aliens ate my homework

Woohoo, my copy of Aliens Ate My Homework arrived! Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff are amazing. You can check out (and hear samples from) this great collection of parodies here. "We Are The Cubs Fans" recently aired on Dr. Demento. Very cool that their son Alex is on the recording, and Kristine is on the back cover.

While you're at CDBaby, you can also listen samples from Retro Rocket Science and Manhattan Sleeps (one of my all-time favourite filk CDs).

Busy writing week...I LOVE SAYING THAT! *SO* great to be typing again, though I'm having to take lots of mini-armbreaks. Current projects: short story with Michelle, a magazine article, two articles for an educational Web site. All due by next week. I'm going to start back on my novel once the short story's finished.

Making time to run is more of a challenge, but I force myself...too easy to get into the habit of making the usual excuses otherwise ("I'm too tired" "I'm too busy" etc.). I'm trying to decide whether it's better to go running first thing in the morning or after work.

What tends to be happening these days: I start getting really tired near the end of the day, feel like taking a nap. REALLY don't feel like a workout of any kind, start justifying why I need to put it off until tomorrow. Then I realize that this is exactly when I -need- a good workout, and force myself to put on my running gear, get outside. This requires a huge amount of willpower sometimes, but I never regret it.

Went for a good run late yesterday afternoon. Gorgeous weather out, so went running in shorts and a tank top for the first time. Felt a bit self-conscious at first about my pasty-white legs and jiggling in places I probably shouldn't be jiggling but then I think, "Hey, at least I'm out here!" And then I start focusing on the run, forget about being self-conscious, slip into a sort of meditative state: I'm aware of my breathing, the rhythm of my shoes hitting the ground, the tightness in my legs that loosens up as I get into my run. I feel like I can run forever.

Once I reach that state, it's incredibly relaxing, both mentally and physically. I suppose that's what some people refer to as a "runner's high". Whatever it is, I like it.

Still out of shape compared to my pre-tendinitis days, but I'm gradually improving. The test for me is always how I feel after running up five flights of stairs beside the Skydome at the end of my run...I don't feel like throwing up and dying (not necessarily in that order) anymore, which I figure is a good thing.

(Posted by Bill Sutton in Blatherchat this morning:

"I seem to never reach that endorphin state where the rhythm and the breathing lull me into meditation. Even when I made a conscious effort to run daily - lasted for about 3 months - at the end of the three months every step and breath was still as painful and hard as the last. I reach a state where I can't think of anything but taking the next breath.

Please give generously to the endorphin-deprived.")

Getting together with Allison and Jodi tonight for an Urban Tapestry practice, in prep for our concert at Confluence in July.

Hey, and I'm also starting up my German studies again! We're staying in a castle near Vienna this September with some friends.


Sign we saw on the way home from the cottage.
Kinda scary, dontcha think?

(Added 8:58 am: I was amused by Sherman Dorn's comment in Livejournal about the photo above: "Now, the only thing missing from that picture was an advertisement for an oncology center and heart clinic, making it a single place to do all your business.")

May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal

bookmark from Mary

Thanks so much to Mary Bertke, who embroidered this bookmark for me! It arrived in the mail yesterday.

I had seen her Livejournal post asking about cross-stitch patterns for the Tree of Gondor, but had no idea that the project was intended as a gift for me for my bookmark collection.

I'm always in awe of those who can do needlecrafts like this. I lack the patience and hand-eye coordination. :-) I think I've crocheted one complete project in my lifetime...that was a baby blanket for Sara. Buoyed by anticipatory auntly enthusiasm, I vowed that I would crochet a blanket for Ruth's and Kaarel's first-born, but rapidly found the project more challenging than I expected.

But I persevered, and it got completed. It may be the smallest crocheted blanket in the world, and it's somewhat crooked and full of odd-looking knots and tufts where they shouldn't be, but it was made with love.

Also tried my hand at cross-stitching. Allison encouraged me, gave me an easy starter kit, gave me tips...all to no avail. Not only did I not get the project finished, but I ended up with a tangle of knotted threads in the back of the material; I have no patience for the neat tying-off that you expert cross-stitchers seem to find so effortless.

Think I'll stick to my Wacom artpad instead. Easier to erase mistakes. :-)

Anyway, THANK YOU, MARY!!

Hey, and that Tree of Gondor reminds me...LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL THE "RETURN OF THE KING" DVD COMES OUT, WOOHOO!!!

