Tired head

Back from New Orleans and slowly catching up on all the blogging I didn’t do on Sub-Sub Librarian. In short, a memorable time was had by all. Seeing the city simultaneously bravely fighting back and still in tatters left its mark. And I’m fired up about this librarian gig. We are some cool folks, and we are not afraid of open source software… oh wait.
Tonight I think I should officially change my name to the Liz Formerly Known in Some Circles as Smart. Any pretension to smartness ended when my brain hit this:

“The recommended method of invoking the httpd executable is to use the apachectl control script. This script sets certain environment variables that are necessary for httpd to function correctly under some operating systems, and then invokes the httpd binary. apachectl will pass through any command line arguments, so any httpd options may also be used with apachectl. You may also directly edit the apachectl script by changing the HTTPD variable near the top to specify the correct location of the httpd binary and any command-line arguments that you wish to be always present.”

Brought to you by Apache, the great free software for SMART PEOPLE ONLY.

Okay, I’ve got a ways to go before I am going to be running my Greenstone Digital Library open source software. (Why can’t all this stuff just be as easy as WordPress already? I like my technology easy.)

Questions of Travel

Just one for now:

What is conditioning shampoo and why has every hotel on the planet decided to offer it in lieu of a) a little bottle of shampoo and a little bottle of conditioner or b) a bottle of shampoo and condition ala Pert Plus?

Just curious.  Conditioning shampoo notwithstanding, New Orleans is beginning to work its charms on me.   Details to follow.

Firing on all zero cylinders

Too many events, too little sleep. Here is a list of things that would be a blog entry if I could write such a thing and may be blog entries in the future. Each item begins with an implied "I am…"

1) So depressed about Ghana-2, US-1. So depressed.

2) In New Orleans. For the American Library Association annual conference. See library blog.
3) Needing to provide a new installment of Kenyon Alumni Bulletin: The Saga– Mr. DD writes back.
4) Knowing that there is one unwatched episode of Veronica Mars on the netflix dvd at home.

6) Tabulating my current New Orleans culinary score. Gumbo-0, Overpriced Salad-1. Powerbar anyone?

Kenyon Alumni Bulletin: The Saga

Last Thursday I popped open my narrow aluminium mail slot to find the latest Kenyon Alumni Bulletin. Since I'm feeling a bit nostalgic these days, when I had a few spare minutes on Friday afternoon I sat down to read it lovingly from cover to cover. I didn't get very far before the following letter to the editor caught my eye:

Kerry at Commencement

I believe the selection of Senator John F. Kerry as Kenyon's Commencement speaker was inappropriate and disrespectful to the Kenyon community. There is no doubt that Mr. Kerry has had a long career of service to the country, but he is at this moment, like George W. Bush, a highly controversial and polarizing figure.

For its lectures throughout the academic year, the College should seek to bring such figures, including and perhaps especially those with whom it disagrees intensely. A Commencement address is not, however, an ordinary lecture. It is the last taste an entire graduating class will have of its alma mater and, as such, an improper occasion for reinforcing the political beliefs of some students and denigrating those of others.

Kenyon's Commencement addresses should be tributes to everything for which it stands and to what makes it distinct from mess halls, manufacturing plants, and town squares. They should be free both of the platitudinous cheerleading of members of presidential cabinets and the self-interested sanctimony of politicians who'd like to replace them.

