Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:03 PM

Grumble. Yesterday at BJ Wholesale, Ian & I finally bought a copy of the Sims. Unfortunately, every single time I try to run a game, I get the error:

Cannot locate the CD-ROM
Please eject and re-insert the CD-ROM, select OK and restart application

I've tried probably a dozen times, following the instructions, rebooting the entire machine, checking Explorer to confirm the drive is reading the disk... I can't play the game. Very frustrating.

Meanwhile, some people have suggested I write book reviews for all the books I read. For next year, I'll come up with a better system, but for now I'll write a few here in my journal:

Villains by necessity by Eve Forward

What a delightful book. Traditional fantasy novels end with Good banishing Evil from the world. But what happens after that? Well, for one thing, the world gets pretty boring. And, as our... protagonists... discover, such an imbalance may be problematic to the world's equilibrium.

Villains by necessity involves a band of villains on a quest adventure to save the world. And it's a hoot. I was laughing out loud at lines like "Beware, the forces of good are afoot!" It's hard to imagine that [Spoiler protected by white text:]the unleashing of Evil and Darkness can be a happy ending, but I felt like rejoicing at the scene.

You may not look at quest fantasy the same way again. In fact, this might make a great setting for an RPG adventure. I highly recommend it.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:45 PM

I've felt somewhat odd all day.

I managed to write a sonnet, though it's not a very good one.

Ian spoke to somebody from AT&T Broadband's phone support who was actually helpful (a first in three calls; even offered to look up whether anyone else had reported our problem). It's really odd; sometimes pages work from my machine but not Ian's, sometimes they work in IE but not Opera (on the same machine). Ian's now wondering whether they're somehow trying to enforce a single machine connected to the Internet at a time, thus changing the terms of our contract. But then, there are some pages which I couldn't connect to using either browser, either machine.

Very frustrating.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:00 AM

Oh, I meant to post about this when I finished my paper on the Digital Divide last week.

Pew Research has been surveying people about what activities they have done online. They came up with a list of 57 activities, ranging from sending e-mail to blogging. By my estimates, there are only six items on the list that I haven't done in the fifteen years I've been online. [Okay, in one case I'm referring to a BBS, not website, but still...] IMO, I'd give myself a score of 89.5%, which puts me waaaay far away from the digital divide.

Anybode else care to share their results?

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:30 AM

Tee-hee! Developing taxonomies is hard!

According to Mattel, "Barbie is getting a new career! What should it be?"

If you go to the bottom of this page, down in the right-hand corner, you can vote whether she should become an architect, a police officer, or a librarian. Right now, it looks like librarian is in the lead, although that's no call for getting complacent.

Hmm... how many other librarian action figures are out there? Rupert Giles, from Buffy and an upcoming Oracle from DC Comics. [I suppose one could also include Batgirl, though her adventures were less directly librarian than the others.] Now if only someone would make figures of Bunny Watson (from Desk Set) and Mary (from Party Girl).

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:45 PM

Okay, this made me laugh tonight:

I was browsing through Amazon, and came upon the following in the middle of a book listing:

That's just a very entertaining way of phrasing it.

Meanwhile, it's nearing time to register for classes next semester -- my last semester. Assuming I pass my current classes (which I will), I need 8 more credits -- two more classes -- to get my Master's degree.

I'm planning on taking Organization and Management of Corporate Libraries, which will be held over one week in early January -- five straight days of 8 hours in class, and then it's over. Several people have recommended the class (and professor) to me, and I want to take it before I leave.

For my second class, I'm trying to decide between Advanced Cataloging and Classification and Subject Analysis (More on class this from the professor's website). The latter is probably going to be more useful for future jobs -- in terms of developing taxonomy on the Inter- or Intranet, for example. However, I don't think I'm leaking any deep secrets or insulting anyone by saying the professor has a reputation for demanding a lot. Looking over the course evaluations, most students rated her off the charts in terms of workload. Again, this is no surprise. Not only does she acknowledge it herself, but my very first course at Simmons was her cataloging class -- and I took it in the summer session, when everything happens double-time. I tell that to classmates and they pat me on the shoulder in sympathy. [Hey, I was new and naïve. I thought that this kind of workload was just expected once I moved to master's level classes.] On the other hand, I haven't been daunted by the workload in any class since. [What's more, I completed that class while working full-time right before product ship.]

It would be very... poetic... to start and end my Master's program with one of her classes, but I'll confess to feeling somewhat daunted by the workload. Since June, I've taken six courses for 16 credits, and I'm starting to get tired. I don't want to burn out, I want to complete my degree in time for a May Commencement, and I want to work a full-time job while doing so.

Sigh... We shall see, won't we?

BTW, this broadband problem is very interesting. Right now, most Simmons pages (including all the links above) are giving me errors from Opera, but work from IE. Curiouser and curiouser...

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:10 PM

Two fun phrases coined in class today (neither by me).

We were reading some comments about coping with the information society, and somebody suggested "learn[ing] critically."

The class reaction was "as opposed to what?" which led to the idea of "learn[ing] promiscuously." And that led to the phrase "info-slut."

