checking in

No silly, not checking in to a mental institution. You know, just keeping this blog alive before it completely dies.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about libraries. Mostly instead of doing my homework...related to libraries. Who knows, this thinking might do more for me than the classes. We'll see about that.

One of my biggest thoughts and fears is the way some folks in the industry define it and shove it into a box so they can stand guard over that box. Times change, people change, even geography changes. How silly is it to stand in the way of changes in the access to information when observing all of the other craziness out there?

I kind of want to set fire to that box and see what happens. Perhaps the semantic web will deconstruct the box. Someone ought to.

Our whole information movement, paradigm shift if you will, is struggling toward a state of transparency and oneness. Imagine being in tune with all information around you, bearing in mind just what information is and can be. Perhaps our humanity ideal is to join into this single harmonic pipeline of pure information.

service, barriers to

I just had a student ask if we had an electronic copy of Perry's Handbook for Engineers. We do not, I'm not even sure if such a thing exists. They were surprised when I told them we did not have access to an electronic edition, print only. Then he wanted to know how long he could check the book out. It's a reference book, so he can't.

I realize that a lot of these barriers are rooted in a limited budget, but it makes me wonder. How many other students in the next day will actually use this book? Could it have been loaned out?

Why don't we get electronic access to these types of foundational reference sources? We don't let students check out the print editions... there is only one copy available. That's pretty damned limiting. Again, budget is probably an issue here.

I really want to have some detached conversations about bringing down service barriers. They should be constantly examined.. 5 years ago most texts were not available electronically so it would have been a moot point. Now... odds are pretty decent.

a new year, looking forward and back

Here is a photo collage of some of my favs from last year:

christmas eve, twittering

Today is an amazingly beautiful day. The sun has been out all morning. There has been a little bit of rain, but nothing too bad. Snow is forecast at some point... hopefully it'll happen late this afternoon and stick a bit. Snow on Christmas would be absolutely heavenly.

The last two nights I haven't slept the best. My parents got a new bed for the small guest room at their house. It's really comfy, but it is in the wrong direction. I like to lay on my right side facing "out." Tonight I think I'm swapping the sheets and blankets to orient on the other end. Grrrrr.

Right now I'm leaning up against Gus, who is wonderfully warm, catching up on some holiday e-mails and facebook messages before the family events get fully under way. More to come once the gifts have arrived!

ruby, what to do with

Has anyone ever gotten a keg for a party and was then unable to empty it? I recently did, this past friday, in fact. It was full of McMenamin's "Ruby" ale which is just lovely lovely lovely to drink.

Anyone ever have a "kill the keg" party or similar thing? Our party ended with a keg containing roughly 5 gallons of beer left over. I don't know about you, but this is something that I really can't handle in just a few days. Not and remain moderately sober for the rest of the week (goodness I'm getting old). It's a good thing I'm on vacation.

Anyway, I just wanted a post for the week and this seemed just as good a thing as any.

Any creative ideas for dealing with the remaining brew?

emu, try roasting one

Ever had emu? I hadn't, not until tonight. I have to say that it is one of the most delicious protein sources I have ever experienced. If any of you ever get a chance to go through Corvallis, Oregon and are able to have a fairly expensive meal, check out Magenta, an excellent restaurant.

I hadn't really ever considered emu as a food option. On reflection, tasty, I'll do it again. Let's roast one!

RDC for mac on the VPN, woah!

Did that make any sense? Well, I'm really really really proud of myself.

A few days ago I learned that the folks at Windows had made a Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client for us mac folks. Don't know what RDC is? Basically, it's a neat program that lets you connect to another computer and use it as if you were sitting in front of it, all of your files, programs, etc. are accessible just like normal. So, just like it sounds, RDC. Anyway, connecting to this with a mac has been a bit problematic, there are a few freebie programs that do it, but usually the graphics are fuzzy/pixelated or they are just super slow and laggy. I didn't have time to mess with it when I found out about it, but today I finally had the time, whee!

I installed RDC and was attempting to connect to my computer at work. I had gotten the IP address and knew I needed to log in to a specific network to validate myself. However, I kept getting errors. Then it donned on me, since I'm not on campus there are extra security measures to go through. I was able to locate the Virtual Private Network (VPN) info on the OSU website, install the appropriate version for mac, look through the config instructions and set it up properly. After this, RDC for mac connected just fine.

The only real tricky part with this was trying to get the display settings set up in a friendly way. After trying to match resolution types, I finally noticed at the bottom of the list in RDC (Full Screen) ... DUH. Now RDC displays my work desktop beautifully! This means I can check my work e-mail from home using Outlook 2003 on our Microsoft Exchange server, aka happy meeting requests approval/denial and calendaring central. Previously, I would have to connect to the Outlook web interface which blows CHUNKS. It doesn't even have a message search function. This means scrolling through the over 2000 messages in my inbox, manually. Eww.

It's so sad how happy this makes me. Uber geek? Maybe. This might be the first time I've ever said this, but... Thank You, Microsoft! 2 kudos!

boredom and cinnamon

Remind me to never work on the Thursday of finals week. In a 4 hour shift at the desk I have had 4 questions. I sent my student employee home so she could escape the torture. Unfortunately, I'm not so flexible.

