Colonia, Uruguay

Image: courtesy of raabenb @ Flickr

Went to Colonia, Uruguay for the weekend. A quaint little village on the mouth of the river. We took the fast boat, which got us there is about an hour.

Couple of lessons for next time:

• Uruguay uses different plugs than Argentina. Only an hour away, but bring an adapter. (This is why I had to grab a photo from Flickr. Didn't have an adapter to charge camera battery.)
  
• Avoid renting a dune buggy to get around. Although it is reminiscent of the Speed Buggy cartoon, it's loud and bumpy. Take a scooter or golf cart.
  
• Instead of coming back Sunday night, we had to get an extra night in a hotel so I could empty the contents of my stomach. Not sure if it's the flu or bad food, but I will avoid seafood from a sleepy restaurant next time.
  

Overall, it's a nice little place for a weekend getaway. And it's true, our passports are stamped for another three months.

Matt Lauer in Buenos Aires

More evidence that Buenos Aires is appearing on the US radar......


Where in the World is Matt Lauer - TODAYshow.com

The Equalizer

I just realized that my boss, whom I have never met in person, doesn't know what I look like. He knows I'm a woman, clearly, because of my name, but he doesn't know my race or religion.

Come to think of it, I don't know his, either.

I was hired because he liked my resume, cover letter, and an essay published on my website.

Nice feeling to know I am appreciated for my ideas, independent of anything else.

Does anyone ever bring this up as a benefit of the networked world?

Cato-at-liberty » Argentina Decriminalizes Drug Consumption

Cato-at-liberty » Argentina Decriminalizes Drug Consumption: "This just in… A federal court in Argentina has decriminalized the personal consumption of drugs in that country. According to the court’s ruling, punishing drug users only “creates an avalanche of cases targeting consumers without climbing up in the ladder of [drug] trafficking.”"


Oh, no! Buenos Aires is going to have mobs of potheads running around and terrorizing the city ..... by...... sitting on their couch, watching Lord of the Rings, and ordering McDonald's.

Or

Maybe they will all end up wearing turtlenecks, smoking cigarettes in dark cafés and improvising poetry while everyone snaps their fingers in applause.

Working from Home

This new job I have is the first experience I have working from home. It has its pluses and minuses.

Pluses:

• I don't have to worry about what I wear. I have spent years scrambling through my closet in the morning, trying to find an appropriate outfit, putting on makeup, and furiously ironing at the last minute.
  
• No commute.
  
• I can listen to music while I work. Blast heavy metal or Reggae occasionally when I need to wake up.
• Flexible schedule- I can fit in errands, grocery shopping, appointments during the day if I need to.
• Power naps.
  
• Husband works from home too, so we can have spontaneous "quality time" together. ;)
  

Minuses:

• It's easy to let errands and whatever push my work later and later until I find it's late in the afternoon and still haven't gotten anything done. I have to be disciplined about my time.
• Cabin fever- If I don't get out of the house once a day, I can get a little stir crazy. 5:00 rolls around, and I have to think: Did I take a shower today?
  
• Social isolation- don't get the "water cooler" chat of an office. Sometimes it's nice to have random conversations.
  
• Husband works from home, too, so we can get on each other's nerves.
  

I've found that being connected with people through chat and Twitter helps with the social isolation. I follow several people from all over the world on Twitter. And although at first I thought getting updates from random people about what they are doing was lame, I am starting to find it oddly refreshing. "Overhearing" snippets from people's everyday lives reminds me that I am not alone in the world. It replaces the ambient social atmosphere of a traditional workplace.

Here are some random tweets:

sara: Just used my first "I park like an idiot" sticker.

Confessionist: I never pull my pants down too far in a public bathroom because i think the people in the stalls next to me can see my underwear.

life_enthusiast: Okay, yard is finally mowed (procrastination phase over). Now, back to e-mails.

lordlikely: Huzzah! The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hip hooray!

We are not alone.

You mean it takes a Master's Degree to shelve books?

