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Wednesday, April 30, 2003

 
4:58 PM: [#] [0]

the oregon dmv people are so great! after reading the "welcome to oregon" page, i called them to verify the steps and ask some questions. someone answered the first ring! it absolutely floored me! and she was friendly and helpful! then i called the department of environmental quality to ask them a question, and they answered the first ring too, with someone also friendly and helpful. then i called dmv again, and another equally helpful & friendly person answered. i have no idea what they pay these people, but they're worth every penny!

the only sadness is that the registration fee is $30 more for a hybrid than any other type of car. :P and the fact that because i have a loan, i have to completely rely on toyota financial services to get my paperwork to oregon in a timely fashion. i wish i had done this three weeks ago; i hope my karma holds out long enough to get the plates.

 
11:40 AM: [#] [0]

i wonder if two oregon trip permits will work? california's trip permits will get me out of california.

 
9:51 AM: [#] [0]

why did we even need to schedule a meeting? he asked me three questions and that was that. "i'm so glad you made us keep the readme file." yeah, like i could make him do anything. after fighting me for 3 years, only now that i'm leaving can anyone express appreciation at what i tried to do.

 
8:40 AM: [#] [0]

mcdonald's is offering dippin' dots now! this may directly compete with my desire for cinnamon ice cream. :)

i'm watching the apple music webcast (thanks, michael!) and nobody mentioned the ability for users to customize ipod menus! i would have given that a "whoo!" if i had known. :) i'm still wondering how steve managed to convince the labels to do this.

quotes:
"it's best not to mess with with karma."
"we think subscriptions are the wrong way to go." (unless it's .mac, of course!)
hunter s. thompson: "the music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. there's also a negative side." (though apparently hunter said this about tv, not music)

i'd like an option to "bookmark" songs to come back to later. can you imagine this combined with a wishlist? you could buy someone a playlist for their birthday. :) not too far-fetched considering they licensed 1-click from amazon.

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

 
9:35 PM: [#] [0]

they came! they took stuff! (though for some reason i couldn't let go of the papsan chair, which they might not have been able to fit in the truck, anyway). then there was a new buffy episode! i'm watching pbs' "manor house" now. so glad i didn't live back then.

 
6:22 PM: [#] [0]

homeward bound now to get a couch taken off my hands, along with some other stuff. i hope.

 
5:46 PM: [#] [0]

oh, this is the kind of site i want to make: public lettering: a walk in central london.

and hey, look! naomi made a whole ephemera exhibit page! thanks, naomi! i took some of the pix you see for the main exhibit, as well. both pages are a little wide; you may need to scroll to the right. oh, and i forgot that due to the response and the incoming traffic, brian asked us to stay at the gallery an extra month.

 
4:30 PM: [#] [0]

michael & i tried sharing our itunes but it didn't work (i suspect a firewall port issue). but he's got people over there nibbling!

you can thank alex for sending a link to the awesome clutter application.

 
3:22 PM: [#] [0]

about itunes: what about multiple accounts on a machine? how does that affect the authorization/deauthorization process? what if you buy some of your music on a computer different than the ones you intend to play it on? what if you want to buy a song for a friend? and why didn't they save this for the next macworld?

 
2:44 PM: [#] [0]

the logs are showing a browser identifying itself as
"Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; Hillview School for Girls - Staff; Hillview School for Girls - Student; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)"

i wonder what that's about. hee.

 
12:41 PM: [#] [0]

good: today's becky's birthday! michael's already made his first itunes purchase. brian sent me [two] [pictures] after i realized i was seriously lacking in photoshop opportunities. i deposited my federal income tax check. i've contacted HR to begin the formal check-out process. as far as i know, the women's studies group will be picking up a load of stuff tonight. new buffy episode tonight!

bad: rob is unhappy about still being in albuquerque. you can't de-metallifize itunes. garrett has decided i'm not really a functioning member of this year's tulip team so he doesn't want to have to send me updates. he's right, of course, which makes it worse. i can't catch a break on california car registration, which will continue to be $150 for 6 weeks. my dentist's office still owes me $100 for something they accidentally doublecharged me for and promised to fix two weeks ago. i get my wisdom teeth out thursday. only one person has a copy of the generate performance and keeps asking me to check back with her later. the income tax check may be my last "extra" money till i move and then for a long while afterwards.

Monday, April 28, 2003

 
6:29 PM: [#] [0]

more thoughts on the ipod: i just noticed the edges are rounded! it's probably one of the things i'm finding so luciously endearing about it. i'm also wondering about the alarm clock feature: does that mean they expect you to sleep with those headphones on?

 
3:38 PM: [#] [0]

finally! leeann's work is revealed! "We're working on a version of iTunes for Windows
that will bring this to Windows users. (It's Mac only today.) You see, that's my little piece of the larger Apple universe. I'm the manager in charge of the group getting iTunes and the Music Store up and running for Windows users." yay! *jumps up & down*

 
12:10 PM: [#] [0]

oh, so online music was the big announcement from apple. not a huge surprise, considering so many of the online services don't work with a mac. it's too bad it's only available via itunes, and i'm not sure i would have made eminem my posterboy. :) but hey, sure enough, itunes has a rendezvous-sharing feature (poor icommune!). and the new ipods have added standard interface buttons in addition to the scroll wheel (a good decision, i think). too bad the dock is kinda ugly, but that was a good decision, too. it's edging closer and closer to a pda with every incarnation. doesn't "neodymium" sound like a made-up word? still, i wonder what leeann's got to do with it all. :)

update: i forgot to mention how glad i am this is not a subscription service. with their foray into .mac, i feared it might be. i'm wondering if they plan for a .mac hook sometime soon.

update update: and apparently i should be glad to live in the united states: the apple music service isn't inernational. *winces* (though one anonymous poster wrote, "i'd much rather have social democracy, peace, edible yogurt, and viable public transport than 99 cent downloadable songs. count your blessing, europe." hee.)

