tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-254047452007-09-06T07:58:24.325-04:00abada abadaJessamynBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-59966951036792220722007-09-03T23:54:00.000-04:002007-09-04T00:06:38.154-04:00wednesdaySorry in advance for the excessive acronyms. Google means never having to say you're too sorry.<br /><br />I spent a good deal of today reading, both on screen and off. I decided it's time to jettison Blogger as my CMS of choice and I discovered that I can now install WordPress at my ISP. This is good news. So, the process for moving the data was easy and yet hard. WP has a Blogger import function, but not if you used Blogger just to ftp files to your own site. If you did this, the importer cryptically fails. Fortunately, there is not one single tech support problem you can have that someone else hasn't had and blogged about, so I Googled for solutions. I changed this blog, briefly, to a <a href="http://abadaabada.blogspot.com/">blogspot blog</a> and then exported that data... to <a href="http://jessamyn.wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a> (because my ISP can't do some sort of secure socket tango required to import directly from blogspot). So, once I was on my third blog of the day, I could export all 130+ posts (and comments) directly to a raw file on my laptop which could be imported. Hurray!<br /><br />Then my ISP had a bizarre tragic once-in-a-blue-moon crash and all of the sudden my new blog started failing in bizarre ways. I called the ISP to see if it was me or them, and they seemed to think that it was them. So... I waited. I had dinner. I finished reading a book. I sat down to watch a movie and the phone rang. It was Bob the guy who owns my ISP, asking me how long I'd been using WordPress. I said I'd been using it in general for a few years but only on eskimo.com for a few hours. He seemed happy to hear this. Apparently their crash had messed up one table in my database and he went to restore it from yesterday's backup only to find that nothing was there yessterday. I think I made him happy when I said "Oh just delete it, I can reinstall from my backup" which I bet is something a sysadmin rarely hears. So then I reinstalled WordPress, reuploaded my data and here we are. This is, if I'm lucky, the last post on Blogger then I'll flip the switch and start using WordPress which I much prefer. It shoudl be fairly transparent, but maybe just a wee bit better looking.<br /><br />I read a whole book today and didn't do much else besides that and this whole tech transfer nonsense. My birthday is on Wednesday. I pretty much like birthdays. Anyone who would like to, please feel free to send me a postcard. I like mail. Box 81, Bethel VT 05032.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-7304497451712540012007-09-02T21:24:00.000-04:002007-09-02T21:44:22.212-04:00Vermont's oldest lifeguardI'm now officially certified as a lifeguard by the <a href="http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/aquatics/lifegard.html">Red Cross</a>. apparently this sort of thing runs in my family. My Dad was a lifeguard and so was my grandfather (on my Mom's side). I explain more about the story <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/1296064355/">with the accompanying Flickr photo</a> but here's how my week went.<br /><br />I had class from 4-9 pm each night Monday through Friday. Most nights we were done by 8 but some nights we weren't. The other students in my class were three <a href="http://www.vtc.vsc.edu/">VTC</a> students, one high school kid, one other guy from the community about my age and two lifeguards who were training to be lifeguard instructors. The instructors were two no-nonsense women sent by the Red Cross. We split the classes up between watching Red Cross videos, going over and practicing first aid, and going over and practicing drowning and rescuing. Then we'd have tests on these things culminating in an all-day testing situation on Saturday from about 9 til 1.<br /><br />I do good on tests. I have an okay head for numbers and first aid mnemonics. I am a strong swimmer. What I am NOT any good at... is drowning. Part of the class involves pairing up with other students (the female instructors make sure the women in the class are teamed up with the guys because they want to make sure the guys get used to grabbing women in rescue situations where usually they'd be more like "um, excuse me") and practicing rescuing each other. In most ways in the class I felt like I was holding my own as a (relative to the rest of the class) old lady, but I was the worst drowner of them all. <br /><br />I could tell myself it's because I have asthma and I'm not good at holding my breath or whatever but the truth is that waiting under six feet of water for some high school student to drag me to the surface when I KNOW there are better options is just not something I'm good at. I was sort of happy with myself for being able to just suck it up and do it. As I get older, there are fewer and fewer situations where I need to suck it up to do anything or accomplish anything. I've sort of created my life this way and overall I'm pleased with that. However it was nice to know that for a good reason, I could suck it up and just take orders in order to learn things. <br /><br />Every night after Monday I came home sore and every day I'd take ibuprofen and drag my ass back to the pool and do more practice rescues and swimming and tests. It's not like 30+ hours of class is all that grueling, but I think they normally break it up over a few weeks. By Saturday morning I was feeling feverish and just out of it, but I made it through the tests okay -- as did everyone, I think the goal is for everyone to finish up cerified (certifiable?) -- and I came home afterwards, popped in to a friend's house to say hello and then went home and slept for almost twelve hours. I woke up today feeling much better -- even <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157601821557124/">went for a little hike</a> -- and didn't even think about going to the pool. Normal swimming will resume on Tuesday.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-53309168037881368092007-08-28T11:24:00.000-04:002007-08-28T13:45:37.852-04:00the carI haven't been driving the new car much mostly because the radio isn't as good as my other car and there's no AC and the windows crank, but I did get <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/1206751641/">new plates for it</a>. This was a heavy driving weekend. I must have gone 500 miles just getting to two dinners and a doctor's appointment. It involved some amazingly lovely parts of route 100, both under 89 and above, and some not-that-interesting parts of route 89 that I'm already sort of bored with.