"...he also had a device that looked rather like a largish electronic calculator. This had about a hundred tiny flat press buttons and a screen about four inches square on which any one of a million "pages" could be summoned at a moment's notice. It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the reasons the snug plastic cover it fitted into had the words Don't Panic printed on it in large friendly letters."
The Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy1979!! I love this book!
RR
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Haps
1) Joyland Stories will soon be a part of the daily dose of aweomse that is CellStories, a site that sends cell phone and Blackberry (etc.) users a new short story every day (you can also read the stories at the link above). Sounds like a great way to pass a commute, and is probably the second reason on my list of reasons to maybe possibly someday get a cellphone (the first being to receive amusing texts from AMT, and third being in case I am ever accidentally (or on purpose, I guess) locked in a closet.
2) The finalists for Journey Prize 21 will be announced at Ben McNally books on October 1, and I'll be there to help make the presentation. I'm really looking forward to celebrating such great work.
3) A story of mine called "Dykadelic" will be in the yet-to-be-launched journal *The Milan Review* sometime this fall.
4) I'll be reading at the Draft Reading Series on October 4 at the Blue Moon Pub. Only new drafty works are to be read there, so who knows what I'll be presenting.
5) Finally, for those who said it couldn't be done, I have made it through a week with a left hand mouse and, though I still hate it a lot, this morning when someone *moved my mouse* to the right side of the keyboard (oh, don't even ask) I *moved it back*. New neural pathways, here I come!
You let me down easy / you let me down hard
RR
2) The finalists for Journey Prize 21 will be announced at Ben McNally books on October 1, and I'll be there to help make the presentation. I'm really looking forward to celebrating such great work.
3) A story of mine called "Dykadelic" will be in the yet-to-be-launched journal *The Milan Review* sometime this fall.
4) I'll be reading at the Draft Reading Series on October 4 at the Blue Moon Pub. Only new drafty works are to be read there, so who knows what I'll be presenting.
5) Finally, for those who said it couldn't be done, I have made it through a week with a left hand mouse and, though I still hate it a lot, this morning when someone *moved my mouse* to the right side of the keyboard (oh, don't even ask) I *moved it back*. New neural pathways, here I come!
You let me down easy / you let me down hard
RR
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Further reading
So we've all heard the debate about eBooks, the Amazon Kindle, the Sony reader, the future of print, etc. (at least, I hope we all have, since I am too lazy to provide links). I am largely playing from the sidelines, since the price of entry into the fray is $300, and then you still have to pay almost full price for the books and, unlike the print market, there are no used book stores, libraries, or generous lending friends for eBooks (that I know of??) Any emotions or opinions about this dawning technology that are expressed herein are entirely theoretical.
However, I have been reading on-screen for years--computer screens, of course, but still. I am desperately behind the times in many ways (I have no interest in phones that don't plug into the wall) but reading on-screen is fine to me. I don't feel like I miss things, that I have a harder time following the text, or that it's hard on the eyes. I have read hundreds of books on computer screens, in various formats--some were in DOS.
Most of this reading, of course, has been done for work-related purposes--my various publishing jobs have required a lot of reading. On my own time, I read books in book format, for the reasons stated above and also because I like them. I like pages, I like jacket copy, I like bookmarks and perfect-binding and matte finish covers (oooh, with spot gloss!) My alleged leisure reading often has a semi-professional puropose, though: I probably read more like a student (looking to see how it works) or critic (looking to see if it works) than most. But mainly I read for pleasure. I don't watch tv, knit, golf, or own a cellphone--reading is what I do for fun. A flawless weekend, to my mind, the one I spent two weeks ago, park-hopping--going to a park, lying in the grass and reading until you get hungry/get thirsty/have to pee, going to cafe to rectify that, and then going to a different park to repeat. On a sunny summer day in good company--bliss.
