lurksnomore

When you have kids, calls from the school are panic inducing.  You see the school listed on your cell phone display and *automatically* your heart rate increases, if the phone is in the hand you need to check for your car keys, your change hands (often before you have accepted the call) and you are standing and ready to go even as you say "hello".  If you're in a meeting you might catch the eyes of another known parent and the look in your eyes is enough for them to nod (we've all been there--luck to you) and then you excuse yourself and take the call outside, heart in throat.  

These are learned reflexes.  It starts in day care when they only call if there is a problem (your child is sick, please come get hir; your child was hurt but not seriously but you will see bruising; your child has...issues and you need to come in/schedule a meeting).  They don't call with good news.  Its continues in school.  They only call when things have gone south and need parental intervention or (worst case) permission to treat (here is the concussion protocol, be sure to follow it at home; we need to have a conference with you about your child) .   

My daughter's science teacher called today.  To tell me that she has been doing so well lately and helping others.  That she seems to be enjoying herself after a rough first term.  

And I am profoundly glad to hear that--or I will be as soon as the adrenaline leaves my system.  

I have to wait a year for this?!  I have also been watching this because its almost helps with the waiting.  Almost.

*deep breath* I just deleted my delicious account.  *deep breath*  I've had that account for so long, and its gone.  I hadn't used the interface since they made it a travesty instead of something useful.  I haven't updated it, nothing.  I went to the diigo site, ready to delete that one, too.  And I just couldn't.  I have issues around having back-ups.  Not just a belt and suspenders, but also making sure that there is something I can *use* for both the belt and suspenders, should they both happen to fail.  Like delicious did, so spectacularly.  Diigo hasn't failed, per se.  They just have some policies that I would prefer they didn't.  Since I haven't updated diigo since, well, their policy failure, it is very out of date. Maybe if I just get rid of it, and then back up pinboard by exporting it every week?  *frets*  I'll think of something.  

I *hate* it when I wibble over things like this.  

In other news, I have a semi-plan to photograph and log my stash onto Ravelry.  Maybe then I can associate yarns with patterns and get a plan together to knit lots of it because I have...a lot of yarn.  I kinda a stasher by nature (as if over 4,000 bookmarks didn't tell you that), and I need lots of help keeping stashes to reasonable levels.  As well as plans for what all the stash will become.

I've been dithering about a couple of things lately.  I don't know whether to delete my delicious and diigo accounts.  I haven't kept them up to date since the last round of 'fail.  I don't intend to, largely because I don't feel the need.  Pinboard has been great.  Yes, there are things I would change, but the site owner has been great; he responds to things, updates the site and doesn't treat his customers like dirt.  That is largely because we pay him; he doesn't need to commoditize us (the folks who use the site) to pay the bills.  He makes the money to run the site from us and he listens to us.  Delicious and diigo don't listen to users and don't make money off us except as commodities so they have no incentive to listen to site users.  I don't need delicious or diigo anymore, and I'm still having trouble letting go.  (I have commitment issues--I over commit). 

I am going to delete those accounts though.  I am.  Sometime before Jan 1.  Really.

Then I just have to figure out what to do with LJ.  My LJ and DW lists differ enough, with enough folks that aren't making the switch, that I don't want to get rid of LJ, but maybe its time to reduce/remove duplication and make DW my primary, rather than using both together.  Because time grows limited and there's only so many hours in the day. 

And then I'm going to sort out my Ravelry account.  There's lots I need to do over there; I have been neglecting it so.  Stash of the yarn and needles type to enter, yarns to connect with patterns and that sort of thing.  Its a good thing I have next week off, too.  

PS Don't, if you value your sanity, read Paper Machines.  It is a rage-inducing, poorly-researched, appallingly-written trumped-up excuse for a book by someone who couldn't give up a pet idea when, not only was there no evidence to support his pet theory, but also all the evidence supported alternate theories and then got snide and petulant in the writing of it.  He doesn't deserve to be called an academic.  I wasted my time reading 6 of the 8 chapters of his book, but no more. 

 Most Esteemed Institution is hosting a thing on Mendeley...soon (I need to get the date into my calender).  So I could be looking at that and creating an account and sorting out how it works and stuff.  'Cause one can never know too much about a variety of citation management systems.  Or I could be working out a chart/decision tree about statistical tests for the final in 10ish days.  Or I could be, you know, doing something work related as I am actually at work.  Instead I'm sitting here, at the front desk, wanting to read fic, and whinging to myself how none of my favorite authors has posted anything *new* lately.  And my favorite tv show won't have a new episode until the night of my final.  *grumbles*  And I have to be here until 10pm--2 and a half hours.  

Its going to be a long rest-of-shift.

[A/N I tried to cut-text this some 5 times, including 4 delete-and-reposts.  I am giving up now and apologizing for the length, instead.  Its giving me headaches.]

