Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:10 PM

Wrapping paper with Post-It Note™ glue on the backside. Self-sticking giftwrap that wouldn't require tape and wouldn't damage the present when it's removed. [Guess what task we just tried to do; and guess what we discovered we're out of.]

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:38 AM

Earlier today, I transferred 40 comments from 11 posts from the LiveJournal syndication page into my regular commenting system. I understand that the LJ format is more conducive to discussions (because of its immediacy, support for threaded responses and reply notifications) but I just want to remind people that I do copy all comments posted to the LJ over to my own comment system, unless somebody specifically wishes to say "not for recopying." Yes, it's an opt-out system, but over the years I've been doing this, only one person has requested I keep a comment private after I checked with her.

LJ only retains syndicated posts for a few weeks and then they vanish into the ether. I lost some valuable comments when I started syndicating to LJ (including some very nice congratulations when I got my Masters degree), which is why I've made this policy.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:25 AM

I have to say publically that I love my husband very very much, and he's worth everything I lavish upon him.

Yesterday afternoon, Ian spent approximately four hours with me at the mall, solely to help me shop for clothes. [I'll confess; I'm rather a dunce when it comes to fashion.]

We made one pass through the mall just looking at the selection and getting ideas, and then he helped me pick out things to supplement and complement my wardrobe, judging the fit and style of each article of clothing as I tried them on. And he did all this without complaint.

Furthermore, he was able to tell me in advance when he started running low on spoons so we wouldn't push him too far. This may not seem like a big deal, but having lived with Ian for somewhere close to a decade, believe me -- that's a noteworthy (and praiseworthy) accomplishment.

As things turned out, he ran out of spoons as we were headed back to the car, but since I was driving, he could just stretch out and relax. And then he took a nice, long nap when we got home.

I don't have enough experience to know whether actions like that qualify him for some Husbands Hall of Fame, but (a) I know I'm not an easy person to shop with, (b) it's the holiday shopping season, and (c) given the usual "comedic" griping one usually hears about men accompanying women clothing-shopping, I get the feeling his behavior went above and beyond the norm.

At any rate, I just thought he deserved public praise. I'm not (yet) sure how else to compensate him, though I think he has some ideas.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:20 AM

When there's so much harmful ignorance on a topic that you have expertise in? I've been nearly running myself ragged over the last two days just communicating with people in one slender community. I can't even bear to look outside it at the broader blogosphere or mainstream media, because I know the misinformation is going to be even worse.

I feel so helpless and frustrated.

Advice from others who have been in similar situations would be most appreciated.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:12 AM

what would life would be like if I actually had the power and resources that the people disagreeing with me claim that I wield...

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:54 AM

For those with RealPlayer: a new teaser trailer for the new Doctor Who. That familiar theremin theme song. The whoosh of dematerialisation. I'm in love.

Combine that with the impending Hitchhiker's Guide movie, and I feel like the Beeb is offering me a second childhood.

Ah, nostalgia!

[Dr. Who link via Khaosworks]

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:51 PM

By the way, I just have to say that I really really love my online friends, for being so supportive and thoughtful when I need it.

And I really do think of you readers that way -- as my friends.

So, thanks for being there. And for listening. You are appreciated.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:22 PM

[Got sucked into a nasty LiveJournal discussion/flamewar for much of the morning. Unfortunately, the author has since locked the post, so while I'm still receiving response notifications in my email, I can't respond. Very frustrating, as I think I have some important information to share that could help other readers.]

At any rate, I've been wondering what kind of impression people who've never met me in person get from reading my weblog and website.

Anybody who hasn't met me in person care to share what you think of me/what you think I'm like based upon what you've seen and read?

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:15 PM

[Got sucked into a nasty LiveJournal discussion/flamewar for much of the morning. Unfortunately, the author has since locked the post, so while I'm still receiving response notifications in my email, I can't respond. Very frustrating, as I think I have some important information to share that could help other readers.]

At any rate, I've been wondering what kind of impression people who've never met me in person get from reading my weblog and website.

Anybody who hasn't met me in person care to share what you think of me/what you think I'm like based upon what you've seen and read?

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:59 AM

When I woke up this morning, I saw a post on my friends list that got both Ian and I so angry, we're literally shaking. I've been writing up rebuttals to the post (and its comments) for the last hour-plus, and though I don't think I'm getting through to the poster, I hopefully can help some of the people in the comments. But I need a break.

How about Hamlet's soliloquy: the PowerPoint presentation?

By the way, I could use some egoboo, so if anybody wants to share some good things in the comments, I'd really appreciate them right about now.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:00 PM

Boy, I seem to be on a roll here today.

The United Church of Christ has come out with an advertising campaign to promote their denomination:

The ad, which can be seen at http://www.stillspeaking.com/, shows bouncers manning a rope line selecting who may and may not enter a church:
     "No. Step aside, please. No way, not you. I don't think so."
The screen fades to black to show the text:
     "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."
Then the audio concludes:
     "The UCC no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here."

