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Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
My 25 things...
This was going around Facebook...so I thought I'd cross-post...
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
1. I am deathly afraid of telephone communication, but only in my personal life. I am terrified to speak to strangers when in need to make an appointment, argue with a utility company, make an inquiry, or even when calling friends. I've always tied this to the fact that we did not get a phone until I was 14 years old, and in my mind phones are for business and emergencies only.
2. I want to be an interior designer when I grow up.
3. I have a secret desire to be a singer in a (nonexistent) cover band for a specific Russian rock band.
4. I dress preppy, and am slightly ashamed of that. But only slightly.
5. I don't spend nearly as much money as I would like to on clothes and nice shoes. That said, 60% of my closet is dress clothes. Also, I'd like to eventually have a job where I could dress nicely.
6. I find that with opera, people either love it or hate it. Which confuses me, because I am totally indifferent towards opera.
7. I spend too much time reading design blogs, and not enough time implementing the ideas I garner from them.
8. I regret not having learned to bake from my grandmother before she passed away.
9. I am an overeducated snob, and proud of it.
10. I look at my high-school years with neither fondness nor regret, but rather a bit of indifference, which I am told is different from other people...
11. I am a classically trained pianist who has not touched the piano in almost 3 years. I miss it.
12. Sometimes I miss my 1.5 hour train commute, because I got a lot of reading done. Actual novels. That was before Google Reader showed up in my life.
13. I walk to work, it takes me 5-7 minutes depending on the snow. LOVE IT!
14. When I grow up and become that interior designer, I will live in the San Francisco Bay Area and probably miss New England.
15. When I was a child in Russia, we had to bring a change of shoes with us to school October through May to keep the school floors semi-clean. I think about that every day as I change into my work shoes under my desk, and then go on to mop the dirty shoe-prints from the newly painted black stage.
16. Speaking of shoes, to this day I don't understand why so many American homes and apartments have front doors that open directly into the living room - you NEED a coat closet and a place to take off your shoes and put your bags down. I feel funny if I come to your house and you don't ask me to take my shoes off.
17. Seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in my life in August 1992 was a truly life-changing experience. Seeing the Pacific in 2000 was just as strong, as they are so completely different. Even though I can't see the ocean from where I live, I can smell it on windy days, and that keeps my love affair with the ocean going.
18. I will never understand why theatres in the United States don't have extensive lobbies and cloakrooms. I understand about the cost of real estate and maximizing your profits, blah blah blah. BUT - The first time I went to Lincoln Center, I found people just as dressed up as they are going to the theatre in Russia, and there ARE cloakrooms there. THEN I went to BAM and discovered that I have to keep my coat on my seat, which totally cheapens the cultural experience. When I took my mother to see Chicago on Broadway, and we had to queue in the street in March because there is no lobby, I was embarrassed for the state of the culture in the United States.
19. I am much more fluent in English than in Russian in this point in my life, and that saddens me, as nobody should lose their native tongue.
20. If I never see anyone misuse "lose" and "loose", as well as "buses" and "busses", it will be too soon.
21. I discovered pedicures for the first time in my life at the age of 31. Now I get one whenever I can afford it - the foot massage alone is worth it.
22. I am Russian and I don't drink vodka. So there.
23. If I wasn't agnostic, I'd convert to Judaism.
24. Social interaction exhausts me. I am much better at dinner with 2 people than at a party with 10. If I go to any gathering with over 20 people, I need to rest a day afterward. When I used to teach, two hours in front of a classroom left me feeling as if I'd just run the marathon.
25. I like any ice cream, any time, but even more so if it's coffee-flavoured.
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
1. I am deathly afraid of telephone communication, but only in my personal life. I am terrified to speak to strangers when in need to make an appointment, argue with a utility company, make an inquiry, or even when calling friends. I've always tied this to the fact that we did not get a phone until I was 14 years old, and in my mind phones are for business and emergencies only.
2. I want to be an interior designer when I grow up.
3. I have a secret desire to be a singer in a (nonexistent) cover band for a specific Russian rock band.
4. I dress preppy, and am slightly ashamed of that. But only slightly.
5. I don't spend nearly as much money as I would like to on clothes and nice shoes. That said, 60% of my closet is dress clothes. Also, I'd like to eventually have a job where I could dress nicely.
6. I find that with opera, people either love it or hate it. Which confuses me, because I am totally indifferent towards opera.
7. I spend too much time reading design blogs, and not enough time implementing the ideas I garner from them.
8. I regret not having learned to bake from my grandmother before she passed away.
9. I am an overeducated snob, and proud of it.
10. I look at my high-school years with neither fondness nor regret, but rather a bit of indifference, which I am told is different from other people...
