unsympathetic.net

This last week, I had to do research for a science paper–and I haven’t written a paper that wasn’t for English in about eight years, so it was a stretch. The hardest part, though, is pulling the research together and keeping it all in one place.

Since I was researching the giant squid, and most–alright, all–of my research was done online, so I thought I’d keep everything within my favorite browser, Flock. Flock has a feature called “Snippets” that is relatively hidden untill you’re looking for it. Down on the bottom status bar, there is a grayed out clipboard, that when clicked opens up a black bar that when empty says “Drag text and images here to save them for later use.”

And it’s really that easy. Highlight text, drag it down. Want a picture? Drag it down. A link you want to remember? Click and drag it down before releasing. Each dragged bit of information is it’s own self-contained bit, so if you drag varying bits of information from the same source, it’s all self contained, not a cumulative list. The text is able to be edited after being dragged into the bar, and it automatically saves the link of the page the information comes from.

Up until this point, so far so good. Very easy for collecting and saving data as you go for a project you’re researching. Unfortunately, it’s hard to do anything with the saved text once it’s there. There are no options to export information to different formats, and the best you can do is drag the information into a text box on the browser (i.e.: I could drag everything to an email to print out.)

Snippets could be so much better, if Flock spent some time with it. Right now, it feels like an afterthought that seemed like a good idea (which it is), but hasn’t had time to be fully developed.

It would be great if there was a feed attached to snippets, so that what you save is sent to your feed reader for easy reading and printing. Also, they’ve incorporated blogging into nearly all other features of the browser, why not this as well? I can see Snippets getting good use by bloggers looking for a way to easily pull together a post with research. And finally, I’d like a way to save related Snippets together, so that I could do multiple research projects at a time, while not mixing up the Snippets together. As it is, there is only the one bar, and things are either there or deleted. There is no storage feature.

I like Snippets. I like keeping it all in the browser. I’d like it all more if there was more I could do with the data than just clipping it and  having it sit there all pretty but tied up in a useless package. I really hope this feature gets more love in the next release of Flock.

Finally finished The Poisonwood Bible. Wasn’t horrible, but wasn’t my cup of tea either. If I was an agent, I wouldn’t have picked to sell this book. But obviously that’s just me. Loved Green Rider and it’s sequel. Can’t wait until the third installment comes out in July. I don’t know if this is a trilogy or not, but it’s good.

1. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
2. Green Rider - Kristen Britain
3. First Rider’s Call - Kristen Britain

Hopefully I’ll get more read this week. I started a book on the camping trip, but I only got about 20 pages in before the carsickness got to me.

It’s Sunday night, and I have a killer headache.

The most you should expect out of me in the near future is a list of books I read this week, which of course will be appearing sometime tomorrow.

Between school work, an emergency room visit for something that wasn’t eminently serious, and a camping field trip for my biology class, I’ve been on an extended break from my laptop. I’d love to get something up about the field trip soon, but I won’t set a time frame because every time I do, I don’t follow it.

And I because of the weirdness that was last week, I missed a podcast, for which I feel horrible. Josh say’s we’ll do a special one this week, so I am looking forward to it.

I wish I could write more, but it’s just not going to work. Perhaps if people started harrassing me? I don’t know. Sunday nights are never good for introspection for me.

I love videos, and I love memes, so it was only natural that they’d get merged, right? Josue sent me his “five things” video, a meme that is making the viddler rounds. Since I can’t seem to shut up once I get started, my video is something like twice as long as the longest video meme so far.

I tag Erin, Josh, and everyone else who does video. I want to see ‘em! And why not use Viddler while you’re at it? Because it’s so much more awesome than youtube.

Another slow reading week. I apparently enjoy torturing myself with long books that I have trouble understanding. Finally got Poisonwood Bible back from Dustin’s, so I’ll probably finish it in the next day or two. But I’m struggling with Joyce’s Ulysses, and it makes me wonder why I ever thought I wanted to read it. But I’ll get through it, damn it.

1. Jenna Starborn - Sharon Shinn

In other book news, ME has already hit the goal of 52 books by April, and a month early to boot. I’ve got eight more books to read to hit that goal, and if I give up on Ulysses for the time being, there’s no way I can’t do it.

I got distracted again today–my new camera tripod arrived. Instead of writing, I took random photos to test it out. Which are now in my flickr stream.

And since my camera does video, I thought I’d test it too.

Somehow, we’ve been thrust right into the middle of spring. And that makes me depressed.

