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Fri, Apr. 4th, 2008, 05:34 pm
Lunch hour
I started out from Government Center in the Skyway, but after a short time realized that the weather outside was not bad at all (50 oF/10 oC and fair), so I went outside and walked southwest along 3 rd Ave, around the far side of the Convention Center, then northeast on LaSalle for most of the return trip. I stopped at the downtown Barnes & Noble before going back to the office. This had the useful result that I was able to look at a few books that had interested me when I read their listings at Amazon.com. A few minutes of browsing convinced me that they were not worth buying after all. Lunch itself was a bag of raw vegetables at my desk. Fear not that I becoming overly virtuous: I had blue cheese dressing with them. Also, last night Mia made Chicago-style pizza for our dinner.
Thu, Mar. 20th, 2008, 05:39 pm
Books on the internet
John Baez has posted a list of recommended free math and physics books available on the web. This is very helpful: There are a lot of free texts out there, but taken as a whole they only demonstrate Sturgeon's revelation. You need some educated guidance to find the good stuff in a finite time.
Fri, Dec. 21st, 2007, 01:31 pm
Mike Huckabee's Favorite Author
Sun, Aug. 12th, 2007, 08:53 pm
A Sunday out with Mia
Thu, Jul. 26th, 2007, 09:22 pm
Fire and Sword
Sat, Jul. 21st, 2007, 09:51 pm
Weekend Notes
Wed, Jul. 4th, 2007, 05:45 pm
Household chores and other things
Wed, Jun. 13th, 2007, 09:37 pm
Seeing myself
I was looking at an Irish Grammar Book today, and working through a variation on an example in the text. I came up with Ceannaím an iomarca leabhar.-- "I buy too many books."
Wed, Jun. 6th, 2007, 10:33 am
Great history
I have been reading Seán O'Fáolin's The Great O'Neill: A Biography of Hugh O'Neill Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616. Hugh O'Neill led the last and greatest Irish revolt against Queen Elizabeth of England. ( Read more... )It has been criticized, with reason, for inaccuracies about some details. However, for its portrait of the man Hugh O'Neill I can forgive a lot. O'Neill's character--why he did what he did--is the key problem of this critical phase of Irish History. It is a really great book. I am reading it on the bus to and from work. More than once I have been so caught up in the story that I almost missed my stop.
Tue, Apr. 24th, 2007, 09:58 pm
Books
I bought a few books at Penguicon, mainly because it was a chance to buy from an independent book dealer, and in fact a dealer I remembered from Chicagoland cons. Since the demise of Irish Books and Media I have become even more conscious of how small book sellers are threatened by the chains, and by you-know-who on the Internet. Of course, this is not easy. Even with my rather odd interests, you-know-who has some books with a better price than I can find elsewhere. So I have to think about how much extra I am willing to pay to help the independents. Today ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) haddayr got me off the hook on one such case: She showed me where the book in question (or at least the text thereof) was available free on the Internet. But I cannot really count on that happening very often.
Mon, Feb. 19th, 2007, 08:39 pm
A day off
....because of the Presidents' Day Observance. I accomplished the first and foremost objective of any day off: Sleeping in. During the rest of the morning I helped mia_mcdavid with the process of "warping" her loom, for the Ulster tartan plaid she is weaving for me. Not difficult work, but it took a while. I am never going to be able to listen to Captain Kirk talk about "warp speed" in quite the same way again. In the early afternoon the three of us ran a couple errands, then went for a two mile walk along Snelling Avenue. Bookstores at both ends gave this some additional definition and motivation, although I did not buy anything. Over the course of the three day weekend I have done some organization of historical research materials that I had scattered about the house. They will be much more useful now, and in fact going through them I noticed a couple more references that are relevant to an ongoing discussion in ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) colgaffneyis.
Tue, Jan. 23rd, 2007, 03:02 pm
I.B.M. is going out of business
Tue, Jan. 2nd, 2007, 04:38 pm
Beginning the New Year
I was tired and discouraged on New Year's Eve and even talked about skipping the colgaffneyis events the next day. I went to bed at 10PM and slept for 12 hours. That made a difference. I went to all five stops (well, the last stop was our own house) and had a great time. ( Read more... )
Fri, Dec. 29th, 2006, 04:39 pm
Learning to love my Local Library
Tue, Sep. 5th, 2006, 12:48 pm
Busy Morning at the Post Office
Over the weekend I sold four books via Amazon.com, as part of an effort I have been working on for a couple years now. So this morning I packaged them and took them to the downtown Minneapolis Post Office for mailing. I also mailed back a manuscript that a friend had written, and the 20 hard copies of colgaffneyis monthly newsletter.
Wed, May. 17th, 2006, 03:56 pm
Trust is not completely dead
Thu, Feb. 16th, 2006, 12:38 pm
Scottish Events -- a different view
Of special interest to colgaffneyis and friends. ( Read more... )
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