| Saturday, November 14th, 2009 |
| 4:36 pm |
Hello Mr Rabitt, what were you doing in that hat?
Last month someone I just met asked me if I would present a seminar at her women's conference. I said I'd think about it. I just finished the presentation about 45 minutes ago. It went really, really, well. I talked about prioritizing and understanding the technology in your life. A lot of things I expected would come up didn't, and a bunch of things I hadn't thought about did and I still managed to know what to say. Everyone seemed engaged and interested and we had a really good conversation. I may have said 'um' once. But that's it. I could do this again. (In fact, I may have volunteered to do just that...) Yay! (tired now) |
| Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 |
| 7:18 pm |
Joined Facebook
I had enough people ask me if I'm on Facebook that I joined yesterday. |
| Monday, October 26th, 2009 |
| 11:05 am |
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| Saturday, October 17th, 2009 |
| 11:55 pm |
My first premiere
Tonight was the Royal Winnipeg Ballet world premiere of the new ballet Moulin Rouge. It was darned good for a ballet with a (let's be honest) cliched plot. The female lead was choreographed as much more innocent than Nicole Kidman's jaded version in the movie. Not as great as Eifman Ballet, but they're on a whole different level. The costumes were great, and the music was generally recognizable but not intrusive. For example, the 1st act ended with a pas de deux to Clair de Lune and the dance numbers kept teasing with the can-can song I fully expected to hear, then finally used it to great effect. I'm not sure I could expect anyone else to take me up on it, but I'd be much happier to see this every few years rather than the Nutcracker, Giselle or Coppelia again and again. I have to admit I missed why the cast list included 'Green Fairies' until Toulouse Latrec appeared with a bottle of absinthe. |
| Sunday, October 4th, 2009 |
| 6:16 pm |
So many tomatoes that people look at you funny.
Making up for the lack of vegetables from the Farmer's Market yesterday, we* realized it was tomato soup weekend** this weekend. So we came home with 75 lbs of tomatoes and commenced canning. This is one of my favorite fall events, though I'm always very tired at the end of it all. At the market, we decided it was silly to carry the tomatoes any farther than we had to, so I stood with the bags and R got the car. Several people looked oddly at me (grinning broadly) and all my tomatoes. I am home now with 11 quarts of soup and a gallon bag full of tomatoes I'll do something else with tonight or tomorrow. The something else will probably involve cumin, toasted onion flakes, and polenta which was a lovely combination when I created it last month. Delicious served with broccoli. * ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rmnilsson and I. ** You can always tell, the farmer's market has baskets full of slightly spotty tomatoes for ridiculously low prices. Usually the first weekend after a frost. |
| Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 |
| 12:12 pm |
Farmer's Market find of the year
Fresh ginger. No, not like the stuff in the store. Fresh! 2 foot worth of leaf stalk still attached! Teeny little buds of ginger root, the skin is mostly still yellow not brown. It was more expensive than I expected ($10 for what will probably be ~4 oz, not my most frugal decision of the week) but I couldn't resist the opportunity to try some. I just came home with fewer other vegetables than I otherwise would have. The leaves smell of ginger too, though in a quick google search I couldn't find any evidence they're edible. Anyone with experience or better Google-foo than me? I have many plans for ths stuff. I'll report back :) ETA: It is closer to 8 or 9 oz, that seems slightly less outrageous. |
| Monday, September 21st, 2009 |
| 12:38 pm |
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| Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 |
| 10:52 pm |
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| Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 |
| 11:59 am |
Couple of tnifty things
The best definition of moment I've ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNVPalNZD_IAnd a book recommendation: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. A view of the world post-zombie-apocolypse. Somewhat reminiscent of The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper. Instead of trying to review it, I'll point you to the review at Hathor Legacy that led me to order the book from the library. |
| Sunday, August 16th, 2009 |
| 11:07 pm |
Unfortunately exciting end to an evening at the circus
We were at the last Circus Juventas performance of Yulong tonight. As always, the performance was fabulous. Unfortunately, just after the last ovation, when Dan Butler (co-founder) came out to speak, the north side bleachers collapsed (we were on the other side). As we were leaving, I only saw one person with an injury, she was sitting near where the bleachers had been holding her elbow. However, there were many people still around, so it wasn't easy to see. The crowd was very well behaved, after an initial gasp, everyone started filing out of the building and the performers and staff started helping to move chairs away from the collapsed area and instructing people to leave. I noticed at least a few people on cell phones to 911, and by the time we'd gotten out of the building several emergency vehicles were on site. (I'm pretty sure at least a couple squad cars had already been there because they usually direct traffic before and after the show.) This is all the news I've seen so far: http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_13138110?nclick_check=1 |
| Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 |
| 7:55 am |
Are we that small a demographic?