Reading over my shoulder, my husband says, "Remind me not to piss off librarians. They're snarky!"

I suppose "info-slut" is as good a description of my preferences as other terms I've used (infovore, information junkie, mental magpie). Especially since I seem to have found a social circle that thinks librarians are sexy.

PS: I've been expanding my story fragment of yesterday into a full-fledged fairy tale. Nothing's written yet beyond a page of notes, but I've named the princes and am getting to know something of their personalities and the history of the realm. I'm still not sure how they bridge the gap between them or resolve the issue of... well... issue (an heir), but I'll figure that out eventually.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:40 PM

Hmm... I don't normally go for the quizzes that spread like wildfire across the LiveJournal landscape. I don't normally drink coffee, either, but I was tired and bored and decided to see What Kind of Coffee Are You?

As it turns out, I am "espresso. Subtle, complex, with a rich crema and just the right amount of bitterness." Cool...

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:05 PM

More cookie fortunes:

Because Ian was feeling sick, I picked up some takeout Chinese wonton soups. For some reason, we got three fortune cookies for the two of us. My first fortune was pretty lame. It read:

Try your best to avoid arguing with your elders and superiors.

Ian and I decided to share the last cookie (and fortune) and we liked that much better:

You are soon going to change your present line of work.

Hopefully, going from unemployed to employed qualifies...

Oh, and following up on my previous journal entry, I think I've got some more background on one of the princes and the political situation. I wonder if I can spin it out into a full story.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:00 PM

Ian's been sick all day, and I've been somewhat down (though the coach appointment has been helpful). But if you're ever wondering what weird ideas percolate through my mind on these days when I'm not working, here's a few thoughts I've had today:

An odd story fragment -- or rather an image -- occurred to me while walking to the supermarket, and I'm not sure yet where to go with it. It's your typical "Sleeping Beauty" setup, where the brave prince fights through the thorns and obstacles into the enchanted castle intending to awaken everyone and inherit the throne by kissing the slumbering heir on the lips.

Only to discover afterwards that the cursed victim was a prince, not a princess...

I don't know what happens next or where I want to go with this, other than I'm interested in the character development between the two princes, each one expecting to rule. From shock and surprise to rivalry to... I'm not sure. I only just had the image come to my mind.

Other toyings with the scenario also came to mind, such as the one to awaken the princess is actually a tomboyish girl, maybe one who masquerades as a boy (but I like the idea of two princes better than two women) or that a local peasant is the one to break the curse (though that would be too similar to Sean Stewart's Nobody's son). So, I'll continue to play with it and see where it goes...

Other recent creative endeavors I've been fiddling with:

Last Wednesday morning, when I was overtired from late-night election results and writing my paper, I started thinking of the melody of Kenny Loggins' Return to Pooh Corner, but started singing: "Back to the days of Christopher Marlowe."
It fits the rhythm, but I'm not yet sure where to take it from there. Ian's been toying with some lyrics ("Barabas the Jew doesn't know what to do...")

I'm also twiddling around with a Girl Genius filk (to the tune of Shock Treatment). I've had a chorus and most of a first verse for a while, but recently a second verse has started percolating.

So, those are the kinds of things going on in my mind at the moment. How are you?

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:20 PM

Okay, my fingers are crossed right now, and I'm afraid of saying anything that might jinx things, but all websites have been working for Ian and I for the last hour or so. Maybe the problem has cleared itself up? I hope so, that would be so nice...

Added 2:51 PM

Nope. I spoke too soon. I got the error page again. But I was free of it for long enough to catch up on numerous sites that I haven't been able to read for days, so I'm feeling more myself.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:25 PM

This afternoon is my regular coaching appointment.

Sigh. I've done so poorly on accomplishing my goals for the week.

On the positive side, I completed a paper that I can be proud of on time. I've read and completed nine books over the week. I went to alt.polycon over the weekend and spent time with a boatload of wonderful people, many of whom I only knew from online. I wish there were a word for that feeling upon finally meeting someone you know face-to-face (whether you already know that person from their writing or voice). I had a marvelous time, even if there were points where I was being social merely by reading a book in a room with other people. I ate some amazingly delicious meals and had a really fun time. And even though I'm monogamously married, I surprised myself by sleeping with someone else at the convention. [Now don't be shocked; I was tired and the oversized bed in the consuite was already occupied by some other sleeping handsome. All we did was sleep, and a quite refreshing nap it was.]

On the negative, I still don't have a job and worry about falling behind with the finances. My net connection is having problems, and I've still got a backlog of older low-level problems to deal with (my computer, car worries, the ocassional scritching in the walls...) I'm still feeling rather melancholy -- low-level situational depression? -- which I'm escaping through literature, although I know that the time I spend reading is probably hindering me from resolving the longer-term problems.

At any rate, by most accounts life is good and I feel at peace.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:00 PM

Can anybody provide some technical assistance?

Since Thursday, when Ian & I try to load certain web pages, we get this error for AT&T Broadband. The problem is, our cablemodem is plugged into a SonicWall firewall, so those settings don't directly apply to our system. We've tried calling their Customer Care line, but they were no help whatsoever.

Anybody have any ideas?