Circadian Shift

Have been behaving myself during Boxing Week madness, which is a good thing. Purchased one CD yesterday (Utah Saints' first album) and one book today (Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language by Steven Pinker). I might go shopping for pants tomorrow (never a fun task), but that would be about the extent of it.

Meanwhile, some linkage:

• The secret life of... tissues? (Via Randomness Personified.)


• Apocamon -- The book of Revelations re-interpreted as manga (pointer to e-sheep via MemeMachineGo!)

Will try to post some actual content sometime soon.

OK, I suppose this makes me look like a total freaking ingrate, but here goes....

Did anyone in the viewing audience pay to have the Blogspot banner ad removed from my blog? When?

Whoever/whatever the responsible power may be, thank you very much. I have to confess I didn't even realize until Brett mentioned something about it at the GTAB holiday party last week. Looking back now, I can't remember the last time I noticed if there was an ad on my page. It could have been months, for all I know.

Of course, that just goes to show you how well I can mentally block out that visual noise at the top of a web page. Those so-called e-marketing mavens don't get too many click-throughs out of me.

Anyway, thanks, again to whoever my benefactor is.

Still playing with alternate browsers. Am doing this post using Mozilla, which plays with Blogger more nicely than Opera does, although it's still a little wonky.

Why all this playing with browsers? I've been brushing up on my CSS skills, which entails viewing pages in browsers other than the one that Micro$oft offers.

It's funny how you start noticing and remembering things about the software you use when you switch. Little things you take for granted, like placement of buttons, or how drop-down menus fold out, are suddenly just a bit different, just a bit "off" -- you're no longer surfing on cruise control.

I will say one thing about Opera and Mozilla -- they really are faster than IE, and less bloated (they aren't as big to download as IE is).

One really silly thing I've notice about Opera -- one of the browser settings is "Identify as Opera / Mozilla / MSIE" -- but the default setting is "Identify as MSIE". Duh! Wouldn't the folks at Opera want their software to identify itself correctly to servers, instead of propping up the competition? If people look at their site stats and keep seeing just "IE" being used by their visitors, won't they just keep assuming that's what everyone uses?

Whatever. Most of you have probably drifted off at this point to go read Fark or something, so I'll shut up now.

Back in civilization again. (Granted, my parents have satellite TV, and there is internet access -- albeit slow access -- so it's not like I was really "roughing it" up there.)

Have gone and made Opera my default web browser, after using Internet Explorer for the last few years. Have quickly discovered:

• I had an awful lot of passwords stored as cookies in IE which I now have to try and wrack my brain to remember (or use those "forgot password?" forms)


• Blogger's interface is all screwy in Opera, so I've had to open IE again to make this post

I'd prefer not to break down and switch back to IE, but we'll see how it goes.

There's an interesting article over on Boxes and Arrows:

The Designers? Outpost: Capturing and Interacting with Design History
"In a high-tech field like web design, we might expect to find computer-savvy practitioners accomplishing all their work with the click of the mouse and a stroke of the keyboard. However, in our studies of the early stages of web design, we found that good ol? pens, paper, walls, and tables were the primary creative tools."

I'm inclined to agree -- nothing beats pen and paper as the quickest way to get the ideas out of your brain and into the world.

X-mas day. Prezzies opened (we did that just after midnight), snow outside, and.... a 24000 bps modem connection, thanks to the decrepit phone lines out here in cottage country.

Got an e-mail from Sam via the GTAB mailing list -- there's an article up at Shift that covers blogger and Slashdot meetups in Toronto, and offers some insight into how Meetup.com works. (Or doesn't -- I could offer some commentary or observations of my own, but can't be bothered.)

Surfing around the Shift site some more, I happened across their blog, which pointed me to some videos of Spongebob Squarepants Jackass. Everyone's favourite little undersea invertebrate performs all kinds of wacky stunts that you kids should not be trying at home. (Alas, I will probably wait until my return to the city to download them.)

