How bizarre.
I went in three bookstores last night
and didn't buy anything.
(That they didn't have what I wanted
is beside the point.)
Open letter to DVD menu designers:
Make your hotspots large.
Some of us navigate with mice;
some of us use the fussy, spotty IR remotes
that come with projectors
and are less responsive
than a ten-year-old arcade joystick
with soda spilled into it.
I should be able to click on the whole word
and a good range of pixels around it,
not some cute green circle
the size of Janet Jackson's nipple shield.
Thank you.
Make your hotspots large.
Some of us navigate with mice;
some of us use the fussy, spotty IR remotes
that come with projectors
and are less responsive
than a ten-year-old arcade joystick
with soda spilled into it.
I should be able to click on the whole word
and a good range of pixels around it,
not some cute green circle
the size of Janet Jackson's nipple shield.
Thank you.
I keep saying I'm a calligrapher.
Well, I've made good,
and I'm sharing.
Holiday Postcards for sale.
I also put the image on a mug
and traditional greeting cards in
Spyderella's Attic.
Enjoy.
Well, I've made good,
and I'm sharing.
Holiday Postcards for sale.
I also put the image on a mug
and traditional greeting cards in
Spyderella's Attic.
Enjoy.
Trying out Flickr for photo management,
I've created a photoset for our
Victory Chimes photos.
Enjoying Flickr so far.
I've created a photoset for our
Victory Chimes photos.
Enjoying Flickr so far.
I like Q&A memes. This one's from Fred, who got it from Betty.
Hardback or Paperback? Paperback or eBook. Hardbacks leave marks on my tummy.
Highlight or Underline? Neither, ever. It's a greater hindrance than taking no notes at all, since you highlight instead of read.
Lewis or Tolkien? Let's see... Read Narnia 5 times; read LOtR... well... I've got a bookmark in one of 'em.
E.B. White or A.A. Milne? I think Charlotte and Pooh would be friends, don't you?
T.S. Eliot or e.e. cummings? e.e. cummings.
Stephen King or Dean Koontz? Stephen King.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? Waldenbooks or B. Dalton? BookPeople, BookPeople, BookPeople.
Fantasy or Science Fiction? Fantasy is a plotline that gets mistaken for a genre. Waste of my time. Sci-fi for me, baby.
Horror or Suspense? Horror.
Bookmark or Dogear? Bookmark, envelope, bank receipt, business card, Toastmasters ribbon, magazine postcard, bacon...
Hemingway or Faulkner? I am so not erudite enough.
Fitzgerald or Steinbeck? I remember suffering through Steinbeck in high school, while finding Fitzgerald rather readable. That was ages ago, though.
John Irving or John Updike? See above, re erudite.
Homer or Plato? Homer.
Geoffrey Chaucer or Edmund Spenser? Literary people are name-droppers, if you ask me. How much Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, Kip Thorne, or Albert Einstein have you read, eh?
Pen or Pencil? Papermate Comfortmate retractable ballpoint pen.
Looseleaf or Notebook? Moleskine notebook, like what Hemmingway used. (Nyeah.)
Alphabetize: By Author or By Title? My books are arranged by height.
Dustjacket: On or Off? On, and it makes me faintly crazy when Jon takes them off and allows them to get creased.
Novella or Epic? My fave is the sci-fi short-short. But I've been known to read epics. I lean away from them, though, because that seems to be the mainstay of sloppy writing and lazy editing in the fantasy genre. Ask yourself: Does this story have to be this long?
John Grisham or Scott Turow? I read modern hype authors even less than I read old classics. I'm at least making an effort towards the latter.
J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket? Lemony Snicket is the better wordsmith. Rowling is telling an engaging story, though.
Fiction or Non-fiction? Chocolate or steak?
Historical Biography or Historical Romance? Biography.
A Few Pages per Sitting or Finish at Least a Chapter? At least a chapter, which keeps making me late to work.
Short Story or Creative Non-fiction Essay? Cupcakes or pie? Depends on the piece.
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Neil Gaiman has it right: Once upon a dark and stormy time...
Buy or Borrow? Borrow. I hold library cards in Austin and in Pflugerville.
