do. Whether I'm writing, speaking, or leading an actual class, I want to edify. Do you have a word that you use in your personal story to describe yourself? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I know, I know, you're never supposed to apologize for a blog absence. I won't. I'll just say that I've missed writing here, and hearing from you, although Twitter has helped me through. i've got a lot of making up to do - cleaning up the site, updating it a bit, and being more regular about my content production again. Thanks to many of you who checked in on me during Hurricane Ike. (And to Rocky, who also posted to let you know I was ok...) The hurricane itself didn't damage my house or hurt me. In fact, once the power went off, I slept through most of the worst of the wind and rain. When I got up the next morning, the streets were flooded and the wind was still pushing the trees over, but it felt like the storm was winding down. What has been scary and sobering, on the other hand, has been the aftermath. People tend to pay attention to the destructive force and the moment when the storm is hitting, worried about friends and family who might be hurt while nature does its worst. What has hurt Houston, and those of us who live here, even more, however, is the strange half-city we're living in now. When I drive to the post office or the grocery store, it takes more than twice as long as normal, because most of the street lights still have no power or are no longer standing. Of course, there's always the chance that I won't actually be able to conduct whatever business I had in mind, as many stores and restaurants are still without power and are closed. Gas stations are mostly open, but gas is more expensive and at least two stations near me were mostly destroyed by the wind. They won't be open for a while. Grocery stores are scary places - busy (still with people buying ice and other non-perishables), but not quite normal. Driving down the streets in most neighborhoods shows stop and street signs down, street and stop lights dangling from their wires, and a hedge of browning branching and leaves all along the sidewalks where people have piled them in preparation for the debris haulers. Houses and offices still have boarded up windows. Trees are uprooted. Rooftoops are covered with the blue plastic the city distributed to those who lost roofs or had roof damage. The world goes on, but this city is still limping as kids start to go back to school and folks start back to work. I spent last week in Dallas, because my power was out until Friday. I have both power and internet back now, but I'm still one of the lucky ones. Many of my friends are still without. Many of you have been willing to donate in the past - the Red Cross is still operating shelters all over south Texas and can still use donations to help those folks who were not as lucky as I've been. In any case, I've been working hard. Most of you know that I came back to the Lotus biz - I've been to ILUG and CU, as well as a few one-day local conferences, with my new company WorkFlow Studios. I'm going to be working on their marketing and communications, as well as some training, strategy, and consulting when appropriate. I can't promise never to leave again, but it's nice to be back. One of my current big jobs is working on Lotusphere session abstracts for my colleagues, so I've been writing those for the past week or so. I've read Rocky and Ed's advice and am excited to once again be part of it all. Hope Mac remembers his old editor when selecting sessions (wink). Of course, I've got some beliefs of my own on what makes a good abstract - good writing, concrete descriptions of what the attendees get from the session, limited jargon... I've got some Firefox tabs to close, but that will hav to wait. I got a little carried away with my comments about Ike and now I need to get a quick bite to eat before moving on to another set of abstracts and some other meetings. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
That your friendly neighborhood Notesgirl is back in the biz? The Lotus biz, that is. Some of you I saw at ILUG or you've seen me on Twitter or LinkedIn or elsewhere and you probably heard the news there, but for those of you who hadn't yet heard.... When I finished my master's at Rice, I decided it was time to come back to the fold. So, I've left high school teaching and I'm working for WorkFlow Studios as their VP of Marketing and Communications -- doing marketing, PR, probably some training and consulting thrown in for good measure. I'll be working on events, the website, some whitepapers and case studies, and more. In some ways, it was a tough decision - leaving KIPP was not without its sadness and I had lots of good opportunities on the table when I decided to leave KIPP, both in teaching and elsewhere. In other ways, I've known Lance and the WFS folks for a long time and they're Good FolksTM, so working with them as my way to come back to the IBM Software world made sense. I've been a little quiet here while I worked out my job changing situations, but now the hope is that I'll be back to blogging - and, I hope, saying interesting things, more regularly. I'll also be making the rounds of the events, and offering my writing and speaking services as I find appropriate times, ways, and places to do so. I've already had one or two requests for a new certification something - not sure if a book is in the cards, but we'll see. I need to update my certifications (I have been completely away from the business for 2 years, after all), so it may make a lot of sense for me to do some certification writing. You can also expect to see me doing some gadget reviews and commentary as I continue my unexpectedly passionate love affair with my new Kindle and attempt to fall in love with my new MacBookPro. The blog will, of course, continue to share yoga, dancing, running, and other commentary as well. I feel as though I've been dead or asleep for at least the past two years (that's what grad school and a full time teaching job will do to you), and I'm trying to figure out all the things I need and want to do now that I'm alive again. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I'm more than halfway there now. I gave my capstone - a capstone is our program's version of a thesis - presentation on Saturday. I spoke about my project, my conclusions, and my primary sources for an hour, with fifteen minutes or so of questions. In some ways, it was easy - after all, I'm used to public speaking, right? On the other hand, it was higher stakes than much of my speaking. Still, everyone told me I knocked it out of the park, including my adviser. Now all that's left is to do some rewrites and finish writing a few sections of the paper. While there's still a fair amount of work to complete, I'm feeling so much better and less stressed now that the BIG deadline is done. Ahhhhhhhhh. Perhaps now you'll actually see some writing here from me as I finish one chapter and look for what the next chapter will hold. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Rob had a great post the other day about his perfect employer and job. It's been on my mind a lot of late, as I try to decide what's next for me. I remember one time, oh about 12 years ago, I had a long talk with my then-roommate Julie about perfect job, working conditions, etc. It's amazing how different my thoughts are now. I suspect this is a work in progress. I know enough to know that I don't have a perfect job. There are many jobs and career paths that could work for me and at which I think I could be successful. But I know some of the things I need and some of the things i can't accept. Let's see... in no particular order...
In return, I will be where you need me to be, when you need me to be there. I will be a team player and as much of a leader as you give me the chance to be. I will be diligent and meticulous. I will use all that great brain power I've got to do what you ask me to do or what I see needs to be done. I will ask questions and be thoughtful and work as though all the profits were going in my pocket. I will be the best representative of your company that I know how to be. if the door is open, I will come to you if something upsets me. I will try to resolve it. I will learn. I will think. I'm sure there are more, but if I keep writing this, I'm not writing my thesis. Off I go. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well my dear friends and family, I'm wishing you the best and brightest in 2008. I've spent most of the first week of my holiday vacation regrouping and recuperating, not from being sick exactly, but from being worn out and a bit blue. This week, though, is all about working on my master's thesis, planning the year to come, and visiting with friends. There's a small possibility that I may come to the first weekend of Lotusphere this year. I can't take any days off, so I wouldn't be there for the week (and there's nobody to pay my fees to get in), but some good friends have offered a couch/floor/bed space in their room for a night or two, so I may show my face with a handful of CVs and many hugs for my friends in the crowd. We'll see if I can afford the flight (yay for Continental miles) and make it work out. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As often happens, the moment I give in to sadness or self-pity, I'm almost immediately reminded that the world is much worse and that my problems, while they may seem important to me, are small beans in the larger world. One friend is still grieving through a hugely painful loss she suffered this summer - and despite losing my dad and all the other challenges I've faced, I can't even begin to imagine her pain. Of course, while I want to help and be supportive, the real truth is that there's nothing I can do to make it any better. Only time can truly do that. So all I can do is be ready with a shoulder or an ear or a distraction. I wish I could do more, sweetie. And then last night, I got phone calls from three friends to let me know that another friend had passed away. Joel had been dealing with, suffering with, leukemia for almost a year, and finally, despite having some successes, a host of infections proved too much and now his wife and three children are left behind without his physical presence in their lives. I feel so sorry for them...and more bereft for myself than I have any right to feel. I met Joel my first week of college - he was dating my college roommate, Kat. Joel's roommate and I became close friends - I'm lucky enough to still count him and his wife and kids among my closest friends, but after college, Joel and I drifted apart and while I've been following his saga and sending positive thoughts, I've not actually seen him in years. And yet, last night, I wept over his loss - for his family, for my own mortality and the mistakes I've made that have kept me from living every moment to its fullest (despite knowing I should and wanting to), and for the helplessness I feel - can't help his family, can't help him, can't help my friends, and can't prevent whatever will happen in life. I sat in the car with Philip telling Joel stories - how he was the reason I first worked at RenFest and how I always wondered if it was due to his influence that Kat and I finally became friends; memories of a choir concerts that we sang in together early in college. Most of my clear memories of Joel are from that first year in college, when he and Kat were all but inseparable. When I'm done with these papers and such, I plan to go back through my pictures and journals from that time just to enjoy the happy memories. Of course, to keep the perspective balanced (as much as possible), there is a bright side of this loss and sadness. It prompted me to drop a note to a long-lost ex. We parted on very poor terms, many years ago. At the time, I blamed it all on him. Of course, through growing up and making my own mistakes, I came to realize that nothing is ever just one person's fault in a relationship. I forgave him and myself as part of my healing from my divorce, but thought it smacked of something icky to send a note saying that, especially because I thought it might hurt his wife's feelings, so I didn't. But we recently found each other those ubiquitous social networking sites, and "friended." And it seemed right to tell him about this loss - I thought he might not know, but he was definitely part of that group in college, and so I sent a note. It felt nice to know that even if that scar wasn't completely gone that we could talk and say gentle, kind things to one another again. Perspective. It reminds you that things could always be worse and that it's only what you do and how you live and the choices you make that can make things any better. So, here's to friends and forgiveness and living your life each day to avoid regrets and hurting yourself or others. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It's been quiet here since June. Guess I've been busy and a little blue (which I probably haven't wanted to admit). Let's see... I got a yoga teacher certification, trained for and competed in my first triathlon, trained for and ran my third half marathon, helped a friend through a crisis (I hope), am almost done with my final semester in graduate school after taking two classes this semester, taught three preps at school, and tried like hell to figure out what I'm doing right and wrong with my life. I read a fair amount (although I've been doing a lot of compulsive re-reading), study, and work. I did some great cooking this summer, with my new basil and mint plants, but I've not done much cooking since school started in August. I've been to visit my mom and my grandmother, although both too briefly. I haven't had time or money to do much other travel I've wondered what the right next career move would be for me and how to make my personal life make me happy and not make others too miserable. I've been sad to miss the Lotus world with all its current excitement and rejuvenation. I've started lots of great posts about articles I've read, movies I've seen, books I've read, thoughts I've had, but I stop before I finish and publish. Perhaps as I come to the end of what has been an incredibly challenging semester I'll find ways to figure out how to get what I want and need, and that clarity will bring more comfort with and inspiration for writing. Still, thanks for the handful of folks who've asked why the blog has been dark and checked to make sure I was still doing okay. Thanks also to the friends I don't see regularly, who drop an email or a hi! on Facebook - it means a lot. For my local friends, who I actually get to see more regularly, well, I wish it were more regularly, and thanks for all the support, fun, and friendship. Look for more from me, soon, I hope. Have a happy, healthy Thanksgiving holiday this week, if you're in the US. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So, it's been way too long since my last post, but I've just been barely keeping my head above water for the last month to six weeks. The last month of school was filled with extremely late nights of grading and planning, plus homework for my grad school. I don't think any of my friends has really seen or heard from me much. Then of course was the trip. Freshmen at our school take a week-long colleges and southern civil rights tour the week after school ends. So, I was gone from Sunday evening to the next Friday night... and the next Saturday morning, I began a week-long yoga teacher training course. Saturday was a clean house, book club morning. In the afternoon, Philip took me to see Spamalot - very funny. So, I'm now a certified yoga teacher. I just need to figure out how it makes sense to use that certification. I'm also on what I consider to be the first actual day of my summer vacation. Of course, I'm not completely done - I still have to finish the yearbook and I have to finish up and turn in a paper on which I received and extension. Time to get the energy level back up. I spent yesterday reading and snoozing and reading again. It's so hard not to use today the same way. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I know you've noticed yet another long silence. So that those of you in the Notes world have an opportunity to giggle... well, I let the user.ID I'd been using to access my hosting provider expire. And it wasn't an ID for which I still had a certifier. So I had to start over. Sigh. Sheesh - you leave the Notes world for one lousy year and you go right back to making rookie mistakes. Ah well. Life goes on. All is well now, thanks to an new install and some cross-certifying from my friendly neighborhood Chris. As you've no doubt guessed, things here have been busy. I've moved into the new house. Well, mostly. I'm in, I'm just not unpacked. I've got the kitchen 99 percent unpacked, and I'm probably 90 percent of the way there on the books (after buying a few new bookshelves at Ikea), but the bedroom and office are still mostly boxes. I'm wearing the same seven or eight pieces of clothing over and over again (with a quick wash in between, thanks to Philip's regular washing schedule). But I'm loving the new house. I've had a few people over - my friend Marcus was in town and broke in the guest bed in its new room, and we've had a few friends and their kids over for dinner. Every time the kids screeched or pounded, I jumped (post-traumatic stress perhaps?) but then I smiled, knowing that nobody lives underneath me and I'm in my very own place. Yay! Sitting in my living room with the sun streaming in and the breezes flowing through is one of the nicest feelings anywhere. This weekend, I tried to bake this cold/bronchitis out of me by sitting on my back deck to work on a paper - again, very lovely. Will be even more lovely when the back deck no longer has the falling-apart furniture left by the previous owners (heavy trash day coming soon). I've got a few posts backlogged to be written - perhaps by listing them here I'll create some automatic accountability for myself:
There are a few others, but those are the ones I've been promising myself to write for weeks. Every time I think I'm getting caught up and can take some more time to blog and get my act together, something happens: taxes are due, a paper is due, grades are due, I get bronchitis, a baby is born, birthday parties to attend, friends come in town... Mostly good things, but plenty to distract me from sitting on the computer. It's very different for me having to wait until evening to blog - when I worked from home, I could do an entry any time. I worked so many hours that it didn't really matter. Blogging while teaching, especially when I don't use their machines or network to blog... well, that's another matter entirely. I'm off now to replicate my blog, work on some homework, and get in a little relaxation before starting all over again tomorrow, while watching a little guilty-pleasure tv (TiVoed Buffy reruns at the moment -- by the way, I'm trying out the new Buffy Season 8. Slightly different format (comic book), but clearly from the oh-so-beloved Joss). Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Okay, so there's been quite a bit of silence around here of late - I'm normally pretty busy but as of about 3 p.m. today, I'm also.... (drum roll please)... a homeowner!  The new place is a cute townhome with two bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, a two-car garage, cute kitchen with breakfast nook, fireplace, and two decks/patios. I'm not moving far from where I live now - close to the center of town with easy access to almost everything.  Now this isn't my first home ownership experience - Brian and I owned houses in Houston and California over the years, but I've been a renter again since the divorce and it took me a while to get the confidence to buy again. This time around, I did all the loan and signing and qualifying and planning on my own. Scary. Luckily, I'll be sharing the moving duties with Philip. :-) There was some house-buying drama, which I'll relate later, but for now I'll just focus on the happy news that I'm now (again) a homeowner and can leave the apartment with the evil downstairs neighbor. Oops, wait, is it after 8 pm and I'm actually typing? Might be too noisy. Shhhh! Can't wait to be in my own place again! Even though it's a townhome, we only share one wall, since we're on the corner, so that should be different than sharing a floor/ceiling. Speaking of floors, bought a new floor yesterday, too. Went and picked out some bamboo for the downstairs and the stairs. The upstairs (where the living room, dining room, and kitchen are) is already wood, but the downstairs was some awful Berber carpet. Ugh. My bare feet will *never* touch that stuff. Anyway, off to drink my can of bubbly and get some sleep - lots of excitement and packing and moving to plan... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
If you've just read today's Houston Chronicle article about eductors who blog, and found your way here, welcome! (Well, actually, welcome to you no matter how you found your way!) I am, in fact, a teacher who blogs. Of course, as the article mentions, I'm also a recent career-changer, so I don't always blog about education. I do sometimes write about lessons that I've planned (ones that have gone spectacularly well or poorly are most likely to appear), but if you nose around a bit you'll also find entries on writing, yoga, running, grad school, books, technology, and, of course, me and my life. This blog all started as part of my previous career - I wanted a place to sell my books, help readers with problems, and chat about technology... That segued into a place where I keep in touch with friends, write things down so I don't forget them, practice my writing craft, tell folks about cool shops, books, movies, technology, or whatnot, and, occasionally, express my political or social views. So, I hope you enjoy your visit here and come back often to chat. Comments are open, so feel free to say hi. I'm off for now to spend a lovely day with my dear friends Warren and Kitty, in visiting from Scotland. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'll post more about this when I know when the story will run, but I'm being interviewed Friday by a Houston Chronicle reporter for a story on teachers who blog. I find the idea interesting - apparently I'm one of the few to do so who blogs under my own name. I'm fortunate to have a principal who was willing to be open-minded about my pre-existing blog. It's become a part of who I am and I didn't want to give it up. On the other hand, I've definitely caught myself editing some of the things I've thought about posting because now I know that my students might find me (not that they'd be interested in googling their boring English teacher) and that I am not in the same industry full-time anymore. Well, I'll post again after I speak to the reporter and see when the story will run. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As I dash off to school to continue working on lesson plans, grading, and a few bits for the house I'm trying to purchase, I stopped for a minute to review the blogs in my RSS feed reader. And I have to admit to getting more than a little bit misty and sad. It's Lotusphere time, of course, and for the first time since... well, 95 or 96, I won't be there. I'll be here. Working in a different industry. Missing the action, the people, the knowledge, the atmosphere. Missing hosting parties, writing about the technology and business. Missing it all. Some days, I ask myself whether I regret my choices - to be here, instead of there. And some days, the answer is yes. Not that I don't feel as though I'm doing something important - for me and for my community - I do. I am. But it's hard. My current consolation is that I'm getting some visitors after the show! Yay! I can't wait to see Warren and Kitty!! I hope it's a great Lotusphere. Know that I'll be looking on through the blogs when I can (blocked at school) and thinking of all the great times and people from my Lotusphere days. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Hi all and thanks for the tag, Rob. I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with five things y'all don't already know about me that I'm interested in sharing with the world (which may now include any of my students who are industrious enough to have found my online home here)... Hmmmmmm.... Well, here goes!