Been a while since I've done a gratuitous personality quiz post, so here goes:

what kind of junkie are you?

Lastly, as the holiday wanes, I look forward to no longer being inflicted by this song playing over and over again in my brain (thanks to Eraine for the link to the lyrics).

Well, one of my bags is packed (the one holding clothing and prezzies) and I just have to pack up the notebook (ie. the thing I'm using right now). Will be journeying northwards to the parents' place for Yule. Supposedly there's already lots of snow up there.

Can strike off one more thing from my 10 Things to Do list:

1. finish doing all the laundry (not just enough of it at one time to get by)

Of course, the list started out as the "10 in 10", then became the "10 in 20". At this rate, I'll be lucky if it gets done before the New Year.

Hope everyone has a good holiday -- even the poor soul who came across my site a few hours ago via this search.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

How could I have missed the news earlier today that Joe Strummer has died? (Thanks :( to Gary's post on The Big List for the news.)

I don't know what else to say, except that this comes as more of a shock than when Joey Ramone died last year.

Additional linkage can be found on Renaissance Grouch (which I managed to stumble across via the Blogger homepage).

Bonus points (?) for anyone who can tell me what song/group these lyrics are from:

Faces of Strummer that fell from your wall
And nothing was left where they hung
So sweet and bitter, they're what we found
So drink them down and

Excuse me while I go play my copy of London Calling.

Damn, meant to include this in the last post....

Lake Superior State University (who'da guessed that Michigan also has a town called Sault Ste. Marie?) issues their List of Banished Words for 2002. (Linkage via fortysomething.)

You're welcome.

Today's lessons:

• It takes approximately 19 hours to download a 214 MB file on a dialup connection.


• If you think other people in an elevator can hear your stomach grumbling, you're probably right.

Scored a copy of the new Siouxsie and the Banshees double-CD compilation (going for a ridiculously low price at Second Spin -- yay!), and am pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying disc 2, which has several extended mixes of various Siouxsie hits. I think many of these surpass the "regular" versions (I'd always thought as much about the extended mix of "Cities In Dust", which prompted me to buy it as a 12" back in the day).

Props to Slashdot for this linkage:

• The View from Silicon Valley: Bloggers come in from the cold -- "It would be interesting to see if there's a correlation between the meteoric rise of blogging, the practice of keeping a frequently-updated online journal, and the rise of unemployment in Silicon Valley and other tech corridors. When you're not working, you don't have to worry about the boss objecting to you working on a blog."


• Blogging Goes Mainstream

Well, none of this is earth-shattering news, really. If you're unemployed, of course you'll have more time to blog (I was laid off from my job in March; the archives of this blog date back to April -- coincidence?). However, as I've (yawn) mentioned before, while you may not worry about annoying a current boss, you might want consider what impact your blog might have on a potential future boss.

On the other hand, I'm discovering that this blogging thing is useful to me as a networking work tool to further my employment prospects. It's allowed me to meet a group of people who are not only a whole lot of fun to hang out with, but have also a couple of times been able to provide me with job leads, or leads to other people who might have job leads. Very cool.

And, of course, the pyjamas and MP3s are nice too!

This won't mean much to you unless you were a hardcore CFNY listener in the early 80s, but eighties-mp3.co.uk (aka. Rare 80s MP3) has posted the song "Set Me Apart" by The Lotus Eaters. For god's sake, download it now! You heard me -- NOW!

Ah, The Lotus Eaters.... Between them and The Associates, could 80s pop have sounded more Tragic? If you want to sing along while you wallow, the lyrics to "Set Me Apart" are here.

And, I'd forgotten about this site when I posted my retro MP3 roundup a few weeks back, but there are a bunch of rare Adam Ant MP3s available for download, courtesy of Ant Lib Online.

Well, today is the winter solstice, which means that we're gonna be getting more sunlight from here on in. Yay!

