So, I’m sitting on hold, going on 25 minutes, to get the status of my delayed luggage. There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep, knowing they might call tonight. Ugh. And I’m not very impressed with the hotel I’m in either. I am I just being pissy, to think it’s unreasonable to pay 140$ a night for a room with a view of a lake, but no coffee maker, no refrigerator, no alarm clock, and a tv that you can listen to but will get a headache to watch? NO COFFEE MAKER? And when was the last time you spent 30 minutes, now, on hold without a speaker phone? Ugh. No coffee maker. At least there’s a hairdryer, not that I have a brush to use with it. Well, I’m about to give up and go ask for a toothbrush.
Last week was ridiculously busy, but I hope to have quite an easier time this week. Last week, I finished my first sweater (pics coming next week), finished reading “Making Money” (which had me in stitches, in several places), and finished the specs for a new project at work. I hope that, this evening, I’ll finish my laundry, but there is about as much hope of that as finishing my first ever pair of socks, which are coming along quite nicely but still about three days away from being done.
My DH and I went to see Kung Fu Panda, which, apart from being very silly, did make me chuckle several times, though not along with the rest of the theater. I also watched Somewhere in Time (ick… where’s the story??) and the new Hairspray, which I thought was great in spite of John Travolta.
We also had dinner with a neighbor. I love having neighbors for friends; its so much easier than relationships where you always have to keep up and take turns. With a neighbor, you can drop in just about any time, and if you don’t talk for a month, well, then you’ll just have a lot to catch up on next time you pass in the street. It’s an easy relationship, which is nice in a world where most of my friends are at least a 30 minute drive away, and I usually have to do all the phone calling/planning/what not. I’m glad I live in a friendly neighborhood.
On Tuesday, I’ll be traveling to Traverse City, Michigan. I’m really looking forward to it, having never been to that region of the country before, and also being in severe need of a vacation. I love my job, and I love the people that I work with, so I know that, when I don’t want to spend an entire day at work, it’s time for a break. This trip is work-related, but hopefully will be different enough to count as a break. I’m attending the ACE Conference, then the Leadership Institute that follows. There are about 14 people in the class, I think, and I’m looking forward to meeting some new people and maybe learning some new things about myself. (The Meyers-Briggs personality test is apparently part of the first session.) We’ll see how much is really revelation, and how much I already knew but just don’t like to admit. La.
Earlier this week, I taught my 2-day course on using Dreamweaver again. This week’s group had a surprising number of guys – usually there are one or two – this time it was 50/50. I was actually a little nervous at first, but it didn’t last long.
Each class is truly unique. This is the first one I have taught where I didn’t lose at least one student by the end of the first afternoon. Continuing Ed has been recommending interested people take the HTML and CSS class, and it’s really paid off. The last class I taught was all women, or maybe all women with 1 guy, and was the most fun class I’ve ever had. When I got to the section on CSS, and showed them what they could do, they really got excited! That’s always fun for an instructor. The kept leaping to the next logical step, even when I couldn’t cover it in the class, and seeing them put 2 and 2 together really was fun. This latest class wasn’t so excited but seemed a little more competent about it all.
By the end of the two days, I’m always just totally beat. Standing up and talking nearly non-stop for two days, when you aren’t used to that, is really exhausting! And, of course, the next couple of days at the regular job are all catch up and not any less exhausting. Sometimes, like today, when I get back from playing catch-up, I wonder if it is really worth it to do it. When I think about it reflectively, I really think it is – I’m potentially enabling people, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to use a tool, to use a tool that will certainly change the way they look at the web, and might allow them to change their lives… and maybe make their lives a little better. I think it’s definitely worth a hoarse throat and a little catch-up, to have that opportunity.
As someone who really just doesn’t get all this social networking stuff, this is the most adult-oriented concise explanation I’ve seen for using twitter:
http://marketingintegrity.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/twitter-me-this/
It’s been a couple of years since I gamed, and the last one I played was Guild Wars. Tired of monthly service fees and jacka**es who always wanted me to heal in spite of my warning not to invite me with the expectation of me being a healer (my favorite characters are always friars, because they are self-sufficient and can kick butt), I liked Guild Wars a great deal. There’s something nice about having a landscape to one’s self.
