Words

I'm the ultimate grammar geek. I realized that a couple of years ago when I couldn't stand the typos in one of my favourite novels anymore and started to correct them. I very rarely write in books. That is a hideous crime and should be harshly punished! You don't destroy books in that manner! Ok, must breathe...

Anyway, being a collector of words I was delighted when friend Heather published a list of words I didn't know on her blog today. Yay! I learned something new. My desire for knowledge was satisfied for today. Tomorrow, well that is a whole other issue.

I discovered the wonder of words quite early in life. Do you remember when you first started to read by yourself? At first it was slow and the more pictures there were in the book, the better it was. And then you realized you were reading silently to yourself in a book with little or no pictures at all. And suddenly, there was this amazing insight. It is fun to read! There are millions of books out there just waiting for me to read! What an amazing feeling that was. I realized then I would never be alone again.

Books are our friends.

Now, can you imagine what kind of self restraint was needed for me not to buy a book when I realized one of the stores in town had a booksale on paperbacks. More than 50% off. That took some serious talking to self. Something like this:

"I want one of them!! I want this one and this one and this..."

"No, I can't have any books today!"

"Why not? Look! There's another one! And they're cheap!"

"Because I just bought train tickets and can't afford to buy books."

"But... I want books!!!" (this is where inner self threw itself on the floor and had a temper tantrum so better self had to carry it out of the store)

About the same thing happened at the craft store. Guess if inner self sulked... All the way home...

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every second of it. :)

Ta ta for now!

Nina

Exam day

I'm a bit tired today. I had an exam. Not a big one, a small one. It didn't take very long. I hope I passed it. I also got second draft of essay back. There are parts of it that needs changing. There are also parts I know I want to rephrase before handing in the final draft for grading.

That was it for that class basically. I started the blog as a tool for learning English in class. I'm still having fun though so I guess I'll keep it running for a little while longer.

Spring semester is almost over. I have passed all the exams I have taken so far. Only one left. I can't say that I know that I will pass the last one, but there is good hope for it. During summer I am going to attend yet another English class. I know, I simply can't get enough of English classes. :) This one will be in creative writing. It sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to get back to you on that one later.

I watched a show on tv earlier tonight about hoarders. I think I might be a hoarder. Not of things but of information and academic merits. Just the other day a friend said that I am like a badger, always digging up information I don't need. I just love Wikipedia!! I know, it's not always reliable information, but if you're not using it for anything other than just a bit of fun or as a starting point in further studies (of more academically approved sources) then I don't see the harm.

I think it might be time to go to bed before I start rambling worse...

Ta ta for now!!

Nina

Hamster-hunting

It is not as bad as it sounds. I promise!

It all started when a friend bestowed a copy of Janet Evanovich's "One for the Money" on me. Anyone even remotely familiar with Ms Evanovich's novels will know who Rex is. This sparked an interest in getting a hamster for myself. However, being a student and allergic to cats and dogs and horses I didn't think a hamster would be such a great idea. I still haven't got one. I will one day.

A friend of mine recently bought a hamster. I haven't seen the little bugger yet, but I hope I will soon. This purchase inspired me to do a bit of research about hamsters. I had no idea there were that many different kinds of hamsters and there are hamsters with pedigrees also. Apparently there is a whole world out there of hamster shows and breeding I had no idea existed. Of course there are a gazillion different doohdahs you can get for your hamster. My favourite so far is a little car with a wheel inside of it. You know, like Fred Flintstone had to run to get his car moving the hamster has to run to get it's car moving. The hamster ball also looks really fun for a hamster. At least that is what friend tells me. She says her hamster has a ball in the ball (yes, that pun was intended).

Anyway, with the almost limitless options of colour, fur type, eye colour and ear colour I have to decide what kind of hamster I want before I go out and buy one. I read somewhere that it's better to buy from a certified breeder than from a pet store. I wouldn't know about this. I do know that the hamsters I found pictures of online are way cute and I want every single one of them.