 
11:36 AM: [#] [0]

jeff has pictures of their new house up. he even got a new "flame" key (like the groovy keys or personali-keys) cut for it. ee! i love those keys, though i prefer old keys even more. but i guess it doesn't matter how pretty your key is if someone's just going to pick the lock anyway. :)

Sunday, April 27, 2003

 
8:38 PM: [#] [0]

imap rocks. even outlook plays nicely with imap. i'm still a little confused by apple's mail program, though (the irony is not lost on me).

 
5:59 PM: [#] [0]

apparently leeann has been contributing to photo friday (look for "leeannh"). she also recommends a site called truck 808 and says, "is that my problem with inspiration? i haven't chosen an adequately compelling theme?" which is, of course, crazy. leeann writes great stuff, even if i am missing her work poems since she began working for apple (though even then she's been sending "apple sightings," descriptions of odd people who work there. and/or al gore).

Saturday, April 26, 2003

 
7:07 PM: [#] [0]

how lovely! i thought doing roman caps with the soda pop pen was a nice alternative to a broad-edged pen, but learning pen manipulation today felt like what i was supposed to be doing all along. in some ways, it very much mimics the letters i draw with a pencil, and all the rules about pen angles go out the window. a lot of the others really had a hard time with twisting the pen so much, but it made so much sense to me i was able to experiment with using some new nibs: a brause 2, a brause 4, a mitchell 6, and a mitchell 0. teri martin really likes using a mitchell 6 on text-sized letters, and a mitchell 0 was close to the 3.8 pilot parallell i've been using (the new one i picked up works just fine, thank you). but i found brauses deliver an excellent crispness and line contrast without any effort at all. i love that. i'll have to pick up a set to practice with.

terrilynn's daughter carrie is going to take the sleeper couch i got from adra, any of my lamps, kitchen stuff and probably anything else i need to get rid of. (yay!) i sure was hoping to get out of here by june 12 or 13, but i'll bet i'll need to wait till saturday (june 14) to get any help loading the truck. at $35 a day in prorated rent, it makes a difference. :)

Friday, April 25, 2003

 
11:41 PM: [#] [0]

apple actually has fairly easy-to-follow instructions for transferring mail from outlook to a .mac account and then to one's computer. i'll have to do it in lots of little batches, but it's better than a lot of the other solutions i was seeing. i'm hoping when burdell adds me to the known hosts file, it'll be much easier. *crosses fingers sleepily*

 
8:49 PM: [#] [0]

i don't really see a way to import 4 years of outlook mail into anything else. what's wrong with the mbox format, i ask? or any format readable by, god forbid, another program? *bangs head on desk several times*

this hasn't been a good computer day for me.

 
8:16 PM: [#] [0]

i'm thinking of just buying a backup firewire drive. the archos is a wildly adequate mp3 player, but not being able to back up onto it has caused me too much pain to be worth trying anymore. i deeply regret not getting an ipod, but i really can't afford the $500 to get one now.

 
6:03 PM: [#] [0]

sing it for me, brother! file sharing tools are legal! "Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends. Grokster and StreamCast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

 
1:32 PM: [#] [0]

the archos is feeling testy today, i guess. it fails on any ditto command i give it. it also refuses to appear in the finder. yes, yes, i should have gotten an ipod.

update: i can cp, but i can't ditto. i need to ditto. argh. i've rebooted & reinstalled the driver. double argh.

Thursday, April 24, 2003

 
9:46 PM: [#] [0]

someone asked about the newton: he asked if i'd sell him the serial connector for $50. and while that was tempting, it sort of makes the newton useless for anyone else and i'd really rather see the whole thing go to someone who will love it.

the women's studies garage sale people haven't gotten back to me about picking up my stuff, even though it's supposed to happen tomorrow. :(

 
3:15 PM: [#] [0]

if i copy the mp3s to the archos via figbash (the windows machine), it's fine. argh. so i can do that, then piece everything else via ditto on nefarious or tess.

 
12:55 PM: [#] [0]

and i'm finally off media deprivation week! whee!

 
12:35 PM: [#] [0]

lara van buskirk emailed me! she was the coordinator of correspondence courses at usc. apparently she's working with roger at adams state college doing web stuff!

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

 
4:16 PM: [#] [0]

i used two different salary calculators to compare my salary here with what would be acceptable in portland.

for the first one, $47,000 in san marcos would need $50,541 in portland!
in the other, $47,000 in san diego would only need $28,848 in portland.

i suspect the second one is more accurate. i hope the second one is more accurate.

 
3:13 PM: [#] [0]

they re-did my filling. they said there might be some water vapour trapped there. i don't care, as long as it's fixed. i probably won't know until tomorrow.

 
12:07 PM: [#] [0]

i spaced my dental adjustment appointment this morning. i had to reschedule for this afternoon. doh! i told you my brain was full! on the bright side, the laundry fairy finally came.

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

 
9:49 PM: [#] [0]

unsolicited testimonial: everything they say about plaza pen & art is absolutely true. they have an excellent selection of materials (especially calligraphy materials), are knowledgeable about them, have a good teaching space in the back, and are so incredibly nice! i called at 5 p.m. from the getty to ask if it was worth trying to get there by the time they closed at 6 p.m. the woman who answered the phone told me not to worry about it; she'd wait! and she did! even though the drive from the getty to fountain valley took me till almost 7 p.m. (how do people handle even part of that commute every day?) i am now the proud owner of a new 3.8 pilot parallel pen, a set of watercolor pencils, a whole set of mitchell nibs (teri's favorites), a brause nib, and some "handy snips."

but my brain is full! the orange county calligraphy guild had a show hanging a show in the back room at plaza pen, so of course i had to look! art is all i've done today! and it's all packed in there about as tight as it can go.

on the way back we got rain, the kind that smells so good, so i rolled down one of the windows and blasted the heater. i haven't eaten in 10 hours but i'm not at all hungry. i feel as if i've feasted, not fasted.