Kenyon is not a campaign stop, nor a place to launch new political initiatives. It is an institution of higher learning, a village unmarked by the vitriolic character of much national debate, an extraordinary place that should conjure up vastly more than partisan associations in the minds of people who know nothing else of it.
–D—- D—- '03

Since I'm not sure what the value of naming names in this case is, I've edited most of it it out, but if you are '04 like me you can probably get it in three guesses. Basically, reading this got me hopping mad. Maybe if I hadn't known this person, and known they are pretty much as Republican as they come, I would have bought the whiny affected sympathy. **Sidebar: May I also point out that I have it from a reliable source that Mr. DD was one of 25 alums who requested and was selected to meet Sen. Kerry personally before commencement. Apparently it's okay for Mr. DD to use Kenyon's commencement as opportunity to increase his seven degrees from George W. ranking but not okay for Sen. Kerry to speak at said commencement. I believe the word for that is spelled h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-i-c-a-l.** But I did know this person and I know his issues with Kerry have nothing to do with the fact he spoke at commencement. I figured a little letter writing of my own was in order. The send button has been pressed and the following missives await reply (although I am not holding my breath).

Question from a fellow Kenyon alum

Dear D—-,

You might remember me– I think we worked on Student Lectureships together while our paths crossed at Kenyon. I recently read your letter to the editor published in the Kenyon Alumni Bulletin concerning Sen. Kerry's speech at commencement. I am curious to know if you wrote an equally outraged letter on behalf of my own class of 2004 after then-Secretary of the Treasury John Snow addressed us at our commencement. His remarks were considerably less personalized to the Kenyon community than Sen. Kerry's were (and considerably briefer, although none of us were complaining) and he left immediately after speaking rather than respectfully waiting until the ceremony had ended. He represented an administration that you admit is as polarizing as Sen. Kerry's views, and he spoke in a presidential election year. In your letter, you allude to a figure that might be Snow, but you do not name him as you name Sen. Kerry. My point in asking you this is to ascertain if the concern you expressed that Kenyon might become an election whistle stop is genuinely on behalf of students or if it is a thinly disguised partisan complaint. While I might appreciate the former, I suspect the latter and object to your use of the alumni bulletin to forward the polarizing agenda you pretend to deplore. I will, of course, stand corrected if you did indeed write such a letter concerning Mr. Snow.

Best wishes in your current endeavors,
Me

re: Kerry at Commencement
Dear Editor,

I am disappointed with the Bulletin's decision to publish the letter submitted by D—- D—- '03 disparaging the College's choice of commencement speaker for the class of 2006. Anyone who is familiar with Mr. D—–'s Kenyon career will recall that he is far from nonpartisan. He was a leader of the Kenyon Republicans group and instrumental in bringing the indisputably extreme Republican Alan Keyes as a speaker to Kenyon's campus through the Student Lectureships Committee. As well, I understand that Mr. D—- was part of a group of 25 selected to meet with Kerry personally before the ceremony. If he disagreed so strongly with Kerry's invitation, he might have given someone else the opportunity to meet him. Instead of taking issue with Mr. Kerry's politics, he pretends to be outraged that a "polarizing figure" was invited to speak at commencement when his track record suggests that this more likely a partisan complaint. Instead of being honest about his objections, he disguises them with fabricated sympathies.

I will, of course, stand corrected if Mr. D— wrote an equally eloquent letter of outrage after my own class of 2004 was addressed by John Snow, then a representative of an administration which he admits is equally controversial. I have read Mr. Kerry's remarks, and unlike Mr. Snow's they demonstrated that he had taken time to get to know Kenyon and the class of 2006. I have also learned from faculty members that Mr. Kerry remained at commencement until every student had received his or her diploma. This stands in sharp contrast to Mr. Snow's preprogrammed and fortunately brief remarks that preceded his hasty retreat from a campus full of soon-to-be graduates who, after completing the Kenyon education both Mr. D—- and I profess to respect, could see right through him.

Sincerely,
Me, '04

——-

If replies from either party are forthcoming, I'll fill you in.

World Cup 2006: Hot or Not

After ten pages on folksonomic metadata in 7 hours, my brain is tired. Still, it doesn't take much a brain to know which way to call it when Thierry Henry scores France's first World Cup goal since 1998:

Our deuxiéme hottie oficiel!

Thierry, I'm married, but if I weren't, you could break my dry spell any day.