May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal

Movable Type survey

Mena Trott asks How are you using Movable Type, and asks that answers be posted as trackbacks in our blogs/journals. So here goes:

I use the program for a personal journal, a weblog for writers consisting of three MT blogs (one for cartoons, resource, and job listings), a blog for songwriters and musicians, a blog for my sister and several comic strips. There are ten blogs and three authors.

All are non-commercial and do not make any money. I do not need support.

questions and answers

The article about my sister appeared in The Toronto Star this past weekend while Jeff and I were at the cottage. You can read it here (thanks to Reid for scanning it). Today's entry is part of a Wordgoddess collaboration, where we were each supposed to come up with a list of questions for a particular Wordgoddess. I sent my questions to Say-Say. Thanks to Lynda for her list of questions, which I probably answered in too much detail; I've had to cut her list down, will answer her other questions in a future Blathering. I've only recently started to type rather than rely completely on Viavoice, and didn't want to overdo it with my arms. :-) Debbie Ohi | Post a Comment | Share Article | Permalink tagged Uncategorized Monday May172004 orkut and copyright Monday, May 17, 2004 at 2:03PM As you already know, I've been snooping around Orkut.com recently. Lots of potential for goodstuff, but also potential for bad. According to Orkut's Terms of Service: "By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the orkut.com service, you automatically grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials. That said, our use of your personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy and we will never rent, sell or share your personal information with any third party for marketing purposes without your express permission." Yet according to their FAQ: "orkut.com does not claim any ownership right in the profile or other information that you submit. When you submit content to orkut.com, we use it to display the content on the site and to other members according to your preferences. You may edit, remove or limit the people who can view the content at any time. We may analyze the types of information submitted to determine how our members use the site and how we can improve the orkut system." I'm going to be benevolent and assume that Orkut is establishing the fact that they have the rights to rebroadcast our material within the confines of providing the service, so we can read our own posts and to allow Orkut to backup data, copy it from one server to another, etc. But then why not say so? Orkut needs to reword its Terms of Service. As is, it seems to me that they would have the right to take any photos or text we post, and do what they like to that content without permission and without compensation. e.g. Take lyrics or a novel excerpt posted in a forum, for example, and reprint it in a hardcopy "BEST OF ORKUT" compilation, or scoop photo album pictures and use them elsewhere and in another context. They're already getting some bad press about this, so I hope they smarten up soon. It would, of course, be suicide for them to actually abuse this clause. But from my own experience in the past, I've learned that you can't always assume that companies will be smart instead of stupid. So until Orkut revises their TOS, I'm going to continue to use their service, but be careful of what I post. Rush hour on the subway this morning. Quite the change from the cottage... May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal Debbie Ohi | Post a Comment | Share Article | Permalink tagged Uncategorized Page 1 ... 6 7 8 9 10 ... 21 Next 5 Entries » Copyright©2021 Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Base URL: DebbieOhi.com. Contact

orkut and copyright

As you already know, I've been snooping around Orkut.com recently. Lots of potential for goodstuff, but also potential for bad. According to Orkut's Terms of Service: "By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the orkut.com service, you automatically grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials. That said, our use of your personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy and we will never rent, sell or share your personal information with any third party for marketing purposes without your express permission." Yet according to their FAQ: "orkut.com does not claim any ownership right in the profile or other information that you submit. When you submit content to orkut.com, we use it to display the content on the site and to other members according to your preferences. You may edit, remove or limit the people who can view the content at any time. We may analyze the types of information submitted to determine how our members use the site and how we can improve the orkut system." I'm going to be benevolent and assume that Orkut is establishing the fact that they have the rights to rebroadcast our material within the confines of providing the service, so we can read our own posts and to allow Orkut to backup data, copy it from one server to another, etc. But then why not say so? Orkut needs to reword its Terms of Service. As is, it seems to me that they would have the right to take any photos or text we post, and do what they like to that content without permission and without compensation. e.g. Take lyrics or a novel excerpt posted in a forum, for example, and reprint it in a hardcopy "BEST OF ORKUT" compilation, or scoop photo album pictures and use them elsewhere and in another context. They're already getting some bad press about this, so I hope they smarten up soon. It would, of course, be suicide for them to actually abuse this clause. But from my own experience in the past, I've learned that you can't always assume that companies will be smart instead of stupid. So until Orkut revises their TOS, I'm going to continue to use their service, but be careful of what I post. Rush hour on the subway this morning. Quite the change from the cottage... May 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal