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Catching up... [21 Aug 2005|10:43pm] I didn't realize that it had been months since I last posted. Sheesh, my last post was from right before the conference? Fortunately, that presentation went fine -- the discussion on "The Librarian's Role in Fighting Plagiarism" was pretty lively. It was great to hear a variety of opinions and experiences, especially with regards to anti-plagiarism services like TurnItIn. Since then, things have been a bit hectic. One of the librarians at my workplace left, and they eliminated the position after he left. Unfortunately, he covered all of the Saturday shifts; after he left, I and the other remaining librarian had to start splitting up the weekend hours. Ugh. So far the division has been fair and equitable, but that still means I'm working every other Saturday, more or less. Otherwise work has been okay... I'm still teaching some classes on the side, which uses up more time, but trades it for money and experience. Fortunately I've been keeping up with the Pride Center game nights and the Saturday game days, so we've been able to use our free time pretty effectively. I should run for now... time to catch up on some grading and some Family Guy.... 3 comments|post comment

Workshop jitters [05 Jan 2005|11:46pm] [ mood | nervous ] Sheesh... I'm kinda nervous tonight, because I'm giving a presentation at a conference tomorrow. I've done this sort of thing before, but this time I'm doing one in front of other actual librarians, so I'm more nervous about it than usual. Which is strange, because I'm not particularly scared of other librarians. Tomorrow or Friday I'll report back on how it went. Til then.... 4 comments|post comment

Back to my web journal... [02 Jan 2005|10:13pm] Since it's a new year, and I've been telling myself that I should be getting back into keeping my journal (and I'm putting off a few hours worth of grading), I thought I'd do a quick post. Quite a bit to catch up on since last time... whenever that was. 2004 was a good year overall, but it certainly had its ups and downs. The good stuff included buying a house with my partner, getting a dog, and generally settling down a bit. I'll talk about that stuff in a later post. Til then, it's back to grading... 1 comment|post comment

Catching up online... [03 Oct 2004|10:07pm] Okay, so I haven't used my journal in a while. Last time I posted, my partner and I were in the process of buying a house, and it was... complicated, to say the least. We eventually got everything sorted out, and moved to our new place in August. Since then, things have been pretty good. The house is a lot more work than the apartments I've had in the past, but it feels good to know that I won't have to figure out where to live when my lease runs out (as I experienced many times, moving from apartment to apartment in New Brunswick.) The commute is a bit longer... and a reminder that I really need to get a car. I didn't do much else this summer, and didn't even take a proper vacation... but we had regular game days, and a few folks over at the house over Labor Day. One downer was that my PC broke during the move, but I ordered a new one, and had some friends set me up and get the old hard drive installed, so I didn't lose any files. Woo hoo! Hopefully I'll get back into regular LJ posting again. Til next time... 1 comment|post comment

Off to a game con... [30 Apr 2004|05:52pm] [ music | My Favorite - "The Informers" ] Well, vilhelm and I are off to a gaming Con shortly -- the Gazebo of Games. (More info available at http://www.wildgazebo.com/) We're actually going to be volunteering there as well -- a few hours tonight, a few hours here and there tomorrow. This will allow us to get comped for the registration fee, and I always like volunteering anyway, so it should be fun. Lots of miscellaneous news, some rather significant, some rather good. Ironically, it seems like the busier and more eventful my life, the less I post. I'll try to catch up on that later... or, at the very least, I'll try to post more details about gaming events we'll be attending/hosting. I'll catch up later... til then.... post comment

Summing up since the last entry [01 Mar 2004|10:55pm] [ mood | awake ] [ music | Bjork, "Hyper-ballad" ] The last few months have been hectic, but generally good. I finished up my first teaching experience -- adjuncting-teaching a four month, college-level class at my workplace -- and handed in my grades this past Friday. Overall, that was a good experience; when I'm a bit more inclined, I should write an entry about my first-time teaching observations and all that. My partner and I have been continuing to hold game days, which has been fun... but slightly stressful. Our main concern is that we could really use a better venue; sometimes our regular spot, the Panera's Bakery, is packed to the gills, even at 2pm. I'm happy that our game days have been sort of taking on a life of their own... that is, some of the folks that regularly come to the events have expressed a willingness to keep them running in our absence. I feel better knowing that these events don't depend on me as the sole motivating force. So why haven't I been posting? Mainly it's because there's been a lot of cracking down on web usage at my workplace. A lot of sites (mostly video game and streaming media sites) are now blocked, and it's possible for the IT department to check up on our surfing. While I'm not particularly explicit in this journal, there's still enough personal stuff here than I'm not keen about anyone in my professional life reading it. For years, work has been where I always do my journal entries... I find that I probably do more reflection there, even when it's busy, than I do at home. Kind of a strange observation, but there may be some truth to it... Well, I'm off to bed for now. Since we're in the midst of our trimester break, I have to work 8:30am to 5:00pm each day, rather than my all-over-the-place schedule, the one I'm used to. I just have to make sure I don't get too used to this. Until next time.... post comment