World Cup 2006: See, I told you it was the Group of Death

Okay, there are plenty of other places to read about the horror that is Jorge Larrionda so I won't go into any more detail than this:

Today was a wild, wonderful, and often traumatic day of World Cup action in Group E. Now that my blood pressure has started to return to normal I can look back over the past few hours and rejoice that my country has, if not exactly triumphed, earned its berth in a group that promised great contests. When the original draw was done, things looked pretty bleak for us but we could take comfort in the fact that many looked to the grouping of Italy, the Czech Republic, Ghana, and the US as the toughest bracket to play in. That's a small sign of respect in a world where few would give it to us.

After the first matches, it looked like rumors of the Group of Death had been greatly exaggerated. Favorites Czech Republic and Italy won handily, with the US showing against the Czechs particularly miserable. Back to reality. Back to toiling in obscurity for four more years to earn another chance to get laughed off the international stage.

Today, all that changed. The US and Ghana were expected to lose again and the Czech Republic and Italy were expected to seal the deal on advancing to the second round.  In both cases, denied! Ghana started the day off right with smart, efficient and enthusastic play that generated lots of opportunities at goal and thwarted the efforts of the Czech Republic.  If they didn't have to play my countrymen next, I'd be cheering for them after a performance like that. Then, the US took the field and used their guts and every last calorie they had carbo loaded to hold Italy to a 1-1 draw while playing a man down for the entire second half. I loved watching them dig and dig and keep their chins up and shots headed at the Italian net. So a group that looked like a done deal became a group where literally anything can still happen.  Any of these teams could still advance. If that's not the definition of the group of death… well, I might not what is anyway, seeing as this is only my second World Cup as an impassioned fan. 

My advice for my countrymen is inspired by this heart-warming NYT article about a class full of immigrant kids putting on a production of the Wizard of Oz: go to the Wizard!  Get some extra heart, brains, legs, players without red cards, whatever it takes! Just get it!  Play the game I and all the other American fans know you can play on Thursday! I'll be cheering, with pride. 

World Cup 2006: Hot or Not

The Czech Republic = ugly all day long. Case in point Pavel Nedved:

This guy looks like what would happen if Bjorn Borg's and Owen Wilson's faces got into a car accident with each other. Sorry Neddy, two not hot's do not make a hot. And not even your supposedly legendary footwork could keep your team from getting the 2-nil drubbing you so richly deserved. Go Ghana… just don't beat the US.

Also, Ramen of the Iranian team is off the All-World Hotties team. One of his teammates kicked Figo in the face. Thuggish behavior with spikes gets a big not hot from yours truly.

Rejected taglines for this blog

Why cross that bridge when I come to it when I can worry about crossing it right now?

There are no dermatologists for worry warts.

I can't evacuate from the category 5 hurricane in my head.

Notice a theme? A tendency to worry, at times excessively, is one of the longest standing traits of my personality. I'm not sure when it started, but my guess is fairly early on. I remember a phase I went through around the first grade where every night before I fell asleep my heart would start pounding as I imagined down the list of horrible things that could happen during the night, including fire and robbery. I also remember being so freaked out by the environment unit in Mrs. McPhee's class that all the next summer I thought I could hear global warming (it sounded like a giant heating coil making a wah-wah noise). I was a classic example of a child who should not be allowed to watch the news. I had, and in many ways have, a hard time separating things that are happening far away from things that are happening to me. Even reading a tabloid headline about potential asteroid inflicted doom would stick with me for months.

My mom saw me for the worrier I was and was constantly on my case about it. She would encourage me to do things like get my name on the board and fall down while roller skating, with the theory that I would learn that none of these things mattered very much and weren't worth worrying about. She met with limited success.

