Posted by Adrienne on January 31, 2008 under Books | 
Have you ever looked at one of those “Books-Everybody-Should-Read-At-Least-Once-In-Their-Lifetime” lists? They’re full of authors like Melville and Hawthorne and Flaubert, whom I don’t really like, but also people like Austen and Twain and Hugo, whom I do. And often, there are people like Steinbeck and Camus and Ibsen and Tolstoy, whom I’ve never read, but feel like I really ought to. But it’s not like you can read a bunch of these folks back-to-back; you’ve got to mix it up with the “fun books,” that is, books that are easy to read and real page-turners. My last few books for the book count were definitely what I would call “fun books,” so Book number 5 wasn’t really a “fun book” but a classic of literature like on one of those lists.
Book Number 5 was Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. It’s a companion to Tortilla Flat which I read last year on the bus while going to and from grad school, but I never got around to reviewing it on the blog. Both Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat take place in Monterrey, California, sometime in the 1920s. And both books follow the adventures of a cast of nobodies, who don’t do a whole lot of work, do drink a whole lot of alcohol, and generally bob along through life.
Read more…
Posted by Josh on January 30, 2008 under Cakes |
Just when you thought that was it for cakes, there’s another cake! In fact, the emergence of this cake is what prompted me to finally post the pictures of the other cakes earlier this week, because I couldn’t bring myself to post them out of chronological order.
This cake was for Adrienne’s mom’s birthday as her folks were up in Seattle over the weekend. Happy Birthday!
Posted by Adrienne on January 29, 2008 under Random Thought, Technology |
Every so often, I have a day at grad school that is just kind of funny. Today was such a day.
In my morning class, we had the dean of the iSchool (that’s short for Information School. Oh, we are so hip!) come and tell us about what he does. Analyzing how the administration works is part of an assignment for our class. Anyway, the man is pretty funny and he has a lovely Australian accent, so I really could have listened to him talk forever, even if it was about things like “The Goals of the iSchool” and “How We Know When We’ve Done Our Jobs Right.” Best part about it: the dean’s name is Harry Bruce. (There is NO Rule 6!) Fortunately, I only made that connection after the interview was over. Otherwise, I would have been giggling uncontrollably and been unable to take notes.
In my afternoon class, we made fun of the stupidity of the Library of Congress and talked about RDA. That is, Resource Description and Analysis, a new way to catalog things that are hard to catalog, like movies and web pages. It’s nice to have the cataloging community finally getting itself into the 21st century, but I wish they would move a little faster. Okay, a lot faster. And most of my classmates (and professors, too) think the same. Of course, they probably don’t get Resource Description and Analysis confused with another RDA:
Yes, fun with grad school and pop culture. Good times.
Posted by Josh on January 28, 2008 under Random Thought |
Legos are 50 years old. I would have missed it if not for Google changing its logo for the day to commemorate it:
Here’s an article from Gizmodo, which includes a timeline with some pictures.
Posted by Josh on January 27, 2008 under Cakes |
I am a lazy bum. Mostly. That is why I am only just now posting pictures of the two cakes I made last month for the two Christmas celebrations (one for the student workers, one for the staff). The first cake was baked in the castle-shaped bundt pan we got for our wedding from our good friend, Adam. Read more…