<br /><br />I got two add two photos to Wikipedia [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buels_Gore%2C_Vermont">Buels Gore</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock%2C_Vermont">Hancock</a>] and decided to update my <a href="http://www.jessamyn.com/journal/04/251.html">251 club</a> status. I have 38 towns left in VT that I've never been to.<br /><br />We've had thunderstorms here. Enough so that I was driving down a pretty empty part of Route 100, just north of Stowe and I heard the Emergency Broadcast Signal and then the "this is NOT a test" message and a warning about "quarter-sized hail" I came around a bend and I could see the massive thunderhead full of lightning spraying all over the place, in the direction I was driving. I got to Stepahnie's house just as the winds were picking up and got to sit around watching the lights blink on and off for a while but the hail never materialized. I got home several hours later and all the appliances were telling me that my power had been off too.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-60225171938698185592007-08-20T19:59:00.000-04:002007-08-21T20:05:41.981-04:00come ooooooon autumn!The pool is going to be open until 10 pm. This is great news. This means there will be something to DO at 9 pm around here during the week.<br /><br />I went to the movies again, this time with Rick and Sarah. We saw Ratatouille and then it started to pour rain so we skipped out on Pirates of the Carribean 3 which is okay by me. Then a bunch of social stuff fell through (mixed signals plannign a lake trip, too many clouds for flying) and I knew I was back to my old self again when I shrugged and thought "oh, well I guess I'll have some free time to do a bunch of stuff around here" And I did.<br /><br />I took all the recycling out. I cleaned up the kitchen. I took the hanging baskets with the fake plants on them off the kitchen ceiling (you'd have to see it to really get it) and put them out on the porch where they look nice and are more easily dusted. I mopped the floors. I paid the bills. I did the laundry. I unpacked some stemware that I'd brought home from my Mom's place months ago and put the box out in the garage. I planned the Nova Scotia trip. I updated my blog software (well, I'm in the process now). I finished a blog project for a friend. I started another blog project. I downloaded some music. I changed lightbulbs. I did a little dusting. I threw out a bunch of bottlecaps with pithy sayings because I didn't have anything to do with them. I wrote a few letters. I made plans to move my 401K from the random people who were managing it to Fidelity who has the rest of my investment-type money. I called the fuel oil people.<br /><br />You get the idea. It felt GREAT. It's been getting cold here and tonight I had tomoato basil soup and a two-cheese grilled cheese sandwich to welcome the Autumn. The Virgo Month of Leisure begins on Thursday and I think I've gotten a lot of picky nonsense done that I will NOT have to do while I'm trying hard (and failing, as usual) to relax.<br /><br />Plus I'm training to be a lifeguard. More on that in a few days.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-61174606798231163412007-08-13T09:09:00.000-04:002007-08-13T09:50:35.411-04:00free day in August!I got back from Seattle Wednesday morning the first and Wednesday was a sort of predictable sleepy haze. My <a href="http://casahighland.blogspot.com/">sister</a> arrived on Friday (see drive-in pic below) and there was a meetup at my house last Saturday for about 13 people. My friend <a href="http://www.joannemerriam.com/">Joanne</a> stayed over so she wouldn't have to drive down the moose and bear highway late at night. Sunday <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/1021767535/">Gordon</a> stopped by briefly with his cheese head and I had a friend from libraryland swing by on a trip through the Northeast for the evening. Monday I hung out in <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/1060998625/">Randolph</a> with my friends' three cats. Tuesday my friend Peter stopped by on his trip around the US and I got to pick him up at the train station right in Randolph which is something I don't do very often. It's nice to get to walk to the train station. Gordon showed up at about 1 am on his way back from a punk show in Pennsylvania and he slept here brielfy before catching a morning flight. I drove Peter to <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/1055303009/">his Dad's house</a> -- one of my all-time favorite houses but alas I don't want to live there -- and then it was back to catland until <a href="http://www.sit.edu/tesolcert/trainers/topham.html">Tom</a> (MetaFilter user <a href="http://www.goodnewsforliberaldemocracy.org/tom_topham_freak.htm">Meatbomb</a> who sent me a lovely satchel from Afghanistan as well as <a href="http://www.speakeasy.org/~jessamyn/pix/newhat.jpg">this excellent hat</a>) showed up with his fiancee on their first stop on their cross-country adventure. I made them some waffles in the morning and sent them off to Niagara Falls. Then it was back to clean-up and laundry and closing down the catsit for my friends' return. When my friend Finn showed up last night I wanted to take a photo of him holding a sign that said LAST BAG but forgot about it entirely and we went for a walk down by the river and ate some homemade foccacia and were savaged by mosquitos.<br /><br />I went to bed in an empty house and woke up with a totally open day. Well, open until I have dinner with friends this evening and I'll probably hop into the pool before then, and I guess I have some errands to run. My plan is to spend the next few weeks doing some local visiting. I have friends renting a lakehouse up in Vermont and a few other pals with new babies a little farther out that I'd like to see sometime before things get hectic again. The hectic, of course, coincides with the <a href="http://www.jessamyn.com/journal/aug00b.html">Virgo Month of Leisure</a>, as usual.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-87517276357361255542007-08-06T20:47:00.000-04:002007-08-06T20:52:26.848-04:00drive-in, success!