Couple links for you:

• some simple corporate lessons, courtesy of ph8


• lactose incompetent shares the tale of a zero-tolerance policy gone wrong

Suppose I ought to get dressed and get out the hovel for a while.

Put a big dent in my X-mas shopping today, and did so by lending my patronage to stores in The Annex. Didn't have to deal with any insane malls, got some neat gifts, and supported local businesses. Yay, me.

The New York Times has a lengthy (and timely?) article on the heavy costs of chronic stress. (Free registration required to view.) (Link via MemeMachineGo!.)

On a less stressful topic, Graig and Gary offer their top album picks of 2002. I don't recognize everything on their lists, but of the stuff I'm familiar with, I'm inclined to concur with their views.

Tip o' the hat to blamb for linkage to this report about mass arrests of Muslims in L.A. (ensuing discussion and supplementary linkage on MeFi). That's really freaking scary.

So's this, in a different way. (Thanks, digital ed.)

Also via MeFi comes a link to a good article (with its own supplementary linkage) about constraints that the workplace and the law may place on bloggers. (Yeah, I've rambled about this before -- go look in the archives if you're really interested.)

Look! Brains! Neat! (Gracias, G Spot.)

A few interesting-looking new offerings at Blackmask:

• The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People (written 1881)


• Problems in American Democracy (written 1922)


• A Handbook of Ethical Theory (written 1921)

There's also a bunch of neat-looking linkage from the latest Complexity Digest, #50:

• Thinking Machines -- Reverse Engineering the Brain


• The World According to Google


• Searching for Your Inner Chimp

Have not progressed on my newly re-dubbed 10 in 20. Will have to work on that today.

Those of you in the viewing audience who like nifty illustrations and animation will enjoy FERIC. I don't think it's an over-statement to say that his stuff is truly fantastic. (Link via Diary of a Superfluous Man.)

On a less whimsical note, there's an interesting guide (geared towards instructors) for Introducing Industrial-Organizational Psychology. (Via Onepine Updates.)

Misc. linkage:

• Dem kute kitty-kats play The Vines (via JimBuck2)


• "Is Canada one of the U.S.'s Fiercest Opponents?" (linkage and discussion on MetaFilter)

Meanwhile, ParanoidFish formulates a LazyWeb corollary:

So, the idea is that the ?LazyWeb? means that all you have to do is mention a big complex idea, and someone else will magically appear and either point you at it or do it themselves.

I'm beginning to think there's a corollary to this - any attempt to invoke the LazyWeb directly will cause the whole thing to stop working. It's the same problem you get when you tell someone what you've wished for.

Now, if only someone could prove this for me?

Well, at least I got my pyjamas.

Well, sometime before midnight (actually quite a bit before), I managed to strike one more thing from my 10 in 10:

5. take out the stuff for recycling

Perhaps we ought to make this the "10 in 20" (which would take me up to X-mas). Why not. It still has to get done.

So, today is the last day of my 10 Things in 10 Days. Let's just see how that's coming along, shall we?

1. finish doing all the laundry (not just enough of it at one time to get by)


2. read a book


3. clear the dead stuff out of my fridge and freezer


4. catch up on my e-mail correspondence


5. take out the stuff for recycling


6. put up my resume and portfolio website


7. take care of Stupid-Financial-Thing-That-I've-Been-Neglecting-And-Would-Prefer-Not-To-Disclose #1


8. see a matinee film


9. take care of Stupid-Financial-Thing-That-I've-Been-Neglecting-And-Would-Prefer-Not-To-Disclose #2


10. go for a walk

As you can see, only three things have been definitely crossed off the list. Another four are in orange, meaning that they're only partially complete. Clearly there's still time to work on some more of those things, but there's no way it's all going to get done.

On Thursday, I went to see The Grey Zone during "Happy Hour" at the Bloor Cinema. The film depicts a group of Jews imprisoned at Auschwitz during World War II, who were in the precarious position of working in the Nazi-run gas chambers and crematoriums in exchange for better living conditions and a stay of execution. It was not an easy film to watch, but was ultimately worthwhile to see.

