katakat.com bytes from a participant observer

For those of you wondering where my annual letter is, I just finished writing them on Christmas Day, and then spent an hour this evening licking envelopes and applying stamps. (Note to self: always buy self-seal envelopes.) I'll be taking them directly to the post office, either later this evening (which is almost tomorrow) or sometime tomorrow. So you should be seeing them in a mailbox near you in a few days. This year's count was 45 letters. You can see why this takes me a while!

Well, the rigors of the quarter have passed, and I've survived yet another class for the doctorate. It’s been slow going, as I’m only taking one course per quarter; however, it’s a lot easier to focus on one class at a time. I’ve arranged my work schedule to have off at least one week per month, and I’m able to keep up with the coursework that way. So far I’ve taken a course on social change (required), a writing course, an instructional design course, and a learning theory course. All of these courses are completed online only. How do I do this, you ask?

I'm back! Things have been really busy for me these past months. My new job started July 1st, I took two classes in my doctoral program over the summer (way too much!), and there were various family shindigs to attend to. What more to say? Well, when I can catch my breath again, I'll fill you in on the details. Meanwhile, enjoy this link to a 1940s librarian recruitment video. I love YouTube!

Ok, so I've been really bad about updating my blog. But, hey, lots has happened these past few months. I started the PhD program in April, finished up my old job in June and took a few weeks off, got called for Federal jury duty the whole month of June, started my new job two weeks ago, and just got notice of County jury duty in August. (What the hell? In a county of several MILLION people, I get called to serve in two different jurisdictions in the same summer?) So, in a nutshell, there you have it. PhD is going well, though is quite a time drain.

Bet your wondering what I've been up to. The past two months have been extremely busy. I've been trying to learn CSS and XHTML in order to apply for some other positions in my school district. As it happens, I got an offer of transfer without completing my studies, but will resume them shortly in order to set up a proper website for the new job's library. I'll fill you in on the details after I sign the contract paperwork tomorrow. Until then, it's a 99.999% done deal.

One of my cousins died this morning (David's obituary as a .pdf). I think he was 46. I haven't seen him in about 10 years, but I'm sure his folks and siblings are taking it hard. Since that part of the family is on the East Coast, it will be an incredible odyssey getting my mother out there for the funeral.

Last weekend was spent with SDWC recording our debut CD at a local high school. Not terribly high tech, just us and a piano. We did 10 songs in two days, the second day being the toughest.

Yeah, I've been quite busy lately. Trying to fill my head with CSS and XHTML. Going for another job in the same school district. I'll keep you posted.

I was visiting brother Dom today, and he was jamming in his studio with a high school friend, Joel, who recently moved out here too (with wife and family). Dom was on drums and Joel on electric guitar, and since I was just standing there, I was handed a tambourine to be useful. Dom's been teaching himself to play drums for a few weeks now, and is quite good at it. After a little while, Dom and Joel switched instruments. We were playing children's songs to hard rock music, like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "B-I-N-G-O"; I was laughing the whole time.

Ok, ignore all the stuff I did last week in setting up my blog. Over the weekend I opened an account on Yahoo Small Business, and managed to spend a many hours moving my blog to there because they support WordPress, which supports Categories. Blogger does not have categories, and that offended my librarian sensibilities, so I switched to WordPress. Also, I was paying $10/mo for the past 6 years at least, and only had a four-page site that was dreadfully old and static. So here is the fresh new look.