At work today, Robert said something about how Kentucky is probably better than Georgia because "Georgia's kind of backwards". Well...
I think you can find them anywhere, folks.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Mayoral Hopefuls Re-Enact Dice Roll for Japanese TV
Japan is awesome.
Crews asked Allen and Garside to re-enact the dice roll with a 2-foot-wide die. The candidates were asked to glare at each other, then roll the oversized die several times.
Teaching those whipper-snappers some respect; or, nurturing and guiding your child towards success in the real world
The title you pick depends on which of Lakoff's family paradigms you subscribe to ;)
The story is about the Prime Minister of Thailand, who has sent his youngest daughter to work at McDonald's so that she can gain an understanding and appreciation of economics. The part where it mentions he studied at EKU and worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken is awesome. (I wonder if he was the only student at EKU who actually studied...?)
The story is about the Prime Minister of Thailand, who has sent his youngest daughter to work at McDonald's so that she can gain an understanding and appreciation of economics. The part where it mentions he studied at EKU and worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken is awesome. (I wonder if he was the only student at EKU who actually studied...?)
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
George Lakoff on family paradigms and their effect on political alignment
I studied Lakoff's linguistic work back in undergrad, and he seems to be an intelligent, scientific person. Lately I've seen a few articles crop up in which he discusses his political opinions. These didn't interest me too much until I hit this, a discussion about how our ideas of what families should be like can be extrapolated to explain our political views. Really interesting stuff.
The notion makes a lot of sense to me, and in some ways I feel like I already knew that, that I have even used the family model in conversation to explain my political views. It seems natural to do so.
I would be interested to know if Lakoff is correct about children with strict-family backgrounds growing up dysfunctional.
The notion makes a lot of sense to me, and in some ways I feel like I already knew that, that I have even used the family model in conversation to explain my political views. It seems natural to do so.
I would be interested to know if Lakoff is correct about children with strict-family backgrounds growing up dysfunctional.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Check it!
New template is up. I'm going to tweak the comments plug-in a little bit, and I still need to redo the archive page template, but the bulk of the work is now done. And it's functional! Yay!
Sunday, March 28, 2004
Issues of invasion and colonialism in Asia
Koreans in the city of Busan, Jung-gu district, are outraged at the prospect of establishing a "Japanese Street" for the purpose of attracting foreign tourism. One striking comment on the Jung-gu district's governmental website apparently stated, "I have never heard of an invaded country naming a street after its invader."
Meanwhile in Okinawa, residents of Ginowan City are suing the Japanese government and the commander of the U.S. Marine air base in the Futenma area over noise pollution from flybys. Stated one plaintiff, 69-year-old Chuuji Chinen:
Meanwhile in Okinawa, residents of Ginowan City are suing the Japanese government and the commander of the U.S. Marine air base in the Futenma area over noise pollution from flybys. Stated one plaintiff, 69-year-old Chuuji Chinen:
"I'm an optimist. Before the reversion to Japanese rule, we thought that would take 100 years, but we struggled on steadily and it only took 27 years. Other Asian countries managed to get rid of their colonial rulers. We are still like that, but we believe someday we will achieve the removal of all bases from Okinawa. And after that, they will be gone from all of Japan."
Sam's favorite band becomes a cartoon!
Yes that's right friends, Japan's very own Puffy, singers of the Teen Titans themesong, are getting their very own show on Cartoon Network.
They will be speaking Japanese at the beginning and end of the show.
I need to get cable.
They will be speaking Japanese at the beginning and end of the show.
I need to get cable.
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Japanese "Language"
In anime, when a character makes an impassioned speech on a subject, other characters are often highly impressed and respond with comments like "Well said!" This occurrence has always intrigued me, as speech-making is not highly valued in American culture. I think the difference is that here, we are automatically suspicious of any claim a person makes. It doesn't matter if it's put well; if the content is off, we won't approve. Because of this, the speeches of persons such as politicians aren't seen as art forms, but as manipulations. Speechwriters have to focus not on writing clever turns of phrase, but instead conversational speech that sounds natural and unpracticed. This is still a form of crafting...but instead of crafting something unique, it's crafting something that any average Joe on the street might say. Whether or not the loss of speech as an art in American culture is a good or bad thing, I can't really say.
