Monthly Archives: August 2006

Best Critical Mass ever

Well, of the two Critical Masses I’ve been to, this was one rocked my socks.

August_critical_mass.jpg
Don’t you think I need a cape?

The semester has just begun, and went to my first Champaign-Urbana CM. We started off on campus, rode into Champaign, then into Urbana, and ended up at the Sweet Corn Festival.

My bike weighs like 75 lbs, which makes for a slow start, but it’s kind of like driving a station wagon – once you get going, you can coast for quite a while. I ended up in front (with Lena, in the white sk8er helmet) at the end, and we spied an empty parking lot, so we ended up in this gigantic space, and as we coasted in, we began circling around, and although I want to use the term “whirling dervish”, I won’t. We rode around in a circle, and then two opposite-direction circles and everyone was grinning and it was awesome.

I have to thank Laurie for taking picture – ones that may become famous sometime soon, I hear. You can see the rest of the Critical Mass in all of its glory (and circliness) at Laurie’s Flickr site.

The Chicago Critical Mass in July was amazing for the sheer number of people. This month’s Critical Mass was amazing for the coziness and spontaneous public display of synchronized biking. I wonder what next month will be like. I kind of think I need a cape.

First day of school

It’s the first day of school for the … 20th time. Yesterday I started my last semester of classes. Right off the bat, I felt sure this would be the best semester ever.

Part of it is that this is the ‘senior year’. My high school and undergrad senior years were fantastic. I knew everyone, I could navigate campus easily, I knew where the hidden tunnels were.

Added to that is my light course load (just 10 wee hours) and a lack of any boggy, awful, required classes. My Childrens Literature class (which I had yesterday, because yesterday was Monday at the U of other I) got me all jazzed. I love the books we’re reading (HP1, Harriet the Spy, The BFG, Where the Sidewalk Ends) and I’m a big fan of the teacher. I’m taking the class for half credit, so I don’t have to do the final project. I kind of want to anyway, which says a lot about the course (and my enthusiasm for kidlit) but it was really nice to think that come November and December, I won’t be stressed to the gills. Wadsbone will appreciate this as well.

Today I have Intro to Networking, and I had a nice long conversation with E (while she did the dishes, no less) about how great Intro to Networking is, and how much more confident she is with computers as physical things. Yay!

I’m kind of done taking pictures of me on the first day of school – it’s not quite as cute anymore. But I will share one from my first day of school at the U of I, featuring my sister.

firstdayofschool

Grilling with the Maycocks

grill.JPG

This isn’t a picture from last night’s grilling out. It’s from a couple of weeks ago, and shows the level of neglect our schoolhouse-apartment grounds get.

Last night the Maycocks came over and we ate brats and pasta salad, while musing over the gigantic-ness of a spider. Then we watched the first two episodes of Who Wants To Be A Superhero? It may be the best show I’ve ever seen.

OK, I’ve just burned my eyes out! AHHHHH! I went to the website, and seen who has been eliminated. I’ve only seen two episodes! They should have had a spoiler warning! Effffffff!

Still, I can say with total confidence that Monkey Woman is my favorite.
Monkey Woman

Tree Map!

This weekend I finally had a chance to start my long-awaited Tree Map. I had this idea about last year this time. I wanted to catalog and map the climbing trees of Champaign. I had access to a GPS unit, and Google Maps, so it only took me a full year to get started on it.

Having friends with me helped. Laurie and Steph and I divvied up the tasks, and began walking around Champaign.

gear.JPG

Steph would try to identify each tree, Laurie would photograph it, and I wrote down the latitude and longitude of each tree, along with the notes the other two observed. We rated the trees for climbability too.

S+tree.JPG

And of course we had to try out the trees.

I tested out a particularly small-crotched locust (gasp?! yeah, we get to use the word ‘crotch’ a lot) on Neil Street, and came away a bit bloody.

she's a brick house

A passerby asked if I had just won or lost a bet, and I explained the cataloging idea. I looked down and realized I was bleeding. Luckily, Steph is every bit a Girl Scout leader, and had environmentally-friendly baby wipes for me to get the blood and bark off of my skin.

I’m hoping to start figuring out this whole Google Maps thing soon. I’d also like to catalog a lot more trees. If anybody has a particular favorite, let me know!

More spam poetry

I always read Ex Libris (it’s written by my favorite non-blood-relation librarian), and Marylaine’s “cool quote” was from WorldChanging.com.

yoink!