Today is the due-date for my e-portfolio work for the semester. I have to prove fifteen competencies, and I have ten written, and seven passed (I'm waiting to hear about three).
I'll have to finish the other five next semester. These are the pieces of evidence I've submitted so far:

Information Transfer at Cisco Systems — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-01-26 10:44
A power-point presentation created to present the results of an interview with an information architect at Cisco Systems. This was a group project with Meriam Smith.

Observations at a Public and Academic Library — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-01-26 10:48
A report on my observations of the reference desks of the Santa Cruz Public Library and the University of California Santa Cruz Library

Market Summary of Service Catalogs — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-01-26 10:49
A value-added deliverable I created for my seminar in Competitive Intelligence

CI in Latin America — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-02-06 10:05
A summary of a podcast that describes the unique qualities Competitive Intelligence practices in Latin America.

LIBR 202 Group Database Project — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-05 19:43
A group project in which we created a database for an inventory of a pet store.

LIBR 202 Group Query Project — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-05 19:48
A group project in which we created, based on several journal article abstracts, a keyword list, stop word list, and stemming algorithm. We then applied Boolean queries to our keyword index and simulated machine retrieval of relevant documents.

Evaluation of Ujiko Search Engine — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-05 19:49
An evaluation of a new search engine, Ujiko.

Thesis Proposal — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-06 13:02
My Thesis proposal created for Research Methods in Library and Information Science investigating the correlation of seeding a wiki to its growth.

Quicktime Movie of Narrated Power Point Presentation — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-09 09:56
A narrated critique of a case study presented in Research Methods for Library and Information Science.

Group Project for Reference Services — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-09 10:04
This was a group project in which we posed the same reference questions to eight different online sources, and compared the results.

Online Searching Assignment: Dialog Transcript and Summary — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-09 18:08
This assignment, for Online Searching, required me to conduct searches in Dialog and record the results.

Toward a Definition of Relevance — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-13 19:09
A paper written for Information Retrieval, in which I compare several definitions of relevance.

Vine's Information Model — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-13 19:11
A documented search using Rita Vine's suggested information model for search instruction.

Budget — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-14 13:20
A sample budget for a corporate library, cut by 20%

TQM Diet — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-14 13:21
A paper comparing different management methodologies.

Blogs vs. Wikis — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-14 13:22
A summary comparing blogs and wikis as library marketing tools.

Multiculturalism in Libraries: A Critical View — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-17 16:12
A paper written for Information and Society, exploring the issue of multiculturalism in libraries.

Copyright — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-17 16:15
A paper written for Information Organizations and Management, summarizing the copyright issues facing modern librarians.

The Legal and Ethical Boundaries of Misrepresentation — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-17 16:28
A paper written for my seminar in Competitive Intelligence, exploring the ethical issues of misrepresentation.

XML Assignment — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-21 06:55
These are three files for an XQuery assignment: evans_modsRecords.xml is the xml file with the sheet music records evans_mod.xq is the XQuery file evans_htmldoc.html is the out put of the XQuery displayed in a web page.

Screencast of website built for LIBR 240 — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-21 07:08
This is a screencast of a website I built as my final project for LIBR 240, Information Tools and Technologies.

Accessibility Assignment for LIBR 240- Iformation Tools and Applications — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-21 12:23
This is a review I made of two websites for principles of accessibility and cultural awareness.

Documented Search for LIBR 244, Online Searching — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-21 12:26
A search in which I documented my strategies for finding an answer to the question: What effect does music have on studying?

References Services Quiz — by juliaevans — last modified 2008-04-21 12:28
A quiz for Reference Services, in which I was required to find the best reference source for a variety of reference questions.

Back to the 80's

Someone down the hall is blasting "Eye of the Tiger."

I hear Air Supply and REO Speedwagon, occasionally as well.

Mistake, or on purpose?

Google knows I am searching from Argentina. So occasionally, I get error messages, etc. in Spanish.

I was doing a blog search, and the blog I found doesn't exist anymore. But I got this message from Blogger instead:

No se ha encontrado el blog.

Sorry, the blog you were looking for does not exist. However, the name shitted is available to register!

Register shitted

Mistake, or on purpose? What do you think?

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes...

