Shop Amazon.com discounts

Not that I have any money for superfluous spending but this Amazon.com bargain hunting Web site is nice. It allows you to easily browse for big bargains on Amazon. Just choose a category and the amount of discount you want to look for and voila, you'll be given a list of items for sale on Amazon. I doubt that I would ever use anything lower than 70% off but it does give a new option for browsing on Amazon, something that I think is very difficult to do. Of course, right now if you choose DVDs and 90% off, you still get over 170,000 items. I'm not going to browse through 170,000 items just to see what's cheap. But you can then limit it by genre or whatever to get a manageable number. (via)

Cool Place to Stay: Library Hotel

Not like I could probably afford it but midtown Manhattan boasts a Library Hotel, near the New York Public Library, where the rooms are designed with the Dewey Decimal system in mind. Each room has a theme and in that room are only books that coincide with that theme. It looks pretty sweet! It was written up in The Washington Post. (via)

Cool site? Enth

Providing sports trivia (although only football and baseball currently), Enth claims to be a natural-language, Invisible Web search engine that will not just direct users to Web sites with answers but will scan statistical databases and create new content that answers the question. I asked it "Who has the most stolen bases for the Indians?" and got a little table with the top ten base-stealers in Indians history. It could be useful, I guess. When I tried to find the same answer at the Indians Web site, it was nowhere near as easy. I also then adjusted the question to "since 2000" and got a new answer very quickly. (via)

Cool site? Stadium Hunt

In its own words, Stadium Hunt "provides satellite images, information and directions for hundreds of stadiums across the United States." It's got some cool images but I'm not sure that you couldn't find this information elsewhere (like on the Web site of the sporting event you are attending) if you really needed it. If you travel alot just to go to sporting events, I assume it's quite useful. (via)

Final Four

I'm so excited to watch the Final Four basketball games tonight, especially the Ohio State vs. Georgetown one.

Overall, no matter what happens with the Buckeyes, I think what I'm going to remember most about this year's tournament is how many friggin' athletes have fathers who were professional athletes. It's a ridiculous amount. During every game, it seemed the commentators were showing some former professional athlete in the stands who was there rooting on his son.

Off the top of my head:
Jeremiah Rivers, Georgetown, son of former NBA player and current NBA coach "Doc" Rivers
Patrick Ewing, Georgetown, son of former NBA player Patrick Ewing
Yoakim Noah, Florida, son of former tennis star Yannick Noah
Al Horford, Florida, son of former NBA player Tito Horford
Taurean Green, Florida, son of former NBA player Sidney Green
Mike Conley, Jr., Ohio State, son of Olympic Gold medalist Mike Conley, Sr.
Jason Chappell, Wisconsin, son of former NBA player Len Chappell
D.J. Strawberry, Maryland, son of former MLB player Darryl Strawberry
Austin Ainge, Brigham Young, son of former NBA player Danny Ainge
Stephen Curry, Davidson, son of former NBA player Dell Curry
Deron Washington, Virginia Tech, son of former NFL player Lionel Washington
Harrison Smith, Texas, son of former NFL player Doug Smith
Gerald Henderson, Jr., Duke, son of former NBA player Gerald Henderson, Sr.
Wesley Matthews, Marquette, son of former NBA player Wes Matthews


Okay, and that's just off the top of my head from the games I watched or heard about. I'm sure there are more. It also doesn't count the number of guys who have dads who are college or pro basketball coaches (like Ryan Ayers, Notre Dame, son of former Ohio State and Philadelphia 76ers head coach Randy Ayers) . Of course, it makes sense that a kid with professional athlete blood in his veins would do well in sports himself; it's just surprising to me how many are all playing at once and made it to the NCAA tournament.

" What if three admitted adulterers run for president and no one cares?"

A fascinating read regarding the issue of adultery in the 2008 Presidential campaign. (via)

"25 Trends That Changed America"

This USA Today article does a good job of briefly summing up some of the major cultural and ideological changes in our country over the last twenty years.

Blogging American Idol contestant

Recently ousted American Idol contestant Chris Sligh has a blog, which has little content now but might be interesting to read in the future since he seems to be a funny guy. However, this article about him from his hometown newspaper, kind of makes me lose a little respect for him. It talks about how he wanted to quit a couple weeks ago, after he got bad reviews for his version of "Endless Love." He says, in the article, that he started to "question whether his roots in indie, alternative pop-rock fit with the blueprint of American Idol." He basically claims that he was discouraged from choosing the kind of music he really wanted to do in favor of more mainstream music. While I don't doubt that is the case, it's hardly shocking. It's a television show, after all. That he would admit he wanted to quit just because things didn't go his way makes me lose all kinds of respect for him. I mean, you put yourself out there and then when it seems like things aren't going your way, you want to quit? But you still wanted to be in their tour. Apparently, it's all about what they can do for him, which I guess is the way it should be, but regardless of any crap that comes with the show, he has to realize that he's been given an unbelievable opportunity to get his voice out there (even if it's not entirely the voice he wants out there) and should, in my opinion, be a little more grateful. It makes me respect Sanjaya a whole lot more, too, considering ALL the horrible things people are saying about him and yet he seems to have embraced it all and seems to have decided he's going to ride the wave as far as it will take him.

