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)