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10.10.10: I prefer 42

 Something about my past...but nothing to do with the fact that the birthday called "42" is behind me...by a bit. Pfffft.

In college, I was appointed to a crash course in the Hitchhikers Trilogy. The title volume: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The series ends with So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Go figure.

Still, I get all tickly inside w/this memory. My first boyfriend in college actually read the entire trilogy to me--all four books. Out loud. In the Texas A&M library. And then proceeded to crack up (again, out loud) at all the right geeky moments. Stellar.

I can't point my finger only at him, though. This series was funny. Bizarre, but funny. Of course, anything in one's youth that fits that description should be suspect. That suspicious certainly was confirmed when the movie came out a few years ago.

Oy! Some memories of the book series clicked and others were just...off. Or maybe I didn't envision things being said in English accents. It was like a B-version (or less) Austin Powers.

In any case, it makes me laugh now to think that today's date in binary (42)--to some might present the answer to life, the universe and everything. Not that I believe it, but it does make for a fun, quirky answer to life' more serious questions.

I think Microserfs is calling my name now.

Three things I love

...The darkness at night in our neighborhood. I know that sounds twisted, but darkness is really darkness down here. City lights aren't everywhere trying to protect everyone from the hoodlums. If they're gonna show up and steal my iPod from my car, they'd better darn well know how to arm wrestle large dogs, fox, bear and anything else lurking out there. I don't think the Bambi's of the neighborhood are gonna care too much, though.

...My new MacBook. Oh my...Fast, fast, fast. Haven't had time to try the Windows emulator, Parallel, but I'm gonna try it tomorrow. The iSight camera has got to be the most fun feature built-in, though. Way too much fun...I may never get anymore work done. Now, if Skype could get their act together and give me some video...it would scream on our cable broadband!

...The Poisonwood Bible. This book is something else. Sad in most ways (so far..I'm only 100 pgs into it--I read it while I'm doing my PT), but what's amazingly redeeming about it is how it's written and how the revelations of life in the developing world unfold.

How to get a standing O

Seems like no one knows great presentations like Steve Jobs. And if you ever have a chance to hear Guy Kawasaki, you'll see he's no potted plant, either.

I love reading Guy, and we had the privilege years ago to hear him speak to a Mac user group in Houston. Here, learn Guy...with a little Jobs along the way.

Tom Friedman: Scary thoughts from The World Is Flat

These are scary stats, friends. And it's not like we can make up for lost time.

Thanks, Tom Friedman (and, of course, The Future of Work blog). A lot of people don't like his perspective (I wonder what kinds of crowd he'd attract at a cocktail party). What, no ray of sunshine here? It is reality, though.

It's thrilling, on one hand, to see countries everywhere (esp. Asia) developing their talent to be globally competitive. But am I crazy to think that we're just sitting on our fat butts--figuratively and literally--and on our laurels, thinking the US can remain a superpower forever without even trying?

Globalization and the rest of the world aren't going to go away. Not only do we need to give a flip about the world, we have the huge responsibilities of raising our next generation in a way that makes them worthy competitors in the world, as well as to be good neighbors to others and good stewards of the world power we still possess.

A bit out of balance on both fronts, aren't we?

May is Latino Books Month

According to the Association of American Publishers. And, lucky for Colorado, the mayor of Denver selected Caramelo as its book for this year's One Book, One Denver. From what I hear, libraries statewide are following suit.

I love Sandra Cisneros' writing, and I love Caramelo (It's right there off to the side, under Favorite Reads--see?). The writing is not only funny and poignant, it's so artful in how the drama that often comes with the Spanish language is so uniquely expressed. Talk about flashbacks and memories to the family's past--especially if you're Latino and grew up in the States--phrases like you'd hear from 'buelita (grandma) or mamá, expressions that sound right only when they r-r-r-r-roll off your tongue in pure, unadultered Spanish.