 
3:59 PM: [#] [0]

i requested too much to get through today. i finally got through the scroll and skimmed the mirabilia roma. the good news is i know what (and how) to reserve for next time, so i'm going to run through bill viola's "five angels of the millenium" again and then go home (or plaze pen & ink, if i can). my head is swimming, but in a good way. *blissful sigh*

the bad news: nicki & randy are at a doctor's apointment to see if randy has lymphnoma. then they leave for hawaii saturday. uphill, downhill.

 
1:08 PM: [#] [0]

oh.

my.

GOD!

i'm at the getty research institute and i'm in -loooooooooove!- i'm officially a stack reader now, which means i can come and go through special collections as i please. i have a little shelf space reserved for me, even! the very first thing i opened was the scroll and it was like christmas -- it takes up most of the verrry long table just to unroll a little of it, and then you have to roll up one end and unroll more to continue.

this is one of those things where i keep wanting to say, "what was i thinking? why didn't i come here sooner?" but i think it's better to have come late than never come at all. it might even have been worth the 2.45 hour drive through morning traffic. we'll see if i still believe that when i drive home through the same traffic. :)

lunch with nicki now.

Monday, April 21, 2003

 
7:51 PM: [#] [0]

well, the picture sort of sucks (i could blame this on the camera, the lighting, my lousy touch-up skills), but at long last you can see what the ephemera exhibit looks like! remember, this was something tucked away in the back of the gallery and a place where people were expected to play. i have a chunk of other photos, too, but i find the rotate-rename-adjust process tedious. so i don't know when i'll get around to those.

i was hoping the laundry fairy would come in time for the getty trip tomorrow, but at 8 p.m. the chances are looking slim.
update 04.29.03: hey, look! naomi made a whole ephemera exhibit page! thanks, naomi!

 
3:39 PM: [#] [0]

an hour later, i've got my 5 special collection items to request from the getty:

* Angelorvm et daemonvm nomina et attribvta passim in divinis scriptvris contenta ad patrvm sententiam explicata ..., ca. 1585-1600.

* Calligraphy sampler roll, ca. 1752.

* Mirabilia Romae, [15--?]

* The pen's transcendencie : or, Fair writings labyrinth : wherein faire writing to the life exprest, in sundry copies, cloth'd with arts rich vest. By w[ich], with practice, thou may'st gaine perfection, as the'Heav'n taught author did, without direction / invented, written, and engraved by Edward Cocker.

* Schriften-magazin fèur freunde der kalligraphie und zum unterricht / von Joh. Ev. Mettenleiter.

the selection criteria included: interesting texts, pre-1800, lots of exemplars, unusual items.

 
2:30 PM: [#] [0]

so out of a total of 188 potential calligraphic items to choose from, i've narrowed it to 13. the librarian wants 3-5. now the hard part begins.

why do library catalogs time you out? argh!

 
1:25 PM: [#] [0]

this is the title of a book i think i'm requesting from the getty's special collection, just for the title alone: "The pen's transcendencie : or, Fair writings labyrinth : wherein faire writing to the life exprest, in sundry copies, cloth'd with arts rich vest. By w[ich], with practice, thou may'st gaine perfection, as the'Heav'n taught author did, without direction".

or this one: "The universal penman: or, The art of writing made useful to the gentleman and scholar, as well as the man of business. Exemplified in all the useful and ornamental branches of modern penmanship; with some necessary observations on the excellency of the pen, and a large number of select sentences in prose and verse; various forms of business, relating to merchandize and trade; letters on several occasions; accurate specimens of the oriental languages, and alphabets in all the hands now practis'd / written, with the friendly assistance of several of the most eminent masters, and engrav'd by Geo. Bickham. The whole embelish'd with beautiful decorations for the amusement of the curious. "

this last one i actually own a reprint of. it really is an amazing book.

Sunday, April 20, 2003

 
8:57 PM: [#] [0]

boy, i sure have a lot of stuff in that closet i don't use. but how can i give away the little leather backpack that survived my motorcycle accident? it still has my "get wired" and "i read banned books" buttons on it! does this mean i also have to get rid of my motorcycle boots?
rob says, "motorcycle what? motorcycle whosits? motorcycle huh?"
glenn miller, who is also moving, says, "you should keep the motorcycle boots. the rest can go."

 
6:43 PM: [#] [0]

i've also been busy today practicing roman caps and sorting through stuff for the women's studies garage sale. supposedly, someone will be by on friday to haul it away. i'm off to sort clothes now. that'll feel good. :)

 
4:07 PM: [#] [0]

i have less than a month before i no longer have computer or internet access, so i need to get stuff out of the way which requires regular access to those things. so i finally wrote up my description of the newton and posted it to craigslist. if i don't hear anything in a few days, i'll go for ebay.

i ran into an old file i kept on the newton about my england expenses. it's a fascinating list of almost everything i bought on the trip, which allows me to trace my steps very exactly, but also reminds me i still owe margaret barber about $250. sheesh.
rob says, "show me the ephemera!" and requests that i post the file. i had to retype it, but the list breaks down after i reach london and doesn't show any ireland expenses at all (nor the "spend all the change we have at the airport vending machines" frenzy at the end of the trip).

Saturday, April 19, 2003

 
5:33 PM: [#] [0]

did you know the getty catalogs ephemera? i think i'm going to hyperventilate. :D

 
5:18 PM: [#] [0]

hee! someone accessed my blog through google's spanish translation.

