Dude, I’m actually scared of that last one.
This is my new favorite cartoon. The City Paper has like 500 of them.
Classes, classes ev’rywhere; not a drop to drink.
Did anybody notice that the deadly hurricane that just blew through shares its name with my former cat? Killah.
McSweeney’s LIS reference (no pun achieved)
Tom Stoner pointed me to McSweeney’s list of library science jargon that sounds dirty.
I’m a fan of full entry. It’s so much better than a truncation, if you know what I’m saying.
Anyway, the list is actually lackluster. MARC record really isn’t dirty, unless I’m just not seeing it … but either way, two hips and a hooray for nods to the underly appreciated but overly sexy field of library science.
“Do you have a nailset?”
You know what’s kickass? Having the world’s best toolbox.
My dad painstakingly selected the items for this toolbox, as well as the box itself, for my 20th birthday. I think it’s my favorite gift. I believe he purchased all the handy goodness from Menards, where Joe works.
It has all of the things I never knew I’d need, and none of the things that just take up space. Plus, the box is shaped and the top is gridded like a stepstool.
Jason and I bought an tv holster and bookshelf at Meijers late last night, and started putting it together. At one point, he asked me if I had a nailset. He was asking on the offchance that I might have one. He obviously forgot that I had a magic toolbox.
Now I’m feeling smug about my toolbox.
I may act like I’m six, but that does not mean that I want to do group work.
There is nothing more frustrating and futile than working in a group. At this point in my education, I assumed that groupwork was something we’d laugh about, as in “Remember when we’d do group work in elementary school? GOD, that was awful.”
Yeah, no. In the intro course, we’re working in effing groups. I don’t think you can understand my fury right now, but think of it as some sort of piece of fruit, a peach perhaps, in conflagration.
Grr.
Edenborn, by Nick Sagan
I’m not finished with Edenborn, by Nick Sagan, but I feel compelled to write about it. It’s a little bit post-apocalyptic Earth, a little bit Hot Zone, and a little bit Poisonwood Bible.
Because we use antibacterial soap, a giant killer bug …. kidding.
A viral plague, kind of like Ebola and Marburg but with a better mutation power, starts to wipe out everyone. Everyone, AND MONKEYS. You know you’re screwed when the monkeys start dying too.
What are people supposed to do? There’s a year, maybe two before all humans will be gone.
Put faith in a corporation, natch. A company comes up with a way to genetically fix the susceptibility for the disease, but by the time the embryos are fertilized, all the scientists will have died. Taking a page out of Matrix, they form a virtual reality for these babies to grow up in. Cyber-parents, cyber-friends, etc. Once grown enough, the program explains what happens, and let’s them wake up.
That’s just the backstory. This handful of people have to then try to repopulate the world. The book picks up when this first generation has created a second generation of 16-9 year olds.
The story is told in chapters of alternating voice, like Poisonwood Bible. The story is laid out slowly, gaining insight about past events from different characters. The storyline is fascinating enough, and I haven’t poked any holes in it, but the real treat is the combination of the first person accounts with the incredible setting.
Maybe I have a fascination with post-apocalyptic life, but I love the idea of living in a castle and scavenging for stuff that millions of people left behind. I could have, like, eight Mini Coopers.
Being a sci-fi thriller, I’m jumping out of my seat reading it (OK, listening to it on my iPod) because of the plot. Actually, audiobook is a great way to experience this book, because the voice changes with each of the character changes.
I have to say, the book is a bit of a winner. If you’re looking for a solid read for this fall, something to read on the train, this is it. Plus, it’s like $8 on Amazon.
Oh, and apparently it’s the sequel to Idlewild, which chronicles the VR to actual reality shift for the original humans. Woot!
Mort Ality
After emailing with a friend with an ailing mother, I realized tonight that although I’m not afraid to die (I’m really not, I’m cool with it), I’m terrified of my parents dying. In my book, they’re immortal.
The only thing I can console myself with right now is that I should hope to the high heavens that my kids will want to hang out with me as much as I do with my parents.
My new favorite human being is Regina Spektor.
I was listening to NPR on the drive to Champaign on Sunday, and on The Next Big Thing, Dean interviewed Regina Spektor and she played some new songs. My socks were knocked so far off, they cracked the windshield.
The song I liked the most is really new, and didn’t have a name. I couldn’t find it on Acquisition when I went to illegally download everything else I could find on her.
Sometimes she sounds too much like Fiona Apple, but when she doesn’t, she makes me really happy. Go, listen. The audio of the interview is on the Next Big Thing website, although I have to use stupid Real Player, and the file it downloads is a .py or something random, and I renamed it .ra. Just so you know.
Stupid sexy interslice
Even though there’s a happy modem box blinking at me, I don’t have straight up, fair trade slice. I’m waiting until as late as possible to call the help line so I don’t have to be on hold for 36 minutes.
That said, I’m going to be cranky and short in my blog. It’s only hurting those I love, but tough. “Life’s not fair,” my mother would often tell me, when I wanted one of everything.
Sangria and stolen cigarettes
I had time today to wander the hot streets of Champaign before learning about Web of Science (it’s a database, yo), and I noticed that the always-closed sushi place was open. I decided that I should aspire to be more like Allison (ev’ry day) so I went in for a tasty lunch while I still had money in my coffer.
Not only was the sushi cheap, but it was good too. All you can quaff miso soup didn’t hurt either. I spent $8 and was gorged by the end.
I seem to be in “meet and greet” mode, so I plunked myself down to a nice fellow named Phillip. He’s an undergrad studying for the summer in the chemical engineering department, and had been to Japan earlier in the summer. We discussed lingal shibboliths. Lovely boy, really.
Good lord. Last night I was drunk enough to become obnoxious. Wow. Sorry all.
On the upside,
I taught newbies to play euchre. So, all in all, I think it balanced out karmically. Maybe.
Oh, Mom, to clarify: I stole a pack of cigarettes from someone in an attempt to keep them from smoking. Not because I smoke cigarettes.