Sunfell's VOX Hideout

What's your favorite blend or brand of coffee or tea?

I am very fond of Newman's Own Columbia Especial coffee, roasted by Green Mountain. It's a rich, robust, and delicious coffee, with hints of chocolate and spice. It's my favorite wake-me-up.

I also love Starbuck's Arabian Mocha Sannani, which has a wonderful deep note of cocoa. These are not flavored coffees.

It's rather funny- I hated coffee when I was younger, and tried coffee when I was in Germany. I fell in love with Vienna Gold while stationed there, and enjoy bold coffees of that sort to this day.

What would the title of your autobiography be?
Submitted by princesskasren.

I've wondered about that. More than one title has edged itself into my brain:

The Massively Parallel Universe
Genuine Fake Blonde
Ambidextrous Ambience
Yeah, That's Her
OughtaBiography

I oughta write it one of these days.

Looks like poor ol' Live Journal is down and out for now- a note on their page says that they had an outage at their data center. Apparently, Vox' servers are in a different data center, so things are OK here... for now.

I was outside doing some stuff, and watched a lone Blue Angel fly over my house. He was so low I could see the pilot clearly. There's an airshow going on at the nearby USAF base, and I am hoping (probably in vain) for a glorious flyover shot of the lot of them scaring the squirrels. I have the door cracked open to listen for them and figure I have about 20 seconds to get outside before they buzz the house.

If I get any decent photos, I'll post them here.

A new store in a new shopping center just opened- it's "Parisian", which is based in Huntsville, AL. I decided to visit it and this new shopping center. The new malls are all strip style outdoor affairs, which means that the parking is crappy, and if you want to shop at opposite ends of the place, you have to move your car. Phooey. Of course, since this is a brand new store, the lot was full, but that was OK. The place was one of those high-end places, with stuff that most women who like to spend tons of money drool over. MAC cosmetics, designer clothing, handbags well over $100, etc. I did not see anything in my size or price range. I did get a pair of slippers, and sniff-tested some perfume, but I seriously doubt that I'll be back there any time soon. There was nothing in there for me- period. I like Dillards better, anyway, along with that evil Williams Sonoma. That place is going to keep bringing me back, I'm afraid. But I'm as big a kitchen geek as I am a computer geek, so I don't mind. There are tons of fiddly little kitchen goodies in there, plus some really cook cookware that looks like it would last practically forever (Le Creuset, anyone?), so I know that WS will be a temptation.

So... I am still trying to find a good use for this little corner of the web. Here are my thoughts about applications:

Book reviews
Food blather
Metaphysics

I think that my main LJ blog will keep the metaphysics stuff, which leaves food and books, and books about food, and food that looks like books, and whatever.  It seems that I have more interests than ever, and need to find some time to pursue them. Here's the short list of Stuff I am Into Currently:

Metaphysics
Speaking
Computers
Civics and government
Writing
Reading and reviewing books
Food and cooking
Finances and investing
Homebuying
Photography
Science Fiction fandom

Dang,,, lots of stuff.

I know that I haven't posted here for a while, and it's mostly because I really haven't figured out what I want to use this blog for. Do I want to use it to talk about my occult stuff? Or my political interests? How about my fannish stuff? Or my gardening or other hobbies?

Right now, it's more a place marker than a place, a potential waiting for the right 'charge'. Should I piddle with audio and do reviews of music? Or make it into a book review site? Or both?

Sigh... I don't know. It'll come to me. I just wish there was some way to link my Amazon titles and partner stuff to the reviews I do, so I can make a bit of money on my work- even if it's just Amazon gift certificates. Small steps...

Heading to the NCSL convention tomorrow- everything is packed, pretty much, and all I am doing is putting the finishing touches on everything. I need to make a grocery list, fix up the state laptop I am bringing, and do a bit of housekeeping.

NCSL, the National Conference of State Legislatures, is a very large and very useful organization for the members and staffs of state legislatures, their committees and interest groups. Every year they get together in a different city and have a big meeting. It's always interesting, and I've been going for 5 years now. This year, I get to wear a 'faculty' ribbon because I am hosting a panel on Wednesday on computer security. This should be interesting and educational- not only for the folks who come, but also for me. I'm going to use my colleague as a 'guniea pig' to practice my opening on, so I can be comfy with it when I get up there.

