it's been snowing for the past hour :) and now we're getting the big flakes that are sticking! :-) why is snowfall so cheery? (at least it is when you're all warm and snuggly inside! :-)

A key reason why my almost three hour commute each day is more of a blessing than a curse: I am one of these (via rimrunner).

Did you ever hear about how Joss wanted to do something on just Giles? Rumor/conjecture has been circulating for years that Ripper might come to pass and now it looks like it's one step closer (if you're in Brittain that is).

In other news, what was the point exactly of broadcasting only eight episodes of Traveler?? We start to get a glimpse of just how deep the rabbit hole goes and... STOP! That's all you get. How rude!

Meanwhile, I'm hooked on Damages because I mean, come on, we're talking Glen Close, people! Starring weekly! From what I've seen and read so far, it's going to be the best (only?) lawyer drama that never has a courtroom scene!

Also this summer, the Brits (ITV I think) are spitting out four more episodes to make series five of Wire in the Blood; still as good as ever but I predict there won't be any more episodes after this series...

Back stateside, I'm totally enjoying Burn Notice and Psych both of which make me laugh out loud. Neither have award-winning performances or writing but both are just good fun -- even Peter watches these two with me :)

Last but not least, in movie news, the longest trailer yet is out for The Golden Compass (choose extended preview) -- looks like they did a pretty good job putting this complex book on the big screen. I'm not sure I can say the same for the updated, adaption of The Dark is Rising... I'll go see it of course, and then decide. But having just re-read the series earlier this summer, it'll take some convincing that they did a good job.

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (by Cory Doctorow)  is available free, online and is the Winner of the 2007 Locus Award for best novelette. Enjoy! :-)

Here's our official group picture ;-) with IRC nick(names) included :)

it's 5:30am. and it's 68F.

our doors and windows are covered with plastic until the boys are done painting. well, we did uncover some of them overnight but still.

ugh.

it was relatively warm last week, reaching 90F for a couple of days. but that's nothing on the upcoming week where temps are expected to reach 100F and higher :(

those are the kind of days i like to go in to work late and stay late -- free a/c at work ;-)

and speaking of work, it's going to be a crazy one so if you don't hear from me, that's why!

i let myself stay up waaaaay too late last night and before falling asleep i managed to jam my left thumb completely bacwards :( it hurt like crazy last night!! today it's sore and nicely swollen :p typing is okay -- we'll see how the rest of the day goes -- i have some things i need to deal with and then i might just come home. my eyes really don't want to stay open :p

i can't stand it any more. it's almost embarassing. the oregon library association doesn't have a "technology group" (in ola's case, this would be a "round table"; in other state associations it might be an "interest group"). it's painfully embarassing given that ola's next conference is going to be jointly held with wla and they have one. i should hope that most state library associations do by now.

anyhow, i'm going to take the first step (er, after i rejoin ola -- i'm horrible in keeping up with my membership dues! ;-) and see if a certain oregon virtual reference project leader and i can't organize the necessary 25 signatures and draft by-laws by the end of august.

doing this has been on my list for over a year; and the idea has been burbled up on several occassions, including a recent "brainstorming" by a number oregona librarian techies held last february (i think it was). 

and just a couple of weeks ago i mentioned it to the state librarian and he thought it was a good idea too. he also suggested that maybe the technical services round table could be morphed but i'm not sure about that. while the focus of technical services includes technology, it really does seem that their primary focus is often more around acquisitions, cataloging, and some topics around digitization. just take a look at their latest annual report -- only one conference session that they sponsored was more generally technology based ("social software: your library, your community"). contrast this to the by-layws of wla's technology interest group: trip.

yes, it's time for a technology round table in oregon :p

the whole week at work was pretty cool until friday and that turned into a head-banging-against-plone kind of day but oh well :) i'm looking into various add on products but the problem is that i'm tracking three different versions of plone: what we currently have in product, what we'll be upgrading to later this summer and the latest beta which I'm documenting for the plone community. it's enough to make anyone's head hurt, i should think ;-)

saturday was my typical lazy day. i watched three movies, two tv eps and took a three hour nap (!!). okay, maybe it was even lazier than usual ;-) movie-wise i watched the painted veil, a love story / period piece that was actually pretty good (set in shanghai as the nationalists were coming into power); seraphim falls, a "classic-style" western with (of all people) liam neeson and pierce bronson -- it was like a traveling showdown as one character chased the other and with the way the story unfolded, you couldn't tell who to root for ;-) and the third movie of the day was deja vu which was a somewhat interesting mix of action/thriller and science fiction/time travel. unfortunately, if you think it through too much, neither piece holds up too well but it was a fun watch nonetheless.

the two tv episodes were the latest from doctor who and the start of the remaining episodes of standoff that will air over the summer. first, the last three weeks of doctor who have been some of the best tv in general (other than heroes perhaps ;-) the gothic/horror style has been coming out strong and i've really been enjoying that. i mean having the evil monsters be in the form of pretty angel statues is awesome :-)

standoff is one of my favorites and being on fox of course meant that it got jerked around a lot. its of the police/procedural genre (host negotiators) and i just love the interplay and chacter development of the two main characters who became involved with one another from the get-go (avoiding that whole, overdone will-they-won't-they-of-course-they-will angst). i was happily surprised that there were a total of five (or six?) episodes left for the summer run

speaking of t.v. shows, i was mostly disappointed in the latest six episode run (series four) of hustle. the lead actor left the show and the character who steps into the leadership role for this grifting team has always rubbed me wrong (brash, over confident, womanizer, etc, etc). i just really miss mickey's cool, in-control style i guess.

plans for sunday: gosh i think you could take this right from last sunday's entry ;-) laundry, color hair, and possibly work in my completely neglected garden :) the weather has been strange even for the pacific northwest. if you were to plot the high temps of the last two and half weeks it would like: /\ . if you recall, two weeks ago we left camping early because the high temp was around 58 and it was windy; shortly after that we hit 90 and then settled into the 75-80+ range for almost a week. then it turned cool this week past week and yesterday, the high was around 58, rainy and windy. brrrrrr! glad i'm not at all into the rose festival -- people attending yesterday morning's parade must have been miserable.

i made this particular journal pic aaaaages ago. i have need to make another and have no idea (or record, apparently) of where online i made this one.

suggestions of where to go for similar?

much love, healing vibes and hugs to susansbeeswax and her family.

O.M.G.

Best video ever. Thanks to wavebreaker for this one. And the ending it totally worth it!!

http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ -- coming to an apple store near you on june 29th!

It's good to see that LiveJournal has admitted that they fucked up and that they have stated that they will fix this

Best place I've seen so for information gathering and dissemination: http://catrinella.livejournal.com/151812.html (thanks normaltrouble)

I'm still ambivalent about staying here. I still think everyone should think very hard about entrusting their expressions here; at the very least, learn how to backup your journal/communities offline and do so regularly.

I don't consider this episode nitpicking -- it's clear that LiveJournal has a lot to learn about processes and procedures in implementing their own policies. Having volunteers handle something like this doesn't seem to be the best way to go, is one example. Not having a formal repeal process in place is probably a recipe for a future, similar episode, is another. Consistently applying said policies is yet another. Developing a communication policy probably wouldn't hurt either. Having a policy in place to inform the authorities about the solicitation of illegal activites should have already happened.

You get the idea.

And now I'm off to work!