I am interested, though, in how these "well said" and "well put" Japanese speeches and writings get translated into English. Often they come out sounding ridiculously philosophical and vague. Take, for example, this mission statement from Ikenobo, the most prestigious of Japan's ikebana, or traditional flower arranging, instructional institutions:
I wanted to use the original Japanese page as reference and see what word they were actually using that became "challenging spirits", but the Japanese page doesn't seem to have a mission statement. Perhaps the idea of a mission statement is a Western one, but what the companies feel should go into a mission statement is tempered by culture.
Another good example of this apparent "buzzword + literal translation => mission statement" phenomenon is this piece from the JT Group's mission page:
I am interested, though, in how these "well said" and "well put" Japanese speeches and writings get translated into English. Often they come out sounding ridiculously philosophical and vague. Take, for example, this mission statement from Ikenobo, the most prestigious of Japan's ikebana, or traditional flower arranging, instructional institutions:
Ikenobo's history of over 500 years is a history of searching for essential truth in the life of flowers and plants. Ikebana's essence and wellspring exists in the human heart before an arrangement appears as form. If one has a beautiful heart, the form of ikebana will also be beautiful. Ikebana enriches both the spirit and our daily lives, and in so doing it brings deep meaning to the joy of being alive. This essential equation is unchanging, regardless of place or historic period. Through the study of ikebana our hearts become benevolent, and we are filled with admiration for nature and the love of humankind. Thus, the creation of a beautiful cultural tradition brings bright promise for the future, a promise especially important for us today.In this block of text, there is a focus on the divine, the emotive, the beauty of the inner self and the connection among human beings and the natural world. This sort of philosophizing sounds just like what you'd expect concerning an art form--something that can easily be dismissed as "dreaming" or "idealism". But this sort of truth-seeking and passion can be found in writings on widely-varied topics. While most larger companies apparently have hired English copy editors who tailor the spirit of the company's mission statement into language that is meaningful and "correct" in terms of the expectations of native English speakers, many companies seem to simply be literally translating their mission statements, resulting in pieces like the above, or this blurb from Matsushita Electric Works:
We strive for the creation of new values, by pursuing user-friendliness and accomplishing high-tech mindset, driven by challenging spirits and full speed of actions.This particular quote appears to be a merging of literally translated Japanese with English buzzwords like "user-friendliness" and "high-tech". "Challenging spirits" is questionable to the English speaker. It's easy for us to simply decide that it must mean they are enthusiastic about their work, but I feel that the choice of the word "spirits" speaks to some underlying, emotively-connected-inner-selves meaning for the Japanese. As I said, this appears to be a literal translation. If the closest English phrase is "challenging spirits" and not, say, "enthusiasm" or "high work ethic", then I think there is more to it, something cultural.
I wanted to use the original Japanese page as reference and see what word they were actually using that became "challenging spirits", but the Japanese page doesn't seem to have a mission statement. Perhaps the idea of a mission statement is a Western one, but what the companies feel should go into a mission statement is tempered by culture.
Another good example of this apparent "buzzword + literal translation => mission statement" phenomenon is this piece from the JT Group's mission page:
In JT Brand-ing Declaration which is our new global-wide mission issued in April 2002, we promise to deliver " irreplaceable delight" which means pleasurable surprises, something surpass your expectations, joy to all our stakeholders and to be an" irreplaceable company ".JT Group specializes in tobacco, pharmaceuticals, and foods.
The culture of writing systems
This is a pretty interesting article about the writing systems of China and Japan and how cultural identity is expressed through them. I love reading stuff like this. Since I started using Bloglines I get to see all kinds of news and information about Asia.
