it's good for your computer's gut, too
4.29.2004
Wired has some neat technological news about research being done with green tea in the polishing of hard drives. And it's happening in Tucson.
just another manic tuesday
4.27.2004
Like most days, I wake up a little after 7:30, get to work a little after nine, get home at 6:15. Today I actually made dinner instead of heating up leftovers, so after all the chopping and boiling and sautéing I sat down to eat at 8:30. Then I clean up all the pots and pans and accumulated dishes from days past and next thing I know the 10:00 news is on. Thank goodness I don't do this everyday. Maybe my time management skills are off.
I haven't felt like posting lately. Between eight hours of Celine Dion at work and KOTOR and Law and Order at home my day is packed. Maybe I'm just listless. The recruitment fair was a little of a letdown. There's a slight possibility of a teaching position opening in the fall. If I really want to teach — and yes, I really do want to teach in the future, — I'm going to have to get serious about looking at graduate programs. It's kind of perverse; though I'm excited about teaching, I'm really not excited about being a student again. And thinking about taking tests and making slides and filling out applications completely puts me off.
I was an undergrad for way too long. And I've only been out of school for about two years. I'm just now getting used to making a decent living, not having to watch every penny to pay tuition and buy supplies. I like working a steady job and having my evenings free. I like the life I'm living now. I don't think I'm ready to give that up to go back to pasting up comps at midnight, worrying about making this month's rent, and trying not to get run over by bicyclists on campus.
I know I can't stay where I'm at forever. But I'm not even close to the burnout point yet - I still go to work excited about what I might be working on, and what I could learn from doing the work. The biggest thing this job has taught me is that the Web is exactly where I want to be. It gets me so jazzed that new developments are cropping up all the time - there's always something more for me to learn. That's what I love.
Wasn't I just complaining about being listless? Didn't I just say I don't want to be a student? The thing is, I am a student right now. I'm a student studying just what I want to study, without the B.S. of a class schedule and grades and tuition. Too bad I can't get a degree for self-education.
teaching opportunity
4.20.2004
I'm going to a community college adjunct faculty recruitment fair tomorrow. Am I nervous? Not yet. I'm looking forward to the possibilities. Of course, it could be a big letdown. I don't know whether or not they need digital arts instructors, or which courses are considered “occupational” rather than “academic” — because I'm not qualified to teach “academic” courses. But they might need me. I might get to teach - and I'm very excited about that possibility.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
a brand-new blogkomm
4.4.2004
The extracurricular activity I mentioned a while ago made its public debut on Friday. I had the honor of working on the redesign of blogkomm.com for the very nice Holger Kreis, author of the sweet little weblog commenting tool used on this site. This was my first time on an international (U.S.–Germany) collaboration, and I'm very pleased with both the process and the result. My thanks to Holger for the great experience and for asking me to work with him in the first place.
tomfoolery
4.2.2004
Whew. Some people are sure raising a stink about Google's announcement of Gmail. I mean, it's a joke, right? That press release sure reads like a joke. An elaborate joke, to be sure, with some time and effort behind it, but come on. So is all the stink an extension of the joke? Or is Google for real about offering 1GB of storage and having their system read and insert relevant ads into your correspondence? If it's a joke, they're letting it go a bit far. There are going to be a lot of red faces all around if it's not for real. Hmm.
Update: OK, so it's not a joke. By all means, kick up a fuss. There are some pretty serious questions at stake here. 04.05.04