Once I saw a charcoal grey hamster in a pet store. Very dark. Very cute. I want one of those. Black or dark grey. And with lots of fur sticking out in all directions. That's how my dream hamster would look. I have seen light colored ones that are way too cute also. Ah... when I get a job... I will have a hamster one day! And that hamster will have a little car to run around in!

Ta ta for now!

Nina

Bling!

I figured I could look for a necklace to wish for my b-day (which is coming up in about a month and a half for anyone interested...). I made the mistake of googling "jewelry". I had no idea there were that many online shops selling jewelery of all kinds and prices. This is big business indeed.

This jewelery-googling made me think about what we use the Internet for. We have Facebook and MySpace to look for old friends and new acquaintances. We have online shops and even stores selling just about everything you can imagine if you have the dough to pay for shipping. We have online matchmaking sites to hook you up with Mr Right/Mrs Right or whatever you are looking for. We have games with thousands of players so you can live the life of your choice online. There's even a game named "Second Life" which probably isn't percieved as a game for those who use it, but it certainly isn't real.

I think that we will use the Internet more and more in our daily lives. When the Internet was first constructed it was for the explicit purpose of exchanging scientific information. Nobody could even try to predict that in 2008 one can order food online from ones grocery store. So this is my prediction. In the next five years the Internet will expand to encompass more and more people in the third world. There will be more and more business online and less actual stores. People will get used to the idea of not actually touching the item for sale before purchasing it. In the next ten or so years we will have evolved the Internet to become a global community where our avatars wander digital streets, go into digital shops, paying bills online and have coffee with our friends' avatars. There will be voice activated and eye movement will determine what we see from which angle. People will not have to go to the office to conduct work. Everything is digital and accessible from any computer around the world. All business meetings will take place online. We have gloves and goggles and headphones on to see, hear and interact with our digital surroundings. The digital world is percieved as to be real in 3D.

In 50 years we will have abandoned computers altogether. Since we have ruined the earth so much we will have to work hard to even get anything to eat so nobody will have time to sit in front of comps. Or we will have become fat, lazy people only living online not in the real world. I have no idea really, but the simple truth is that we are heading for a major disaster if we don't do anything very very fast to save the earth. Perhaps it is already too late to do anything. Maybe we're already doomed.

All this because of a googled necklace...

Ta ta for now!

Nina

Pet Peeves

A friend (Heather) published a list of pet peeves. Very interesting reading indeed. Some I agree with, some I don't. Probably because I've never had encountered that problem. Anyway, this reminded me of a refrigerator magnet I saw in a shop the other day. It read something like this:

If it's open, close it.
If it's on the floor, pick it up.
If it's dirty, clean it.
If it's hungry, feed it.
If it's sad, hug it.

I thought that was really good. I have to go buy that magnet...

There hasn't been a post in a while now. That's because I've had difficulties with internet connection from home and on top of that I have no less than three essays to write due on Monday. I'd better get started right? :)

Computers would be one of my pet peeves. Why can't a computer just work properly the first time around? And why can't the manual be at least something one can understand? No... Why should it? I figured it was close to a miracle when I got connection up and running on the second try with just one phone call to the supportteam. But then it failed again. Miserably. Phone again to supportteam. Nope, you've got too old whatever doohdahs it was. They knew how to fix it, but wouldn't tell me because it wasn't in their job description... *sigh* Ok, phone friend. This saint of a friend actually talked me through how to fix it. And now it works! Yay! And it wasn't because of old doohdahs.

Ta Ta for now!

Nina

Being an artist

It's a beautiful spring day here. The sun is shining and there's not cloud in sight. The temperature's been on the rise several days and reaches new high points every day. This is nice. If you're not allergic to pollen that is. Otherwise it's not that fun. If you live in an area where there's still snow it's not fun either.

