I cannot recommend this product and/or service. I think it was just a bad cold (not enough aches and fever for flu), but the coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing was kind of unbelievable. Thankfully, that seems to have died down, finally. Also thankfully, it more or less happened over a weekend, so I only missed work today and last Thursday.
Anyway, The Plague is highly overrated. Avoid it if at all possible.
This little guy was hanging out above my patio blinds. I like spiders, but not huge ones IN MY HOUSE. I caught him in a wine glass, took a few pictures, then put him outside. Poor thing is likely to freeze, but I don’t feel sorry enough for him to let him stay inside, even if they are pretty much non-aggressive and harmless.
This is the only shot I got of his eyes, but just the top two rows. Grass spiders have eight eyes, with two in the first row, four in the middle row, and two in the last. The two pointy things sticking out of the end of his abdomen are his spinnerets. They’re really long and prominent on grass spiders.
gel pen and ballpoint pen in steno pad
9 x 6 inches
I meant to post this last Thursday, but completely forgot. Oopsie! We had a webinar on creating provider neutral bibliographic records for e-books–not exactly a staff meeting–last week, which is where the right-hand and lower parts of the doodle were done. Riveting stuff! Actually, one item did make me sit up and take notice. We’ve begun cataloging e-books from print copy records, instead of from the item itself, something that will make a lot of catalogers’ brains explodiate. But with the move toward FRBR, wherein multiple item types will be nested under one uber-bib record, this makes a whole lotta sense. Under the provider neutral model, individual variances (e.g. one manifestation has 155 pages and another has 146) are not important. Under FRBR (which is a long way from being implemented yet), format itself will cease to matter at the bibliographic record level (e.g. a book and a DVD of a movie made from the book will fall under the same master bib record). So I see the provider neutral model as a step toward FRBR.
Interesting stuff, if you’re a cataloger, but probably not so much otherwise.
Anyway, we started creating provider neutral records a few weeks ago, so I understood the practice, but the theory–especially the point that we are to preference good records for print manifestations over the actual electronic item itself–hadn’t quite sunk in. Hence my momentary bogglement. Using records for print manifestations to flesh out the e-book record you’re creating is one thing, but to preference information in a bib record created from a manifestation you cannot physically put your hands on? Blasphemy!
There were squirrels out on the patio, and Harriet wanted one. I love the way she wiggles her nub when you talk to her. The woo-wooing at the end was a bonus.
I’ve been craving apple pie and have been meaning to make one for weeks. I was finally motivated, so today was Pie Day. I’m working on some vegetable soup, too.
I was surprised that Polly climbed into the dishwasher. Neither of the cats are very interested in what goes on in the kitchen. I don’t think they’ve ever gotten up on the table or cupboards, and they have absolutely no interest in people food. Polly did seem curious about the squash bits on the potato masher, but she didn’t try to taste them.
On the other hand, they are not the least bit shy about stealing the dog’s bed. Again. I’ve pretty much given up on Harriet having her own bed, because since the kittens arrived, she hasn’t been able to sleep in it. Poor puppy.
It was snowing when I left for work, but even in the pre-dawn dark, I could see the clouds breaking up. By the time the sun rose, the sky was mostly clear. Clear skies are nice, but they also mean cold weather. It was 11F when I got to work. Don’t know what the wind chill was, but it was cold.
And I do mean itty bitty. He was about 3mm long. I thought it was a gnat at first, the way he was hopping around on my desk. Nope, just a very, very small, very, very bouncy spider.
I love that you can hear the sparrows cheeping over the sound of the wind.
I’m home today. I got Teh Hamthrax vaccine on Monday evening and started to feel like crap yesterday. This is why I never get flu shots. I always feel yucky for a day or two afterward, so I’d rather gamble on not getting the flu than take the guaranteed option of getting the shot and feeling tired and achy. I decided not to take chances with H1N1 though, because the potential secondary infections scare the crap out of me.
So here I sit, harassed by kittens and too unmotivated to even watch TV. I did take a picture, though!
red paper boat 