Friday, August 29, 2003

Due to popular demand (Okay, two people... hi Carlos, hi K.), I've revamped the template of this weblog, which was originally created as a one-shot experiment to see how Blogger worked. I had completely forgotten about it until someone asked earlier this week whether I had ever tried blogging. This query led me to delve back into Blogger to try to find the page, and in the process I clicked on a link to Carlos's weblog which I had inserted into the experimental page. His evil spyware recorded the referring link, and next thing I knew he had "outed" the existence of the page.

The current layout may be unoriginal, but at least it's not quite as horrible-looking as the previous iteration. I'm still not quite sure why I thought dark-blue and black was a good color scheme. Perhaps it was because I was playing with the computer late at night in a darkened library after everyone else had gone home, and subconsciously chose a screen display that would be less glaringly visible to campus security officers and other random passers-by who might look in the windows and wonder what that weird guy was doing in the library after hours.

More importantly, the current template is much simpler than the first one I used, which helps immensely in trying to figure out how to edit it by trial and error. The title may change without warning if and when I think of something that I like better. "Hill of Himring" was the result of a moment's whim when I first experimented with Blogger. (Anyone who knows where the name came from can win free karma points, I guess, although only those who already know my e'mail address are eligible to answer, until I start playing with comments fields.)

I may even start posting to it occasionally, whether or not I have anything of importance to say to the World At Large.

Recent news? Let's see. Since my contract with my previous employer ended on June 30th, I've spent part of each day cruising library job-posting websites and mailing or e'mailing resumes. Unfortunately, a recently discovered fondness for Trigun and Cowboy Bebop, a couple of Japanese anime series which the Cartoon Network airs at 1-2 a.m. local time, has exacerbated my tendency to sleep later than Ben Franklin would deem advisable, so this usually doesn't get done until the afternoon.

Today was a bit different. A freind and former library co-worker was visiting This Fair City for a high school reunion, so we got together for a few beers at the freindly local brewpub and a hike to the top of nearby Sugarloaf Mountain. She was kind and considerate and did not call until after 11 a.m., fortunately. There was some mention made of going swimming in Lake Superior tomorrow.

Notable quote: "It's not so bad after you get numb."

Some bad news: about 5:55 this afternoon, one of the places I interviewed in July finally got back in touch with me to notify me that they'd hired someone else for the position. Oh well, there's always the upcoming interview with a place I'll call "Westover College", and another university in the same general area just e'mailed me to query about references, so the farce continues.

Thursday, August 28, 2003

This is not a functioning weblog at present. It's a brief one-shot experiment, to which an acquaintance of mine posted a link without querying me first. Perhaps I'll play with it some more in the future, but for now, there's nothing to see, folks, so move along....

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Hi K.!