I was talking to friend on phone yesterday. She's a very artistic lady. I wish I could express myeslf that way. In poems and pictures and such. My friend writes poems I want to frame and hang on the wall. Beautiful stuff. I've tried writing poems. It didn't work out that well. They were just so trivial and not very interesting to read at all. I've tried painting too, but that was just a disaster. I have a picture in my head I want to paint or draw, but it never comes out they way I want it to. This makes me very upset and usually I heave the whole thing away. I think I'll stick to making cards. Those turn out at least almost as I want them to.

Or maybe I should stick to reading instead. I'm pretty good at reading by now, having done it since I was like six years old. I've always been an avid reader. When they asked in class what we thought of when thinking of the word "library" I just had to say "Heaven" since I love books and I love libraries. That got a laugh out of the class. But I truly wish I had a library. Imagine a whole room full of books to read. New adventures to be part of.

The other day I printed out some of the card challenges on Split Coast Stampers (see link) where they challenge you to make a card of a particular design. You have to put the card elements in a particular order or use squares or circles. Fascinating! I tried making one such card. It turned out better than I thought. I got many new ideas. However, I'm a bit picky about what I do since cardstock is way expensive and I really want everything to be beautiful.

Ok, now I really got to go. I have two essays to write for next week and keywords to write and cards to make

Ta ta for now!!

Nina

Assignment 2 - Problem solving

Dogs should be banned from the city


Spring has arrived and with the melting of the snow we discover all the sins committed during the winter. There is dog poop everywhere! This is a problem. It’s not fun to get dog poop on my shoes, especially my new summer shoes. Right? So what can we do about this problem?

The authorities have put up special dog poop waste bins all around the city. Obviously they’re not used for their purpose since I still have to do zig-zag dance on the sidewalks to avoid the dog leftovers. This doesn’t seem to work. I am the first to admit that most dog owners are responsible people who brings poop bags with them to pick up after their darlings, but there are plenty who does not think that far ahead.

In Paris they have fines for people who doesn’t pick up their dog’s excrements. Now, that would work, if there was some way to determine which poop came from which dog. We don’t have the resources to send all the dog poop left in the streets for dna-analyzing. Not with the resources of the police and prosecutors strained as it is.

So my suggestion is that no dogs should be allowed in the city centre at any time. Of course there should be exceptions for guide dogs and other working dogs (police dogs, drug dogs and so forth) and dogs who live in the city centre, but not dogs that really has no business doing their business in the city centre. We banned cars from the city centre, you’re not allowed to drive on certain streets and in others you’re not allowed to drive at night. This could be the case for dogs too.

One could argue that dogs are a natural companions of humans and therefore should be allowed everywhere. That is true. Many people have testified about their faithful canine companions. However, I seriously doubt the dogs themselves find it very amusing to go shopping. They aren’t even allowed in shops or stores or restaurants. Now, if I was a dog I’d find it very tedious sitting outside a shop, tied up with no toys to chew on for hours on end. Maybe even forgotten by my owner. I’ve seen that happening. Imagine if it was a hot summer’s day also. Being tied up, sitting on hard, hot concrete with no shadow nor water available. That is just plain cruel. This is no way to treat your faithful companion, is it?

The way to enforce such a ban is to have every dog outfitted with a gps-chip. Most dogs are outfitted with chips as it is so it won’t be a major cost. Enter all dogs into a database. The Swedish Breeder’s Association has registers of all their member dogs already. Have a computer track all dogs at all times and if a dog is found on a street which is prohibited the computer makes a note of it and sends off an e-mail to the court and to the owner with a heavy fine. The fines would probably even finance the whole operation leaving no additional costs to the community.

Dogs have no business in the city centre. They’re in the way, they scare people and the owners leave the dog poop on the sidewalk. No, I think it’s time to ban dogs from the city centre. Dogs should have lots of space to run and toys to chew on and freedom to sniff whatever scent they want without having to fear dehydration, sun or broken glass in their paws. For me, the advantage would be no dog poop on my new summer shoes. It’s a win-win situation


Nina