Yesterday's walk took me down St. George and along College St., where I ducked in and out of various computer shops, as well as She Said Boom to browse the CD racks and bookshelves. (Fortunately, I managed to escape without purchasing anything.) A leisurely meal at K-Os followed, where I sat and wrote a few e-mails on my Jornada, thus putting a dent into item #4 on my list. I then wound my way up Bathurst to Bloor, where I ran into Graig and Emma. Beverage consumption ensued, followed by more wandering and grocery shopping. But alas, no more work on the list.

Anyway, I should get going and tackle a few more list items. This little endeavour isn't going to be a complete success (but don't let that stop anyone else from giving it a try), but even getting a few things done is better than nothing.

Today's fifteen minutes of fame:

• Richard's blog


• David's blog


• Graig's blog

*tick*tock*tick*tock*

Presently listening to DNTO on CBC-1. Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie are playing. They're funny. (And there are MP3s of their songs available for streaming or download.)

Because:

• The Seven Types of Ambiguity


• another brief page on the same


• an online introductory course in Practical Criticism


• Critical Approaches


• another online introductory course in Logic

Flannel is your friend. Yes it is.

Big "word up" to my friend Donna, who sent me a pair of pyjamas in response to one of my posts from a while back. They go swell with my new robe too.

(Could this be a variant of the LazyWeb in action? One time I blogged about not being about to find the MP3 of "Lido Shuffle" online, and my friend Jeff e-mailed it to me. Neat. Of course, nobody has sent me a PaceBook Tablet PC or a Dell Axim X5, so maybe it only works with small ticket items.)

Stumbled across this neato site called 3 AM Magazine, which has a bunch of short fiction, commentary and other stuff. On first look, the two items that jump out at me are an interview with Alain de Botton (author of How Proust Can Change Your Life; he's got a nice, dry sense of humour), and a column written by one Jim Martin called "Toxic Thought Syndrome".

And if that doesn't get your brain cells buzzing, go give Creative Generalist a whirl.

Bits 'n pieces:

• The 10 Technologies that Will Help You Stay Employed (via Soapbox)


• Ten taxonomy myths (spotted on InfoDesign and Column Two)


• How to Become a Master Networker (via bBlog)

sigh

This just in:

Iron Chef Party Planner
Every episode of Iron Chef is a party. Plan your own with our handy Iron Chef Party Planner. We have invites, posters, recipes, games and even a party recovery kit. Allez cuisine!

Whoohoo!

Oh, right. I don't have cable. sigh

(Thanks to my brother for e-mailing me the link.)

OK, I really shouldn't have bought it, but I couldn't help myself. Wandered into HMV, listened to Richie Hawtin and Sven Vath's new disc The Sound of the Third Season at one of those listening stations, and had to have my own copy. Damn, I like this disc.

I totally loved Hawtin's Decks, EFX & 909 (it was one of my favourite CDs to listen to at work), but wasn't so taken with the few tracks I heard from his next release, DE9 - Closer to the Edit.

With this disc, Vath's (sorry kiddies, no umlauts here) influence looms large, making for a harder edged album. Granted, the "jackhammer you can dance to" sound isn't for everyone, but sometime I like to wallow in my dark Teutonic side. (Gee, could you have guessed?) OK, since this is an "Ibiza" disc, it doesn't get very dark. But I've been listening to a lot of St. Germain and Thievery Corporation lately, and this is like a nice sub-zero shot of Stoli to refresh the palate.

(And I can't seem to wrangle metaphors for shit. Told you rhetoric wasn't my strong point.)

Anyhoo, I'll shut up now. Thanks for letting me share.

I fear I'm being sucked back into Oblomovka.

I did get dressed yesterday. Leaving the apartment was another thing entirely. And the 10 in 10 remains untouched.