I think I could do that with an electronic book, if I had to. I won't know *until* I have to, because of the price threshhold and the fact that I like paper books so much, but I don't know if it's going to be a huge big deal for me. As I started writing this post, I was going to say I mainly do my pleasure reading offline, but then I realized I sure do read a lot of blogs. And then I was going to say, oh, but not like literature online. But the truth is, in the past week alone I have had the random impulses to read The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra and The Dead at times when the paper copies of those pieces that I own were inaccessible to me. And yet the interweb made reading happen for me, for which I am grateful. I had read all those items multiple times before on paper, and then last week on the web, and I feel safe hazarding I enjoyed them just as much this time round.
So this is a good sign (and also a sign that writing this blog allows me to think through my positions on things much more fully than simply thinking about them does). I'm scared of the electronic book, of course, as only a person who has never had a cellphone, cable television or a dishwasher can be. But I do think in the end, books being my favourite thing will triumph over my fear of the new. It'll be like a loved person in an unfamiliar hat.
Of course, my vision of the future seems to involve somebody showing up one day and taking all the paper books away and that's probably not going happen, at least not in my lifetime. Maybe, in time, my affection for paper books will come to seem as amusing as my love of landlines, and I'll sit in my corner turning pages, while the rest of the world moves on.
That wouldn't be bad at all.
Serenity now
RR
However, I have been reading on-screen for years--computer screens, of course, but still. I am desperately behind the times in many ways (I have no interest in phones that don't plug into the wall) but reading on-screen is fine to me. I don't feel like I miss things, that I have a harder time following the text, or that it's hard on the eyes. I have read hundreds of books on computer screens, in various formats--some were in DOS.
Most of this reading, of course, has been done for work-related purposes--my various publishing jobs have required a lot of reading. On my own time, I read books in book format, for the reasons stated above and also because I like them. I like pages, I like jacket copy, I like bookmarks and perfect-binding and matte finish covers (oooh, with spot gloss!) My alleged leisure reading often has a semi-professional puropose, though: I probably read more like a student (looking to see how it works) or critic (looking to see if it works) than most. But mainly I read for pleasure. I don't watch tv, knit, golf, or own a cellphone--reading is what I do for fun. A flawless weekend, to my mind, the one I spent two weeks ago, park-hopping--going to a park, lying in the grass and reading until you get hungry/get thirsty/have to pee, going to cafe to rectify that, and then going to a different park to repeat. On a sunny summer day in good company--bliss.
I think I could do that with an electronic book, if I had to. I won't know *until* I have to, because of the price threshhold and the fact that I like paper books so much, but I don't know if it's going to be a huge big deal for me. As I started writing this post, I was going to say I mainly do my pleasure reading offline, but then I realized I sure do read a lot of blogs. And then I was going to say, oh, but not like literature online. But the truth is, in the past week alone I have had the random impulses to read The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra and The Dead at times when the paper copies of those pieces that I own were inaccessible to me. And yet the interweb made reading happen for me, for which I am grateful. I had read all those items multiple times before on paper, and then last week on the web, and I feel safe hazarding I enjoyed them just as much this time round.
So this is a good sign (and also a sign that writing this blog allows me to think through my positions on things much more fully than simply thinking about them does). I'm scared of the electronic book, of course, as only a person who has never had a cellphone, cable television or a dishwasher can be. But I do think in the end, books being my favourite thing will triumph over my fear of the new. It'll be like a loved person in an unfamiliar hat.
Of course, my vision of the future seems to involve somebody showing up one day and taking all the paper books away and that's probably not going happen, at least not in my lifetime. Maybe, in time, my affection for paper books will come to seem as amusing as my love of landlines, and I'll sit in my corner turning pages, while the rest of the world moves on.
That wouldn't be bad at all.
