28.11.02 ... evil, evil corporations

I've done a very bad thing and only just realised it, goshdarnit. I've made plans to go out for lunch with a couple of friends tomorrow and this is a problem because I promised myself a few months ago that I really would observe Buy Nothing Day this year. It's one of those anti-consumerism movements I have all the respect in the world for but always manage to forget about until it's too late. And now, I've done it again.   [ œ .. ]

25.11.02 ... it's not what you read it's where you get it from

Some very intense research coupled with your helpful feedback over the past 24 hours (thank you) has netted an Epson Perfection 1250 with a slide adaptor to take care of all my scanning needs. I hestitated on the slide adaptor for about twenty minutes and once I decided it was a necessity I wondered how I could have hesitated for twenty minutes.

Also recently netted: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Many have asked how I could have lived this long and not read anything by Neal Stephenson, and from all accounts, this book is supposed to be a real teeth-sinker and it certainly feels nice and heavy in my hands so I'm looking forward to plunging in. I love trade paperbacks, but there is something so delicious about a hefty pocketbook, and this was selected as reading for the impending trip, but I can't resist because delicious is just what I am in the mood for.

I came home from my parents' yesterday armed with food, a camera and another bookshelf for our apartment. I am hoping to settle the bookshelf into the present decor so well that Michael does not notice the addition when he gets back. It's either that or distract him for as long as possible. He's convinced that for a librarian, I borrow far too few books and buy far too many, and he's absolutely right. My problem is that I have never been a fan of the hardcover and since my major library source is the one I work at, this is a problem because we only buy hardcover, and if we buy paperbacks, we send them out to be bound in hardcover. hmph. So it's an issue, and I know it's an issue, and I have been trying to work on it, but I'm starting with very small steps (about 2 books borrowed a week) and in the meantime, our bookshelves are being crippled under the weight of all those unwieldly piles of too many books bought and not enough borrowed.

In the caving beneath the pressure of the masses department, I've added an about page for this site in response to all those folks who just don't get what's going on here.   [ œ .. ]

24.11.02 ... what you have to look forward to

With my recent low-tech camera purchases, I have decided that it is time for my very own scanner. Trying to get to the one at work during my lunch hour is just not going to cut it anymore. Let me know what you scan your images with and why you love it or hate it.

To whet your appetite for a page that is in the works, have a peek at this. Precious.   [ œ .. ]

23.11.02 ... felines, living with

Since I am the only pet-disciplinarian in the house right now, it is becoming gravely apparent who has the real authority around here. Heidi sort of respects the boundaries I have set for her, but she certainly pushes the envelope as far as she can just to see how much I will let her get away with. And Sebastian! It is clear to me that he has real issues with a female authority figure because he practically laughs in the face of my mummy-is-doing-the-stern-voice thing. This morning I came out of the shower to find him sprawled on the kitchen counter and even while I implemented the appropriate tone of voice, he still looked back at me with that particularly feline "what are you going to do about it?" expression. I don't think it is so much a case of cats being un-discipline-able as much as it is about cats knowing exactly who the resident pushover is.

I am making use of this weekend's alone time by spending it with my parents. The last of the renovations in their house were completed this week with the laying of the new carpet in the basement, which means it is probably a good time for some "after" shots. The comparative side-by-side "before and after" spread, worthy of Canadian House and Home, is being planned. I kid you not, the transformation is astounding.   [ œ .. ]

22.11.02 ... plastica

I picked up a Cybersampler yesterday and it has already provided hours of endless enjoyment. Watch this space for a sampling of what this sweet little piece of plastic can do. Also bought a Holga on eBay recently and I am just itching for it to arrive. Too bad it won't be here in time for the exchange.   [ œ .. ]

21.11.02 ... soupy

With MJ away, I am getting a chance to flex my culinary muscles a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love that he does all the cooking. But I lived alone once, and I did have to cook myself the occasional meal (even with Dominoes on speed dial), and I sometimes liked the occasional meal and now I fear that those muscles have atrophied. So I stocked up on all manner of veggies and made myself a nice big pot of vegetable soup, enough to last me well into January. Maybe the cats will like some soup with their avocado halves.

The Soup
4 large green onions (I used "sweet onions" instead)
3 carrots
small head of Broccoli
½ a cabbage
4 cubes chicken bouillon
1 package onion soup mix
many mushrooms
cayenne pepper, seasoning salt and herbes de Provence

cut the onions and toss them around in some olive oil.
cut the carrots, broccoli and cabbage and add them in.
cut the mushrooms and add those in too.
add 12 cups of water.
add the bouillon cubes and soup mix.
add the cayenne pepper, seasoning salt and herbes de Provence.
let it all simmer for about two hours.

