A collection of haiku that summarize my aught nine:
Learning math is cool,
But I'm tired of schooling.
Thanks goodness: new job!
Surrounded by books,
People with questions for me,
It's a good life, mine.
Kiera has cancer.
Oh my freaking god, what?!
Phew, she's better. Phew.
Jam Regulator,
We can't find a place to live,
But we have each other.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Monday, April 20, 2009
A dream is a wish your heart makes
Hello my tens of readers! I have exciting news!
I think I got a new job. A nice lady from the King County Library System's human resources department called me and said they'd like me come work for them as a children's librarian. Can you believe it? Is this really happening? I told her I would love to have that job. Then I hung up and checked my caller ID to make sure it was really from KCLS. IT WAS. OMG.
So after eleven months (I'm often told by Jeff et. al., this is not really that long to wait, but it felt like a really long time) of applications, resumes, cover letters, phone interviews, skills assessments, and group interviews I've finally landed the job I wanted when I started library school. I'm so happy, I could spend the next several days (or years) bursting into song and smiling at strangers. In fact, I will soon be paid to do that at story times.
As soon as my 90-day probationary period is up, I'm going to start planning that librarian tattoo I've been talking about. 4 reals. The "shhh" tat is out, though, because not just one but TWO pop stars already have it.
I think I got a new job. A nice lady from the King County Library System's human resources department called me and said they'd like me come work for them as a children's librarian. Can you believe it? Is this really happening? I told her I would love to have that job. Then I hung up and checked my caller ID to make sure it was really from KCLS. IT WAS. OMG.
So after eleven months (I'm often told by Jeff et. al., this is not really that long to wait, but it felt like a really long time) of applications, resumes, cover letters, phone interviews, skills assessments, and group interviews I've finally landed the job I wanted when I started library school. I'm so happy, I could spend the next several days (or years) bursting into song and smiling at strangers. In fact, I will soon be paid to do that at story times.
As soon as my 90-day probationary period is up, I'm going to start planning that librarian tattoo I've been talking about. 4 reals. The "shhh" tat is out, though, because not just one but TWO pop stars already have it.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Spring is here!
One thing I forgot about college campuses? On the first warm day of the year the unofficial dress code becomes like half a step removed from that of a beach. It's only 65 degrees and the girls are wearing tank tops and and shorts small enough to fit my baby niece.
They look cold, but happy.
And, speaking of fashion, don't forget to vote in the Fug Madness Final! SWINTON!
They look cold, but happy.
And, speaking of fashion, don't forget to vote in the Fug Madness Final! SWINTON!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Is your blog a boy blog or a girl blog?
My excellent good friend Nathan recently sent me this link:
Gender Analyzer
It's some kind of something that can allegedly determine your gender based on your blog. It's currently accurate 58% of the time (based on the self-reporting of the users). Is that impressive? Not very, but better than if it were total bunk.
How does it work anyway? The site only says it uses a "text classifier" that was "trained" on 4000 blogs. That implies that the makers of this thing don't really know what the substantive differences between the genders may be (uh, in terms of blog writing, obvs).
Still the whole idea of determining gender from writing raises questions like, Do women write a certain way and men another? Do men/women use certain nouns and verbs more often? Ask more questions? Use the word "feel" more often? Is it sentence length? Punctuation? Is it counting gendered pronouns? What if I put in the blog of a transgendered person?
Anywhoozle, one other interesting thing is the Gender Analyzer doesn't just say M or F, it gives a percentage of how M or F. I've put in most of the blogs I read, including mine, and most of them have come out as "quite gender neutral." One though, librarian.net, came out 98% female. Whoa. AND HERE IS THE CRAZY THING: librarian.net is written by a lady named Jessamyn who also has a personal blog and when I put that in, it came out 88% male. Oh, SNAP. Busted!
Gender Analyzer
It's some kind of something that can allegedly determine your gender based on your blog. It's currently accurate 58% of the time (based on the self-reporting of the users). Is that impressive? Not very, but better than if it were total bunk.