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/1013419373/" title="watching harry potter"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1389/1013419373_8861c5c137.jpg" width="500" height="391" alt="Watching Harry Potter" border=0/></a><br /><br />I had a bunch of people over to my house for a pseudo-MetaFilter meetup. Then some of us went to the drive-in. It did not rain. I did not go alone. The weather was nifty and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/sirstan/1022540634/in/photostream/">the stars were amazing</a>. There was something really fun about watching <a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/2097/how-many-harry-potters-do-you-buy/">Harry Potter</a> on the big screen and seeing shadows flitting over the whitewashed plywood. Bats!Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-56030186762290658062007-08-02T20:22:00.000-04:002007-08-02T20:28:02.829-04:00how much?I have heard about people that lie to their psychiatrists. I almost lied to my mechanic today when I took my new (to me) car in for an inspection and some new tires. For some reason I was inordinately concerned with what he thought about the car and my ability to have gotten a decent deal on it. He liked the car and didn't call me any names when I told him, honestly, what I paid for it. Yay for new cars.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-49710243113975897262007-08-01T17:54:00.001-04:002007-08-01T18:23:37.669-04:00how was seattle, how seattle was<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/942466912/" title="me in the library"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1162/942466912_23429c6790.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="more than anything it reminds me of a veterinarian's office" /></a><br /><br />This is a post I was meaning to write for a while. It was going to be the post of "where did my Summer go?" and then just about the time I got motivated enough to start typing, I was off again, and then I was down again.<br /><br />The short story is that in mid-May my friend and good family friend <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/500334693/">Pat</a> died. This was the most recent event in what has generally been a somewhat down year including dating a third year law student, breaking up with a third year law student, my Mom being sick, me having miscellaneous mystery ailments and a good dose of hypochondria, and this rainy swamp that passes for Summer around here and my everdamp and moldy basement. I've been okay but I haven't been great. I'm usually great. I was exercising a lot, all the time, and I knew it was going wrong when I realized that I'd already swam a mile, my third or fourth that week saying to myself "gee, I don't feel tired at all, how strange. I must be getting better at this..." but in fact, I was getting worse. <br /><br />I torqued a few muscles including one chest-wall muscle that set off a "go get a mammogram!" scare and one groin-area muscle that I kept poking to make sure it wasn't a swollen lymph node. I have a good doctor who set me up with a good physical therapist who has been my coach and companion in getting better. Meanwhile I've been out of the pool. I just started getting back in it last week.<br /><br />I don't think there's been a week that I haven't been travelling in at least 18 months where I haven't been in the pool but this kept me out for a month, even a little more. I had gotten used to the release valve that was regular aggressive exercise and without it, things got a little discombobulated. I got depressed, anxious, moody. I slept well for the first time in a while but also too well. I had a hard time getting up and when I got up I didn't feel truly awake. I didn't feel sad or depressed, I just didn't feel ... anything. Wasn't hungry, didn't want to see friends, didn't want to do anything. This lasted for weeks. As my body healed, so did my mind. I just started, over the past few weeks, feeling like myself again. I was in Seattle raring to go, and I got hit with a big Summer cold that flattened me out for a few days on a friend's couch, but I managed to get my ass on to the plane and get home on schedule. Just gives me a good reason to go back to Seattle again.<br /><br />So, it's been an odd Summer. I feel like I've missed some of it. I've been doing a lot of the things I norally do, it's just taken a lot more effort and seemed a lot less rewarding. I didn't really want to say anything until I knew I was putting it at least somewhat behind me, which I think I am. I'm now solidly behind in my quest to swim the length of Lake Champlain and I haven't decided yet whether to give myself a break and add a month on to the end of the challenge or just push hard once I think I'm ready for it.<br /><br />Thanks to everyone who has given me maybe a little more slack than usual. I have a hard time admitting that maybe I can't do everything and this has been a pretty humbling experience. I'm typing this up after getting off the redeye flight back from Seattle this morning. I'm just waiting until it gets a little darker and then I'll be sleeping the sleep of the newly returned home, coupled with the rest of the "yay I've got my brain back." Welcome back brain, I missed you.<br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157601154102661/"><br />Here are some photos from Seattle</a>. I didn't get out as much as I'd wanted, but I still saw some nice stuff.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-2641890798325570482007-07-21T12:21:00.000-04:002007-07-21T13:54:11.678-04:00number of ways technology has enhanced my life. also: my new car<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/865092974/" title="new - to me - car"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1110/865092974_4f4af434bc.jpg" width="500" height="359" alt="new (to me) car" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here is a story about ways technology has enhanced my life.<br /><br />I got a car. Here is a photo of it. (1) For some reason I like having two cars. Part of this may be that I like having a back-up car. Part of it may be that it costs almost nothing to insure a second car in Vermont. Part of it is that I've wanted a wagon for quite some time and the opportunity presented itself. So, this is my new (to me) car. It needs a name.