Well, there you go. Not earthshattering, but honest, and perhaps you now know something interesting about me that you didn't know before, although if you've been following this blog it's whole life (since... 2003) you probably knew almost all of those things and most of the others I considered posting. I'm now off to finish the long list of chores to do today... laundry, grocery shopping, grading midyear exams and entering grades, photocopying for my students for tomorrow, making the bed, taking down the Christmas tree and lights, folding and putting away clothes (my nemesis), paying a few bills, writing a few thank-you cards, and who knows what else... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I hope you all have had a happy holiday - whatever holiday you might celebrate around this time of year. I spent the week before Christmas with my mom in Oregon - poor Mom had a stomach virus - but it was still lovely to be with her. I'd visited with my grandparents a week before, so I got a little bit of family fix. One silver lining to my mom being sick is that I got to cuddle up near her and write a bunch of holiday cards. It's been years since I actually got cards written, so it was lovely to do them. I had to send a number of electronic cards for people for whom I don't have a physical address, and I also sent out a bunch of email to get some addresses, which resulted in quite a lot of nice email catching up. My holidays were quiet. Of course, not quite quiet enough for the evil downstairs neighbor. Can you believe she actually called to threaten to call the police on Christmas morning? We had some friends and their 2 1/2 year old daughter over for brunch and presents. Sheesh. So, I'm going house-hunting tomorrow. I suspect I may make a quick decision. I need to not live here anymore. The vacation has sped by. I was supposed to spend today grading midterms, but instead I spent a gloriously lazy day, cleaning out my email, reading some books, and wallowing in being alone. It's funny, I know I'm an extrovert in that I get much energy from being with people, but even I need my solitude once in a while. Today was that day. Philip was off helping a friend move and it was a sunny, cool day. I spent some time in bed reading, then made myself hot cocoa and leftover frittata for brunch, and that's about all. Ahhhhhhh. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Last few weeks have been full of paper-writing, RenFest attending, lesson planning, and general busyness. The last few days? Meals cooked: sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce for pot luck at school, wild rice, shiitake, and sausage (pork, venison, and turkey) stuffing and more cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and lasagne and apple-cherry pie for dinner with friends last night Miles run: back on the running wagon after a long hiatus, Philip and I have gone running three of four days off so far - about 1.7 miles at a time with a new routine: walk slow for 2 minutes, walk briskly for a minute, jog slowly for a minute, jog briskly for a minute, run all out for a minute, then repeat, starting with the brisk walk. Wow - harder than it sounds, especially when you've been a way from it for a while, but it feels good. Books read: Only one so far - I've been so busy cooking. But I'm hoping to get another one in after I finish my lesson plans today. Movies seen: I have to recommend both Stranger than Fiction (I don't really like Will Ferrell in most of his roles, but he did a spectacular job in this, as did Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah, Dustin Hoffman, and Maggie Gyllenhal!), and Casino Royale (much more Sean Connery-like than Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan, plus a return to less-gadgetry mystery solving and action). Parades watched: About 1/3 of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - thanks to Tivo! I love watching parades - my parents and I even went to watch the thanksgiving parade in New York one year. Things for which I'm incredibly thankful - too many to count: My mom and my grandparents; the wonderful dad I had; enough money and time to have my lovely house, be in grad school, and be able to do most things I want without worry; the kids I teach; my sweet boyfriend; all my wonderful friends; and so much more. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Had my friend Margo point out that I hadn't blogged in a bit (of course, she hadn't seen the blogs from the last week or so, but...) I'm trying to get myself back in the habit. I was missing the Lotus community today - I got a review copy of a Lotus book in the mail and a few requests for help from the wide world. It made me miss the days when that was all that occupied my brain. On the other hand, tomorrow we're talking about rites of passage, coming of age, and the seven ages of man using Jacques' seven ages of man dramatic monologue from As You Like It and that sounds pretty fun, too. I do like my Shakespeare! :-) On another note, I'm having an iPod cranky moment. I had my iPod synched with the computer that I sent back to LotusUserGroup.org. I thought I'd backed up all my music, but apparently I missed a folder when doing my copying. Now, in order to synch my iPod with my new computer, it says I have to erase everything that's on the device to synch with a new PC. ARGHG! Since that music isn't on this machine, I'm about to lose 944 songs. Anything I'm missing here that I can do that I'm not realizing? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
My apologies for the long delay. I've been dealing with not only the new career, but also having to buy and put together a new computer. It's amazing how little time you have when you're doing all new things. So, thanks for your patience and thanks for all the kind words you had for me when I announced my new career and job. I'll tell you this for nothing - it's not easy. My kids are - mostly - wonderful. Some days, as you might imagine, they try my patience. I'm always amazed when they can't do something simple, like read directions. On the other hand, they are mostly incredibly nice people who are just going through a tremdendous amount of growth and change. Not easy for anyone, as I know. ;-) I just wish I could reach some of them - those who refuse to do any homework or can't seem to get their lives in any kind of order. So, let's see. I'm in the process of recovering from a serious bout of bronchitis - I was out sick a few days this week and even on Sudafed (which ought to hype you up), I've been sleeping a ton. I'm finally starting to get a little better, although I must admit to spending all morning curled up, reading, drinking tea, and resting. Being a first-year teacher, especially when you work at a school with incredibly high expectations, is exhausting. To be fair, it probably doesn't help that I'm also still in grad school. I had to drop back to taking only one class this semester, just to make time for everything (not that I've actually managed to make time for everything, but it's a valiant effort nonetheless). The class is called Against the Grain: Dissenters and American Society and it's interesting to talk about American history from the angle of the people who worked most to change the way the country worked. First quarter I taught Persepolis and Persepolis 2 (among other things, like narrative writing, the basics of essay writing, lots of vocabulary, fact and opinion, some Langston Hughes poems, and excerpts from Journey from the Land of No) -- and even though we had some doubts about whether the books were the right ones, I think my students enjoyed them. Of course, who can resist graphic memoir (graphic novel style, but true memoir stories)? And it's always interesting to read stories that deal with a similar time of life -- Marjane Satrapi writes about her life from age 7 to her early 20s dealing with the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, and growing up in Iran and in in boarding school in Austria. Satrapi's life includes so many experiences that are part of growing up - I think my students and I could identify, which makes it easier to recognize that Iranians are people just like us in so many ways. I studied the books as part of a paper I wrote during a class on Islam in my grad school program, and it was exciting to share those books with my kids. Of course, I have about 20 minutes to rest on those laurels - I now have to figure out what I'm going to do with my second quarter! Not to mention the huge pile of midterms I have to grade. And the yearbooks I have to help my kids put together. Wow. I'm making myself tired already. Now that I've got my new laptop configured, I'll try to update more often. I can't connect at school, though, so it might not be as often as I'd like. In any case, I hope things are going well for all of you. I'll try to keep posting on my life as a teacher, my grad school classes, my yoga practice, and anything else interesting that comes up. Don't expect too much about Notes and Domino right now, although during the summer or other breaks, I may try to find a few things to write about that are part of the community that I miss so much. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As many of you know, I have been thinking about a career change since my divorce, since my move back from California, since starting graduate school, and e-Pro Magazine went away, but I was taking my time to figure out what the best move might be and enjoying life and working with LotusUserGroup.org and the folks there. But, I still wanted and was searching for a way to give back to my local community the same way I've been giving to the Lotus community all these years. Well, an opportunity came my way and so I've taken it! You're now looking at (figuratively, of course) the newest English teacher at KIPP Houston High School. We serve the most traditionally underserved, poorest students and communities in Houston. This is the 3rd year of the high school's existence, although the KIPP middle schools have been around (and succeeding wildly) for the past 12ish years. KIPP is now all over the country and beginning to branch out into elementary schools and high schools, of which KHHS was the first! Wow! It's been a bit of a whirlwind -- I went for an interview, got offered the job, and started it within a week, starting around the 30th of June. I've been working two jobs for most of July, but our kids are back fulltime starting tomorrow, so I really need to focus. I spent last week at an orientation sleep-away camp at Houston Baptist University, with all the freshmen, sophomores, and faculty staying in dorms, doing activities, and getting to know each other. It meant that I'm starting school knowing most of my students' names and a little bit about who they can be as people (they're amazing, by the way, and I'm not just saying that because I expect some of them to find this someday -- what nice people they are!) I'm sure it goes without saying, but I'm going to miss the Lotus community so much. I can't quite give up being Notesgirl -- it's been a great ride. Thank you for being part of my life and letting me be part of yours. Of course, I'll still be lurking around. I've had at least one request to come spend a weekend in Florida in January, which I might try to do... (And I hope the Elsmores are still planning to visit Houston while they're in the US! My house is still open and I'm looking forward to a visit!!) Notesgirl.com will stay online, and you'll always (I hope) be able to find me here. Of course, now you'll hear about novels, writing, yoga, and school... Oh wait, you were getting used to hearing a lot about that anyway with my grad school activities over the last year! (In case you were worried, I'm still in grad school - I will NOT quit! I'm going to be taking one class this semester while I see how it goes!) I'll still be lurking around the Lotus-related blogs, hoping to keep in touch with you all - and I miss you already, so please stay in touch with me, too! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Almost a month of silence and you're all wondering what's going on Libby-land! Well, I'm in the midst of some big changes and news going on, but I'm not quite able to talk about all the things that are going on yet. All in good time. For now, let's just say that I'm busier than I've been in years, happy, healthy, and plowing on. I am still doing yoga - trying to get to a new studio (closer to the house) 2-3 times per week (still with my favorite teacher, Kay). An article from Yoga Journal's newsletter that I noticed today reminds me of one reason why that's such a good idea for me: Although most asthmatics are unaware of it, they tend to chronically breathe at a rate two to three times faster than normal. Paradoxically, instead of providing more oxygen, over-breathing actually robs the body of it. Asthmatics do take in more oxygen when they over-breathe; but, more importantly, they also breathe out too much carbon dioxide. This expulsion leads the blood to stop releasing oxygen to the cells and creates the classic symptoms of an asthma attack. I can remember the fear I used to feel about my breath - and still do when I get out of breath or start wheezing or feel as though I can't take a full breath. Yoga really has helped me breathe more slowly and mindfully - I use breathing to control stress, pain, and nausea, now, with a fair amount of success. Anyway, I hope to be able to start posting more regularly again, but it's hard to post when there are things I can't talk about! Hope you're all doing well out there!
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I can't believe you guys weren't all much more "fibby" considering how haiku-y you have been in the past. But, ok. So, Jonvon posted an interview meme a while ago and I said I was game, so here are my answers to Jonvon's questions: 1. How many books have you written and had published? What were they called? Why did you start writing them? (Sorry I don't know if there was one or more than one.) On my own, I've got three publishing (book) credits as author, and a few more as technical editor or co-author. The books are all listed here, although I'm currently working on a new book that's not listed. Why did I start writing? A friend, Mike, who is the author of a best-selling A+ certification book suggested my name to his then-editor, Judy Brief (now Judy Bass). I'd always wanted to write a book, so it was a moment of perfect opportunity. 2. What is your area of focus with your masters degree studies? I'm in a Master of Liberal Studies program at Rice University. The program is interdisciplinary -- I'm mixing classes between science, social science, and humanities, although I plan to focus in the humanities. 3. How did you get into yoga? I actually have to give my ex full credit for talking me into my first yoga classes. But then when we moved to San Diego, I started taking yoga on the beach and got addicted to how it makes me feel. 4. Why are you drawn to haiku? Haiku requires so much attention to word choice that it really focuses what you're trying to say. In addition, although most of us only pay attention to the top layer of a haiku (it's syllables), there's really so much more to the form, including techniques like association, contrast, association, riddle, etc. Part of what I like is the puzzle -- the same reason I like the Fib -- but part of what I like is the complexity stuffed into such a small form. 5. What countries have you been to? Which one was your favorite? Wow -- good question. I've been keeping a list of countries, so here it is:
As for my favorite... that's a tough one. I think Ireland is very high on the list -- and I'll be going there again this summer to confirm it. :-) 6. If you had to pick one author to take with you to an island, who would it be? (The book(s) of course, not the actual author. ;-) Oooh, yet another toughie, Jonvon. There are so many writers whose works I can read, and read, and read, and read. I'd be torn between JRR Tolkein, Robrt Heinlein, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen, I think. You know the drill, I hope -- if you want me to interview you, too, just post a comment. I'll give you some questions, which you'll then answer on your blog/LJ and give others the chance to be interviewed as well. If you don't have a blog, you can answer in the comments, too, of course. :-) Thanks, Jonvon, and sorry for the slow response. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'm off for a few days to help my friend Margo (Philip's sister-in-law) drive from Baltimore to Houston as she moves back here. So, expect some radio silence as we try to do the trip in as few days as possible. I've been thinking about Fibs since my post the other day, so here's one for the road (remember, the format is 0-1-1-2-3-5-8...) Drive Through. Without a real stop. Not to see the world, But to help a friend to come home. Okay, boring? Here's another. Work. School. Yoga. I'm breathing, Hoping to finish With my sanity and a smile. Here's hoping you'll leave some for me while I'm gone... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Swiped from various friends around the blog/LJ world: TELL ME ABOUT YOU 1. name: 2. birthday: 3. place of residence: 4. what makes you happy: 5. what are you listening to now/have listened to last: 6. do you read my blog/lj: 7. if you do, what is particularly good/bad about it: 8. an interesting fact about you: 9. celebrity you want to *wink wink nudge nudge*: 10. favorite place to be: 11. favorite lyric/line from film: 12. best time of the year: 13. best album of 2005: 14. where would you take me/where would you like me to take you on a date/outing: RECOMMEND 1. a film: 2. a book: 3. a band, a song and an album: PLUS 1. one thing you like about me: 2. two things you like about yourself: 3. put this in your blog so i can tell you what i think of you Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, let's see...