The article makes Japan's notions of "insider" and "outsider" far more obvious by contrasting this mindset to that of China. It's something that I've heard about and even felt, somewhere along the fringe of my consciousness, during my visits to Japan--though I probably always chalked that up to how I've never really fit in with the "in-group". I always wondered, behind the smiling faces, generous gift-giving, and friendly laughter, whether any of the native Japanese I met thought anything of me at all, or if they were just going through the polite motions. I think when you suspect something in your gut like that, it's worth looking at.
I'm not sure how this will affect my hopes to live in Japan, or if it will affect them at all. I, more than many people I know, understand the motions of politeness. Thinking about what can and can't be said and done is second nature to me. I do it even though I wonder if I'm tainting my sincerity. I do it because I want to be civilized. And so I can understand, if not completely relate to, false friendship. I just wonder if it would hurt me too much to be subjected to it daily.
Of course, making sweeping generalizations about a population is dangerous, not to mention rude. While the "us vs. them" mentality may be a deep-rooted cultural phenomenon, I can't simply assume that everyone I meet will subscribe to it.
On a more lighthearted note, I wanted to point out that Taipei Times needs a (better?) copy editor. See if you can spot the blatant error:
The article makes Japan's notions of "insider" and "outsider" far more obvious by contrasting this mindset to that of China. It's something that I've heard about and even felt, somewhere along the fringe of my consciousness, during my visits to Japan--though I probably always chalked that up to how I've never really fit in with the "in-group". I always wondered, behind the smiling faces, generous gift-giving, and friendly laughter, whether any of the native Japanese I met thought anything of me at all, or if they were just going through the polite motions. I think when you suspect something in your gut like that, it's worth looking at.
I'm not sure how this will affect my hopes to live in Japan, or if it will affect them at all. I, more than many people I know, understand the motions of politeness. Thinking about what can and can't be said and done is second nature to me. I do it even though I wonder if I'm tainting my sincerity. I do it because I want to be civilized. And so I can understand, if not completely relate to, false friendship. I just wonder if it would hurt me too much to be subjected to it daily.
Of course, making sweeping generalizations about a population is dangerous, not to mention rude. While the "us vs. them" mentality may be a deep-rooted cultural phenomenon, I can't simply assume that everyone I meet will subscribe to it.
On a more lighthearted note, I wanted to point out that Taipei Times needs a (better?) copy editor. See if you can spot the blatant error:
In the media, the names of Bush and Saddam are written in the characters reserved for foreign names. But so are the names of people of Japanese ancestry, like Alberto Fujimori, Peru's deposed president, or Kazuo Ishiguro, the author of Remains of the Day, who left Japan at the age of five and is a British citizen. Their names could be written in kanji, but are instead written in kanji, in an established custom indicating that they are not truly Japanese.Yeah, good job, guys. (The prose could use some tightening up, too...the bulk of the content of that paragraph was already produced earlier in the article, and the flailing, stumbling sentence structure needs to be taken out back and shot.)
Two-handed mouse control
via /.: Logitech's child company 3DConnexion sells what are essentially mice for the user's secondary hand. With the Spaceball 5000 (or one of the other devices), users can guide their projects around the screen by panning, rotating, and zooming, while the primary hand is free to select and modify. I can easily imagine how much happier this interface would have made me back when I was studying to be a mechanical engineer...
I've been working on a new design for this site, and I have a few ideas, but nothing has really congealed so far. Last night I worked for hours on a design based around a picture of a hotel downtown. The mass of brick was beautiful painted in the orange glow of the setting sun. It's a neat picture, but I'm having trouble making it work with a blog design. To get the full impact, I had to make it a long, non-scrolling image, and that limits my options for other parts of the page.
This morning I woke up with an idea for an entirely different design, using the picture I'd wanted to use to begin with. It will involve a bit more design work, but it looks really pretty in my head. We'll see how it comes out on the screen...
