election results as they happen

Election map - can't figure out how to embed the code. Oh well.

X-Files: I want to believe

DON'T

update

figured since I haven't updated lately, I should. Not much is going on - hence no update. I went to a dyeing workshop last weekend - dyed a skein of DK and a skein of sock yarn - all using a microwave. That was new to me. I'll try to take some photos. The weekend went rather well. I parked my car in North Little Rock and a friend who was taking the class picked me up there. I was having cell phone issues, so that worked out pretty well. The best part of that, when I got ready to head back home, I went in Barnes and Noble and ran into my best friend's folks! Her dad had triple by-pass surgery the week before!!! It was so good to see him up and around - although the scar on his leg where they took the veins from .... EWWWWWW..... but he really looked good!

I've gotten my second spinning wheel back - but it's being polyeutheraned. (yea, I'm sure that's spelled wrong - but blogger isn't offering any suggestions). I should have photos next week. I've also been having car issues. I no longer have an ABS. But the car runs, and the breaks work! That's what matters.

I'm spending the next few weeks in a workshop on using Blackboard 8. That's the course management system we have here at the university. I'm hoping to eventually put my entire course online. We'll see how it goes.

Class is about to start. Guess I should pay attention!

my advice

never go bowling.... I went Tuesday and I am still so sore! bad for the knees it seems. Oh well... hopefully by Saturday I'll be better - since I need to drive to Little Rock for a dyeing class.

What I'm reading:

Fire Study - by Maria V. Snyder
It's classified as "romance" which shocked me. Yes, there is a love story, but still... I'd call it "science fantasy" or "young adult". This is the 3rd in the series and I've plowed through them very quickly. I'm enjoying the story

Dead Witch Walking - by Kim Harrison
We had the newest book at the library and I gave it a read and found it interesting enough, so I went to the bookstore and bought what I thought was the first book - turns out, it was the one right before the one I had read.... so, after reading the 3 most recent, I finally figured out that this one is the first.... so now I'm starting the series from the beginning!

Spin-off - this one is a magazine that I enjoy (not surprising since I'm a spinner.

Well, that's about it. I'm trying to get caught up on some reading, and spinning, and knitting... you get the idea!

Oh.. tentatively I have someone coming to visit later in June. We'll see what happens!

Goals

I got this from http://www.lisjobs.com/blog/. It seemed good advice, so I thought I'd pass it along.

1. Set achievable goals. How much did you make from your freelance endeavors this year? Set a slightly higher goal next year, and figure out how to get there.
2. Start out by saying yes. Say yes to things that are unpaid, or that pay badly, or that require you to go out of your way — at the beginning, this is how you build name recognition and a portfolio.
3. Value yourself and your work. Yes, this does seem contradictory. But at some point, once you have built up a body of work and contacts, you need to start saying no and being more choosy about where you expend your energy.
4. Get a little help from your friends. You hear about networking’s importance in job hunting — well, freelancing is like going on tiny job interviews, all the time. How do people find out about you? How do you find out about opportunities? Most often, through people you know.
5. Do ask. Get yourself these two books by Linda Babcock: Women Don’t Ask and Ask for It. Convince yourself of the power of negotiation — and your ability to do so. (Probably more on this later; I just finished Ask for It and am thinking back on where negotiation, or my failure to negotiate, have figured into my own career.)

Editor humor

humor swiped from an email - no idea who is the original author. It just seemed appropriate as I am currently managing editor of Arkansas Libraries and am working on getting the summer issue to the printer by next week.

Rules for Editors

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's
highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words
however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25.Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth
shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not
needed.
27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate
quotations.Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist
hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.