This year, the convention and hotels are all at the same site, which should be interesting. It's a huge place, so running round the halls should yield some interesting meetings. My colleagues as well as my legislators come out to this, which means that I might have to make some repair calls for computers.

Don't know how much 'outside' time I'll get this time out, since the convention center is not downtown, but I am not particularly worried about it. Tomorrow I will see the Tennessee State Capitol, and have a nice dinner out. I just hope that I can get my stuff into my room and hung up before my trip.

It's always nice to get out and see a new city. I sincerely hope that our director will see the benefit in this organization and not decide to stop letting us go every year. We create and maintain relationships with people from other states that are valuable to our own work, and we have a resource that is invaluable to what we do.

So. I have been pushing buttons, turning knobs, and trying to get this Vox to speak. Or do something remotely familiar. Like take sweet little hypertext links in the body of the post. Easy peasy, right.

Nope
.

I really like the features here, but I cannot blog the way I am accustomed to- I call it 'quilting style'- grabbing URLS, quotes, etc. and pasting them into the page like I can at Live Journal. Oddly enough, I can paste HTML stuff into the title, but not into the body. The book listed in the title is one I'm playing with trying to plug into my books, collections, etc. and not succeeding.

Strange that it can be plugged into the title of a post..[trial and error] Nope, doesn't work that way, either.

Ah, ha! Figured it out! It's in pieces- first the hyperlink, then the text, not all in one go, but in two bits. This site must be built on some sort of PHP system. Great for BBs, PITA for blogs.

Anyway, here's a book to read:

Hidden Wisdom

This is called the 'mess with it until you have it figured out' method of learning schtuff. Classic geekery. Here's whacha need to know: paste only works in breakout boxes (link, email, pictures), not in this main posting box. No freestyling Stupid HTML tricks here, no ma'am!

So, O Padawan readers, this system does not care for directly plugged old-skool hypertext linkage, but doesn't mind being fed bits and pieces into little teensy boxes.

Live and learn, padawans.

What's your cell phone's ringtone? What made you pick it?

I'm not really big into ringtones, to be honest. Especially the ones that play snippets of songs. I've never downloaded or composed a ringtone, either.

That said, I use the built-in Robo n1X sound, because no one else does. It sounds like a trainwreck, which is what I need to actually hear it. Otherwise, I'd ignore it.

"Occulto vestri, quod existo conscius" means "Hide and watch", which is the motto for the ultimate INTP/J introvert.

I am not shy, but I am not exactly eager to be in the middle of things, because I am not comfortable being in the middle of things. I prefer listening to speaking, observing to instigating. Yes, I can speak and I can start things, but I don't learn as much, or as deeply when I do.

"Hiding" can be in plain sight, and the Introvert can become a real Adept at doing this. Invisibility involves using a bit of Headological twistery that makes people look at you, but not see you. It's a way of bending attention around yourself that permits you to be right there. When you hear people say, "I don't remember seeing you there", you'll know that you've mastered this Fine Art.

And the watching part is not passive. You are learning and redirecting energy, too. Again, this is a bit of sleight of mind that is difficult to master, but once done, indespensible. It's an active watching that imparts what you learn into your way of doing things.

Hiding and Watching can also be the Art of Playing Dumb. This does not mean that you act like a total bonehead and ask all sorts of really idiotic and annoying questions. No, this is a much more subtle Art. You want to learn something, or get better information, which means that you must gently pester someone to obtain this information. Done right, and with the right intention, Playing Dumb is a gateway to vast treasure troves of education. All you need to do is to check your ego at the door, and learn the art of asking good questions and taking good notes. It also doesn't hurt to be the Accidental Teacher in these situations, too- givng back to the person you are learning from. Playing Dumb should always be a symbiotic endeavor, never a parasitical one. The learning should flow both ways. The Twist is to make it seem that the idea was your teacher's in the first place.

"Hide and Watch" is one of many approaches to self-actualizing insight. Used correctly, it is often the fastest way to gain this goal.