Eliminate tedious and repetitive steps that put unnecessary stress on your mouse hand. Users of 3Dconnexion motion controllers report up to a 30% increase in productivity and as little as half the repetitive mouse movement.Here are all the applications it supports. Unfortunately, the thing costs $500...I don't have a whole lot of use for it now, but it would be really cool to play with.
I've been working on a new design for this site, and I have a few ideas, but nothing has really congealed so far. Last night I worked for hours on a design based around a picture of a hotel downtown. The mass of brick was beautiful painted in the orange glow of the setting sun. It's a neat picture, but I'm having trouble making it work with a blog design. To get the full impact, I had to make it a long, non-scrolling image, and that limits my options for other parts of the page.
This morning I woke up with an idea for an entirely different design, using the picture I'd wanted to use to begin with. It will involve a bit more design work, but it looks really pretty in my head. We'll see how it comes out on the screen...
Friday, March 26, 2004
A 20-year-old Japanese woman's debut novel
This is an interesting article. I'd like to read Kanehara-san's book. Maybe I could make it a project to import it and work my way through it...it would be really difficult, but I might learn how to read Japanese a little faster/better that way. It's always helpful to have something to practice on.
Knowing me, I'd buy the book and then never open it, though...
Knowing me, I'd buy the book and then never open it, though...
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Newness
I've added a comments feature to this page, using BlogKomm. (Who knew?) And so, from now on, I won't be updating my LiveJournal or Xanga sites. They will, like my unknown Blog-City account, fade into obscurity and nothingness.
I'm going to try to move the comments from both sites over to this site eventually. For now my main goal is to redesign this page to make it look a little nicer, and to make the comments fit better. I also need to add my new RSS (Atom) feed as a link on this site.
The main reason I'm posting now is because I've started using Bloglines to subscribe to pretty much everything I read...and through Bloglines I've been reading a lot more news. Because of that, I have six links I want to share...so here they are!
I'm going to try to move the comments from both sites over to this site eventually. For now my main goal is to redesign this page to make it look a little nicer, and to make the comments fit better. I also need to add my new RSS (Atom) feed as a link on this site.
The main reason I'm posting now is because I've started using Bloglines to subscribe to pretty much everything I read...and through Bloglines I've been reading a lot more news. Because of that, I have six links I want to share...so here they are!
- U.S. county bans all marriages
- Gay marriage a thorny issue for reporters in terms of writing objectively and fairly
- Actress gaffe highlights pension problems (this is a funny Japanese news story)
- Pierce Brosnan may not be Bond anymore; odds on who will replace him
- Publicity for Spider-Man 3 begins before Spider-Man 2 even hits theaters...and why not?
- Group suspends terror threats to France "while it improves its ability to carry them out". France deserves terrorists like these ;>
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Friday, March 19, 2004
More Casshern
More info about Casshern can be found here and here. I already see a few places where my translation was off (because I assumed too much at times), and a few places where my translation was correct (yay!). Anyway, it's based on an anime. From the official site, I was able to determine that Casshern is the guy with black hair, the face shield, and the round shiny thing on the side of his head. He's played by Yusuke Iseya. The girl, Luna, is played by Kumiko Asou. The pop-up ad identifies the white-haired guy as either "Purai" or "Burai" (I can't tell ;P), which could be Pry or Bry or something. :>
Anyway...it looks cool! It would be neat if they'd release it subtitled here in the theaters...
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LIKE THAT WOULD EVER HAPPEN WOO BOY
Anyway...it looks cool! It would be neat if they'd release it subtitled here in the theaters...
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LIKE THAT WOULD EVER HAPPEN WOO BOY
Casshern
For those of you who are intrigued yet mystified by the Casshern trailer... this is my horrible "I've taken two whole years of Japanese, golly-gee-wow" attempt at "translating" it.