Serenity now
RR
Friday, August 21, 2009
First-world problems
I have recently been introduced to the term "first-world problems", used to describe those problems that sure enough do feel lousy when we have to experience them, but taken in the context of people who struggle for food, safety and clean drinking water, are a little less than earth-tilting. Ie.,
--ice cream melts too fast
--waiter forgets your wine, is rude when reminded
--ugly hotel room
--wallet in other pants
--trying to switch the hand you use your mouse with in order to stave off carpal tunnel syndrom and Altzheimer's disease makes you grouchy and confused
I'm trying to do that last one and it's making me very unhappy in a distinctly first-world way. On Wednesday, I did *one hour* of left-handed mousing, and when I got into bed that night and let my body go slack, the mouse-fingers on my left hand immediately started to twitch. Today, I've been at it about 3 hours, and I think I might go insane.
Now, I'm a prime target for carpal tunnel, since I'm in front of a computer an incredible number of hours, don't have an ergonomic setup, plus often use a laptop. There's nothing I don't think to be done about the laptop; I've been trying to use the touchpad with my left hand, but since it's right there in the middle, I immediately forget add allow my pushy pushy right hand to take over.
It's easier on the desktop, since I have an actual mouse that I have moved over to the left side of the keyboard. However, it is a very strange mouse since it the one associated with the drawing pallette I use in my work. Mine's not that nice, I just wanted a clear picture, but it is a pricey item and clearly it's not going to be replaced just so I can have a left-handed mouse to go with it, even if there was such a thing (wow, another first-world problem: my expensive technology not quiiiitte as nice as some).
So now I am left-clicking with my *ring-finger*, probably the weakest part of my body besides, like, my hair. Hence the twitching, I guess. I'm trying to feel the new, Alzheimer's-preventing neural pathways being formed as I do this, but mainly I just feel like I'm working really slowly as it often takes a couple tries to click on what I want. Also my ring-finger is tired. Also, several times when I got really involved with something, I discovered myself 45 degrees pivoted in my chair, gripping the mouse with my right hand through now will of my own. Also, for some reason, my right hand hurts; sympathy pains?
A friend of mine actually successfully made this switch, which is what inspired me to try, but that friend is superhuman in any number of regards, and I'm starting to think this is one of them. Maybe I'll just learn Suduko??
Why not smile?
RR
--ice cream melts too fast
--waiter forgets your wine, is rude when reminded
--ugly hotel room
--wallet in other pants
--trying to switch the hand you use your mouse with in order to stave off carpal tunnel syndrom and Altzheimer's disease makes you grouchy and confused
I'm trying to do that last one and it's making me very unhappy in a distinctly first-world way. On Wednesday, I did *one hour* of left-handed mousing, and when I got into bed that night and let my body go slack, the mouse-fingers on my left hand immediately started to twitch. Today, I've been at it about 3 hours, and I think I might go insane.
Now, I'm a prime target for carpal tunnel, since I'm in front of a computer an incredible number of hours, don't have an ergonomic setup, plus often use a laptop. There's nothing I don't think to be done about the laptop; I've been trying to use the touchpad with my left hand, but since it's right there in the middle, I immediately forget add allow my pushy pushy right hand to take over.
It's easier on the desktop, since I have an actual mouse that I have moved over to the left side of the keyboard. However, it is a very strange mouse since it the one associated with the drawing pallette I use in my work. Mine's not that nice, I just wanted a clear picture, but it is a pricey item and clearly it's not going to be replaced just so I can have a left-handed mouse to go with it, even if there was such a thing (wow, another first-world problem: my expensive technology not quiiiitte as nice as some).
So now I am left-clicking with my *ring-finger*, probably the weakest part of my body besides, like, my hair. Hence the twitching, I guess. I'm trying to feel the new, Alzheimer's-preventing neural pathways being formed as I do this, but mainly I just feel like I'm working really slowly as it often takes a couple tries to click on what I want. Also my ring-finger is tired. Also, several times when I got really involved with something, I discovered myself 45 degrees pivoted in my chair, gripping the mouse with my right hand through now will of my own. Also, for some reason, my right hand hurts; sympathy pains?
A friend of mine actually successfully made this switch, which is what inspired me to try, but that friend is superhuman in any number of regards, and I'm starting to think this is one of them. Maybe I'll just learn Suduko??
