Thursday 30 October 2003

Why I Hate You

Yes, that's right. I mean you. You personally. What - you think I can't tell who you are, just because you're on the other side of a monitor screen? Surely you knew of MovableType's magic powers?

Right, as I was saying... why I hate you. I'll provide a list of the all the reasons I hate you, and you pick the one's that apply to you. They are specified in no particular order; not all my apply to you. Some may apply to nobody.



  1. You ran into my car.

  2. You got angry at me about something, even though you knew the problem wasn't my fault.

  3. You puked in your laptop.

  4. You don't care enough about presenting yourself properly to worry about such trivialities as capital letters, and punctuation.

  5. You broke my heart.

  6. You puked in your laptop again.

  7. You lied to me.

  8. You hurt my friends.

  9. You made me wait forever to get medication I knew I needed for the disease I knew I had.

  10. You don't proofread.

  11. You allow policy to override decency.

  12. You stole my glasses.

  13. You punched me the whole way to school on the bus in seventh grade.

  14. You puked in your laptop again - you REALLY don't get how this works, do you?

  15. You don't think Homestar Runner is funny - Click here for your free million punches in the face

  16. You believe that all people are equal, and should have the same rights - unless they're different from you.

  17. You come to the Helpdesk, and say "It won't turn on. And it's never come into contact with water."

  18. You don't think my jokes are funny.

I'd like to hear your additions to this list. Please comment.








Featurama

At the insistence of those who know these things, I have added comment meta-data to the front page for each posting. Also, unlike some, I did it without instructions, and included the time for the latest comment, because that usually works better in my head than a name does.

Either way, enjoy the information, and watch for me to abuse my l33t MovableType ski11z in the future.

Monday 27 October 2003

WD-40 Upgrade; In Response

They say that water is a natural lubricant for the throat. That's why you're supposed to drink lots of water while singing - to keep your vocal system's plant nicely moistened. I'm in the Acadia University Chorus, where this year, it has been ordained that we shall sing Messiah, by G. F. Handel.

This combination of facts elicits a certain amount of confession from me:


  1. I'm a tenor.

  2. I'm not really a tenor.

  3. Sadly, I actually am a tenor. Just a bad one.

  4. I have bronchitis.

  5. Unlike most of the chorus, therefore, I sort of squawk through Messiah.

Which brings me to my title. I figure, the way my throat feels after 2.5 hours of singing Handel, that I need to upgrade from water, and spray a can of WD-40 down my throat after chorus practice. Or maybe before. Then we could cut the pain out altogether. :-)

Also, to report on some questions from the previous entry...

Peter: Sadly, no. A shame, too - her Scottish brogue could have added life to some of the sessions. Wow - librarians can be <understatement>boring</understatement> sometimes. Thanks also for telling me how to turn HTML on in my comments. W00t.

Andrew: "Baby needs a new pair of shoes" is common slang used whilst gambling to indicate that you hope for an outcome in your favour. Not that one ever really hopes to lose when gambling. There is no baby. There is no nineteenth floor. And there is no Miss Zarves.

Nancy: If comments could buy me footwear, then I'd replace these air force boots that I have to wear when I play with the band. It's just like wearing two coffins on your feet. Also, I need a new pair of winter boots. :-P

Minako: I really don't think so. I don't recall ever agreeing to any bet. That having been said - if Andrew's the man paying... sure, I'm in. ;-)

Matt: Everyone else was talking about babies. Where did you get brothers from? And yes, I actually have two brothers - one is a sophomore at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish; the other is in Grade 7 back home. I also have a sister in Grade 11, who formerly follwed in my footsteps as a library shelver. Seeking better in the world, she recently got *cough* promoted to her new job - kitchen staff at McDonalds.

Also, in library news - kudos to Sue for getting the Halifax Library job! Yay!

Sunday 26 October 2003

Kiss Me, I'm a Librarian!