MAN SPEAKING IN BOARD ROOM: koko ni, hitotsu no seika wo happyo sasete itadakitai. sono nawa, shinzou saibougu.
[here] [one] [product/result] [announce receive/ask to do] [heart/mental image/newly made] [cyborg]
Here, I would like to present to you a product. That is, a new cyborg.
MALE VOICE 2: kore ga...[something? hu?] koko made [something] da na...
[this is] [this far]
What? It's already come this far? (this is pretty much a guess based on the guy's tone...)
MALE VOICE 3: okusama, ko-byokidatou wo okishimashita ka.
[Madam] [illness] [occurred]
Madam, have you become ill? (there seems to be a malicious undertone to this. also, it's spoken very formally)
MALE VOICE 4: runa wa dou surun da.
What is Runa/Luna doing? (not specifically; more like, what is she up to? what's on her mind? what's her problem?)
MALE VOICE 5: tomodachi katta dakatte iru no ni jibun dake konnata tokoro ni du(?) wake de wakanai.
[friend][?][?][exist/are (a person/people)][nominalizer particle][directional/purpose particle][self][only][this place][reason] [of] [I don't know]
(Um...yeah. Your guess is as good as mine.)
LAB TECHNICIAN (or something): geninfume desu!
[cause unknown] [it is]
We don't know what caused it!
MALE VOICE: shinzou saibo wa mada kansei se no ka?
Isn't the new cyborg finished yet?! (I'm pretty sure on this one, but I could be wrong)
MAN WITH RED LIGHT ON HIS FACE: dou yuu koto da?
What is the meaning of this?
MALE VOICE: gunbu gan go iteru to yuu koto desu.
[military authority/rural area/county] [frozen]
(These words could really mean too many things for me to even make a good guess. But I think the "frozen" bit must be correct, seeing as there is so much snow in that scene.)
GIRL EMBRACING BOY: naze hito wa tatakau no kana?
I wonder why people go to war... (This might be "So that's why people go to war..." or something...I'm still sort of unsure about the "kana" form)
WOMAN: anata katta wa. nani wo shita no desu ka?
I found you out! What have you done?! (I'm pretty sure this is it, but I'm still bad about plain form because they leave out lots of particles that could help me figure out what parts of speech words are...also, when she says "anata", she might be meaning "dear", as in "my husband". This is typically how the word is used these days. If that's the case, then it's just "I caught you, husband!" or something similar.)
MALE VOICE: shio wa samaru anata wo shinsou ningen to shioshu.
[opportunity][topic particle][?][you][preposition marker][depths/deep level/real] [human][part of speech marker][?]
(This looks something like "I took the opportunity to [do something involving] real humanity", but who knows...)
MALE VOICE 2 (gasping): ningen wo?
[human] [obj.particle]
To humans?! (or maybe "Humans/humanity [are being ___]?!")
ICY LOOKING GUY (Casshern?): minagoro shissuto. (sheest?)
(NO CLUE WHATSOEVER! I would like to just guess that he means "I'll kill everyone", but I can't find any evidence for that theory :>)
FRANTIC MAN ON PHONE: kodomo(?) aru(?) no(?) kyu(?) hyaku shiro!
(Some details that probably explain everything. I don't even know if I transcribed the words correctly ;_;) Quickly!
MALE VOICE (whispered): Hello. (I think, anyway...)
MAN (murmuring to woman): watashi no buwe no tsukutano fifu [...?]
(People shouldn't mutter. ;P Other than "my", I have no idea what he's saying.)
KNIGHT-LOOKING GUY (Casshern?): kisama...!
You...! (kisama generally refers to someone you are very unhappy with.)
WHITE-HAIRED MAN: dare da?!
Who are you?! (or "Who is that?!")
MAN WITH SHINY ROUND THING ON HEAD (Casshern?): ore wa mo ningen ja nain da yo!
