all the news that isn't

Same shirt, different pants.

A while back I purchased a couple new house plants. This one, as you can see, is not doing so well. It was transplanted to its current pot, and is kept in a west-facing window, so it gets a decent amount but not tons of sunlight. Ideas?

Lots of blogs do something called a link dump – where they aggregate a bunch of links and share them. I’ve stayed away from doing so because, frankly, I don’t often gather enough links of interesting stuff to share. But here are some:

Jell-O mold competition

Lower East Side Cat softens hardened New Yorkers

play some music in the first key we all learned playing wind instruments

You know who I’m talking to!

How many do you have open in your browser of choice? 22 for me. Yikes.

Last week I accepted a position with the Association of National Advertisers after an interview process that has lasted through most of the summer.  In mid-September I’ll start a new job as one of two Knowledge and Research Specialists – a fancy title for a job that will allow me to blend library science with a bit of journalism.

When I announced the good news to my dad, he asked me “Are you one of those Gen X’ers who can’t hold a job?”  He was joking, but he kind of had a point.  Since graduating from college, I haven’t been in a single job for more than about 2 1/2 years.  My new job will be the fifth I’ve had since we moved to New York three years ago.  (Granted, those were mostly part-time jobs while I was in grad school, but that’s still a good bit of job-hopping.)

It’s not that I was unhappy with my current job at Y&R, and I doubt this new job will be my dream job (whatever that is), but I think it will allow me to explore a different part of my field that I find interesting.  And all I can really ask for is an interesting job where I’ll learning something new, work with good people and also have time to enjoy life outside the workplace.  So in that way, I really am “one of those Gen X’ers.”

After literally an hour’s sleep in a 48-hour time span, I’m up in Montreal. Village Vanguard broadcast is done. Adrienne’s en route right now (via train) to join me here. About 5 hours of the day while WBGO is here, we’re broadcasting live from the Montreal Hyatt, at the center of the action. Here’s a look at our setup:

And my ‘office’:

We’re getting a nice little summer storm passing through… thunder, lightning, and the sound of hard rain hitting the air conditioner. That’s a sound I associate with living in Wichita, I guess because we got a good amount of summer storms. Too bad the storm isn’t bringing cooler weather – in the 90s still the next couple of days.

The kitties are doing the best they can to deal with the heat (although we’re able to keep it about 77 degrees in the apartment). Dudley’s method is to lounge on the kitchen table with his little head hanging over the edge. I’m surprised he doesn’t have his tongue hanging out!

Celli, on the other hand, hides out under the bed. It’s an incredibly small space because we use the area for box storage. But she manages to squeeze in there.

The humans are turning to pink lemonade to stay cool!