crap class

I'm in my InDesign training right now. The class is a total disappointment. I think I know more about InDesign than the instructor. She can't get her computer to work. She can't get her program to work. She continually runs off topic. She goes way too slowly considering there are only four people in the class. It's a train wreck. The previous class I took here at New Horizons was much better.

And for this I went into work on Sunday.

Ugh.

work on the lord's day

Sunday, the day of rest. My apologies to the Almighty for being at work today. He doesn't want me here. I don't want me here. But here I am.

smoke out

I love bonfires. I love how the good smoke smell lingers. But the wood smoke smell that once permeated my sweater, jacket and hair are fading quickly. Sigh. It was good while it lasted. Hats off to the Kauffmans for another great bonfire.

news bite

STUPID SONY CDS: As a result of significant difficulties with a copy-protection feature of CDs released on the Sony BMG label, Sony released this statement.

We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers with XCP content protection software. The XCP software is included on a limited number of Sony BMG content protected titles. This potential problem has no effect on the use of these discs in conventional, non-computer-based, CD and DVD players.

Sony reports that over the past eight months it shipped more than 4.7 million CDs with the XCP copy protection. More than 2.1 million of those discs have been sold.

The content protection feature was created by British company First 4 Internet. When a listener puts the disc into a computer's CD drive, it displays a license agreement. If the listener accepts, it installs the copy protection rootkit onto the hard drive. A rootkit is a piece of software that takes control of a computer at a basic level. It establishes root access instead of traditional access that a regular user sees. The rootkit can prevent the user from being able to use certain functions of the CD. As a side effect, the rootkit allows certain computer viruses to take advantage of the access to infect a computer.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a list of CDs that it knows are affected by the XCP function. (This is not a complete list and Sony-BMG continues to refuse to make such a list available to consumers. Consumers can spot CDs with XCP by inspecting a CD closely, checking the left transparent spine on the front of the case for a label that says "CONTENT PROTECTED." The back of these CDs also mention XCP in fine print.)

Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)

(Sources: Radio, CNET, and The Electronic Frontier Foundation)

COMMENTARY: We all agree this is annoying and stupid on the part of Sony. When will this company learn that being so closely guarded hurts itself. Sony is too big, too broad and tries to protect too much. That’s the reason Sony isn’t leading the MP3 wave. It was too busy trying to protect it’s record label’s profits that it failed to enter the MP3 player market with anything customer usable. Perhaps Sony will fare better with Blu-ray. But if it loses out to HD-DVD, I hope the company has learned to jump on board and go with the new media.

my little butterfly

Flutter By
Originally uploaded by theCallowQueen.

Ai ai ai
Ai ai ai
Ai ai ai
Where's my Samurai

I've been searching for a man
All across Japan
Just to find
To find my samurai

Someone who is strong
But still a little shy
Yes I need
I need my samurai

Ai ai ai
Your little butterfly
Green, black and blue
Make the colors of the sky

I finally loaded my pictures from lizalou42's birthday and Halloween party on Flickr. You can click on this picture of the G-man to see the rest. And, if you haven't already, check out l42's pics.

mark your calendars

Wednesday: New episode of Lost starts at 8 p.m. All are welcome to come over and watch. We'll probably watch last week's episode first for those who missed it.

Friday: My roomie's 26th birthday! Harry Potter at 7 p.m. and birthday cake eating at 10 p.m. For those of you who've received an evite to her party and haven't yet responded, please do so.

Saturday: A bonfire at the K. Yay! It's been a long time. Party starts 7ish. Bring friends; it's a Kauffman family tradition.

la révolution

The G-man and I took my roomie to see Les Misérables on Saturday. I love this musical. Much of the movie centers on the oppression of the poor in France (circa 1830) and one group's attempt to ignite a revolution. Seeing it now, with the current unrest in France, seemed fitting.

At the End of the Day
At the end of the day you're another day older.
And that's all you can say for the life of the poor.
It's a struggle, it's a war.
And there's nothing that anyone's giving.
One more day standing about
What is it for?
One day less to be living.

Do You Hear the People Singing?
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

g-man pins a girl?

G-man Pins A Girl?
Originally uploaded by theCallowQueen.

I'm tired. Haven't slept well the past few nights. So, while my brain is taxed with the challenges of making sure I stay upright in my chair, I'll share with you a recent photo from MattZ's birthday.

The second prize for the most shocking T-shirt at MattZ's birthday party goes to Roller Derby Girl. (MattZ won first prize. See a pic of him here if you dare.)

Remember the G-man's previous bout with her? Well, the G-man beat her this time. See what happened at their first match here. See the start of the G-man's second match with the Roller Derby Girl here.

staff meeting and execution

This was the subject line of an e-mail my editorial director sent out to the staff last week. The execution happened yesterday. We thought me might not survive it. We decided that those who did survive most surely deserved lunch with margaritas.

To stay the execution, we tried to prepare. We poured through the September and October issues, looking for errors, looking for ways to improve. In the staff meeting, we were drilled, we were quizzed, and we were awarded prizes? Huh? Where's the execution? To our surprise, we all survived. And my margarita at lunch sure tasted good.

word of the day: globber

globber, verb. This is the noise made by a live, swamp-dwelling mattress that is deeply moved by a story of personal tragedy. The word can also, according to the Ultra-Complete Maximegalon Dictionary of Every Language Ever, mean the noise made by the Lord High Sanvalvwag of Hollop on discovering that he has forgotten his wife's birthday for the second year running. Since there was only ever one Lord High Sanvalvwag of Hollop and he never married, the word is only used in a negative or speculative sense, and there is an ever-increasing body of opinion that holds that the Ultra-Complete Maximegalon Dictionary is not worth the fleet of trucks it takes to cart its microstored edition around in.

Source: Life, the Universe and Everything

whining about counting crows clash

So I'm slowly working my way through all my mp3s. Many of them are from Big-Bold-D. Nannette is filled with artists from the front of the alphabet. And that includes a probably the entire song libraries for the Counting Crows and the Clash. So random isn't all that random right now.

Now, I like both bands. But I'm about to start deleting here in a moment. Both bands are forcing me to listen to way too much morose, pity-me, why-me, I-feel-pain whiny music. And I'm getting sick of it. I never really thought of the Counting Crows as being particularly whiny. But they are. They're almost nouveau Clash.

In short, both bands have some really great songs, but both have a propensity to wax on in whiny voices on too many of their not-so-great songs.

my mission

Today, I will attempt to eat all of my Halloween chocolate. That way it won't tempt me tomorrow.

editor's angst

I hate PR people today. I hate their demanding tone. I hate their expectation that I'm going to bend over and let them have it their way. I have some respect for myself as an editor, you know. I will fight back (though I will do it with a fake smile and simulated regret). I won't allow them to turn my articles into complete advertorials.

Have some trust in me, PR people. Your products will sound better without all of your fluff words and crazy-constructed passive-voice sentences. Let me do my freakin' job or buy an ad in our magazine and run all the crapified, overly wordy text that you like. Oh, I like that option much better. It saves me work and makes the magazine money.