For the last week or so, the skies in Buenos Aires have been extremely smoky. Supposedly, fields outside the city are being burned and some of the fires have gotten out of control.

Consequently, the air periodically gets as translucent as fog, and the smell is everywhere. This morning, I smelled it when I woke up, as it is seeping into our apartment through the cracks.

My eyes are puffy and my sinuses are swollen.

Don't want to go outside.

¿Habla Castellano de Cocina?

I tried to make some oat bran this morning, but my measurements were off somehow.

"En dos tazas de leche fría agregar tres cucharadas soperas colmadas de Salvado de Avena Quaker y azúcar a gusto."

In two cups of cold milk, add three heaping tablespoons of oat bran and sugar to taste. Right?

"Revolver mientras hierve durante 1 o 2 minutos o hasta qe logre la consistencia deseada."

Stir while boiling one or two minutes or until desired consistency. Right?

Hrmm...... I ended up with way too much milk and too little oat bran. Of course, I don't have any measuring cups so I was eyeballing it. Time to get some measuring utensils, I think.

¿De donde sos?

Flirty-Flirty

Went to the Kiosco tonight to buy some Coca-Light and keep the caffeine fuel burning.

The twenty-something sales clerk called me "Señorita."

*smile*

Then, he gave me an extra candy because I'm very "bonita."

*smile, blink-blink*

I know this flirting is as common as ham and cheese around here, but it still makes a thirty-something lady who is tired and has been writing academic mumbo-jumbo all day feel good.

Buenos Aires Daily » Blog Archive » Funny race

Buenos Aires Daily » Blog Archive » Funny race: "Yesterday, at the Avenida de Mayo, lots was happening. Many cultural events took place in the afternoon. One of them was the traditional “carrera mozos y camareras” (waiters/waitresses race). Dressed in their traditional uniforms, around 400 waiters worked out the balance with their trays, for an audience, which exceeded some 150 people.



Photo from LaNacion."

Chavez-Watch: Countown to Dictatorship

Venezuela | Strategic move | Economist.com: "Oil, steel and cement have all been declared “strategic” industries, and must therefore, according to the government's economic and political programme, be placed under state control."

Another red flag: Nationalizing the steel and cement industries.

Reaching the Outside World

I had a visit from Tehran last month.

I wish they had commented. I'd like to know what they thought.

Who Needs a Librarian?

Drop it LIke It's Hot!

Drop.io

Try it.

Here's an example:
http://drop.io/champagne

Add a note, picture, video, link, even a voicemail. Could be fun, could be useful.

Very Stigmergic.

Smack, Smack

My husband brought me some peanut butter. It means he loves me.

Remember what your mother always told you..

So it's about two weeks until the due date for my e-portfolio and I have a lot of last-minute writing to do. (I'm the Queen of Procrastination) I also have my new job to work at as well.

So after a 15-hour day, Rob and I come back from getting something to eat (at 4AM- I love this city), and I'm getting ready for bed, and I realize that I have my underwear on inside-out.

Good thing I wasn't hit by a car tonight.

More Economic Myths: The Income Gap

Here is an excerpt from an article, again by Sowell, discussing the "income gap."

"Anyone who follows the media has probably heard many times that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and incomes of the population in general are stagnating. Moreover, those who say such things can produce many statistics, including data from the Census Bureau, which seem to indicate that.

On the other hand, income tax data recently released by the Internal Revenue Service seem to show the exact opposite: People in the bottom fifth of income-tax filers in 1996 had their incomes increase by 91 percent by 2005.

The top one percent -- "the rich" who are supposed to be monopolizing the money, according to the left -- saw their incomes decline by a whopping 26 percent.

Meanwhile, the average taxpayers' real income increased by 24 percent between 1996 and 2005."

Sowell explains why IRS data is a better indicator for income statistics than census data:

"That is why the IRS data, which are for people 25 years old and older, and which follow the same individuals over time, find those in the bottom 20 percent of income-tax filers almost doubling their income in a decade. That is why they are no longer in the same bracket.