On the optimistic side of things, this extra time has given me sufficient time to carefully consider the new brand of gum I am trying. It is a very nice cinnamon that has a slightly musky scent to it when removed from the wrapper. Long after most of the flavor is done the gum continues to provide a warming sensation in your mouth. I'm not sure if this is legal, but I kind of enjoy it. Now that you're all chomping at the bit to run to your nearest 7-11 and buy yourself a pack, the gum is called 5 and is made by the folks at Wrigley's. How presumptuous can you get? 5. They just got their website up and running, check it out, it promises to delight the senses. When you first see the package you have a moment of "are these cigarettes?" or maybe "über manly sexy condoms?" or possibly even "trashy trendy chocolate bar for yuppies." Nope. Gum.

I have to give it to them. It's sugarfree, the flavor is nice, the warming sensation is pleasant, and you get 15 sticks in a pack. It costs no more than Orbitz or any of the others and has a much higher cool factor.

subscribers, apologies to

Hi all, apologies if you received a slew of old posts as "new" in your aggregator. I did some tweaking around on the backend of the blog and it seems some readers are viewing this as a total "reset" of my blog. It shouldn't hurt anything otherwise. Thanks for reading!

natural products, aren't all they could be?

So lately I have begun a quest for living a more natural and less chemically-enhanced life. In most areas it is going pretty well: reusable stainless steel water containers, biodegradable laundry detergent and fabric softener, etc. However, there are a few areas I'm not quite satisfied with. Personal hygiene. There's a really amazing website that simply lays out the potential health risks for personal products. It's a good way to see the problems with what you currently use and get ideas for products to use that are less likely to give you cancer in the next 10 years. It's called Skin Deep, you'll find it at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.

For those of you with sensitive constitutions or an unwillingness to delve into my personal hygiene, disregard the following paragraph and come back later for my next post (right, like you're going to turn back now).

Since all of the hype about aluminum in deoderant, I got a little nervous about using my regular kind of deoderant/anti-perspirant. I'm currently trying out the Tom's of Maine Natural Original Deoderant Stick. It contains hops, yeah, as in hops that make beer. Tom's claims that hops are a natural anti-bacterial solution. It's been about 6 hours since application and I'm starting to smell myself a bit. Some days it seems to last longer, but today I did a lot of walking around with a jacket on which heated things up. Not so fresh and I have 2.5 hours left of work. Eww. I just discovered that Tom's has a long-lasting formula, I might give that one a try. Anyone have any favorites that don't contain aluminum derivatives? I really don't want my armpits to rot away. They're sort of necessary to keep my arms attached to my body. I do enjoy my arms.

night time

DSC_1985.JPG
Originally uploaded by mikey mikey mikey

A few days ago I borrowed a tripod from a friend. I recently bought a very nice digital SLR camera and have been itching to try it out with some night time shots. The trick with this is that a very slow shutter speed requires a completely still camera. So tonight after I got home from work (~1:45 am mind you) I toted everything outside (~30 degrees F mind you) and set it up. I wanted to play around with different settings and see what the camera was capable of. Night photography is still a little confusing for me and I wanted to do some playing.

This is the first pic I took. The light source is a street lamp behind the trees. I thought it was kind of neat.

After about 30 minutes of shooting, I started to get more than a little cold and decided to pack everything back up and go inside. Then it hit me. How nice it is to be very cold then come inside and be warm and comfortable with rosy cheeks. This really is a very great feeling, something I haven't fully been aware of for quite awhile.

orange-skinned, of being

I can sympathize with people who want to be more tan. Really, I can. I often think it would be great to have a super dark complexion. But, I'm not really such a fan of those harmful UV rays so suck it up and stay moderately pale. Well, there's an entirely new breed of individuals out there. Who are they? You might ask. They're oompa loompas.

I don't lie. They range in age somewhere between 17 and 28 and have an unnatural orangey glow to them. It's as though they are using luminescent pumpkin foundation. I've been told that this is a completely self-imposed phenomena that is a direct result of topical sunless tanning products. Instead of becoming tan, they get dark orange. Way to win the beauty contest, sweetheart.

worthless, skunks are

So tonight my dog Gus was sprayed for the second time in as many weeks by a skunk. I let him outside in the backyard after dark and ba-boom, it's suddenly this absolutely horrible eye-watering stench that permeates the entire house. It's not even that "stinky" smell that most folks associate with skunks, this is kind of a stomach-turning burnt-rubber that makes your eye water smell. I'm not sure I can think of anything worse.

The first incident, I tried the tomato product rinse. This was moderately effective, the true ripeness was removed, though you were still instantly aware whenever he would enter the room for the next few days. I made a comment about it on my facebook account and a college friend of mine gave me the MAGICAL recipe:

32 oz. hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 Tbsp Dawn degreasing dish soap (the original "regular" or concentrated formula)

Mix and pour over, or use in a spray bottle, or even dump in your afflicted laundry. You can also spray it on indoor or outdoor surfaces that may have also been savaged by the skunk ick.

