Why is it that I find it so hard to believe that there isn’t a conspiracy about flossing? Every dental assistant and dentist I’ve ever had have urged me to floss daily, and no one I know does.
The perfect winter solstice
Baking sugar cookies
Cross-country skiing through the woods to a log cabin, to eat cheese and drink tea.
And then loosen sore muscles in the hot tub
Then immediately jump into the snow (or, on top of the ice-covered snow), then back into the hot tub for that Noxema-tingle.
The only thing left to do is play Settlers of Catan in front of the wood stove (and the wood floor pile).
(These are all available in larger form from Jason’s Flickr.
Manchurian tung oil?! Where did you get it?
I’ve been mulling over the idea of storebought.
Background:
This is my first Christmas working as a librarian in a public library. I’m learning that part of being the public library here is getting Christmas presents from patrons. We have about 10 boxes and tins of treats in the back, that we’ve slowly been working our way through since Thanksgiving. The first Whitman’s sampler was gone in a few hours. After that, as the boxes and tins started rolling in, I began to realize that I needed to be very careful. If I didn’t pay attention, I’d ingest a few thousand extra calories each day.
As I looked over our selection, I realized that what I wanted to spend my caloric pennies on was homemade snacks. Food with no preservatives, with taste in mind rather than presentation.
Back-background:
I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, which took place in midwest frontier America. During Laura’s life, there were several scenes of experiencing the difference between homemade and storebought. In this context, ‘storebought’ meant hard candy, calico print fabric, and other items simply unattainable from the prairie, but magically available through Sears and Roebuck. I could imagine how nice it would be to give up wearing wool underwear for some nice, soft cotton.
At what point did homemade become the new storebought?
Here is Adam,
obviously enamored with the most awesome baglet ever. This came,
along with various tiny delicious cookies, from my good friend E.
Wooo wooo wooo (says the whale).
Helen got it for me in Oslo.
I recently discovered that one of my friends shares the same favorite movie as myself. I never really knew exactly what tung oil was,
until I spotted this bottle of it.
Whaley the Whale Pal
I’ve been mulling over the idea of storebought.
Background:
This is my first Christmas working as a librarian in a public library. I’m learning that part of being the public library here is getting Christmas presents from patrons. We have about 10 boxes and tins of treats in the back, that we’ve slowly been working our way through since Thanksgiving. The first Whitman’s sampler was gone in a few hours. After that, as the boxes and tins started rolling in, I began to realize that I needed to be very careful. If I didn’t pay attention, I’d ingest a few thousand extra calories each day.
As I looked over our selection, I realized that what I wanted to spend my caloric pennies on was homemade snacks. Food with no preservatives, with taste in mind rather than presentation.
Back-background:
I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, which took place in midwest frontier America. During Laura’s life, there were several scenes of experiencing the difference between homemade and storebought. In this context, ‘storebought’ meant hard candy, calico print fabric, and other items simply unattainable from the prairie, but magically available through Sears and Roebuck. I could imagine how nice it would be to give up wearing wool underwear for some nice, soft cotton.
At what point did homemade become the new storebought?
Here is Adam,
obviously enamored with the most awesome baglet ever. This came,
along with various tiny delicious cookies, from my good friend E.
Wooo wooo wooo (says the whale).
Storebought
I’ve been mulling over the idea of storebought.
Background:
This is my first Christmas working as a librarian in a public library. I’m learning that part of being the public library here is getting Christmas presents from patrons. We have about 10 boxes and tins of treats in the back, that we’ve slowly been working our way through since Thanksgiving. The first Whitman’s sampler was gone in a few hours. After that, as the boxes and tins started rolling in, I began to realize that I needed to be very careful. If I didn’t pay attention, I’d ingest a few thousand extra calories each day.
As I looked over our selection, I realized that what I wanted to spend my caloric pennies on was homemade snacks. Food with no preservatives, with taste in mind rather than presentation.
Back-background:
I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, which took place in midwest frontier America. During Laura’s life, there were several scenes of experiencing the difference between homemade and storebought. In this context, ‘storebought’ meant hard candy, calico print fabric, and other items simply unattainable from the prairie, but magically available through Sears and Roebuck. I could imagine how nice it would be to give up wearing wool underwear for some nice, soft cotton.
At what point did homemade become the new storebought?
Post request: The Amazon Kindle
I’ve had my first request for a post! I really like that Stephanie did this, because I’ve become out of the habit of posting (on the upside, I’ve picked up the habit of flossing), and I need to kick myself into gear.
So, the Amazon Kindle. Stephanie wondered about my views on the cute little ‘wireless reading device’ that Amazon is pushing. As I am a librarian, the daughter of a librarian, a book lover, a reader, and a fixer of books, you’d think I’d HAAAAATE the idea of a digitalberg book.
I’ll give it to you in my new favorite format (that I learned about from reading soldering iron reviews):
The gut feeling on the device
+++++++++
*Much easier to read than previous versions of ebooks. Not as bit-tastic, and the screen doesn’t glow brightly, so it’s easier on the eyes.
*Don’t have to flip pages, leaving other hand free to eat snacks.