I am going through my pinboard account (slowly, as time permits or I need an escape) to sort out things like 404s and 500--how much do I love pinboard that it keeps track of the 404s?  It is such a tremendously useful feature.  But it also bring to forefront issues of fanfic and its ephemeral nature.

In the Yay! column, I got my Brain Bag!  (In black, of course; I am a New Englander and we like the colorfulness of black.)  It is, on first going over, quite well constructed.  I was able to talk spouse into the cost of it by telling him that it was not constructed overseas by someone being paid what amounts to slave wages in horrible conditions.  It was constructed in the US by folks being paid a living wage and almost all materials were likewise sourced. 

In the Woe! column, I am on the fourth day of a really horrible cold.  Really, really horrible.  I was, possibly, feverish at times.  I am still on the couch coughing, after a night spent with spouse waking me up saying "Are you ok?  You were making pain sounds in your sleep."  I was unable to convince him that the rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated.  After all, who would die before the end of the Rugby World Cup?  The semifinals are up for viewing and I'ma gonna watch today and tomorrow. (oriolegirl , we should get together next weekend to watch the finals and the runner-up final.)

In other news, the two tv shows I watch; NCIS and Body of Proof, have done more than not suck.  They have actually been pretty good so far.

I need someone to tell me not to buy this.  I don't really need it yet.  My current backpack, which I bought with oriolegirl maybe almost two years ago is only just beginning to break down--the shoulder strap mesh has torn loose from the stitching, gotten frayed, and the padding it is covering is loose, too.  Still it should make it through the winter, and past Christmas, leaving more money in my back for gifts.  But I really want a new one before oriolegirl and I head out on a road trip in early November.  

If it is Monday, then things that are happening on Tuesday are not happening today. They are happening tomorrow.

(Yes, it really has been that kind of a day.)

So, I've got everything in pinboard and because it supports "/", I am happily restoring the "/" to my fics. But because this is me, I start to wonder; 'Should I reserve the "/" for male-male relationships? Should I leave the "_" for the het or threesomes? Should the "_" be for het, the "/" for slash or maybe the ":" for threesomes? Or should they be "/" because of the transgressive nature of polyamorous relationships and sex? Or should they have their own designation' (And yes, words like 'transgressive' and 'polyamorous' do appear in my inner dialog--fandom has radically changed my inner dialog.) And the librarian part of me (who is still weeping over the loss of bundles) wants all warranted, non-offensive specificity and regard for subtle distinctions. The part of me that has too much to do and really, really doesn't want to go hunting through the 'net for explication of the possible-want-fest-inducing issue is rolling her eyes and grumbling about stats reading and homework.

So, its not bad enough that I have to do this at all because of delicious and then diigo, now I have to have tagging angst? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, what is wrong with me?!

I had created a diigo account back when delicious first failed. (It really has been a slow-motion fall into the abyss, hasn't it? Took more than a year, all told. Anyway.) At the time, I also created a pinboard account. It didn't cost very much but for a variety of reasons, I didn't keep it up. Given diigo's stance on 'adult' materials and pinboard's welcoming one, I have decided to invest the next little while in exploring pinboard. Interestingly, the delicious app I have on my iPad, dbd, can be switched to work with pinboard instead of delicious. Which is a potential Cool Thing. It's not the greatest app in the world, but it beats diigo's. So, I'm counting that as a win.

The thing I do understand is that pinboard does cost money. It isn't much, but but for some us even $10 is too much. Fortunately, fen look out for other fen. This is a link to Anyone
interested in Pinboard elving exchange? for those of us who can on behalf of those of us who can't.

So, am working on the whole delicious-has-changed-stuff-they-shouldn't-have thing, and this is sort of a live report of the test. Because I am tired enough that I need to keep my observations in one place.

( Move on by if you are not interested in the gory details )
Delicious, we have been close for a very long time, but if you don't sort this out, then our time is over. I going to be dating around for a while. I thought bringing diigo into the relationship would be helpful and make what we had work better, and it did. But it isn't working again, and I don't know if we can continue with you. Take some time, sort yourself out; figure out if the new you is what you want. I'll check back from time to time, but diigo and I will go on adding links and tags and I'll look for a new third. If this is what you want, I hope you are happy with the new you and the new folks. if you can change back enough, well, maybe we can work something out.

 I haven't been posting of late because I've been busy beyond words.  Work has been a huge part of that (start of the semester and all), but also being a mom and a spouse has been taking up acres of time that I did not have, and then I went and added to that by taking a class.  Intro Stats.  I'm a tad overwhelmed.  

In fact, I'm so overwhelmed that delicious doing....whatever the flip that *is* that they just did....just put me beyond the pale.  I have no time to actually deal with it.  I am assessing the damage (tags that are fracked, bundles gone, subscriptions reshaped to uselessness) and then thinking about making diigo my primary and finding a new backup.  The only upside is that since the first delicious debacle, I had been saving to diigo, which was then mirrored to delicious (I saved using diigo; i used delicious when I wanted to find to look at what I had saved).  There is not 100% agreement between the two, but diigo stands at 3928 links and delicious at 3881, which is near parity (diigo has only 47 links more--there may be other variations, but it is a start).  