Why not smile?
RR
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Social Networking, So Much
Before the Rose-coloured blog, before the Facebook obsession and the fear of MySpace, before socializing went virtual, there was the Bureau of People We Know. Well, there was insofar as a thing that had no form or substance but simply got talked about a lot (mainly by me) can be said to have existed. In fact, even before that, there was the chorus of the children's song The More We Get Together, which encouraged you to think of my friends as your friends.
That was really the basis of the BPWK, as I have always wanted to meet my friends' friends, especially around the time I graduated undergrad, and my little circle exploded into different cities and careers and circles, doing all kinds of fascinating things far away where I couldn't see them. So whatever city someone ended up in, I'd name them head of that city's office of the BPWK, their only duty really being to hang out with me when I came to town, maybe introduce me to their other friends, and perhaps hang out with some other friends of mine if they found themselves in the same city.
This was not social networking in the Penelope Trunk sense, where you look for useful people, befriend them and then hope they'll do things for you. My central goal was for no one to ever be bored or lonely in a strange city and to meet as many cool people as possible (and in those senses, I am personally living the dream, at least).
And for the same reason (well, more the meeting cool people part), I am very fond of blogs and Facebook. I often meet someone once at a party, have a charming conversation, and wonder how I'll be able to have another charming conversation with that person without seeming a) like I'm hitting on him/her, b) a potential stalker, and c) socially lame. Facebook offered the answer, a way to get to know a *little* about people who seem cool, and to interact a *bit*, to the point where you might be able to "take it live" and have coffee in a real actual place.
And that makes me very happy. It also makes me happy that I can invite these new friends to parties and readings and be invited to theirs, that they can see my other friends and what we're all up to, and maybe the Bureau of People We Know will enlarge even further.
Social networking websites are not a substitution for personal interaction; they are a method of interacting, albeit in a minor, low-committment way. Which can be a conduit to lots of other things, or just a long-term happy acquaintanceship. Both are good things.
So yay Facebook, yay blog! I never joined MySpace because I thought you needed to have a band, and I never joined Twitter because I thought you needed to have a cellphone... Obviously, I know they'll let you *on* either platform without guitars or a flipphone, but I figured there's be no point; I'm not who it's for. Then a shadowy man told me I could synch my Facebook updates with Twitter, if only I were on Twitter. \
So now I'm on Twitter. Such is my love of FB that the hours in the day when, erm, technical difficulties make updating impossible are sad for me. So now, FB tweeting all the time.
And the bonus, of course, is that I'll get to see who is on Twitter. Besides Wren and Fred and Mel, of course, who are my friends across all platforms, aside from being original members of the BPWK.
Not sick of me yet? Let's be Twitter friends! Or you can just scroll way down on the right side of this blog and see my none-too-fascinating tweets.
Sweet Alexis / is eating fingernails for breakfast
RR
That was really the basis of the BPWK, as I have always wanted to meet my friends' friends, especially around the time I graduated undergrad, and my little circle exploded into different cities and careers and circles, doing all kinds of fascinating things far away where I couldn't see them. So whatever city someone ended up in, I'd name them head of that city's office of the BPWK, their only duty really being to hang out with me when I came to town, maybe introduce me to their other friends, and perhaps hang out with some other friends of mine if they found themselves in the same city.
This was not social networking in the Penelope Trunk sense, where you look for useful people, befriend them and then hope they'll do things for you. My central goal was for no one to ever be bored or lonely in a strange city and to meet as many cool people as possible (and in those senses, I am personally living the dream, at least).
And for the same reason (well, more the meeting cool people part), I am very fond of blogs and Facebook. I often meet someone once at a party, have a charming conversation, and wonder how I'll be able to have another charming conversation with that person without seeming a) like I'm hitting on him/her, b) a potential stalker, and c) socially lame. Facebook offered the answer, a way to get to know a *little* about people who seem cool, and to interact a *bit*, to the point where you might be able to "take it live" and have coffee in a real actual place.