<br /><br />The way I got it wasn't really your typical deal. In fact, it's a neat story. My pal Erica just left her librarian gig at Cornell to start a nifty new job in San Francisco at Second Life. (2) She was selling her car on Facebook. (3) You might know Erica because her blog and my blog are <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=librarian">the first and second blogs that show up on Google when you search for "librarian"</a> (4) Yeah, that's us. I saw the photo and said "oh hey that's the car I need." My car is totally fine, but ever since a scary run-in with a guardrail last winter, I've been thinking I might want something a bit more <acronym title="all wheel drive">AWD</acronym>-ish. Plus, I've wanted a wagon or at least something I could, in a pinch, sleep in. I haven't slept in a car in a few years now, but I like having the option. <br /><br />Since these cars are basically Vermont's State Automobile they're tough to get good deals on. And I don't really enjoy driving all over the place looking at cars from Craigslist (5). So, Erica's seemed decent and when I said the price was maybe a little high for me, she made it not a little high and I emailed (6) and said said "I'll take it". I sent her a check through my online bank. (7) It was forwarded to her in CA. She mailed me the title and the bill of sale. I called my insurance company. They emailed me proof of insurance. (8) I got a ride from my very good friend Forrest out to Ithaca (thanks Forrest! I met him on MetaFilter (9)) where we found the car in the Ornothithology lab parking lot with a note to me and the keys under the mat. Erica said "It's the one with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster">flying spaghetti monster</a> (10) on the back, to distinguish it from the 45 other green subaru legacies in the parking lot."<br /><br />We drove back in tandem keeping a sharp eye out for danger. The trip would have been shorter but Forrest heard on the radio (11) that there was a huge wreck on 87 North and we took a detour through Saratoga Springs to avoid it. I got home and made a few moves in an online Scrabble game (12) to chill out, answered some personal and work email, (13, 14) prepared a book to put in the mail for <a href="http://www.paperbackswap.com">paperbackswap.com</a> (15) and went right to bed.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-38910971650154941412007-07-18T21:59:00.000-04:002007-07-19T01:54:00.029-04:00really backSo I went to bed as soon as it got dark last night and slept for 14 hours. The fact that I can still get away with this indicates to me that it's okay to keep taking redeye flights if it saves me some money. The loose outline of my trip is this<br /><br />- Get to Portland late at night Friday and go out for beers with <a href="http://sararyan.com">Sara</a> and <a href="http://www.stevelieber.com/">Steve</a>. Marvel in that yokelly way how great it is to go out for beers at 11 pm and have a GOOD BEER. Crash out.<br />- Go out for brunch at the <a href="http://www.vita-cafe.com/">Vita Cafe</a> and have corncakes and bacon with real maple syrup. Drink more coffee than is good for me. Yammer on about maple syrup and tastiness of same back home. Ogle all the great tattoos.<br />- Wandered around the Saturday Market and some junk shops. Started in with my tired "you know this is the sort of thing that everyone has in their barns back home and here they sell it to you for $50" spil. My friends are very nice to ignore this.<br />- Checked in to <a href="http://www.heathmanhotel.com/">crazy hotel</a> where the gal at the desk asked me "Oh are you part of the Arizona Wests, they're a wealthy rancher family..." I felt like I let her down a bit when I said no. Despite this, the <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/820509076/">rooms were nice</a>. Fancy hotel but still, free Internet and coffee.<br />- Dinner with Josh and Angela at <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/820506580/">Bush Garden</a>. Very nice chill time before the crazy party.<br />- <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/tags/mefi8/">Crazy party</a>.<br />- Planning meeting with MeFi heads of State at a suitably late hour the next day. TravelFilter launches this week sometime. It will be fun.<br />- Got in touch with my friend <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/841594906/">Lisa DeGrace</a> and spent a few hours helping her prepare for her <a href="http://www.southern-ute.nsn.us/culture/sun.html">Sundance Ceremony</a> and also getting coffee and shopping for toilets.<br />- I got a haircut at <a href="http://www.rudysbarbershop.com/">Rudy's</a>. It looks great. For future reference, my barber told me that the cut I like is a "Graduated A-line Bob" Good.<br />- Hangout time with Steve and Sara including Lebanese food that was totally OMG tasty. Stayed up too late.<br />- Chill out day the next day. Then walk around time checking out the library. Then dinner time with <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/840826339/">Steve and Sara</a> and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/841687564/">Hiram and Melissa</a> (two new MeFi friends) including some excellent dessert and the movie Valley Girl projected on to the back wall of the dessert place.<br />- Dropped at airport, redeye home, work and doctor's appointment, then bedtime.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-51261904760293651352007-07-17T14:50:00.000-04:002007-07-17T14:54:02.173-04:00away and returnI was away. MetaFilter had an eighth anniversary party in Portland Oregon and I got flown out to attend. I also got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while and meet some new ones. I like Portland. It feels like Seattle did when I first got there, before Seattle got hinky and most of my friends moved away. The MeFi party was at <a href="http://groundkontrol.com/">Ground Kontrol</a>, a video game and pinball arcade. MetaFilter sprung for free games all night and an open bar. Maybe 120-130 people showed up over the course of the evening, some I knew, some I didn't know. I got a high schore on Tempest but it didn't last. I did some more hangout stuff over the weekend -- photos and links forthcoming -- but now I have the "I waited to come home til the last minute" problem where I was on the redeye last night and I'm at work today. Sleepily at work.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-36976426331732042502007-07-08T11:57:00.001-04:002007-07-08T14:11:55.735-04:00a few links for youI was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html?ex=1341547200&en=b7c01214ad013074&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">in the New York Times</a>, albeit briefly. Related: I redesigned <a href="http://librarian.net/">librarian.net</a> and it looks awesome. This place is next.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dashes.com/anil/2007/07/bottled-water-is-still-a-scam.html">Bottled water is still a scam</a>. I love love love that Anil is using his popular a-lister blog as a tool for telling people important things. Go Anil!Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-81491605831787831662007-07-05T07:54:00.000-04:002007-07-05T08:52:43.624-04:00wallet reunion!