On another note, the fact that people are such assholes to send hate mail because Chris dared to tease Simon Cowell is such a sad commentary on America. Do you think that comment even had the slighest impact on Simon? The man has an ego the size of Jupiter and also makes millions of dollars annually simply by criticizing others... how nice of those losers to feel the need to stand up for Simon.

Changes in procedure

I have another written test scheduled as the first step of the interview process for my county library system here in Cleveland. In the past when I took the tests, there was one scheduled time where everyone had to show up... if you couldn't make it, oh well... and the testing took place at the system's Administration building. Now, this time, you can show up anytime over two days and you must go directly to the branch that is hiring. No appointment is needed and you simply go right to the reference desk to ask for the test and are then given an hour to take it. Although, now that I think about it, how strict are they going to be about that? It's not like the reference librarian has nothing better to do than to watch the clock on this test-taker. It's an interesting change. Obviously this allows for more people to show up as they can come at their convenience. On the down side, I will have no idea how many people I'll be competing against.

Search Engine Smackdown game

Test your search engine knowledge! I have to admit that I kind of sucked at this... but it's fun to watch the 'smackdown' part. (via)

No respect for the Buckeyes

Sports Illustrated online has "celebrity" picks for this weekend's upcoming Final Four basketball games. Only three of the 26 picked Ohio State to win it all. Hmph.

Crazy idea of the day

Kevin Federline has his own search engine. Umm, that's insane. (via)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday! Wow! Happy Birthday to him!

Monday again...

Electronic Relations

1. Do you find it easier to talk about touchy subjects over the internet, as opposed to face-to-face or over the phone? Overall, yes. I think I deal better with touchy subjects in writing than I do in person, where I can get really emotional and forget what I want to say. Obviously, the Internet is one way to express my views in writing. However, just because it might be easier doesn't mean it's best!
2. If you had a chance to meet someone that you've only known online in real life, would you? Yes, of course, as long as I liked them online!!
3. Have you ever met someone you originally knew from the internet? Yes. I've had dates with guys I met online. I also met a co-writer from the Web site I used to write for in person.
4. Do you consider any people you know purely through the internet to be your friends? Yes, definitely.
5. How do you feel about having romantic relationships with people you only speak to/know over the internet? I'm not sure exactly what's being asked... I don't think you can have a romantic relationship with someone without knowing them in person but getting to know someone by way of the Internet is certainly possible and could even be preferrable before progressing to a real romantic relationship. Eventually, though, to have a real romantic relationship, I think you have to meet in person.

(questions via)

Interview disaster

I had a phone interview this morning and it was pretty much a disaster. I think it was a matter of two people just not "clicking" so there was probably nothing to be done differently but the more I think about it, the angrier I get. During our half hour conversation, she clicked over to another call or put me on hold to talk to someone in her office FOUR times. I was patient the first couple of times, but I was really kind of annoyed by the fourth time. Especially because at the end, although she told me that she was going to pass on my information to the next round of interviewers, she basically criticized me and said that I didn't really do a good job of answering her questions. Then she proceeded to tell me how to better answer the questions to the next round of interviewees, which I guess was supposed to be a public service, but which enfuriated me because the fact is that I did say EXACTLY what she told me to say.... she just clearly didn't hear it that way, probably because she was so busy putting me on hold in the midst of all my responses. She also said that she didn't see any motivation in my resume (huh?), since my background is quite varied. Apparently, you aren't allowed to switch careers in your lifetime? Nor are you allowed to have three completely unique library internships, like I did, because instead of teaching me a multitude of skills, it makes me look unfocused. I guess I do see that point of view, but what am I supposed to do about it now? Other people have said they like that I have a lot of different experiences so I guess you can't win all the time.

I'm not sure if I will indeed "move forward" for this position or truly if I even want to. We'll see. I have another phone interview tomorrow afternoon, though, for a cataloging position in New Jersey and at least that is with library personnel. I find the interviews with human resources people or recruiters who do not have a library background at all can be really frustrating.

Internet Access Back

Thank God. I was pretty frustrated this weekend.

Internet Access Bullshit

Yesterday afternoon, our Internet access stopped working. We had access through Adelphia, which recently got bought out by Time Warner. Apparently, Time Warner decided that all old Adelphia customers would have to switch over to its RoadRunner service, as of yesterday. So they just disconnected everyone's Adelphia service and are "migrating" them to RoadRunner. Migrating is kind of a misnomer since they actually stopped service to the Adelphia customers and are forcing everyone to sign up with new RoadRunner accounts. Of course, not only did they provide no warning whatsoever that this was going to happen, but they also seem to have no extra customer support staff working to deal with the presumably THOUSANDS of people who suddenly find themselves without Internet access and who must call and order new RoadRunner service by phone. It can't be done online and of course, is not easy to do by phone either. My dad was on the phone with various reps for at least 6 hours yesterday and an additional 2 hours today. And still he hasn't been able to talk to anyone who can help us get our Internet access back up and running. Only after a few hours of being on hold and switching to different reps, did he finally find out about the "migration." One would think that a simple note on the accounts of all "migrating" customers would be easy to add so that at least the simplest customer service rep could explain what was happening. Nope. He kept getting bumped up to Level Two and Level Three support. How assinine. Oh yeah and to complete the migration, we are supposed to call our "local" service reps, none of which are even local calls! We are in Cleveland and the "local" options are either Akron, Canton, or Youngstown. None of those are free, local calls. It's bad enough that one has to be on hold for hours, let alone to have to pay to be on hold.

