Andybirthday, my new mouse, Interfilk cookbook, heulschniefschluchz

Happy birthday to my friend Andy!



I took the above photo in Robarts Library many years ago when we were both at the University of Toronto. The drawing to the right is one of my first attempts at doing a portrait with Corel Painter. I strongly believe that Andy could have been a brilliant movie reviewer in another lifetime. Even when he and I disagree completely on a movie (which is often), I always enjoy reading his reviews. Too bad he's not a blogging type; he'd be raking in the Google Adbucks. I wrote a song about Andy many years ago, but I am opting NOT to post it publicly because I know he would hunt me down and break my fingers. It would almost be worth it, but I have too much writing I want to do right now.

Andy posts as "aiabx" in my comments section, by the way. I loved his most recent post in response to my Blog Comments Etiquette blathering:

"What nonsense. 'Nobody likes a know-it-all'. Everyone loves it when I post. They cheer when I write and weep when I don't. How do I know? Because I know it all, of course."

47 people have responded so far to the blog reading survey I posted yesterday. Only one had trouble with the Wufoo format, and he was using custom text sizes. I'm going to try figuring out a way to pump up the text size myself in CSS so he won't need to. I'd like to give the survey another day or two before shutting down the survey and posting the results; if you haven't already, please do answer the very short survey at the bottom of yesterday's Blathering.



Hey, I have a new mouse! It's a Kensington Expert Mouse Optical USB Trackball 64325. Trackballs aren't for everyone, but I find that using a trackball has been a huge boon in terms of tendinitis recovery, and allows me to continue typing for longer stretches at a time than I would be able to normally.



I use the trackball with my left hand (I'm right-handed, if you're curious, but the tendons in my right arm were the most affected). I click the buttons with the heels of both hands, just below the thumb, and rotate the wheel with my thumbs. I situate the mouse between my elbow cushion at the edge of the desk and my keyboard.

Sounds awkward, I know, but it works for me. :-)



And finally, check out the cookbook to the right, which I recently picked up at a flea market: Rustic Italian Cooking by Kathleen Sloan. Those in the filk community will recognize Kathleen's name, except the identical name is just a coincidence. I thought it would be fun to turn this into an Interfilk item, however. Kathleen (the catalog queen Kathleen) has kindly agreed to autograph the book, and I'll also be adding some cartoons. I'm taking the book to OVFF to hopefully collect some additional fun doodles from filk artists, and will also be soliciting mini-pseudo-reviews of various recipes from OVFF attendees throughout the weekend, to be written directly on the page with the recipe.

"But I never tried the recipe!" you may protest. "How can I add a comment?" So what? Kathleen didn't write the book, either! :-) Be as creative as you'd like! The book will be donated to the Interfilk auction at GAfilk in January (Atlanta, GA - Urban Tapestry is the Guest of Honor, woohoo!). As a bonus, the recipes in this book sound quite good. Italian food, yum.

German word of the day:

(courtesy Aryana; I learned this in her LJ message board)

*heulschniefschluchz*

is actually a combination of three words:

"heul" - cry, wail, wallow
"schnief" - sniff
"schluchz" - sob

I feel compelled to start brushing up on my German vocab because Sibylle Machat is coming to visit with me next March around FilKONtario time, yay!

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