 
3:55 PM: [#] [0]

went to the gallery to get pictures of the exhibit (met a potential new member: hi, ruthie!), walked to the municipal gallery to see their most recent show, went to aaron brothers to pick up a better compass than i currently have and some graph paper (i think i should have gone to rhino art). went to the school to use the fast internet connection to research some manuscripts to request when i visit the getty research institute special collections tuesday. but i tried to sync my palm and was confronted with an "an application failed to respond to a hotsync" request. i hate troubleshooting. i just reinstalled instead.

gerrie & i are going to dinner tonight. we both have things to discuss about our jobs. :)

Friday, April 18, 2003

 
6:22 PM: [#] [0]

adra left me a message at home but when i tried to call the number she left, i got an at&t "out of service" message. :(

 
4:59 PM: [#] [0]

i forgot the iits dean interviews begin monday. i won't be attending; forming an opinion is both useless and dangerous. teresa sent a message with guidelines about "appropriate" and "inappropriate" questions and included an addendum: "also, i want to remind everyone that while we are evaluating the candidates, they are also evaluating us. please do everything you can to make their visits here successful." i don't understand why most people would need to be reminded of this.

 
2:13 PM: [#] [0]

the good news is that this time i didn't get a filling which affected my bite. the bad news is that the whole left side of my mouth is still so numb that i can't actually speak in coherent sentences. i bought a pint of cinnamon ice cream to look forward to when it wears off. ;)

i couldn't help but break the media deprivation because the dentist's office was playing the radio. ahhh..! i thought. music! that's the way life should be. having said that, and though i'm only a little more than a day into it, it's really sort of interesting to break the habits i've accumulated and will myself into silence and activity. it's almost a monastic action. if i think of it as "media fasting" instead of deprivation, will that shift my perception?

 
11:07 AM: [#] [0]

wow! there's a robin hanging out on my patio! i've never seen that before. off to the dentist soon.

 
10:28 AM: [#] [0]

how interesting! :D "curious fish" was like watching a blend of akira and bill viola. i don't know if i could live on a steady diet of butoh, but i really enjoyed what i saw. and it was free because i said i was staff & terrilynn spent a while looking for her old student id before they let her in for free, too. but i wouldn't have felt bad paying the $10 at all.

spirited fishes: fascinating. in fact, when the doors to the theatre were opened, the dancers were already in place lying on the floor. then it was like the initial notes of xtc's "river of orchids" as the bodies flopped and slapped and popped against the stage.

whisper of jelly fishes: it kept reminding me of the creepy scene in akira with the dolls & giant teddy bears.

tiger fish hunting: spit bubbles! sticks as spears.

time machine: a single-person piece where i decided i much prefered butoh in groups. but the end with the lighting & sound was well done.

somewhere over the rainbow: inspired. i laughed most of the time. for the prior part of the show the cast had been dressed in all-white and powdered. for this, the cast came out in black, stood in a line, and grinned maniacally to the lyrics of "somewhere over the rainbow." as the song progressed, their expressions changed to grimaces of anger then sadness. the emotions were such parodies: so large as to be menacing.

in general, i was delighted by the inventiveness of the show. it was full of surprises and irony, both things i appreciate. katsura kan, the choreographer, wrote in the program notes: "I do not think you are able to see story or meaning cause I do not know exactly what's happen. So you'd better to feel like a music concert. I believe you never know what it is however you never feel boring. I just suggest you that I always looking for the non human movement because I still doubt I am human. I always try to show the UFO on the stage something can't identify therefor could you kindly send me the e-mail to what you did see? Please feel free and enjoy our performance, if you found out the very personal comments from your sub consciousness it might be what I want."

i typed that word for tortured word, i swear. :)

afterwards, laura invited me to the cast party. but i'm not always good with cast parties even for casts i actually perform with, so i bowed out. when i dropped terrilynn back home she showed me what she had been painting today. she also gave me a piece of gorey wrapping paper! whee! she said she found it in boston and wasn't sure if i already had it. hee. like i'd care. but better yet, terrilynn remembered the piece of painted paper we worked on together at risa's workshop! when we did the piece in the workshop we had agreed to use it in a further collaborative piece. we're going to make a "chain lettter" after i move which will link about 42 little 2x2 squares of the paper together.

(which reminds me, i'll be in a show in june called "outside the box." pat miller donated about 30 cigar boxes to be used however we wish. the artist's reception (lunch & discussion) will be june 7, the weekend before i move. i don't know what i want to do yet. something about the box says "stage" to me, but how do i keep it from becoming a 7th-grade diorama?)

on the way home i stopped by the park at the top of the hill because the moon was huge and beautiful. i flew on the swings with the whole sky softly glowing. i suddenly realized i only have two more full moons to see here before i move to portland. for some reason, moving doesn't phase me -- but thinking about actually living in portland for the rest of my life gives me a little chill. the other night i told michael if i get nostalgic about this place he has to slap me.

Thursday, April 17, 2003

 
5:17 PM: [#] [0]

i didn't feel well so i went home early. still, terrilynn & i are going to try to make it to laura's butoh performance tonight.

 
1:34 PM: [#] [0]

pete wins the "strangest news ever" award:

wait for it...








adra called jay!

jennifer & i are shocked. we now have a phone & email for her. it sounds like she's doing fine, but of course, why would you call people you used to work with and tell them otherwise?

 
12:22 PM: [#] [0]

it's raining again. strange but true.

 
9:56 AM: [#] [0]

i'm on "media deprivation" week in artist's way. which means i'm not supposed to read, watch tv, or listen to music. it also means my blog entries are likely to be more boring than usual, since i won't be reading blogs. ideally the goal is to force you to create your own art if you no longer absorb yourself in others. we'll see where i fall and how i justify it by the end of the week.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

 
12:11 PM: [#] [0]

oh, yes. let's please spend the time arguing about using the british version of "favour" vs. the american "favor." gosh.
michael says, "i prefer phayvure myself."

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

 
7:32 PM: [#] [0]

i still feel awful about the work issue. everything hurts. i feel tight and hard and dizzy. and it makes me realize i worked like this for at least a year. how did i do that?

if you get a chance, go look at the moon. it's beautiful tonight. i didn't realize it was so close to full.