Over time, I think I have just started to think of worrying as part of me, something about myself like brown hair and blue eyes. One afternoon when I was wandering around Exeter, England with my friends, we happened into a bookstore across the street from Exeter Cathedral. I found a wire rack stocked with a series of children's books called Mr. Men. There were lots of entertaining Mr.'s, such as Mr. Silly and Mr. Messy, but I only had eyes for Mr. Worry:

That book was a revelation. Finally, someone who thought just like I did. For example, Mr. Worry worries that he is going to run out of food, so he goes to the store. Then Mr. Worry worries that he has spent too much money at the store. Then he worries that the grocery bags are going to break as he walks home. This man gets me! I had never read such an accurate description of my daily life.

This might seem like a bad life, but once you get past a few ulcers and a little insomnia, it has its consolations. For starters, most of the things you worry about never happen. So you are constantly on a relief high. Also, worrying gives you delusions of grandeur and control, as if you have so much power that it must be your responsibility to worry and thereby influence the outcome. Control feels good. Bosses love people who worry, because we tend to pre-emptively go the extra mile so alleviate our worry about getting fired. It's a cheap hobby (if you don't count the ulcer medication).

Despite all of these perks, I do try to combat my worry wart complex from time to time. My most recent weapon is yoga, and some of things that my yoga teacher said over the past semester have started to think in. First off, she was big on being intentional with your thoughts and your energy. What you think about becomes reality over time, ie if you think "I can't do a headstand without the wall" every time you get down on the mat and give it a try, you probably won't. Makes sense to me. If I sit around telling myself that I'll never amount to much as a writer or other professional, that doesn't leave a lot of mental space for motivation to actually give it a try. She also said that everything we encounter becomes part of who we are, and that we should consciously seek out messages and stories that were positive, basically on the principle that you can find the good and the bad side in everything so why not find the good. That's old news. Here's what stuck with me–she said that if you choose to watch the news or read something depressing, you have to counteract it on a one-to-one basis with stuff that makes you happy. Just to have someone formulate it so bluntly. I don't think she was trying to say that we should ignore the bad stuff, just that we had a right to protect ourselves. How can we offer anyone anything if we are full of gloom? And who wouldn't be full of gloom after your average browse through the NY Times? Just this week I've learned all about rising crime in small cities and this scary mycobacteria stuff that you can catch from your shower, is really hard to diagnose, and can destroy your lungs as effectively as tuberculosis, besides the usual about the Middle East and Gulf Coast refugees. Add a nasty paycheck surprise and that 3-nil to the Czech Republic and Florida doesn't need Alberto, I've got their storm cloud right here. After I read stories like those and craft a few different bankruptcy scenarios, can I be blamed for losing sight of the fact that the same world that has car bombs and lung disease also has my husband, my family, my friends, my cats, the ocean, Veronica Mars… for the moment, at least, I'm trying to entertain the notion that knowing about these things is at least as important as knowing about those things.

Me, give up worrying? I think not. I'd be a boring blogger then. I think I'm just looking for a little bigger picture.

World Cup 2006: Hot or Not

My nose is still running a lot harder than Ronaldo was during the Brazil-Croatia game today, so I shall continue the series with our first official hottie. For once, the thumbnail size of this picture is not going to do justice:

Kaká!

No unfortunate hair on head or face, pleasant smile, and plenty of skills. Having nothing but Christian Rock on your iPod, questionable, but scoring the winning goal for your team, always h-o-t. But sorry ladies and gentlemen, this 24 year old striker is married.

World Cup 2006: Hot or Not

My brain is fuzzy from antihistamines and sad from the 3-0 disgrace my countrymen suffered at the hands of the aestethically challenged Czech's, so I am resorting to another hot or not entry.

Today's topic: the mantail. Hot or not?

Hot… on a chic!! So not on a shirtless Italian footballer with tattoos.

I did get to see this silky mantail in action today, and if I spoke Italian I would ask this guy what products he uses because it was quite the shiny, snarl-free mane. Wait, strike that. He probably doesn't use any products, he just hasn't showered in a month. Not hot!