“According to one map-making friend, creating walkshed maps… would be a relatively simple Google Maps “Mash Up.” Anyone know of such a tool? Anyone volunteer to do this project? I’d love to have a detailed map stowed in the “glove box” of our Burley of all 248 businesses in my home zone. Ideally, I would want a walking map or PDA application that shows me the whereabouts of public restrooms, water fountains, bike racks, curb cuts, bus stops, and benches.” Worldchanging

So then I went to WorldChanging, because I already have a tote bag from them (thanks ALA conference!) and am on their mailing list.

This made me think about my idea to catalog all the climbing trees in Champaign. I thought I could use GPS data, digital photographs, and Google Maps to put it together.

So from WorldChanging I went to Bycycle, and was only slightly frustrated to find out that they only have Philly, Portland, and Milwaukee.

So five minutes later, whilst reading Lifehacker, I spied Bikely – a bike route map site. I figured it would be like Google Maps, where you’d need GPS data to show routes.

NOPE! You use Google Maps, but you just click in the intersections. I signed up immediately, and made a map of my commute to class. It shows the distance, and I tagged it with commute, urban, basic, and low-traffic. It’s my new fascination. I encourage other bikers in Champaign (who happen to read my blog, ahem, Sasha, ahem, Laurie) to log route. I want to see how you get places!
Normal

It is not enough that there is always a beyond; because it might be beyond bearing.
He had,
so to speak,
the imagination without the imagery.
But in the final process of truth there is nothing else except a good syllogism.
They are those who maintain that there is something that is both Yes and No.
Unfortunately, good temper is sometimes more irritating than bad temper.
To be an extreme Realist would have taken him too near to being a Platonist. In
practice, they tol dmen that they must treat their will as free though it was not
free.
Francis,did not permit in his work the indescribable element of poetry. There are
all sorts of nursery games of negative philosophy played round this question. The
obvious example is in the pivotal word form.
Here he differs sharply, for instance, from St.
Nor will he say that there is nothing common to grass and grain, because they do really differ.
But we mean that they were purely fictitious; and St.
He had, so to speak, the imagination without the imagery. He will not deny what he
has seen, though it be a secondary and diverse reality.
But the point is that, even apart from being right he is real.
Francis,did not permit in his work the indescribable element of poetry.
But they did lead to a final deduction; or else they led to nothing. The Schoolmen
may have shot too far beyond our limits in pursuing the Cherubimand Seraphim. There
are any number of purple patches in Augustine; but thereare no purple patches in
Aquinas. If things deceive us, it is by being more real than they seem. But if he
reasoned rightly, however rapidly,he reasoned syllogistically.
But he wanted the light from without to shine on what was within.
He had been a revolutionist against Augustine and a traditionalist against Averrhoes.
But the truth is that they have never read St. Is he to regard death as final;and is
he to regard miraculous help as possible? But the point is that, even apart from
being right he is real.
I do not know whether they pronounce it Yo.
Therefore my body is made of microscopic little knobs which are indivisible.
Johnson as our lexicographer; as if he never did anything but write a dictionary?
Suppose two entirely new paths open before the progress of Creative Evolution.
Thomas, had he been a member of the Tip-Cat Club, would have meant just the opposite.
Johnson as our lexicographer; as if he never did anything but write a dictionary?
The Thomist begins by being theoretical,but his theory turns out to be entirely
practical. Huxley made morality, and even Victorian morality, in the exactsense,
supernatural.
He is arguing for a common sense which would even now commend itself to most of the
common people.
The Pragmatist sets out to be practical, but his practicality turns out to be entirely
theoretical. Thomas Aquinas himself is not at all rhetorical.

If You Give a Sonya an E-zine Article.

I always read Ex Libris (it’s written by my favorite non-blood-relation librarian), and Marylaine’s “cool quote” was from WorldChanging.com.

yoink!

“According to one map-making friend, creating walkshed maps… would be a relatively simple Google Maps “Mash Up.” Anyone know of such a tool? Anyone volunteer to do this project? I’d love to have a detailed map stowed in the “glove box” of our Burley of all 248 businesses in my home zone. Ideally, I would want a walking map or PDA application that shows me the whereabouts of public restrooms, water fountains, bike racks, curb cuts, bus stops, and benches.” Worldchanging

So then I went to WorldChanging, because I already have a tote bag from them (thanks ALA conference!) and am on their mailing list.

This made me think about my idea to catalog all the climbing trees in Champaign. I thought I could use GPS data, digital photographs, and Google Maps to put it together.