Serve it up, dish it out, refrigerate or feed left-overs to cats. Also recently served up: evilkaty, my Holiday Film Exhange partner. Go visit.   [ œ .. ]

20.11.02 ... he's a good guy

Rannie let me sign up a little late for the film exchange. What a champ. He's sending out the match-ups today and I so can't wait. Of course I will have to use Michael's camera because mine is APS.   [ œ .. ]


... recent discoveries

• both of my cats like avocado. go figure.
• ickle.org
• Roch Carrier is not a librarian
• Segways are finally available to the public
• I've been on a low-carb diet for the past week and I didn't even know it
• an alphabetized list of links is a good thing and definitely worth the effort
• Strange & Unusual Dictionaries
• Scrabble online, wahoo!   [ œ .. ]

19.11.02 ... yes you can

In honour of World Aids Day: Link and Think 2002.   [ œ .. ]


... tradition shmidition

There is nothing quite like a few inches of snow to put me in the Christmas mood. That and a good, solid dose of cold (which is much better, thanks). For me, getting in the mood for Christmas has a lot to do with pulling out my ongoing Christmas list, the one I start as soon as a Christmas gift idea hits me. It's usually around Novermber-ish that the list gets taken out and pondered in right good earnest.

This year though, the list is almost redundant. This is mostly because my sister has managed to convince the family that our gift dollars would be much better spent if we were to donate them to buying gifts for an under-privileged family. My sister, bless her, has been trying to convince the family to go this route for about 5 years now. It's not that the rest of us are a bunch of uncharitable schmucks, really we're not. It's just that we don't have a lot of "family traditions", and the few we do have revolve around the holidays. And one of our collective favourites has always been sitting around our parents' tree on Christmas eve and opening our presents. But now that her ardent overtures have finally reached us and we are finally capitulating, I can't really imagine why we didn't listen to her sooner. Because maybe it's not about the death of one family tradition, but about the birth of a brand new one.

So as a result of this recent development, my mind has been buzzing with all sorts of crafty gift ideas, which I'm using as a little loophole in the agreement. The crafts I am dreaming up will cost virtually nothing in dollar terms and will largely be undertaken for purely selfish reasons, like this is me, exercising the crafty side of my brain. I get these crafty urges about twice a year and they have resulted in some nice little bibelots (tree ornaments, olive oil concoctions, sundry baked goods, and all manner of trinkets), as well as disasterous offerings (mostly of the edible variety). This year I plan to limit myself to pen and paper, thereby narrowing the margin of error. Hopefully.   [ œ .. ]

17.11.02 ... don't even ask

No posts until this cold goes away. It feels like my sinuses have got up and started walking around inside my head. With all that activity, it hurts to think. Bleagh. On the upside, I'm getting lots of reading done.

Thanks to all who provided suggestions for the London list via comments and email. I'll compile a complete list closer to the time of departure. Keep those clever suggestions coming.   [ œ .. ]

13.11.02 ... the london list

Such a big city in nine days deserves a list, so here is a list of things we want to do/see while in London. If there's something I've missed, be a champ and let me know, would you? It's Michael's first time, so all the touristy haunts are a must, and we've obviously had no problem tracking them down. Now we're looking for the off-the-beaten-path suggestions, the ones that will allow us to indulge our inherent flaneur-ness and whisper, rather than scream, "this is London." Be creative. And thanks.

• British Library
• University of London Library
• London Eye
• The Missing Voice [thanks Ash]
• Markets
• Museum of London
• The British Museum
• National Gallery
• National Portrait Gallery
• Tate Britain and Tate Modern
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• Hampstead Heath
• Highgate Cemetary
• Tower of London
• Buckingham Palace
• Kew Gardens   [ œ .. ]

11.11.02 ... remember

8.11.02 ... waste

I am not a collector of things. In fact I can barely get my head around the collecting mentality (much to chagrin of my husband, a man who scours the city for garage and rummage sales every summer weekend in search of I don't know what, and I don't think he knows either, but he'll know it when he sees it). I am very much against the amassing of things, and if you ask my family, they will confirm that I go through a household purge at least once a year, riding myself of the growing quantity of stuff, the byproduct of modern living I think, that eventually floats to the surface like a whole lot of suffocating flotsam and jetsam.

