Category: LiveJournal

Happy St Valentine’s Day!

Hope that folks had a good day today, regardless of your coupling status. I’m happily single (for the most part) and am OK with the holiday (for the most part) – provided I don’t go out to eat by myself at a place that’s having a live musician performing to his wife… (That was back before I took books with me. The ultimate put down was the waitress asking me if I wanted a newspaper…)

Anyhoo, our winter this year has been distressingly snow-lite. I hope it’s not because it’s saving it all up for March. Especially not the first week of March, when Amy and Rachel will be in town. (It’s their Christmas visit in March, in order to see us and to get to my cousin’s wedding.)

Currently, I’m in my library, with Linus on my lap and Lucy sitting behind my head on the seat back. I love evenings like this, listening to my sleepytime music, vegging on the laptop (or working on a chemistry class that I’m taking online) or reading a book. I’d put my “Books. Cats. Life is Sweet” icon on, except it’s Valentine’s day and thus time for my Sylv Heart. Heh.

Hope your first half of February has been a good ‘un, and that the next half is even better!

A Meme (Been Ages!)

Gakked from puppetmaker40. Slightly modified.

Leave me a one-word comment about your day that starts with the third letter of your LJ USERNAME. Only one word please. Repost if you wish, so I can leave a word for you.

(My word to her was “inconsequential.”)

Science Update

Just a brief update regarding chemistry et al. Of late, I have felt less worried about the curriculum and my coverage of it (or maybe just less overwhelmed) and have actually been quite excited of late.

Last week my students got to do a lab on colorimetry, which was great. Today one of the classes analyzed their results and they all had excellent data. It was the first time most of them had done volumetric pipetting and several of them proved to be adept at it. Some even liked it. 🙂 I, personally, love getting to play with volumetric equipment like pipettes, volumetric flasks, and burettes. You feel like a REAL chemist with that kind of glassware. 😉

I just started a chemistry class through Illinois State University (I’m getting a collection of out of state universities for my education) that’s tied in with Flinn Scientific’s video demonstration series. It’s on atomic and molecular structure. I think that will prove to be very beneficial for the course I’m teaching now. (London forces? I haven’t taught those in YEARS.)

Physics and Advanced Problems are doing pretty well as well (though I’ve just realized both classes are doing research projects at the moment – now I feel sorry for the kids in both classes!)

So, yay for science!

The 2011 Book Review

Hey, I had Christmas almost 2 weeks late – can’t I be late with my 2011 Book Review? Heh.

2011 was one of my worst years on record for reading books. I’ve been keeping track of my books read since 2001, and from 2006 on, I’ve managed to read over 50 books in a year. 2008 was my highest with 65. This year, I only finished 51. World of Warcrack was mostly to blame, because in April & May, I only finished 1 book and instead was heavily into the game. I can also blame A Song of Ice and Fire for being such long books…

This was the year I finally purchased an eBook reader. Though I’ve been reading books on my phone for awhile (since 2008), I decided to buy a BeBook Neo reader. And the reason I bought it was a bit, um, unusual. Many of my friends were excited about The Game of Thrones coming to HBO and so I decided to try reading the series. The waitlist from my library was long, but the eBook wait wasn’t as big. So I decided I’d finally break down & buy an ereader. (redstarrobot‘s reviews helped me decide what I wanted.)

The Neo went on sale at just the right time, so I ordered it, put in the request for the 4-book set from my library (they didn’t have individual eBooks, alas). And after the BeBook arrived, I was in love. I loaded it full of free eBooks and bought a couple of eBooks and checked out books from the library. There’s just something nifty about sitting at home in your comfy chair and ordering a book from the library – and reading it minutes later!

I managed to get the first two books read before the time ran out, so I got myself on the waiting list again, only to be too impatient and buy the 4-book set online. Heh. A Dance with Dragons, OTOH, I’ve only eborrowed from the library. (When it’s cheaper, I’ll get it.)

Thanks to recommendations from gregmce, I bought a few eBooks from a small press publisher, Small Beer Press. And discovered the Armitage family (down, judiang!) in The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken. I found her stories about this somewhat magical family delightful. Many were funny, some were quite sad, all were entertaining. I also bought a couple of eBooks from A Book Apart, which focuses on short books about web development. Here’s hoping I can support more small book publishers in 2012.

This was the year when Ben Aaronovitch got his first two non-Doctor Who books published (Midnight Riot/Rivers of London and Moon over Soho), and I enjoyed them. Looking forward to book 3 (and beyond). There were some new Pratchett books this year and some new books by my favorite webcomic artists. I even finally read the Albert Campion novels I never got around to reading. (Just have the ones by Allingham’s husband to read. And probably rereading the short story collections in case I missed any of those.)