So from WorldChanging I went to Bycycle, and was only slightly frustrated to find out that they only have Philly, Portland, and Milwaukee.

So five minutes later, whilst reading Lifehacker, I spied Bikely – a bike route map site. I figured it would be like Google Maps, where you’d need GPS data to show routes.

NOPE! You use Google Maps, but you just click in the intersections. I signed up immediately, and made a map of my commute to class. It shows the distance, and I tagged it with commute, urban, basic, and low-traffic. It’s my new fascination. I encourage other bikers in Champaign (who happen to read my blog, ahem, Sasha, ahem, Laurie) to log route. I want to see how you get places!

BookMooch is the new Netflix

I’ve been wondering for a while how a Netflix-style entertainment distribution system could be used for books. There’s Bookcrossing, but that only works if you happen upon the tome. The whole Netflix thing works so well because the items are lightweight.

I’ve been mulling this over, because I grew up as a librarian’s daughter, and therefore discouraged from purchasing books. Compounding this is Librarything, where I can peer into the collections of my friends. How can this work together?

(I realize that the obvious answer is the public library system. Not only do they have an online database of materials, but they’re conveniently located EVERYWHERE. I’m thinking about something more long term, where I could keep the book for 6 months if I wanted, without having to renew.)

I read today on BoingBoing about a site called BookMooch. It’s a “community for exchanging used books” and I’m in love. I would happily send away copies of books I’ve bought and am only keeping because no one has asked to borrow them. I’d pay shipping happily, since I won’t rack up fines.

(And think about it – us librarians could use some help weeding. I just helped 3 librarians move, and there were more book boxes than anything else.)

I’m going to go check it out. I’ll be under sundaykofax.

Level-two master.

I pulled out my packet of instructions for the second level of the Master Knitter program. I have no intention of getting it done before I leave grad school, but I thought working on some swatches now would make the task as a whole a little less daunting.

Here are the requirements:
22 swatches
1 traditional Argyle sock
1 vest
15 questions
4 book reviews
1 report on the worldwide history of knitting

I feel confident that I can wrestle my way throught the swatches. They’re cable, color pattern, buttonhole, and the like. I had more problems with the questions (in level 1). Here’s a sample: “When should a stitch be slipped knit wise? Purl wise?”

The Argyle sock is going to be tough, and the stupid questions are what killed me in level one. At least now I’m in school, and my question-answering skills are much better.

Part of me feels that getting this started increases the chance of me finishing it within the next year. The other part of me wants to jump right in to knitting my dream project. I’ve blogged about it before. It’s the most amazing hoodie I’ve ever seen.

Rogue

Interface. That’s what HE said.

My current wallet (circa 1995, traded from my sister for a piece of paper or some shit, sans belt-loop-chain) is dying. It’s kind of thick, and because I hatehatehate purses, I need a new wallet.

I covet E’s coinpurse wallet, and I kind of coveted the wallets I saw in the craft tent at Pitchfork, but I don’t want a coinpurse, and Stephanie assured me I could make the wallets I saw in the craft tent.

I decided to take Steph’s optimism home with me, and so during this glorious week of no work (all play), I made myself a wallet. Well, a wallet prototype. But it works.

So, I got out my graph paper, and figured out the height of paper money, the width of two ID cards, and went to work. I initially chose a brown corduroy, thinking it would be stiffer and hold up better (kind of like leather). I was wrong. I refer to it as Eve 6.

So I go to the crafty store, and pick up some interfacing and pinking shears (they are pink). This time, I use cotton fabric that my mom gave me from her gigantic stash of quilting stuff.

wallet_in_progress.jpg

This time, I also remember to do the measurements right. Helpful.

So here’s the outcome: I’d like the cash holster to be a bit deeper, but other than that, it’s exactly what I wanted.

wallet.jpg

T3 writes about me. No. Wait. I wrote it.

So, as much as I like Vice magazine, in all it’s snarky glory, I sometimes feel bad making fun of the people in the don’ts section of DOs and DONT’s.

Last night I met Lena, who said the exact same thing, and then today told me about Hel Looks. It’s “selected street fashion from Helsinki” which mashes nicely with last night’s discussion of the band Architecture in Helsinki.

Full circle, my friends.
Ted emailed me a few days ago,
asking some questions about myself, him,
and blogging. My favorite is the “who would you have wanted Ted to date back in college”. Here are all my answers. (Nothing absolutely shocking, just fun.)