Today is another day. Up and at 'em. Something like that.

Meanwhile:

• Cranky Chick has some tips for driving on ice


• lactose incompetent talks about the office hook theory


• INeedCoffee offers instructions on making your own coffee wrapping paper


• The Brunching Shuttlecocks help you out with The Complete and Utter Idiot's Guide to Making a Baloney Sandwich (via The G Spot)

Is it just me, or do blogs hosted on blogspot take a really freaking long time to load?

Merde. After getting up early, I went back to bed around 9.30, slept for a while, and have been groggy and lethargic ever since. Have got a big honking bowl of chai brewing, which will hopefully remedy the situation.

Gizmodo is a blog for gadget-heads that I visited when it debuted in the summer, and then promptly forgot about. Visited it again today, and came across a few interesting posts:

• A link to an article about what's wrong with Pocket PCs. I'm inclined to agree with many of the points, such as there being no easy way to switch the PDA into landscape mode. The Jornada supposedly has a hidden way to do this, but it's so kludgy that I've never bothered to try it. I saw a third-party software solution being offered for other Pocket PCs, but never tried it. I also agree that trying to shut down applications is awkward, but I've gotten used to it.
• There's also linkage to pages about various Tablet PCs, including the PaceBook Tablet PC. Drool! Gizmodo dubs it "Tablet as better (if larger) PDA", which is exactly how I would use the thing if I had one. I'd install the full version of Adobe Acrobat on it -- with Acrobat's "web capture" and annotation features, I'd have one bitchin' e-book device, and would never have to print out anything from the web again.
• Lastly, there's a link to a review of the Dell Axim X5 Pocket PC. When the time comes to retire my beloved Jornada, this is the PDA I want. It's got a jog-wheel on it (the iPaq doesn't) which would allow me to page through e-books easily. A fold-out keyboard is available (whereas there isn't one for the Toshiba Pocket PCs), which would be great for doing a bit of writing on the go. And the accompanying software bundle includes an app to let you display PowerPoint files on the device (I know, I hate PowerPoint, but there are times when I could have used this feature). All this, and a lower price point compared to other Pocket PCs. Whoohoo!

Now all I need to do is win the lottery so that I can buy all these neat devices.

OK, I'm awake after only five hours of sleep, and I'm not sure why. Especially considering how tired I felt through most of yesterday.

Haven't made much progress on my 10 in 10 since Saturday, as I was at my parents' place on Sunday, and then they were here in Toronto yesterday. Will have to get back to that today.

Stumbled across a blog about e-books called TeleRead, which also has a bunch of linkage to various library blogs, as well as other e-book linkage.

Meanwhile, Strategy+Business (free registration required) has an article on business models for airlines:

Flight for Survival: A New Operating Model for Airlines

While the big carriers face a future of red ink, low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines and Jet Blue are prospering by exploiting a huge cost-of-operations advantage.

Consider the big airlines? burdens that low-cost carriers avoid:

• Flight schedules structured predominantly to attract high volumes of low-yield connecting passengers, which causes congestion, long aircraft turnaround times, and poor utilization of physical assets and personnel;


• Labor-intensive business processes capable of providing seamless connections to anywhere in the world that accommodate, and partly encourage, last-minute seat assignment changes, upgrades, and itinerary modifications; and


• A distribution system tailored to selling tickets across the globe and to providing the largest customer base possible to maximize revenue through the yield management system.

By the end of 2000, these factors, combined with expensive labor agreements and rising fuel prices, placed the large airlines in one of the most difficult cost vises in the industry?s history.

Or, if that's too serious for you, go give Wastrel Division a whirl (linkage courtesy The G Spot).

From JoeUser.com:

• Information gods amongst mortals


• The Information Gods respond


• Information Gods Srike Back


• Revenge of the Information gods

I'd read the first article back a while back, but had no idea that there were follow-ups. Just some more light reading for you in your copious spare time.