 
6:23 PM: [#] [0]

bwah ha ha! on the one hand, we have a radio report about an apple online music service, and on the other, the transcript of apple's talks w/ universal. at this point, i think they're equally credible. ;)

 
5:45 PM: [#] [0]

see? i'd love to be the one who goes through the big file of things people leave behind at kinko's.

oh, and the palm upgrade seems to have been successful. yay!

 
4:49 PM: [#] [0]

icommune is back!

 
1:38 PM: [#] [0]

they say they're moving ahead with webct 4.0 and red hat by summer, one week after i leave, despite my recommendation to never use a webct .0 release, especially if it's not even been released yet, and especially if you only have 3 weeks to set it up & test it, and especially if that 3 weeks is during your heaviest development period for a new term, and especially if you're going through a huge transition and losing a warm body. i do think summer term is the best time to introduce changes like this, but that's assuming you do the setup in february, and then do summer development in that environment.

worse, i think they're going to try to run both systems at the same time: do you know what a horrible tech support issue that is?

student: i can't log in.
helpdesk: what version of webct are you using?
student: i don't know. isn't there some way for you to look that up for me?
helpdesk: are you using your email password?
student: i guess.
helpdesk: try using the last 4 digits of your social security number and call us back.

it doesn't sound that bad to you because you've never had to do this. bad upgrades disrupt the trust of instructors and students.

garrett apparently told chuck & jennifer that my warnings about the upgrades were just my way to "poke" at him and were therefore meaningless. i cried. i've worked here for almost four years for this? might as well not have come at all. and what was the point of staying for an extra six weeks if not for advising? i should have just walked out. the only advantage here is that garrett will actually have to face the fallout, which is something he didn't have to do before. and i'm sure he feels he has something to prove now, so he'll work extra hard toward his goals.

Monday, April 14, 2003

 
9:48 PM: [#] [0]

tammie sent a message from russia: she's incredibly blissful about her soon-to-be-adopted son.

 
9:31 PM: [#] [0]

upstairs jennifer & i couldn't figure out how to share her new cable connection with the airport. her box has a usb port and it looks like if she connected her computer to the usb while i connected the airport to the box, we'd both be connected. but after some frantic clicking and a brief glimpse of the "do not show this message again" dialogue, a dll didn't load right and we couldn't get it to self-discover again. since i won't have a computer in about a month, it didn't really seem worth our time to dig through everything in earnest to figure it out.

i can work with windows, but i never like it. *sighs*

 
7:47 PM: [#] [0]

and did i mention it's been raining hard all day? *dramatically nostalgic* what if this is the last time i ever use the umbrella in california?

 
5:54 PM: [#] [0]

the template for this blog isn't saving any changes. which means i can't edit the reading or listening sections, the title, or the weird yellow text under wishing. sorry, guys.

 
4:57 PM: [#] [0]

hey, did you know you could run software update remotely? nifty! :D

 
4:37 PM: [#] [0]

yes, i actually stayed at home long enough this morning to get my palm. but i didn't bring it in because i thought this old refresh pc i have wouldn't have usb, but upon closer inspection, it looks like it might. i'll bring the palm in tomorrow.

 
3:33 PM: [#] [0]

i actually like toni blair, but this parody duet video between him & george bush is too well-done not to pass along.

 
2:42 PM: [#] [0]

safari beta 2: i like tabs but i'm still trying to juggle the new key commands (one of which replaces an older behaviour i keep having to adjust for); tab rollovers should show url; still can't do an in-browser find with frames, still can't authenticate to the data portal secure server, still can't use the keyboard to navigate form selects. worse, it still doesn't work w/ o'reilly's safari bookshelf.

on the up side, it doesn't have issues with webct authentication anymore. :) and it looks like visted links actually change color in the same window (i don't if anyone else had issues with that, but i sure did; the behaviour is still flaky if the link is opened in a tab).

i'd love to see a way to rearrange tabs rather than only having them appear chronologically. i'd also like a key combo to switch between tabs that didn't require me to let go of the mouse (like command-tilde for switching between windows). is there a way for web programmers who request links to open in new windows to have an option to open things in new tabs?

Sunday, April 13, 2003

 
8:47 PM: [#] [0]

it turns out i make a killer chicken tortilla soup! thank you, thank you! *waves modestly to the crowd* and earlier, in the zen of drawing class, i drew an interesting blind contour self-portrait. now if only the laundry fairy would come.

Saturday, April 12, 2003

 
10:06 PM: [#] [0]

no soup tonight; i watched chocolat instead. charming. not amelie charming, but endearing, nonetheless.

tomorrow is pamela's zen of drawing class. i almost forgot!

 
7:15 PM: [#] [0]

see? this burning man curator statement is exactly what i find interesting about ephemera, which seems so much less initimidating than traditional framed art. as an item which is supposed to be transient, there's no artificial barrier between the item and the person. instead, there's participation & exploration. these are the things i want in art.

hmm. a curator. i never thought about that. one of my artistic fears has been having to consistently produce (and sell) art in enough quanities to survive. i'm afraid i might only have one good idea and then what? but i've always wanted to support those who are driven to produce. hmmm.