So thankfully my dad never suspended his dial-up service so here I am stuck doing homework via dial-up. It took nearly 20 minutes just to log in to my online classroom. I dread the thought of having to upload the paper that is due tonight. At least I have the bare minimum access to actually conduct research for the assignment, though. I honestly don't know how people deal with dial-up service and even though last year I was using it, too, I also had the option to go up to campus to access high-speed access whenever I needed to send a resume via email or upload an assignment. Checking email, posting on a blog or looking at an occasional Web page is fine but there is no way I'm going to be sending out resumes today. Or tomorrow, or until we can get our service back.

The other aggravating thing is that Time Warner is our only option for high-speed access. One would think the fact that since we live in a pretty wealthy suburb of a fairly large city in one of the world's wealthiest nations would make it possible for us to get DSL, at least, but nope. We live too far from a switching station or whatever nonsense they have been telling my dad for years. If we had another option, we'd have signed up with them in a heartbeat.

"Buckeyes rally back from 20 down, bust Vols to advance"

Good game, great outcome, but seriously - why do they have to give us a heart attack every time? Is it so crazy to expect the number one team in the country to actually show up for the first half?

I Want One: Curling Iron Cover

How perfect! Twice in just the last ten days could I have used this! I found myself in the situation of having a still warm flat iron yet having to check out of my hotel room. What to do? Certainly putting the hot iron in my suitcase is less than ideal, what with the potential fire that could start! Instead, the first time, I just carried it around until it had cooled down some. The second time I stuck it in the little cooler I had brought with me. This little bag actually lets you put the hot iron in there without fear. (via)

Tomorrow is Shutdown Day

Shutdown Day is supposed to be a day where one is computer-free for 24 hours. While I would love to participate and think I could easily make it 24 hours without turning on my computer (beyond 24 hours might be difficult, though), the problem is that I have a ton of homework to do by Sunday, including a paper to write, for which I need my computer. Sorry! (via)

Hotwired

Since my interview in DC yesterday was at 2pm, I hadn't decided until the last minute that driving up Tuesday night and staying overnight was the best way to go. Looking at hotel costs, I decided to go with Hotwire, where you book a hotel solely on price and don't find out the specifics, including the name of the hotel, until after you've already paid. It's a bit of a risk but since the hotel price they quoted was $48, I felt the risk was worth it for one night. That's unbelievably cheap for a somewhat decent hotel in the DC area and it really worked out well. The hotel, an Extended Stay America, was in a really nice, safe suburban area and even though I'd barely even heard of that brand before, turned out to be pretty decent. It skimps on a lot of amenities but it's definitely workable and the room is fairly spacious. Anyway, I was very happy with my Hotwire experience and think I'll try it again!

Job news, chapter 84

The latest job news is that I had an interview in Washington, DC, at a trade association yesterday. It went okay, but, to tell you the truth, I'm not that hopeful about it. We'll see. I'm kind of mad that I drove all the way there and back, spent the money for a hotel and they couldn't even pay to validate my parking. Although they gave me a full description of the benefits that come with the job and they seem okay, you have to wonder about a place that can't even thank you for coming by validating your parking. But oh well.

And, I have two phone interviews scheduled for next week: with a research/consulting firm outside Boston on Monday morning and with a book vendor for a cataloging position in central New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon.

So, who knows?

Another Monday meme, although technically it's Tuesday

I had been planning to do this every Monday but forgot last week in the midst of all the Florida fun, er, waste of time.

Last Week
Looking back on this past week what was...
1.The best meal you had? That's easy. In West Palm Beach on Monday night, they took me to this placed called City Cellar and I had a really great chicken dish that I don't see on this menu.
2.The highlight for you? I guess just getting to go to Florida in March for free for four days. Hmm, that's actually happened to me twice in the last 6 years because in 2001 I won a trip to Indians spring training.
3.The lowlight? I guess today doesn't count as last week, so honestly the lowlight of last week was getting a grade of 93 in my one class when I really felt I deserved higher. Yeah, it was a pretty good week.
4.Your latest night? Hmm, tough call. I always have late nights. Sunday night was bad as I had very little sleep, on top of getting no sleep the night before, but it was mostly due to nerves, not late night partying or anything.
5.Did you see any movies last week? If so, how would you rate them on a scale of 1-10? No movies in the theater, but I saw Borat and Something More on DVD. Borat gets an 8; Something More gets a 1.