11. I am a classically trained pianist who has not touched the piano in almost 3 years. I miss it.
12. Sometimes I miss my 1.5 hour train commute, because I got a lot of reading done. Actual novels. That was before Google Reader showed up in my life.
13. I walk to work, it takes me 5-7 minutes depending on the snow. LOVE IT!
14. When I grow up and become that interior designer, I will live in the San Francisco Bay Area and probably miss New England.
15. When I was a child in Russia, we had to bring a change of shoes with us to school October through May to keep the school floors semi-clean. I think about that every day as I change into my work shoes under my desk, and then go on to mop the dirty shoe-prints from the newly painted black stage.
16. Speaking of shoes, to this day I don't understand why so many American homes and apartments have front doors that open directly into the living room - you NEED a coat closet and a place to take off your shoes and put your bags down. I feel funny if I come to your house and you don't ask me to take my shoes off.
17. Seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in my life in August 1992 was a truly life-changing experience. Seeing the Pacific in 2000 was just as strong, as they are so completely different. Even though I can't see the ocean from where I live, I can smell it on windy days, and that keeps my love affair with the ocean going.
18. I will never understand why theatres in the United States don't have extensive lobbies and cloakrooms. I understand about the cost of real estate and maximizing your profits, blah blah blah. BUT - The first time I went to Lincoln Center, I found people just as dressed up as they are going to the theatre in Russia, and there ARE cloakrooms there. THEN I went to BAM and discovered that I have to keep my coat on my seat, which totally cheapens the cultural experience. When I took my mother to see Chicago on Broadway, and we had to queue in the street in March because there is no lobby, I was embarrassed for the state of the culture in the United States.
19. I am much more fluent in English than in Russian in this point in my life, and that saddens me, as nobody should lose their native tongue.
20. If I never see anyone misuse "lose" and "loose", as well as "buses" and "busses", it will be too soon.
21. I discovered pedicures for the first time in my life at the age of 31. Now I get one whenever I can afford it - the foot massage alone is worth it.
22. I am Russian and I don't drink vodka. So there.
23. If I wasn't agnostic, I'd convert to Judaism.
24. Social interaction exhausts me. I am much better at dinner with 2 people than at a party with 10. If I go to any gathering with over 20 people, I need to rest a day afterward. When I used to teach, two hours in front of a classroom left me feeling as if I'd just run the marathon.
25. I like any ice cream, any time, but even more so if it's coffee-flavoured.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Borrowing from Auto-Win
I am attending a technical rehearsal of a dance show. Right now that means I sit in my office and read things on-line. That's not ALWAYS the case, but currently my services are not needed in the theatre, yet I can't really go away until everyone is done. So I thought I'd get back to this blogging thing I've abandoned some months back.
Couple of weeks back my friend SB and I were quite taken by the idea of having a central repository of ideas, if you will, on-line that your friends can access. I suppose if you blog regularly, you can use your blog for that, but most people I know don't blog. Yet we would all like to share fun pictures, ideas, articles and news you find on-line, maybe some music, videoclips etc.
Now, if you subscribe to RSS feeds on Google, you can definitely share the media you find interesting with other people who subscribe to GReader. As you can see, that also has some obvious limitations.
Another way would be Facebook/MySpace - but do you really want your 65 Facebook friends to watch a Durex sex-toy ad? Or this one?
No, what we were desiring is an on-line notebook, if you will, that your friends can look into, where you stash those LOL cats, movie reviews, restaurant notes, viral videos, interesting news items etc. etc. - things that now are shared chiefly through randomized e-mail that can get a) lost, and b) annoying.
Seeing how I've got absolutely ZERO internet programming knowledge, obvs I won't be creating such a service any time soon. I mean, I compared Blogger with the Firefly Phone last week (it's only got 5 buttons) and I can't even bring myself to figure out how to migrate to another, not-quite-as-boring-layout-and-more-user-friendly blogging service...
But I will steal an idea from Auto-Win and post some links I got from reading the New York Times...
Americans are un-intellectual, and people write books about that.
They also choose not to wear perfume any more.
And some of them are insanely lucky to overcome the bureaucracy and score an insanely cheap (albeit tiny) corner of Manhattan.
Now, I don't live in NYC (and often, while reading the NYTimes, I think there really IS no other world outside Manhattan) but this real estate market story makes me think of Communism. You know why? Because there was so little available real estate in the former Eastern Bloc, you HAD to get married and move in together as soon as possible to enjoy any privacy at all. And then if you broke up or got divorced, there were very few rentals available, so you moved back in with your parents. Just like some of the people in the two stories above.