And that makes me very happy. It also makes me happy that I can invite these new friends to parties and readings and be invited to theirs, that they can see my other friends and what we're all up to, and maybe the Bureau of People We Know will enlarge even further.
Social networking websites are not a substitution for personal interaction; they are a method of interacting, albeit in a minor, low-committment way. Which can be a conduit to lots of other things, or just a long-term happy acquaintanceship. Both are good things.
So yay Facebook, yay blog! I never joined MySpace because I thought you needed to have a band, and I never joined Twitter because I thought you needed to have a cellphone... Obviously, I know they'll let you *on* either platform without guitars or a flipphone, but I figured there's be no point; I'm not who it's for. Then a shadowy man told me I could synch my Facebook updates with Twitter, if only I were on Twitter. \
So now I'm on Twitter. Such is my love of FB that the hours in the day when, erm, technical difficulties make updating impossible are sad for me. So now, FB tweeting all the time.
And the bonus, of course, is that I'll get to see who is on Twitter. Besides Wren and Fred and Mel, of course, who are my friends across all platforms, aside from being original members of the BPWK.
Not sick of me yet? Let's be Twitter friends! Or you can just scroll way down on the right side of this blog and see my none-too-fascinating tweets.
Sweet Alexis / is eating fingernails for breakfast
RR
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Tokyo and Yokohama in Pictures (well, a few)
Just to be clear: I'm not much of a photographer, and my camera's not much of a camera. But Tokyo and Yokohama are both so amazing that I think it shines through personal and technical ineptitude. And if it *doesn't* shine through these pictures, I am having a wonderful time and Tokyo and Yokohama are amazing. This photo upload session is a break to wait out the rain before we head to Harajuku to see the sexy punks!! Yay! Oh, and I was right--it *is* easier to upload pictures to Blogger on a PC. Not much, but slightly.
Reunited at last--the JR train from Narita airport into Tokyo. I have been awake for many many hours in this picture, but it does not diminish my happiness.
View of Tokyo tower (like a miniature Eiffel tower) down an unidentified street my first night in Tokyo.
The crowd at the station. My brother told me to stop taking pictures of strangers after this one. Good point.
View from top of a tall building. Sorry, Ben's gone for a run and I'm useless about the names here. It was downtown and very tall--that's all I got.
Sushi-conveyor-belt restaurant. Here this is cheap'n'easy fast food, as opposed to a kooky/expensive night out. But it's still delicious. No, it's more delicious.
Uh, not everything about Tokyo is perfect. But note UniQlo bagin my hand!!
Ah, pretty pretty park that I don't remember the name of. But this is right in the middle of the city, a la Central Park. It's shockingly gorgeous, no? I didn't bother taking a picture of the crows; actually, I don't like to slow down near them.
Us in Yokohama, just about to go into the Boats and Ports Museum (wait, it's better than it sounds).
See! The Boats and Ports Museum has an actual *boat* you can run around and explore. Me, in a cabin, being a goof.
Ben, in the control room, being a goof.
Me, pretending to drive the boat (I am a very safe driver).
What Rosenblums do on a Ferris Wheel.
A bit of Yokohama, as seen from 3/4 up the Ferris Wheel.
We went to a Shinto festival in Akurasa. This is the top of the Shrine there, plus incongruous Lion Club sign. Why?
What the festival was all about was groups of people carrying very heavy portable shrines through the streets and chanting. It was very moving, somehow, when they pushed past us (the streets are very narrow there), all straining and sweating under the weight of the thing, but still so happy and impassioned. A few times, we got exhorted to chant too. Really an amazing feeling to be included in that.
The band (not called that, I'm sure) that came in between some of the shrines in the parade (also possibly not called a parade).
Most delicious food ever. It's like a ground rice crepe filled with fried cabbage and dried shrimps and a fried egg, all doused with "bbq sauce" that tastes suspiciously like soy. Ok, that actually doesn't sound good, but it was amazing.