(questions via)

Comedy Central RSS feeds

This is pretty useful, if you like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. This person created RSS feeds to video clips of the two shows that get put on iFilm so you can get alerted when the new clips appear. Apparently, this is preferrable to watching the clips on Comedy Central's Web site, where you can also get RSS feeds. I haven't tried it yet but I do enjoy watching clips of those shows, which I usually see posted on some political blogs. (via)

Rejected yet again

So my dreams of moving to South Florida and becoming a newspaper librarian have been shattered by a rejection this morning. This one hits really, really hard because I really felt like I fit in there and was so excited about the prospect of doing that for a living. It truly was a dream job for me. But, of course, I heard the ole 'you have no experience' crap yet again. The woman, the library director, had the nerve to imply that it wasn't her decision and she didn't agree with it - and maybe she didn't - but then she could have fought for me a little harder. She is, after all, the library director. Also, she implied that she would love to be a reference for me, should I need one. Umm, what exactly is she going to say to another prospective employer? "Well, I thought she was great.... No, I didn't hire her.... Well, she didn't have any experience.... I'm sure she'd be perfect for your job... Well, right, I didn't think she would be good here... Well, no, I didn't want to give her a chance but that's no reason why you shouldn't...." It's seriously one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

I am so incredibly frustrated by the job search process, I can't even put it in to words. And I guess there is no reason to despair. I mean, I do have an interview on Weds. and some place else just called to set up a phone interview with me. But, I am just really sick to death of hearing that I have no experience. Umm, you saw my resume before you met with me in person. Plus, there is some training period for any new hire, regardless of the experience they have or not. And I would venture to guess that it could be a lot easier to train someone new who is sharp and intelligent than someone with so-called experience who is used to doing things their own way.

Bottom line, though, I suggest never reading anything from The Palm Beach Post ever again. If you did in the first place, that is.

"TV-Turnoff Week Training"

It's funny to me that Syracuse University has to offer training on TV-Turnoff week. I mean, isn't it just a matter of finding the 'off' button? Yeah, yeah, yeah, so the training has more to do with alternatives to television than the actual turning off part, but still, is it so difficult to come up with things to do that do not require a television? I mean, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with some that would make me give up television, but I'm sure normal people live perfectly content lives with their television turned off.

Campaign Ads Library

I'm not sure why anyone wants to collect campaign ads - I mean, aren't they annoying enough when they come on during your favorite shows? - but here is a site that is planning on compiling and maintaining them. So far, there are only a few posted but that number will surely only grow as we get nearer to the 2008 Presidential election. I often like to vote for candidates who are the least mean in their ads so this might be a good place to check later... (via)

Worst airplane seatmate

When I was waiting in the airport to fly home the other day, I couldn't help but notice the others waiting to board and wonder who would end up in my row or, worse yet, right next to me. There were a bunch of little kids so of course, that's less than ideal. I saw a woman with a cat and hoped she wasn't in my row. Of course, as is typical of my luck, I got stuck with the cat woman. But, it ended up being totally fine. The cat stayed in its carrier and got put under the seat so, besides some angry cat noises, it was not a problem at all. But then today I read this article about a man who ended up with a corpse in his row and thought, "Wow, that has to be worst of all!" (via)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Cheesy Rock Ballads Quiz

How fun! I got a 100%! I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed by that or not. (via)

Dollar Bills vs. Dollar Coins

Similar to the State Quarters, new President Dollars are going to be printed and yes, they will be coins. This article is an interesting take on how the dollar bill should be eliminated in favor of dollar coins like most other countries have. The cost savings for dollar coins is much higher than for dollar bills, since the average dollar bill only lasts 22 months yet the dollar coin lasts 30 years. The article points out that someone just needs to step up in accepting them. It's so true. I almost always use dollar coins to pay turnpike tolls and they always act like it's foreign money. The author's solution is to simply stop printing dollar bills and everyone will have to use dollar coins. It seems easy enough. (via)

I Want One, I Think: Slingbox

I am so intruiged by these Slingbox machines. Apparently, they enable you to watch TV from your home TV anywhere in the world you might be. They are particularly useful with a TiVo or DVR, I guess. Since I assume I'll be moving someplace or another eventually, I'm wondering if I could use it through my parents' cable instead of having a cable bill of my own.

"Cat attacks reporter on live TV"

The other day, I guess it was probably Wednesday after American Idol, my mother and I were talking with the local Fox affiliate's news on in the background. When one of the reporters came on, my mom mentioned that she'd apparently been attacked in the face by a cat and it was shown on air. My mom had not seen it but had heard some local disc jockeys talking about it. I noted two things: one.) she looked fine and didn't seem to have suffered any damage - no scratchmarks were visible; two.) I would have to remember to look on YouTube to see if footage was on there.

Well, of course, I promptly forgot about it. But today, one of the zillions of blogs that I check regularly had a link to it! See, I don't even have to go searching for things - they come to me!

Daytime Emmy Award Nominations

Here's the complete list. For the acting categories, it's very CBS-centric. Of the few ABC nominees, it's interesting to note that almost half of them are not even on the shows anymore. For the talk shows, I'm surprised to see Regis & Kelly not nominated for anything (except the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade).

Oh never mind, I should have read this first. (via)

Back Home

Yay! I'm back home. Best of all, I'm back on my own computer!