As you may be aware, I'm in the habit of reading practically anything that Michael Pollan writes. But I have to admit, I bounced off his latest essay in the NY Times Magazine. On page 3, someone who studies people's eating habits says that 'scratch cooking' is so rare that they don't even ask about it in surveys, they consider 'cooking' anything that requires the assembly of ingredients (so lettuce w/ dressing or a sandwich count) and that cooking is vanishing from American life because "no one would know how to do it anymore". I think both of them have been stuck in some sort of restaurant dominated twilight zone. On my live journal, most weeks I read about something that one of you all is cooking, and it all sounds good. Heck, how do kitchen stores stay in business if no one cooks? Why were the last few cooking classes I took full? Do the produce and meat sections of grocery stores occupy the same mental space as gym memberships (something people pay for but never use?) How come I can still buy canning supplies if no one else uses them? Why do I have to make sure to get fresh cranberries days before Thanksgiving if no one besides me makes their own sauce? Or are we all just weirdos? (Okay, I suppose we are, but in this particular sense?) |
| Friday, August 7th, 2009 |
| 11:37 am |
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| Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 |
| 9:58 pm |
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| Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 |
| 12:14 am |
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 |
| 6:32 pm |
Geek Networking Group idea
There was an unmoderated Job Networking panel at Convergence this year. I've been to a few events like this lately and a moderator REALLY HELPS. It occurred to me that a geek networking group with a few people who are willing to moderate/assist all these introverts could be a useful thing in the Twin Cities. I guess that means I've volunteered :) I created a new e-mail address for people to contact if interested TCgeeknetwork@gmail.com. I put up a handful of signs at 'con and left some smaller versions on the freebie table. They all disappeared, but no bites yet. When I get responses I'm going to create a short survey to find out what people's interests are for a networking group. Please send messages if you're interested or pass along the address to anyone you know who is job hunting, self-employed or just in need of a professional network. I think I need to put up signs at book, comics and games stores... At some point I'll need to start contacting various con-coms and ask if they're willing to help me get the word out. Anywhere else that would work? I'm also going to chat with the director of MN Women in Networking to see if she has advice for someone creating a networking group. Oh yeah, anyone interested in helping me run this thing? ;) |
| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 |
| 9:48 am |
Novels in translation
I started reading The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki Juni'chiro, (translated to English by Edwin Seidensticker in 1957) this weekend. The book is set in the late 1930s in Osaka. It took about 50 pages to figure out what seemed wrong to me. The characters are too direct. It doesn't read like other Japanese works I've read which translate at least some of the indirect communication style. It reads like an English or American novel with character and place names switched to Japanese. Changing conventions for Japanese to English translations perhaps? I can't seem to find any other translations of this book so I can't compare directly. |
| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 |
| 6:50 pm |
Paperback book holders
As my wrists don't work as well as they used to, I'm trying to find ways to keep pressure off them when doing things like reading. Has anyone tried one of these? Some other paperback holder that works great and costs (preferably) less than $20? |
| 9:22 am |
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| Monday, June 8th, 2009 |
| 9:05 pm |
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| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 |
| 11:13 am |
Darn socks
Since before Wiscon I've been looking for my summer socks. You know... the short ones that don't keep your knees warm in the winter. I'd already put away the long warm socks, and have been making due with a few pair that work summer or winter or just wearing sandals. I began to fear that I'd accidentally given away my bag of summer clothes (socks and shorts mainly). Monday I gave up and bought a week's worth of socks at Target. Tuesday I found my socks. :P |