Book Reviews or Word of Mouth? Recommendations from people I respect. Also, sitting on the floor and picking things off the shelf that catch my eye. I found Salamander that way.
I'm in one of my moods again.
I'm slavering over TextPattern, TextDrive,
and Blogger-for-NaNoWriMo.
And I still want to make a skeksis.
I'm slavering over TextPattern, TextDrive,
and Blogger-for-NaNoWriMo.
And I still want to make a skeksis.
Wow.
Laurie Anderson was really cool.
Insight of the evening:
Stuttering happens at the beginning
because it is a fear of the beginning.
By the time we get to the end,
it's too late to be afraid.
Laurie Anderson was really cool.
Insight of the evening:
Stuttering happens at the beginning
because it is a fear of the beginning.
By the time we get to the end,
it's too late to be afraid.
The Royal Tenenbaums really impressed me.
It told its story the way that books I like tell their stories. It felt like Visual Michael Chabon.
Scenes are composed like paintings. Color is a tool.
There is not a wasted frame of celluloid. A person's entire story is transmitted directly into your brain with a shot that lasts bare seconds.
The family in the story is so broken and weird that they're just like you.
It's not that the movie is funny and poignant;
it's that every moment is funny and poignant.
It told its story the way that books I like tell their stories. It felt like Visual Michael Chabon.
Scenes are composed like paintings. Color is a tool.
There is not a wasted frame of celluloid. A person's entire story is transmitted directly into your brain with a shot that lasts bare seconds.
The family in the story is so broken and weird that they're just like you.
It's not that the movie is funny and poignant;
it's that every moment is funny and poignant.
"Epicenter"
is not a synonym for "center,"
nor does it mean
"really big important center."
It means "place above the center,"
as in, the place on the earth's crust
above the location of the earthquake.
And I'll take issue with any
usage board that says otherwise.
*tsk*
is not a synonym for "center,"
nor does it mean
"really big important center."
It means "place above the center,"
as in, the place on the earth's crust
above the location of the earthquake.
And I'll take issue with any
usage board that says otherwise.
*tsk*
In an attempt to make our 3-hour department-wide meetings more palatable, the organizers send trivia questions ahead of time, and hold a drawing for restaurant gift certificates amongst the right answers during the meeting. (The only way to make these meetings more palatable is to make them shorter. Anything that does not make them shorter is not "fun," but "annoying." Shorter. Just shorter.) Yes, we are asked trivia questions without a time limit (except, I suppose, "Friday") while sitting in front of internet connections to Google. Don't think on it too hard.
Today I received the following emails, sent to every member of the department:
11:15 am (Department Admin): What was General Phil Sheridan's horse's name?
11:30 am (Department Employee): Old Rienzi
11:31 am (Same Department Employee): Sorry my bad
Today I received the following emails, sent to every member of the department:
11:15 am (Department Admin): What was General Phil Sheridan's horse's name?
11:30 am (Department Employee): Old Rienzi
11:31 am (Same Department Employee): Sorry my bad
Currently reading
Don't Know Much About History.
Highly recommended.
Covers U.S. history from Columbus to Dubya,
stitching those vague scraps
you gleaned from high-school football coaches
onto a cohesive tapestry.
Don't Know Much About History.
Highly recommended.
Covers U.S. history from Columbus to Dubya,
stitching those vague scraps
you gleaned from high-school football coaches
onto a cohesive tapestry.
Hey.
Hey, you.
Hey, Texans!
Jon and I will host
an I-Just-Voted Party
after November 2.
Get off your duff and register.
Then be at the polls on Nov 2.
Party details to follow.
Hey, you.
Hey, Texans!
Jon and I will host
an I-Just-Voted Party
after November 2.
Get off your duff and register.
Then be at the polls on Nov 2.
Party details to follow.
People ask me
(and by "people,"
I mean "Toastmasters")
why I think the District Conference
isn't worth the price of admission.
I'll put it for you plainly:
If I'm spending 100 bucks for a con,
I'm damn well going to be
meeting Neil Gaiman at it.
(and by "people,"
I mean "Toastmasters")
why I think the District Conference
isn't worth the price of admission.