Me, with eyes closed, in front of shockingly pretty bush.
Me, pointing enthusiastically at robot boat. In the end, we went on a normal boat, but at least I saw the one designed by a manga artist. Cool, no?
OK, whoo. That's a lotta photos. More...at some point. We head for Kyoto tomorrow for a few days, and I think internet is tres cher there, so it may be a while. But I'll be back!! Hope you guys are holding the west ok for me!
Don't give me the small talk / give me the big talk
RR
Reunited at last--the JR train from Narita airport into Tokyo. I have been awake for many many hours in this picture, but it does not diminish my happiness.
View of Tokyo tower (like a miniature Eiffel tower) down an unidentified street my first night in Tokyo.
The crowd at the station. My brother told me to stop taking pictures of strangers after this one. Good point.
View from top of a tall building. Sorry, Ben's gone for a run and I'm useless about the names here. It was downtown and very tall--that's all I got.
Sushi-conveyor-belt restaurant. Here this is cheap'n'easy fast food, as opposed to a kooky/expensive night out. But it's still delicious. No, it's more delicious.
Uh, not everything about Tokyo is perfect. But note UniQlo bagin my hand!!
Ah, pretty pretty park that I don't remember the name of. But this is right in the middle of the city, a la Central Park. It's shockingly gorgeous, no? I didn't bother taking a picture of the crows; actually, I don't like to slow down near them.
Us in Yokohama, just about to go into the Boats and Ports Museum (wait, it's better than it sounds).
See! The Boats and Ports Museum has an actual *boat* you can run around and explore. Me, in a cabin, being a goof.
Ben, in the control room, being a goof.
Me, pretending to drive the boat (I am a very safe driver).
What Rosenblums do on a Ferris Wheel.
A bit of Yokohama, as seen from 3/4 up the Ferris Wheel.
We went to a Shinto festival in Akurasa. This is the top of the Shrine there, plus incongruous Lion Club sign. Why?
What the festival was all about was groups of people carrying very heavy portable shrines through the streets and chanting. It was very moving, somehow, when they pushed past us (the streets are very narrow there), all straining and sweating under the weight of the thing, but still so happy and impassioned. A few times, we got exhorted to chant too. Really an amazing feeling to be included in that.
The band (not called that, I'm sure) that came in between some of the shrines in the parade (also possibly not called a parade).
Most delicious food ever. It's like a ground rice crepe filled with fried cabbage and dried shrimps and a fried egg, all doused with "bbq sauce" that tastes suspiciously like soy. Ok, that actually doesn't sound good, but it was amazing.
Me, with eyes closed, in front of shockingly pretty bush.
Me, pointing enthusiastically at robot boat. In the end, we went on a normal boat, but at least I saw the one designed by a manga artist. Cool, no?
OK, whoo. That's a lotta photos. More...at some point. We head for Kyoto tomorrow for a few days, and I think internet is tres cher there, so it may be a while. But I'll be back!! Hope you guys are holding the west ok for me!
Don't give me the small talk / give me the big talk
RR
Monday, November 24, 2008
Minor pleasures
Because there can never be too many, here are some minor pleasures to try:
1) Telling strangers their dogs are cute.
2) Getting an up-to-date phone book and recycling the old one.
3) Touching paper over glass. Seriously--the nicest sensation. There was an ill-placed window in the changing room of my gym that they just recently papered over (I never noticed it before, but that doesn't bear thinking about) and I am now in love with touching that window. Cold through dry--I can't explain it. It's lovely.
4) 14 second video of a kitten falling asleep.
4 a) The fact that when I mentioned this at a party, everyone wanted to see.
b) The fact that when we searched this on someone's iPhone at the party, there were *pages* of sleepy kitten videos
c) Other people's iPhones, one of the only things on the planet that inspire technolust in me.
5) A peck on the cheek.
6) Feeling smug about buying nothing on Buy Nothing Day
They always did the best they could.