I'm not human anymore! (This doesn't sound like a random statement, but rather he's saying this in response to something, or as a reason for something)
MALE VOICEOVER: tatta hitotsu no inochi wo sutete, umari kawatta fujimi no karada. tetsu no akuma wa tadaite kudaku. Casshern ga yareneba. Dare ga yuru(?)
[only] [one] [power] [suteru-to abandon/throw away?][buried/surrounded/overflow/filled] [another/different/various/particular/unusual] [immortal] [body] [iron] [demon] [comes?] [break/smash]
Only one power (something), filled another immortal body (???). The iron demon comes to destroy. Casshern can't be stopped. Who (something)?
So yeah, wasn't that great? My attempt sure cleared THAT up!!! ^^;;; If anyone has a real clue, be sure to leave a comment or send me an email and let me know.
MAN SPEAKING IN BOARD ROOM: koko ni, hitotsu no seika wo happyo sasete itadakitai. sono nawa, shinzou saibougu.
[here] [one] [product/result] [announce receive/ask to do] [heart/mental image/newly made] [cyborg]
Here, I would like to present to you a product. That is, a new cyborg.
MALE VOICE 2: kore ga...[something? hu?] koko made [something] da na...
[this is] [this far]
What? It's already come this far? (this is pretty much a guess based on the guy's tone...)
MALE VOICE 3: okusama, ko-byokidatou wo okishimashita ka.
[Madam] [illness] [occurred]
Madam, have you become ill? (there seems to be a malicious undertone to this. also, it's spoken very formally)
MALE VOICE 4: runa wa dou surun da.
What is Runa/Luna doing? (not specifically; more like, what is she up to? what's on her mind? what's her problem?)
MALE VOICE 5: tomodachi katta dakatte iru no ni jibun dake konnata tokoro ni du(?) wake de wakanai.
[friend][?][?][exist/are (a person/people)][nominalizer particle][directional/purpose particle][self][only][this place][reason] [of] [I don't know]
(Um...yeah. Your guess is as good as mine.)
LAB TECHNICIAN (or something): geninfume desu!
[cause unknown] [it is]
We don't know what caused it!
MALE VOICE: shinzou saibo wa mada kansei se no ka?
Isn't the new cyborg finished yet?! (I'm pretty sure on this one, but I could be wrong)
MAN WITH RED LIGHT ON HIS FACE: dou yuu koto da?
What is the meaning of this?
MALE VOICE: gunbu gan go iteru to yuu koto desu.
[military authority/rural area/county] [frozen]
(These words could really mean too many things for me to even make a good guess. But I think the "frozen" bit must be correct, seeing as there is so much snow in that scene.)
GIRL EMBRACING BOY: naze hito wa tatakau no kana?
I wonder why people go to war... (This might be "So that's why people go to war..." or something...I'm still sort of unsure about the "kana" form)
WOMAN: anata katta wa. nani wo shita no desu ka?
I found you out! What have you done?! (I'm pretty sure this is it, but I'm still bad about plain form because they leave out lots of particles that could help me figure out what parts of speech words are...also, when she says "anata", she might be meaning "dear", as in "my husband". This is typically how the word is used these days. If that's the case, then it's just "I caught you, husband!" or something similar.)
MALE VOICE: shio wa samaru anata wo shinsou ningen to shioshu.
[opportunity][topic particle][?][you][preposition marker][depths/deep level/real] [human][part of speech marker][?]
(This looks something like "I took the opportunity to [do something involving] real humanity", but who knows...)
MALE VOICE 2 (gasping): ningen wo?
[human] [obj.particle]
To humans?! (or maybe "Humans/humanity [are being ___]?!")
ICY LOOKING GUY (Casshern?): minagoro shissuto. (sheest?)
(NO CLUE WHATSOEVER! I would like to just guess that he means "I'll kill everyone", but I can't find any evidence for that theory :>)
FRANTIC MAN ON PHONE: kodomo(?) aru(?) no(?) kyu(?) hyaku shiro!
