Stuff I read and stuff I thought

An idea I've always had about having a blog was to post my responses to stuff I saw or read. Either online or not. Of course, with so many online media being in the form of blogs, it's usually easy for me to respond directly. But, sometimes, I just don't wanna. Usually because my response is fairly grumpy and there's no real reason to whine to the person who wrote whatever I'm whining about.

So, today I'm going to start doing that here. I think. I think I may have declared in the past that I would do that. I'm too lazy to actually check and see if I did or not.

The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test

Take the Test yourself

Your Score: ellipsis

You scored 38% Sociability and 64% Sophistication!

Your life can be difficult because of your insecurities, but you should know that it isn't your fault. YOU didn't ask to be thrown in around thirty times per page in every bodice-ripper on the shelf! Those who overuse you can kiss your . . . you know. You need to learn to hold your head high and glory in your solitude. You really do have excellent, scholarly tastes. You must never forget that your friend, the period, will be there to support you at the end of every sentence where you truly belong, and, if what is left out is as important as what is said, why, then you are as vital as the alphabet!

Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Sleep is GOOOOOOD

Chronically Sleep Deprived? You Can't Make Up For Lost Sleep

Sleep is good. Sleep is important.

I place a LOT of importance on getting enough sleep. I think some people think I'm a bit nuts about it. Ha! See? I was right. This article talks about all kinds of bad things that happen if you (chronically) don't get enough sleep.

Choose Your Own Adventure Books are BACK!

Woo-Hoo!!!! I guess it's only been a few years that these books have been out of print, but it just happened that those were the same years that I was shopping for kids' books again. The last time I was a big kids' books shopper was when *I* was a kid.

Damn, those books were SO cool! I loved them. Not quite as much as Encyclopedia Brown, but almost.

I assume they'll have a booth at ALA. Sure, the year I'm not going!

Check out http://www.chooseco.com/index.asp for more info. There's an interview with R.A. Montgomery and info about secret online endings for the books.

Yay!

Kleine-Levin Syndrome and Antidepressant Withdrawal

I like reading about weird medical stuff. Rare diseases.

I just read an article about Kleine-Levin Syndrome. No, I'm not gettin all hypochondriac like and thinking I have it... but it sounds SO much like what happens to me if I stop taking my Effexor, an antidepressant. There's a horrible withdrawal if I miss even a day. There's even a name for it -- Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome.

From an article on eMedicine: Characteristic symptoms include hypersomnia (100%), cognitive changes (96%, including a specific feeling of derealization), eating disturbances (80%), hypersexuality (43%), compulsions (29%), and depressed mood (48%).

Yeah, that's a pretty good description of what it feels like to go through Effexor withdrawal. For me anyway. The only thing it's missing is the "electric shocks" feeling. (A common symptom when people stop taking an antidepressant is these weird feelings like an an electric shock going through your body or head.)

Just interesting.

Average for Librarian Salaries in Illinois

librarian in Illinois $51,000

View Larger Salary Graph

This is from the Salary search feature on Indeed.com a fairly cool job search site, IMO.

Average librarian salaries for job postings in Illinois are 13% higher than average librarian salaries for job postings nationwide.

Just thought it was interesting.

Bad BAD customer service, oops OWNER!

I hate bad customer service. Really really really. Just as much as a LOVE good customer service. And I fully believe that if a company sucks, word of mouth is just revenge.

Please do NOT shop at WeddingDepot.com if you feel the same way. If you don't, than just ignore this. :-)

The president/owner/sole customer service rep, Shaun Larson was ridiculously rude to a customer. This is all documented because he only deals with customers via email. Read the full story at Consumerist.com: WeddingDepot's Nonresponsive, Passive Aggressive, Customer Service

Ugh. Just makes my blood boil. I have no idea why. I know it's a silly waste of energy. This had nothing to do with me personally. I just don't like super-rude people in general.

I know that my blog has a close to zero readership, so it's unlikely this will cause WeddingDepot.com to lose even one customer. Eh. Just makes me feel better by trying to spread the word.

Oh, and just in case someone DOES try searching, Shaun J. Larson's other business is wedding photography, Image One.

things that make me laugh

Ok, I realize that at times my sense of humor is, well, bizarre. I *really* got a kick out of celebrating my 100,000th birthday, for example. (32 decimal = 100000 binary).

This page of math jokes totally made me LOL at my desk, gaining fairly odd looks from others, since I rarely do that...

This is the one that made me guffaw:

A loaf of bread...

WooHoo for YouTube!!! I can't count the number of times I've had conversations with people (of my age group) about the skit from Sesame Street where the kid has to remember what to buy at the store. "A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of buttah..." A lot of people would argue with me about the middle one... that it wasn't a *container* of milk. HA! I was RIGHT!

Sesame Street - A loaf of bread... from YouTube.com.

This makes me ridiculously happy.

Dancing with the stars DEBACLE

I steadfastly maintain that the same basic principles are responsible for both Emmitt winning Dancing with the Stars over the extremely more talented Mario as are responsible for Bush being president. Look, people, I'm not saying Emmitt is a *bad* dancer. Not at all. He's a gazillion times better than me, for example. But to put him in even the same competition as Mario is kinda ridiculous. And I'm not just saying that because Mario is on my Christmas wishlist.