Couple of weeks back my friend SB and I were quite taken by the idea of having a central repository of ideas, if you will, on-line that your friends can access. I suppose if you blog regularly, you can use your blog for that, but most people I know don't blog. Yet we would all like to share fun pictures, ideas, articles and news you find on-line, maybe some music, videoclips etc.
Now, if you subscribe to RSS feeds on Google, you can definitely share the media you find interesting with other people who subscribe to GReader. As you can see, that also has some obvious limitations.
Another way would be Facebook/MySpace - but do you really want your 65 Facebook friends to watch a Durex sex-toy ad? Or this one?
No, what we were desiring is an on-line notebook, if you will, that your friends can look into, where you stash those LOL cats, movie reviews, restaurant notes, viral videos, interesting news items etc. etc. - things that now are shared chiefly through randomized e-mail that can get a) lost, and b) annoying.
Seeing how I've got absolutely ZERO internet programming knowledge, obvs I won't be creating such a service any time soon. I mean, I compared Blogger with the Firefly Phone last week (it's only got 5 buttons) and I can't even bring myself to figure out how to migrate to another, not-quite-as-boring-layout-and-more-user-friendly blogging service...
But I will steal an idea from Auto-Win and post some links I got from reading the New York Times...
Americans are un-intellectual, and people write books about that.
They also choose not to wear perfume any more.
And some of them are insanely lucky to overcome the bureaucracy and score an insanely cheap (albeit tiny) corner of Manhattan.
Now, I don't live in NYC (and often, while reading the NYTimes, I think there really IS no other world outside Manhattan) but this real estate market story makes me think of Communism. You know why? Because there was so little available real estate in the former Eastern Bloc, you HAD to get married and move in together as soon as possible to enjoy any privacy at all. And then if you broke up or got divorced, there were very few rentals available, so you moved back in with your parents. Just like some of the people in the two stories above.
Monday, October 22, 2007
left brain.right brain.no brain
Ok, for some reason this test has been making all the blogging rounds.
I saw it a couple of weeks back, and saw that I am dominantly right-brained, but the switch happens randomly and without my trying. If I deliberately try to switch the direction, nothing happens.
I guess I don't have much control over my own brain. Quel surprise...
Also, why is she nude? Is that essential to the test?
I saw it a couple of weeks back, and saw that I am dominantly right-brained, but the switch happens randomly and without my trying. If I deliberately try to switch the direction, nothing happens.
I guess I don't have much control over my own brain. Quel surprise...
Also, why is she nude? Is that essential to the test?
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Wasting time...
I am ashamed to say I got here through MetaFilter.
I own the poster above, and a few others.
The coolest thing on this site is the explanations of the historical events behind the posters - something that is useful to a non-Russian.
Because everyone needs a history lesson a day.
BTW, they are revising history in Russia AGAIN, with the current crop of 16-19 year olds thinking that Stalin was the best/most successfull leader the country ever had, and that the West ruined the bliss of Communism for them (???) - courtesy of MSNBC.com
Monday, August 20, 2007
The Internets
This is about the Internets.
I was bored a few weeks ago, and scrolled through a bunch of random blogs – you know how on Blogger there’s the “Next Blog” button? And it takes you to someone’s blog at random?
I felt a little bit like that commercial “You have reached the end of the Internet”, because a couple of times I was directed to the same blog over and over.
Do you remember when in the early 1990s there was a button on Yahoo, I think, where you could see the “New” webpages as they were being added daily, and the Internet was so small, like a public school library? And all of a sudden it’s the Library of Congress? Except much bigger and in every language under the sun?
Anyway, here is what I discovered cruising Blogger – people use the hosting service in the weirdest ways. Maybe this is indicative of the blogosphere in general.
1. Personal diaries. By far the most common use, no? Sometimes sarcastic commentary. Wondering about the purpose of live. That’s sort of what I am doing, I guess. Common cultural ground. It’s funny to read music references on people’s blogs, and think “yep, they are 30 yrs old”, and be right after looking at the profile. But that’s a different post.
2. Family updates. The number of stay-at-home moms blogging is staggering. I get it, you are at home, and everything is a new experience, and your child is the most precious thing under the sun, and you found a good way to keep the grandparents updated. But do you have to blog about poop? Can't we just see pretty pictures?
3. Political rants. Less common than you’d think. Mostly liberal.
4. Travelogues. Some are abandoned, created solely about one trip in 2005. Some are sad – two midwives working in Uganda in a hut with no resourses. The one I really enjoyed is a guy on some sort of religious mission teaching ESL in South Korea. Soooooo sheltered.
