these days of leiderhosen

...as I wave my little Whedon geek flag.

...and enslave me forever. There is nothing nicer. A short bounce from the luminous and delicious Heather Ordover's wonderful podcast CraftLit I found a selection of Glen Hallstom's Librivox recordings on Librivox.org . His Dickens' Christmas Carol (v. 2.) is not to be missed. It is amazing and one of the best reading I've heard yet. A deep, expressive British voice. And Librivox.org ?" Free recorded public domain books. Free. Is the Internet a lovely place? They even have the Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova , which I did not know they had translated yet! Amazing.

Today, both triumphant and fed up, I finished up 60% of my work for the month. I believe I have stuffed as many numbers in to boxes that I can. Later on this evening I found that last month's check was short 25% and this month 35%. This is being investigated. On to discuss nicer things: I love my new office mate Gayle. She's all mine for another 2 weeks until I am shipped out to the Boondocks of University Land. WNYC's Radiolab has been in hot rotation on the ipod. If you haven't heard it, it is fabulous. The show "Ooops!" might be my favorite so far. It's Friday, damn it. Soba noodles and spicy tuna rolls for dinner. And now for your viewing pleasure: Footage from a High Speed Moving Train. I think it's awesome.

I've hooted previously about Patti Smith's biography Just Kids . She won the non-fiction National Book Award and read aloud at the Award ceremony. You can find some of the audio here : Patti loses her change in an Automat and faces off with Allen Ginsberg, my favorite part of the book.

Last night was Mum's 69th birthday. We had a glorious California evening of bocce ball, wine and food and it was great fun. (Bocce is definitely the sport of codgers: low, slow and close to the ground seems to be what it is all about.) The Niece is now a glorious two, the only child in a forest of grown ups. I think she is rather swell, even if she needs to be reintroduced to me every time before warming completely and dragging me everywhere. We have a new game: jumping. T. stands in front facing out into her adoring public, crouches and springs and I throw her the rest of the way up above my head. We allow gravity to help us out on the way down. The years of benchwarming and spectating partnerwork at the Pretentiousville Ballet Academy have finally paid off. The old Dance Master had spent his youth and performing life with Balanchine and was overly fond of the big ugly squatty pre-jump pliés that make even the most limber and elegant body look like a grenade explosion waiting t...

You absolutely must go visit Franklin at the Panopticon and see his animation of the intense knitted relationship between the Queen, Albert Einstein . It defies explanation and it delights me thoroughly. Hilarious. -------- This Exceedingly Tiresome University still screams budget deficit at every opportunity and it seems that the only ones who end up paying are the students (30% increase in tuition, more enrollment leaning to the higher paying Out of State Applicants) and Staff. Faculty, the Regents and the football coaches are still well padded in their compensation and there always seems to b e a certain amount of ...flexibility. This morning's UC News Flash has declared: "Enrollment for Benefits! You have Choices to Make and Action to Take!" I am still trying my damnedest to be grateful for any benefits coverage at all, but the new negotiated changes are going to cost me another $130 a month that I just cannot afford, plus the loss of the medical group I participate...