Notes from the STC Board meeting

Here in Atlanta on Friday morning at the pre-Board session on educational issues. It’s lovely that the hotel has given us a really ~nice~ plate of cheeses along with the more typical breakfast fare. And I just went to get a little fruit: being in Atlanta, we apparently have access to decently ripe cantaloupe and honeydew in January. (Oh, gawd, ripe strawberries and blackberries and raspberries, too!)

I’ve been suffering this cold for some days and was still whorfling heavily yesterday, but as the day wore on, I was feeling a good deal better. This morning, I actually felt almost well. Hurrah! I figure I’ll be in even better shape tomorrow. It’d certainly be nice not to have to blow my nose or clear my throat every 5 minutes.

The Atlanta Hyatt hotel where we are is a very good hotel, although being not so keen on heights, I’m not happy with the completely open “airshaft” style of the hotel. I hug the walls a bit when I’m walking from my room to the elevator (which, as luck would have it, is diametrically opposite the elevators… which are themselves the open glass “outside” elevators so you can see going up and down).

It’s a trifle frustrating that, where we are in the International Ballroom downstairs from the lobby, there is no wireless connectivity. We’re under too much metal and concrete, so I have to wait until I get upstairs to make any connections. I’m also less than pleased that this is an open wireless network, completely unsecured: I feel nervous about doing things online because there’s just no telling who’s snooping my passwords. Hell, I felt kinda chary about entering my credit card information on the form to start all of this up. Hmmmm….

We’re discussing what we like and don’t like about the conference right now. I’m pleased that I’m not the only one with some of my concerns and there is a shared view of the kinds of things we can do better. I am also enormously buoyed by the opportunity we’re seeing for change and progress now. I know we’d never have managed this a year ago, but I think that things are going to happen now.

Notes from the STC Board meeting

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The mother of all blonde jokes

A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started." Her boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?" The blonde says, "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger." Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle.

She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger."

He takes her hand and says, "Second, I want you to relax.  Let's have a nice cup of tea, and then...." He sighed "....let's put all the Frosted Flakes back in the box."

The mother of all blonde jokes

A different kind of computer game

Susan is using the other computer here in the office at the moment and she reminded me of something I want to mention here.  She's playing a game off of Orisinal.com (no, I've no idea what the word means).  Orisinal has a few dozen games that are... nice.  They're sweet.  Nothing gets killed, bashed, splattered, punched, kicked, or even yelled at.  The games are very gentle.  And they're fun!  The games have really good graphics and nice background music.  As an example, a recent addition to the list is "A Daily Cup of Tea," wherein you join two little mice in their quest of making a perfect afternoon tea. 

If you'd like something that's nice without being mawkish or cloying, try

Orisinal.com.

A different kind of computer game

Click Here, You Idiot

The art of writing sales letters is one that's always fascinated me.  It's a sort of horrified fascination, I grant you, but it's a knack that I haven't really developed.  This guy, however, is in the Master class of sales letter writing.  It's worth reading all the way through: he keeps up the patter throughout without actually repeating himself. (Quite a trick, as you'll see.)

Click Here, You Idiot

The 50 Most Loathsome People in America

Here's a great list, with really nice illustrations: The 50 Most Loathsome People in America.

The 50 Most Loathsome People in America

Me on a postage stamp

Apparently, you can get just about any picture on a postage stamp. Zazzle.com offers a service wherein you can buy sheets of stamps custom printed with the photo you specify.  They're legal for postage and will pass muster with the USPO.  The catch is that they're really expensive! Buying a single sheet of 20 - 39-cent stamps costs $16.99 (the stamps alone are $7.80 of postage).  Prices start dropping rapidly depending on the number of sheets you order, but figure you're still going to cough up $4 extra/ even if you're ordering 100 sheets of 20 stamps.  That's a bit much for this, no matter how cool I could make postage look:

Me immortalized on a postage stamp

Me on a postage stamp

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....

I feel awful. The Babe feels awful. Ick.

And I've done something to my left leg: I keep having a deep pain in my shin. I must've stretched it or (more likely) slept on it wrong.

snivel snivel snivel snivel....

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....