[seen on a t-shirt at the Nova Scotia Library Association's annual conference this weekend at Dundee Resort, Cape Breton]

NSLA was... well, about as much fun as one can expect when you take a hotel in rural Cape Breton, fill it with Nova Scotian librarians, library staffers, and library board members, and set them loose. There were times I felt in danger of being networked, and the pervasive, unmistakable odours of innovation and syngery were never far off in the distance. It could have just been the smell of the chlorine from the hotel pool, though - they do smell a lot alike. :-)

My first seminar was on the place for social justice and social activism in the public library system. It discussed how public libraries need not just be information sources, but also the genesis point of meaningful discussion, and, more importantly, meaningful change, in society.

I also attended a seminar on public library library capital funding, of importance to me because ensuring appropriate technology infrastructure is a key consideration now when making capital investments, and that infrastructure would probably be my responsibility. ;-)

Finally, I attending a seminar on A Day in the Life of Your Library, which I would characterize as the feel-good seminar. It brought more than a few chuckles, as we all reminisced about our memories from a collective experience of library service, and shared ideas about new and different ways of doing things.

Overall, a good time was had. I was fortunate, on the way, to be able and stop in Truro, to meet with staff there about a project I'm currently working on, and in Antigonish, to visit my brother. I also consider myself lucky that, betweenst all the learning and synergizing, I was able to find a spare minute or two to get in the pool. The fact that I'm here implies I still remember how to swim. Or maybe it just implies that the pool's only 5.5' deep, and I'm less deep. You decide. :-)

PS: I demand at least ten comments, as per comments on previous articles. Twenty would be preferred. Daddy needs a new pair of shoes...

Saturday 11 October 2003

The Season is Upon Us

Good God, it's cold in here.

I'm writing from work at the User Support Center, here at Acadia, and I'm actually finding it difficult to type because my hands feel numb. It probably doesn't help that my brain is numb too, but that's been going on for years, so no one should be surprised.

Nancy, having recently turned 23, is celebrating her new antiquity (new antiquity...) with a shopping binge. If there's a better way to celebrate getting old, I'd like to hear it. I have volunteered to be her driver, and carrier of heavy things. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

In other news, the library is keeping me busy, with server upgrades and network installations scheduled for the long weekend, and a trip to the beautiful Dundee resort in Cape Breton scheduled for two weekends from now, for the Nova Scotia Library Association conference, where I was originally destined to be a presenter, but am now just a delegate.

Fun shall abound, I've no doubt. I'll remember to report back in two weeks with all the stories about how my bosses got drunk and made fools of themselves. ;-)

Saturday 4 October 2003

Vick's Overdose

Random Fact: Vick's Vapo-rub, if ingested is poisonous.
Random Fact: Camphor, it's medicinal ingredident, and the thing that makes it smell so good, is a weak local anæsthetic and also produces the sensation of warmth. It can also "produce seizures... (which) may be preceded by mental confusion, irritability, neuromuscular hyperactivity, and jerky movements of the extremities".
Random Fact: If you are stupid enough to eat Vick's, you deserve to die.

I'm not at the Vick's overdose phrase yet. I'm more in the vicinity of "God, some Vick's sure would be nice right now." Just starting to get the sore throat, the cough, and the runny nouse. Guess it's time to start taking my puffers again. *sigh*

At least I'm not Nancy yet - the doctors declared her to have both bronchitis and laryngitis. Some people have all the luck. Get better soon.

In other news, tonight is Geek Night - the new combined D&D game will go ahead as planned. I still need to upgrade my character, and then learn how to not suck at the game. All while finishing assignments in Psychology and Data Structures, catching up on some reading in Biblical Studies, and singing for the 40th anniversary service of Manning Memorial Chapel. Coupled with the AcapellAcadia choir fest (for lack of a better term for it) and my impending SARS-like condition, I anticipate having no voice left by Tuesday afternoon, much to the joy of all who are regularly subjected to the sound of me talking.

Finally, shouts out to all you thirteen-year olds out in reader land. STOP GETTING PREGNANT! This concludes our test of the emergency broadcast system. Thank you for your patience.