And I've never really been a gadget person, I've always preferred one multitasking piece of equipment over many single-task ones, which is why my recent yearning for several computer and personal peripherals has caught me somewhat off guard. While sifting through junkmail yesterday (definitely flotsam), I came across the Radio Shack flyer, one that usually goes from the landing, where our mail is dropped, straight to the recycling bin. But this time I brought it in, lay it down on the coffee table and sat in front of it with a cup of tea and pencil and circled about 20 things, some of which include:

• a digital camera
• a webcam
• a zip drive
• CD burner
• MP3 player

I'd be willing to pay a decent krona or two for a single piece of equipment out there that can take digital photographs, post them to my website, zip my files, burn CDs and play my MP3s. And if it can boil up a nice pot of Earl Grey and spontaneously lay waste to incoming and resident flotsam and jetsam, I'll add a few more kronor to that offer.   [ œ .. ]

7.11.02 ... breathing is overrated

It turns out that I am allergic to my cat. Not both of them, just the one. It could be either of them, so we're not going to start pointing any fingers. One cat I can do. Two apparently I can't.

We got Sebastian in June of this year. Around the same time, I started noticing some laboured breathing issues. At first we blamed the nasty smog cloud that hangs over Toronto from around June to September each year, making breathing a generally unsavoury activity, and illiciting poor air quality warnings from Environment Canada practically daily. But then October rolled around and with it came the sweet, crisp, autumn air we all love, and I had to start thinking up more creative excuses for the shortness of breath and excruciating heaviness of the general lung area, even though I knew deep down that it was all probably due to an allergic reaction to the overwhelmingly concentrated felineness of our little apartment.

So I went to see my doctor and underwent a whole battery of tests (blood work, ECG, chest x-ray, etc. yes, even more radiation, dammit) and she put me on inhalers for a week which made the lung weariness go away and I've started to remember what it was like not to have to think about breathing. The results came in yesterday and she confirmed that deep down suspicion that I am indeed allergic to having two cats. Of course a new home is not an option (unless it's a new home for me), so our bedroom has been declared a dander-free zone, and I am trying to ween myself off the inhalers. If that works, we're home free. If not, I'm on Advair for as long as Heidi and Sebastian live out their natural lives, and I've been advised by my doctor to consider the joys of owning budgerigars thereafter.

To her I say: breathing is overrated.   [ œ .. ]


... WTSF 6

Archives: WTSF 1 2 3 4 5   [ œ .. ]

6.11.02 ... fail to offer

5.11.02 ... more new

I've decided that I've had enough with pop-up javascript windows for my images and all the wrestling I've had to do to make my captions look decent. Enter s t i l l l i f e s, the photoblog. It's where all my pictures will go from now on.   [ œ .. ]

4.11.02 ... birds, the science of

ingest A Short History of Wine - Rod Phillips imbibe Who's Next - The Who

I've been to a few literary readings in the past and I've almost always heard authors read self-contained excerpts from their novels. Bits that can stand on their own even out of context. I've always thought that this was an essential element in a literary reading because, especially in the case of a novel, the author can't possibly read plot-related excerpts, given that the majority of the audience has not read the work and will therefore not be able to follow the reading at all.

We went to a reading at the International Festival of Authors on Saturday and heard Molly Peacock, Katherine Govier and Victoria Glendinning read from their current releases. And Victoria Glendinning gave us the plot, and characters and a lot of other nuggets that you don't usually get at a reading. She started with the opening passages of her new book, Flight. Her reason for doing so she said was because she felt that it sets the mood and introduces the characters well. She was right. After these passages, she jumped right into all sorts of plot-related bits, skipping from one part of the story to another, and filling in the gaps with the briefest of summations: "so, he got on the flight", "so, Mortigan goes back to London", "so the airport eventually opens" etc. and finished the reading with practically a cliff-hanger, making us all feel like rushing up to the book display and snatching a copy of the book to find out what she so callously left us without. It was a very clever little ploy, and also a very interesting one, making the reading one of the most entertaining I've been to.

Molly Peacock read from a collection of new and selected poems and Katherine Govier read what might well be the most boring parts of her latest novel, Creation, a work of historical fiction about the life of John James Audobon. The excerts she read were very detailed descriptions of a couple of Audobon's ventures and I'd have to say that she made a few poor decisions on selection. Ornithology is not for everyone, and while I have been known to admire the plumage of a passing cardinal or blue jay, that's about as far as my interest goes when it comes to all creatures winged. Michael was not the only nodding head in the room at that point.

An event that promises to be even more interesting is an upcoming university lecture by Noam Chomsky. I've missed a Chomsky lecture three times in the past and I'm determined to end that nasty trend right now.   [ œ .. ]