In Other News

We had a review meeting last night of DC Diamond Circulate, the host committee of the 2009 IAGSDC convention. We're starting to get a little anxious as the Cleveland convention is now only a few months away and our own convention is only 15 months off. Still, all appears to be currently on track.

After the meeting, we stayed for some Plus and A2 dancing with Dayle Hodge. I've passed a stack of event flyers to another dancer to take to the upcoming Hotlanta Squares fly-in and confirmed with Dayle our calling schedule for the rest of January and February.

There has a heavy drizzle outside continuously since yesterday evening, giving everything a good soaking although I don't know if enough rain has actually fallen to improve the reservoirs or water table.

This afternoon, Dan Sorenson from Seattle is buzzing into town for work-related training; we'll be having dinner with him tonight and perhaps cross paths through the next few days. We also have Debs & Jason staying with us Saturday & Sunday so once again the house will be full. It's fun seeing everyone but it has convinced me that I'd never be able to run a bed & breakfast business: I'm just not that hospitable on demand. Or ever, for that matter.

In Other News

We had a review meeting last night of DC Diamond Circulate, the host committee of the 2009 IAGSDC convention. We're starting to get a little anxious as the Cleveland convention is now only a few months away and our own convention is only 15 months off. Still, all appears to be currently on track.

After the meeting, we stayed for some Plus and A2 dancing with Dayle Hodge. I've passed a stack of event flyers to another dancer to take to the upcoming Hotlanta Squares fly-in and confirmed with Dayle our calling schedule for the rest of January and February.

There has a heavy drizzle outside continuously since yesterday evening, giving everything a good soaking although I don't know if enough rain has actually fallen to improve the reservoirs or water table.

This afternoon, Dan Sorenson from Seattle is buzzing into town for work-related training; we'll be having dinner with him tonight and perhaps cross paths through the next few days. We also have Debs & Jason staying with us Saturday & Sunday so once again the house will be full. It's fun seeing everyone but it has convinced me that I'd never be able to run a bed & breakfast business: I'm just not that hospitable on demand. Or ever, for that matter.

Podcast Joy!

Every morning, I copy various MP3 podcasts from iTunes on my iMac to a flash USB drive; while working on various projects at the office, I plug in the USB drive and my earphones and listen to the podcasts.

My preferred podcasts are nearly all news broadcasts or university lectures. In particular, I like:

• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "World at Six," "Quirks & Quarks," "Sounds like Canada," "This Week in Toronto" and "This Week in Ontario";
  
• les nouvelles de Radio Canada (French language news from Montreal);
  
• BBC's DocArchive;
  
• TED, but because it is video I have to watch this at home;
  
• occasional programs of NPR's "Fresh Air" and "Diane Rehm Show";
  
• NPR's "Marketplace";
  
• Slate's daily offerings and weekly gabfest; and,
  
• the Australia Broadcast Corporation's weekly "Occam's Razor," although it's also the most annoying. This program is typically 15 minutes long and while the speakers are interesting, it's very clear (to me, anyway) that everything interesting they had to say takes only five minutes: so much mental meandering is typically strewn through the storyline that I'm close to unsubscribing. Still, every couple of months, there's something worth listening to so I keep on.

Until recently, there was something about "Marketplace" which caused my office's version of Windows Media Player to die so I could only listen at home during my spare time. A recent corporate-mandated upgrade seems to have fixed that problem so I'm a slightly happier camper than I was at this time yesterday.

Podcast Joy!

Every morning, I copy various MP3 podcasts from iTunes on my iMac to a flash USB drive; while working on various projects at the office, I plug in the USB drive and my earphones and listen to the podcasts.

My preferred podcasts are nearly all news broadcasts or university lectures. In particular, I like:

• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "World at Six," "Quirks & Quarks," "Sounds like Canada," "This Week in Toronto" and "This Week in Ontario";
  
• les nouvelles de Radio Canada (French language news from Montreal);
  
• BBC's DocArchive;
  
• TED, but because it is video I have to watch this at home;
  
• occasional programs of NPR's "Fresh Air" and "Diane Rehm Show";
  
• NPR's "Marketplace";
  
• Slate's daily offerings and weekly gabfest; and,
  
• the Australia Broadcast Corporation's weekly "Occam's Razor," although it's also the most annoying. This program is typically 15 minutes long and while the speakers are interesting, it's very clear (to me, anyway) that everything interesting they had to say takes only five minutes: so much mental meandering is typically strewn through the storyline that I'm close to unsubscribing. Still, every couple of months, there's something worth listening to so I keep on.

Until recently, there was something about "Marketplace" which caused my office's version of Windows Media Player to die so I could only listen at home during my spare time. A recent corporate-mandated upgrade seems to have fixed that problem so I'm a slightly happier camper than I was at this time yesterday.

Can I Retire Now?

A quote fragment from an NPR program about college tuition: "A baby bust in the early 1990s means the number of high school seniors is about to decline."

Um, the 1990s were, like, yesterday, weren't they? How on earth can people born in 1990 be old enough for for college? They're barely done potty training!

Oy, I suddenly feel very, very old. Hmmm... "Hey, you kids! Keep off my lawn!" Yeah, that felt sadly normal: I must be old now. *sigh*

Can I Retire Now?

A quote fragment from an NPR program about college tuition: "A baby bust in the early 1990s means the number of high school seniors is about to decline."

Um, the 1990s were, like, yesterday, weren't they? How on earth can people born in 1990 be old enough for for college? They're barely done potty training!

Oy, I suddenly feel very, very old. Hmmm... "Hey, you kids! Keep off my lawn!" Yeah, that felt sadly normal: I must be old now. *sigh*

Happy birthday, ciddyguy and timcub!

Congrats to each of you on the anniversary of your arrival on the planet. Hopefully, I'll get to actually meet each of you some day too.

Happy birthday, ciddyguy and <user site="livejournal.com" user=

Congrats to each of you on the anniversary of your arrival on the planet. Hopefully, I'll get to actually meet each of you some day too.

Emissions Tested

Not mine, the car's.

Maryland requires vehicles to have emissions checked every two years. This particular test was only to check the gas cap for a proper seal and to check the car's on-board diagnostics. There was no treadmill test or actual testing off emissions from the tailpipe; I'm not sure if my car isn't due for a more thorough check or if they're simply relying on the car's sensors to confirm there isn't an issue.

In any case, my humble 2001 Civic passed the tests required and is good until 2010.

Emissions Tested

Not mine, the car's.

Maryland requires vehicles to have emissions checked every two years. This particular test was only to check the gas cap for a proper seal and to check the car's on-board diagnostics. There was no treadmill test or actual testing off emissions from the tailpipe; I'm not sure if my car isn't due for a more thorough check or if they're simply relying on the car's sensors to confirm there isn't an issue.

In any case, my humble 2001 Civic passed the tests required and is good until 2010.