e_juliana | Entries tagged with geeky

omphaloskepsis (om-fuh-lo-SKEP-sis) noun

Contemplation of one's navel.

[From Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (act of looking, examination).
Ultimately from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which is also the ancestor of suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer), despise, espionage, telescope, spectator, and spectacles.]

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address.
- Lane Olinghouse

This is one of my favorite songs - it's on my list of Songs That Always Make Me Happy.

Bob Seger - Fire Lake

(Not that I don't like most of Bob's songs, but this one is the essence of summer for me - of wandering up to the lake, hanging out, riding around, drinking beer.... Mmmmm.)

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Fire Lake

If anyone happens to run across Brach's Chicks & Rabbits, would you be so kind as to buy a couple bags & send them to me (I'll happily reimburse)? I can't find them in my little corner of the world, and they are like unto crack for me. I NEED THEM.

Ahem. So, yes. Chickies and bunnies? For me? Please?

Current Mood: pleading
Current Music: my hangover - happy Mardi Gras, y'all

Zachary
Gender: Male
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: Memory, remembrance of the Lord

Gloria
Gender: Female
Origin: Latin
Meaning: Glory

Gregory
Gender: Male
Origin: Greek
Meaning: Watchful, vigilant

Reynolds (var. of Reynold, which is a var. of Reginald)
Gender: Male
Origin: English, orig. Latin
Meaning: Ruler's advisor, mentor

and for kicks:

Sam (var. of Samuel)
Gender: Male
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: God has heard, heard by God

Dean
Gender: Male
Origin: English
Meaning: From a surname which means either "valley" from Old English denu or else "dean" from Middle English deen (ultimately from Latin decanus meaning "chief of ten")...

John
Gender: Male
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: God is forgiving/gracious

Mary (var. of Maria)
Gender: Female
Origin: Latin
Meaning: Star of the sea/wished-for child/sea of bitterness

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Lucero - I Can Get Us Out Of Here Tonight

I have to ask myself that every time I start geeking out.

I haven't paid my BFA off yet, and I dislike school, but man, I would have fun. Especially if the course was heavy on practicum and modern interpretations.

Tarry, rash wanton....

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: Pearl Jam - Evenflow

Because I keep using it and misremembering the letters I don't use much:

( Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, yay! )

The history and diversity of phonetic alphabets is fascinating.

Current Mood: research-y
Current Music: Barenaked Ladies - Enid

A friend linked to this essay on another board: A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope: Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III, © Keith Martin 2005

The opening sentence reads:

"If we accept all the Star Wars films as the same canon, then a lot that happens in the original films has to be reinterpreted in the light of the prequels. As we now know, the rebel Alliance was founded by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa. What can readily be deduced is that their first recruit, who soon became their top field agent, was R2-D2."

He then goes on to discuss the very real possibility that Chewbacca was also a top field agent for the Rebellion, and that there are layers upon layers of interaction that we haven't seen before. The scariest thing is that this isn't a cracked-out theory at all - it's completely supported by the movies I have seen. I know Lucas had absolutely no intent to make R2 & Chewie master spies, but it seems that he has anyway (looks like the ~~asspulls~~ prequels were good for something).

Unfortunately, the essay has had the effect of forcing me to put Revenge of the Sith at the top of my Netflix queue, just so I can see precisely what he's talking about. Remind me to stock up on Fernet before I attack that one.

However, the essay has also had the effect of making me think about characters and they will often take on a life of their own, either as the author is trying to put them to the page or as the public observes and assimilates them. I've heard my writerly friends complain about particularly lively characters, and I've had the experience of trying to direct a character that is refusing the interpretation I've put on it. (I've also had the experience of an actor refusing my interpretation, but I've hidden those bodies well.) Even the greatest English playwright had that problem, for as John Dryden said, "Shakespeare showed the best of his skill in his Mercutio; and he said himself, that he was forced to kill him in the third act, to prevent being killed by him." Mercutio does fairly leap off the page, swaggering and heckling. I can think of two other Shakespearian characters that are akin to riding the tiger - Falstaff and Richard III.