That is also why the share of income going to the bottom 20 percent bracket can be going down, as the Census Bureau data show, while the income going to the people who began the decade in that bracket is going up by large amounts.

Unfortunately, most income statistics, including those from the Census Bureau, do not follow individuals over time. The Internal Revenue Service does that and so does a study at the University of Michigan, but they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Following trends among income brackets over the years creates the illusion of following people over time. But the only way to follow people is to follow people."


The complete article is Here

Econmic Myths

If you tell people they don't have enough money, they will usually agree. Reports like these always make the front pages of money magazines and websites:

Harder to handle widening income gap in recession - Apr. 9, 2008: "NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Poor and middle-class families are entering the recession in a precarious situation due in part to declining or stagnant income growth, a study released Wednesday has found."

Here is a video that briefly addresses the fallacy:



A longer podcast with Thomas Sowell discussing more economic myths is here

But...But...Javier! Noooooooo!

Coppola character not for a man - BostonHerald.com: "Javier Bardem has pulled out of Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming flick “Tetro” and has been replaced by a woman, the Hollywood Reporter reports."

Oh, no! This is going to be filmed in Buenos Aires, and I was hoping to apply for the job of Javier Bardem's stalker!

Rats.

Dealing with Abundance

People don't deal with abundance very well. It's why many lottery winners become broke after a few years, and why as American dinner servings have increased in size, so have Americans' waist lines.

It's why, when I found a pub two blocks from my apartment that offers free beer for women from noon to midnight (Yes, you read that correctly. FREE BEER for all ladies for TWELVE HOURS each day)- it resulted in more hangovers than I would like to admit. (I'm normally a once-a-year hangover type of person.)

Not to sound arrogant, but having more disposable income than most locals affords an abundance that I am not used to in the U.S. In addition to free beer, there seem to be social engagements every night that can keep me awake for a straight week, I can have whatever food I want delivered right to my door, at less cost than it would take for me to cook something back home. Or, I could just walk down the street to the schmorgusborg.

If Art Devany is right, humans haven't adapted genetically since we were hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago, living with a series of boom and bust cycles. When offered all we want, we take all we can, because part of our wee brains is telling us that this won't happen again for a while.

What happens when you live boom to boom, and no bust?

When that part of your brain clicks on that says, "Oh my God! More XXXX (fill in the blank) than I ever imagined! When will this ever happen again?" You tell yourself, "Calm down. It can happen every night if you want. You don't have to say yes to everything."

Finally, things become clear. The mindset changes. My stomach is not a savings account. No more grasping for things like a kid in a candy store, or a person who rarely travels filling their suitcase with shampoo.

Powerful.

Hey, Kids! Learn Spanish and Get Married!

While reviewing online Spanish learning sites, I came across Spanish
for Kids.

Not that interesting, except for the advertisement on the left for an online service to help find an Indian bride. (You can click on the picture to make it bigger)

It says, "Looking for a homely Tamil bride? Register free! Chat & Marry"

Are they aware of what "homely" means in English?

Argentine government Seizing Private Property

This strike thing is heating up. Beyond the scarcity of meat here in the city, things are hot and heavy in the campo. Apparently, the Argentine government is seizing cattle of strike supporters. Yanqui mike (farmer) has stopped posting and receiving comments on the matter because of concerns for his own safety.

yanqui mike buenos aires argentina: My last post... for my own safety: "Today's print and web edition of La Nacion reports that 50 members of the Argentina's Federal Police forcibly seized five truckloads of cattle from the ranch of a strike supporter near the town of Brandsen, southeast of the provincial capital of Buenos Aires, La Plata.

The story has not appeared in any other media outlets."

Seizing private property? We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

BTW: As a self-decribed socialist, I wonder if Yanqui Mike still supports the tax increases.

Filed Under: Why didn't I think of that?

Libraries and the occult - Boing Boing: "Cecile Dubuis wrote a master's dissertation for University College London titled 'Libraries & The Occult.' I've only read bits of it, but the challenge she identifies is that occult books are, by their nature, anomalous and hard to categorize, much like the phenomena discussed in their pages. As a result, they are often unsearchable in the context of traditional library classification systems."