Daily Exercises in Futility

This is my 3,750th post.

http://amberwb.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/aging-out-of-blogging-bye-bye-livejournal/

This is what I've been doing for the last 1.5 hours instead of working. (And, seriously, 1.5 hours?? Time, where have you gone??)

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah, blah blah blah-blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah blah.



Blah.

Seriously, it's going to be tempting to drop my PC out a window after getting the Mac SPSS license.

It forced a shut-down/restart again. I lost data, again. Die, PC, die! (Which is German for "The, PC, the!")

Also, I can't figure out what happened to some of my syntax files. This is probably my fault, but I'd like to blame it on the PC anyway.* They're poof-gone, which really sucks because I have no record of how I calculated variables (e.g., which items need to be reverse-coded) and what items I included (e.g., whether I left out items that have been dropped in prior articles and/or were screwing up reliability in mine) in one study, and now I have to do it for a second study (not to mention properly write it up). This is more work than having write the syntax again for the new analyses... it's having to write it for the new analyses AND verify that it's the same for the old ones OR redo the old analyses.

Blah. I have done the analyses on the first study so many times. It should be old hat. Oh well, I guess it's good to have it fresh when writing up.

This is why I keep thinking that it's weird that social scientists don't have a social norm of keeping lab notebooks the way physical scientists do. (I'm sure there are lots of social scientists that do this; but it's not an expectation, is not something that is taught with lab methods, and is unusual enough at least in my field(s) that if you did do it, you would be remarkable). Not just notes, not just a central documentation system for a research team, but an actual precise record of EVERYTHING you do for a study that is time/date-stamped and detailed.

I should do this.



* I actually have a suspicion of what happened... I think I was in the midst of breaking up one file into multiple files with annotated comments, and hadn't saved some of them, when I had one of these evil forced-restarts interrupt me. Because I do remember starting to break things up into different files, and some of them are there with only the first pieces, but there are no files with the later pieces. Too bad SPSS doesn't have auto-recovery like MS Word. Of course, that kind of attempt at idiot-proofing is what let me get lazy about saving work. :P

Anytime is a good time to build a new friendship. It's always useful to go through the motions, and usually it makes you feel better. It's always better to do something. And, obviously, you will be sympathetic if they end up not being able to do much--which, believe me, means a lot. I have never found anyone not grateful for and pleased by an invitation to get a cup of coffee (or whatever). Working as a bartender, I watch folk drift through the cafe and I believe most people are a bit on the lonely side. I've seen people cheer up at the bar at a stranger just offering to buy them a beer because the gesture is an offer to stay and chat for a little while. Life is harsh. Just is. Humans manage to make it significantly less so, but it doesn't change that the universe is pretty intense. You don't have to use bricks, just a blanket thrown over a table is probably enough "building" for Kira-- she makes friends all the time that she will never see again. The structure doesn't have to last, if you are lucky it does.

--porfinn

Wow. This is so true.

http://amberwb.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/genes-and-environment/

(Like I have nothing better to do.)

Over at my Wordpress blog, I wrote about how United sucks for traveling with children. Take a peek over there, if you don't mind the extra click to read schtuff I wrote. If you do read it, do me a favor and "like" and/or comment on it. I put the link in an email and a feedback form, but if any United "Customer Relations" reps mosey over there, I'd like them to see actual traffic. ;) Retweet and repost if you think it's worth doing so.

I don't get to read for fun a lot, but I have actually done a lot more reading in the last couple months than usual for grad school (which is pretty nice). My most recent books are worth mentioning:


The Joe Pitt Casebooks: A five-novel series by Charlie Huston about a vampire PI/enforcer in New York City, written in a very noir-toned prose. I'm really getting into urban fantasy, with magical or parallel realities in cities that I'm familiar with, and this one really takes the cake for NYC (runners-up are Changeling and its sequel [YA books] by Delia Sherman, and Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar). The way that Huston uses the familiar setting of NYC to build a fantasy world is just astounding. Joe Pitt is definitely not YA; it's brutal and sexy and awesome. The books are also each quick reads, so good for squeezing in when you get a few hours.

Sandman Slim series: Amazon recommended these books to me because of Joe Pitt, and I can see why. They're so similar (in very high-level ways, such as themes, setting, genre, etc.) that I would think they're by the same author. But they're not, and now I need to find everything Richard Kadrey has ever written and read it at my earliest convenience. Sandman Slim and its 2 sequels (so far) tell the story of a magician who wakes up alive in LA after spending 11 years in Hell, at which point he embarks on a rampage of revenge (also told in a pulp-noir voice, and also using a familiar city--this time LA--to build a parallel reality). If this sounds at all like your thing, read the Amazon Kindle sample, and I guarantee you will want to continue reading the books. Best of all, the first one is currently $.99 in the Kindle store.

11/22/63: I'm sure anyone who would be interested in reading Monsieur King's latest work has already heard of it, but in case you haven't, it's a book about time travel and trying to prevent the assassination of JFK (this is info that is on the jacket and/or product description anywhere, as well as the first few pgs, so not spoilery). I mention it only because, and I say this being a huge fan of his, it is his best work.

Hey peeps who live(d) in Portland:

What should someone know about Portland if they're thinking about relocating there.

(This is for a friend, not for me. I didn't apply to the Portland job.)