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First entry on Notesgirl.com in its current incarnation (meaning, as a blog): Feb 26, 2003 Giant life-changing events that have happened since then: Too many to count, but let's try this way of counting: moves (3), books written (1), divorce/major new relationship (1/1), major surgery (1), grad school started (1), significant job change/layoff/new job (2/1/1), half-marathons run (2), new friends made (tons!)... So, around 14+ pretty big events in a fairly short period of time... Thanks so much for those of you who've stuck with me, personally and as readers, through all of it. I'm stronger and happier because of you. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Thought Dvorak's column on why academia isn't looking at "phenomena" like MySpace.com or LiveJournal is pretty interesting. Heck, we're computer folks and we found at Lotusphere that a lot of folks don't know about even "mainstream" blogs or blogging. Since the appearance of the desktop computer, very little academic analysis has been done on it and how people use it. Yes, there are a ton of surveys done to show that people use computers for e-mail and entertainment. These are usually done on behalf of advertisers looking for an edge. They are not helping us understand the overnight successes of experimental mechanisms. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
In two weeks, like a gadfly who rails against City Hall for years, only to wake up and find himself elected mayor, Mr. Stewart will stand where Mr. Martin was that night, armed with punch lines drafted in consultation with Mr. Karlin and six other "Daily Show" writers, among others. I haven't watched the Oscars in years, but if the Academy hoped to draw in some younger and less-likely-to-watch viewers this year with the choice of Jon Stewart as the host, well, it worked for me -- my popcorn and I will be cuddled up with the boyfriend at a friend's Oscar's get-together. Here's what the producer had to say about why they chose Stewart: Mr. Cates said he selected Mr. Stewart, 43, in consultation with the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Asked to synthesize Mr. Stewart's appeal, Mr. Cates, 71, said, "He's hip, he's with-it, he's 'today.' " Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
There's a reader editorial in today's NYTimes that suggests that (based on research) we better absorb food that we enjoy, assuming it has nutritive value in the first place. So perhaps it's a good suggestion to eat healthy foods, but flavorful, interesting, enjoyable healthy foods. And that one of the keywords in that sentence should be "enjoy." The health writer Lawrence Lindner tells of a committee that gathered to hammer out the wording of the United States Dietary Guidelines in 1995. One committee member suggested that the first guideline read "Enjoy a variety of foods" — language that was rejected as "too hedonistic." (In the end, Mr. Lindner wrote, the committee "opted for the apparently less giddy 'Eat a variety of foods.' ") So let's vow to enjoy our food, not wolf it down in the car with a heaping order of guilt. Call it Slow Food, conscious eating, or eating the French way, the point's the same: eating well and with pleasure is more than hedonism — it's good nutritional policy and practice. Bon appétit! from Go With Your Gut by Harriet Brown, in Feb. 20, 2006 New York Times Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I hate to even admit that I did this, but the results aren't too embarrassing, so I guess I'll come clean. Via Rob, I happened to see a link to egosurf your name. I egosurfed Notesgirl and got approximately 12000 ego points. Well, then. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
The Johari window is going around the blog world right now -- thought it was kind of interesting... Wanna participate -- tell what you think? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Updated the template. Probably not much to see right now, but soon... soon... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I've been home since Friday afternoon, but I've been completely out of touch. I've not been quite this sick in a long time (despite having been quite ill for a month between Thanksgiving and Christmas). Not only the general creeping crud, but my eyesight is foggy, my lower gastro-intestinal tract isn't pleased with me, and I've got the mother of all headaches. My apologies to anyone I was distracted around at LS after Tuesday morning -- this started at lunch on Tuesday. Also any apologies to anyone who might've caught this from me. I don't think I was the originator, but I'm sure I shared. Sorry! More thoughts on the show, all the great demos and announcements, and the people as soon as I am a tiny bit caught up with work and homework and able to breathe and see clearly on a consistent basis. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
While my previous two posts were focused on my dad, I wouldn't be here (physically, emotionally, intellectually) without my mom. I guess it's a common failing to take for granted those people who are most important to us, but since I've just reminded us all not to take anyone we love for granted... Thank you, Mom, for teaching me how to treat people as people, for supporting everything I've ever tried to do, for being excited for me for every happy thing and consoling for every sad thing, for giving me an intellectual curiosity and indulging it with me. Thank you for being forgiving when I swrew up and for always being the one person who I can count on to love me and support me in the face of, well, anything. I remember all the times you were there with orange slices and Tiger's Milk bars for me and the whole swim team; I remember all the fun summer "outings" we went on to the ship channel and Brenham and etc when you were home with me in the summers; I remember all the times I asked you a question and you took it so seriously -- even if I didn't want the "essay answer" -- you thought about what I asked. You taught me to eat spoonfuls of peanut butter and cereal or pancakes at any time of the day or night (extra useful when I got to college), even while you cooked healthy meals for dinner (thank you for teaching me to like brocolli and spinach!); you made me honor my committments even when I wanted to flake out; you welcomed all of my friends to our house and made us all feel comfortable; you heard every wrong note I ever played on the piano and loved me anyway. You made sure my elementary school library didn't lose Where the Wild Things Are, took me to see my first opera (The Magic Flute) and helped me to keep my enthusiasm and openness, even when I wanted to be cranky and cynical. Thank you for never telling me I wasn't allowed to read a book, even if was a bit out of my reach at a particular time. Thank you for sharing your New York Times and so many last bites of things, even though that's the thing you hate worst! You left your whole life behind and came to take care of Daddy (and me) when he got sick. I'll never forget how much that taught me about the person I wanted to be and how grateful we both were. Thank you for always telling me the truth, even if I didn't want to hear it or disagreed or didn't take it well -- it means that there's nobody in my life I trust more than you. I love you, Mommy! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It's funny, sometimes when you work from home and don't see folks all the time, you forget just how many caring, good friends are out there supporting you. You all said very heartwarming things yesterday and I appreciate it. Writing the entry made me think happy thoughts about my wonderful daddy. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I woke up this morning with a huge painful punch to the gut. One of the cats decided to use me as a jumping off point to get to the top of the headboard. But when I woke the rest of the way up and realized what day it is-- the 15th anniversary of my dad's passing -- the symbolic punch to the gut happened. My dad died January 5, 1991, from complications of AIDS and I've missed him every day since then. Please take a moment to tell your family -- parents, children, grandparents, family of choice (aka friends) -- that you love them, that you forgive them for anything you were mad about, that you hope they forgive you for anything you've done to them, and that they are important to you. Today, instead of just mourning, I'm working on remembering all the happy things, like the time he tried to throw me a surprise party for my 16th birthday. I had been out of town in California, and he'd planned the party with my best friend Julieana's mom, Paula. He bought a bunch of fajita meat for the party, and left it in our fridge. When I went to get breakfast, I had to ask... Dad, what's with the meat? Um, it was on sale, honey. Okaaayyy... Of course, when I saw his car drive past a while later with a bunch of balloons, I put two and two together... He used to have plant sales, when we lived in New York, where he'd sell clippings that he'd rooted or plants that he'd nursed to beauty, to make room for new plants. He designed his gardens on graph paper. He liked the Bee Gees, Flash Gordon, and Stephen King books. I'm grateful for all the times he made fried macaroni for dinner and cuddled up with me on the couch. He taught me to put ice cream on waffles, he ate a half of a grapefruit and a bowl of cheerios for breakfast, he ironed his jeans, he hated mayonnaise, he loved his garden, he could build or make anything, from the drapes to a patio, and he loved our family -- me and mommy. To all of you -- my family, my friends, my colleagues -- Thank you for being part of my life; you're important to me. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Anyone who celebrates it had a lovely, healthy, happy, joyful Christmas. Or, a lovely, healthy, happy, joyful first few nights of Hannukah. Or Kwaanza. Or any other holiday you might be celebrating around this time of year. Otherwise, I hope you just had a nice weekend that maybe had an extra day off attached. I've been spending time with my friends, and Philip's family, and missing my own family very much. Cooking a foofy, involved Christmas breakfast for Philip and some friends of ours went really well -- good food, good friends. For those who are curious, the menu included a veggie frittata (brocolli, red pepper, onion, little red potatoes, and zucchini), chocolate waffles, stollen (german christmas bread), panettone (itialian christmas bread), and some swedish bread that another friend made, and bacon, plus mimosas, egg nog coffee, and hot chocolate. Woof. Yummmmmmmy. If anyone wants the fritatta recipe, let me know. It's easy and makes a great brunch (and good leftovers). Since then, saw a movie, went bowling (Philip's 2 1/2 year old nephew loves to bowl -- at least the first 4-5 frames -- so we went. I, in case you're curious, can't bowl worth a damn, but it's not really about that when you're bowling with a 2 year old.), ate, worked... Finally went back to yoga for the first time in a month -- I'm so thankful that my cold is finally drying up and I can breathe again. Tea -- as in high tea with finger sandwiches and hats -- and sushi (not together!) await me today, along with more work Oh, and one quick meme, via Making Light: Four jobs you’ve had in your life: Waitress, Magazine Editor, Swimming teacher, computer book author Four movies you could watch over and over: Sliding Doors(Gwynneth Paltrow and the lovely voice of John Hannah), Love Actually, Interstate 60 (if you haven't seen it -- it's kooky and odd and brilliant), and Bull Durham Four places you’ve lived: New York, Houston, San Diego (Carlsbad), and Shekou, China Four TV shows you love to watch: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, House, MASH, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Four places you’ve been on vacation: Bermuda, Ireland, Whistler, and Anguilla Four websites you visit daily: edbrill.com, cnn.com, lotususergroup.org, and neilgaiman.com Four of your favorite foods: Sushi, Lasagne, Peanut Butter, and Brocolli Four places you’d rather be: Anguilla, New York, Paris, Whistler Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Home from Portland on Wednesday -- missing mom and had a good time there, but also glad to be home. Felt pretty sick/exhausted all the rest of last week, but trying to crawl out of it today. Weekend was good -- Friday night we tried to go see PDQ Bach at Rice, but tickets were sold out (oversold out, actually), so had dinner at the Black Lab with Philip and David and their mom. Saturday was a sleepy/reading kind of day, but I did finish unpacking and bake some chocolate-chip/ginger/cranberry biscotti (adapted from a November 98 Cooking Light recipe) that I think turned out fairly well. Saturday night was a party at Cindy and Dave's for Lights in the Heights -- lovely lights, although I stopped at a friend's house along the route and never got any further, so I'm hoping to drive/walk the light route again sometime before Christmas. Sunday was some cleaning and some kitty decorating (yes, we used the holiday red and green) and buying a Christmas tree. Now hard at work on newsletter stuff, Lotusphere stuff, etc. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Via I Speak of Dreams blog: According to American Snapshot, a majority of Americans matches the following criteria: (strike-through indicates I don't match) • Eats peanut butter at least once a week
(my cholesterol doc says I shouldn't, but I just love PB!) How about you? Americans? Are you average? Non-Americans -- just how American are you? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Thanks for all the support re. last week's... discussions! I've been under the weather since last Wednesday but am starting (hopefully) to recover (slowly), so things have been a bit quiet around here. Had a nice Thanksgiving - made some Wild-Rice/Sausage dressing and some Apple-Cherry Pie to share with my boyfriend and his family, where I spent the holiday. And at the end of this week.... I get to go visit my Mommy! Crossing my fingers that I'm not sick when I get ready to fly! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Than to write anything when I'm feeling hurt and angry. Not quite enough breathing before the typing. Ok, so let's try this on for size. Yes, I've got opinions. About baseball. About books. About movies and plays. About school. About life. About, heaven forbid, Lotus software. And yes, about politics. And most of them, politically speaking, lean toward the left. And when something important is happening, such as the Prop 2 vote in Houston's latest election, I've got to say something -- hope that each little drop in the bucket makes a difference in who knows and thinks about the issue and about who gets out to vote. I'm happy if I also influence them to come to what I think the correct decision is, but I'd much rather they just participate -- whatever they vote. And yes, the minute I open myself up by saying something or linking to something that others will take issue with, I should have a thicker skin and expect to have people get vitriolic at me in defense of their beliefs. Here's the way I look at it. When I go to a baseball game, I cheer as hard and as loud for my team as I can, while not saying anything bad, jeering, about the other team. I try to do the same thing about politics -- I try to cheer as loud and clearly as can to champion the causes I believe in, without necessarily resorting to saying specifically angry things about the other side. Of course, like anyone else, I sometimes don't stick as closely as I should to that. So. DavidV: Sorry if I was hasty in my replies and categorized you in an unfair way - I was trying to say that the backup and documentation for the comments you made were available only in, as far as I could see, articles/sites that were not at all shy about their political beliefs - which to me means it is opinion and not news. I was feeling hurt that instead of, in my view, calmly saying -- Hey, LIbby, I disagree with your views and think you should look into some of the organizations you support more deeply and here's a link or two -- you chose, I felt, to be a little less kind in your commentary. Perhaps that was just my thin skin. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome at my site and welcome to comment -- most of your commentary I find interesting. I'd prefer, of course, if you made comments that were a bit easier to digest, but this is a public site and public comments are to be expected. To the other folks who commented more privately on me, my beliefs, and my work: Apologies if I responded before calming down. You have the right to your opinions. I just could wish that you provided your opinion in a way that was less about attacking and more about constructively working toward something. Even when you don't intend to attack, communicating effectively has all to do with how the other person hears/reads what you say. Thanks, of course, to those who supported me or my beliefs/comments. I'm sure there's more to say on this topic, but for now -- off to edit. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've gotten, in the past few weeks, quite a few angry e-mails, comments, etc., either on my political beliefs, religious beliefs, or the work I've done with LotusUserGroup.org. Let me say first that I'm sorry to anyone I've angered or offended -- that isn't my goal. On the other hand, if my beliefs here at this site offend you -- please feel free not to read. I'm not asking you to leave, of course, merely suggesting that you might want to have the right expectations about what kinds of things I'm likely to post. I am intending to speak my mind, engage the world around me, and be a thinking, living person. This is a personal site and my comments are completely my own. Hopefully, you're doing the same thing. But let's talk for a moment about compassion and the fable of the wind and the sun. Yelling at me is unlikely to get me to pay positive attention to what you have to say. On the other hand, trying to see things from other people's perspective while not necessarily changing your mind promotes a more effective way of communicating. I got so angry, and quite frankly HURT, after reading some of these that I've had to do some deep yogic breathing and relaxation exercises. I'm feeling a bit better now. I've been doing some meditation, specifically Love Meditation (think love as in compassion more than love "eros") -- and it helps. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Since someone recently got here on a Google search for Wicked, I thought I'd say a few words about the musical. A group of us saw it this weekend -- our book club had read it and decided to follow that up with seeing it! I thought the musical was incredibly well done. I don't want to give away any plot points, but suffice to say that they did "disney-fy" it -- that is, many of the deaths that occur in the book do not, in fact, occur in the musical. Of course, there were also some characters removed to make the quite long book fit into the time allotted. Both book and musical make a perfect complement to the original Oz -- The actors and actresses in touring company are wonderful. I thought Glinda was bubbly and Elphaba was earnest... Fiyero was conflicted and Madame Morrible was... horrible! :-) (by the way, Madame Morrible is played by Carol Kane, who some of you might remember... "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife... And after what you just said, I'm not even sure I want to be that anymore..." Yep -- she was in Princess Bride!) The songs were appropriate (that is, didn't seem gratuitous -- at least not too much) and toe-tappingly intriguing. I would definitely suggest both reading the book and seeing the musical! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Handstands in yoga for the past two days. Yesterday afternoon, one handstand, kicking up with the right leg. Stayed up for 2 minutes or so, I'd guess. Nice graceful dismount. This morning... 2 handstands, kicking up from each leg. I'm very pleased and excited about this. Handstands are partially about strength and balance, for me, but they're mostly about confidence and guts. And providing a new perspective on things. A new perspective is always good -- be inspired to think about something in a new way. In other news... Prop 2 passed. Sadness. The Mom is going to college to become an ESL instructor -- reinventing herself -- YAAAAAAAY for Mommy! I'm very proud. And I'm going to visit the Mom for an early Christmas/late Thanksgiving. Pride and Prejudice opens today. It has an uphill battle with me in some ways because I like the 1995 Colin Firth version so much, but... I also just like Jane Austen, so I'm hoping to like this interpretation, too. Planning to see it tonight with Philip and Aaron and Ange... In general, I tend to like literary movies... as long as I can remember that they are a different, additional interpretation of a thing I love -- not replacing the thing (book) I love. It's like NSF and DB2 -- you're not required to use it (DB2), you can always go back to NSF... or use both together... But now you have a choice! (That's just a metaphor as a sop to the Notes geeks here who're wondering if I'm ever going to talk about Lotus-related stuff again...) In Houston? Like Belly Dancing? Support Eclectic Belly Dance at Helios on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. I won't be there this month, as I've got a paper to finish, but Philip will be there helping out, as usual. Happy Birthday to my friend Julie (11th) and happy anniversary to my friends Julieana and Mike (8th)... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'm a firm believer in voting -- we live in a country that allows us a voice in our government -- we'd better take advantage of said voice to ensure that we always have it! I'm particularly hoping that folks who live in Texas will get out to vote tomorrow (I voted early!) because there are a passel (9) of constitutional amendments, one of which has me really concerned... From MoveOn.org: Tomorrow is Election Day and I'm writing to tell you about something on the ballot I particularly care about. I plan to vote No on Prop. 2, which would ban marriage between people of the same sex but would also ban the state from recognizing "any legal status identical or similar to marriage," such as civil unions or domestic partner benefits. Prop. 2 would provide that marriage in Texas is solely the union of a man and woman, and that the state and its political subdivisions could not create or recognize any legal status identical to or similar to marriage. "By including the language that refers to 'legal status identical or similar to marriage,' the reach of Proposition 2 can be expanded and applied to civil unions, domestic partnerships, and common-law marriages. According to 'No Nonsense in November' organizers, nearly 90 Texas-based Fortune 500 companies now offer some type of benefits to domestic partners. In addition, the City of Dallas provides health insurance to same-sex partners. If the amendment passes, these benefits could be lost or limited, regardless of whether an unmarried couple in a domestic partnership is same-sex or not." 7 "This proposition is solely a hate measure: same sex marriage is already illegal in Texas. Plus, the proposal would amend the Bill of Rights in a way that DENIES rights. The implications of this amendment also go far beyond same sex marriage (the language of the bill makes it apply to common law marriage, contracts, etc.). Please vote NO on Prop. 2."—MoveOn member Lynnie Henderson, Dallas, TX Support the No Nonsense in November campaign:
