Monday morning: It's cleaning day . . .

1. Wow, the new folks keep coming. This is kinda cool. Welcome, welcome, welcome to   florentinescot, wishwords, ziactrice. All Scadians -- a Meridian and two Ansteorrans (courtesy of soldirgrrl's journal). At least one Phd., and another Seanan Maguire fan. Yay!

2. I am wearing a long-sleeve, black, LiveJournal t-shirt, blue, striped boxer shorts and wool socks.

3. Today is going to be a day of cleaning. The bathroom is already pretty well done, and the kitchen is next. I hate dishes! The computer room should not take long, then putting clothes away and cleaning the bedroom. The living room looms. Somewhere, there will be Playstation. "I love NASCAR . . . "

4. This is for all my addicted friends.



5. Alethea_eastrid and I put the "fandom" in Family.

She sends me an e-mail that's supposed to have her library column for the local weekly paper attached.

Then she sends a second called: "One more, with attachment."

6. I noticed yesterday that the good thing about the cat standing on my shoulder is that she is not beween me and the computer screen, nore is she "typing" for me.

7. The Herald has a  story   on the Toscanini's issue, as well as comments. I still think annodomini's post on my previous entry is the best commentary I have read on the topic.

8. Now that Arisia is over, will be there more posts about it, or fewer?

Musings about LJ . . .

My friend soldiergrrrl is just getting involved in the SCA, and she told her friends list that there will probably be a lot of SCA posts, and she will cut or flag them. Now, she's get a wide world view and a lot of folks on her friends list are not SCA.

This got me to thinking. I used to worry about posting about the SCA too much, then I realized of the 17 people who have friended me since Jan. 1, 16 are SCA. (I love getting out to events).

Thoughts?

Since I cannot figure out how to post a poll here, there's one coming.

Edit: Fixed link.

Poll about how you know me . . .

[Poll #1124984]

What's your involvement with the SCA

[Poll #1125002]OK, here's another one.[Poll #1125002]

Posty McPosty Pants . . . Thoughts on LJ

One of the panels I missed by not going to Arisia was "LJ and SixApart, Discussing the Meltdown"

shadesong was one of the folks on the panel, and she said it went well.

Here was the description:

Over the past year, the popular blogging site LiveJournal and its owner, SixApart, have made some stunningly boneheaded moves, from opening the site to commercial sponsorship to deleting fannish LJ accounts at the goading of a known white supremacist group. Their PR during this matter has been lacking, to say the least, and many formerly loyal LJers are fleeing to other blogging sites. What went wrong?

Now, I think that's a very one-sided summary, but then again, panels can be opinionated.

What do you think? I know some of us have discussed this before, but I am wondering.

Did it get your dander up? Did you leave LJ? (that's a joke). Are you thinking about leaving LJ.

For me, it was barely a blip, and I think now that the company has been sold, it's old news.

But that's just my opinion!

Truth in advertising: Arisia also had a warm, fuzzy panel on LJ:

LiveJournal and the Nature of Community

LJ has risen above all of the other blogging site to become the site of choice. Why? Community - a sense of community that was built into LJ, that the other sites don't have the programming to accommodate. And as LJ grew, the community has grown as well, with thousands of mini-communities. How is LJ *your* community?

News for the Dropkick Murphys fans among us . . .

Hi everyone,  We have announcement we need to make about the band and we're going to let Marc start things off;

   Dear DKM friends & fans,  You may have heard some talk that I am going to stop playing with the Dropkick Murphys. I wanted to confirm that the rumors are true and I am leaving the band. I'm very grateful for everything playing with DKM has brought me and I'm sad to be going but I feel like the time has come for me to try working on different styles of music and some of my own projects, I'm ready to spread my wings as they say.

    I've been pickin', ticklin', strummin', squeezin', crashin', trashin' and smashin' with the Dropkicks for many years and am proud to have been a part of all the achievements and success we've had. However the greatest achievement of all has been the friends I've made and the people I've met along the way. Everyone has always supported me and the rest of the guys 100% in everything we've done which makes my leaving all the more difficult.  I'm very anxious and excited to see where the road takes me. DKM are (of course) going to continue on and Tim Brennan will be taking my place playing guitar, Tim is one of the greatest musicians around and I know he'll do an amazing job. I wish him and the band all the best for the future and thank all the guys so much for everything they've done for me and for giving me a chance to see the world and play in one of the best punk rock bands around. I am going to miss you all and can't tell you how lucky I feel to have been given the opportunity to play in DKM. Thank you all DKM fans everywhere. DKMs alive! Keep listening!