Y'know, the last time I commented on Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox column, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. (The premise of adding "small holiday decorations (to) increase joy of use and make websites feel more current and more connected to users' lives" does sound ridiculous, but if I think that if you are going to go with a holiday theme, you might as well do it right. Jakob's column addressed that.)

This time, I think he's lost it completely.

In the Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter
Summary: The world of magic is a world where inanimate objects come alive; it's as if they had computational power, sensors, awareness, and connectivity.

Good god, man, take a vacation or something.

Meanwhile, via MeFi comes this cool site on architectural construction toys.

[Addendum, 10 December 2002 -- 'Twould appear that I'm not the only one who hates this article; however, others seem to like it.]

Decided to plow through some of my older InformIT newsletters (have been ignoring them for the last several weeks) and came up with a ton of stuff to read:

• Essential JavaScript


• XML Software Infrastructure


• Cyberbranding Essentials
• Convince Me That I'm Wrong: Why Reasons Matter in Ethics


• Intellectual Capital and Mental Literacy: the Keys to Corporate Success?


• Deploying Your Resume and Scoring an Interview
• Shoestring Process Improvement ? Don't Stop Because Times Are Tough


• 11 Characteristics of a World-Class Infrastructure


• The Message to Your Employees: Alienation or Empowerment?
• Fallacies of Software Engineering Management


• Facts of Software Engineering Management
• The Life Cycle of a Use Case


• What Is a Quality Use Case?


• Using Personas To Discover Requirements
• And, lastly, a four-parter on e-portals:
  • Implementing E-Portals: the Business Issues
  
  
  • Implementing E-Portals: The Technical Issues
  
  
  • E-Portal Software Options: A Comparison of Current Products
  
  
  • Building an E-Portal from Scratch

Read or ignore as you wish.

Been a while since I linked to anything tech-related. A few things of interest popped up in my latest InformIT newsletter:

• The Importance of XML to a Unified Content Strategy -- a high level look at using XML in Enterprise Content Management


• Functional Architecture for Internet Commerce Systems -- another high level article, but it works for me


• Extreme Programming Practices in Action -- Extreme Programming (XP) is built on 12 key practices; my favourite is #11: The 40-Hour Work Week


• Establishing the Vision for Use Case Modeling -- in my mind, this sort of stuff is self-evident, but I guess not everyone thinks that way

Too much fun.

Moving along with my 10 Things in 10 Days list, I've done five loads of laundry today (the last of which is in the dryer right now). However, there is still more to do, and I am running low on coinage, so I won't be able to strike that one off today. In the meantime, please leave a small offering on my behalf at the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Laundry.

Ran across these links a few days ago:

• Structured Procrastination -- "All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things, like gardening or sharpening pencils or making a diagram of how they will reorganize their files when they get around to it. Why does the procrastinator do these things? Because they are a way of not doing something more important. If all the procrastinator had left to do was to sharpen some pencils, no force on earth could get him do it. However, the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important."
• Complexity Digest -- This seems to be a big honking list of links that comes out on a weekly basis. From the mission statement:
  • To collect and disseminate online complexity science related information to anybody interested in the topic.
  • Use the nature of connections about complexity to
    • Speed up its evolutionary development
    • Extend its interactions crossing over disciplines, levels of knowledge and geography to find new research and new applications.
  Feed your head until it explodes.

The current issue of Complexity Digest listed an article which piqued my interest, but linked to a site which required some sort of registration process. Fortunately, Google came to the rescue, and I found it elsewhere:

Is sleep 'hard-wired' into the brain? -- "Falling asleep is usually thought of as something we can control ourselves as part of our behaviour patterns. In a new article in the December Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Dr Bidi Evans argues that waking and sleeping is actually controlled by a physical mechanism that is 'hard-wired' into the brain. She suggests that evidence from people with brain damage shows that coma patients literally cannot wake up, because their waking mechanism is 'broken'."

I think the wiring in my head is faulty, but I don't think there's a warranty for it. Damn.

