February 2005

There were 57 posts published in February 2005 (this is page 3 of 6).

One Small Step…

Last night I did something I haven’t done in a long time:

I stopped watching a TV show.

Over the past few years I’ve been picking up more and more shows that I watch. Normally enough get cancelled quickly that I had no net gain each season. Recently though, my TV schedule has simply gotten too crowded and time consuming to keep up with each week.

I came up with a simple solution: Stop watching the worst one. And that award goes to Alias.

I foolishly watched it all the way through last season, despite being mediocre at best in some portions. But this season is worse. Last week’s episode featuring a drug that turns people into paranoid-psychotic vampires was a new low. Character inconsistencies have been piling up this season and the show doesn’t even have a season-long plot anymore to hold things together.

So long, Alias. If you ever return to your former glory of seasons 1 and 2, drop me a line.

Big Time Business Man

I’m currently in talks to run a blog for a startup media company.

It’s not as huge a deal as it sounds, but I always wanted to phrase something that way 🙂

For now just know that if you like ninjas, robots, pirates, and/or zombies (and who doesn’t?) you’ll want to be a reader.

Lost royalties

Robert J. Sawyer mentions in his entry from yesterday (Dated 4/16/05 on his site, no direct link) that the Canadian government reimburses writers such as him for an interesting amount: royalties lost to library circulation.

I’ve never heard of this before, anybody know if the U.S. has a similar program? I’d also be interested in how this number is calculated. It is a flat rate fee, or dynamically based on circulation statistics?

Unclean!

I feel so dirty… I’m considering watching Survivor tonight.

It’s a new season starting, this time on the Pacific island of Palau. Apparently the place is littered with wreckage of WWII era planes and other military hardware, which I’m a sucker for. So I might mute the ‘reality’ portions and just watch for the scenery.

Wonder if the History Channel has an equivalent documentary…

Stupid reality TV, tricking me with beautiful surroundings…

API, OS, ETC

The Shifted Librarian mentioned the idea of a standardized API for library catalog/circulation systems.

Don’t know why I never thought of it before, but the idea is brilliant. Only problem could be getting vendors to go along with it.

While I’m on the topic, are there any good open source catalog/circulation systems? Libraries seem like a natural fit for the OS development model.

Registration Day

Well I’m all registered for the summer, my final semester in Library School.

  • LIS 2405 – Descriptive Cataloging
  • LIS 2970 – Library Instruction
  • LIS 2772 – Public Library Management
  • LIS 2546 – Business and Economics Resources and Services


Unfortunately there just aren’t any tech related offerings this summer. My advisor even apologized for that fact, blaming it on changes in the way contracts for professors work. Oh well.

On the bright side, it does give me a chance to cover more of the “library basics” and branch out a bit. I’m a bit disappointed that I can’t get the Digital Libraries specialization on my degree, but nothing I can’t live with. In order to get the specialization I’d have to stay another semester, which would be prohibitively expensive.

The schedule itself is going to be somewhat unusual. From May 9 until early June, I’ll have just one class that meets regularly. The other one that kicks in that early is apparently taught mostly online.

In early June, I add a third course. Library Instruction meets on four weekends – Friday nights and all day Saturday. Sort of a pain but it sounds like a great course.

Later in June I pick up the last class as a twice weekly offering. So summer’s gonna start out easy and build from there. I’d prefer the other way around, but it doesn’t sound like anything undoable.

Flickr Problm

My titles are so witty.

Apparently Flickr‘s free accounts have a limit of 100 photos. You can keep adding more above that, but then earlier ones get pushed to unviewable status. I just discovered this stipulation now.

This obviously has implications for my 2005: A Year (almost) In Pictures project.

I suppose I could break down and pay for an account, but I’d really rather not. $41.77 for just one year of service is a lot of money. I like flickr enough that I’d pay it as a one-time fee, but paying a yearly fee of that magnitude for a service still in beta is beyond my means at the moment.

Maybe I’ll just use multiple flickr accounts. Simple, but more annoying.

In other news, I’ve been struggling with new content recently. So I’m gonna start up some more projects. My year in photos project has kept me going; I think I just need to set goals for myself like that. Stay Tuned.

V-Day

Happy V-Day all. I’m remarkably upbeat this year, somehow I’m just not bothered being single. Probably cause its not a weekend and I had class in the evening anyway. Or maybe I’m maturing. naaah 🙂

I’m more upset about my penguin exploding really.

Apologies to those of you who have been trying to Skype me the last couple days, either my headset has been buried or I’ve been away from the computer.

This has been a pointless post.

Survey: I’m looking for good, moderately priced restaurants on Mt. Washington to visit with my parents this weekend. Any tips? So far the Grandview Saloon and Georgetown Inn are looking good.