http://www.nononsenseinnovember.com/
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[small update with some photo links...] Sorry for the slowness in posting or sending things that I've promised -- I owe Jess some pictures of me as Kaylee for Halloween, so we can be Kaylee-twins; I've promised various pictures of my half-marathon -- my friend Chris took some that you can see at his Flickr site; I've taken pictures of Philip's nephew Rhys that I've promised to send to Rhys's Mommy... I'm just a bit behind. I'm blaming it on the lovely fall weather (although it poured just for the trick-or-treat time last night), the busy grad school reading/writing schedule -- it's been 15 years since I last had to read Plato's Republic, after all, the recovery period from a short trip (and the half-marathon for that matter), and still trying to keep up with normal work and life things. Whew! No wonder I'm behind... :-) Anyway, had a lovely dinner party over the weekend -- made some butternut squash soup, which turned out a bit spicier and less liquid than it has in the past, but was still quite good, and made some smashed potatoes and pumpkin (that one needs some tweaking), and made a cherry/pear/apple pie that was warm and gooey and good. Drank some very good sparkling wine (Scharffenberger Brut Sparkling) from Scharffenberger Cellars and some Zinfandel from the Seghesio Vinyards -- both of which I think deserve a taste, and ate some levely chicken coq a vin! Good food, good wine, good conversation. Off to download pictures and work and etc... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Between last week and this week, I've had a few successes that I've been trying to breathe long enough to enjoy, so I thought I'd crow about them here. Now that I've got a slower moment, I just have to share! So, last week, the first LotusUserGroup.org Virtual User Group meeting happened and went really well! We had more than 1600 people register and more than 1050 attend the event. You can still view the recorded event, by the way! Then, I taught a new dance class for the first time, and it went well. Then, I got an A on my first grad school paper, from a challenging writing professor. Sunday, my Astros made it to the post-season by beating the Cubbies, and I was there to watch. This week, LotusUserGroup.org mailed out two new newsletters -- the Developer Tips newsletter and Clippings! Sheesh! What a week! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, in the grand scheme of things, we really dodged that bullet. Power flickered on and off Friday night and Saturday, but the cable went down on Friday night and stayed that way. I'm at a coffee shop (that has very limited food) to get WiFi access. The storm, as you probably know by now, hit the TX/LA border, which is far enough to our east that we in Houston were mostly missed. That said, many folks in the area were without power (and some still are). In our neighborhood, there were a fair number of lines of one kind or another down, making driving/walking the neighborhood a bit nervewracking. It's a good thing that Philip parked his car someplace different than normal, as an oak tree in the front fell mostly into that area. There's still very little gasoline, and not too much food, in the Houston area -- restaurants are serving up what they have and grocery stores are starting to reopen and restock as they can. As for us, well, we're all fine here thanks. Some wind and rain, much of which I slept through on Friday night to Saturday morning. And now we're off into heat advisory land until who knows when. :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
CenterPoint energy is reporting that over 95,000 customers have lost power. I was one of them, briefly. So, from now forward, there's no telling wehther we'll have power, which means internet access. The rain is steady now. The wind has picked up a bit. A few hours ago, I took some pictures of a sunset that started out grey, went to solid orangey-gold, and then purple, before going to black. Beautiful. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
The rain has started. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Houston has rolled up the sidewalks, boarded up its windows, and closed shop for the duration. There is no gas to be had in most of central Houston. The grocery stores, gas stations, and other stores and restaurants are mostly closed up. The streets are empty, locally, despite the incredible traffic jams moving out of Houston. My downstairs neighbor drove 13 hours, got tired of the traffic, and came home in less than 45 minutes. My other neighbors are all gone; we're watching some of the cats and taped up some of their windows. My closest friends have mostly headed for the hills. A few are hunkering down, as we are, prepared with food, water, gatorade, and candles to wait and watch. The air is very dry and starting to become windy, with a strange look and feel to the air and sky, but only gentle clouds and no rain as yet. The latest report from khou.com makes it look like the winds and rain will start mid-afternoon and continue for 16-18 hours. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
We finally found gas for Philip's truck and David's car last night around midnight. We took a break from taping windows and bringing in plants and pulling stuff out of my storage unit and went to see a movie (the theater was completely empty). On the way home, we went to about 10 gas stations before finding two (at Hwy 59 and Kirby) that had gas. The lines were fairly long, so I won't vouch for how long that lasted. Yesterday, the phone circuits were very busy. It took me three hours to get through to my friend Cindy after our call dropped. The land lines are a bit better today, but the cell circuits are still mostly busy. If you try to get me and can't -- this is probably why, at least until after the hurricane lands. The most recent updates show the traffic snarled all over Houston, although they're finally opening contraflow on I-45 for over 100 miles north of Houston towards Dallas -- all the southbound lanes will be closed so that northbound traffic can flow on all eight lanes. They hope to open this on hwy 290 and I-10 also, at least to some extent. The hurricane itself has fluctuated a bit -- from 175 mph winds down to 165 mph winds (all still well within category 5 strength mind you) and the wind and rains are expected to start here tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. We should see tropic storm force winds (39 mph and above) and rain ahead of the actual hurricane -- noon Friday onward. Then hurricane force winds by later Friday evening. Signing off now for a while to help clean/clear/tighten/protect... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, Hurricane Rita is now a category 5 hurricane and coming straight for Texas. They still don't know if it will come right into Galveston, or if it will go more towards Matagorda. Either way, Houston is 75 miles inland, but even with that, they're saying most of Texas will experience hurricane or tropical storm -force winds, lots of rain, and likelihood of many tornadoes. Currently, landfall is expected sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Schools and offices are mostly all closed between now and Monday, and circuits are mostly busy on the phones. Lines at gas stations are out the lots, and many of the stations only have the most expensive gas. Grocery stores are all out of batteries and water, and the freeways are packed solid -- I-45 (the main evacuation route from Galveston) is packed from Galveston to the Woodlands, a distance of probably 125 miles. Many people who aren't even in the "Must Evacuate" areas are doing so -- flying away if they can, driving if they can't. For now, we're staying put. I'm on the second floor, and we're not in one of the voluntary evacuation areas, even though they are now doing some voluntary evacuations in Houston. But we're still keeping an eye on things, taping up the windows, laying in a small store of food, water, and candles, and hoping to be spared the worst. More updates as they come. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Wow. If you don't keep on top of this blogging thing, a week goes by and you don't even notice. Sheesh. Well, last week, I put all my writing energy into my first paper for grad school. Of course, 5 minutes after I turned it in, I realized how many things I still want to fix in it, but that's the way these things go. You work on it as much and as well as you can, and when you have to turn it in, you do. The paper, discusses the importance of book 9 of the Iliad, based on repetitions and echoes of themes, actions, and speeches. :-) Fun stuff, baby, let me tell you. I was considering posting the paper, so that I create an archive for myself, but I'm still pondering whether that's a good idea.... **** My friend Chris would like to point out that today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. If you need help, try the How-To or English-to-Pirate Translators. *** If you're a book and/or library geek, the comic strip Unshelved is really worth your time. Thanks, Shelly, for the link. *** Weekend went by in a blur: birthday dinner for a friend on Friday night; Graduate School writing seminar on Saturday morning; helping boyfriend's brother move on Saturday afternoon, evening, and night; and babysitting for and hanging out with some friends on Sunday. Oy! Not even a run this weekend -- too darn worn out. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Some friends on LiveJournal are doing this right now and since I'm waaaayyyy too tired to think of anything real to say, I decided to snag this. You try it. The instructions are: Go to musicoutfitters.com, and do a search on the most popular 100 songs from the year you graduated high school. (You can do this by searching on the year you graduated). Bold the ones you actually like. (Understand that the word "like" in this case means, at the very least, "wouldn't immediately change the radio station from.") Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite. And Strikethru the ones you loathe. Italicizethe ones you consider to be guilty pleasures. 1. Look Away, Chicago 2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown 3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison 4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul 5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson 6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul 7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler (I actually sang this one in high school. Must've been the senior talent show or something like that...) 8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli 9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power 10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker 11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx 12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl 13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson 14. Don't Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan 15. Heaven, Warrant 16. Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli 17. The Look, Roxette 18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals 19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown 20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins 21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli 22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette 23. I'll Be There For You, Bon Jovi 24. If You Don't Know Me By Now, Simply Red 25. Like A Prayer, Madonna 26. I'll Be Loving You (Forever), New Kids On The Block 27. How Can I Fall?, Breathe 28. Baby Don't Forget My Number, Milli Vanilli 29. Toy Solider, Martika 30. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul 31. The Living Years, Mike and the Mechanics 32. Eternal Flame, The Bangles 33. Wild Thing, Tone Loc 34. When I See You Smile, Bad English 35. If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher 36. Buffalo Stance, Neneh Cherry 37. When I'm With You, Sheriff 38. Don't Rush Me, Taylor Dayne 39. Born To Be My Baby, Bon Jovi 40. Good Thing, Fine Young Cannibals 41. The Lover In Me, Sheena Easton 42. Bust A Move, Young M.C. 43. Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White 44. Batdance, Prince 45. Rock On, Michael Damian 46. Real Lov, Jody Watley 47. Love Shack, B-52's 48. Every Little Step, Bobby Brown 49. Hangin' Tough, New Kids On The Block 50. My Heart Can't Tell You No, Rod Stewart 51. So Alive, Love and Rockets 52. You Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block 53. Armageddon It, Def Leppard 54. Satisfied, Richard Marx 55. Express Yourself, Madonna 56. I Like It, Dino 57. Soldier Of Love, Donny Osmond 58. Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears 59. Cherish, Madonna 60. When The Children Cry, White Lion 61. 18 And Life, Skid Row 62. I Don't Want Your Love, Duran Duran 63. Second Chances, .38 Special 64. The Way You Love Me, Karyn White 65. Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc 66. In Your Room, Bangles 67. Miss You Like Crazy, Natalie Cole 68. Love Song, Cure 69. Secret Rendesvous, Karyn White 70. Angel Eyes, Jeff Healey Band 71. Patience, Guns N' Roses 72. Walk On Water, Eddie Money 73. Cover Girl, New Kids On The Block 74. Welcome To The Jungle, Guns N' Roses 75. Shower Me With Your Love, Surface 76. Stand, R.E.M. 77. Close My Eyes Forever, Lita Ford 78. All This Time, Tiffany 79. After All, Cher and Peter Cetera 80. Roni, Bobby Brown 81. Love In An Elevator, Aerosmith 82. Lay Your Hands On Me, Bon Jovi 83. This Promise, When In Rome 84. What I Am, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians 85. I Remember Holding You, Boys Club 86. Paradise City, Guns N' Roses 87. I wanna Have Some Fun, Samantha Fox 88. She Wants To Dance With Me, Rick Astley 89. Dreamin', Vanessa Williams 90. It's No Crime, Babyface 91. Poison, Alice Cooper 92. This Time I Know It's For Real, Donna Summer 93. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson 94. Heaven Help Me, Deon Estus 95. Rock Wit'cha, Bobby Brown 96. Thinking Of You, Sa-fire 97. What You Don't Know, Expose 98. Surrender To Me, Ann Wilson and Robin Zander 99. The End Of The Innocence, Don Henley 100. Keep On Movin', Soul II Soul Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Many thanks to my favorite blogjackers and all of you for making yet another birthday a good place. I'm feeling old, but not too old. The day itself was busy and harried, but ended with a lovely picnic and a showing of Hamlet at the Houston Shakespeare Festival -- just right. Look for a review of the Lotus User Group of Houston meeting from that day at that site -- http://www.lughouston.org. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Do I need to say more here? Where are the comments saying Happy Birthday to Libby? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Pretty good weekend, all in all. Took some time on Friday to have a girlie day with my friend Angelique and her baby before Ange goes back to teaching this week. We did a little shopping, a little lunching, and a little Pride and Prejudice movie marathon (the A&E version) watching. We then, along with a group of friends, went to see As You Like It at the Houston Shakespeare Festival. Since we just watched Stage Beauty, the typical Shakespeare masquerading-of-gender took on an interesting angle. Not that I didn't know that men played all the parts, but seeing how some of them worked and a thinking about the complications of a man playing a woman playing a man made for some interesting conversation. Saturday was helping my friend Julieana with some computer stuff, then spending some relaxing time with her doing a yoga class and meeitng my new goddaughter. Callie is beautiful and so interactive and curious -- I can't wait to get to know her better and to watch her grow up. She's having her first birthday in a few weeks and I hope by then she'll be even more comfortable with me, although her mom and dad were very pleased that she was willing to come to me and let me hold her, as she's apparently not only a daddy's girl, but also much more likely to go to men than women. She liked me and her Thea Julie (Thea is Greek for Aunt -- I'm her Nouna (godmother). Saturday night was watching Angelique bellydance -- I'm amazed at how wonderful she looks just a few months after having a baby. Sunday was some cleaning and some lazing. Then another friend came in from Austin (my former roommate, Julie) and we had a very, very, very nice dinner out at Churrascos, which has the best steaks in Houston (not to mention, the best tres leches!). It was a big splurge, but so enjoyable. And then we had to have some Firefly watching, since I'm trying to make sure Philip sees all the episodes before the Serenity movie comes out in September. All in all, a very good, relaxing weekend. Not long enough, but I think they never are! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I can't believe I forgot to post -- but as with all the other Lotus folks out there, I'm wishing a very happy birthday to Ed (late). Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I thought I might be gone, too. It took a little while for me to feel like I had anything to say again, but, I've had enough kind inquiries to convince me to start writing again (thanks to all of you who pinged, e-mailed, called, or anything else to check up on me). As some of you know, I'm working with the folks at LotusUserGroup.org as the new program director for the group. I'm still living in Houston, so I'm remote, but considering the group is intended to help draw together Lotus professionals all over the world, well, I'm not really that remote, am I? We'll be doing all kinds of virtual events, as well as supporting live meetings in various regions. If you aren't a member of the group yet, come check us out! In other news....
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While I'm waiting for the stroke of genius to strike and tell me exactly what will make me most fulfilled going forward, I'm doing a few other things. :-) I took a few days off last week to enjoy some time with my best friend, who had her baby on the 7th, and then another close friend who had her baby on Sunday. I went out of town for a long weekend away with Philip, just to clear my head and get away from the bleakness that I've been struggling a bit to overcome. In the meanwhile, I've agreed to do some contract writing for one company (I'm working feverishly on some book chapters, in fact) and some other contract work for some other folks -- and of course I'm working on slides to present at the Admin show in May. I'm applying for a few jobs and for graduate school, so I'm keeping busy. So, I'm not gone completely, I'm just still in the process of figuring it all out. I had what was possibly the perfect job for me in many ways and I don't want to settle for less! :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, if you've been to e-ProMag.com today, you've probably seen the notice that the publication is closing its doors. We just weren't making enough money to keep it going profitably. As part of closing the publication, I got laid off. What was even worse was having to tell all my wonderful writers and tech editors and contributors that we were done -- they've all been so amazing over the past couple of years. So. There you have it. It's definitely the end to a major chapter of my life. I've been working on e-Pro and its predecessors (Group Computing and DominoPro) since 1999, and doing it as my full-time job since 2000. That's a big chunk of my professional career. I worked with some great people and had some amazing opportunities, all of which I'm very grateful for. Now it's time to figure out what's next. I've had a few offers of employment or contract work,but I'm not really sure what's what, beyond that. I guess in some ways this is that opportunity to get some yoga and running in, write some things that aren't about technology, and go back to graduate school. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
My good friend Marcus has had this picture of me posted at his blog and I didn't notice until recently. He took it last summer when he was visiting -- we ate at a nearby cafe that he's always loved - Cafe Artiste - and that I now am within walking distance of, so Philip and I go all the time. We were having a great visit and wallowing in our existential 30-something angst, but enjoying the fact that we could sympathize with each other's issues. I miss so many of my friends that live elsewhere -- Guy (and Jey) and Marcus (and Courtland) are in SF, Chris is in Seattle, Dion and Pam are in Chicago, my cousins and family and mommy are in NY and LA and Oregon, so many of the friends I made while living in CA are still there, or in Kansas, work friends are all over the globe.... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've been in this giant blue funk for a while. I wasn't completely aware of it, because so much else has been going on, from moving to my divorce to the magazine changes to moving again to my thyroid stuff to being sick for months.... But I was so unmotivated this last week that I had to take stock of why -- especially since there's really nothing wrong. Life is going pretty ok, and in fact in some areas is more than okay. There's a lot to this blue funk but mostly it's made me unmotivated and selfish -- almost all I've wanted to do is snuggle on my couch. I talked to a couple of people about it yesterday and today and have at least recognized that the blue funk is what's been going on. Now, I'm not yet to the point that I know all the details of the "why I've been there" (specifically, I mean -- I know that a lot of it has just been all the stuff that the last 12-18 months has held) and I also don't know yet what to do about it, but I'm working on it, with some assistance. So, to all those friends out there who've felt ignored or slighted while I've been in my funk... I'm so sorry. I know some of you have even called me on it, and, well, I'm sorry. Thanks for those of you who've been so understanding. And I hope you'll see some brain work on why and how to fix it soon. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Do you ever accidentally stumble across someone who has some weird connection to you? Not a real connection (like, knowing people you know or doing the same job you do), but a connection to who you feel yourself to be? I ran across a blog today while doing a search on a quote (lunch break searching for thoughts for a grad school essay) and feel as though I have a ton of things in common with this person. Now, she might read my blog and think I'm nuts for saying so, but we're both interested in graduate school, like the June gloom that SoCal is famous for, don't call our friends often enough, and write poems. Now, don't get me wrong -- we have a ton of differences as well. She doesn't sleep. I can't seem to sleep less. Anyway -- it's just a reminder that the human condition is such that we're really all the same. There are similarities and connections between us that should help us to be more sympathetic to and generous with other people. Of course, on the kind of frustrating side -- she's years younger than I am, seems to have more energy and time that I can contemplate, and is writing every day, whereas I'm not. Or at least not writing what I might like to be writing. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