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/721498571/" title="penny farthing bike"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1417/721498571_940b7215cf_m.jpg" width="240" height="181" alt="penny farthing" align="right" border=1 /></a><br />So I got my wallet back yesterday and on the way to getting it back, I had a party. Let me explain.<br /><br />I left my wallet at the mall somehow on Friday, I have no idea how. Casey and Sandee -- who live in New Hampshire nearish to the mall -- offered to go to the mall to pick it up. I asked them what would be a good way to meet up to exchange it and they said "Why don't we come to your place to grill stuff on the 4th?" Sounded good to me. I invited some other people.<br /><br />They went to the mall where my wallet was locked in a safe that very few people knew how to open, but they persevered. I got a lot of definite maybes from people who already had some stuff to do on the 4th. After the parade (<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600652956154/">photos of all of this here</a>) I came back to do some prep work. I made turkey/pork burgers, two salads, some angel food cake and cut up some peppers (for the grill) and strawberries (for the cake). I also had some <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/721660383/">Spirit of America</a> Little Debbie cakes because I thought they were hilarious and they were on sale at the dented can store.<br /><br />My wallet was returned to me. People came to eat food. We had a good time. It rained like the bejesus. I was a little pleasantly surprised that except for cash money (which I had to borrow from a friend for things like eating) I could safely do without everything in my wallet for almost a week. I don't really need my library cards to check out books. I didn't need to buy anything on credit. I wasn't flying and didn't get pulled over while driving. The supermarket let me use their discount card. I didn't need emergency road service or health care. <br /><br />Today one of my projects is to take all my stuff in my wallet and photocopy it so that if I ever lost my wallet for real, I can more easily straighten this all out. I'm also going to take a dremel tool to my health care card which has my social security number on the front of it. I had previously crossed it out with permanent marker, but I think it's time to make a stronger statement.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-65181317861092147452007-07-01T09:20:00.000-04:002007-07-01T13:03:11.417-04:00odd little iphone dayI did not get an iPhone. I've been a cell phone user for about two months now, I don't need a cell phone that costs more than I make in a month at one of my jobs. Oh, and they <a href="http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070628/NEWS01/706280373/1002/NEWS01">don't have service in Vermont</a>. I'm sure you can use them here, but I wouldn't be able to get an 802 number. However, I was definitely iPhone curious so when my friend <a href="http://maisonbisson.com/blog/">Casey</a> said he was going down to the Rockingham Mall to wait in line, I said I'd swing by and say hello and see what was happening. It was a good time. <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600575437451/">I took a few pictures</a>. I made <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=8yKxMEAT22Q">a little video</a>. I watched my Flickr photostream fill up with <a href="http://flickr.com/groups/369121@N25/pool/">pictures of people with their new phones</a>. <br /><br />Once Casey got his phone registered we messed around with it a bunch. The interface is impressive. It's not Mac-like at all, and to me it felt sort of intuitive, but I've been around computers a lot. It does some pretty basic things fairly well: phone calls, photos, video-watching, music playing (great speakers actually) and has some really killer mapping tools. The on-screen keyboard is a little tough for people with big hands and as near as I can tell there's no other way to interact with it. It took forever to sync up the first time. And, of course, it's $600 or so. The line-waiting experience was so weird, so staged, so hypey but the people were really nice and chummy. I like geeks. I even met <a href="http://metatalk.metafilter.com/14475/who-was-that-guy-the-one-with-the-plane">a guy who had been linked on MetaFilter</a> which was a fun story.<br /><br />The last time I can remember waiting in a really long line for anything that wasn't food in Eastern Europe, a roller coaster ride, or airport security, I think I was buying Violent Femmes concert tickets in high school. We camped out overnight in Boston and got fourth row seats. This was before Ticketmaster was a huge Internet business so if you waited in the big line at the box office you'd wind up with something good. There were maybe 100 people in line at the Apple Store when I stopped counting and I think the bulk of them wound up with phones. While Casey was making his purchase I noticed that the store model phones were active so I stood around making iPhone calls while he finalized his purchase. <br /><br />At some point in the whole crazy mall experience -- when do I ever go to malls anymore? never -- I misplaced my wallet which I realized the next day right before I headed home. After a few phone calls it turns out that the mall security people had it and all my crap was still in it. I had spent a lot of the drive back making a mental list of what was in my wallet [credit cards and library cards mostly] and getting to not spend the rest of my saturday reporting all my stuff missing or stolen turned out to be the high point of what was still otherwise a very entertaining start to my weekend.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">note</span>: for those of you who were wonderng why you couldn't comment all of the sudden (this past month) without being part of my "team" it was just a momentary blip. I suddenly got a ton of comment spam while I was on the road, turned comments off until I could deal with it and then... forgot. Feel free to comment away. Thanks to Kate for pointing this out.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-21522405716803230092007-06-27T23:33:00.000-04:002007-06-27T23:35:49.091-04:00credit where credit is dueDear Senator Leahy,<br /><br />I voted for you. I appreciate everything you're doing up to and including <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062701787.html">subpoenaing Vice President Dick Cheney</a>. I am pleased as hell to have you as my senator. Thank you.<br /><br />Jessamyn WestJessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-87910045820923888972007-06-26T10:39:00.001-04:002007-06-26T11:06:37.655-04:00city/country<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #666; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/627540436/" title="sunset siderail"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1110/627540436_c5deb0b0b5.