Whomever these people are.... these people who think Emmitt deserved to win over Mario.... those are NOT my kind of people. This is why I feel like a freak when generalizations are made about people. About Americans. They are never talking about ME! They're talking about the kind of people who shop at Walmart. Oh, come on, you know who I mean. Even if you yourself shop at Walmart for some bizarre reason, you've surely noticed that there IS a "type" of person there, right? That's who I mean.

I just don't get it. I don't get them. But, I figure they must think the same thing about me. And then I wonder if they even wonder about other people -- people like me, for example. I just don't know.

Making the connection between a sound and a reward changes brain and behavior

Making the connection between a sound and a reward changes brain and behavior

I wonder what sort of connection my mind made between my mom's keys and something "good."

I swear I can recognize her keys -- or at least I could back when she was working and had a huge set of them -- out of a crowd.

Wouldn't the same sort of connection happen if one connected a punishment, instead of a reward, with a sound? Ok, I admit I have not read the original research article. I'm assuming they only tested for reward and not for punishment. I guess.

The little blurb I linked to above also mentions people being able to recognize their own cell phone's ring. I don't. Recognize mine, that is. However, I DO notice if the little beep telling me I have a text message rings. I'll hear and notice that even if my phone is in a different room in my house. But, the call ringtone? I don't hear that even if it's right next to me sometimes.

Incompetent People Really Have No Clue, Studies Find / They're blind to own failings, others' skills

Incompetent People Really Have No Clue, Studies Find / They're blind to own failings, others' skills

Since I often worry that I'm not nearly as competent as I should be or as I feel that others think I am, I find this article, oddly, reassuring.

OTOH, if I thought I was brilliant, than presumably this article wouldn't change anything about how I felt about myself since I would assume that it didn't have anything to do with me.

So, since the article made me feel smarter does that mean that now I'm dumber than I was before I read it?

Sometimes I crack me up.

Hmmm... the research also shows that people who aren't funny often think they are, I think. All I know is I make ME laugh. :-)

Scarlett Johansson

I can't stand her. She irritates the hell outta me.

Yeah, it's *probably* jealousy on some level, but knowing that doesn't make her any less irritating.

Damn her hair and her skin and her boobs. Especially her boobs. They *really* irritate me.

And how the hell does someone who's only 21 carry herself with such grace and sophistication? I mean, c'mon. That's just not normal.

If anyone has video of her tripping or stumbling, please let me know. Until I see that I will simply believe that she is not human. She's really like the alien from Species. I'm sure of it.

What I'd intended

I never actually take the time to write letters to the editor of magazines I read. However, I often have a LOT to say after reading something. So, part of my original intent of this blog was just to have a place to say it. It's quick and easy and highly likely that no one is going to read it. :-)

Yes, I know I use smileys too much.

So, *if* I start doing what I'd orginally intended to do there may soon be a lot of ranting and raving and significantly more posts here.

Just letting my 3 or 4 readers know.

Research shows who dies when and where

This study reminded me of how statistics and odds are sometimes (always?) almost meaningless.

Usually you hear what the average lifespan for an American man or woman is. Gender and nationality are factored in, but not race or location within the country. But, this study shows that those factors make a huge difference in your expected life expectancy.

"Asians can expect to live more than 15 years longer than high-risk urban blacks."

Now, I'm making an assumption here -- I want to admit that I haven't looked to see if this is accurate -- I'm assuming that urban black males have a high risk of dying young. And by young, I mean in their 20s or earlier, not young as in just younger than when most people die. So, what if you have an urban black male who is already 50 years old? Is his life expectancy still the same as an urban black male who is 5?

I know this has been pointed out to me before; odds don't really apply to a single individual person. I'm a white middle-class female living in a suburban area. This study predicts my life expectancy. But it doesn't take into account a LOT of other factors that are specific to just me. My family's health history, my personal habits, etc.

I've really liked stats classes I've taken. But, I think I fundametally don't *get* stats. I wish I did.

And that reminds me of another thing I don't get regarding stats... why is it that when there's a 40% chance of rain everyone acts as though it's *going* to rain??? It's more likely that it's NOT going to rain, right? But, hearing there's a 40% chance, people say "Oh, it's going to rain today."

I do not get it.

So, it's been a while since I posted. Oh well.

And this is a *really* cheesy post, I know.

Where were you and what were you doing this morning five years ago today? Can't help but remember, right? It became a cliche even before a day had passed, probably.

I first heard about the planes hitting the towers when I got in my car on the way to work. I was living in Urbana, IL. My car's radio station was set to NPR and they were reporting on it. My first thought was that it was some sort of anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 -- not immediately remembering exactly what year that had happened or that it had been winter. I'd been in NYC during that one.