*Wireless means insta-access to more books. No waiting till the library opens, or for your Powell’s shipment
*Don’t need to have crap paperback copies of books you’re never going to read again cluttering your bookshelf.
*With one 10 oz. machine, you get hundreds of pounds of books – better for traveling.
————
*Requires electricity, which doesn’t work so hot after the zombie revolution, or in the bathtub.
*If no one publishes paper books, we’ll lose all the stories… after the zombie revolution.
*DRM (access control) may make lending a book impossible. I mean, I’m sure libraries will have different access than individuals, but I won’t be able to lend you my copy of Harry Potter.
Now, for what this all means, here’s my realistic look. Not everyone will be able to afford these babies, so I don’t think we have to worry about the death of paper publishing. My hope is that publishers will chose to treat good books by printing them on nicer paper, in fancier cases, and will become somewhat more collectible. I think mass market romance novels (and the like) will continue to be printed in their standard form. This is based somewhat on socioeconomic demographics, and on the exchangeable nature readers treat the books.
I think cover art is still important. Even with digital books, people judge books by their cover art! And I can imagine when you boot up a book, you’d see the cover art. It gets you in the mood for what you’re reading. It’s kind of like how our library system has cover images for lots of the books, so when you’re searching online, you can tell what the book is about. I think (especially for janky library software) it’s easier to tell if some thing’s a novel, nonfiction, kids, etc. based on the cover.
I think the Kindle (and the others that will follow) will bring an ease to our paper use, boost the quality of existing paper publishing, increase the number of books written without going through publishers, and just like all the digital technology before it, continue to inspire a subculture of low-tech, self-published materials (like zines). I think because of DRM and technological limitations (at least until the next breakthrough) paper books and ebooks will live in symbiosis, maximizing the benefits of both.
If this post leaves your brain spinning and your heart racing, a great novel to read is Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age. The plot revolves around a similar technology that allows a single book to act as the one-and-only resource needed for someone to navigate life. This book is one of my favorites. I also like that it’s described as “a postcyberpunk novel”. It’s so accessible as a story, and incredibly well-written. My mom would like it (if she hasn’t read it already – she kind of has a thing for Neal Stephenson books), my grandmother would like it, and my brother would like it. There. Read it!
What’s the tackiest way to announce something, part II
I wouldn’t consider my news to be on par with getting hitched, but I have some news, and realized that this is the easiest way to disseminate it.
Jason and I are leaving New Bedford and the Millicent Library, and moving up to Boston, where Jason just started a new job. He’s commuting up there for now (two hours each way! on a bus! with nor’easters!) but we’ll move at the end of January. (I’ll be sending out the nearly-as-awkward email with our new address once we hunt down an apartment in Bostonland.)
Jason’s been working on his own for the past two years, and it was time to re-enter the jobby-job world. There’s not a lot in the way of programmer action down here, and there’s a veritable hotbed of zeros and ones flowing through Boston, so it was a pretty easy choice. We get to keep our local friends and drivers licenses, and add the benefit of a major city, major airport, more jobs, trains, bikes, and ducks.
The major downside is leaving the library. It didn’t occur to me that a hazard of working with children is having to tell them that you’re abandoning them for a different library with different children. I’m not exactly sure how to do it, really. My heart sinks whenever I think about it. I’m hoping that when my replacement is hired, we can have a party with the two of us, like a “hello goodbye” celebration.
1772 Map of Boston
(click to enjoy)
Merry Krishna!
Craftland is an annual holiday sale in Providence, RI that celebrates all kinds of handmade objects and the people who make them. I can’t wait to go and … steal ideas. Ok, not really. I’m starting to realize that even if I can figure out how to make something, it doesn’t mean I’m going to. I’m jealous that there’s an LED demonstration at the opening party tonight, but my plans for the evening are just as fun.
I realize most Outside Cat readers don’t live near Rhode Island, but I can say that this reminds me of the Chicagoean Renegade Craft Fair.
A few years ago,
I bought a book of the Hindu gods,
for children, that had awesome illustrations. I magically got an email in my inbox today announcing tee-shirts with the illustrations. So, so so cute. Kali, of course, is my favorite.
Nothing says “happy birthday, baby jesus” like a teeshirt with the Hindu god of death on it.
Craftland!
Craftland is an annual holiday sale in Providence, RI that celebrates all kinds of handmade objects and the people who make them. I can’t wait to go and … steal ideas. Ok, not really. I’m starting to realize that even if I can figure out how to make something, it doesn’t mean I’m going to. I’m jealous that there’s an LED demonstration at the opening party tonight, but my plans for the evening are just as fun.
I realize most Outside Cat readers don’t live near Rhode Island, but I can say that this reminds me of the Chicagoean Renegade Craft Fair.
Bookity update
I work in a library. I love Goodreads. I love it when I read a friend’s review on Goodreads, then walk over to a shelf and now have the same book in my hands. That’s pretty powerful stuff, right there.
So now I have The Namesake in my hot little hands, and will begin reading it right after I finish The Pleasure of My Company. The Namesake was suggested to me by E, and The Pleasure of My Company (which I can only refer to as You Enjoy Myself) was introduced to me by Keem, who brought it up as a fine example of Steve Martin’s humor.
This is literary instant gratification. The instant novel’s gonna get you.