Comments Anyone?

I've turned on the option to allow anyone to comment to my blog. Let's see how long this lasts, and how quickly I fall prey to comment spam.

Here are my random comments on the world today:

• Is it possible that global warming has anything to do with the growing number of hurricanes? My friends in the radio world think the panic over global warming is crap. I haven't seen a polar icecap so I can't come up with an intelligent dissent. All I know is that the world is much more complex than little ole me, and even with 15 doctorates, I doubt I could explain why hurricanes have become nature's new black.


• Middle School - Last week on NPR, "experts" discussed the ramifications of sending children to middle school as opposed to an elementary school that included grades 6-7. Some experts proposed the in-between years of identity-searching caused psychological hardships that were amplified by advancing youngsters into a new school. Yes, middle school is a psychological nightmare - no doctorate needed for that observation. But to smash even more grades together in the same school as a means to protect children from psychological damage...you've gotta be kidding me! Sheltering kids isn't the answer. Actually, the upcoming generation's lack of work ethic accompanied with their personalized cell phones, scare me.

That's all for now.

Oops, I dropped my baton

I'm sure Sherry could care less now that I have finally published this, but a promise is a promise, and a quick sorry that I suck at this rapid response thing:

--
From: Sherry
Date: July 06, 2005
Subject: The Musical Baton: Redux

So here's The Musical Baton: Redux. Please leave a comment with your answer and twirl that baton over to five more peeps! (Or if you have a blog, post it there and leave the URL in the comments section. And if I didn't pass the baton over to you, leave your response anyhoo.
--

Five is a tiny number, and I'm sad to see some of my other favorite bands not make it in this list like Stereolab, Morphine, Johnny Cash, and Billie Holiday, but I'm sure we're limiting this to 5 so no one falls asleep at the computer.

Total Volume: 50 MB on my home computer that I asked Jonathan to make for me. I am a mp3 virgin *gasp*

Last CD Bought: The Arcade Fire's debut album Funeral (go buy this album NOW, it's amazing!)

Song Playing Right Now: Sleater-Kinney's "Burn Don't Freeze"

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

1. "Me In Honey" R.E.M.


2. "Liquid Diamonds" Tori Amos


3. "Fade Into You" Mazzy Starr


4. "Motor Away" Guided By Voices


5. "Summertime" Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald

Currently in Heavy Rotation:

1. "Dry the Rain" Beta Band


2. "Teenage FBI" Guided By Voices


3. "Take to the Sky" Tori Amos


4. "Open the Door" Magnapop


5. "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" The Arcade Fire


6. "Know Your Chicken" Cibo Matto

Top 5 Songs of the 80's:

1. "Every Breath You Take" Police


2. "The Greatest Love" Whitney Housten


3. "Amarillo By Morning" George Strait


4. "The One I Love" R.E.M.


5. "Love Song" The Cure

Top 5 Albums of All Time:

1. "What's Going On" Marvin Gaye


2. "The Velvet Underground and Nico" Velvet Underground


3. "Licensed to Ill" Beastie Boys


4. "Little Earthquakes" Tori Amos


5. "Life's Rich Pagent" R.E.M.

Music videos that you thought kicked ass at the time, but now they embarrass you:

1. "Rush, Rush" Paula Abdul (featuring Keanu Reeves)


2. "There's No Way" Alabama


3. "Unskinny Bop" Poison

5 People I'm Twirling the Baton to:

1. Martha, since she's my Elvis Costello buddy.


2. Zinnia, because she has even more of an eclectic music collection than me.


3. Andy, since I have no idea what kind of music he likes.


4. Meghan, because I'm interested to see how pregnancy affects her answers :-)


5. Patrick, because I'm still trying to figure out his music appreciation formula.

Blogging for the masses

You are not alone.

No, I'm not referring to aliens. I'm referring to the little known fact that you are one of many others who read my blog.

Surprised? I am. I knew at least three people read it regularly, and five on occasion, but in the past week, I've had eight people bring it up in conversation or email. That brings my total audience up to 16, which I would have never of guessed. I'm four people away from having my own t-shirt and coffee mug :-)

I thought this was a funny email exchange I had with a new friend I met at OSCON:

From: Russell
To: Jinny
Date: Aug 12, 2005

Don't worry about it. I took a different approach with my article. So,
I don't need it after all. Thanks anyway. I did use two of your
photographs for the article. Thanks for that. I appreciate it. By the
way, your maiden name is Po, right?