Still.  It represents a lot of work which I don't have the time for right now.  I will try to fix the broken tags, sort out what stacks are and if they can work for me in place of bundles, look for a replacement system, and then make the decision about whether or not to abandon delicious.  The thought of which hurts more than I expected it to; I've been with them for a long time (they say I joined "some time ago"--my oldest tag is 18 April '05), but I feel comfortable with maybe having to say 'it's not me that's the problem in this relationship, it's you.  you've changed beyond my ability to cope with and as the changes are meaningful and important to you, it's time for me to go.'  I just need to find the place to go to.  *sigh*

I actually was not planning to get anything this past tax free weekend, but oriolegirl  asked me to use my addy as the shipping address for a tv as she was going to be out of town, which led to me saying that shipping a tv is chancy which led to me offering to buy one for her which led to me actually having to shop.  (you see how these thing happen?  Its kinda like magic.)  So, while I was out, I convinced spouse that this was the perfect time to buy the iPad2--as I was going to get one for my birthday in November, and had already saved up the money.  I am now the proud owner of a 64Gig, 3G wireless iPad2.  Needless to say that my kids' favorite reward is now time on my iPad.  Even though Darling Daughter has taken possession of my Touch, she still like time on the big screen of the pad.  

(I also go a food processor, but the kids don't find that nearly as cool, even if I do.)

Is a bit like watching a mash up NCIS.  Isles is like a combination of Ducky and DiNozzo as a woman with as the girly parts of Kate; basically a talker who shares trivia about just about everything and is always talking about and trying to have sex--not sure if she is as sexist as Tony, but it is close--she is more socially mall-adapted like Dr Brennan on "Bones".  Frost is a bit like McGee except African-American, more street competent, and slightly less geeky, and Korsak is a little bit like Gibbs in that he is the team leader, is a former Marine, looks to be early 50s, and has been divorced 3 times--although not married 4, I don't think--except he is not as coffee addicted, and has gained weight so is not as fit as Gibbs (he even said something about not believing in coincidences).  Rizolli is like the investigative parts of Gibbs (mostly the whole "gut" thing) and the kick-ass, non-girly parts of Ziva.  

Its not a bad show, for all that Angie Harmon is not a very good actress.  It is just weird to see the woman who played Kate on NCIS play a combination of two characters from that show in this one.  A bit mind-bendy.  The writers seem to try to fit too much into an episode, so the eps feel...a bit like sketches?  I'm not sure.  They are not rough or undone, just like they are trying to do too much within the time constraints and so things seem to be missing, I guess.  

This fannish post brought to you by being on vacation and not wanting to work on The Not Project.  

From the 1723 Catalogus Librorum:

Classus 19, Altitudo 5, Liber 15  Bond's (Hen.) Longitude found [1676]
Classus 19, Altitudo 5, Liber 16  Blackbarow's (Pet.) Longitude not found  [1678]

Because great claims and their refutations *should* be next to each other.  *grins*

Went to the beach yesterday.  I did apply sunscreen, but failed to reply it.  Result: sunburn.  Otherwise, the ocean was great--lovely and cool in the very hot days.

Peaches are coming in at my favorite orchard, which means having enough seconds to make peach pie in about a week, and enough for jam in about two weeks.  Yay!   

Have found someone for the Archivist part time position, and will probably hire her soon.  Yay!

Sunburns hurt, damn it (which I knew, although I haven't had one in years because I don't go out in the sun much and generally wear sunscreen when I do).

I need a bathing suit that has shoulder straps.

I need to get back to the Project What I Am Not Doing because I am behind schedule, but teaching a position filling (and NCIS watching and knitting and and and) got in the way.

 Back from going to see oriolegirl  and yarn shopping. I think I touched about half of the yarns in the place (including those in the Special Back Room of Discounts). oriolegirl  had to tell me to stop touching the (sock) yarn every two minutes or so. (yes, I am five, thanks.)  I just love that store (Webs aka www.yarn.com).  So many yarns to touch; so many that are totally not in my budget.  I did buy yarn for two projects: a rug and a tablerunner.  Not sure when I'm going to be starting either; the rug is a Fair Isle pattern (with a steek) that then gets felted, so maybe I'll start there and see how it goes.  

 The ever wonderful oriolegirl invited me to google+.  Still poking about, seeing who is there that I know.  It is interesting that I am there with my RL name, not my fanish one.  I don't think that will be too problematic, given how circles are set up, but we shall see.  If you would like and invite, let me know!

Yesterdays thing was to get my second tat yesterday, and I promised pics, so here it is. It goes all the way around my left forearm.

( Behind the cut to spare folks.... )