By the time I got to work I had a better understanding of what had happened and I immediately went online to get more info. (Whoa, that there's an indication of how much had changed since 1993, huh?) We had a small tv at work that we tried to get reception on and watch -- didn't work very well and the web was a much better source of info. Then people slowly got back to work. I went home for lunch and was in complete shock that there were people just walking around campus as though nothing was different. I was actually pissed off about that. I couldn't understand how there could be a single person who didn't feel traumatized and ready to break into tears. Actually, I still can't.

I still get teary-eyed when I *really* think about it -- as opposed to just thinking about it, I don't know, I guess "politically" or as simply a news event. When I read stories about the women (mostly) who were engaged to people who died in the attack. Even just reading about that 9/11 documentary about that firehouse in NYC. Total waterworks. It surprises me since I don't think of myself as "emotional."

The actual attack itself is just something I don't think I will ever be able to think about or talk about "rationally." I can have discussions about what the United States has done to make other groups hate us. I can rationally discuss what some terrorist groups might be "right" about. I can NOT talk about anything remotely similar to how the 9/11 WTC attack might have been deserved, which I've heard people voice. "Just shut the F up if that's what you're going to suggest to me!"

And normally, I *love* having discussions with people about things that I disagree with. I'm always open to having my mind changed. BUT there are a few exceptions to that. A few things that I am just NOT open to having my mind changed about and since I know myself well enough to know that that's possible, I'll admit up front that I just don't want to discuss it. One is the existence of a higher power. People who are SO certain that they KNOW there IS one and exactly what he/she wants or is like piss me off. OTOH, I don't want to be convinced that a higher power doesn't exist either. I like believing that one does and I don't see what the harm is in possibly being wrong about that. (I don't mind someone trying to convince me that there IS harm in being wrong, though. I suppose if someone changed my view on that then I might be open to being convinced that there is no higher power, too. But not now.) Two: Let's not argue about pro-choice vs. pro-life. It's not so much that I don't think my point of view can be changed as that I don't think it's a decidable issue. (The issue being whether or not abortion is murder.) Kind of like the belief in a higher power or not -- it's just NOT knowable. And I can't help but wonder if that has something to do with Godel's Theorem, but I never have the patience to go figure that out. And third: 9/11 WTC. I just do NOT want to discuss the morality of it. NO no no. I just can't. I don't even know anyone who was killed. I don't even know anyone who KNOWS anyone who was killed. Yet it's still just too close and emotional for me to discuss. End of story.

Now, really, having only three issues that I don't feel able to debate with a clear rational mind isn't too bad, is it?

Wow, I go off on tangents a lot...

I'm at my 10 year college reunion. Well, it doesn't actually start until tomorrow morning. Damn, I feel old.

I absolutely adore my school. The personality of the school fit me so well.

The weird thing is... I didn't really have any close friends here. At all. I transferred here for my junior and senior years. Even without a group of friends I loved it. But, why am I at the reunion? I don't know anyone. There are at least two people who are supposed to be coming who I remember fondly, but I don't know how well they will remember me.

I'm staying in one of the dorms. Free wireless. Yippee!

Did I mention this is just weird? Well, lets see how it goes...

Stupid school!!!

Dominican University, where I earned my Master's in Library and Information Science in 2004, is claiming that I owe them tuition for classes taken in, get this, 2005.

No, I did not take classes there after I graduated. I have asked them over and over, via email, telephone, and mail, to tell me what classes these are that I supposedly took and did not pay for. Nothing. All they can tell me is their records say I owe them "tuition."

I paid for my tuituion to Dominican entirely with loans. Which I am paying off. (And which I consolidated at a kick-ass low rate, btw.)

So, now they've passed it on to a collection agency who is repeatedly calling my house. When I was finally home to talk to the lady that's calling, she was immediately bitchy. So, I was bitchy back. But then, I tried to explain that I DO NOT owe Dominican money and surely she has some sort of proof of how much I owe them and, more importantly, for what. Nope. She says she just knows I owe them money from 2005. I tried to explain that I payed for all of my tuition via loans and she tried to tell me that loans almost never cover tuition. Huh??? Somehow the fact that her children were older than me pertained to this.

Actually, the phone call ended calmly. I have to fax a written request for a "documentation of charges." And I bet all that's going to be is the same sheet of paper Domincan was sending me before that said "Tuition owed: $XXXX.XX" Yeah, that's helpful. But it's the first step, I guess.

I'm really pissed at Dominican. I love the faculty that teaches there. I really do. But the administration is seriously f*cked up. I know it's not just with me. I've heard lots of goofy stories of records being lost, registrations not working, etc.

ARGHHHHH!

Coyote Ugly.

It's a real bar. A chain, I guess.

I danced on the bar.

Way cool!!!!

Geeky high school guys.

I wish I could reassure all those geeky high school guys who are NOT having the best times during their adolescence that there is always hope.

Personally, I've dated two guys who were *definitely* geeky-looking in high school, but who were HOT in their 20s and 30s.

But, the hero for these guys really should be Patrick Dempsey.
From Can't Buy Me Love's Ronald Miller

to Grey's Anatomy's Dr. Shepherd.


Yummy.


geeks
hotties
Patrick+Dempsey
highschool