 
6:34 PM: [#] [0]

oh, yeah! *dances* the ephemera exhibit was a smashing success, thank you! the spot in the back is easy to miss, but even so i didn't get a chance to take a break until almost 3:30 p.m. the people kept coming! and staying, and asking questions, and almost hestitantly but then gleefully sifting through the items, all of which i think are successes on their own merits, but when taken together make me the happiest i've been in months if not years.

sometimes i'm uncomfortable at art receptions because i apparently didn't inheirit the gene which allows me to mingle. it helped at the poway exhibit to be a demonstrator, which killed time in a reasonably happy & industrious manner, but the ephemera exhibit felt as natural as breathing: it never felt forced or anxious. i swear, if i could get a job exploring ephemera, i think i could be both happy & good at it.

but i don't have any pictures! i meant to set up the exhibit and then run back home to change, grab my camera, etc., but it took me almost 2 hours to set it up, and i was just cleaning up when people started arriving. i'm using one of my flat sheets & pillowcases to hide a cabinet & microwave. the ephemera letters w/ the eyelets are perfect! they're broken and worn and i'll probably be taking the outtakes as homework to the next roman caps workshop. :) the "curator statement" (plain text or pdf) looked snappy. and beyond the bulletin board and the envelope book which held the bulk of the contributed items, i'm so glad i thought to throw in the marriage contract i got in england, because people loved it and it never gets seen otherwise! the majority of the ephemera items this go were mine, but if they decide to do it again, i think they'll get a lot more participants next time.

i drove back through the glorious alternating sunshine/shadow roads in elfin forest and questhaven. i stopped for a while where questhaven meets san elijo and the sea shines like a glacier lake in the distance. four crows gathered one by one to watch the view with me (one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy). i forgot (again) that cupid's is closed by 4 on satudays, and i'm jonesing for cinnamon ice cream to celebrate my ass-kicking-ness. but i'm going to attempt chicken tortilla soup tonight! i should try to figure it out before i go and can't get it anymore. :) and a nap is due, i think. mmmmmm. soup. nap. exhibit. do i need any more days between now & portland to spend in less lovely ways?

 
11:24 AM: [#] [0]

after some prodding, customer service says my palm has shipped. i'm violating the terms & conditions of ups tracking by adding a link to the tracking summary, but i feel compelled to flaunt such a ridiculous condition.

off to the gallery to set up the ephemera exihibit. eeeeeee!

 
3:03 AM: [#] [0]

of course the toner i bought years ago isn't used by the "e" series okidata printers. it's not like i needed to print anything tonight.

i finally finished the ephemera description & the letters to string overhead. i don't think i've mentioned lately just how much i love the soda pop pen. tomorrow i'll pound the eyelets in and bring some raffia to the gallery. it'll all be veeeeerrry cool. if i do say so myself. and i do.

however, the apartment is a mess, and a dangerous mess at that: there are pins and thumbtacks and scissors and xacto knives lying about in unexpected places. there are ways to get from the kitchen to the living room, and the living room to the bedroom, if you know how to find them.

Friday, April 11, 2003

 
8:11 PM: [#] [0]

i'm very sad to see apple's stock drop so drastically at news of its negotiations with vivendi to buy univeral music. (just negotiations, for heaven's sake. not even a sale!) and i didn't know dell had stopped selling ipods.

on a barely-related note, clipboard sharing is an awesome use of rendezvous! *gasps*

 
7:24 PM: [#] [0]

ohhhhhhhhhh, yes, pleeeeeaaaaassseeee.....! i want an artdrive! it's tough not to get one even though i know i won't have a computer much longer. oh. oh. oh.

 
5:05 PM: [#] [0]

and in case you didn't know, yes! today is michael's birthday! you'd better not have forgotten! *wags finger warningly*

 
3:44 PM: [#] [0]

if i was going to stay in instructional technology, i'd love to explore how blogs could affect education (unlike the author, however, i do see parts of #1 as being a problem after k12).

 
3:30 PM: [#] [0]

i finished the ephemera bulletin board and gathered all the 3d pieces and display items. i just need to make signs & descriptions now. i think it'll look pretty good, except crowd control in that area will suck.

Thursday, April 10, 2003

 
8:57 PM: [#] [0]

so we had our first instructional development meeting since chuck got back. chuck said he & i should talk next week about how summer development should be handled. but because this is the beginning of the cycle, and instructors have already emailed me, and we only have 5 weeks left, and i know what happens when we wait, i wanted to know who i should hand them off to and how. and i figured, hey, they must have talked about this since i resigned last week, right? but apparently not, because chuck blinked and then asked jennifer if she would be responsible for my duties. she said later she didn't expect that, and really, what could she say? no?

 
12:51 PM: [#] [0]

two excellent exhibits happening at the sdsu library:

1. "Poetic and Poisoned: The World of Edward Gorey": eee! i didn't know they had a gorey collection! where have i been all this time? apparently gotham book mart's owner was an sdsu alumnus. some of the works will include the glorious nosebleed, the sopping thursday, the awdrey-gore legacy, and the model of the set he built for dracula. eeeeeee! ends may 31.

2. "True to Type: A Selection of Fine Printing from Special Collections": apparently, some of the oldest books they own will be on display here.

i gotta go! :D i even have time to do this after i no longer work here. whee!

 
12:07 PM: [#] [0]

someone wrote me about "the hair and now":

I'm Lana, a 28 year-old twit from Toronto, Ontario. Just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your website detailing your adventures in hair shaving! I have been wanting to shave my head for as long as I can
remember - to 'start over', as it were - and tonight I FINALLY took the plunge. It took me several days of gradually cutting my hair shorter and shorter to get here, but I did it! I have the same texture hair you had in the photos you took before shaving, and it's reddish brown,
so I'm all looking forward to what it'll be like when it grows back in...

this actually seems like a legitimate email as opposed to a creepy one, so i'm happy to have had the opportunity to inspire someone else. :)

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

 
2:54 PM: [#] [0]

steve would like to share a couple of excellent cthulu links, because a day without monstrous evil is like a day without sunshine (or like a day living in portland, i suppose ;).

first, the electriclerk, as well as other intricate game props.

of course, something can't be truly evil without the perversion of musical theatre. introducing a shuggoth on the roof, to be performed in october in chicago. if you can, let the women & children escape first.
update: thom contributed a link to the "which great old one are you?" quiz, where i turned out to be nyarlothotep.