(Some details that probably explain everything. I don't even know if I transcribed the words correctly ;_;) Quickly!
MALE VOICE (whispered): Hello. (I think, anyway...)
MAN (murmuring to woman): watashi no buwe no tsukutano fifu [...?]
(People shouldn't mutter. ;P Other than "my", I have no idea what he's saying.)
KNIGHT-LOOKING GUY (Casshern?): kisama...!
You...! (kisama generally refers to someone you are very unhappy with.)
WHITE-HAIRED MAN: dare da?!
Who are you?! (or "Who is that?!")
MAN WITH SHINY ROUND THING ON HEAD (Casshern?): ore wa mo ningen ja nain da yo!
I'm not human anymore! (This doesn't sound like a random statement, but rather he's saying this in response to something, or as a reason for something)
MALE VOICEOVER: tatta hitotsu no inochi wo sutete, umari kawatta fujimi no karada. tetsu no akuma wa tadaite kudaku. Casshern ga yareneba. Dare ga yuru(?)
[only] [one] [power] [suteru-to abandon/throw away?][buried/surrounded/overflow/filled] [another/different/various/particular/unusual] [immortal] [body] [iron] [demon] [comes?] [break/smash]
Only one power (something), filled another immortal body (???). The iron demon comes to destroy. Casshern can't be stopped. Who (something)?
So yeah, wasn't that great? My attempt sure cleared THAT up!!! ^^;;; If anyone has a real clue, be sure to leave a comment or send me an email and let me know.
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
Life on Mars
This has fueled silly, half-baked science fiction tangents all afternoon. Among the questionable things I've said:
- "See, humans used to live on Mars, until we destroyed the environment there and had to move to a new planet, Earth. It's so obvious! This is why humans are (apparently) the only intelligent life on this world. Earth is at an earlier stage than Mars. Don't you see? When we came here we lost our old technology due to being unable to refine metal with the equipment we had, and now our extraterrestrial life lives on only in myths and legends that have become severely warped over time!"
- "Hey, I could write a novel about my crazy speculations in (1)!"
Pollen, and work
Spring is coming. We're right on the cusp. I know because of the pressure in my sinuses and the beginnings of tears that are suddenly ever-present in my eyes. Yes, that's right, folks...allergy season is here.
Last night I had a horrible migraine. I thought it was simply due to the work I've been doing on a new website for Macross 2051 (I've created a new layout and I'm translating it into the proper code for Mambo Content Management System), and though I did take some allergy medicine in the hopes that it would help, I didn't really believe allergies were the prime suspect.
Today after work I noticed a light dusting of yellow powder on my car. So yeah. Allergies.
Augusta has one of the highest pollen concentrations in the world. Pollen forecast from the Weather Channel; pollen forecast from the makers of Zyrtec. ;> Whichever one you trust, we've got pollen, people. I've turned on the air conditioning in the hopes that it will help filter some of it out, but I'm getting the feeling that this sinus pressure will stick with me all week :(
In other news...
I haven't been posting lately, but that's not due to a lack of things to say. Either I've been busy doing something else or I've been too tired to write or, the case that happens a lot, I didn't want to post because I'm going to redo this website in Mambo and I didn't want to spend energy writing something that I would have to port over later. But heck, I'm going to be working on it for quite some time, so I may as well journal in the meantime. Life's too short not to blog.
Yes, that was lame. Intentionally lame ;D
Today I talked with Robert about rearranging the office. He had my desk facing one of the sets of windows; I want to turn it to go along the wall to the left, so that I have a better view of the door and so as to open up more space in the center of the room. This will involve shifting some free-standing shelves around and sliding his desk and the mini fridge a few feet away, but it won't be a big deal, and hopefully the result will make the office look nice and neat. We've had clients stop in and we look sort of unprofessional right now. As soon as the main area is laid out the way I want it, I'm going to work on the finer details of spiffifying the office. Should be fun; I like interior design.