Nice message, isn't it?

Unfortunately, NBC, CBS and UPN (the latter two owned by Viacom) have refused to air the commercial. And apparently, CBS has justified its decision as follows:

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."

Josh Marshall has been all over the story today, including a look into CBS's advertising policies. In his conclusion, Josh asks:

Has CBS ever run an anti-smoking ad? This isn't a rhetorical question but one that, again, would help show whether they're applying this rule fairly or arbitrarily. If you can think of other examples, let us know.

The answer to that is a strong yes. And CBS has a history of applying its advertising standards in a biased manner.

Remember the Superbowl?

CBS rejected a request from liberal group MoveOn to air a 30- second anti-President Bush ad during the Super Bowl, saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy advertising.

And yet, as I blogged at the time, CBS not only ran anti-tobacco commercials from multiple sources, but they also aired the ONDCP's intelligence-insulting anti-drug ads. Oh yeah, and the following month CBS ran misleading Bush administration ads promoting their unpopular Medicare reform.

In other words, it looks like CBS's definition of "controversial" is "anything that disagrees with Bush administration policy."

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:22 PM

angevin2 has just written the brilliant:

If you liked it, go forth and shower her with praise.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:50 AM

I just noticed on the Blogosphere Ecosystem that my popularity has been dropping like a stone since I've switched to more personal (and less political) topics following the election. (Or maybe the ecosystem is having technical difficulties and underreporting; it's happened before)

For a long time as a blogger, I was longing for popularity, hoping to become one of the big names, maybe springboard from that to non-web punditry as several other bloggers seem to have.

Then, for one brief shining moment, I managed to attract the spotlight -- and I didn't really care for what it took to achieve it. I've been meaning to blog this for a while.

It all started on October 20th.

Pat Robertson had been quoted saying Bush told him we wouldn't see any casualties in Iraq, and Bush aides were calling him a bald-faced liar. I have access to Lexis-Nexis, so did some searching and found earlier quotes where Robertson said the same thing without generating controversy. So, he was at least consistent in his account.

I blogged it, but that wasn't enough for me.

I thought this was big news and wanted to spread the story.

So the next thing I did was go to the big name blogs. Where they had previously blogged about the Pat Robertson story, I commented, pointing them to my post. If they had email contact addresses, I emailed them a brief blurb and link to my story.

I probably spent the better part of two hours sending emails and posting comments around the blogosphere. And it paid off. Within a day, sites like Atrios, Oliver Willis, Washington Monthly, Salon War Room, Suburban Guerrilla and the DCCC were linking to my post. Before long, it spread to other sites I hadn't contacted, including Arch Pundit, Ed Cone, Jusiper, Octopus Overlords, Skippy, WaveFlux, and even the Free Republic (1) & (2).

Hits to my weblog soared. I was getting as many hits per hour as I normally got in a typical day:

Keep in mind, I posted my initial entry on the subject at 7:40 pm on Wednesday.

So, on the whole, my efforts would appear to have been a success.

Except, I loathed the process! Notifying other bloggers of my find was boring and repetitive. I wanted to go out and conduct further research, move the story forward. But I couldn't do that while I was spending my time publicizing my existing post. I felt like I was stuck in a standstill. Does that make sense?

In other words, it paid off, but I didn't particularly like the cost.

I suppose that's a lesson for other bloggers in how to achieve blog popularity.

I'm not as interested in it anymore. Should I make another big find, I know what to do, but on the whole, I'd rather be writing new material than promoting what I've got.

And now you know the rest of the story. And knowing is half the battle.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:22 AM

[Another night I woke up around 4 AM and couldn't fall back asleep. So here's something I've been tinkering around with for a while. I intended to post it around 5 am, but Blogger was giving an unexpected error (no, seriously, that's what they called it) so it had to wait.]

I'd been thinking a bit about Buffy: the vampire slayer and how the last two seasons played out. There were a few excellent episodes (such as the musical), but on the whole, I'm not sure if we wouldn't've been better off had the show ended on the high note of the fifth season closer.

Spoilers for seasons 6 & 7, with my suggestions for alternate takes on the plotlines.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:20 PM

As if the fleas weren't enough, going through the last box of my winter wardrobe, I discovered moth larvae, live and dessicated, on several of my sweaters. I think our bedroom is soon going to smell of cedar...

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:15 PM

As if the fleas weren't enough, going through the last box of my winter wardrobe, I discovered moth larvae, live and dessicated, on several of my sweaters. I think our bedroom is soon going to smell of cedar...

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:10 PM

A few weeks ago, I pointed out Things I Will Not Do When I Direct A Shakespeare Production. I just wanted to let people know that the list has continued to grow -- so long that it exceeded LiveJournal's limit and the author has started a second page.

Some very funny stuff indeed.

Folks reading my blog might also be interested in Dangerously Slow Productions, a digital Shakespeare company now casting for its distributed Henry IV, Part I (read this post for details and explanation).