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

 
7:32 PM: [#] [0]

the universe handed me a "go to the gallery guilt-free!" card today! i was starting to get worried about the ephemera exhibit: i thought i had a good idea but needed to see the main exhibit first, and i didn't know when i was going to get a chance to do that since the gallery is only open 10-5, and i had jury duty starting today. after the introductory explanations and the educational video and the remarks from one of the circuit judges (i'll have to write them up later because they were so very cynical!), we were allowed to go on break. i had just set myself up in the "quiet room," wishing they had a wireless network when they announced, "this doesn't happen very often, but apparently there are no cases on the docket today. you can all go home." and thus, thanks to the "one day or one trial" law, i completed my very first jury service. :D

so that gave me some time to stop by the gallery and assess the space. the main exhibit, despite all the controvery, looks great. and they have a plethora of touchable books & handling gloves! eee! unfortunately, my idea, as cool as it was, won't work because the pieces are so obviously grouped into "vignettes" and tightly packed. so as much as i hate having to do this, i think i'm going to have to use a freaking bulletin board. i was hoping for something so much more interesting. at least i know how the space is configured now.

so i stopped by michael's and reaffirmed my loathing for the place, and then the new barnes n noble, which actually allows you to scan any cd they have and listen to clips from all the tracks on that album. very cool. finally i stopped by escondido valu craft and picked up some stuff. on the way home i swung by cupid's to get a chocolate ice-cream cone: it was quite warm today, but i'm not a big chocolate fan and so i don't know why i wanted it. but since i made the trip, i was crushed when not two steps out of the door it fell off the cone and rolled into the parking lot. i went back in and the guy gave me a new one for free. (thanks!)

then i came home and napped while the sun set. mmmmmmmmmmmm. now i'm on my way to pick up the bowl i left at cary's house during the last sdfc board meeting (i've been trying to do this for 2 weeks now but it's turned into a big comedy of errors). and i have to stop by office depot to pick up labels and hole reinforcers.

gosh. such an exciting life. ;)

 
4:49 PM: [#] [0]

if apple's not going to use inkwell to create a pda, could they please come out with a tablet notebook? i'm really jealous of those sweet little laptops whose screens flip around flat above the keyboard.

Monday, April 07, 2003

 
4:26 PM: [#] [0]

i will soon be the proud owner of a palm m125. i almost got the red faceplate, too, but i couldn't choose between ruby pearl or turbo red, so thought i should wait. sure hope everything works out; i want as little troubleshooting as possible.

 
3:46 PM: [#] [0]

michael has good news! "i just found out i won the butler award for excellence for library faculty. i'll get a check for $1500 at commencement on 6/14." go, michael! isn't he the coolest librarian you know? :)
update: it also means he'll have to be in portland 6.14, which was when i was planning on moving. doh!

 
1:39 PM: [#] [0]

chuck asked jennifer to be on my search committee! bwah ha ha! she's really mad.

 
11:31 AM: [#] [0]

hee! steve jobs shows up as a "related page" for this blog. :D

Sunday, April 06, 2003

 
9:38 PM: [#] [0]

so i realized i just made roman caps sound icky, though when you see the exemplars with the carefully geometric lines and circles, how could you not just fall in love with them? :D i was talking with terrilynn about them and the difference we're seeing is the amount of pen manipulation involved: the roman caps we're learning are done at about 20 degrees and with standard calligraphic movements. teri martin's caps, which are stunning even without serifs, involve a fair amount of pressure/release which make the middles just the subtlest shade thinner in the middle than on the ends (i also think they're of a slightly taller/thinner proportion). we're practicing at one-inch caps and that sort of thing is muuuuuch easier to do at the smaller text sizes one works with for text (and smaller, thinner nibs). so i still have hope. :)

the edible tea was interesting but not as tea-like as i hoped. i forgot i had meant to bring the digital camera. :( terrilynn brought oriental tea cups from england and the tea was good, but the actual exhibit needed better crowd control: you were always in someone's way or standing in a line. some of the pieces could actually have been books (my favorite: mixed messages, a flag book made out of a crepe-like substance; i ate the "gracious|cruelty" page), while some only looked like books (like the don quiote lasagne-bound flan with the laser-transfer covers). war bites was a large tin of star-shaped cookies with presidential soundbytes stamped on them. and of course, someone made fortune cookies. sometimes it seemed there was no thought of a book at all: what were the asian pear slices about? tasty, but incomprehensible.

but they also had a selection of books from ucsd's special collection you could pick up and look through if you donned gloves, which i of course immediately did. book exhibits without touchable books always make me want to cry. one of the books was an artist's journal and he had used an izone to take pictures of the young book arts exhibit. they're the perfect size. why didn't i think of that? another book artist had published photos from his pinhole camera and bound them to the backs of flattened film canisters with electrical tape. one perfect tiny book was about feathers. another with a full text was about bread, a large fabric accordian book bound into a bread pan.

on the way home, we drove down del dios highway, which is another of those gorgeous random southern california roads which winds its way through vast canyons and swollen hills. halfway through we stopped and watched eight hot-air balloons rise like slow, silent rain falling into the sky like a lake.

 
1:39 PM: [#] [0]

yesterday's class was terrific. i thought i had been doing roman caps all wrong because they seemed so flat and uninteresting. i was so frustrated, in fact, that i started drawing them like versals and adding serifs. but seeing everyone else's work, even the work of people i admire, made me realize that i was doing okay. and after explaining the process i had gone through comparing my freehand letters to the ones i had traced over the forms, i even got one of teri martin's "homework" pieces. :)

at lunch, terrilynn and i ran to j. jill and bought several shirts and pants. unfortunately, we didn't have time to try anything on, and their "large" sizes must be for very small women. :) but i got two cute "hidden message" tshirts. not that i need more shirts; what i really need are more pants. that fit. :P

i came home energized and ready to work more on roman caps. i thought i might go for a walk later, too, so i started to transfer more songs to the archos. that stupid archos took up the rest of my night! it crashed the computer three times (and no messages in the console log to troubleshoot, just bam! please restart.). arrrggghhh.......

but today i'm going to an edible book tea! i have no idea what it will be like, but i don't know if it gets any better than edible books. :) then terrilynn & i will return a big chunk of the clothes we bought (nothing fit her, either), and then dinner w/ terrilynn & brian. so no practicing for me today! but at least i'm doing fun stuff.