An article today mentions that about half of U.S. workers are happy with their jobs, citing issues like pay, bonuses, and productivity expectations. The long-term drop in job satisfaction has been driven by rapid changes in technology, employers' push for productivity and shifting expectations among workers, said Lynn Franco, director of the group's Consumer Research Center. Are you happy with your job? Should we expect to be happy with our jobs? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
You can be lonely anywhere. Or with anyone. You can be fulfilled and happy anywhere. But only with yourself (although you can have company on the ride). It's all inside. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
 Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz! Look for more updates soon as I dig out of the work that's been piling up while I've been so sick. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
About a year ago, I discovered this word: mudita. It is the opposite of schadenfreude (taking delight in others' sadness), meaning that it is joy in the pleasure or happiness of others. One of my (many) goals for the year is to more fully develop mudita -- I think it will be especially helpful as I watch two of my dear friends have babies and grow with their families. It was a goal last year, but not one that I think I succeeded in. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I love TiVo, and I know there are a lot of other folks out there loving it too. I jsut found out there's a new TiVo feature available to any of you with a Series 2 TiVo: TiVo To Go. Now you can take your TiVo recordings with you on your computer -- this will be particularly cool for those of us who travel a lot and don't actually get to sit and watch our TiVos very often. My TiVo doesn't yet have the service update that's necessary, but I'm still hopeful this will be an awesome feature. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, welcome to 2005. I've been up in Pennsylvania visiting some friends for the New Year, which has been pretty nice. Would've been even better if I'd had more actual time to take as vacation, but some things don't let up. I'm working on a special publication for us to present at Lotusphere -- I hinted at it a few weeks ago and we're going to print this week. If you're going to Lotusphere (who's going to be there, by the way?), please stop by our booth at the show and look for The Lotus Informer's Unofficial Guide to Lotusphere. Not having one of these is like Ford Prefect not having his Hitchiker's Guide and towel. Did anyone make resolutions this year? I thought a lot about what resolutions I might make and decided that a any one resolution wasn't what I wanted this year, but merely some commitments to myself. On the other hand, I have tried to promise myself to do a bit more writing and work here, including possibly some more "professional" writing. We'll see what happens. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I think there's probably something a bit sick about being on "vacation" and still being at the Starbuck's working on various things for the quickly rushing to meet me deadlines. Ah well, I guess we do what we must. Wherever you are, and whatever you celebrate, I hope you're having a happy weekend, with health, rest, and joy. I'm going to head back to my grandparents' house to watch the Grinch (cartoon version, not the Jim Carrey version) that some handsome elf snuck into my suitcase while I was on my way out, make some cranberry sauce, wrap presents, and write some Christmas New Year's cards. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As we come to the end of the year, it's unavoidable (hopefully) that we look back on how it went. I guess some people do it at birthdays (which I always do too), but this year, it's hitting me as we come to the holidays. In the grand scheme of things, I continue to believe I'm pretty fortunate and happy. My life could be a lot worse. On the other hand, I also know that, like most of us, my year was riddled with ups and downs, mistakes and good choices, pain and joy... In short, the human condition. Always remember (and this is from an editor, so you know you should listen to it). "Mistakes were made" is not only bad grammar, but a bad way to look at your life. Since I was thinking about mistakes today, I did a quick Google search on the word "mistakes" -- it's amazing what you find. You can do the search for yourself, but I'll just include a few annotated findings here: 1. Number one on the list: moviemistakes.com, including a list of perfect films, top mistakes, and a moviemistakes.com advent calendar. Today's advent calendar picture was a crewman wearing jeans in the background of a Gladiator shot. 2. Multiple lists of Web development mistakes.Notice how I skipped over those so I don't have to fix any right now? 3. A fascinating article on Lesson Plan mistakes. If any of you are teachers (or say, speakers at conferences and you really want your attendees to learn something...), you might read over this. You might find some pieces you'll want to think about. 4. A lovely list of the 10 mistakes writers don't see for themselves but could easily fix if they did, including such plums as repeats -- those words you just like to use and re-use and re-use. It's mostly geared toward book-writing, but many of the reminders work quite well for other writing also. 5. For our marketing contingent, the list of marketing translation mistakes,such as... oh just go read them for yourselves. Some of them are "debunked." 6. An essay on How To Make Mistakes, which reminds us to become connoisseurs of our own mistakes. One part of the essay that rang particularly true with my year: The fundamental reaction to any mistake ought to be this: "Well, I won't do that again!" Natural selection takes care of this "thought" by just wiping out the goofers before they can reproduce. Something with a similar selective force--the behaviorists called it "negative reinforcement"--must operate in the brain of any animal that can learn not to make that noise, touch that wire, or eat that food. We human beings carry matters to a much more swift and efficient level. We can actually think the thought, reflecting on what we have just done. And when we reflect, we confront directly the problem that must be solved by any mistake-maker: what, exactly, is that? What was it about what I just did that got me into all this trouble? The trick is to take advantage of the particular details of the mess you've made, so that your next attempt will be informed by it, and not be just another blind stab in the dark. In which direction should the next attempt be launched, given that this attempt failed? Ah the joy of thinking hard about the mistakes you make, why, what they mean, and how not to make either them or similar, related, just as stupid mistakes the next time you move. Never easy and an ongoing process for us all. Have you faced up to your mistakes lately? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Depending on whether you're more interested in astronomy or holidays (pagan or otherwise), Winter Solstice is the shortest day/longest night of the year, and also known by or related to varying holiday names in other religions / cultures. Whatever your belief system / celebration choice -- hope you're having a good one. Me, I'm a big fan of holidays and celebrations in general... From ReligiousTolerance.org, a few of the December winter celebrations include:
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Thanks much for all the calls, kind wishes, visits, etc. from everyone while I was in the hospital. I'm home today, a beautiful, cool day in Houston, recovering. I'm in some pain, but it's not too horrible as long as I don't use my neck for anything much. The pain meds make me a bit dizzy and ditsy (no rude comments from the peanut gallery are necessary, thanks), so I'm not working or writing much, but merely mourning the election results, listening to the 2nd Harry Potter book on CD, reading trashy magazines and catalogues, and eating squishy soft foods. I was in surgery for about 2 1/2 hours on Monday, starting around noon (despite the fact that I showed up for surgery at 7 a.m.(, then in recovery for about 3 hours or so after that -- nausea, low heart rate, and not being able to wake up held me back for a bit, but once I woke up, I was able to take some clear liquids and juices fairly soon -- yay! I was hungry after not eating since dinner on Sunday! I had some great visits on Monday evening (and my friend Cindy told me that a bunch of folks had tried the "egreeting" link at methodist hospital's Web site -- thanks for the thoughts, but I'm afraid they didn't get them delivered -- maybe I got out of the hospital too fast?!) and the doctor came to see me (and gloat over the fact that he created me the tiniest little thyroidectomy incision anyone has ever had, or so he tells me) and let me go home Tuesday afternoon... I think I've now officially used my "sitting up time" for the afternoon, so I'll be back for more later... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
For those following the story... I just spoke with Libby, about an hour after she left surgical recovery. Good news...the initial frozen section biopsy was negative. Assuming she recovers well, the hospital will likely send her home tomorrow. The more in-depth test results will come back on Friday or so. Let's hope that one is negative, too. Libby is in good spirits, her friends and her mom are with her, and the hospital is taking good care of her. She asked me to post this update, and thanks those of you who have asked about her today for your thoughts and concern. Hopefully, she'll be writing any further updates this week in the first person. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I still owe you guys an entry on Copenhagen to describe my free afternoon of walking around -- basically, I took a walk that was described in one of my guidebooks. It started at the National Opera house, went along the canal at Nyhaven, to the harbor, and all the way up to where the Little Mermaid statue is (stopping at a garden and the ramparts of where the Danish army used to be housed), and then back via Rosenborg Slot (the castle) and its park to the Stoget (the pedestrian district). Whew -- long walk, but I got some great pictures. As soon as I'm breathing normally again instead of rushing around like a mad chicken, I'll post those and do a bit more of a description of the trip. Until then, you can read Chris's blog for most of the food stops during the week, except the night he had Domino's, I was eating a burger in the bar, and I'd had Domino's on Friday night... Why, you may ask, are you rushing around like a mad chicken, Libby? Well, that's a good question. I got back from Copenhagen on Friday evening. Saturday, I spent the day at the Texas Renaissance Festival with some good friends of mine, and then I rushed home in the late afternoon, after a very soggy RenFest trip, to change into my costume for a masquerade party that night. Sunday was filled with the usual Sunday-type things, and then Monday, I went for my appointment with the surgeon. They move faster than I expected, so I've had a lot to do to get my life ready for me not to be in it for a week or so... I'll be having surgery this coming Monday to remove at least one lobe of my thyroid, possibly the whole thing, depending on what they find when they're in there. They remove one lobe and then let the pathologist do a frozen section biopsy while I'm in surgery to try to determine whether there's cancer present. Of course, from what I've been told and read, the frozen section is notorious for false negatives, so they do a more in-depth test over the next few days. So, they might come back and say... well, we know we told you everything was ok and you don't have cancer, but we were wrong -- we have to do another surgery. Let's hope that's not what happens. Anyway, assuming they don't find cancer, they close me up and I go on with my life, albeit with half a thyroid, possible medication for the rest of my life, and a cool scar on my throat (I plan to blame the scar on the vampires, but...). And hopefully none of the If they do find any cancer, they remove the whole thyroid, trying like hell not to accidentally remove all the cool little parathyroid glands, and then I get to do some lovely radioactive iodine treatments (there's a new alternative, but I don't think it's out there for use yet...) to kill any remaining thyroid cells that have cancer in them that may have migrated somewhere else in my body. I'm in good company if it does turn out to be thyroid cancer, as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court just had a similar surgery. They haven't said what type of cancer it is (there are four types of thyroid cancer), but my doctor has already said that what I have is either a follicular adenoma or a follicular carcinoma, so I'm not the most common form (if it is cancer) but still a fairly treatable form. Anyway, I'll be in Methodist hospital on Monday and Tuesday (probably out sometime Tuesday, assuming everything goes well), and I'll be out of it for most of the rest of next week. I probably won't be online much until after Nov. 6th or so... The usual suspects have offered to keep an eye on my blog and give you some interesting things to read. They may even have an update on how the surgery went. Have a good week and think good thoughts! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Some friends of mine in Houston are having their annual Masquerade party immediately after my return from Copenhagen (the two aren't really related, it just happened to work out that way...). Now, they've been having this party for years, but somehow I've never managed to attend. I guess part of it was that I was living in San Diego, but part of it was just bad timing, I guess, before I moved. Anyway, this year, I'm finally going. Of course, that means you have to have a costume. I don't know about you guys, but it's been years since I actually did a costume. I've had it easy for a long time -- once I started working at the Texas Renaissance Festival in 1989, I've had an easy costume to fall back on. This year, however, I felt I needed to try to match with at least one the themes they've announced, rather than the cop-out renfest wench-y look, so I had to pick from Cartoons, Harry Potter, Arabian Nights (since my friend Angelique is a belly-dancer, this one is so that the belly-dancers can come in costume and can perform), and Neil Gaiman. I came very close to going with a cartoon something -- so many options there, but since I've been on a Neil Gaiman kick for a while here, I figured I'd go with something from his works. Although I've only read some of the Sandman series of graphic novels (this despite the fact that my friend Cindy has been all over them since day 1), I thought a character from there would be fun. I've picked Delirium who was once Delight, as being perhaps in keeping with my year. Delirium is the youngest of the Endless and is equal parts silly and sad, and has had some serious, unexplained pain in her past that has made her what she is. I won't say she's me, but there are parts of me in there, and parts of some other people I know well.... There's a lot on Delirium out there, but here was a story I particularly liked -- it reminded me of someone I know. I've also had it pointed out that the guy I'm dating (hi Philip!) has quite a bit in common, physically (and maybe more...), with Destruction, so while I'm not sure you could say we're going to match for the party, it still kind of appealed to me. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
The name change has been coming on in dribs and drabs for the last few months, but it should really be official now -- I had my final court date on Monday. (I'm still waiting for the final decree to be mailed, etc, but the judge signed it...) I'll be going back to my maiden name, so if you get an e-mail from Libby Nicole Ingrassia, you know it's me. It will probably take a while for it to dribble down through all the work things, and I still have my former name all over (and I'll be respondig to it for a while yet, of course). Speaking of names and e-mail -- notesgirl.com's e-mail is working again, so you can send mail to me there or at the gmail address I gave a few days ago. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Many of you have asked about my brief mention of the biopsy the other day -- thanks for all the kind wishes. As it turns out, I'm not the only one (even in our Lotus community) going through something similar, so here's my biopsy story -- perhaps it will help someone else in the future, or perhaps it will just serve to let you know you're not alone. In my case, an endocrinologist (I was seeing him for another reason) actually found the thyroid nodule. It's basically a lump on the left side of my thyroid (which is in my neck, if you weren't sure). He did an ultrasound of it right away and it looked enough to him to warrant a biopsy. Thyroid nodules aren't uncommon (especially in women, apparently) and most of the time (85% or so), they are benign. But, the only way to find out if it's malignant is to biopsy it... For the first biopsy, he suggested the fine needle biopsy. My thyroid function is almost normal, so I'm not on any of the thyroid meds yet, or iodine, etc. For the needle biopsy, you lay on your back (in my case, in the endocrinologist office), with a pillow under your shoulders, to extend your neck. He uses both a long needle and the ultrasound wand. In my case, he used the needle three times in the first biopsy. No swallowing or moving -- each stick takes about 1-2 minutes. The pressure from the ultrasound almost hurts more than the needle, at least the first time. By the third stick, it hurt a fair amount, though. Still, not that bad, and pretty transient. To get the fluid loose, he kind of has to kind of pop the needle in, and then suck the fluid out, so that kind of stings. I was a bit lightheaded afterwards, even though there weren't any painkillers. I guess it's the pressure and angle of your body. So, I was glad not to have to drive home (thanks for coming to hold my hand, Mom!). I went home and slept (did that both times -- 3+ hour naps right away -- not my usual) and was pretty much fine the next day -- not too much bruising, only a little pain (took Tylenol and it was ok), and mostly just a little achy throat. My first results were "inconclusive." The pathologist needs to see 8-10 cell clusters to be 90-95% (there are no 100% certainties, I guess) sure that it's not malignant. They didn't get enough clusters, so they had to do it again. The second time I was less woozy, but it hurt more. Still, same basic procedure. Apparently the "inconclusive" thing happens in about 10% of needle biopsies, so it's not that weird. Pathologists just like to be really sure, I guess, and I'm probably pretty happy that they do. Unfortunately, the second results were "suspicious." So, now I have to have a surgical biopsy. Probably *still* doesn't mean that it's malignant, but it's much better to be sure. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Sunday is officially the last day to register to vote (in Texas, anyway) to be able to vote in the upcoming oh-so-vital November elections (ok, I think it actually squishes over to Monday b/c Sunday is, well, Sunday, but you see what I mean... and yes, it's different other places, so verify your deadline...) (that part is clearly for those of you here in the US). So. In honor of hoping that you've registered and will vote in November, I thought you might be interested in a few political links. First, CNN's polictical blog watch -- they graph what blogs are talking about, Bush v. Kerry, war, environment, etc. There's also links to some blogs about the debates, links to liberal blogs, links to conservative blogs, and some of their political must-reads. Here's the Rock the Vote Website, with all kinds of interesting voter info and ways you can help get the vote out. Finallly, the Federal Election Commission site, including the national voter reg. form... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, yesterday was biopsy part 2. On the bright side, it was only 2 needles instead of 3 (which is what he took the first time). And I wasn't nearly as woozy when it was done. On the other hand, it hurt more. Ah well. Hopefully we'll figure out what the deal is this time. I was supposed to get a new bed yesterday -- mattresses from Select Comfort. Very expensive, but they really do feel nice. Of course, after waiting over 2 weeks, they called yesterday morning, when they were supposed to be delivering them, and said that they didn't have part of it, so they couldn't deliver until they re-ordered... another week or so. I went a bit Sicilian on them, I have to admit... So, they're supposed to have found the stuff and are supposed to deliver today. We'll see. In other news, there's something wrong with my notesgirl.com e-mail, so you should probably use my e-promag.com address or notesgirl@gmail.com until I've figured out what's going on... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Just finished renewing my CPR certificate. I try to do it every year, now, even though I took a few years off from it. I've never had to use it, but just knowing that I'm certified, and up-to-date makes me feel as though I could help if someone needed it. I guess it's a feeling of control, probably, but also of wanting to help. Every year (for the past 20 years), Houston does one of those mass-certification things -- this year, my friend Cindy and I took it together -- makes it much more fun to do something like that with a friend. In any case, I highly recommend that if you're not certified or trained that you think about it, According to our instructor today, every minute that goes by without CPR for sudden death (someone who's suddenly stopped breathing/has no heartbeat) reduces their chances of survival by 11%. In Houston, it takes about 4-5 minutes to get a first response EMS to a victim. Plus the minute or so you took to call 9-1-1. That's 66% less of a survival rate. If you can start CPR, you can double a person's chances of survival. The national average survival rate is less than 5%. In Houston, before they started doing these mass CPR training classes, the survival rate was about with the national average, or a bit lower. Now, Houston's average is 23-35%. In Houston, the chances a bystander (layperson) can help and will help is 48%. In Seattle, the only city in the US where they've been doing these mass CPR training classes longer than they have here in Houston (started in 1972), the bystander help rate is 60%. There's lots of places to get training, such as the American Red Cross (here's their "Get Trained" link) or the American Heart Association. FYI -- Tomorrow is "world heart day." Do something good for your heart. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've finished moving into my new apartment, had more medical tests than you can shake a stick at, been to Colorado on business, and officially started training for the marathon in January. I'm still trying to buy some furniture for my new house, like a bed and some chairs and a coffee table... My aunt sent me an e-mail today worrying about me because it's been so long since I last blogged. So, I figured I'd better at least say hi so you'd know I was still alive. Word for the day (from Wordsmith.org) -- when I was out in California visiting my friends, Liz and I found rings that say "Freedom" on one side and "True Bliss" -- today's word reminded me of the ring, the fun I had visiting in CA.