It's one thing to love an actor in a role - it's a very different thing to purely love the character, and to watch that character take life on its own.

What is that? Why does that happen? I'm seriously asking for your takes here, y'all.

Current Mood: thinky
Current Music: Alison Krauss - Down to the River to Pray

Hee!

( I'm Snuffleupagus! )

Also, am woefully behind in updating. Need to report on Nashville, Folsom Street Fair, and Lucero. Not to mention The State Of The Juliana, which is mostly diet and workout musings, but Very Important naetheless. I've got one on the nature of geekishness as seen through the prism of the Discworld, specifically the wizard/witch split, but I think I need some serious sitting in front of the computer and drinking time prior to writing that one, and work seems to frown on the whole drinking aspect.

I really, really, REALLY hope I have a working computer by the weekend. I don't have to have all of my files back (and I'm mentally wincing at the idea of the techs seeing some of those files *ahempicturesahem*, but that embarrassment will be a damn sight better than never getting anything back), I just need 'Net access. It is my main social outlet, even as I live in the middle of North Beach. I think that shows how deeply geeky I am, which surprises a lot of people in my neighborhood.

Anyhoo. Back to that whole "work" thing.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Steve Earle - You're Still Standin' There

Now is the time for me to find out exactly how much my computer is worth to me.

I can get a SeaGate 250 GB ATA hard drive from TigerDirect for $80 (and wait for delivery), or I can walk down the street to CompUSA and get a 160 for $110 (and walk out with it now).

I could also get a 512 MB DDR 184 pin DIMM memory card from TigerDirect for $62 (also waiting) and kill 2 birds with one stone. I don't know that CompUSA has it.

I could get the delivery from TigerDirect by tomorrow, if I wanted to pay $50. If I pay $8, I can wait 3-5 business days.

How long, exactly, can I go without that computer? How much, exactly, am I going to spend to recover my files?

It's interesting to me that going without is not an option. I will spend money I don't have so that I can have my electronic friend and the invisible friends it allows me to contact.

You choose your luxuries, I suppose. I didn't buy my iPod -

la_perkins was generous enough to give me her Shuffle. I don't have a TiVo or cable TV or buy CDs or movies very often. The only sporting events I go to are ones that I can get tickets through work for. I don't go to movies.

I do travel. I do go out for food and booze. I do buy Harley-Davidson boots (admittedly at 66% off). I do go to concerts (mostly at the $13 range, but still). I do have Netflix. I do buy organic.

I don't go to theater.

Like I said, interesting.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: They Might Be Giants - Whistling in the Dark

(courtesy of

alexlucard

Archie vs. The Punisher. I missed this when it was first issued. It's all here, in its crackheadedly wrong glory.

Wow.

Current Mood: amused

Okay, so it's a month before I can get my iPod nano, but I'm still super-excited about the concept. I'm debating between the 2Gb and the 4Gb.

See, I need something to keep me entertained/distracted whilst running. I've not been running much at all. I'm getting better - I'm running about twice a week now. I need to be even better. It's not that I love running, though there are days when it's play, but I do love the feeling of accomplishment afterwards. Since I’m not training for a marathon, each run is about 3 - 4 miles. Once I get my iPod, I’ll probably start running longer again. I got lazy – the treadmill made running easy - no worries about the weather and I could watch a movie or TV shows. No room for a treadmill at my place, and no money for a gym. So, outside and an iPod.

Plus, the iPod will be nice for the days I'm wandering around town and for the mile walk into and out of work. So, yay iPod!

I salute you, my soon-to-be tiny black overlord.

Current Mood: iPod!

1) I love the Internets.

2) I love etymology.

3) I love booze.