Game Day update and February plans [06 Feb 2004|09:32am] Hey all, Wow... our Panera's game days are getting pretty popular! Our last two turnouts were 15 and 12 people, I believe, with three concurrent games both days. Recently we've played Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Modern Art, Ra, Traders of Genoa, Mare Nostrum, Kahuna, Button Men, and at least three or four other games I can't remember at the moment. We may need to find a bigger space soon! For the month of February, I know we had trouble finding a day that everyone was free, so we thought about "splitting" the event into two days. That way, someone who's not free on one day can make the other... or, if someone is free both days, they can hit both (but shouldn't feel obligated to -- we're gonna be at Panera's anyway.) So... how about Feb 14th and Feb 28th, at the Panera's on Rt. 1, starting at 2pm? If anyone would like more info or to make suggestions for future game days, please drop me a reply. Thanks! Til next time... 1 comment|post comment

Game Day this Saturday! [28 Jan 2004|02:02pm] [ mood | cold ] Since I haven't figured out a really good Game Day date for February, and the weather this week is so crappy, vilhelm and I and a few others thought, why not have another January game day? :) We'll be hosting another Game Day at the Panera's on Rt. 1 in North Brunswick this Saturday, January 31st, 2004, starting around 2pm and running until sometime around 6pm to 8pm. It's a fairly informal event (just us at the back of Panera's again) so feel free to stop by -- just look for the gamers in the back. As usual, we'll bring lots of games, but please bring anything you'd like to play. Hope to see you there! post comment

Upcoming Game Day [10 Jan 2004|10:37am] [ mood | geeky ] Hey all, We're holding another Board/Strategy Game Day next weekend! Here are the details: Date: Saturday, January 17th Location: The Panera's on Rt. 1 South in North Brunswick (Same complex as the Bed Bath and Beyond and Barnes and Noble) Time: 2:00pm-on (usually until somewhere between 6:00pm and 8:00pm) We're probably going to be playing at least a few games, including Mare Nostrum and, probably, Puerto Rico. Feel free to bring any games you might want us to play. No charge or anything, but the Panera's people seem to like it when we buy stuff there :) Feel free to drop me a reply if you would like more info. 2 comments|post comment

[29 Dec 2003|01:32am] [ mood | awake ] Whew... back from making the rounds of visiting the relatives for the holidays. I've been away from my apartment since X-mas eve, which was... okay, only a few days ago, but I still missed my place and my stuff and myself. I never feel like myself around my family. Overall it was a good holiday, though. No drama, I didn't get sick, etc. I should really get to bed, but I'm wired now that I have proper Internet access again. I have to work tomorrow... I should go to bed... or at least do something useful online (rather than looking for random cartoon opening themes in alltheweb.com's audio search...) So much email to catch up on... Gotta go for now. Til next time... post comment

Miscellaneous update, and an interesting essay about geekfolk [17 Dec 2003|11:15pm] [ music | Cooler Kids, "Viva La Fever" ] Not too much to report in recent days. There were a few really snowy days, which were kind of annoying, since a lot of plans got cancelled, and I missed a completely-free weekend of hanging out with vilhelm. Instead we just hung around our respective abodes and chatted periodically throughout the day. Not quite the same thing :/ Work has been okay. An event that I was helping to plan fell through and had to be postpone, but it wasn't for lack of planning on my part. I left a chunk of the responsibility in someone else's hands, and they dropped the ball. Not much I can do about it; it's disappointing, but I don't think anyone is placing the blame on me. And it's a pretty minor deal in the grand scheme of things. Via the journal of astrophysicat, I was introduced to an online essay titled, "The Five Geek Social Fallacies." It's online at: http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html It expains so much... of the drama in my life... since 1991 or so :) And I'm not blameless of any of these faults myself. post comment