--

From: Jinny
To: Russell
Date: Aug 12, 2005

Po? That's hilarious. No, actually my maiden name is Dietrich...it's
a nice strong German last name. Po is a play on Potter, and an even
bigger play on Jennifer Lopez's J.Lo I find pop culture insane, so
it's my sarcastic tribute.

--

From: Russell
To: Jinny
Date: Aug 12, 2005

Uh, oh. Well, your name may appear as Jinny Po Potter in Linux Journal
soon. The editor should give me a chance to do one last edit before she
publishes it, though. If she does, I'll fix it.

--
To read Russell's article, visit Linux Journal: www.linuxjournal.com/article/8503

Thieves

Dear Sub-Human(s) Who Stole My Husband's Car Stereo System,

You suck.

Karma exists.

Sincerely,

Me

Things that make you go hmmm...

Scene: Athens, GA, 40 Watt, Popfest 2005

Last night was my first show out since the state-wide smoking ban. Elekibass took the stage and blew everyone away with their brilliant use of instruments and smart showsmanship.

Hmmm's in no particular order:

1. When did cellphones infiltrated our society in such a way that grunge hippies, complete with dredlocks and no shoes, begin to not only own one, but bring them to shows to obsessively check them and re-check them for missed phone calls?


2. When did it become ok to have entire conversations during a music performance? Has it also become acceptable to lay the smack down when a group of pearl-laden chicken posse starts to pass around their emo glasses for all in the group to try on and critique ("oh baby, you look so cute") in between catch up conversations ("what have you been up to...blah, blah the other day...blah blah...") smack in the middle of a rocking set by a pretty awesome band?


3. Do people with insane b.o. know they have insane b.o.?


4. When did skagging become the hip thing to do at an indie rock show?


5. When did extreme dancing of any type become hip at any indie rock show?

Albatross about my neck

Can you tell that Samuel Taylor Coleridge has had an influence on me? For those who do not understand the reference, shame on you, for you are missing out on one of the richest poems ever written.

Back to my albatross...

Hello, my name is Jinny, and I'm an introvert. In fact, I'm convinced if you were to pick up an actual paper copy of a dictionary (do they still make those?) my photo would be the supplemental image just so you could easily identify what an introvert looked like if you were to run into one. I don't bite, spit, or even pick my toenails, but I'm an introvert nonetheless. I am shy around new people, prone to being too content just listening to everyone else, and very motivated by the promise of a few minutes by myself. Does this sound familiar or just weird?

I'm in Portland, Oregon, a place I love and aspire to one day call my home. I'm attending The 7th Annual O'Reilly Open Source Convention. Imagine the most brilliant IT professionals all crammed into one building with gallons of Starbucks coffee and brightly colored blow up furniture, and you pretty much have OSCON. One could theorize that I should have no problem socializing with my fellow kind. Perhaps that would be the case if I actually felt that I belonged...I can't help feeling like a 14 year old who just so happened to have hacked their way into the FBI database using a script kitty they found of scriptkittiesfordummies.com.

Somewhere between my perceived near death experience on the Steel Bridge, and three conversations with CMS vendors on how CMS products are great in theory, but failed during proof of concept, I somehow managed to extract my albatross from my neck. One of the developers actually remembered one of my slightly scathing reviews of their product (eek, guilt, but they did admit I had excellent points). Was this confidence or my realization that I had more than the text book "How to shmooze using run of the mill small talk" at my fingertips? Perhaps it was both, and soon I found myself engaging into numerous conversations with ease. It would be quite amazing if my albatross decided to avoid my neck for the duration of this month. I have a list of social engagements that my new found extroversion could come in handy.

Completely changing the subject from me to others, I cannot begin to describe how refreshing it is to be among such a plethora of creative energy. Hands down, OSCON is about the exchange of knowledge and networking with the peers that until now, existed as text or code on computer screens or paper. I must dissent, and beam with unadultered enthusiasm and awe that I am surrounded by the parents of great children...children who bolster the weight of great tasks such as organizing and recalling critical data for the world. And of course, the writers... Once I was a writer, and with that memory I still feel the pull towards those beings who are able to delve into an experience and share it in a way that changes someone else's perception of their own experience. Or in the great words of one of the many computer geeks I've spoken with, "OSCON rocks man!"

I have two more days before this immersion is complete.

Jinny out...