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Thanks, y'all! Having all these well-wishes on the blog and the many in e-mail helped make for a nice day -- thank you! A group of my friends met me last night for cosmos and fondue, which was also very nice. And to top it off, I get the keys to my new apartment today: I'm really looking forward to it! Let the agonies and joys of moving begin Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Please join in wishing Libby the best on this day, and every day. Happy birthday, Libby! Might as well make two of us hijaking the blog!!! Happy Birthday! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Happy Birthday, Ed. Another year older and wiser... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I'm feeling somewhat better, although still coughing a fair amount. I'm very tired of being sick, I can say that -- it's been almost 2 1/2 weeks now! Urg. Thanks for the well-wishes from many of you. Moving. Ah the joys. Boxes, paint, utilities... figuring out what furniture will fit where, what goes into storage or gets sold... all the fun stuff. I'm hoping to do a major clean-out and then have a garage sale. More updates coming soon, hopefully. Thanks for sticking with me during this, um, dry spell. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com I haven't had this caliber of summer (or winter for that matter) cold in a long time. Or my memory is getting selective and shoddy in my (increasingly) old age. No telling. Either way, I've got the cough to end all coughs right now -- I kept myself awake last night for over an hour because I couldn't stop coughing. Moral of the story? Don't get near the Libby right now if you don't want to be coughed on.Found the giggly-geek-quiz via Heather's site via Guy's site. Heather and Guy and Marcus and Courtland and Jey and those folks are all friends of mine living in SF. I think I found an apartment, so the lease-signing and moving will commence momentarily. Of course, that means that I'm not going to get to go to Oregon to visit my Mom, speak to the Portland user group, and visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland after all. Guess I'll have to make do with the Houston Shakespeare Festival this year -- Macbeth tonight (if I can manage to drag myself out of the house!). Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
There are a lot of amazing people in my life. The best and most amazing is my mom, who loves me and takes care of me and watches out for me no matter what. She sent these to be blogged. Love you, Mom. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. Ayn Rand, Anthem, 1946 It is not advisable, James, to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957 Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Just back from a few days in Dallas at the Rational User Conference, which was also billed as the developerWorks Live! show this year. I understand why they merged the shows, but I don't think it particularly succeeded as a merged show this year. As a Rational show, it was great -- lots of Rational developers and customers there. As a broader developer show... something to be desired. Ah well, perhaps as developers from the other brands get more used to their tools being part of the Rational toolset, that will change. Unfortunately while in DFW, I got sick. Icky summer colds. So, I'm spending a bit of time curled up on the couch, coughing. I did have to go out for a walk this morning, as Yogi the dog is visiting me for a few days and needed his walk. I think I tired him out, although it might have been the heat tiring us both out. There has finally been a nibble on the house. It looks like I'll be moving in mid-August, although I'm not really sure yet where I'll be moving to. I've started to look for a duplex or apartment to rent here in Houston for the time being. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Howdy. Perhaps you've noticed the fairly long silence. My apologies. Since I started writing more for e-ProMag.com and our Lotus Informer Blog, I've had less bandwidth to write here. Plus, I took a trip to California last week. The highlights:
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Steve has had the new template out for a while, but Chris upgraded me a day or so ago. I think everything is working ok, but I'm still working on getting the comments inline instead of in the popup... If I get some time over the weekend, after getting caught up on my correspondence and returning phone calls and running and rowing (if the dang rain will hold off for a little while) and all the other 80 million things I'm behind on, I might try to work on a new color-scheme too... We'll see. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
On my Lotus Informer blog today, I talked about spam. And in addition to the spam, I talked about my Blackberry, and how the evil of spam is exponentially worse when it comes via a Blackberry. (As an aside, about that Blackberry. In the last 48 hours, I've been teased about my Blackberry quite a bit. Chris and Tom and Michael referred to it as my crackberry while I was at the e-Pro editorial conference over the weekend, and my friend Philip has been referring to it as my POD -- Personal Obsession Device.... Do you think I spend too much time with my Blackberry?) Okay, really, that first line was all an excuse to talk about the fact that I think my friends think I'm addicted to the Blackberry/POD/Crackberry... I don't think I actually have much else to talk about now that I'm in complete sugar coma thanks to a Strawberry Creme Frappuccino with the double evilness of the added chocolate syrup..... Have you had one of these? For those of you who've seen me in the last 6 or 7 weeks, you know it's been pink month (ok, pink months) and the advent of the strawberry evil drink seems to fit right in with that. I recommend it highly. But it's even better if you have them add chocolate syrup. Sheer evil. Thank god I'm running 7 miles tonight or I wouldn't dare, but hey, why not, I ask you... (Hmmm, in re-reading that entry, I suspect that it's perfectly clear that I'm not in a sugar coma, but more like a sugar high. Perhaps I should stop writing now..........) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I subscribe to an "A Word A Day" e-mail from Wordsmith.org, which I find fun. But then again, I'm a word geek. Today's word seems to sum up the last few months of my life: bouleversement (BOO-luh-vers-MAWN) noun 1. Reversal. 2. Violent uproar, upheaval, or disorder. [From French bouleversement (upheaval), from bouleverser (to overturn), from boule (ball) + verser (to turn).] "The merger of the Chapters and Indigo bookstore chains began as a hostile takeover, a David-and-Goliath bouleversement in which small, scrappy Indigo toppled huge, swollen Chapters with a well-aimed shot." Rebecca Wigod; At Last, Canada Becomes a Genre; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Aug 25, 2001. "The timing of this week's bouleversement in Brussels was rotten. It is less than a month since Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to break cover, stand up in the House of Commons, launch his 'national changeover plan,' and make it plain to anyone who had ever doubted it that he really did intend to lead Britain into the promised land of the euro, the single European currency. After a long period of cautious equivocation, the prime minister had, in his own words, 'shifted up a gear' ..." Walter Bagehot; Moses Blair And His Promised Euroland; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 20, 1999. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've just stopped at a Starbuck's to check my oh-so-vital mail after leaving the Lotus Workplace launch events here in Houston. The launch was pretty good -- there weren't too many parts of the announcements that I wasn't already familiar with, but it was good to be at an IBM event here in my new city. I've been doing a bit of work, preparing for next week's Lotus Informer Digest e-mails and working on some writing awards, but I've also been doing a bit of people watching. Coffee shops are the most amazing places. The two people on either side of me are studying; three or four people are working on laptops, like me; a few people are reading (the woman directly across from me is reading one of Diana Gabaldon's books -- I might have to re-read now that I've been reminded! I quite like them.) There's a Houston Police Office having some coffee and doing some work on his laptop and being basically friendly to most of the shop; two girlfriends are having one of those gossipy, happy conversations that always soothes your soul when you're having one; a few guys are having a business meeting (actually, it sounds either like a job interview or a start of a new business agreement); two Australian ex-pats and their babies were sitting here for a while... Just interesting to see the varied ages, stages, and pursuits of the folks in this coffee shop. It reminds me why I like them so much. It also reminds me to keep making new friends and trying new things -- just because people are so darn interesting. Off to run now -- I have 2 hours before I have to be teaching at the dance studio, so it's just enough time to get in a 3 mile run and take a shower. My activity schedule has been filling up a fair amount of late: rowing on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday/Sunday; dancing on Wednesday and sometimes Friday or Saturday; running on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday; swimming and yoga when I can fit them into my mornings; I might start taking a belly dancing class on Saturday afternoons... Some of those things are good for helping me with one of my problems: too much alone time! While working from home is wonderful in lots of ways and is becoming more and more popular, it does have as a drawback being a fairly isolating experience, especially when you live alone. Being active is helping with that a bit -- at least I get out of the house every day! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Before we return you to your regularly scheduled programming, let me offer one more personal update. Things they are a-changing. But while change may not always be comfortable, it is both inevitable and necessary. So. Look for some exciting new changes over at the magazine. There's also some changes going on here at home. Hopefully both sets of changes will bring the kind of growth and opportunity that are the hallmark of turbulent times. For those of you who have been kind enough to act as a sounding board and have allowed me to vent my frustrations over the last month or so, thank you. You've made it all possible. Your regularly-scheduled Libby has now returned. Mostly. Oh yes, and that includes notesgirl.com e-mail -- we're back up. I may have lost (or accidentally deleted with all that spam) some real e-mail, so if you're feeling ignored... Well, please send again. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Just in case you've been trying to reach me, Notesgirl.com e-mail is down for a few days. It should be back up soon, but if you've been trying to get in touch and need me for something, you can reach me at libbys@e-promag.com or libbynicole@hotmail.com until it's back! In other news, I'm just back from my long and lovely week in Boston. Got to visit with lots of great folks while at the Admin2004 show -- the folks who run the show, the attendees, speakers, and friends around the Boston area. I did three regular sessions and a hands-on Jumpstart. I saw Chris thanked Kathleen for her help during his jumpstart -- she also came in and added a set of hands during mine. So, thanks, Kathleen! Now that I'm back, I'm back in the thick of dealing with life and work, so things might still be a bit scarce here for the moment, but I'll get back to you soon. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Okay, so that's actually a K-mart-ism but you know what I mean. Have you ever noticed that you can't walk into a place like Target, K-mart, Sam's Club/Costco for just one thing? Or get out with spending less than $100? I went in for a new milk-frother that I saw in their ad for $19. A pretty good price. Of course, you get what you pay for, but that's another story. I ended up with some socks, a few CDs (Jason Mraz, Santana (I like the song "Why Don't You and I"), and some 80s mixes (yes, I like 80s music; so sue me), a DVD (Sex and the City, season 1... a guilty pleasure... oh wait, I don't really feel guilty... let's amend that to a girlie pleasure!), and a few other little items... Ah well... I'm off tomorrow for Boston for the Admin2004 show -- hope to see/meet you there! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, if you know anyone in Houston who's looking to buy an adorable 3-2 in the Heights, send them on over to me, or even better, to my realtor. Here are some pics of the house: Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
My mom says that the beautiful yellow plant we were seeing was scotch broom, rather than the forsythia. I'm inclined to agree. So, mystery solved. Regardless, it was absolutely beautiful and soul-restoring to see. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've always liked Portland. My mom moved here when I was in high school and despite the popular mythology that Portland has the constant rain and dreariness, I've never found that to be true. While there is plenty of rain and cloudcover, I seem to be be very successful at visiting during beautiful weather. Today, for example, it's clear skies, sun, a light breeze, low 70s, with spring springing -- the trees and flowers and grasses are all growing and verdant ; the mountain (that Mt. Hood, for the curious) is a beautiful big white backdrop; the river is full of boats fishing for salmon... It doesn't get much prettier than this and I can easily understand why people move to this part of the world. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It never ceases to amaze me how the work world has changed, even in the last 5 years. Today, I've done work in four different places. I worked at my desk in my home office for most of the morning. I have both a wireless and wired connection there. Then, the real estate agent called and wanted to show the house, so I needed to leave. So while I was en route to a coffee shop, I worked completely wirelessly, via my Blackberry and cell phone. Then, I got to one coffee shop, where I have both wired and wireless connections available. Unfortunately, my VPN software and their connection don't like each other, so used Webmail. Then I went to a second coffee shop, with all wireless access, where my VPN does work, and so I was using the Notes client wirelessly. Tomorrow, while on my way to Portland, I'll again be doing the wireless/blackberry/cellphone thing. If I didn't tell you that I wasn't going to be out of the office, you might not even know! It's both cool (meaning, I can work anywhere) and overwhelming, sometimes (meaning... I can work anywhere, anytime... all the time!). Update: Heh. So, I finished writing this entry and went to replicate. Perhaps I spoke too soon. Not only are they blocking whatever port I need to get to my VPN, but it looks as though they're also blocking port 1352 -- I can't replicate or open things from the server. Ah well. I guess I can always replicate later. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Thanks much to all of you who noted that I'd been quite silent of late and were concerned and also to those who had a small outpouring of "hellos" and were pleased that I'd popped back into the world. I am indeed back in the world. I won't bore you with the details of why I was silent for so long (you wouldn't believe me if I told you, and even if you did, while it might be somewhat funny for sheer shock value, it probably isn't appropriate to go into here), but I will say that there are yet more changes going on in my personal and professional life. The thing about life is that it just keeps getting more interesting. The challenge is to find ways to look at things that might not be "happy" and turn them into positives. That's kind of what I've been working on for the past few weeks. Anyway, you'll likely start to notice a few of those changes migrate their way here. If you really feel like you want more details, drop me a note or give me an IM and we'll talk. In other news, thanks to Chris and Steve for the updates to the blog template. It looks like we may have fixed the comment counts and gotten everything to be at the new template. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Out of my deep and undying love for you, my dear readers, I'm going to make a public service announcement. Ready? When was the last time you backed up your stuff? Not your servers, your desktop machine (or, in my case, machines). Mail, pictures, settings, downloaded applications, documents you've created, letters you've written... Unhm, that's what I thought. Take a bit and do it now. Trust me. For those of you who are wincing in sympathy -- don't. I didn't have some huge (knocking quickly on wood, or at least particle board) crash, but I am about to take one of my laptops in to my office to have some work done, so I thought it might behoove me to do a backup. It's taking me three days to get everything over to the laptop that has a CD-writer to get it all backed up. Arg. Yes, I'm sure there are other ways, but I'm working on too many things right now to investigate those. In other news, comments appear to have some kind of bug right now -- they're being saved when you make them, but they're not showing up in the comment count... So, keep commenting... And maybe between Steve and Chris they can figure out why the comments are freaking out? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Brian wrote a blog today that I think might be valuable to think about. The upshot of the entry is that maybe we're all spending too much time being comfortable with where and who we are and not enough time challenging ourselves to be better. You can think about this in a professional light -- how many of us have forced ourselves to learn something new lately? (Well, in this group that's probably a higher percentage -- you guys always impress me at how many things you're learning, but I think you as a group are way above the norm). But where he meant it, and where I'm taking it to heart, is in the personal side. I've been thinking a lot lately about leading a more examined, goal-oriented life. I've always thought I led an examined life, but lately I've realized that perhaps I'd been a bit lazy on not only examining, but improving, who I am, how I treat people, and where I want to be. So, I'm working on creating goals for myself and looking at what I do each day to see how it matches up to those goals. One of my current goals is linked to something I read about in the Yoga Journal last month: mudita. Mudita means something like "sympathetic joy" -- that is, taking true joy in someone else's accomplishments, happiness, or joy. It is the direct opposite of things like envy, jealousy, and, even worse, schadenfreude. Mudita seems guaranteed to make you a happier person -- so many additional opportunities to be joyful, since you're taking joy not only in your own accomplishments, but in the accomplishments or happiness of other people. One of the places I want to be better than I am is in bringing happiness to myself and others by using mudita in my life. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've gotten quite a few Googles lately for Alan Lepofsky, including a few for "alan lepofsky blog." While his alter-ego might be blogging, he's not. At least not publicly. Think they're trying to tell you something, Alan? I promise that I'll read if you blog! ;-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, it's been a year of blogging. (Well actually, it had been a year yesterday, when I started this entry. That seems to be the story of my blogging life -- I keep getting way to freaking busy to blog effectively on a daily basis. Ah well. A day late won't kill anyone.) So. Yay. Thanks for sticking with me and being part of Notesgirl.com. Just over 200 entries in the year -- clearly there have been some months and items that inspired me more than others. As with many blogs, some of the most interesting material on the site hasn't been in the main blog, where I can link to it, but has rather been in the discussion that has taken place in the comments. Some of the more commented-upon blogs include:
Lots of other things have happened over the year -- lots of travel (here's the overview) and lots of conferences. A half-marathon and a move. Friends getting married and having babies. Making new friends. It's been a hard year in a lot of ways, but it's also had some high points, and I've learned a lot about myself and what I want out of life. Hopefully this next year will have more high points and better opportunities. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So, I was skimming over my referrers list and found a google that pointed to the Getting to Know You quiz. When I clicked it and saw the search, I happened to see this list that includes some questions that weren't in the original posting. So, since that page is my single most-viewed blog (there are a few other pages that get more hits, such as the home page and the about me page, but that's the most-viewed blog) and the thing that drives the most googles here, well, I thought I'd go ahead and post the updated version of the quiz. The interesting exercise for me was answering questions I'd answered before without peeking at my original answers. Most of them are the same, but not all -- I guess we're all changing all the time, and this is proof. Enjoy.