I’m not really ready for spring. And by not ready, I mean I don’t have a thing to wear. I didn’t have a thing to wear last year, and I suffered the whole time because of it. I can’t afford to drop any money on clothes.

Every spring, I try to decide what “style” I’m going to be sporting for the next three months, because the weather will be the same from now until October–hot.  I’m going with the same style I was trying to attempt last year, but fizzled on for lack of cash. Beach chic.

And by beach chic, I mean tank tops, cotton skirts, and strappy sandles. So, I’m on the look out for layer tanks that don’t look like crap. Costco has some, but I’ve been informed by my fashion plate sister that they look like crap after just one wash. So those are out, since they’ll get washed way way way more than once.

PacSun has some, as does Target, and I’m sure that Wal-Mart does too. Which means at the end of the month, I’m probably going to drop $75 on tank tops, and $25 on fabric.

What? Fabric? Yeah, that’s right. I’m just going to sew my own skirt because I can make a skirt for $12 that would cost me $30 in the store. They’re all just basic a-lines anyway. Nothing too fancy going on over here. I’ve got fabric for two skirts now, and I just need fabric for three more. And I’m good. Because I have a few from last year that still look good.

But until then, I’ll have to suffer in my jeans. I don’t wear shorts to work, which limits what I can wear, and I’ve only got two pairs of capris.

Does anyone else have to plan out what they’re going to wear for the season a head of time? I just don’t have the cash for rash decisions while shopping, even though I wish I did.

I have a very good boyfriend.

I don’t know how I managed to get so lucky, but I did. He tends to spoil me like crazy, especially when I don’t expect it. Case in point: the video camera for my birthday when I thought at best a Nintendo DS, because we had been discussing for a month how I wouldn’t suck at those games.

This week, though, he rocks because he gave me $20.

I know that doesn’t sound like a lot. Hell, it’s only $20. But he’s broke. And I’m broke. And still he loaned me the $20 when I asked for it. Because he’s very good to me.

My biology class has a field trip coming up next weekend, and I want to buy a tripod for my camera before I go. But I get paid on Thursday, and I want to be sure that I get the tripod in plenty of time to practice with. And I litterally do not have the money to purchase it. I have $12 to my name.

So Dustin loaned me the $20 so I could buy the tripod of Amazon (because it’s not being sold anywhere in my area), and I’m a happy camper.

You wish your boyfriend was as awesome as mine.

– “The Take Over, The Break’s Over,”  Infinity on High: Fall Out Boy

Last week, Josh tagged me with the “Five Reasons Why You Blog” meme. I’ve been slacking–putting it off because I never know what to say. So, I thought that I’d let my favorite band tell you why I blog.

Fall Out Boy always seems to say what I think, and so it makes sense to me to let them be the words from my mouth. Take these how you think they mean. Because that’s what I mean, if you know what I’m saying. Can I be any more cryptic?

1. Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can’t say. (Tonight I’m writing you) a million miles away. — Homesick at Space Camp; Fall Out Boy
   
2. I’ll be your best kept secret, and your biggest mistake. The hand behind this pen relives a failure every day. — Nobody puts Baby in the Corner; Fall Out Boy
   
3. This has been said so many times that I’m not sure if it matters, but it must be said, again, that all us boys are just screaming into microphones for attention because we’re just so bored. We never knew that you would pick it apart, oh I’m falling apart to songs about hips and hearts. – Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows); Fall Out Boy
4. I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the Bible in the drawer, “What did it ever do for me” I say. It never calls me when I’m down. — XO; Fall Out Boy
5. This might just be a waste of time–there’s no one I’d rather waste my time with than all my best friends. — The World’s Not Waiting (For Five Tired Boys and a Broken Down Van); Fall Out Boy

I know I’m supposed to tag people for this, but the only one I can think of that hasn’t done it yet is Kamigoroshi. So, if you’re reading this, and you haven’t done the meme yet, consider yourself tagged.

(and I’d love if you left your links in the comments)

– “Calm Before the Storm,” Evening Out With Your Girlfriend: Fall Out Boy

1. I am Charlotte Simmons - Tom Wolfe

That’s right only one book this way. I’ve been reading The Poisonwood Bible all week long. It’s taken me this long because I don’t like it–which means I only read it when I’m commuting. Which means I’ve got about a fourth of the book left.

Since I left it at Dustin’s this afternoon, I probably won’t get to read it again until next week. Which is just fine by me. I couldn’t read another book when that one was sitting in my bag, mocking me with it’s horribleness. Now I can read another book with no regrets. Except for the part where eventually I’ll have to finish it.