I've Got Music, I've Got (Spanish) Rhythm....

Had a thoroughly good time at Tiempo Gitanos last night. Dinner and a Flamenco show. A little pricey ($65 pesos per person- it's $85 on the weekends), but we learned that we can go and just have tapas instead of dinner in the future.

I love Flamenco. The guitar, singing, and dancing. It's so passionate. The singing has that haunting Arabic influence, the dancing has a gypsy-like influence, and the guitar, is intricate and dramatic at the same time.

It also has a complicated rhythm. Has anyone else noticed that Argentines are not very rhythmic? Tango does have rhythm, but I've noticed that nobody taps their foot, claps their hands, or otherwise visibly marks rhythm to the live music I've seen here. Even in clubs with a pounding beat, young Argentines don't dance much.

Last night, in contrast, the waiters were always clapping or tapping on something. Made me feel less of an outcast as I tapped and clapped along.

Evolutionary Fitness Argentine Style

Somehow, being gone has given me a motivation to get back in shape and get healthy. I've essentially been ignoring my body for the last six months, and I've put on a little padding around my waist. I'm also sluggish a lot.

I've been following Art Devany for quite a while, since I did Crossfit before I left CA. I'm going to start following his suggestions and see what happens. After reading his blog awhile, I think they make a lot of sense.

Eating a paleo-style diet here is easy and difficult at the same time. Easy because there are a lot of fresh ingredients, and a steak/salad combo here is a no-brainer. But it's also hard (at least for now) to ignore the pizzas, empanadas, pastas, etc.

Of course, I'm not completely anal about any diet- I figure I will try for 80% and go from there.

Back Home

I haven't blogged for a while because I have been on a three-week trip to California. What did I notice the most about CA after being gone for six months?

• Wide open space. LA and San Diego are so spread out, compared to the density of BsAs.
• People walking around with coffee cups. (Of course, this might change now that Starbucks is here.)
• More strikingly obese people in CA than BsAs.
• Efficiency at checkout lines.
• The beauty of the rolling hills. I took it for granted when I lived there, but after being gone for a while, I realize how beautiful the rolling hills and orange groves are.
• It's true nobody walks in LA. I went to a restaurant with friends, less than a mile from my friend's house, and we drove. (Of course, my friend was pregnant, so we probably would have driven anyway.) I'll walk a mile in BsAs with no problem, unless the weather is inclement.
• By the way, I saw two celebrities that night in half an hour- Carson from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and the lady who is in all sorts of stuff, but I remember her as the tall, blond, lesbian companion in Best in Show-- Hollywood is so funny.
  

All in all, I'm glad to be back. I love the density of the city, the fact that it is getting cold enough to freeze the cockroaches and other bugs into hibernation, and of course, my hubby. :)

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.