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Brian pointed out this story on CNN -- the folks at Wellesley pulled an all-nighter reading all of Shakespeare's plays. Now, I didn't get nearly this kind of cool all-nighter when I was in school and I sure as heck don't get this kind now -- if I'm puling an all-nighter now, it's because I'm getting slides or an article finished! I did try to think back to my most interesting all-nighter. I suspect when I was in college, we pulled some all-night "study parties" that were more party than study, but I can't really remember any specifics. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It's pretty cold and blue both outside and in today, so I thought a little change of color might be in order. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I could tell cute Rufus stories all afternoon, starting with how half our friends didn't believe we had a second kitty because Rufus was pretty shy and spent more time under the back of the bed than in company... But when Rufus did decide he trusted you, then he would find his way onto your lap at the strangest moments, demanding attention with his head smacking into your hand, or face... Some of our friends were even proud to be part of the "Rufus let me pet him" club as opposed to the "are you sure you have a second kitty" club... He had this cute way of pawing my face in the morning when Brian and Yogi had gotten up and left to go for a walk -- Rufus would crawl out from under the bed and paw at my face and arm until I'd wake up and pull him onto the bed to pet him... He was very fond of the kneeding your arm or leg or whatever to get your attention... And he was very fond of sitting in my lap while I worked, or on the red velvet comforter on our bed, most especially if either one of those was also in a sunny spot. Anyway, he was a strong, loving, sweet, brave kitty, and friend, and he'll be missed. A lot. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Brian and I have recently had a few discussions over whether we should shop at Wal-Mart. I'd always said "ick" to the idea, just based on a variety of things, but now he's got much better ammunition to support my general distaste for the place. From Brightrock.com: Recent news stories (Employee Lock-ins, Impact of Low Wages, Buying Influence) have made me really think about the impact of the Wal-Mart style of doing business on our country. While some local governments compete for a Wal-mart store as a way of expanding their tax base, some localities have begun to assess whether the increased tax revenue makes up for the negative impact - increased infrastructure costs, increased strain on services, etc. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
via Brian, this site has a list of nitpicks -- differences between the LOTR movies and the books. I have to say: I noticed all of these and a few that he misses. OTOH, I don't necessarily feel as though these changes ruin the movies, per se, although I do agree with some of the fiestyness over the changes to the second movie, especially. So, yes, I'm guilty -- I'm a nitpicker. But now we at least know that I'm not alone. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've been meaning to link to some of the photos from Belize that Brian has up on his site. I think I may have mentioned them in passing, but here's a real, honest to goodness plug. While this isn't the best photo you've ever seen of me, if you'd seen me 15 or so minutes later, well, you'd be feeling very sympathetic as I this was the part where everyone else got off the boat to scuba dive and I got incredibly seasick instead of snorkeling. In addition to these, there are some other albums there, if you're interested. I haven't done as much editing of my photos, and I'm not sure if Brian has of his, but... well... there they are. While I've used Yahoo photos in the past, the tool that Brian uses for his image gallery (which I'm starting to steal a bit) is much more useful and, well, less annoying. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Via Belle (via Volker), I came across The Mayfly Project. Basically, sum up your year in 20 words or fewer. I've written quite a few attempts at this, but here's the most recent: California, Houston, again. Conferences. Peeps! Running along Amstel, Meditterannean, Main, Pacific, Caribbean. Work, write, read. Does it get any better? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Today is 13 years since he passed away. I've missed him every one of those days. My dad was one of my best friends when I was growing up. When he and my mom separated, I lived with my dad and we had a lot of time to spend together, getting to know each other, playing, talking. I think I get a lot of my personality characteristics from him -- flirtatiousness, gregariousness, being outgoing and liking to have lots of friends. Very Italian. I have a black thumb, unlike his amazingly green one -- we were always winning a "yard of the month" award for his azaleas or roses or tulips or daylillies or irises or whatever other flowers he had growing that month (he did, after all, always say he majored in "woody plants one and two" in college). I don't think I get my sense of rhythm from him (thanks, Mom!) -- but he could do a mean disco, for the brief moment when that was the "in" dance. I've never quite managed to make fried macaroni quite the way he did (mine is always too mushy!), but I never stopped loving having a Sunday afternoon watching Flash Gordon and eating a plate of pasta, fresh or fried (the fried version is for leftovers, by the way). My love of the spotlight definitely comes from him -- he introduced me to acting when he was in a couple of community theater plays. He would let me come along to some of the rehearsals and I'd always be the one to read the parts of the people who weren't there that night. Dad taught me to play Othello and sing Love Potion Number 9 and ride a bike and crave crumb cakes, eggs fried over hard, or waffles with ice cream for Sunday breakfast. I never quite got the bug to iron my jeans, but I did get the curly hair. The best thing I got from him? 19 years of unbiased love and support. Thanks, Dad. I love you. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, the trip back from Belize had a bit more adventure than was strictly necessary, including an extra night in Dallas, due to a mechanical difficulty with our plane. Not really that big a deal, but it made for a long day and an unplanned hotel night. So, I'm in Houston for one day and then we fly back to SD tomorrow. Lots of quick turnarounds. Lots of plane time, too. The rest of the Belize trip was pretty good. Other than the damned sand fleas who just loooooved to munch on me, everything was good. The day after the aborted snorkle trip, it rained. Some of the ladies we were traveling with and I spent the day lunching, shopping, and playing cards (Hearts and Spades, if you're curious). The next day, a few of us took the big adventure to the mainland, and inland, to see the Mayan temple ruins at Lamanai... Well, it rained again. And so there was an hour water-taxi ride from Caye Caulker to Belize City (this part was ok -- no rain yet). Then there was the hour plus taxi ride. Then there was the hour-long trip in the open boat up the river to the ruins. That part was where the problems really started. It was pouring rain. And of course none of us had planned for rain or cold -- we were going to the beach for gosh sakes. So, we got wet. And I mean really wet, with the kind of rain that starts to feel like a bad acupuncture session -- all over. And we were moving at about 25 knots, so factor in the cold wind, too. Not a pleasant hour. The ruins, however, were darn cool. Luckily, for some reason after we got to the site, the sun came out just in time for us to climb the 130 foot main temple, which has been mostly reconstructed. While were at the very top, looking out over the jungle (btw, anyone want to discuss the difference between a jungle and a tropical forest?), a plane buzzed us (small, four-seater or so, about the size we took from BZE to Caye Caulker) -- it was maybe, maybe 25 feet above us and to our west. The pilot (commercial plane, no less) had the gall/good humour to wave. Trip back was less wet, and included sightings of some howler monkeys, crocodiles, herons, and other assorted birdlife. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, here we are the day after Christmas. It was, to say the least, a different kind of Christmas. I missed my family, but enjoyed being with these friends. Brian and I opened Christmas presents very early, as he then went and spent the day getting scuba certified. I spent some time walking the island (about 2 miles all together) and then planted myself quite comfortably on a chair in the shade of an umbrella with a book and a frothy cold drink. Everyone else went on a snorkeling trip, out to the marine park and some other areas. I was a little lonely, but quite enjoyed having some time to myself to think and read and nap. When everyone got back, around 3 or 4, we played a game of Scrabble and then went out to dinner. Everyone was pretty tired, so it was a fairly early night. Today was the first scuba day for the gang, and I went along. One of our friends and I were going to snorkle while they dived. Well, I got soooooo seasick. I was fine on the ride out to the site, but when we stopped and sat in the water with the boat rocking back and forth, and no wind, and everyone walking around getting their scuba gear on and getting out of the boat... Well. I tried, I really did. I got into the water and did a little bit of snorkleing, but the problem is that salt water is not the cure for seasickness in any way, shape, or form. So, it just got worse. Luckily, after the first dive, we stopped on a neighboring island (Ambergris Caye) for lunch. The minute the boat started going again, with the wind in my face, and a friend's electric shock thingy (I'll have to look that up and tell you what the heck it is, but it goes on the wrist and sends little shocks down to your hand and up your arm to try to control motion sickness), I started to improve. Instead of going back out to suffer through two more dives, I did some shopping and took a water taxi back to Caye Caulker. So, clearly, the whole scuba thing is not going to be a thing for me, as much as I might like to look at the cute fishies. Ah well. I like skiing trips better anyway. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As you read this, I'm in Belize. I know, rough life. Considering the number of life complications that the universe has thrown at me in the past few weeks, it's not what I would've chosen to do for this Christmas, given my druthers. On the other hand I'm hoping to spend some of the time in Belize curled up in a hammock, doing some reading, thinking, and soul-replenishing. Whatever you're doing today and this holiday season, and whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope that you're healthy, happy, and having a good life. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Okay, okay, I know it's very green. And hey, it's not easy being green. But in honor of the spirit of Christmas, well, I had to do it. Your regularly scheduled colors will resume in a few weeks. (christmas lights via honeybrook graphics) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
For the record, since Jake brought it up: when you fill in the Comments form on this site, if you fill in your URL or your e-mail address, both are available on the site as hotlinks. I'll ask our favorite template developer to put some kind of a warning into the Comments form itself. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
 You are Morpheus, from "The Matrix." You have strong faith in yourself and those around you. A true leader, you are relentless in your pursuit. What Matrix Persona Are You? brought to you by Quizilla Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I know, you thought I was gone, never to return. I couldn't even get my usual blogjackers to pop on and save my poor blog from oblivion. Good thing you're all using RSS feed readers so that you'll know that I'm back! I've been in Houston, doing house hunting for the move. I've also been promising various blog entries to various people for weeks now, so I've got a few things to share. I'll put them all in separate blogs for your ease of use, however, so... read on! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, dear readers and friends, I know I owe you an apology for the long silence. I do have a reasonably good set of excuses. First of all, I've been gone from San Diego since about, well, Oct. 11th. I was home for 6 1/2 hours between Germany and Houston, and for a few days between Amsterdam/Nice/Paris and SF/LA/Germany/Houston/Toronto, but during those few moments home, I've had momentous doings. Which brings me to number 2: We're moving back to Texas. (Apologies if some friends who I haven't told yet are finding out this way -- it's been a whirlwind!) Made the decision basically while I was in Germany (for a variety of reasons), looked for a new place while in Houston week before last, put the house on the market officially last Friday afternoon, and had an offer yesterday afternoon. It was low, so we counter-offered, and they accepted that today (while I was sitting here working at the Starbuck's, in fact!). Put an offer in on a house in Houston while I was in Toronto last week, which was accepted. So, by about the first of January, expect me to be writing to you from Houston instead of California! My mind is spinning a bit with all the details and all the work I've been trying to do while doing all that personal work, but I'm sure it will all work out, right?! I've got a bulging folder in my e-mail of other things I want to blog about, but this is foremost in my mind, so of course, this is what you get! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Here's a map of the SD fires, as of this afternoon. I put a blue dot about where my house is -- if the fires get to me, you know all of SD is burnt to a crisp. That said, I hear that it looks as though it snowed from all the ash, the air is chocked with smoke, and many of the freeways (15, 805, 52, 8) are still closed, at least in parts. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Let us please have a moment of slience for the victims of the San Diego (and other southern California) wildfires. I can't even say how sad and scary and horrible the fires are. People I know have been evacuated, one the fires was moving west and south toward the downtown area, and both the San Diego and LA airports are closed. Of course, that put a not-so-small wrinkle into my travel plans today, when I was supposed to be flying to Oakland. Southwest cancelled all its flights out of SAN, LAX, and SNA, then the San Diego airport closed down. Luckily, I happened to have bought a refundable ticket on Southwest. After a few false starts (such as a try for a flight from my little Carlsbad airport, but that would've gone through LAX... not a good idea!) and was able to book a flight out of the John Wayne airport in Orange County to fly to San Francisco. It was the only flight that got out of that airport within an hour of its scheduled flight time, and one of the few flights that actually left southern California today. As unlucky as I felt for a while when I was trying to find a plane to get me to SFO, I started to feel a lot luckier when I started to actually listen to the news and hear how bad things were getting (and a LOT luckier when I was able to change my flight, the new flight went, I didn't have anyone sitting next to me on the plane, and I got to SFO in time to have dinner with my friends). It's funny, but almost the first I knew about just how bad the fires were was when I got the message on my cellphone that my flight had been cancelled. I mean, I knew there were wildfires in the greater San Diego area, and the ash had been falling all night, making our car a mess and making my 7 mile run this morning icky, to say the least; however, I really didn't realize where the fires were until I realized my flight was not going. Amazing. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I can't even count the number of recent complaints I've had about my blog design. Okay, so not even just recent. I'm sorry -- I've just been too busy to get my act together on the design. So, my dear, sweet, wonderful, appreciated (can you tell I'm brown-nosing?) friend Chris used his design and whipped up a little something for me (and yes, he actually did this quite a while ago, I'm the slow one) and I've finally gotten around to implementing it. So, yay Chris! Still a few little wrinkles to iron out, but basically, it's pretty good. And hopefully this resolves in the various browsers somewhat more nicely... At least, I have to assume so, since Chris hasn't been getting the same complaints that I have and this design is based on his. John? Volker? I'll be awaiting your thoughts... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I've had requests for pictures of my trip to Amsterdam and etc. Unfortunately, I didn't take my own camera along on said trip. I hate our current digital camera. It's not actually all that bad, but it's old and really the worst part is that it's BIG. Ick. I don't like carrying things in genral -- I'd rather stick some stuff in my pocket than carry a purse, for example, so of course, I really don't like carrying a big camera. My mom tried to help me out by giving me on of those "pen" style digital cameras, but it doesn't work quite as well as advertised. So, for the most recent trip, I relied on Chris's pictures. In fact, sometimes he was nice enough to take pictures to order for me. Of course, getting said pictures from him is another matter altogether, but hey, beggars can't be choosers or something pithy like that. So for now, check out Chris's site for his first set of Amsterdam pictures and pretend that they're mine too. Or at least most of them. So that I don't have to continue to rely on someone else's pictures (despite the fact that Chris's pictures are very good and likely better than anything I would've taken), I think I've decided to go out and buy myself a new camera before the next trips begin on Sunday. We'll see what I actually end up with, but the smaller, the better. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Yes, I know, you thought I'd died -- but really I was just off gallivanting in Europe. First there was the Domino Technical Conference in Amsterdam, then a few days in Nice and Monaco, followed by the top 10 sights of Paris in about 7 hours. What a walk that was. It was a great conference -- lots of interesting attendees and questions. We spent some great time hanging out with Philippe and Louisa from GSX -- they were the nicest hosts in Nice, too. I've decided I really like running in new cities -- in Amsterdam, I did about 8 miles or so along the Amstel River on the day I arrived. Then in Cap d'Ail (right next to Monaco), I did 3-4 miles along the Mediterranean. The left side was the water, waves crashing against the rocks; the right side was historical villas. The route near Monaco took me past some of the most amazing yachts I've ever seen -- the harbors are full of these huge boats. Unbelieveable. I intended to get up early on Sunday and run along the Seine in Paris, but that didn't quite happen. Next week, I'll get the chance to run in San Francisco and then the week after, in Frankfurt and Kassel, Germany. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Some of my very close friends have been passing around the Getting to Know You quiz over the past frew days. One nice thing is that very few of their answers surprised me, so I guess that means we know each other fairly well (which is cool, since I've been friends with some of them since my freshman year in college). I haven't sent it back to the group yet, although I will, but I thought I'd post here -- maybe some of you will be inspired to answer, too. 1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE? If I could build a house anywhere and be certain I could still visit all my friends with alarming regularity (or even better, have them nearby), I think I might choose the coast of Ireland -- it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. 2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? I have some very squishy soft red sweats that I love to wear, so they're high on the list. If we're talking about something else someone might see me in, I just bought a beautiful red and black silk shirt while I was in Houston with my friend Cindy, and it's got this very nice v-neck to show off the beautiful rubies that my mom bought me recently, so I keep looking for excuses to wear that. 3. FAVORITE PHYSICAL FEATURE OF THE _ OPPOSITE (or TARGET)_ SEX? One favorite, hm? Not easy. I think I'd have to go with whatever feature they like best about themselves -- we all have one and if you watch a person, they probably broadcast it. If I have to be more generic than that, I love a nice smile (broad hunky shoulders and a cute butt aren't too bad either, but....) 4. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? While we were in New York for my birthday, we escaped a rainy night hanging out in the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. I think we bought the soundtrack to the current broadway production of Man of La Mancha and I bought a greatest hits of Level 42. 5. WHERE'S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE PLACE TO BE? I don't really like being in a middle seat on an airplane, when the person in front of you puts his seat all the way back and the people on both sides don't give you even one armrest... It's a basic dislike of being squished, I guess, and having no personal space. 6. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED? I'm torn between the feet and the head. 7. WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY? Strong in mind. Body is important, don't get me wrong, and I'm working every day to be stronger in body, but it's really all about the mind. When my dad was sick, before he died, he lost strength and ability to do things, but he didn't really seem to give up until he started getting fuzzy mentally. 8. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? M-W-F, I'm up around 6 to get to the gym before work. If I'm not going to the gym or excercising before work, I'll sleep as late as I can before the dog makes me get up -- 7:15, 7:30 if I'm lucky. 9. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE? Espresso maker -- not for the espresso, which I don't really drink very often, but for the milk steamer. Lately I've been making chai tea with steamed milk all the time. 10. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY? Bigotry. Of any kind. Lack of common sense and common courtesy. Aggressive stupidity. 11. IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Guitar -- I like to sing and always wanted to be able to be one of those people who could whip out a guitar and accompany myself, especially when we go somewhere like camping or to the beach. A guitar is much more portable than a piano. 12. FAVORITE COLOR? Usually, it's green. Lately, I've been all about red. Deep ruby red. 13. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV? Sports car -- I love my little Miata. 14. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE? Like most of my friends, I don't think I have enough information to really answer this one, but I think something happens, yes. I think the most likely thing is some kind of reincarnation. 15. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK? If we can call The Hobbit a children's book, I'm all over it. I happen to love children's literature, though, so there are a lot of favorites... Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The Giving Tree and the Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein. Charlotte's Web, and even more, the Trumpet of the Swan... Some other favorites: Little Women, The Five Little Peppers, The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lloyd Alexander Prydain chronicles, anything by Dr. Seuss, The Polar Express, Eloise... 16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Even more than a single season, I like the change of seasons (which, of course, we really don't get in California). If I had to pick one, I think I like fall best -- it's cool, it's time to make soups and stews and chili again, it seems very right to curl up by the fireplace with a book and some hot cocoa... It has always felt like a very reflective time of year to me... 17. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? The ability to take pain away from other people. 18. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT? I don't. And likely wouldn't. 19. CAN YOU JUGGLE? Balls or pins or something? Physically? No. Tasks? All the time. 20. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO? That's an easy one -- my dad. He died when I was 19 and I've missed him every day since then. 21. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY? Christmas. I'm a big Christmas person. Spirit of Christmas personified -- that's me. ;-) 22. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR? Miata -- well, if you can really call it a trunk, it's mostly taken up by the CD changer that's in there... There might be an old baseball scorecard, a blanket, and a baseball cap in there, too. CRV -- a big blanket for Yogi to lay on when he rides in the car, some water bottles to be recycled, a sweatshirt, a clipboard for scoring baseball games... 23. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER? Ooooh. Tough. I guess I'd have to say hamburger -- it's one of my favorite comfort foods. 24. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? Well, since I'm posting it in the blogsphere, I'll guess which of my blogger friends might:I'm going to guess either Jess or Ed. (Nothing like a little pressure, hmm?) If I were sending it to my friends and family... Um...well. The ones who're likely to respond mostly have done. Of course, my friend Cindy thought I'd be first and the pressure didn't quite work for me -- I didn't get around to it all week! 25. WHO'S LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Chris 26. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM? Cindy, Chris, Guy, and JF 27. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CARTOON? I was only allowed to watch one cartoon at home as a kid -- Superfriends -- I guess that would have to be my favorite still. 28. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL? There've been many votes for Thanksgiving and that's pretty high on my list -- especially if I'm cooking it -- Turkey rubbed with lemon and thyme; homemade cranberry sauce (no rings for me!); butternut squash soup; sweet potatoes, mashed with onions and chicken broth; pumpkin and apple pie; home-baked bread... My mouth is watering just thinking about it. But the real answer is that it's any meal I can share with a big group of my friends and/or family. 29. If you could only choose one fantasy servant, who would it be (chauffeur/gardener/cook/masseuse/other)? Masseur. No doubt about it. I'm a sucker for massages now. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It seems to me that you guys don't really like those blogs where I take you to a bunch of somewhat unrelated links and thoughts. This is based on a study of how you comment, more than a study of hits... So, maybe I'll try to restrain myself and keep to a single (or maybe two) topics in a blog... and then just post in a second entry... We'll see. I ran across a cool visual today -- IBM's "history flow" -- it's a way of visualizing documents and the interaction of collaborating authors, from the Watson Research Lab. Link via Joi Ito's blog. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Despite my being painfully sick, Brian and I went to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Dodger Stadium last night. Needless to say, it didn't help my cold any, but I didn't think it was fair to ask Brian to go all alone... right? Most of the time when I go to a concert, it's someone I'm already a fan of -- but sometimes, I go for some other reason (such as, Brian's a huge fan and I bought him tickets for a present). In all of those cases, I've ended up not only enjoying the concert, but coming away from it with a better opinion of the band than I started with. The first such experience was Rush. A guy I dated my freshman year in college was a big Rush fan and had bought tickets and wanted to take me. Never one to say no to a nice invitation, I went, prepared to try it once... Well, as I may have mentioned before, that concert turned me into a giant Rush fan -- I've been to two more Rush concerts since. Joan Osborne was another one -- just happened to stop to listen to her at Street Scene a few years ago. While we were sitting and waiting for the concert to start (a 7 pm concert that started at about 8:30), I started going over the concerts I've been to in my head -- I'm not a huge concert-goer, but here's at least a partial list (I think they're in a moderately close order, but only a few of them are certain)....
