Well that's interesting

I didn't think anyone saw what I saw in a Keanu Reeves performance. Apparently someone else does, and it's Joss Whedon. Go figure.

Library Thing

I've spent most of this week moving books around. Quin is going to spend the long weekend sanding and finishing the built-in bookshelves. (I'll be spending this weekend working. All three days. Don't even get me started on that one. The really sad thing is I volunteered for it...)

The project still won't be done. The shelves need to be sanded and finished separately and have the front strips added to them, and the bottom cabinets will still need doors, but this is the last time I'm going to be moving all my books around. And I did pretty much move everything to make room for the living room books. I don't like stacking them on the floor in my office since it's a basement with a tendancy for wetness (although all of that drainage work Quin did last summer seems to have done the trick, so that's good news).

As long as I was touching every book, I decided to go ahead and tackle that cataloging project I've been meaning to get around to. Those of you reading this at Blogspot will notice a new sidebar feature, three random books from my library. I probably shouldn't admit to how much time I've spent refreshing the page just to see what combos come up. So now if you go to my Library Thing page you can see all 1906 books I own (no making fun of my extensive Johanna Lindsey collection, or my role playing games, thank you very much). I went through and added a few tags as well. I've cordoned off the books which really belong to my boys and books which are sheet music and not actually book books (actually, I'm not sure why I did that. I'm thinking with sand here these days). I also tagged the books I use for homeschooling (it's possible to do this homeschooling thing with fewer books, of course, but those massive encyclopedias are just so cool).

Most significantly, I tagged the books on my To Be Read list. All 277 of them (yep, that number just keeps creeping up). For those of you so inclined, now you can see what I'm neglecting and chew me out for not getting to the Niven or the Zimmer Bradley or the Dickens.

I showed this Library Thing page to Quin, the author cloud and author gallery are particular favorites of mine, and statistics are always cool. Not only did he not particularly share my geeked state, he noted that this probably meant I haven't written anything this week. Which is pretty much true (I eeked out about 500 words over five days).

I have nothing much to say...

...working hard on that thing I'm working on. I did want to post this video I saw, possibly the funnest music video I've seen in a great long while (it's not in English, so you'll never see it on MTV). These kids must go to hip-hop dancing cram school; they've got the moves. I saw this with the family on IMF the other night. During the middle bit, Quin remarked he didn't think they had any open fields in Japan. I said I think there must be just the one; I would swear that's the same field the Prince of Space lands on in that classic movie.

My youngest is now six!

And he came home from the barber's with a faux-hawk:

It's a bit short for a faux-hawk, but he's enormously proud of it.

I installed the DVD drive in the PC yesterday, but the software that came with it does absolutely nothing unless you buy the $60 upgrade. I mean it, nothing! It won't even play the disc. So it will be just a bit longer before I can post clips here (I'm exploring options that don't involve giving money to companies that enjoy raping their consumers. What, me pissed?)

I have been doing the two-man kung fu forms with Quin again, watching them on the video to fill in the gaps in our collective memories. I remembered more than I thought I had. You can totally tell I'm starting from a non-kung fu state, though; my arms and shins are covered in little green bruises. Once I get used to blocking punches and kicks again I'll toughen up and that won't happen. It does remind me of the last time I started out, and one of my classmates at lab tech school was convinced I was being abused but couldn't think of a way to broach the subject with someone she'd just met.

Right, well, back at it. For some reason when I'm writing I keep hearing Michael Biehn's voice in my head: "Ease up! You're just grinding metal!" I'm sure it doesn't mean anything...