I also mentioned to him that I'm going to want a week off sometime in the next two months, and I told him that I would work eight hour shifts the week before or after in order to make up my time. I then asked him when it would be convenient for him for me to go, since the new project will be starting this month. He said that two weeks after the project gets off the ground should be fine, so that means maybe the week of April 5. Of course, you all should know what I plan to do during that time...visit my family!
A week-long vacation to see them will probably be better than the trips I've been making, where I go for an undetermined amount of time and then end up getting too attached. One week should be fine. I felt better after the Christmas visit than I had for the other visits, and I really think it was a matter of planning how long the stay would be. I think not having a definite leave date puts me in the wrong mindset, especially towards the end of the visit.
Plus, now I have something to come back to besides housework! (Oh, and Sean, of course ;>)
Today was slower than usual at work, otherwise. I finally managed to scour some of the local magazines for restaurant leads. I also stocked up on printed materials (address labels, instructions, etc), and I affixed quite a few return address labels to bubble mailers. That puts me in good shape for tomorrow, when I have to mail packages.
I just remembered two things I forgot to do while I was at work. Bleh.
I'll blame them on my sinuses...
Last night I had a horrible migraine. I thought it was simply due to the work I've been doing on a new website for Macross 2051 (I've created a new layout and I'm translating it into the proper code for Mambo Content Management System), and though I did take some allergy medicine in the hopes that it would help, I didn't really believe allergies were the prime suspect.
Today after work I noticed a light dusting of yellow powder on my car. So yeah. Allergies.
Augusta has one of the highest pollen concentrations in the world. Pollen forecast from the Weather Channel; pollen forecast from the makers of Zyrtec. ;> Whichever one you trust, we've got pollen, people. I've turned on the air conditioning in the hopes that it will help filter some of it out, but I'm getting the feeling that this sinus pressure will stick with me all week :(
In other news...
I haven't been posting lately, but that's not due to a lack of things to say. Either I've been busy doing something else or I've been too tired to write or, the case that happens a lot, I didn't want to post because I'm going to redo this website in Mambo and I didn't want to spend energy writing something that I would have to port over later. But heck, I'm going to be working on it for quite some time, so I may as well journal in the meantime. Life's too short not to blog.
Yes, that was lame. Intentionally lame ;D
Today I talked with Robert about rearranging the office. He had my desk facing one of the sets of windows; I want to turn it to go along the wall to the left, so that I have a better view of the door and so as to open up more space in the center of the room. This will involve shifting some free-standing shelves around and sliding his desk and the mini fridge a few feet away, but it won't be a big deal, and hopefully the result will make the office look nice and neat. We've had clients stop in and we look sort of unprofessional right now. As soon as the main area is laid out the way I want it, I'm going to work on the finer details of spiffifying the office. Should be fun; I like interior design.
I also mentioned to him that I'm going to want a week off sometime in the next two months, and I told him that I would work eight hour shifts the week before or after in order to make up my time. I then asked him when it would be convenient for him for me to go, since the new project will be starting this month. He said that two weeks after the project gets off the ground should be fine, so that means maybe the week of April 5. Of course, you all should know what I plan to do during that time...visit my family!
A week-long vacation to see them will probably be better than the trips I've been making, where I go for an undetermined amount of time and then end up getting too attached. One week should be fine. I felt better after the Christmas visit than I had for the other visits, and I really think it was a matter of planning how long the stay would be. I think not having a definite leave date puts me in the wrong mindset, especially towards the end of the visit.
Plus, now I have something to come back to besides housework! (Oh, and Sean, of course ;>)
Today was slower than usual at work, otherwise. I finally managed to scour some of the local magazines for restaurant leads. I also stocked up on printed materials (address labels, instructions, etc), and I affixed quite a few return address labels to bubble mailers. That puts me in good shape for tomorrow, when I have to mail packages.
I just remembered two things I forgot to do while I was at work. Bleh.
I'll blame them on my sinuses...
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