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /></div><br /><br />Got back last night. The wedding was great. The train ride back from New York City was relaxing and lovely, watching the sun set over the Hudson River Valley. My train car was full of (I think) teenaged musicians going to some sort of summer music thing at Killington so all the luggage space was full of cellos and guitars and other large instruments. I got to spend the time captioning my photos from the trip and staring out the window, letting my voice recover. I managed to lose my voice sometime on Friday before all the festivities thanks to some sort of a summer cold, so while I had a great time hanging out with some of my favorite people -- both at the wedding and also in Park Slope at my friends' place -- I did a lot of croaking and heard a lot of "you sound like Kathleen Turner" and "that must hurt." Actually, my throat felt fine, it just functioned poorly, so having some time to rest it was great.<br /><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600492419056/">My photos of the weekend are here</a>. The one above was the last one I took before I got home.<br /><br />The longer I stay in Vermont, the more I'm a gawking slack-jawed tourist when I'm in the city. Look at these PEOPLE. Look how TALL that BUILDING is. I got to do a lot of late night subway riding. Look how LATE these people are AWAKE. I had tacos out in Redhook while watching a soccer game. OMG how TASTY is this food?! I paid equal amounts for a taxi ride and a fancy cocktail. Twelve DOLLARS. I got to hang out with ten friends at once and it wasn't even a holiday. It sure was fun.<br /><br />Then I got in my (unlocked all weekend - you know how this part goes) car to drive home from the train station. When I was just a few miles from home, driving along <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=notown++vermont&ie=UTF8&ll=43.756093,-72.723312&spn=0.065342,0.154324&z=13&om=1">a road</a> (yes it's called notown, I know I know) that is bordered on one side by a river and one side by a pretty steep hill. I saw what I thougth was a horse in the road and slammed on the brakes, skidded a little and came to a stop next to a moose. We regarded each other for a while in the light of my headlights on the totally-abandoned-at-10-pm route 107 and then he trundled off. I've never been that close to a moose in my life. <br /><br />I got home and my house smelled funny. After ruling out the usual suspects (trash, compost, dead animal in wall, mold, tray under fridge, leaving cereal bowl wiht milk out) I went down to the basement where I found out one of the windows was out of its frame. The basement was damper than usual, so damp that the dead spiders in their webs in the ceiling were growing a thin coating of moldy fuzz. Gross! I turned on the dehumidifier and headed off to bed only to be awakened by a different smell a few hours later that could only be the result of a skunk fight. I talked to my neighbor this morning and we discussed whether or not to call the trapper. I finally put the screens in the last windows that didn't have them and I am airing the hell out of this place. I hope it helps.<br /><br />I haven't done the city/country back and forth thing in about four years now. Seattle is really seeming far to me (though I'll be there next month for, you guessed it, a wedding!) but I could really deal with some regular city time like this. I'll have to see what I can scheme up.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-51158492375216604242007-06-20T22:44:00.001-04:002007-06-20T22:44:16.273-04:00my driveway, june 20th<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #666; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/578131756/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1040/578131756_89bea485e1.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption">taken by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/iamthebestartist/">jessamyn</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> I wasn't having the best day, then I walked outside. I thought you might like this picture.</p>Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-41380454069863256482007-06-19T15:02:00.000-04:002007-06-20T21:43:37.254-04:00about me, sort ofI know the whole <a href="http://jessamyn.com">jessamyn.com</a> universe sometimes seems like it's just this blog now, but there's a lot here. I did update the "<a href="http://jessamyn.com/me/realme8.html">about me</a>" page today, for the first time in a few years. I didn't write anything new, just copied the <a href="http://www.vnews.com">Valley News</a> article that was published about me and now no longer online, in flagrant violation of applicable copyright. I guess if there's one thing that blogs and continuous partial broadcasting have taught us, it's that there's never a whole story. So this is another freeze frame from back when that article was written. Close readers will notice a few teeny inaccuracies, but it's really mostly right. I added a few hyperlinks but otherwise it's just how it was in the newspaper.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">update</span>: in the "weird timing" category, I ran into Valley News writer Alex Hanson, who wrote this article, at Onion Flats this evening where I went for dinner. I don't think I've seen him since the interview.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-28721548194145220032007-06-18T23:45:00.001-04:002007-06-19T00:27:04.235-04:00the story thus farI wrenched my shoulder overswimming and now have to take it easy and do exercises according to my physical therapist (a nice Libertarian sort who uses words like "wimpy" and "freaky" to describe my physiology but I have to believe he means it in the nicest way) so I've been annoyed and a bit under the weather lately. Add to this that two of my other female colleagues seem to have fluish symptoms of eerily similar description and I've shifted from my normal low-grade hypochondria to full-on chemical warfare conspiracy theories. My guess is that I am only right if they've been able to somehow lace the toxic agent into the local pollen because there's certainly a lot of <span style="font-weight:bold;">that</span> around and I haven't had any of my normal Spring sniffles....<br /><br />In any case, I've been tired and achey and taking it easy. I got back from NH only to head back out to go to my Dad's for Father's Day and a MetaFilter meetup in Marlboro MA on my way back home. This weekend I'm going to a wedding in Brooklyn and then I swear I'm staying home.