So, although it wasn’t my best reading year by far, I’d say it was a success. Many more hits than misses, which is always a good thing. Discovered a few new (to me) authors which I’ll revisit in the future. And this year is already off to a good start with 4 books read already (though two were VERY short books). Arriving tomorrow should be 2 new children’s books (well, they’re 40+ years old, but new to me) along with CDs of Sylvester McCoy reading them. Plus I received quite a few books for Christmas. So the future is bright when it comes to books!

Christmas in January!

Almost 2 weeks after Christmas and we finally got to have it. Yay!

Although Amy and Rachel couldn’t fly in to celebrate Christmas with us this year, we were finally able to have Skype Christmas this morning. The gifts to the girls had arrived on Tuesday, but the gifts to us from the girls arrived yesterday. (They sent them on Tuesday.) So I spent the night with the folks last night, and this morning we all sat on the sofa, with mom’s laptop across from us, and had Skype Christmas with the girls.

We had a fun time opening presents and showing off our gifts to the girls (sometimes with dad doing hand motions to indicate what smaller things looked like). It wasn’t as nice as having the girls with us, but it was probably the next best thing. 🙂

Amy is doing well and even getting a break from blood tests this weekend, which is a good sign. She was quite chipper this morning and looked well. So we’re very pleased with her recovery.

Anyhoo, I got lots of nice pressies today, and once we were done with Christmas, I opened the birthday presents from my sis & Rachel too. Let’s just say that thanks to family (and friends – elsaf, judiang and hergrace all rock!) I have received many nice things this season! Yay for family and friends and presents! 🙂

Merry New Year! Beef Jerky Time!

Happy New Year! Hope y’all have a great start to 2012 (and also a great finish, but that’s almost a year from now).

I turned 41 just a bit ago, too. And so far, it doesn’t seem any different to the last several turnings. Not sure what the fuss is about. 🙂

So, thanks mom, for putting up with my delivery from 5am on the 31st until 16 minutes after midnight on the 1st. Apparently it only cost them $350 with 6 days in the hospital. Cheap at twice the price, the parental units say. 🙂 (And although they missed out on a $750 deduction, the prizes they got for my being born 1st on the day totaled over $1200, dad figures. And that’s 1971 money!)

Better Late than Never

Ah, the best laid plans and all that.

The plan WAS that Amy and Rachel would fly in today around lunchtime, that tomorrow we’d open presents, and we’d have until the 4th of January to enjoy their company.

Sadly, the reality is that Amy wound up in hospital yesterday due to shortness of breath brought about by blood clots in her lungs. Ow! So no trip to Ohio for the girls. Alas!

Despite this setback, however, we have MANY pluses. The biggest & best being that Amy is now out of the hospital – YAY! – and recovering from her ordeal. She’s on blood thinner and will be playing the part of pin cushion for the next week or so as they do followup tests daily. But she’s home and that’s important thing.

Another plus, Rachel was able to exchange their plane tickets for a voucher. They hope to use them in March to come to Ohio for our cousin’s wedding. Hooray!

More on the positive: The folks and I packed up a goodie package of cookies & candies & Chex Mix etc and mailed that off to the girls. Then we packed up two boxes full of their pressies and sent them along via UPS. Hopefully cookies arrive Saturday & pressies on Tuesday. Mum forgot the stockings, so tomorrow she mails them out too. (Yay for priority mail!)

Once all pressies have arrived (they’ll be sending ours along, too), we’ll do a Skype Christmas. It’s not as good as having them with us in person, but it’ll be a great way to do this from a distance. (elsaf & judiang and I did this on Boxing Day to open our gifts “together.”) It’s pretty neat living in the 21st Century!

So, for the first time in my life, we’ll be opening Christmas presents after my birthday. A bit odd, but I can live with it. I mean, come on, presents! Family! Presents!

Missing you, Amy & Rachel! Get well quickly Amy! Looking forward to Skype Christmas!

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 9

I decided for my final entry in Christmas Songs I Love to post about my most favoritest Christmas song, ever. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” has been my favorite since, well, since I can remember. Why? Probably because of the minor key. Actually, I dunno why, but it is.

The trouble with having a favorite “traditional” song is finding the DEFINITIVE version. Or at least, it has been for me. Even Julie Andrews‘ version wasn’t what I was looking for in “God Rest Ye.”

The closest, for several years, was the version by Barenaked Ladies that is in tandem with “We Three Kings.” (Oddly enough, I hated that version the first couple of times that I heard it, but it did grow on me.) But it wasn’t the DEFINITIVE version for me.

Then, last year, I discovered that Annie Lennox was going to release a Christmas album. I was excited and ordered as soon as it was available. And there it was, my DEFINITIVE version! I’m not sure what exactly makes it THE ONE, but it has “IT” and I’m glad it’s in my collection. (Let me know if this autoplays an ad – I’ll swap it for another version if it does. I HATE autoplay!)

Anyhoo, today is Christmas Eve Eve, and tomorrow starts the whole shebang with a family gathering at Aunt Becky’s. If I don’t get around to posting before the actual day, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! And God rest ye, merry gentlemen & gentlewomen!