I'll put it for you plainly:
If I'm spending 100 bucks for a con,
I'm damn well going to be
meeting Neil Gaiman at it.
Spider-Man, Spider-Man...
Dude, Spider-Man 2 was awesome.
Very human, developed characters,
and a sympathetic villian!
Of course,
Michael Chabon contributed.
Dude, Spider-Man 2 was awesome.
Very human, developed characters,
and a sympathetic villian!
Of course,
Michael Chabon contributed.
Cube-dwelling etiquette question for you:
When two generally
(and often specifically)
irritating people
yell over the wall to each other
with a question that neither can answer,
should you:
a) walk over and politely volunteer the answer,
b) join in their charming low-tech conference call,
c) keep your peace, since ignorance is bliss and they don't really want to know anyway,
or d) tell them to shut the fuck up because some of us are trying to work and already know how to use our damn email program?
Just wondering.
When two generally
(and often specifically)
irritating people
yell over the wall to each other
with a question that neither can answer,
should you:
a) walk over and politely volunteer the answer,
b) join in their charming low-tech conference call,
c) keep your peace, since ignorance is bliss and they don't really want to know anyway,
or d) tell them to shut the fuck up because some of us are trying to work and already know how to use our damn email program?
Just wondering.
After hearing about it all over the net,
I finally had an opportunity to listen to
Eric Idle's FCC song.
He's my hero.
I finally had an opportunity to listen to
Eric Idle's FCC song.
He's my hero.
Software Estimation, A Parable
Question: If it takes one woman nine months to have a baby, how long will it take two women?
Woman's Answer: Nine months.
Manager's Answer: 4.5 months.
Developer's Answer: 12 months, since she's a junior developer. (Get it? Junior Developer? Ha!)
Executive's Answer: Can't we outsource that?
Question: If it takes one woman nine months to have a baby, how long will it take two women?
Woman's Answer: Nine months.
Manager's Answer: 4.5 months.
Developer's Answer: 12 months, since she's a junior developer. (Get it? Junior Developer? Ha!)
Executive's Answer: Can't we outsource that?
And finally
(It's Crazy Web Day in Sherbie Land.),
if it doesn't already,
www.spyderella.net
will point here shortly.
That will always work,
so get in the habit, slacker.
(It's Crazy Web Day in Sherbie Land.),
if it doesn't already,
www.spyderella.net
will point here shortly.
That will always work,
so get in the habit, slacker.
BugMeNot.com
provides logins to free sites
that require registrations.
Their FAQ explains why.
At last,
I can read NY Times articles.
provides logins to free sites
that require registrations.
Their FAQ explains why.
At last,
I can read NY Times articles.
Posted some slightly older
photos of the new Udvar-Hazy Center
of the National Air and Space Museum.
You can't fit the whole Concord
in one frame.
photos of the new Udvar-Hazy Center
of the National Air and Space Museum.
You can't fit the whole Concord
in one frame.
Oh, bliss.
At this moment,
I am sitting in a LoveSac,
in my living room,
with (at last!) internet restored.
It doesn't get any better, baby.
At this moment,
I am sitting in a LoveSac,
in my living room,
with (at last!) internet restored.
It doesn't get any better, baby.
Oh, these boys know how to woo.
"Because you're such an active
and long-time Blogger user,
we'd like you to try Gmail."
Of course I signed up.
Yes, on the first date, even.
"Because you're such an active
and long-time Blogger user,
we'd like you to try Gmail."
Of course I signed up.
Yes, on the first date, even.
Oh my.
I like the idea of
thinking of myself as Scheherazade.
These are stirring words
to a would-be writer.
I like the idea of
thinking of myself as Scheherazade.
These are stirring words
to a would-be writer.
Hee.
States I've been in.
You can tell where I lived,
where I visited,
and where I drove through
to get to the new Where I Live.
Create your own.
States I've been in.
You can tell where I lived,
where I visited,
and where I drove through
to get to the new Where I Live.
Create your own.
Inspired by weekly doses
of the dense, meaty morsels
of FronteraFest Short Fringe,
I am writing a play.
of the dense, meaty morsels
of FronteraFest Short Fringe,
I am writing a play.
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