5. Pages in Japanese. Can’t read those at all.
6. Pages in Spanish. Don’t know Spanish.
7. Pages in Italian. Ditto.
8. Pages in Dutch. Or Swedish. Or some other Scandinavian language. Can’t read that either.
9. Pages in Portuguese. These often have to do with various soccer teams.
10. Pages solely dedicated to a sport – auto racing, baseball, etc.
11. Pages in French – these I can actually understand somewhat.
12. Porn. You’d think it wouldn’t exist on Blogger, but when I first came across a page selling undergarments (how cheap do you have to be? You can’t pay $8.95 for your own web address?) I thought porn wouldn’t be far off, and I was right. Also, people trying to sell you web services and jewelry. Once again, WHY use Blogger? Cheapskates.
13. Religious freaks. God is great, and you should feel that way too.
14. And the one that made me want to call child services. Unfortunately, I will never find this page again, and I did not think to copy the URL at the time. A diary of an anorexic/bulimic girl, detailing her struggle with food. Probably not more than 18, living someplace in Europe. Complete with photographs of women (models) she finds attractive, and some pics that could have been her. Very scary, because only concentration camp victims are that thin, and there is NOTHING sexy about your spine sticking out. It made me very sad, because if nobody helps this girl, she will die. She would beat herself up for eating 500 kcal a day. She would triumph when the only thing she ate all day was an orange. She referred to her disorders as Ana and Mia, like they are her friends who are helping her through the day. Her blog tagline was “beautiful dolls…cause the prince always rides off into the sunset with the thinnest princess.” It makes me afraid to ever have a daughter.
I was bored a few weeks ago, and scrolled through a bunch of random blogs – you know how on Blogger there’s the “Next Blog” button? And it takes you to someone’s blog at random?
I felt a little bit like that commercial “You have reached the end of the Internet”, because a couple of times I was directed to the same blog over and over.
Do you remember when in the early 1990s there was a button on Yahoo, I think, where you could see the “New” webpages as they were being added daily, and the Internet was so small, like a public school library? And all of a sudden it’s the Library of Congress? Except much bigger and in every language under the sun?
Anyway, here is what I discovered cruising Blogger – people use the hosting service in the weirdest ways. Maybe this is indicative of the blogosphere in general.
1. Personal diaries. By far the most common use, no? Sometimes sarcastic commentary. Wondering about the purpose of live. That’s sort of what I am doing, I guess. Common cultural ground. It’s funny to read music references on people’s blogs, and think “yep, they are 30 yrs old”, and be right after looking at the profile. But that’s a different post.
2. Family updates. The number of stay-at-home moms blogging is staggering. I get it, you are at home, and everything is a new experience, and your child is the most precious thing under the sun, and you found a good way to keep the grandparents updated. But do you have to blog about poop? Can't we just see pretty pictures?
3. Political rants. Less common than you’d think. Mostly liberal.
4. Travelogues. Some are abandoned, created solely about one trip in 2005. Some are sad – two midwives working in Uganda in a hut with no resourses. The one I really enjoyed is a guy on some sort of religious mission teaching ESL in South Korea. Soooooo sheltered.
5. Pages in Japanese. Can’t read those at all.
6. Pages in Spanish. Don’t know Spanish.
7. Pages in Italian. Ditto.
8. Pages in Dutch. Or Swedish. Or some other Scandinavian language. Can’t read that either.
9. Pages in Portuguese. These often have to do with various soccer teams.
10. Pages solely dedicated to a sport – auto racing, baseball, etc.
11. Pages in French – these I can actually understand somewhat.
12. Porn. You’d think it wouldn’t exist on Blogger, but when I first came across a page selling undergarments (how cheap do you have to be? You can’t pay $8.95 for your own web address?) I thought porn wouldn’t be far off, and I was right. Also, people trying to sell you web services and jewelry. Once again, WHY use Blogger? Cheapskates.
13. Religious freaks. God is great, and you should feel that way too.
14. And the one that made me want to call child services. Unfortunately, I will never find this page again, and I did not think to copy the URL at the time. A diary of an anorexic/bulimic girl, detailing her struggle with food. Probably not more than 18, living someplace in Europe. Complete with photographs of women (models) she finds attractive, and some pics that could have been her. Very scary, because only concentration camp victims are that thin, and there is NOTHING sexy about your spine sticking out. It made me very sad, because if nobody helps this girl, she will die. She would beat herself up for eating 500 kcal a day. She would triumph when the only thing she ate all day was an orange. She referred to her disorders as Ana and Mia, like they are her friends who are helping her through the day. Her blog tagline was “beautiful dolls…cause the prince always rides off into the sunset with the thinnest princess.” It makes me afraid to ever have a daughter.
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