It's a new year tonight, and rather than dwell on the fact that I have no one to kiss to ring in the new year, I am going to spend time thinking about what I've done this past year. It has actually been a rather eventful year for me.
1) Comprehensive Exams
I passed my comprehensive exams, which led to me being able to graduate with my master's degree. Obviously I'm not using it right now, but I consider the experience to have been incredibly worthwhile on a number of levels.
2) Traveled around the country
I spent about a month in my car traveling around the US meeting awesome people and camping and laying on the beach.
3) Moving to Portland
I love this city. Within a week of getting here, I had a decent apartment, and now I've found a job before I ran out of money. Mission accomplished!
ok I don't know if three bullet points actually constitute "a rather eventful year", but it's certainly been an adventurous and uncertain year. I'm hoping that this next year will be more occupationally and financially stable, less paper-writingly stressful, and contain a good deal more kissing than the last.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
New Snippets, because I've been lazy
1) Jeff got a job.
I'm working at an all-vegan bakery in SE Portland now. It is awesome. I spend most of my time baking, and I'm also learning the ropes of our wholesale outfit so I can manage that part of things.
2) Snow sucks.
don't get me wrong, it could be a lot worse (cf: Iowa), but it's still snow and cold in a city where people have sworn to me that it never gets below freezing in the winter. Lucky me, I move here in time for the first real winter they've seen in at least 4 years.
3) Xbox.
I got a job, so I got my xbox back. Thanks mom! I picked up Fable 2, and it's pretty awesome, though I've already beaten the main story line (short game). Luckily, it's got tons of other things to do even after you've beaten it. I'm probably going to pick up Mass Effect again soon, because that game is awesome.
4) Portland is awesome for free stuff.
I found a kickass coffee table around the corner from my apartment, so I dragged it home and now it's in my living room. I also got a free working 27" TV on craigslist, and I made a TV stand for it with the remains of a disassembled futon frame that I found on the street. My couch is the backseat of someone's car that they had out by the trash, and my 5' tall book case was out on the curb with a 'FREE' sign on it. Basically all of my furniture is castoffs or made with castoffs. I feel pretty good that I've been saving money (important when unemployed!), not contributing to big corporate profits, and saving usable things from the landfill.
I'm working at an all-vegan bakery in SE Portland now. It is awesome. I spend most of my time baking, and I'm also learning the ropes of our wholesale outfit so I can manage that part of things.
2) Snow sucks.
don't get me wrong, it could be a lot worse (cf: Iowa), but it's still snow and cold in a city where people have sworn to me that it never gets below freezing in the winter. Lucky me, I move here in time for the first real winter they've seen in at least 4 years.
3) Xbox.
I got a job, so I got my xbox back. Thanks mom! I picked up Fable 2, and it's pretty awesome, though I've already beaten the main story line (short game). Luckily, it's got tons of other things to do even after you've beaten it. I'm probably going to pick up Mass Effect again soon, because that game is awesome.
4) Portland is awesome for free stuff.
I found a kickass coffee table around the corner from my apartment, so I dragged it home and now it's in my living room. I also got a free working 27" TV on craigslist, and I made a TV stand for it with the remains of a disassembled futon frame that I found on the street. My couch is the backseat of someone's car that they had out by the trash, and my 5' tall book case was out on the curb with a 'FREE' sign on it. Basically all of my furniture is castoffs or made with castoffs. I feel pretty good that I've been saving money (important when unemployed!), not contributing to big corporate profits, and saving usable things from the landfill.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Books books books
Reviewing books on Goodreads got me thinking about reading, and how I haven't read casually in quite some time. The last book I'd read was Slaughterhouse 5, and I only read that because I was traveling to Minnesota last month, and books are the best thing for an airplane. But I was thinking about books I enjoyed and that I should read more, so I did. I started in on Douglas Adam's Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the Ultimate compendium, with all 5 books in one), which I got from my aunt and uncle one christmas a number of years ago (and have read 2 or 3 times since). Not only that, but the next day I was reading about how a book called World War Z is going to be made into a movie, and I realized that I own the book but have never read it, so I started in on that too. Well I got pretty absorbed in WWZ, and finished it about half an hour ago. It's basically a history book from the future, after a zombie plague sweeps the world, in the format of interviews with survivors. Very interesting, and quite moving at times, despite being a work of fiction. I decided to keep Hitchhiker as a sort of "bed-time" book, to read a chapter or two of every night before I go to bed, but maybe I'll read more now that I've already devoured WWZ.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Good Reads
There are a lot of website around nowadays that are trying to capitalize on the semi-recent popularity of "social networking" sites, like facebook and myspace, by adding a new spin to the base idea.
One of these sites is Goodreads, where you create a profile for yourself, and then browse or search through their vast database of books and rate or review the ones you've read, mark ones you haven't but want to read, and tag the ones you're currently reading. And of course, as a social networking site, you can keep a friends list, and stay up to date on what your friends thought of books they've read, which ones they're reading now, and which they want (maybe so you can buy them a birthday present).
The site's database is quite extensive. In addition to popular fiction and sci-fi books, I was able to find quite a few academic books, such as Kager's Optimality Theory. If you do happen to have read a book that isn't in the database already, you're in luck, because the database itself is editable by users, and the interface for adding a new book looks to be quite simple to use.
If you're even a little bit of a reader, rating books (on a 5-star scale) can be a fun way to while away a lazy afternoon, as you reminisce about what you liked (or didn't like) about books you may have read long ago. And don't feel any pressure to add *all* the books on your bookshelf, or all the books you've ever read. Just rate a few whenever you think of them, and you'll probably have quite a list of books before you know it.
One of these sites is Goodreads, where you create a profile for yourself, and then browse or search through their vast database of books and rate or review the ones you've read, mark ones you haven't but want to read, and tag the ones you're currently reading. And of course, as a social networking site, you can keep a friends list, and stay up to date on what your friends thought of books they've read, which ones they're reading now, and which they want (maybe so you can buy them a birthday present).
The site's database is quite extensive. In addition to popular fiction and sci-fi books, I was able to find quite a few academic books, such as Kager's Optimality Theory. If you do happen to have read a book that isn't in the database already, you're in luck, because the database itself is editable by users, and the interface for adding a new book looks to be quite simple to use.
If you're even a little bit of a reader, rating books (on a 5-star scale) can be a fun way to while away a lazy afternoon, as you reminisce about what you liked (or didn't like) about books you may have read long ago. And don't feel any pressure to add *all* the books on your bookshelf, or all the books you've ever read. Just rate a few whenever you think of them, and you'll probably have quite a list of books before you know it.
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