Friday, April 04, 2003

 
10:29 PM: [#] [0]

media conglomeration. 'nuff said. *scowls*

 
5:03 PM: [#] [0]

the meeting w/ chuck was fine, too. he was surprised, i think, but glad i was happy and said i could count on a good recommendation ("we couldn't have done it without you"). i also think much was left unsaid so we had a lot of small talk: my leaving is just one more thing for him to have to deal with in the midst of a swirl of other things happening now.

but it means i'm leaving, really leaving! now what? :D

 
3:16 PM: [#] [0]

oh, no! teresa called me because one of her clan of dogs died and she was going to leave early. i just had to do this today or i was going to explode, so i ran upstairs before she left. good thing i had printed and signed the letters already. she hugged me and was happy, as i expected (she told me to tell michael congratulations..! :). she asked what i thought we should do with the position, whether jennifer would fit into my vacancy. and i know jennifer would rather be responsible for the trc, so it's hard for me to say.

i meet w/ a chuck in a little bit, but it's official now!

 
12:27 PM: [#] [0]

hey, i'm having a good hair day! and i smell good. my teeth are finally all in their non-painful places. i'm ready. :) but i still have 3 more hours to go.

 
10:33 AM: [#] [0]

oh, my god! i just saw a "homeland security" commerical which ended with tom ridge saying, "it's simple: we can be free," in a voice just barely tinged with scorn, "or we can be ready."

"free!" i shrieked at the television. "free! i choose to be free!" i can't even believe this is our only choice. i certainly can't believe this is our only public choice: i could see how he might think this, and mutter it to himself in his sleep, but i can't believe he actually thinks it's a good thing to publicize! and the worst part is the "freedom fries" contigent will adopt it as a slogan and start bleating it like sheep: "four legs good! two legs bad!"

uck. *goes to sulk*

Thursday, April 03, 2003

 
7:59 PM: [#] [0]

looking for pdas before i leave. i don't want anything w/ a color screen and i need something that works w/ a mac. the contenders:

* m125 (aaa, $139)
* m500 (flash rom, $179)
* visor edge (refurbished, $129)

unless anyone has a better idea, i'm guessing the m125, in part because i won't have access to a computer to recharge it for a month. i might also need a serial adapter.

 
6:51 PM: [#] [0]

clicktracks: an interesting but useless log analyzer, as it's windows only. :P

 
6:18 PM: [#] [0]

i want to remember to read this from home: ars technica finder criticisms.

 
5:50 PM: [#] [0]

sweet & sentimental: what did you used to believe as a child?

 
5:23 PM: [#] [0]

and just when i thought i couldn't laugh any harder, chuck just filled out a "teaching with online components" form for a class he's apparently teaching in fall which ended with note, "I look forward to working with the online course development team."

*gasps for breath; wipes away tears* oh, it's funny because of the way he said it, and it's funny because i won't be here, but it's also funny because he won't be working with the team; he'll be working with garrett because it's an htm class. because that's the way they set it up. duh! :D

 
5:08 PM: [#] [0]

you won't understand why these weight watchers recipe cards from 1974 are funny until you see them. as dave barry would say, "i am not making this up!"

 
3:31 PM: [#] [0]

okay. two "summer development & beyond" meetings set for tomorrow afternoon: the first w/ teresa, the second w/ chuck. *deep breath* the letter is being tweaked & printed even now.

 
1:12 PM: [#] [0]

i just got the oddest error message while accessing a webpage:

Process Killed.

Page refereshing in 3 seconds. Please wait, or manually refresh your browser. Please excuse the interruption.

it did, in fact, refresh and i was able to access what do i know?. i wonder what happened.

 
1:03 PM: [#] [0]

well, brian did the sweetest thing: he called me! he thought since chuck was back a day early, i might resign a day early. have i mentioned what a great phone voice brian has? i was hoping he was calling to say he was coming to san diego, but this was such a nice thing to do, i can't really complain. :) so no, the plan is still to resign tomorrow, mainly because then i have the whole weekend to not think about it anymore.

i went to a staff meeting this morning and found it difficult to keep from laughing out loud. none of these problems are mine anymore! in fact, they'll probably view my leaving as a "salary savings." hee.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

 
1:32 PM: [#] [0]

today is more applications for the "career-level web developer position." i write the whole thing out so that people will stop referring to it as "marla's job."

apparently chuck's back (a day early), but i haven't seen him.

Tuesday, April 01, 2003

 
5:41 PM: [#] [0]

free cds to good homes! seriously. you want some, they're yours. just send me your address!

in other news, i'll be getting my wisdom teeth out may 1. they say it can be done w/ just local anesthesia & nitrous, which will clear me to leave under my own free will w/o needing someone to take my drugged-up self home. i hope they're right.

 
12:47 PM: [#] [0]

looks like i can publish again. off to the oral surgeon consultation.

 
10:09 AM: [#] [0]

no point in doing updates:
"Sorry, publishing is temporarily unavailable." some issue with a template server. again. in case it comes back, it might be worth mentioning my "out of office reply" this morning:

you haven't reached gretchin lair at cal state san marcos. i will be out of the office for the rest of the month, returning monday, may 5. in the meantime, please contact eli bishop (eyeris2@yahoo.com or 503.295.2679).

april fool's! i -will- be out of the office for the rest of the day, returning wednesday, april 2. if you are an instructor needing immediate assistance, please contact jennifer nowotny (jnowotny@csusm.edu or 760.750.8663).

yes, yes, it's a little lame. what did you do, then?
update: dave hyatt did something much funnier than me.
so did the guardian in 1977.

random thought: even if i never watched martha stewart, i would still find her april fool's episodes funny. :)