Interview: Day Two

Day two was fine. I met with the newspaper's Newsroom Administrator, the Managing Editor and the Metro Editor. Even though my understanding is that none of these people have any say at all in me getting hired. I attended the daily morning story pitch meeting again. (Well, it's not exactly a pitch meeting but more like a 'this is what we are working on' meeting. But I suppose the Managing Editor could nix something?) I also went to lunch with one of my potential coworkers and it was nice. She had some interesting things to say about my potential boss, primarily how she is really kind of strict and critical and that this gal was convinced she was going to get fired in her first few months. I also met the part-time researcher, who was really nice. I liked her alot. I also sat shotgun on the reference desk for a good part of the day, which is kind of interesting in terms of seeing what kinds of questions come in but kind of frustrating in that it makes me want to work on them, instead of sitting there watching someone else work on them!!

More hotel drama

Today, I got done with the interview at about 5:00, got back to the hotel shortly after and then left again at about 6:30 to drive around and check out the area. When I got back to my room at like 8:30 - I couldn't get into my room! I was so annoyed. I went downstairs and there was this huge line of people checking in. I mean, give me a break! I shouldn't have to wait in line to get back in my room, the room where my key is supposed to work. So I finally asked the manager why my key no longer works and he was like 'Oh well, they get demagnetized really easily. It happens all the time.' So just because you are given a key to a hotel room, there is no guarantee that it will continue to work during your stay? Good to know! So I go up to the 9th floor again and guess what, my new key doesn't work either. I called them from the hall phone - hell no I wasn't going to go downstairs again! - and eventually a hotel engineer came up and tried to fix it. He could get me in with the master key but he still has no idea what happened to my key. They have some sort of troubleshooting device that hooks up to the lock, kind of like a battery tester, I guess, although it looks like one of those machines that swipe credit cards at a retail checkout. Anyway, it was such a hassle! I mean, when I get back to the hotel, I don't expect it to take an additional 20 minutes just to get back into my room. I am so filling out a comment card for here.

On the plus side, room service was good and quick.

Borat

I saw Borat the other day and just added it to my sidebar, so I sought out the official Borat Web site to do so. The site is pretty funny! It's basically what you would expect if Borat were a real person.

And in other job news...

The interview I had about six weeks ago, where the guy said at the end that he had plenty of great candidates from the Washington, DC, area and didn't really need to be going outside the area to hire someone, has apparently changed his mind. He emailed me today and asked if I had been hired anywhere yet and if I was still interested in the position with him. I guess all those great DCites weren't so great after all. Very interesting, no? I barely even remember the interview with him or what the job entails. I also wonder what happened. Is it a totally crappy job that everyone else ended up turning down or did he hire someone, that person started and was a total failure and now he's going down his list of candidates to see if anyone is still available? Very curious, I am.

And I was just starting to get used to the idea that I might be moving to Florida...

Interview: Day One

I wasn't sure if my interview was going to be an all day thing or not, but it was. Actually, it was longer because I went out to dinner with my prospective boss and her husband. They are very generous! I am so exhausted by it all since I didn't sleep much again last night. By my count, I've had about 5 hours of sleep over the last two days. Tomorrow, I have to be back there at 9am again for another full day so I BETTER sleep tonight. I met everyone I would be working with, worked alongside a couple of them, took some tests, went to a couple editorial meetings and actually had to work on answering a reference question. Tomorrow I meet the paper's managing editor, among other things. Plus, more meetings and more facetime with my prospective library coworkers.

Rematch, with a better outcome

Here is "America's" take on how the upcoming NCAA tournament will play out, according to brackets filled out on ESPN by "America." In the championship game: Florida vs. Ohio State. Sound familiar? This time, Ohio State is getting the projection to win. Oh wait, they were projected to win then, too. Ugh. Well, then, let's hope that if it does happen again, Ohio State does win!

Syracuse left out

Aww, the poor Orange. They didn't get an invite to the NCAA March Madness Tournament this year. Everyone (the sportscasters and analysts, that is) was pretty surprised.

Now, I don't want to complain...

BUT, the hotel is kind of a shithole. It looks really nice and I think it's expensive but I'm not impressed. First, the good - I'm in a suite! It's not just a room but a whole suite, with a living room, a dining room table, a little kitchen/bar area complete with a refrigerator, a microwave, a bar area, a little sink and cabinets. There is even a patio with doors from both the bedroom and the living room. The bathroom is kind of split up with the toilet, bathtub and sink in one small room and another sink in a small room with a closet. The bedroom has a beautiful king bed and a nice television, not to mention that there is another television in the living room. I have no idea why they would spring for a suite for me instead of just a room but it's really awesome! In theory.

First, when I checked in, I was given the key to room 811. Umm, room 811 was not clean. There was trash all over and the bed was unmade. Ick. So, I called them and they moved me to room 911. Room 911 is clean but just about everything is broken. The patio door from the living room won't shut so it stays open about an inch. Lovely. Neither television remote control works. The alarm clock/radio has the wrong time and I had to call them to fix it because the ability to change the time is locked. Who does that? The one bedside lamp didn't work and I happened to notice it while the guy was headed to my room to fix my alarm clock, so I mentioned it to him. Turns out that the lightbulb was just unscrewed. How does that even happen? Oh yeah, I went to get ice and the ice machine is broken. It's really annoying!

Oh yeah, and the bedroom kind of smells like urine. I keep telling myself it's just the smell of some kind of cleaner but I'm really not sure.

In Florida!!