Therefore, I present to you this most pleasing entry from answers.com:

whis·key also whis·ky (hwĭs'kē, wĭs'-)
n., pl. -keys also whis·kies.
An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.
A drink of such liquor.
[Shortening and alteration of USQUEBAUGH.]

WORD HISTORY Many connoisseurs of fine whiskey wouldn't dream of contaminating their libations with water, but they really can't avoid it. Not only is water used in distilling whiskey, but the words whiskey and water share a common Indo-European root, *wed–, “water, wet.” This root could appear in several guises, as *wed–, *wod–, or *ud–. Water is a native English word that goes back by way of prehistoric Common Germanic *watar to the Indo-European suffixed form *wod-ōr, with an o. Whiskey is a shortened form of usquebaugh, which English borrowed from Irish Gaelic uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha. This compound descends from Old Irish uisce, “water,” and bethad, “of life,” and meaning literally “water of life.” (It thus meant the same thing as the name of another drink, aquavit, which comes from Latin aqua vītae, “water of life.”) Uisce comes from the Indo-European suffixed form *ud-skio–. Finally, the name of another alcoholic drink, vodka, comes into English from Russian, where it means literally “little water,” as it is a diminutive of voda, “water”—a euphemism if ever there was one. Voda comes from the same Indo-European form as English water, but is differently suffixed: *wod-ā. Whiskey, water, and vodka—etymology can mix a potent cocktail.

Indeed.

(Also, dumb me, I forgot to add that I love Gaelic. Well, to listen to it. Can't speak it, obviously...)

Current Mood: happy

Damn, I love geekiness.

Crude Futures (via Defamer) notices the similarities between Starbucks and The Life Aquatic

And kottke.org goes into font detail

Personally, I think Futura is one of the prettiest fonts out there.

Current Mood: geeky

Men's cologne can throw me into a tizzy. Slap on some Jean Paul Gaultier, Cool Water, Chanel pour Monsieur, or Drakkar, and you will garner my full attention for at least a few seconds. To that end, the boys here at work should not be allowed to wear nice-smelling cologne. It's very distracting.

Women's perfumes, on the other hand, tend to make me sick as a dog. Too floral, too spicy, too much of whatever it is. Calvin Klein is right out (men's fragrances too, actually). I need the crisper scents, the ones involving citrus, lavender, or greens.

Mmmm, Gaultier.

Current Mood: titillated

Hrmph. I'm stuck. I've picked up everything I've seen, gotten thrown off the horse, given the audition form to the gravedigger, gone to england and back, given the witch 3 out of the 4 items she needs from me, sharpened the scissors....

I need something for Gertrude to drink, I need money, I need proof of royalty, and I need a way around Othello.

hrrrmph. Any hints?

Damned Addictive Text Game

Current Mood: stumped

Whilst compiling and preparing a report that uses source documents from 6 different people, I was put in mind of the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quote - "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." However, upon Googling, I have discovered that the real quote is "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Yes. I agree with that. Because right now, I need some goddamn consistency in reportage. This job shouldn't take two hours, and it wouldn't if everyone used the format that I have so helpfully provided. I don't think that's too foolish of a thing to ask. Oh, well.

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So, in other news, I have been asked to direct scenes from "'Tis Pity She's A Whore" and "She Stoops To Conquer" for a theater company's anti-V-day celebration and fundraiser. Kick ass. Of course, I won't be able to actually be at the thing, due to stage-managing commitments, but it's a great chance to get some experience with Restoration comedies. I've been pushing "The Invention Of Love" at this company, so it's a good way to see if we can work together. Yes.

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I really like the word "hobgoblin". That is all....

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Well, not all. I had a wonderful time talking to various people last night. I heard one friend's recap of her whirlwind of 2003, and I heard another's take on classic drama. Both of them are people that I feel a tremendous amount of affection for, even though we barely see each other. Connections are wierd that way.

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Tired. Hungry. Back to the report.....