Whoohoo! Got one item down from my 10 Things in 10 Days list:

2. read a book

OK, so it was a short book, but dammit, it counts. And it's a book that I really should have read sooner.

At first, Who Moved My Cheese?, comes off like some sort of cutesy bedtime story, crossed with Anthony Robbins. I bought the book at the end of last year (Boxing "Week" sale at Chapters) and didn't get very far the first time I tried to read it. But then, a lot of things can change in a year.

And Change is what Who Moved My Cheese? is all about:

"In the story, four characters -- who represent parts of ourselves -- live in a "Maze" and look for "Cheese" to nourish them and make them happy.

Two are mice named "Sniff" and "Scurry." And two are littlepeople, named "Hem" and "Haw," who are the size of mice but look and act like a lot like some people.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for whatever you want to have in life -- job, relationship, health, peace of mind. And the "Maze" is where you look for it.

The story shows what happens to the characters one day when the Cheese has been moved to another part of the maze. Some are prepared for it and do well. Others are surprised by it and have a difficult time."

Up until earlier this year, I had a job I loved. I worked on interesting projects, had cool co-workers, and was taking on new challenges and responsibilities by leaps and bounds. All this after fleeing my Soul Crushing Corporate Job From Hell, going back to school, and taking on contract work to build up some experience in my newly chosen field.

But the company had been struggling, and one fine day in March, the headcount was reduced by half. I was laid off. Hell, somebody moved my Cheese, all right.

For much of the time since then, I've been largely alternating between despair and denial. As I sat and read the book this evening, I was floored by how much of myself I saw in the characters and the story. Goddam. And, wow.

So, I think this is a good step. This, and tackling my "10 in 10". Stay tuned.

Oh, and I would recommend Who Moved My Cheese? to anyone who has suddenly found themselves smacked upside the head by circumstances in their lives.

I bought a new robe today. It is warm and cozy and I can wear it over my pyjamas as I sit here at my desk and do silly things at the 'puter.

I also finished reading Oblomov the other night. Some of it was all too familiar -- like this scene for instance:

On this particular morning Oblomov had (contrary to his usual custom) awakened at the early hour of eight. Somehow he looked perturbed; anxiety, regret, and vexation kept chasing one another across his features. Evidently he had fallen a prey to some inward struggle, and had not yet been able to summon his wits to the rescue. The fact of the matter was that, overnight, he had received from the starosta of his country estate an exceedingly unpleasant letter....

Consequently, on awakening, he resolved to rise, to perform his ablutions, and, his tea consumed, to consider matters, to jot down a few notes, and, in general, to tackle the affair properly. Yet for another half-hour he lay prone under the torture of this resolve; until eventually he decided that such tackling could best be done after tea, and that, as usual, he would drink that tea in bed?the more so since a recumbent position could not prove a hindrance to thought.

Therefore he did as he had decided; and when the tea had been consumed he raised himself upon his elbow and arrived within an ace of getting out of bed. In fact, glancing at his slippers, he even began to extend a foot in their direction, but presently withdrew it.

Welcome to my life. Minus the waking-at-8 part.

I've been toying with the idea of doing a list like Jeremy's, but something of that scale is too overwhelming. So I thought I'd try something along the lines of:

10 Things in 10 Days

1. finish doing all the laundry (not just enough of it at one time to get by)


2. read a book


3. clear the dead stuff out of my fridge and freezer


4. catch up on my e-mail correspondence


5. take out the stuff for recycling


6. put up my resume and portfolio website


7. take care of Stupid-Financial-Thing-That-I've-Been-Neglecting-And-Would-Prefer-Not-To-Disclose #1


8. see a matinee film


9. take care of Stupid-Financial-Thing-That-I've-Been-Neglecting-And-Would-Prefer-Not-To-Disclose #2


10. go for a walk

Seeing as it's now Friday, December 6, that means I have until Sunday December 15 to do all this stuff.