Well, I'm in beautiful sunny West Palm Beach, Florida! It's about 80 degrees here. My interview is tomorrow. And I'm exhausted. What with my typical sleep problems and the stress of packing and making sure I brought everything I needed to bring and the early flight and the time change, I think I totaled about 15 minutes of sleep during the night.

When I arrived in Florida, we sat on the tarmac for about 35 minutes. We were early - about 35 minutes coincidentally - and instead of letting us get off the plane, we had to wait for our designated gate to empty. I'm not sure why we couldn't just go to another gate! I saw empty ones. Then, I seriously had to wait for about an hour to get my rental car. It was just a long, slow-moving line. The airport was actually crazy busy. I hope it isn't like that when I have to leave. But it's not like I had anywhere to go because my flight was due in at noon and check-in isn't until 4pm.

After I got my car (an orange Chevy Cobalt), I drove around for awhile. Downtown West Palm Beach is nice. It reminded me of Santa Monica, CA. And, Palm Beach, which is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intercoastal Waterway, reminds me of Beverly Hills with a beach. It's very ritzy. The beach is beautiful! I also drove by the office where I have to go tomorrow so I know where I'm going. And then I headed north on 95 to try to check out some of the area. At about 3:30pm, I came back to the hotel and they let me check in early. I've been kind of napping but also trying not to nap too much because I don't want to spend another sleepless night. Although I probably will... I'm really nervous about the interview.

"Gingrich admits to extramarital affair"

Kind of a hypocrite, no? Whether he sees it that way or not.

Best Showerhead ever

Ohmygod, how awesome would it be to take a shower under this showerhead? Obviously, not getting your hair wet would be out of the question.

I Want One: Washer Dryer Combo

How cool is this? One machine that does both washing and drying. You can set it up to wash and then automatically switch to drying. Or to just wash. Or to just dry. Great for saving space! Unsurprisingly, though, it's not really cheaper than buying two machines. (via)

Definitive 200 Albums

Here is a list, compiled by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, of the Definitive 200 Albums, consisting of the most influential and popular albums of all times. I own a big handful of them, maybe 40. Some of those 40 are actually in album format, too, and not CD. (via)

March Madness on Demand

I highly recommend signing up for the NCAA's March Madness on Demand service if you like to keep up on the NCAA's annual March Madness college basketball tournament, which starts next weekend. This service lets you watch games online in real-time (except for the one airing locally on CBS) and (if I remember correctly) watch highlights of games that were already played. Right now, if you are a member, you can watch highlights from some of the best games over the years, too, which I did and enjoyed. If you sign up early enough, you can become a VIP member, which gives you access to the games sooner than non-VIP members. Although honestly that was hardly necessary last year, except maybe right at 12:30ish when the games first begin. Did I mention it's free?

If you don't like Wikipedia, try Conservapedia

Or don't. People question the veracity of Wikipedia; well, it's got to be better than Conservapedia (via).

Compare the entry on Evolution from Wikipedia and then from Conservapedia (where it's specifically called Theory of Evolution). The latter barely describes what it is, instead focusing on the problems scientists have had proving its existence. Also, check out the entry on Abortion from Wikipedia and then from Conservapedia, where the whole entry talks about all the health problems that might occur from having one. I know it's as one would expect, but it's very slanted!

According to its About page, this apparently started as a project for homeschooled students in New Jersey. Couple this with the documentary Jesus Camp, which I just saw last night and had some statistic about the number of kids who are homeschooled and are evangelical (it's high), and it's really scary to me how some parents are educating their children. Apparently it's more important that they learn one truth rather than learning facts and critical thinking to formulate their own opinions. Very very scary.

Still under consideration

I got an email from a place in Chicago that I had applied awhile ago (maybe December or January?) telling me that the job was reposted but that I was still under consideration and would not have to resubmit my resume. At first, I was thinking, "Umm, well, thanks, but if I don't have to do anything, why are you bothering to contact me?" But then I started to think that it was kind of nice of them to write. I mean, there have been times that I see a job reposted and I'm not sure if I should apply again... maybe they lost all the applications, maybe a new person is in charge of hiring and the candidate information wasn't passed on, or maybe they just weren't happy with any of the applicants and are hoping for a new batch of them. Whatever the reason, it's nice of her to update me!

Now, I'm not going to get into the reasons why I'm still in the running yet they feel the need to repost the ad and what that truly means for my chances...

Let's try a meme!

I'm not entirely sure what a meme is (Wikipedia calls it a "unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another") but from what I've seen, at least in the blog sense, it's basically like an online version of those chain letter quizzes that get passed along via email, where you are supposed to read your friend's answers, put your own answers and then forward it to all your friends. So there are questions and they get answered on a person's blog and then I guess you are supposed to call out your friends to answer the same questions on their blogs, etc., etc., etc... Anyway, I'm going to give it a try occasionally. Anyone who wants to share their answers can do so in my comments or on their own blog :).

