SW III

Why, in this age when everyone loves abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms, would you have a lengthy title that can be shortened to ROTS?

Anyway....

This movie was much, much, much better than I had expected. Still some rough spots and some wooden acting, even from Ewan (who looks an awful lot like Kiefer Sutherland in these last two SW movies). The killing sequence has a wonderful musical score.

Note to N: there are a couple of groaner places in the very beginning when I thought "Oh no, please don't let this be like II." It never got that bad, I don't think. Then again, I started getting a cold that day, so maybe my head was more fuzzy than I realized. It will be interesting to see what I think the second time around....

Store Wars

Brilliant... absolutely brilliant: Store Wars

More Cool Sites

I haven't explored these much, but at first glance they look interesting:

Eternal Egypt

The Big Myth -- the Hawaiian link doesn't work yet, but the Egypt one does.

TV Shows on DVD -- you can vote for TV shows you want to be released on DVD.

Cool Sites

Lori pointed out this awesome photographer's site, Chromasia.

MapMachine -- National Geographic Maps, 'nuf said....

The End of Everything?

In the short article "What are the odds of Earth's cataclysmic end?" IfA researchers explain some of the possibilities other than a galactic highway. Don't Panic -- you don't need to lose any sleep over them.

One of the things I love about astronomers is their ability to talk about their science in plain language. You can hear for yourself at the free "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the End of Everything", a panel discussion by University of Hawai'i astronomers, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at the Art building auditorium on the Manoa campus.

Another thing I love about science in general is that truth is almost always stranger than fiction ever could be.

Campus Hawaii Clubs

Hawaii is special in so many ways, even when it's exported to the mainland: "Hawaii clubs are fixtures at more than 50 colleges nationwide, and on many campuses are the only state-themed clubs."

Sorry, Dad, even if Cornell had one, I still wouldn't move back....

Two Links

I love Michael McGrorty's writing. This post goes well with our 52 in 52 attempt. I'm think I'm now at about 27 -- I may have forgotten a couple along the way...

And:

In Wil's words: "I'm not sure if this is real, or not. If it's not, it's the funniest satire in history. If it is . . . it explains so much."

Open House

And a wonderful time was had by all...

Haikubes

Just in time for her foray back into the world of being employed by someone else, Miss Lori has established Haikubes, "Poetry for Modern-Day Corporate Warriors." And she asked me to join!

So, I wrote 6 of these darn things in 1/2 an hour yesterday -- the voices in my head are back! I will post them gradually so as to not be too overwhelming, and also because I'll probably never be able to write another one after that creative burst....

To get you started, and because the last one I wrote doesn't really fit the theme, I'll post it here:

I can’t stop thinking
In terms of five, seven, five
Guess things could be worse

Handheld Recovery

I will never understand computers as long as I live. I finally broke out the operating system disc for my handheld, but decided to give it just one more try (fingers crossed, whispered pleas). And damned if it didn't sync right away! I have no explanation. None. I'm completely stumped and confused. Also, mightily relieved...

Handheld Problems

I had to do a reset on my Visor Deluxe (old, but reliable) last night, which didn't worry me at all, but today when I try to HotSync, I'm getting the following error message:

"Restore application database error
HotSync Error: Connection is lost (6410)"

I did try searching on the Handspring site, but nothing that was suggested made any difference.

Anyone have any ideas?
email: amy at amysbookshelf dot com

Looking at all the data I have on the desktop that's no longer in the palm of my hand is making me very nervous...

Sleeping Cat Poses

The Silly Sleeping Pose Olympics for cats. If you live with cats and you haven't seen poses like these, you aren't paying enough attention.

Thanks, S., for the link and the smiles!

Kung Hee Fat Choy!!!

Check out Google's homage to Lunar New Year.

If you miss seeing it on Wednesday, you can check out the archives here.

Clientcopia

Clientcopia is one of those things that I wish was made up (and some of it probably is), but unfortunately the majority of it is heartbreakingly real and it just makes me shake my head in despair. Can something be so funny that it's sad?

Sometimes the way to avoid stupidity is just to slow down the pace of your life...