<br /><br />I had some good successes at work today, <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/565608228/">more Ubuntu happiness</a> as well as more old people with new computers who seem to think I am some sort of super wizard lady when I explain how to open a program, follow a hyperlink or send an email. It's sort of low-hanging fruit I guess, but it's fun for me to do I also got to talk to one library about a long range plan that might include an open source library catalog and a media creation center for people to learn how to interact with their web environments. I'd be happy if that happened, but I was happy just to get to say it out loud and have someone seriously listen to me.<br /><br />When I got home from my friends' house this evening, there was a phone message from JetBlue -- the airline that lost/stole my stuff in Puerto Rico -- saying they had forwarded the letter I had sent to their CEO to some central baggage specialist who would be calling me back in a few days. Apparently JetBlue may not want to go to small claims court over $70 worth of cables. I, on the other hand, would <span style="font-style:italic;">love</span> to go to small claims court over $70 worth of cables. I have nothing but time and a burning distaste for getting jerked around over technicalities on stuff like this. I like JetBlue an awful lot most days, but I think they could have handled this with more class.<br /><br />My only other recent event of note is that I bought a car, on Facebook, from a friend of mine. I need to go to Ithaca to get it, or get someone from Ithaca to drive it here. If you are Ithaca-linked in some way, please feel free to drop me an email.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-60036333752961365562007-06-12T22:03:00.000-04:002007-06-12T22:30:30.242-04:00a few other peopleSome neat things have happened in the lives of my friends and family, while I've been gallivanting around.<br /><br />- My lawyer friend Kelly got pissed off at what she thought was a spurious lawsuit and <a href="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070607/NEWS/70607009">filed a press release</a> when the case was finally dismissed (before it went to trial but after a jury had been empanelled). It hit the AP wire. Way to go Kelly!<br />- My uncle just had his <a href="http://www.cuke.com/sangha_news/coyote%20ordain.html">lay ordination ceremony</a> at the Vimala Sangha in Marin.<br />- My friend Stepahie who I stayed with in New Hampshire a few nights ago is going to be the <a href="http://www.stowelibrary.org/">new library director in Stowe Vermont</a>, I'm happy for her and happy to have her and <a href="http://www.morganchase.net/">her family</a> back in Vermont<br /><br />I got home from New Hampshire this afternoon to see the DHL guy just pulling in to my driveway. He had a package for me, from Kyrgyzstan! A pal I know from MetaFilter works in Kyrgyzstan. I asked him to send me some stuff a few months back. Today it arrived. The package had a few postcards, a letter, a satchel made from some old rugs and a neat felt hat. The hat and the bag smell amazing, like woodsmoke and trees from other places. I'll put up a photo at some point, but my camera is out of batteries until I replace the charger that went missing from my bag in Puerto Rico. I did manage to take <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600343695165/">a few photos in New Hampshire</a> with my old crappy camera. I'm back from the road and have no more travelling work for several months, just weddings and visiting and whatever comes to pass. I already have the fidgets but I think they'll smooth out over time.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-20356876022945986152007-06-09T09:52:00.000-04:002007-06-09T17:40:58.713-04:00fantasy homeYesterday was deemed "one of the country's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6696547,00.html">worst days this year</a> for air travel." And hey check me out, I made it home! Well, I made it home this morning actually at a time which is late in my world but not obscene. I had <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600330884916/">a good time in Ann Arbor</a> and even a decent time in the Detroit airport where I was waiting, loaded on to the plane, loaded off the plane, delayed and finally transported home where we had to stay in a holding pattern over Burlington waiting for the wind to die down. By the time I got back, the Thrifty lot place where my car was had closed. Thanks to my cellular telemophone I had arranged with the guys to leave my car in their parking lot, key under the floormat. I got a ride to it from a guy on my flight. I drove home on an empty foggy highway which was lit mostly by the moon. I pulled into my driveway as the church bell struck three, noticed that someone had mowed my lawn while I was away, and went immediately to bed. <br /><br />I talk a lot about places I travel as not really being my idea of a fantasy. I got home and got out of the car and heard the river rushing behind the house and the peepers making all of their noises and saw the freaky looking moon hanging over the neighbors' yard and figured maybe it's just tough to top this.<br /><br />Here are some links from the past week.<br /><br />My Ann Arbor <a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/2061/mlibrary-20-beta-ann-arbor-quickie-trip/">talk</a> and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600330884916/">photos</a>.<br />My (similar) Puerto Rico <a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/2058/acuril-talk-library-20-c/">talk</a> and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/sets/72157600320767369/">photos</a>Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-88241331692438895162007-06-04T22:11:00.001-04:002007-06-05T01:19:35.892-04:00where to begin?I'd have a photo to show you of Puerto Rico except I don't have the cable for my camera. I don't have it because either I lost it or it was stolen/lost from my luggage. Either is about equally possible. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.