Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[nekokami]

Yvan, are pellets easy to come by where you are? Apparently there are supply problems here in New England... they're actually saying they might have to cut wood specifically to make pellets, rather than using byproducts, which I think rather defeats the purpose.

We went with a log-burning stove instead, when we looked into this last fall. But it needs attention much more frequently than a pellet stove, obviously.

[RickyMaveety]

OK ... I'm at LAX. I have had a GREAT pizza and an equally GREAT glass of wine. I am hammered and waiting for the flight to San Francisco. From there to Monterey.

I sat next to a rep from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on the flight here to LA and we discussed the need for all publishers to get on the digital train ASAP. Also about the importance of preserving Inuit tribal languages and cultures.

Now I know why I was supposed to end up on that flight ... so the cats have been forgiven.

I also met some nice folks from San Antonio and Austin. One guy who did his undergrad at UCLA, but grad at UT. I'm wearing a UT cap ... but that's because I like cows, which was a reason He had never heard before -- although my grandmother on my mother's side did graduate from UT in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

So ... at least I'm in California, and there is hope I will make it to the convention.

TA!!

[nekokami]

Nice silver lining! Hope you get some good rest and enjoy the conference!

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Yvan, are pellets easy to come by where you are? Apparently there are supply problems here in New England... they're actually saying they might have to cut wood specifically to make pellets, rather than using byproducts, which I think rather defeats the purpose.

We went with a log-burning stove instead, when we looked into this last fall. But it needs attention much more frequently than a pellet stove, obviously.

Half of Quebec's production is sold in the States and apparently a big pellet processing plant burned to the ground last week. Prices have jumped from 3.50 to 5.00 in some areas. Who knows what's next. Oilers are not the only ones allowed to fleece us.

I bought mine as an emergency unit and a part time old bone dehumidifier.

There is also a new pellet about to make its way, made from a variety of grass. It looks promising and might give a break to corn fields.

BTW Those pellet stoves can be pretty noisy compared to woodstoves and cleaning is more complicated. And then you have to be a mechanic to sevice them.

[nekokami]

Yes, my brother has one, and I've observed them in action. Nice to be able to sleep through the night without having to get up and tend the fire, though. (I'm lucky my husband takes care of that. I'm terrible at getting up in the morning all the time, but especially when it's cold.)

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Nice silver lining! Hope you get some good rest and enjoy the conference!

At SFO now. In half an hour I will board yet another plane to head back South ... I get to retrace my route.

Nice display of robots from the 50s and 60s here as well as some lovely Robots in Art. I took some photos.

Also bought some goodies at Brookstone. I don't live all that close to one in Texas.

Got some tags that flash my name. Wheeee. I am so brain dead right now.

Plan to collapse at the hotel. G'nite all.

[RickyMaveety]

Dead. No sleep or wierd dreams and I think we had a small earthquake.

[nekokami]

Oh no! Get plenty of juice and fruit today, if possible-- that always helps me when I don't get enough sleep. (In fact, I should go get some now.... my 17 year old woke me up a couple of hours early this morning to tell me she needed a ride to school, as she was "going to miss her bus." I'm trying really hard to get along with her right now, and she doesn't do this at all often, so I just staggered out and drove her... then came to work.)

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

I used to have all the books. I wonder if you can get them in ebook form? We had a cat called "Horse" once, though it was another cat we had called "Misty" (a Russian [Mafia] Blue) that was the epitomy of the Footrot Flats feline.

Cheers,
Marc

Not that I'm aware of (legally). If there were, I'd buy the lot.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Oh no! Get plenty of juice and fruit today, if possible-- that always helps me when I don't get enough sleep. (In fact, I should go get some now.... my 17 year old woke me up a couple of hours early this morning to tell me she needed a ride to school, as she was "going to miss her bus." I'm trying really hard to get along with her right now, and she doesn't do this at all often, so I just staggered out and drove her... then came to work.)

I had four glasses (large) of orange juice this morning. I got my times mixed up and thought I had to be at a seminar at 8:00 am, so I had them wake me at 6:00 am. It turns out the damn thing was at 10:00 am .... so I went back to my room and took a nap.

There was an earthquake (just a small one, magnitude 2.7) at about 3:00 am last night, and that was the one that woke me. I think it was just because I wasn't sleeping well and my room is on the fourth floor. No one else I talked to said it woke them ... so I thought maybe I dreamed the whole thing, but then I looked it up on the USGS site, and there it was .... so, it's nice to know I wasn't hallucinating.