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Well, you've probably been wondering why the long silence once I got back from my NYC trip. I got punished for all the walking around in the rain I did while I was in NYC -- I got sick. A nasty head cold that has moved into my chest... Yuck. I'm starting to mend as of today, though, so I got up off the couch and did some work and decided to do a quick blog. Please enjoy the stream of consiousness writing, since I'm still a bit feverish (if I say anything completely nutso, just write it off to the fever and chuckle to yourselves...). Seems like I'm going to be sending the Toshiba e740 back to the nice folks at Toshiba. I've been having problems where it suddenly resets itself spontaneously and loses all its content but now it's also having trouble finding its wireless -- it turns on, looks for it, and then loses all ability to see that it has wireless. Almost as though its wireless connection were turned off, but it's not. I did some work at the Starbuck's today. There's something very nice about getting out of the house. Plus, for some reason, I get an amazing amount done when I work in a public place -- it's like I get a jumpstart or something. The only unfortunate thing is that none of the coffeeshops around here have comfy, squishy chairs. Just as glad to be back from NY -- I wouldn't like to have been caught in the town without power. It's amazing how when you live in a place that has no thunderstorms, you get used to not having to worry about power outages. Of course, we did have some brownouts a few summers ago, when we first moved here and California was doing it's power-crisis thing, but really haven't had to look for candles or flashlight since. Stopped by Bookwatch today to check out what books folks are talking about. It turns out I've read a couple of them -- Why Girls Are Weird, Seabiscuit, The Lovely Bones, and the Harry Potter book were all on the list this afternoon. All good books, actually. I'll blog more about Why Girls are Weird at some point, but there was some scary "some of this is me" stuff going on in my brain as I read it... AllConsuming.net has a few others I've read, including American Gods. Neil Gaiman is a funny guy, let me tell you! Anyone interested in American Gods should also consider Good Omens -- another good one by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (one of the wackiest writers ever). One of the richest topics for good books are goods and legends -- one I just picked up last week that falls in this same category (as do both of the previouisly mentioned books) is I, Lucifer -- started out as a fast read but has now gotten a bit bogged down about 75 pages to the end... I'll persevere with it over the weekend and see where I get with it. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Yes that's right, Libby turns ____ today! ('m sure that first digit is a 2) Happy birthday, Libby! -- Ed Hope you are enjoying the Big Apple...even if the Yankees suck. :) ************************************************************** And to think two of use heisted Libby's blog!!! Happy birthday! ..... IdoNotes are we thinking it starts with a 2 or is multiples? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As with Ed, I'm constantly fascinated by how people Google to my blog (and by how Google has become so many parts of speech!). Here are some of the more interesting recent Googles:
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Lord of the Rings meets Rocky Horror, via Volker -- Scary, and yet, for those of us who spent a few midnights at Rocky Horror (back in college, of course) and have read the LOTR books more times than conveniently countable, well, it's actually kind of funny. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So, I'm in Houston, at a Diedrich's coffee shop using their free wireless internet access. Gotta love that. I actually wrote most of two of my books sitting in this coffeeshop, so it has some nostalic memories for me. It's a great coffee shop -- squishy chairs, big bright area with floor-to-ceiling casement windows... Oh, and pretty good coffee. ;-) So, I'm sitting here getting some work done, chatting to Chris about the blog template and assorted other stuff, and trying to finish some slides for the View folks for the Amsterdam show. I've been really busy since I've been here so far -- spent Wednesday with the folks at the unnamed Houston hospital who have the amazingly redundant wonderfully architected system. It's interesting -- we all probably know how to make our environments have more 9's than we know what to do with, and know what all the architecture best practices are... But we don't always have the time, money, support, etc to put all those best practices into action when we architect a new environment. They were able to do all of that at this site. Redundant power, redundant NICs/wiring, redundant sharks for storage, load balanced clustered mail, application, iNotes, intranet/extranet, Calendaring, and Search servers all on separate clusters.... They have a beautiful system for promoting applications from development servers to testing servers to production servers so that the Admins never have to do it manually -- it's all based on a request-based automated system. Just some nice stuff. Expect to see some coverage of this environment in the pages of e-Pro in the next year -- we're talking about doing a case study series about it which should be very nice and, hopefully, useful to all of you. Other things I've done while here in Houston -- had a nice long lunch with a vendor yesterday -- Neon Systems -- they're on the WebSphere side of the market, and create connectors from mainframes to WebSphere. Had a very nice lunch with one of their folks -- actually even got a quick ride on his motorcycle -- they treated me very well. Had some nice drinks and dinners out with some of my best friends, read some Shakespeare, and am going to see some Shakespeare tonight (Winter's Tale at the Houston Shakespeare Festival). As I might've mentioned, some of my friends from high school and college tracked down my whereabouts through this blog (and I haven't seen some of them in years and years), so I'm seeing them while I'm here too. Good times. Other than that, trying to keep cool and not let the icky traffic in Houston tick me off too badly, wallowing happily in time spent visiting with my friends, and trying to get some work done. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'm back from my long weekend -- I had two days in San Francisco for a wedding (got to see lots of my very close friends from college -- great fun -- actually, one of them took a very embarrassing photo of me, but luckily he hasn't posted it yet!), then two days in Sonoma County. I have some things to recommend if any of you find yourselves with time in the Sonoma area. We stayed at the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa. I honestly wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be. Some things I was incredibly impressed with, however, include:
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Nice long weekend -- spent the fourth here at the house with some lovely smoked bar-b-que. That's one of the many things I miss from Houston -- real Texas bbq. Brian has tried to make that up to me by buying a smoker and doing brisket and sausage for us here at home. Comes pretty close. Saturday was family day -- we went to visit my cousin for his 6th birthday and spent the day with him and my grandparents. Sunday was a nice baseball game -- lovely day for it, although the poor Padres lost. Sigh. More travel coming up soon -- San Francisco and Sonoma this weekend -- a friend's commitment ceremony (like a wedding) over the weekend and then a few extra days in wine country. I'm thinking we might go riding on the beach (horses) and in the vineyards (bikes)... We'll see. Then in August, for my birthday (don't even ask how old I'm going to be -- I'm not feeling very happy about the whole age thing), we're going to New York. Yankees game and Shakespeare in Central Park. Liev Schreiber is doing Henry V, which is one of my all-time favorites. I've mentioned that I *love* Shakespeare, right? I'll also be in Las Vegas in a few weeks for the WebSphere Technical Exchange. Anyone else going to be there? This doesn't seem to be the size of show that Lotusphere is -- more like a devcon-of-old type of show. Later in August, I should be back in NY for Eden's First Annual User Conference -- I've never been to Saratoga Springs, despite having grown up in NY, so it'll be neat to see the races. Not quite as busy a travel schedule as Rob or Ed, but, should still be fun. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
There's a new Diet Coke commercial that I keep seeing that I love -- it's part of their new "movie" theme, I guess -- I'm not sure I'll love all the movie themes, but this one happens to use Casablanca, which is one of my all-time favorite movies! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Rob and I talked recently in blog about the musical Pippin, from which we both had a "favorite" song (actually -- we both sang "Corner of the Sky" in high school, which, well -- there you have it. Still, this upcoming possible movie interested me because of that:
I just love musicals. :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I just read the greatest blog entry (via a link from Dave Winer)-- made me really smile. Not remotely technical, but just... smiley. The topic is how to hug -- he talks about watching people being met at the airport and what kinds of hugs they get and give and etc. I don't really get met at airports very much anymore. I fly primarily for business, so of course there's only a taxi or car rental in my immediate future when I land, and when I do take a trip for pleasure, it's often to Houston, where I usually rent a car. I used to fly to California a fair amount, to visit my grandparents -- my Oma was always there to give a big hug when I got off the plane. Now that I live in San Diego, however, that's not a flying trip anymore... I remember when I first started traveling for business, the whole idea of not being met at the airport (at the gate, even, at that time) made me a little melancholy -- I liked getting off the plane and having someone there to hug. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
You probably know by now that I travel a fair bit. Nothing like Ed, clearly, but I do my fair share. So, I spend a lot of time packing and unpacking and hanging out in airports and thinking about how the whole travel process works... Some things I've been thinking about recently:
Anyway, you're reading this while I'm traveling, if the "held" feature worked like it's supposed to, so... What are your travel joys and annoyances? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Imagine, if you will, that you have an afternoon or an evening completely free. You've finished your big hanging-over-your-head, you feel guilty if you're not working on them constantly projects, the laundry and dishes and house cleaning are done (or done enough for now), your spouse/partner/children are off doing their own things... You're free. What do you do? For me, it depends on how recently I've had some time like this -- if I haven't had any completely unhindered, unencumbered time for a while, it's likely that I'm going to curl up on the couch, with a nice cup of tea and some air-popped popcorn, and watch a chick flick and read a relaxing book. Yes, I read and watch movies simultaneously -- but I'm usually paying more attention to one or the other. Other options I might consider include:
If I've had a couple of these types of afternoons in the recent past (not very likely, but let's run with it), I might get into a non-work, non-required project. I've got stories and poems and books partially written that I drag out, I have some cross-stitch and quilting projects, I have picture albums that need working on, I have "house" projects -- all of which are out there, waiting to be finished or picked up or worked on.... Whatever. Not, mind you, that this kind of afternoon is likely to show itself any time in the very near future, but I was just having a moment of wishful thinking... :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
There was briefly an entry up here that was complete mush -- not sure what happened to make it do that, but I've removed it for repair.... ;-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
In addition to today being my Dad's birthday (he would've been 62 today -- happy birthday, Daddy!), it's also apparently the 10 year mark for the IBM Software Group. While the group was officially announced in 1995, according to the story (and Steve Mills interview) at eWeek, it really came into being in 1993. Mills talks about e-business, the On-demand "set of business characteristics," competition with M$ and .Net, J2EE as the "son of Corba, " and the Rational acquisition. I did notice that in answer to the question a bout his message on competing with Microsoft, that Steve didn't really get into the whole Exchange vs. Notes debate at all, although he does emphasize the fact that IBM software offers heterogeneity (in which Lotus clearly participates) vs. Microsoft's one-size-must-fit-all Windows-only plan. In fact, if you ask me, Steve was remarkably reticent about our favorite yellow brand, but I'm sure that's just my bias showing. In other news:
Time for another true confession... I have a television addiction. To Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And it's ending for good tomorrow night. Sadness. (And while I won't out him publicly, I will say that I know I'm not the only one around here who has said addiction... Are you reading, my fellow addict?) In honor of the show, I thought I'd give you a few links about about the show...
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Ahhhhh.... Just such a gorgeous day here... Sunny, warm (70F), breezy... Oh, welcome! Sorry, I was just distracted by the sun for a moment. Barbara Bowen, Lotus's worldwide certification program manager, is guest blogging on Ed Brill's Lotus Weblog today (and for the next four weeks). She's talking about the new IBM Software group certification -- have you all heard about this already? Basically, instead of being CLPs, we'll be IBM Certified Professionals (at varying levels). There're details about it on the Lotus certification site. Barb is actually one of my favorite people -- she and I have been friends for many years - we have a lot of fun together and she's introduced me to a lot of cool people (she also introduced me to Chris, but I won't hold that against her...) (just teasing, Chris!). Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
"Working order" for the blog seems to possibly be a bit of a misnomer. There's still some kind of issue with the rich text field -- I'm having to save and edit twice to get it to show up... Hmmm... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It seems as though my blog is back in working order, thanks to Chris and Steve. As most of you pointed out, Comments weren't working for a few days there, even though I could see them in the database. One problem, I think, has to do with the way we replace the design. It seems as though I have to do the replace/rebuild design process not only on the server replica, but also on the local replica, otherwise stuff breaks when I write on the local replica and replicate (which is what I was doing -- despite Chris's smartass comments to the contrary) while I was gone. The scheduling bit that Chris refers to also wasn't working in the last rev of the template (or at least not working in the way I expected it to) so we'll see what's up now. I'm back in California after my long trip. Boston was nice this week -- weather was mixed, but I got to see a few of our good vendor friends/partners and some of my good friends at Lotus. I am, as you might imagine, trying to dig myself out of a huge e-mail hole. I should have worked on that last night on the plane (2 1/2 hours from Boston to Chicago and then 4+ from Chicago to SD), but instead I rented a DVD player and some movies at the airport -- have you guys done that? It gives me some extra crap to carry, which I don't like, but it gives me a chance to completely relax and watch a movie that I actually wantto watch, which I do like. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Libby is off in Boston eating great food, having meetings and generally staying out late I think. She has let this whole week slide so I decided to pop in, update her template to 2.10e from DominoBlog and generally let everyone know she is alive and missing doing her own blogs. You may ask, why doesn't she just make one and replicate it up? Or possibly do one in advance and set the timer? Well....the easy answer is, I have no idea. :-) LOL I will update my own page later today with some questions on exams. I want to hear some feedback on that in a bit. Libby, Jason Collier and myself did a Birds of a Feather Session on certification and I am curious what the rest of our blogging friends think. So look for that this afternoon over on that other Bat Channel, other Bat Time (for those of you that watched Batman and Robin you know what I am joking about don't you?) Yours Truly, IdoNotes Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Here I was thinking I was being really good and getting some blogging done on Sunday afternoon. I was hoping to beat Chris to the punch, since he gave me such a hard time about being late to the blogging during the week. And so I dutifully get online, get ready to write a blog... and what do I find? He was faster on the draw again. Sigh. Anyway, we did have a good time at the Admin show. Of course, we worked hard too -- many long hours of writing slides in advance, then many long hours of presenting while there. The trip to Boston was a bit long -- I took the red-eye from Vegas, leaving at 11:45 pm. I got Chicago at 4 am (ish) and flew to Boston at around 7. Considering I basically went right to a wedding after arriving, I was pretty tired. Of course, the last time I took a red-eye was last year's (2002) Lotusphere. Ask the Turtle and anyone else who was at the ESPN for that year's Saturday night gathering -- I get a little giggly/punchy/fiesty when I haven't had any sleep! (Of course, it might've also been the tequila that time, but...) I'll be in Boston through Thursday of this week. Monday I'll be doing a Webcast with Barbara Bowen, the manager of the Lotus certification program, then I have meetings with vendors for the rest of the week and may make it out to Westford on Thursday before I leave for home. Hopefully I'll have some good Lotus-related scoop to report here toward the end of the week. For anyone curious, the hotel room here in Boston is nothing like what I had in Vegas -- in fact, the hotel room is about the size of... umm... 1/2 the bathroom of the room in Vegas. On the other hand, Brian rented a car this weekend to drive around Massachusetts, and ended up with a Jaguar, so I guess I got some spoiling here too. :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It's such a nice day.... Not only am I looking out at the ocean, but I'm about to close up the laptop for the day and go for a run on the beach, I think. And then tomorrow, I'm going to get up early and go do my beach-front yoga class. I can feel the stress ebbing away just thinking about it. Getting ready to leave for the Admin2003 show on Monday morning. I have to spend some time this weekend going over the slides -- I wrote them months ago (like January/February time frame) and I need to review my demos, etc... Thanks to everyone who commented on the commenting blog from a few days ago. Interesting how everyone assumed that b/c I was unsure about the etiquette/appropriateness of commenting that it meant I'm shy. As it turns out, I am, but I hadn't really thought of that as the reason why I don't just jump in and comment. You'd think that someone who chooses to write a blog would be non-shy by definition, wouldn't you? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Let's talk about commenting on blogs. Do you make comments when you read a blog that makes you think, giggle, growl, etc? What if you don't know the person at all -- you just happened upon their blog by clicking from someone else's blog or doing a search on some unrelated topic... And what if it's not a "Domino-blog" or even a technology/professional-related blog? I find that I have no problem commenting on blogs where I know the blogger (or think that the person probably knows me). I have also occassionally commented on blogs where I don't know the blogger but it was technical blog or a "professional" topic where I thought I had something to add. Where I seem to have drawn my own line at the moment is on blogs that are more personal -- they're not by someone I know or related to a business/professional topic. It's hard at that point to know if everyone commenting knows the person or is just... commenting. I get comments so far only from people I know or at least know by association... How about you? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I spent some time today figuring out my schedule for the next few weeks. The only thing I have to say is: scary. Next week, I'm off to a conference in LA for two days. The show is called The Folio:Show -- it's actually not a technical conference -- it's a conference about publishing. Instead of attending sessions on Domino Designer, JSP tags, LotusScript, and Sametime, I'll be attending sessions with names like:
Sounds interesting --it's the first conference of its kind that I've been to. For those of you that know me, you know that while I do have a background in writing (internship in a newspaper, tech writing, tech editing, writing a couple of books, etc.), and most of a minor in journalism (I switched to a minor in philosophy and history half-way through), I came to my job with the magazine not through journalism, but through the technology. Actually, it's kind of a funny story. I had just written my first two books and was looking around for ways to market them. I figured that writing for a magazine might be a way to get folks to know my name and then maybe buy my books... not too unreasonable. So I was surfing around and found a site called DominoPro.com -- it was a site that hadn't yet been launched - it basically had a statement telling what it would be someday and a name/e-mail address if you wanted more information. I wrote to the guy (his name is Chris Miller, too, but it's not this Chris). I offered to write for him, he made me a technical editor, and we went on from there... Anyway, I digress. This was about how busy I am the next few weeks.
It's at least remotely possible that there may be some guest blogging during that time. :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, here it is... Sunday already. I hate how that happens so quickly. Today is tax day in the Schwarz household. It's also laundry day. Both in preparation for leaving tomorrow for New Orleans... And it's also set-up-the-new-PDA-day, for me! I got a Toshiba e740 yesterday. So far I'm having a bit of trouble getting my laptop to see the cradle and let me sync, but I'm sure it'll happen. I think I'm going to give Cadenza's mNotes a try as my Notes sync tool -- anyone have opinions you'd like to share? Comments are still not working, but Steve is definitely working on it and hopefully we'll have a new template up tomorrow or so... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
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