Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:30 PM

Just watched the Massachusetts gubernatorial debate.

You could replace the Libertarian candidate with a parrot. Every single question, she answered with "eliminate taxes; eliminate big government..." BTW, the Libertarian candidate is 100% wrong when she says that big government had nothing to do with the Internet and that was all done by business. The Internet and its infrastructure were entirely government and military in the beginning. It's only been the last decade or so that business has really gotten involved. Also, her continued talk that "big government bad, small government good" just reminds me that the smallest government of all is an absolute dictatorship. Is that really what she's advocating?

Oh, and Mitt, when you said "the problem is taxes" and "the problem is jobs"? The problem is your grammar. Taxes are. Jobs are.

All-in-all an interesting debate, and I recommend fellow Massachusettsians watch it when WB56 repeats it Sunday morning (I believe they said 8am).

PS: You can read Ian's comments about the debate, including his highly enlightening observation about Libertarian Monkeys, here in his journal.

PPS: Another friend has posted his comments on the debate.

In other news, the professor returned my paper. No letter grade, but lots of margin comments going "Yes" and "Good" and "True" so I've got a good feeling about it. In class, we discussed one of the weirdest Internet appliances I've heard of to date (and we've previously discussed Bill Gates' vision of Internet-enabled fridges). Take a look at this New York Times article about high-tech toilets! I also showed the class this comic which made us all laugh.

Otherwise, I've just about finished packing for Houston and the LITA Forum. Didn't get all the panel assignments I wanted, but this should be good.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:10 PM

So, I'm feeling pretty good. Trying to get ready for the LITA Forum (I'm flying down on Thursday and will be back on Sunday). I don't trust my laptop enough to bring it along, so this may be my last update until I'm back.

Meanwhile, I've been pounding the pavement hunting for a job -- going to networking events and getting myself out there. I've got high hopes for this LITA conference -- I think I do better face-to-face than over the telephone, and I'm hoping to meet some people in the library software industry.

Still waiting to hear back from Monday's interview. Everybody's advising me to take the job if it's offered -- even if I do get a fulltime job later on, I can continue to put in 12 hours a week at it. We'll see what happens. Hopefully, I should hear from them one way or another by next week.

Part of the reason I'm feeling so much more relaxed may have to do with the fact that I've been reading again as a reward for finishing my paper. [I've already finished all the pleasure reading I planned for the plane rides.] It's very interesting, looking at my calendar view; the times I was stressiest correlate with when I'm not pleasure reading. I wonder if there's any causal relationship, and if so, which way it goes. [I'm too busy to read, or I'm not reading so it makes me cranky?]

Although I consider this more of a journal than a blog, there are lots of things going on politically that I really want to write about. The problem is, I don't have time to really craft my words, and by the time I have time, it seems as if other bloggers have already written them. I'm tempted to write a couple editorials about the current Massachusetts ballot questions and maybe see if I can't sell them to the Metro or something.

Ah well, I'll write more on this when I'm back from Houston. G'night, all!

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:06 PM

Well, I'm back from the interview.

I think I did well; I think I can do the job; I'm just not sure it would be ethical to take it if offered.

They've got a one year grant from the Federal government funding this position; I don't think it would be fair for me to accept it with the notion that I could leave at any time for a better position.

They seem like such nice people; this seems like such an important job. I'd like to be able to devote a year to it, but I don't know if I can afford to...

[Mind you, I still have to get the offer, but I'm no longer terribly worried about that. If I get the offer, in which I have to decide whether or not to accept, if not, I've got one more interview under my belt on my way to getting the right offer...

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:25 AM

It's been a while since I last posted, and since I see through the server logs that people are checking in, I thought I should update everyone on my life.

The biggest news is that in just over an hour I have my first job interview since I was laid-off in April. Mind you, it's a part-time job which doesn't pay as much as Unemployment, but it's in my field ("information literacy librarian to oversee redesign of library web page, to develop on-line information literacy tutorials, to participate in revamping the library instruction program, and to provide library instruction.") and it's my first interview, so at the very least it will be good practice. Still, I'm feeling incredibly nervous.

My mood has been generally better since I turned in the newspaper, although I've partly taken the edge off by reading (now that I had a little time to, at any rate). I'm still worried about the job search and finances and such. So, I'm once again using books to distract myself from feeling bad. Kinda nice to have the time to do that again. :)

What else... Ian's started work teaching Sunday school, we've finally gotten our dishwasher, the LITA Forum is this weekend, and I'm really feeling nervous about my impending interview.