What’s up with the office doorbell? It’s worse than my office phone ringing off the hook.
Category: field notes
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Listening to a lecture on classical mythology.
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Someone just brought me homemade chocolate cookies. Thank you!
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Stopped by Asheville Brewing Co. on the way home after class. ABC was packed for the Presidential debate.
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Bus broke down. Only got home 5 minutes late. How’s that for efficient public transit?
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Is trying to catch the 4 o’clock bus.
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someone’s cellphone is ringing in the other office… answer it, please.
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back at the office… why was the guy on the bus trying to sell passengers a stolen credit card? Idiot.
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listening to Morphine play over The Drip’s house stereo system
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making final revisions to a childrens book that is supposed to go to press today
Overheard @ The Dripolator
Barrista: So you like spending money on higher education? What, you like got your degree lit… and… now it’s like sweet, I can’t get a job anywhere.
Overheard @ Pritchard Park
“I lost my rune stone…”
U.S. Gas Prices
U.S. Gas Prices
A heat map visualization via Gas Buddy
Tumblr. – The Documentary.
The ubiquitous Wikipedia
…the Wikipedia site was listed among the top three Google hits 100 percent of the time.
Michael Petrilli. Link.
Weekend review
Another reason not to visit Disney: Fingertip biometrics at Disney turnstiles
Open society: largest data breaches
If it looks like a moleskine: “stylish little pocket notebook”
And finally, from Seth Godin:
“So, there’s plenty of bad economic news floating around. From the price of oil to Wall Street to bailouts to the death of traditional advertising.
Which is great news for anyone hoping to grow or to make an impact.”
Quote: Modern art is a disaster area…
(via Room 116) Link
Biltmore Village Under Construction
(photo by Coffeehouse Junkie)
Call me a snob, but really, we’re a nation of dunces
“The shrinking public attention span fostered by video is closely tied to the second important anti-intellectual force in American culture: the erosion of general knowledge.”
“I thought Europe was a country”
“Ms. Jacoby… said, something different is happening: anti-intellectualism (the attitude that “too much learning can be a dangerous thing”) and anti-rationalism (“the idea that there is no such things as evidence or fact, just opinion”) have fused in a particularly insidious way. Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge, she said, but they also don’t think it matters.” Link “I thought Europe was a country”
Letting go
Two things happen when you let go of something; you feel the pain of its absence more acutely or you feel the freedom from the weight it once possessed in your life.
“Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.”
From 43 Folders:
[Chuck] Close talks about evolving his method of working to overcome his own personality.
“I’m a nervous wreck. I’m a slob. I have no patience. And I’m rather lazy. All those things would seem to guarantee that I would not make work like I make. But I didn’t want to just go with my nature.”
So instead of painting overwrought, expressive things when the mood struck, he committed to making his epic, close-up portraits by breaking the work into tiny pieces and hewing to a grid. Not only did the grid make technical sense, it forced a lifehack on Close that would help him deal with his own tendencies. It helped get the work done…
Link.
Coffee, gotstahavit
From Unclutterer:
Coffee beans you aren’t going to grind and brew within two weeks can be kept in the freezer, but they should not be stored in the refrigerator. Moisture isn’t good for coffee, well, unless you’re actually in the process of brewing. Don’t believe me? Here are a few insights from people much more informed than I…
Link.
And loosely related, from The Point:
…it’s not surprising that studies have shown caffeine is an effective aid…. For caffeine to be most effective, however, regular users need to minimize their caffeine use so that when they need it, caffeine will give them a boost.
Link.
Poetry blogosphere rawk star
Holy Shoot! About.com’s poetry blog listed and linked to my list of 7 things you should know about being a poet.
Crazy, right? Does this make me a poetry blogosphere rawk star? No. It means I spend way too much time blogging when I should be working… er… writing… like poetry or something.
Okay, so, About.com visitors, thanks for visiting. If you want to actually read schtuff that was published (poems, essays, etc.) follow this link. To read a weekly column I used to write go here.
Coffeehouse Junkie 