52 in 52

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but if I did, this would be a good one:

Some friends came up with the idea of reading 52 books in 52 weeks. Certainly a worthy goal, so I jumped aboard and am going to keep track of them here. For later reference, there's a link over there on the right.

Now I need a similar goal for writing....

Vacation

I won't be posting for about a month, which means I'll miss the first anniversary of this weblog. The dearth of postings lately has been an anomaly and not a trend -- I've actually really enjoyed this blog and am looking forward to continuing it.

In anticipation of Thanksgiving, here's this year's list of things I'm thankful for:
Family, especially Mom -- without her, you'd have to visit me in a little padded cell...
Friends -- I'm blessed with some real gems...
My cats -- furry, purry, and still such a joy...
My wonderful new house -- still a rental, but so much better than the last place...
Clear night skies
Puanani is moving to Hilo

And, as always:
Disney
Books, Music, Movies
Laughter
Chocolate
Christmas is coming...

Disaster Planning

I know it's silly, but I feel an odd twinge every time I think of the Manoa flood and the fact that, less than one week before, I gave a talk at the Hawaii Library Association Conference titled "Disaster Planning for Libraries." Now I know that the timing was just coincidental, but I still feel a little bit funny....

On a more positive note, one of the attendees has asked me to give my talk to his organization :)

UH Manoa Flood Information

The University of Hawaii at Manoa suffered unbelievable damage from flood waters on October 30th. Most of the damage was to the basement of the main library and to several research buildings (the world famous mouse cloning team had offices in one). Extremely fast moving water and mud reached 6 - 8 feet high in some places. Mom said she was having flashbacks to Corning in 1972...

General UH Flood Information

General Flood Relief Contributions

Library Specific Flood Relief Contributions

LIS Program Specific Flood Relief Contributions

Honolulu Advertiser stories: one -- Yes, those are cars that were pushed by water into the trees! -- and two.

Library Photos by Susan Murata: This is a slideshow that takes a moment to load, but I think it does the best job of showing the effects of the disaster that has destroyed one of my favorite places. Yes, those metal shelving units loaded with books were toppled by water.

The basement of Hamilton Library housed the Library School, Government Documents, Maps, Collections, Acquisitions, and the library computer servers. Basically, everything down there was completely and utterly destroyed. Unsalvageable. Lost. Talk about a heavy heart...

In Hilo

We've all arrived in Hilo and are (mostly) doing fine. I'm a little worried about Ashe -- he's living under the bed -- but I think he'll gradually come out once he realizes his world isn't moving around as much as it has in the past month.

Will post more details on the move later. Mom and I unloaded the container and everything is in the house. Most of the furniture is even in position -- including the love seat, hope chest, and 3 six-foot bookshelves in the loft!

No word on the job yet and it's starting to worry me, but otherwise, I'm fine.

And whatever the bozos at airport security try to tell you, you do NOT have to take the cats out of their carriers!!

Quick Update

I have only sporadic Internet/email access. Please forgive me if I don't respond right away. Updates will be scarce until I find out what kind (and how much $$$) Internet access is going to be at the new place.

Moving companies were outrageously $$$, so Mom and I have packed everything ourselves and will be loading it into a U-Haul on Monday, September 20 and then taking it out of the U-Haul on Tuesday and loading it into a 20' cargo container. The container sails on Wednesday and arrives in Hilo on Friday, but I won't have access until Monday.

Don't be on the Aloha Airlines flight that leaves Honolulu at 8:10 a.m. on Monday, September 27 -- Mom, Noreen, and I will each have one carry-on of one cat. Gotta remember to talk to the vet's about tranqs....

On Monday the 27th and Tuesday and 'til noon on Wednesday, Mom and I will get to take everything out of the cargo container and load it back into a U-Haul, truck it :) to my new apartment (description later -- it's way cool) and heave it up the stairs and into place.

Looks like the final box count for the books is 46.

Two of the things I hate most are moving and looking for a new job (no news yet) -- and at the moment I'm doing both at the same time!

Gotta run, but I'm still alive and doing okay...