RR
1) Telling strangers their dogs are cute.
2) Getting an up-to-date phone book and recycling the old one.
3) Touching paper over glass. Seriously--the nicest sensation. There was an ill-placed window in the changing room of my gym that they just recently papered over (I never noticed it before, but that doesn't bear thinking about) and I am now in love with touching that window. Cold through dry--I can't explain it. It's lovely.
4) 14 second video of a kitten falling asleep.
4 a) The fact that when I mentioned this at a party, everyone wanted to see.
b) The fact that when we searched this on someone's iPhone at the party, there were *pages* of sleepy kitten videos
c) Other people's iPhones, one of the only things on the planet that inspire technolust in me.
5) A peck on the cheek.
6) Feeling smug about buying nothing on Buy Nothing Day
They always did the best they could.
RR
Sunday, October 5, 2008
No Politics
I try not to ever talk about politics with people I don't know well, not because I don't have opinions but because I am so pathetically ill-informed that I can't defend them properly. But sometimes I get blindsided by politics, and I manage to learn a little something, about something or other.
1.
D: To even do ok in the debate, Joseph Biden had to be so smart and so erudite and so careful, and all Sarah Palin had to do was not be a monkey. Really, people are thrilled that she formed complete sentences and didn't fling her own feces.
2.
J: So, everybody knows that light has amplitude, right?
Me: Ok, now I know, but only because you just told me this second. I don't think normal people know that.
J: Normal people?
Me: Well, most people.
J: The people who are going to be allowed to vote in two weeks don't know this? Oh no!
My mother says what you gonna do with your life
RR
1.
D: To even do ok in the debate, Joseph Biden had to be so smart and so erudite and so careful, and all Sarah Palin had to do was not be a monkey. Really, people are thrilled that she formed complete sentences and didn't fling her own feces.
2.
J: So, everybody knows that light has amplitude, right?
Me: Ok, now I know, but only because you just told me this second. I don't think normal people know that.
J: Normal people?
Me: Well, most people.
J: The people who are going to be allowed to vote in two weeks don't know this? Oh no!
My mother says what you gonna do with your life
RR
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Doings
1) Today--A profile of me in the Canadian Jewish News by Ruth Mestechkin.
2) Monday August 25--Reading aloud on Julie Wilson's weekly Readers Reading podcast--sixty seconds of me and Mr. Updike, to your ears by the miracle of digital recording! I am thrilled by the technology (and the text).
I didn't ask you
RR
2) Monday August 25--Reading aloud on Julie Wilson's weekly Readers Reading podcast--sixty seconds of me and Mr. Updike, to your ears by the miracle of digital recording! I am thrilled by the technology (and the text).
I didn't ask you
RR
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Mayumi
So, yes, I did it: I bought a digital camera. It doesn't usually take this much Sturm und Drang to buy a camera (or a house) but I have a tough time with electronics. Thanks to all who supported me in my invented problem, and thanks especially to the subject of my first digital photo, beautiful Afshan in the unbeautiful rain:
The other major event of the weekend was a haircut that reduced my attractively uninteresting (boringly benign?) shoulder length curls into the Emo-Boy Special--a jaw-length tangle that flips over my entire face the moment I nod. Leaning forward, I could be in My Chemical Romance. *You* try to guess the difference:
See, impossible to tell who's who!!
Look forward to more amusing guessing games of this nature with the help of Mayumi. Mayumi is the camera--I name my appliances to make them seem less threatening, and this camera is of Japanese parentage.
My heart is far away / tell me what to say
RR
The other major event of the weekend was a haircut that reduced my attractively uninteresting (boringly benign?) shoulder length curls into the Emo-Boy Special--a jaw-length tangle that flips over my entire face the moment I nod. Leaning forward, I could be in My Chemical Romance. *You* try to guess the difference:
See, impossible to tell who's who!!
Look forward to more amusing guessing games of this nature with the help of Mayumi. Mayumi is the camera--I name my appliances to make them seem less threatening, and this camera is of Japanese parentage.