I had such strange dreams last night. Lots of movie stars in it and quite a plot. I had super powers, but I was just flying home (to a highrise condo in an unnamed city), but I kept flying through areas where they were trying to shoot a movie, and I kept getting in the way of their shots. Whoopie Goldberg was in at least one scene, and it was a screwball comedy about her getting mixed up with secret agents, and either I didn't realize that they were shooting a movie and tried to save someone from what looked like certain death, or, I just flew around a corner and heard the director yell "Cut!! Dammit, Ricky, please don't fly in this area!!"

For some reason, the soundtrack of the dream was the repeated playing of "Blasphemous Rumors" by Depeche Mode, which I now cannot get out of my head.

OK ... pshrynk .... you can chime in anytime. How far gone am I????

At this exact moment, I am enjoying my Subway chicken sandwich in the quiet of my room and I'm going to have another short lie down and take a pain pill (my back is not enjoying sitting in a lecture for two hours at a time with no breaks). I am completely loving my Livescribe pen ... it is making taking notes such a breeze. All I have to do is note down a case name or a Private Letter Ruling number as they are talking about it, and the pen is recording the whole lecture/presentation. Granted, they do give us gigantic typed handouts for these things, but I'd rather listen to what they are saying and jot a note or two rather than try to read and listen at the same time.

And, that's what I'm doing right now.

[nekokami]

Livescribe does look cool. I wonder if one could integrate it with EverNote? Maybe after the SDK is released?

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Livescribe does look cool. I wonder if one could integrate it with EverNote? Maybe after the SDK is released?

Good question. I'm using mine with OneNote, but in a limited fashion. In some ways, the Livescribe desktop program does remind me of Evernote, except for handwriting. And .... one of the things I would like to see is that they add the ability to annotate the handwritten notes with links and other items once the handwritten portion is uploaded.

After all of my seminars today, I wandered over to the exhibitors area and talked to a number of the exhibitors about how they might want to consider developing applications that would dovetail with the Livescribe system .... for example, preparing an add-on app that would allow me (the user) to draw a particular symbol on the page, that when clicked on at the desktop would automatically take me to (for example) my Lexis account and the case citation that was uploaded directly next to the symbol (the pen does have some text recognition capability ... and it is my view that, if you are trying to encourage law students to use your research program, and this is the PERFECT tool for law students, then when they are hooked on using Livescribe in law school, they will more likely come to use the research system that integrates with Livescribe than whatever the competition has going (that doesn't integrate).

Or .... I was talking to the folks that produce a document management system for attorneys, and they incorporate PDF, and Wordperfect docs, or Word docs and etc, etc, so why not incorporate audio and handwritten notes out of Livescribe?? It's all document management.

Most of the time, and this was one of the coolest things, when a particular exhibitor would see my pen demo (or one of the attorneys who saw me using it at the seminars would ask for a demo), and then they found out how relatively cheap the thing is for what you get, then it was "I am soooo getting that for my son/daughter who is in college right now."

I also talked to some of the legal publishing companies about thinking about putting the case reporters into an e format. I would MUCH rather purchase (and update) case reporters to my Kindle than have to shelve several hundred volumes .... it's a no brainer in my viewpoint.

So, I was generally out there evangelizing about ebooks and "magic" pens today. And, what was really interesting from a personal perspective is that being able to relax and listen to what was being said (because I knew I could always go back and replay something later), actually made me more alert to what was being said ... not less so (which I thought might be the case).

This is turning out to be an interesting conference ....

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i do not actually have a bathtub (just a shower) and long ardently for one,

So that picture of you in a bathtub --- that was somebody else's bathtub??

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

So that picture of you in a bathtub --- that was somebody else's bathtub??

maybe. maybe i borrowed it. maybe i used to have a bathtub in my last appartment. maybe i sometimes ask friends (or even near-strangers : that's how much i love baths) "can i come over and take a bath at your house ?" maybe sometimes they say yes.

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

it's nice to know I wasn't hallucinating.

I had such strange dreams last night. Lots of movie stars in it and quite a plot. I had super powers, but I was just flying home (to a highrise condo in an unnamed city), but I kept flying through areas where they were trying to shoot a movie, and I kept getting in the way of their shots. Whoopie Goldberg was in at least one scene, and it was a screwball comedy about her getting mixed up with secret agents, and either I didn't realize that they were shooting a movie and tried to save someone from what looked like certain death, or, I just flew around a corner and heard the director yell "Cut!! Dammit, Ricky, please don't fly in this area!!"

For some reason, the soundtrack of the dream was the repeated playing of "Blasphemous Rumors" by Depeche Mode, which I now cannot get out of my head.

OK ... pshrynk .... you can chime in anytime. How far gone am I????

Right now, I'm working out the new Montsnmags Calculus, (which will be a required course in all medical schools in the future) in order to determine Marc's bill for his latest session. Fater that, I'll plug in the numbers on this dream and get back to ya!