Freaking out over Hamlet? Weird. [04 Dec 2003|02:03pm] [ mood | anxious ] Last night I had trouble sleeping because of a recurring nightmare. In it, I was helping prepare for a presentation of the play Hamlet. A few hours before the first show, someone asked me if I was ready to deliver my lines. I was suddenly reminded that, not only was I helping to set up for the show, but I'd agreed to play the lead role. I panicked, realizing I only had a matter of hours to memorize my lines. I think this dream was a reflection of how I get worried sometimes that I'll freeze when I'm in front of my class -- that I won't know what to say next. It's kind of ironic that I'd have that dream this week, though, since I'm bringing my class to the library tonight for a presentation I've delivered dozens of times. Ah, well, I never said my brain did logical things. For some reason, the nightmare has stuck with me, however. I think it re-occured last night, but just didn't wake me up. Today I was thinking about it in more detail, about what it would be like to be up on stage, with no idea whatsoever what to say. I was trying to think of a way to get my brain to stop obsessing over this (although it'll probably go away naturally in a day or two)... and actually thought to myself this morning, "well, I could always just memorize the lines ahead of time in the real world." Knowing the lines would indeed dispel the nightmare, I suppose, but it's kind of a strange way to deal with a problem that doesn't actually exist. Sometimes I wish I had a much stronger barrier between waking life and dream life. Ah well, til next time.... post comment

On holidays and spending [01 Dec 2003|08:59pm] [ mood | thoughtful ] While my librarian job certainly has its frustrating moments, it has its high points as well. While I have to work two nights a week, I usually spend the last hour of those nights searching for books to add to the collection. And it's not even technically slacking! Woo hoo! It almost makes those college and grad school education debts seem worthwhile. An even better feeling is when I find a book that I want to add to the collection, so I can read it... and it's already there! Case in point: The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting, and the New Consumer by Juliet B. Schor. Admittedly, I just got it off the shelf now, so I will withhold any sort of editorial review. However, I'm happy to have found it, since consumerism is the main topic crowding my mind right now. ( Musings on consumerism here, cut due to length. ) Rant over *grin*. I'm going to start reading the book tonight, so maybe I'll be reflecting on these sorts of issues later. Til next time.... 7 comments|post comment

On unfriending [30 Nov 2003|09:51am] [ mood | pensive ] It had to happen sometime, right? I mean, this is LiveJournal. Someone finally posted the big, "I have too many friends, I have to thin out my friends list" post, I checked and... I'm gone! Poof! It's kind of a weird situation. I feel as though this person holds me responsible for us drifting away. But this is the same person who left the mailing list I was using to announce stuff we're doing, and who pretty much ignores my replies in their journal... So it's just weird. This should probably be a private post, but I don't feel like making it one. This kind of makes me think of, of all things, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There was an episode where two characters decide to have this Bajoran ritual where, basically, two people decide to stop being friends and become strangers again. Sometimes I wonder if something like that wouldn't actually be a pretty valuable thing... to at least give some closure to things. At least that had a sense of mutual agreement, though. LJ unfriending feels like someone saying, I no longer have any interest in what's going on in your life. I'm not taking the other person off my list, yet. I actually care about what's going on in that person's life. They'll just be spared my tales of game days and adjunct teaching. Um... yeah, so they're not missing too much :) So, life goes on. This is obviously on my mind or I wouldn't post about it, but I'll deal. Oh, wait! I should go see if... gasp!... I'm also off this person's Friendster list! *grin* So, til next time.... post comment

Brainstorming thanks, and game group observations [20 Nov 2003|07:59am] [ mood | awake ] First, a thank you to all the folks that sent me brainstorming-activity suggestions. I still haven't picked one, but now I have a lot more options to choose from. The exercises in the class textbook are laaaaaaame by comparison. Second, I've been thinking a bit recently about responsibility -- not at work, where I think I have that worked out, but rather at the game events that I started last year, along with my partner vilhelm. We started a third-Tuesday-of-the-month game night at the local Pride Center, because we wanted that sort of group to exist, and no one else was running it. More recently we expanded to a second day per month, a Saturday strategy games day. While that originally started as an offshoot of the Pride Center, we moved it to a local coffeeshop/bakery and it gradually became an event without any specific orientation, so to speak. (Not that I haven't had straight friends go the games days at the Pride Center, but I understand that other straight folks might feel weird going there, not out of homophobia but perhaps for fear of intruding.) Things have been going pretty smoothly, but recently a few people pointed out that I haven't been too good about planning days far enough in advance, nor keeping people informed about the events. I've also realized that I probably should have been inviting more people to the game days and nights. It's kind of just sinking in that I'm really the key person for these things, and I have to take it a bit more seriously. This is kind of a change for me -- I'm used to gaming being a much more freeform thing, as ariadnesthread can attest to from our college days :) Now that I'm outside that whole system of colleges and dorms and constant access to gamers, there's more to plan and set up. Who knew that setting up a day of fun could be so much work? Okay, well, not *that* much work. Just something that's been on my mind this week, mainly because our game night at the Pride Center went pretty well... and some of the attendees were clamoring for more days per month. Sheesh. Anyway, I'm rambling, and need to get back to work. Til next time, -- Bill 3 comments|post comment