And then after reading another of angevin2's posts, I just spent far too long reading (and often reading aloud to Ian) from McSweeneys. Too much funny stuff to link to individual posts. Just start skimming through...

I think I may have to add this person to my friends' list...

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:45 AM

Violet, the resonant weevil (you should hear her purr -- and probably can, if you're within ten miles), just came purring up at our door, so I ran the flea comb over her. Quickly found signs that she, too, has fleas. Which probably means that Dave's other cat is similarly infested. Their territory includes the carpeted steps to our apartment and the couches Ian inherited from his great-aunt. So, ridding the place of fleas becomes much more involved than if it had been just our cat and our apartment. Damn.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:01 AM

Been going thru my winter wardrobe today, trying to weed out what's too worn or out-of-style to wear, with Ian as arbiter. The dust aggravated both our allergies. I woke up about 3:45 feeling as though I was coming down with a cold. I sure as heck hope I'm not -- maybe it's just the Sudafed wearing off early? I'm taking a cup of echinacea tea, just in case.

Boopsie definitely has fleas. Since I got the flea comb Saturday afternoon, I think I've caught and killed over forty (plus some that got away) and I'm now having random psychosomatic itches. Origins still unclear. I really hadn't noticed her scratching for more than a couple weeks and definitely didn't see any droppings before this week (she drinks from the bathroom sink, so red spots would be noticeable). That would appear to rule out boarding/grooming Columbus Day weekend. Our tenant doesn't think it's his kittens, because he sleeps with them and hasn't noticed any signs that they have fleas, but just to be safe I'm trying my all to keep them out of our apartment. [Mebbe I'll run the flea-comb over them just to check.] Ian wonders if she's getting them from the occasional squirrel we hear in the walls.

Regardless, I've been flea-combing her whenever I get the chance. [I just spent about a half-hour with her on the kitchen floor, though she's now hiding inside a cardboard box, I think to get away from me.] Hopefully we've caught this in the early stages and can eliminate it fairly soon. I've checked the faq and will probably call (or drop by) the vet tomorrow for advice.

Fortunately, we don't have carpeting or rugs and the only upholstery is our bed, and we've got our mattress encased in a plastic anti-dustmite case which should render it flea-resistant. [Of course, if it is the kittens, we've got loads of nice furniture downstairs.]

I just feel so bad for her, when I hear her scratching. I mean, she's had fourteen flea-free years; she was amazingly parasite free when I first brought her in off the streets as a kitten. And now to have to deal with this. Poor baby.

On the other hand, sometimes she resists all attempts at sympathy. Saturday night, to show her gratitude, she puked all over my purse and Shakespeare for Dummies book. I've washed the cover, but the edge along the index will probably always be stained. Isn't that sweet of her?

Two final notes about cats and fleas. It's probably a bad idea to start looking for fleas on one's pet while watching the History of Britain episode about the black plague. Also, Ian saw a Roomba at Home Despot the other day and now wants one for the house. Since much of the advice involves vacuuming, it actually might not be such a bad idea...

Other than that, it's been a fairly productive weekend. Big family Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday; I got a spot of food poisoning from the leftovers that laid me up on Friday, so we called the relatives to warn everybody else who took turkey home.

Saturday morning, Ian's father came over to help us install a new faucet. See, I've been complaining about a drip in our old faucet for ages. [Hey, we're homeowners -- we pay for every wasted drop of water!] Ian's tried tightening things or replacing washers (I don't know from the technical stuff), but the sink is old and things were stuck and the problem persisted. We thought that maybe we should just replace the entire faucet. Ian started to disassemble the sink Thanksgiving morning (hey, we weren't hosting the dinner!) And the same parts of the assembly that were too stuck to replace washers snagged us up here, too. So, we needed professional help.

We've got the new faucet installed now. Unfortunately, the sink still has the occasional drip after we turn off the faucet. How Massachusetts of us: go with the more expensive solution that takes longer than expected and requires outside contractors, and in the end we're facing leaks...

Saturday night our upstairs tenant threw a big dinner party for the house. Also over the weekend, I replaced the shower curtain liner, we cleaned up all our loose video tapes, and we're working on sorting through and organizing my closet. Not bad, all told.

Final word of advice before I head back to bed: Bought a bottle of Pepsi's Holiday Spice cola the other day (on sale for something like 89¢). Enh. It's supposed to be a cola with "a festive blend of holiday spices" (also described as "a hint of cinnamon and ginger"). Sounded good. Sounded like something that would be to cola as mulled cider is to regular cider. But it's really quite bland. Not terribly different from regular cola. In short: don't waste your money. I actually meant to bring it to the family Thanksgiving to allow more people to have a taste, but I forgot.

Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble; I'm breathing a bit easier now, so I think I'll see if I can't get back to sleep. Ian's working the day shift today, so I'll probably be running more errands and continuing to put the house together before I start work in another week...