Seriously, this recipe saved my life. Oh, and did I mention that on the way to the store I hit a deer? I wouldn't even really consider it an accident, my car wasn't damaged too much, though the deer didn't make it through. Ugh. Just another bit of stress, right? It's enough damage that I will have to file an insurance claim on it. Damnit.

What a crazy night. Oh yeah. This all happened between 1:30 and 2:30 am.

islam, best producer of granola bars?

Has anyone tried the absolutely delectable granola bars produced by the 2nd largest US non-franchise coffee chain Caribou Coffee? If you haven't, you might want to try them, seriously, they're amazing. I believe the flavors are Mocha, Vanilla Latte, and Mocha Mint. Vanilla Latte is my fav, closely followed by Mocha Mint. They have virtually no caffeine, similar to decaf coffee (which does actually contain a very small, if useless, amount of caffeine).

The funny bit? I just found a news article that said the Caribou Coffee company had a majority portion sold to the First Islamic Investment Bank in 2000. So, one of our favorite and "natural" American granola bar snacks is really funded and supported by Islam? Crazy shakes. Either way, the bars are damned yummy and I will continue to eat them. :-)

cancelled, amy winehouse

So I had tickets to see the Amy Winehouse concert on 9/25 in Seattle. On Wednesday it was announced that her North American tour has been canceled. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. This will definitely make things a lot easier, since I will not need to take off time from work at a really inconvenient time....but I was really really really wanting to go. And, I'll get a refund for the outrageous amount I had dished out for the tix.

Damn Amy Winehouse. Well, I guess not damn her, it appears thats she has legitimate health concerns, in which case I hope she gets to feeling better. I'm still a little disappointed though.

stupid, cell phones being

Cell phones really are stupid. This morning I found out that my grandmother passed away and that my mom was unable to reach my sister. Her cell service gave a dumb message saying she could not be reached, but did not offer to allow me to leave a voicemail. Damn technology.

Right now I'm not really sure what to do. My parents are on their way home to get some rest after being up all night. If I go in to work I probably won't get anything done except just sit around with my mind wandering. I don't feel particularly sad or upset which irritates me. I feel like the appropriate thing to do is get emotional, but I just don't feel like it. So what, do I watch a movie now? Who knows. Maybe I'll go and get good and liquored up, I have a good excuse at any rate.

Once it's a little later I'm going to mow my lawn. I don't want to be that jerk that mows it first thing in the morning and wakes people up. I've hated that jerk for years. At my new place I'm completely responsible for yard care, ugh, that's something new to me. :-)

scared, rain: nothing of which to be

We've been having really unusual weather here in Oregon. Typically we have a rain-free summer with at least a few weeks in the high 90s/low 100s. About a month ago we had a week of rain and beginning yesterday, rain again! Temperatures have also been quite mild, only a few days of low 90s and that's all.

Does this imply an extremely wet and harsh winter? I hope not. Well, and by harsh I mean maybe 6 inches of snow in the valley and temperatures actually dipping below freezing for more than 2 days at a time.

I picked up Gus from the kennel this morning (I had class in Portland for the weekend) and when we got home he guzzled a ton of water. A few hours later I was leaving for work, and since I moved, I won't be going home on my lunch breaks to let him out. I tried to get him to go out and go potty, but he would not stray from the dry safety right beside the house. I even attempted pushing him out into the rain and he reacted by glaring at me, then running behind me where it was dry. When I get home we'll see if he was able to hold a whole bowl of water for 9 hours...

building announcements, worrisome

Our building manager just sent out a brief list of general housekeeping stuff. You know, cleaning out the staff lounge, don't leave your food in the refrigerator for months so it can rot. Oh, and to beware of the rats and cats in the landscaping! Yes, rats and cats. Apparently the rats really enjoy our landscaping and some neighboring buildings have some adopted outdoor cats who do their part in reducing the pest population. Now that I'm aware of this, I will attempt not to be alarmed as rats scurry beneath my feet. Eeeeeeeeeek!

god, message from

To: People of Earth
From: God
Date: 08/13/2007
Subject: stop

knock it off, all of you

seriously, what the hell?

-- God


I received this as a MySpace bulletin and it made me laugh really hard. I had to share. I'd say I'm about halfway done moving. All of the furniture and heavy stuff is moved. I still need to do my kitchen and clothes and random stuff that has been shoved in closets... Nearly there! Gus absolutely ADORES the backyard, whee! We played ball twice this morning already. :-)

Rogue beer, yumminess of

Last night I took a little detour to downtown Corvallis and had a good night of beer drinking with my friend Markis, an art major friend from WOU that I haven't seen in... about a year. It doesn't seem like it has been nearly so long.

I kept myself to drinking Rogue Brewery beer for the evening. For those of you who are not from the Pacific Northwest, I highly recommend you track down some of this goodness and give it a try. They specialize in ales and do a bit of everything, from the lighter side to the very dark.

Needless to say, I got a bit drunk and had a very good time. :-) This morning... not quite such a good time, but I'm at least functional. Is it me or does tolerance to alcohol continue to take a dip as you age? 5 years ago I would've laughed at my now self.