Recently, though, my hubbie has gotten busy in gaming again. Ladies, you know how that goes – if the guy is going to game, and you’re not going to be a stranger, you get an account and join him. So, he’s gotten back into Dark Ages of Camelot, which we both played together a number of years ago. DAOC was probably my favorite of all the games I played, and truly the only reason I quit was said jacka**es above. This time, I’m playing on a light-weight laptop with an onboard graphics card over wireless. It’s a little laggish, but fun none-the-less. Is it girly of me to like the lower levels, where you aren’t swamped with power-hungry teenagers who want to steal your kill? Well, it won’t last long. Tonight an aggravated lynx… tomorrow, Midgard!
Filed under: Random
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/065njdoe.asp
Recently, I’ve had a number of conversations with vegetarians and vegans. I’ve heard a number of reasons for not eating meat, but the most interesting one to me has to do with not eating something that is intelligent in its own right. Where do you draw the line for something like that? Sure, most animals have some form of intelligence. But what about a plant that turns itself to face the sun so that it can grow bigger? What about a plant that lures insects into its folds, then traps and consumes them? Soon enough, you won’t eat plants either. So what, then, are you actually allowed to eat?
One of the vegans maintains that part of his reasoning is that people should not grow animals to be slaughtered and consumed. It’s not ok, for example, to have a chicken farm or a cattle ranch, or eat the products from those places, because we are interfering with nature’s methods of reproduction/evolution/what-not, because cows are intelligent and should be respected as intelligent beings. This particular one only eats plant-based foods, only wears plant-based materials, etc. A point of argument between is us is, if it is not ok to grow animals for consumpution, why is it ok to grow crops for consumption? Cotton, corn, trees for paper, etc.? Doesn’t it interfere as much with nature’s evolution? (Genetic engineering of crops is not a subject that has come up yet.) I get the impression that (this vegan thinks) we should just return to our hunting-and-gathering days; we should purposefully discard the evolutionary advantages that have allowed us to get to this technological age so that we can hang out with species without those evolutionary advantages. Hmm. I think I’ll pass.
God forbid plant rights take hold; the world will starve.
I visited Shuttles, Needles and Hooks (ravelry link) today - one of several LYSs here – and picked up a number (too many) really lovely yarns that I don’t see at home. One of the customers there had actually lived in Baton Rouge several years ago, and asked if we even had any yarn shops there. We do – 1, right now – but not with the selection of this place, which was just fantastic. She says, “I guess people don’t knit much down there. Too hot.” Hot, yes. But too hot to knit? What kind of excuse is that? There are all sorts of yarns besides wool (try linen, or cotton, or soy or corn), so what the heat has to do with it, I’m really not sure. But maybe I should open a yarn shop and stir up a little competition. Excluding the yarns I bought for Christmas present making (not going to spoil any surprises there) , I’ve got one each of:
· An eye-catching Grignasco Tango in a tweedy purple of wool, alpaca and viscose
· A super yummy Mille Colori (wool, acrylic) by Lang Yarns in peacock greens and purples
· And another Mille Colori in oranges, blues and red
· And a sumptuous fuzzy Lang Venezia (mohair, acrylic) in cranberry that was supposed to be for a gift but is almost certainly going to end up in my closet
Apparently I really like Lang yarns. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them at home.
My first sock is actually progressing. I’ve frogged it completely 4 times now but I think I’ve finally got the hang of it, so maybe I’ll be ready for a heel by the time I return home. That will warrant a trip to the LYS for help – I’ll have to be sure to leave the credit cards at home. Every time I come home with such a big bag, and then think about all the stash I’ve already got, I think maybe I’m just a yarn junkie. I like to knit, but I like the yarn all packaged up even better…
I’m here at NETC now, three days into the conference, in Cary, North Carolina. For those of you who don’t know, NETC stands for National Extension Technology Conference. This year’s focus seems to be about social networking, collaboration, and “Web 2.0″. Right now, I’m sitting in a round table discussion of how to implement MOSS 2007, which is mostly consisting of the problems we are trying to address, without too many solutions. So, I’m guessing that most land grant universities that are planning on using MOSS 2007 are in about the same place – just getting started and exploring.
As a result of this conference, I’ve started this blog and signed up for Twitter, of all things. You can find me at http://twitter.com/lambrite. No promises on activity there – it’s really not my style, but maybe it will grow on me.