I can do this.

Go, me.

Yikes.

In honour of Graig's newly re-christened blog:

• A quick overview of what trepanning is


• Old fashioned surgical instruments for trepanning


• A look at trepanning in ancient times

What is that whistling sound I keep hearing?

Yeah, whatever:

• Assessing and Managing Technostress (via ph8)


• An Introduction to Cognitive Dissonance Theory


• Emile Durkheim on 'Anomie'

I have the tune to the "Chicken Dance" in my head. Why, God? Why?

Fun with Flash:

• extrasonic's list of recently discovered Flash games for your covert workplace amusement


• Brett's list of various Flash pieces


• "Recursive" (also via Brett)

There is this bright light in the sky. I think it's called "the sun". Must investigate further.

Awright, let's throw some linkage out there before I forget about this stuff completely:

• Fewer companies spread holiday cheer with cash


• General Systems Theory (via Onepine Updates)


• Theories of Motivation (also via Onepine)


• Propaganda in a Democratic Society by Aldous Huxley (via abuddhas memes)


• Why Computer Books Suck (via paranoidfish)


• Postcards from Planet Google (NYT article; free registration required) (via Pure Content)

Thinking more about the B.B. Gabor track I posted below, I decided to run a Google and see what I could find online. As this bio says, Gabor committed suicide back in 1990. His two albums were reissued on one CD last year, but the CD is hard to find. Guess I better take care of my vinyl.

I had some stuff floating around in my head a few days ago that I meant to blog about, and now I don't quite remember what I wanted to say. Maybe it'll come back to me.

For lack of anything else to say, I've uploaded another MP3 to The Outpost. I'm only going to link to it here in this post for now, since I don't know if I'll leave it up for very long (I've only got 20MB of space over there). Anyone out there remember this nugget of Canadian New Wave?

"(Nyet Nyet Soviet) Soviet Jewelry" by B.B. Gabor

This is one that I recorded and digitized myself, off my own slab of vinyl. It sounds OK on my system; if it's not quite up to high-end audiophile standards, I hope you'll forgive me.

I might actually take down the EDF track I posted a few days ago to clear out a little more space on that site. Theoretically I could post different MP3s there on an ongoing basis (maybe once a month -- I'm certainly not Blake or Scott) if y'all were interested. Or not.

I will leave the Roaring Boys MP3 and the Chris Rock video up there, since I do get hits on a semi-regular basis from people looking for them.

Getting out of the apartment is a good thing. Even if the sun has already gone down. Even if the temperature is -5 Celsius outside (-11 with the windchill factor). Even if you don't really have anywhere to go, except to wander through those shops in the Annex that you really should stay out of (must stop buying books and CDs). Yep, really have to get out for a walk more often. Like every day.

Been spending so much time here in the hovel that I don't remember the last time I actually got dressed and went out two days consecutively, prior to this weekend. I left my apartment yesterday as well, thanks to an invite from Brett to go and socialize at his "End of Fall" party.

I may be no Jish or Min Jung Kim, but it was nice to have Brett going around introducing me as the person who writes Circadian Shift, and actually have someone (yes, one) recognize the blog. 'Course, there were more people there who didn't know what a blog was at all, so that put everything in perspective.

Speaking of things blog-related, went and got myself listed on Blogwise. I've tried to add a button on the side-bar, but Blogger has been muy uncooperative in updating my template properly (has been for the last while), so I have to make do with sneaking in the linkage to Blogwise via my Blogrolls.

Well, all this online widgetry is being provided to me for free, so I can't really complain. One of these days, when I get ambitious (and financially solvent), I really oughta go buy some server space, a domain name, etc. and do this up properly. In the meantime, this will have to do.

Just in case you were wondering, this handy page summarizes psychiatric disorders of various Sesame Street characters.

And if that wasn't enough pop psychology for you, from the archives comes this linkage to profiles of Winnie the Pooh and his friends.