<br /><br />I know that if you travel enough once in a while all the forces conspire to give you a truly bad trip. This trip is, apparently, mine. That said, it's not too bad. Here's what's been happening. I got up early on Sunday to get to the airport. I don't like getting up early but I accept that it's necessary. However, my flight was delayed. Then it was delayed again. Then it was finally cancelled. I was too busy fruiting around on the free wifi to get in line quickly enough to complain, so I got to twiddle my thumbs on hold (yay for cell phones) and figure out my next move. US Airways said they could get me out the next day. Jet Blue said they could get me out in a few hours. These two airlines don't really talk to each other in a computer fashion however, so it was time to shell out for a new ticket and hope against hope that the conference people would see this as a necessary added expense. As usual, my lack of "What would a normal person do in this circumstance?" sense means that I had far more nervousness choosing this route then I might have otherwise. <br /><br />JetBlue got me out of there at 4 pm and then stuck me in JFK for a few hours, and on the tarmac in a rainstorm for an hour more. I got into San Juan at 1:45 in the morning -- this is totally a normal hour for me, not so much for other people on my flight -- and was in bed and asleep at the Intercontinental by around 3. My room faces the ocean. It's nice. The room they tried to put me in faced the highway and was right up against the elevators. I traded it in. I don't <span style="font-style:italic;">think</span> I took anything out of my bag there. When I unpacked I realized that my stuff was soaking wet. Not like a little damp, like dripping wet. This was mostly okay. I hung stuff out to dry. One of my shirts may be a little screwed up. When I got back from my trip to Old San Juan today (more on that later) I went to offload my photos and realized my camera cable wasn't in my bag. Neither was my battery charger. Neither was my dongle, the stupid expensive dongle that I need for my laptop to talk to the projector. In fact everything in the side pocket of my bag was ... gone. Solving these problems takes time. I didn't lose anything I can't replace, but I do sort of need that dongle for my talk tomorrow. CompUSA has one I can buy, but I'll have to spend all day tomorrow on busses (or $40 on cabs) to buy one. I was hoping to go to the beach.<br /><br />I've spoken to people at the places where I think I might have left my stuff, in case maybe this was my own fault. My day yesterday was pretty long, I forget things occasionally. I worried that when I told JetBlue that TSA left not one but two "we inspected this!" tags in my bag that they might hand off resposibility to them, but I guess that's not how they operate. They say they're treating this like a "pilferage" as if anyone wants my stupid cables. I'm treating it like a "some things fell out of my bag" case, but one that happened on JetBlue's watch. I talked to my contact here today and he mentioned something about being on "Carribean time" and said he didn't even know if my talk was going for 90 minutes as we discussed or 60 or even when it started. With this sort of approach, I'm not biting my nails down worrying about it, seems like they'd be happy with a decent puppet show and maybe a few duck jokes.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-76040858143392587902007-05-31T11:48:00.000-04:002007-05-31T12:05:35.567-04:00a nice patch of radio silenceWhen the phrase "radio silence" doesn't make me think of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dolby">Thomas Dolby</a>, it makes me think of a bunch of guys in a submarine <a href="http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2001/march/sub.php">turning off all of their soundmaking equipment</a> and engines and floating quietly in the water looking nervously around waiting to see if something bad happens, expecting something bad.<br /><br />So, I've been MIA because I've been waiting for some test results from the doc that turned out to be nothing but had a small chance of turning out to be something and I sat around with my noisemakers off for a week, worrying. I am developing a very very annoying [to me] habit of becoming irrational about my health during periods of great stress. Now that I'm back into rational-land [or "illusion of rational" land which will have to suffice] it's something I'm officially working on. <br /><br />Or will, when I get back from Boston, and Puerto Rico, and Ann Arbor Michigan, and New Hampshire. I know, I know "Gee, Jessamyn can't imagine what in your life could be stressful!" Today I can mostly laugh at myself, yesterday things weren't seeming so funny.<br /><br />But despite my seeming hibernation, a lot has gotten done. I helped install an online catalog for a public library. I used a reel mower to mow my lawn. I sent out some letters. I almost finished a book. I took a lot of people out to lunch in the past week or two and got taken out to lunch myself. Yay for lunch. Today I get in the car and drive down to Massachusetts. <a href="http://www.is2k7.org/facilitators">Check me out on this list of fancy people</a>! I hope to be checking in here a little more often. Thanks, as always for checking in with me.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-66417709619256102402007-05-20T10:10:00.000-04:002007-05-20T10:37:25.178-04:00staying in bed this SundayI have a heavy heart this week. A longtime friend of the family died on Tuesday. <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/500334693/">I put a photo of her up on Flickr</a>, but otherwise I haven't been talking about it much. <a href="http://www.townonline.com/acton/obituaries/x1522632218">Pat's obit is here</a> and it's more of one than she would have had if she had gotten her druthers. I took a friend out to lunch on Friday.<br /><br />I deal with grief poorly. Generally I just sort of slosh it around inside of me and usually it manifests itself as stress-related slightly-hypochondriacal random symptoms, and a lot of irritability and sleepiness. So, I'm laying in bed looking out the window at the wet trees in the backyard, realizing I'm not going to mow the lawn <span style="font-weight:bold;">again</span> this weekend and trying to make some escape-from-the-house plan before I get bogged down in endless linux upgrades and housecleaning busywork. On the other hand busywork beats moping and <span style="font-weight:bold;">both</span> of them beat more typing, so I guess I'll wrap this up here. If you're so inclined, it would be nice if you took a friend out to lunch.Jessamyntag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25404745.post-75381982345658376082007-05-18T20:34:00.000-04:002007-05-18T20:36:53.944-04:00today's rainbow of birdsred - cardinal<br />orange - mystery orange thing, also baltimore oriole<br />yellow - goldfinch, evening grosbeak<br />green - ruby throated hummingbird<br />blue - indigo bunting<br />brown - finches<br />tan - chickadee<br />black - grackle<br />white - nuthatch<br />black and white and red all over - rose-breasted grosbeakJessamyn