Haute Couture
1. If you were meeting a blind date, what would you hope they weren't wearing? A Star Trek costume or something like that. Also, I would hope they wouldn't be wearing a ripped shirt.
2. What colour looks best on you? Hmm, I usually get comments on greens and blues, especially baby blues, probably because my eyes reflect those colors best.
3. What was the most recent article of clothing that you bought for yourself? It's been a couple months (I'm kinda broke!) but I bought a really cute grey ribbed hoodie from Express in like December.
4. Do you have an article of clothing that is now unwearable, but you just can't seem to part with it? Umm, yeah, a lot, if they mean unwearable in that they don't fit me anymore!! But in terms of unwearable like it is in bad shape with holes in it, no, not at all.
5. Did you see "The Devil Wears Prada"? What did you think of it? I did. I basically enjoyed it, although I read the book also and they left out a lot of small plot points (of course). To be honest, I don't think the Meryl Streep character came off nearly as bitchy as she did in the book.

(questions via)

Blah

I don't really have anything to say but I'm still writing anyway. I have spent most of the day doing homework. We had to participate in a Web teleconference for my one class. That was about two hours long. It was through this WebEx service, which is kind of cool. I'll have to keep it in mind should I ever have to organize a Web teleconference of my own. Before that started, I did homework. And I still have a ton of homework to do, both from last week and this coming week. Not to mention that I haven't even started to do anything for my second class. So I'm approximately eight weeks behind on that one. Yeah, don't want to think about it.

I also got a rejection today... from the law firm I interviewed with in DC a couple weeks ago. Great. And I thought it went well.

Three cool phone services

Three new phone services that I read about seem kind of interesting to me. (via)

1.) Frucall
Say you are out shopping and see something for sale and wonder if you could get it cheaper online... well, all you have to do is call Frucall's toll free number, read off the product's barcode and they will tell you if and where it might be cheaper! I guess they even will go the extra step of helping you purchase it then and there, too, although that sounds like I'd be giving my credit card information to a middleman...

2.) 1-800-FREE411
The name kind of says it all. If you dial 411 to use directory assitance, you are charged about $2.00 each time you do so. With 1-800-FREE411, you are charged nothing. So yeah, it's pretty stupid to not use this! You have to listen to an ad instead, but it's only 15 seconds. They also appear to have an online phone directory.

3.) Bringo aka No Phone Trees
This company offers the service of waiting on hold for you. There is a list of particpating businesses and if the place you need to call (airline, bank, credit card company, cell phone company) is on the list, then instead of picking up your phone, you simply give Bringo your number online and they'll call for you and manipulate their way through the phone tree system. When a live person is ready to talk to you, Bringo will call you and hand off the phone! Interesting, no?

Want to watch a movie about Librarians?

Yeah, to most of you, the answer is probably no. But here's a Web site that lists a bunch of movies that feature librarians! I guess it's a work-in-progress because very few are annotated, unfortunately. Maybe he needs some help with it...

Evaluation paper... FINISHED!

Yay! I just got my paper that's due tonight finished. I have no idea why but it took me FOREVER to finish this thing. I really struggled with it. There wasn't a whole lot of information about it out there; I guess that was the problem. I really think I got the short end of the stick considering I am doing ROCKETinfo and others are doing more well-known search tools like Yahoo! Answers, Digg, Internet Public Library, Flickr, About.com, Kartoo, and Librarian's Internet Index. Only a few of my classmates are doing search tools that I have never heard of - me being one of them, of course. And my search tool is really designed for the corporate world. To read their Web site, you wouldn't even know they had a free search engine out there; it's all about their corporate solutions. Anyway, I'm not sure I did that well on the paper, in terms of providing the kind of information that my professor wants, but I do think it is well-written!

Speaking of which, my last paper due for this class - a group assignment with me and one other person - was returned with a grade today. I started to read the comments she made on it and couldn't understand what had happened! It was like a different paper had been submitted. My partner was in charge of submitting it and apparently decided to make some changes to my wording before he did so. He changed all these places I used "I" to "we". And then my professor changed them all back to "I". I have no idea what he was thinking. The worst part is that he wasn't even consistent about it. He kept some sections "I" and changed others to "we". There were two other occasions when he changed my wording and she changed it to something else - turns it she changed it to exactly what I had written before he got his hands on it. Wish he would have just left it alone; I'm sure we would have at least picked up another point or two because most of her comments resulted from these changes he made!

American Idol Thursday

Not too bad at guessing who was going to be eliminated, was I? Four for four. Although I did give myself a little extra wiggle room by mentioning Jared too. It really was a no-brainer, though, in my opinion. You watch this show for a few years and pick up some patterns.

The big talk on some Idol Web sites was the apparent boob job that Kellie Pickler got and Ryan alluded to... but, I'm not so sure. I mean, she looked way hot last night and sure, her breasts looked bigger. However: 1.) she has put on a little weight and when that happens, your breasts get bigger. 2.) her dress was way tight on her and that would make her breasts look bigger too. 3.) she probably has more money to afford better bras and wears a push-up one now. 4.) That tie thing on her dress right under her breasts would ALSO work as a push-up mechanism. So I'm just not convinced. I do know that her hair looked way overdone and just too too much but I'd have to see a lot more pictures of her in a lot of different outfits before I jump to the conclusion that she's had her breasts done. And, I'm just not that motivated to do it!