In two weekends, I hope to attend a writer's class in San Antonio (one of my favorite places) at Gemini Ink. It's a two-hour session with Cisneros, limited to 30 guests. God willing, it will all work out.

If you're curious about where to start with Latino lit, here are some options. I've selected classics under Fiction, which I can vouch for. Read nonfiction at your own risk. :)

Fiction
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (1972)
The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes- Rodriguez (2003)
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (1985)
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (1991)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1970)

Nonfiction
Barrios and Borderlands: Cultures of Latinos and Latinas in the United States edited by Denis Lynn Daly Heyck (1994) 
Borders by Pat Mora (1986)
Chicana Ways: Conversations with Ten Chicana Writers by Karin Rosa Ikes (2001)
Growing Up Latina: Memoirs and Stories edited by Harold Augenbraum and Ilan Stavans (1993)  Latina: Women’s Voices from the Borderlands edited by Lillian Castillo-Speed (1995) 
Sandra Cisneros: Latina Writer and Activist by Caryn Miriam-Goldberg (1998) 
Something to Declare by Julia Alvarez (1998)

Managing Millennials: The "boss" of the future

This is fascinating, and something I've never thought about. And I found it in the darnedest place: The Shifted Librarian, an excellent blog for librarians and, I think, anyone else who's into research.

Libraries are beginning to use gaming as a "social carrot" to get teens & tweens through their doors. Smart...and very forward-thinking.

A podcast link from SL takes you to an interview from Moira Gunn with John Beck for IT Conversations about how the workplace is likely to change as Millennials enter the workforce. Beck authored Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Changing Business Forever.

Should you ever manage the teens or tweens of today, consider this phenonemon that is coming out of the gaming culture.

While we're being told on one hand that multi-tasking is really not all that productive after all (please don't ask me for a link; I can hardly pronounce my name today), before long Millennials will fill your workplace with competitive risk-takers who can work one problem while chewing on two or three others. Sound like a video game? If you can't solve one puzzle, try another while you take some space from the first one.

And get this:

At one point in the interview, Gunn asks Beck how gamers will change the workplace, and Beck provides an example observation that in video games, there are “level bosses” that you have to beat in order to advance further in the game. So one of the things you don’t want to be in real life if you’re a gamer or the supervisor of a gamer is a “boss."
...
Beck goes on to say that in the workplace, you don’t want to be a “boss,” but rather a “strategy guide,” because that’s what gamers rely on, especially to beat the boss.

Wow--I've gotta let this sink in and mix and mesh with some of that left-/right-brain stuff. Kind of makes my head hurt though (most certainly a result of the two hemispheres in my head warring over control of my senses).

Yummy, Mmmm-Mmmm Good, Deeeelicious!

Whoa, baby.

Couldn't help it. I just had to buy this software. God knows I've resisted the tempation for nearly a year.

But I just couldn't take it anymore--life without Delicious Library (not to be confused with the free del.icio.us, which I also couldn't resist).

First, I have to admit: the cool quotient of Delicious Library is very high. But I can't get over the slick interface! I could play with it all night long. Heck, with all the books I've got to add to it, it just might take me all night.

There's other cool stuff: If you lend books out, there's a "checkout" feature that lets you put in the name of the borrower, date due, etc. This part makes me feel a tad guilty, especially since I recently read somewhere that if you lend a book, you've given it away. (Does that make one--gasp!--an Indian giver if they only lend a book? I'm so confused.)

Viewing options include a list format (like you see in the iTunes app) or a nice, dark-wood case as a backdrop. Sigh. So pretty. Oh--and you can e-mail a recommendation from your collection to a friend. I want to figure out how to recommend music (or even audiobooks) from iTunes rather than from Amazon.

 

If you've got a media collection you'd like to keep better track of, this is your gig.

Me & paper got a love thang

As if life with paper could get any better. Introducing the new Moleskine reporter's notebook! I'm going to need treatment for this one.