 -- Marc Orrell.

  It goes without saying that we're very sad to see Marc go but we'll always be great friends and he will be part of the Dropkick Murphys family forever. Just like the mafia, once you're in you can't get out!

 Marc has told us he wants his music to go in a different direction and we all agreed that some of the new musical styles he wants to explore just aren't going to fit in with the Murphys sound. Marc and the rest of us all feel that preserving the Dropkick Murphys style the fans have come to know and expect should be the main priority.

 As Marc mentioned above Tim will be moving over to playing guitar and another great friend of ours and fellow Boston guy Jeff DaRosa will be taking over Tim's old duties. Jeff is another super talented musician and has been tight with us since our days playing at the Rat and will be familiar to you from bands he has been in previously like the Pinkerton Thugs and The Vigilantes (whose record we released on our label many years ago).

   We want everyone to know that we are still very committed to Dropkick Murphys and making our fans happy. As you all already know Tim is an extremely accomplished guitar player and musician so the transition is going to be very smooth. DKM will continue on with the same dedication, effort and heart we always have and we want you all to know Marc's leaving will not change any of our forthcoming plans. This is just another bump in the DKM rocky road.

  -- Ken, Matt, Al, James, Tim & Scruffy. 

Sharing some compliments . . .

Someone once said, "I can live all week on a good complinment," or something to that effect.

I have gotten several that I would like to share. It makes me feel good, and it's all about me anyway. (Well in my LJ, it is)

1. I e-mailed a colleague from Peabody, where I used to teach about something. The subject line was: "Do you miss me?" I was sorta kidding, but she responded:

I certainly do miss you!  There is not as much laughter or appreciation of irony around here as there was with you here.  Where you are sounds like a country paradise, but maybe it is too lacking in diverse human contact?  What else can you get embroiled in to generate that dynamic enthusiasm and caring/passion that you have always had?

"Dynamic enthusiasm." I always thought of that as being "full of it." ;)

2. Someone I am working with in the SCA said:

". . . it seems that you always know a bunch going on. "

Yep. You can take the boy out of newspapers  . . .  

3. A good LJ friend just told me:

"Baby, when folks need throwing off trucks, you will be the first person I call."

Oh, I forget, it's the merchandise that falls off the truck!

4. I got a thank-you card, an update and a copy of an article from the mother of one of the kids I taught at Peabody. Now, I am not like the other teachers. This young lady was a huge Harry Potter fan, and I recommended a number of books and potential cons to her and her brother.

Along with the other stuff, I get a handwritten note from Mom:

"I asked PVMHS to forward this to you, because you had such an impact on Jess' high school experience.

I loved how you encouraged Jess' interests, even though they weren't in the subject you taught.

Because of you, Jess discovered volunteering with ARC, helping special needs adult bowl. Jess wrote about how special the bowlers were to her in one of her scholarship essays. (She won the scholarship).

You also let her know about the Harry Potter Symposium essay contest. As you know, she won that contest, too, and she loved attending "The Witching Hour." She met the editor of Science Fiction Chronicle, and he asked her to write an article about the symposium. (I've enclosed a copy).

So not only did Jessica enjoy your class and having you for a teacher, you helped her have other experiences beyond the curriculum as well.

Thanks again,

[name]"

By the way, the article was a full page, with a picture, and was well-written.

Ahh. I feel good now.

A librarian joke . . .

A librarian is working away at her desk when she notices that a chicken has come into the library and is patiently waiting in front of the desk. When the chicken sees that it has the librarian's attention, it squawks, "Book, book, book, BOOK!"

The librarian complies, putting a couple of books down in front of the chicken. The chicken quickly grabs them and disappears.

The next day, the librarian is again disturbed by the same chicken, who puts the previous day's pile of books down on the desk and again squawks, "Book, book, book, BOOK!"

The librarian shakes her head, wondering what the chicken is doing with these books, but eventually finds some more books for the chicken. The chicken disappears.

The next day, the librarian is once again disturbed by the chicken, who squawks (in a rather irritated fashion, it seems), "Book, book, book, BOOK!"

By now, the librarian's curiosity has gotten the better of her, so she gets a pile of books for the chicken, and follows the bird when it leaves the library.
She follows it through the parking lot, down the street for several blocks, and finally into a large park. The chicken disappears into a small grove of trees, and the librarian follows.

On the other side of the trees is a small marsh. The chicken has stopped on the side of the marsh. The librarian, now really curious, hurries over and sees that there is a small frog next to the chicken, examining each book, one at a time. The librarian comes within earshot just in time to hear the frog saying, "Read it, read it, read it..."