My heart is far away / tell me what to say
RR
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Photographic Failure
My camera experienced existential doubt in, oh, April, and in a sense really ceased to exist, since a camera that doesn't take picture is like the tree falling without an audience--what's the point?
The point is I have no camera. Sorry, focus. That camera that died had a good run, since it was a film camera that I got in (I think) the nineties. Yes, film. I'm not much of a photographer--I rarely even miss the ability to take photos, except on occasions when someone I know does something photogenic, like the Idle Tigers live on stage, be-glittered and brilliant. Oh, last night was very very good, and it did make me sad to be camera-less.
I have been for some time ready to take the leap into digital photography (once more, bravely into 2002!) I even have money set aside to purchase a simple yet effective model. But I can't *stand* the thought of losing half a day to comparison shopping, learning what a megapixel is or whether I care about them, and why, being chased by Future Shop employees, eventually buying something I saw in the first hour of the jaunt for $20 too much because I'm just so tired, and then getting teary-eyed over the warantee.
I am not a good technology shopper.
Please please, if you know the name and model number of a simple yet effective digital camera, tell it to me and I will go purchase it (maybe also tell me where to go?) Yes, I am outsourcing my thinking on this matter, but really, almost anyone's going to be better at it than I am.
All this goes also for laser printers.
In the meantime, sometimes I get photographed by professionals, and that's really both easier and more effective, because this shot here by Donna Santos is far better than I normally look. Also some other lovely authors you might recognize.
Wear your pink petticoat
RR
The point is I have no camera. Sorry, focus. That camera that died had a good run, since it was a film camera that I got in (I think) the nineties. Yes, film. I'm not much of a photographer--I rarely even miss the ability to take photos, except on occasions when someone I know does something photogenic, like the Idle Tigers live on stage, be-glittered and brilliant. Oh, last night was very very good, and it did make me sad to be camera-less.
I have been for some time ready to take the leap into digital photography (once more, bravely into 2002!) I even have money set aside to purchase a simple yet effective model. But I can't *stand* the thought of losing half a day to comparison shopping, learning what a megapixel is or whether I care about them, and why, being chased by Future Shop employees, eventually buying something I saw in the first hour of the jaunt for $20 too much because I'm just so tired, and then getting teary-eyed over the warantee.
I am not a good technology shopper.
Please please, if you know the name and model number of a simple yet effective digital camera, tell it to me and I will go purchase it (maybe also tell me where to go?) Yes, I am outsourcing my thinking on this matter, but really, almost anyone's going to be better at it than I am.
All this goes also for laser printers.
In the meantime, sometimes I get photographed by professionals, and that's really both easier and more effective, because this shot here by Donna Santos is far better than I normally look. Also some other lovely authors you might recognize.
Wear your pink petticoat
RR
Friday, April 18, 2008
What is it?
Thumb drive?
Jump drive?
USB key?
USB port? (that one's just wrong, the port's the hole in the side of the CPU, but I've still heard it used for drive)
Flash drive?
Key drive?
Port drive (no, really)
Unlike ipods, walkmen, xerox machines and blackberries bits of technology that made their way into our culture under the auspices of a single brand, we have nothing to call this thing that everyone seems to have come up with simultaneously.
I have never used mine, and the reason is probably laziness but I like to think it's for lack of a noun. Thoughts?
Something underground's gonna come up and carry me
RR
Jump drive?
USB key?
USB port? (that one's just wrong, the port's the hole in the side of the CPU, but I've still heard it used for drive)
Flash drive?
Key drive?
Port drive (no, really)
Unlike ipods, walkmen, xerox machines and blackberries bits of technology that made their way into our culture under the auspices of a single brand, we have nothing to call this thing that everyone seems to have come up with simultaneously.
I have never used mine, and the reason is probably laziness but I like to think it's for lack of a noun. Thoughts?
Something underground's gonna come up and carry me
RR
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