Make your own Peeps, part two

A couple months ago, I showed a Peeps press to make your own marshmallow peeps. Apparently, that's not the only option. Here are some Peeps molds! However, the first one appears to have the brand name behind it and looks more authentic. (via)

Cool-looking chair

This hood chair looks neat, but I can't tell if you can really lift the hood and wear it while you are sitting or not. I would guess not and that it's all aesthetic.

"AP Bans Paris Hilton Stories and No One Notices"

This blog post made me laugh. Apparently, the Associated Press decided on February 19 it was not going to write any stories on Paris Hilton for a full week. And, during that week, no one asked for a story about her either. Clearly, no one is clamoring for that nonsense gossip stuff about Paris Hilton - at least not from the AP. I imagine people go elsewhere for their Paris Hilton news. I wish the media would do the same thing with Anna Nicole Smith. Entertainment Tonight's coverage really makes me want to puke. My mom made us watch it tonight (she bitched and moaned about it during the entire 30 minutes but refused to let me change the channel!) and they did a play-by-play of the big funeral. It was seriously disgusting; you would have thought a world leader had died by the way they covered it.

Password update

My professor sent me a new user name and password with no comment about my slackerness. Phew. She tried the password/user name and they worked. I tried them too and they worked for me, also. Double phew!

I have a big paper that I should be working on, so...

I took a quiz.

You Are 24% Slacker

You have a few slacker tendencies, but overall you tend not to slack. You know how to relax when the time is right, but you aren't lazy!

Are You a Slacker?

More bad news

Also today, I got a phone call from the place near DC that had a job fair a couple weeks ago. The woman called and asked me to come for an interview on Monday. I can't go on Monday! Of all the days on the calendar, the only day I could not do an interview is Monday. I already have another appointment Monday afternoon. Here in Cleveland, of course. So I asked her if we could do it another day and she said no.

I'm kind of annoyed by it all. When I went to the job fair, she specifically told me that they call people in for interviews and give them a lot of advance warning, like two weeks! When she told me, I thought, "Hmm, that's a lot of notice!" Also, I didn't believe her! So what happens? She calls Thursday afternoon and wants me to come in two days. You know, not counting the weekend. Besides the fact that I'm coming from out of town, isn't that a ridiculously little amount of notice? I've found that to be the case for a few jobs I've interviewed for... "You come the day we say or you don't come at all." I just don't understand that mindset. I guess they feel they have a plethora of good candidates and can afford to eliminate people who are so inflexible that they can't make it the one day set aside for them but in my mind, it doesn't exactly create good will. Do I want to work for an employer who is so rigid and inflexible that they can't even set aside TWO days to possibly interview you? Not especially.

Oops! Password Incorrect

I'm supposed to be working with Dialog, an online database, for my one class. I guess it's been a few weeks now that we were supposed to be checking it out, although last week was the first week in which the lecture specifically called for using it. Well, I've been keeping up with all the readings. I've followed along with the assignments in our Dialog workbook. I watched the Dialog tutorial we were given. I just hadn't yet signed in to Dialog (as part of the class, I might add... I have used Dialog before in one of my internships). So, technically I am only a week behind in the lecture and am not behind at all in the readings.

I'll cut to the chase, as you guys can probably see where I'm headed. When I tried to log in to Dialog today to do last week's and this week's lecture, I couldn't get in. Seems my password is invalid. I must have tried it thirty times, at least. Although I wrote it down very clearly, I even tried changing the 's' to a '5' and the '1' to an 'l' and that sort of thing. Nothing's worked. So, umm, I had to email my professor and admit I haven't logged in yet this semester and now I can't get in. How embarrassing!

She honestly shouldn't care because it's clear I have been keeping up with the other assignments but she is kind of an idiot and a hypocrite (remember when I bitched about her criticising my grammar when hers is far from stellar?) so I am a little worried about her reaction. But oh well, what can I do?

Two final things. I just KNEW this was going to happen. I just had a feeling about it. From the moment she sent it, I knew I should really logon to just try it and I never did. All we've heard is how expensive it is to use Dialog. We even had to sign an agreement that we were only going to use it for school purposes. So, I just figured I didn't want to sign on until I was ready to dedicate some time to really exploring the database. But, that leads to my final comment. That time I dedicated was today and instead I have to wait and wait to hear back from her about it and use this time to do something else I wasn't planning on doing! Ugh.

American Idol Wednesday

Since I made projections for the guys this week, I might as well make some for the girls, too. I know most people kind of assume that Antonella is going to go home, but I'm not sure. She got SO much screentime during the auditions and Hollywood week, that I think she has fans... tonedeaf fans to be sure, but fans nonetheless. And, also, I think that Haley Scarnato might have garnered some votes today by crying after the judges berated her. So, I'm going to guess that Alaina and Leslie might get voted out, although that would make me kind of sad because I like them both a lot for some reason. But, I might be wrong and it might be Alaina and Haley. Or maybe Antonella will go as is deserved.

Speaking of Leslie, am I wrong or does she look a lot like Lisi from Survivor: Fiji? That's kind of a bad picture of Lisi but seriously, they could be sisters. And, as evidenced tonight, they both speak gibberish too!

Geek Hierarchy Chart

Who is the geekiest of the geeks? This chart offers an answer. And, let me add, I think I'm embarrassed to see how low on the chart some guys I've dated would place. (via)