Yet another post! Regarding my Yahoo Group. [18 Nov 2003|02:57pm] Hey all, Sheesh, I don't think I've ever posted this much to the group in one day. Kind of a quiet day at work, I guess. Just wanted to get word out (although I think quite a few folks already know) about a Yahoo group that my and my partner vilhelm started a while back to keep people informed about events that we'll be running and/or attending. The URL for the group is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheBills/ One bit of advice: there tends to be a good bit of back-and-forth regarding the scheduling of game days, so you may want to set it to "digest" email notification, or no-emails (and then just check the group periodically for updates.) If interested, check it out and request an invite. And don't be afraid to post things along the lines of, "hey! when's the next event?" if I get a bit lazy about posting.... post comment

Request for "Brainstorming Exercise" ideas [18 Nov 2003|02:25pm] Hey all, My posts usually aren't of the "help!" variety, but I could use some input... For my class this Thursday, I want to do some sort of group exercise to demonstrate the value of brainstorming. I have about 20 students and 45 minutes to an hour for this particular activity. Any advice? Suggestions? A lot of the stuff I've found so far is just of the "find fifty other uses for a teabag!" variety. Thanks ;) 3 comments|post comment

Miscellaneous update [17 Nov 2003|06:25pm] Grumble... achy... at work. I helped my friend Ray move into his new place this weekend (along with six or so other friends) and am just now feeling the aches and pains. Yesterday I got to veg out in front of the TV (Specifically, the PS2 and "Monster Rancher 4") but today I actually had to get up and commute and all that. If nothing else, this'll spur me to get a bit more serious about working out. (So that, um, the next time I help friends move, I won't be as sore afterwards?...) Not much else new at the moment. Work is okay, although I still need to come up with a non-cheesy brainstorming exercise for my class this Thursday. More game days coming up... Pride Center Game Night on Tuesday, generic Strategy Game stuff on Saturday. I got a few angry emails from people asking me why I never advertise... darnit, why do I have to be the one to organize these things, when I'm so bad at keeping in touch with people? Sheesh. But, if I didn't try to get people together for game stuff, well, these things wouldn't happen on their own. Other miscellaneous holiday and family events on the near horizon, but nothing worth getting too much into. I'm just looking forward to the holidays being over and Spring and Summer arriving not too long thereafter, I think. Ah, well... til next time... 4 comments|post comment

Off to teach again, week 2 [13 Nov 2003|06:03pm] [ mood | bouncy ] Again, off to teach in a few minutes. Week two... week one went well, but now I have to do more teacherly things. I'm also being sort of mean and starting off with a "pop quiz" of essentially unanswerable stumpers... which, weirdly enough, ties in directly with my lesson plan for the day, which is to talk about how you need to analyze a question/problem before you begin solving it. After testing the quiz on my co-workers, though, I realize that I'm going to have to stress, at the beginning, that I'm not grading it... or else some of the students might freak out. Sheesh. So, here I go. Til next time... post comment

Update on my class; brief Lollagazebo report [11 Nov 2003|03:36pm] My class last Thursday night went quite well, actually. Some boring administrative stuff, followed by an icebreaker that went unusually well, then some brain-teaser type stuff related to the problem-solving chapters in the textbook. This week is when things get a bit more complicated. Last week was almost fun, but now I have to start introducing gradable assignments and activities in the class. I have to provide opportunities for the students to fail and/or excel. This is when things start to get, well, less fun. Or perhaps, more... mwah ha ha! Didn't have a chance to post over the weekend due to the fact that I was at Lollagazebo almost the entire time. It was fun, although some of the games I would like to play weren't there, or didn't take place. I may do an LJ-cut Con report later, but I'm not giving my word on that, since I've been unreliable about these sorts of things in the past. Other than the class and the Con, nothing else significant to report. So, til next time.... post comment

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