How does it work anyway? The site only says it uses a "text classifier" that was "trained" on 4000 blogs. That implies that the makers of this thing don't really know what the substantive differences between the genders may be (uh, in terms of blog writing, obvs).
Still the whole idea of determining gender from writing raises questions like, Do women write a certain way and men another? Do men/women use certain nouns and verbs more often? Ask more questions? Use the word "feel" more often? Is it sentence length? Punctuation? Is it counting gendered pronouns? What if I put in the blog of a transgendered person?
Anywhoozle, one other interesting thing is the Gender Analyzer doesn't just say M or F, it gives a percentage of how M or F. I've put in most of the blogs I read, including mine, and most of them have come out as "quite gender neutral." One though, librarian.net, came out 98% female. Whoa. AND HERE IS THE CRAZY THING: librarian.net is written by a lady named Jessamyn who also has a personal blog and when I put that in, it came out 88% male. Oh, SNAP. Busted!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
HardlyWorking.com
Today I've been thinking about starting a website for people who don't have a lot to do at their jobs.
I've noticed a lot of Facebook status updates in the vein of, "I got so much done at work today! And so little of it was actual work I'm paid to do," so I'm confident there is an audience for this kind of thing. In fact, just recently I was at a bridal shower where the maid of honor informed us that most of the wedding planning had been done while the bride was at work being paid to do something else. And anyone who watches The Office is familiar with just how unproductive a work day can be.
So I'm thinking the purpose of this website would be to give examples of things people have done while ostensibly "working" for their paycheck. We could also have forums for people to discuss any guilt they feel due to how little they actually get done/happiness at having landed a job that requires fewer than 10 actual hours of work per week.
There's probably a website like this already, right? But what domain could be better than hardlyworking.com? I checked and it's available.
I've noticed a lot of Facebook status updates in the vein of, "I got so much done at work today! And so little of it was actual work I'm paid to do," so I'm confident there is an audience for this kind of thing. In fact, just recently I was at a bridal shower where the maid of honor informed us that most of the wedding planning had been done while the bride was at work being paid to do something else. And anyone who watches The Office is familiar with just how unproductive a work day can be.
So I'm thinking the purpose of this website would be to give examples of things people have done while ostensibly "working" for their paycheck. We could also have forums for people to discuss any guilt they feel due to how little they actually get done/happiness at having landed a job that requires fewer than 10 actual hours of work per week.
There's probably a website like this already, right? But what domain could be better than hardlyworking.com? I checked and it's available.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Situations in which Seattleites will make conversation with total strangers
1. A dog is involved.
2. A small child is involved.
3. The weather is unbelievable awful.
2. A small child is involved.
3. The weather is unbelievable awful.
Monday, March 2, 2009
My Review of the Opera
Yesterday was my first day off in two weeks. I went to the opera. It was not as relaxing or exhilarating as I'd hoped it'd be; it was pretty creepy. Both operas (it was a double feature with an intermission in between) were about tragic love that ends in death--but not in a romantic way, in a chilling, cringe-y kind of way.
Opera 1: Bluebeard
When I was little, we told the Bluebeard story around the campfire to scare each other. Bluebeard was a pirate who took his new wife on his ship and told her not to go in this locked room. But, duh, she goes in the room and finds all these dead women (his previous wives!). She gets blood on her dress (or maybe on the key she used to unlock the room?) and can't get it off, so Bluebeard finds out she saw the dead ladies and...SHE JOINS THEM.
The opera was pretty much the same story, only Bluebeard's not a pirate and it was all sung in Hungarian. The moral of the story: You don't need to know too much about your man.
Opera 2: Erwatung
Erwatung apparently means "expectation" in German. Whatever. I hardly read the surtitles because they were almost total nonsense. The gist of this opera is that a crazy lady (she's in a straight jacket) goes crazy about a guy having sex with another woman. Then I think she killed him. Or maybe she was just fantasizing about killing him. I don't know. But the guy was naked and rolling around on stage for a few minutes, so it held my attention.
The moral of the story: Bitch is crazy!
So what did I learn from the opera yesterday? Hm. Stay away from insane people. Or people who have blue beards and many previous wives that have disappeared.
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