For obvious reasons (she’s traveling around the world—my dream), I love this blog.

But then she went and posted these monkeys and now I a) feel the need to travel right now and b) want a monkey. Yup.

I don’t even know if I have a response to this: Coca-Cola Blak.

Why can’t it just be Black? I mean come on now.

On my way home last night, I was listening to an argument on NPR between a guy from Google and an opponent of the new Google Print project. Personally, I’d be a huge fan—to a certain degree.

Granted, I’d prefer to read an actual book—pages, cover, etc. You can’t take a laptop or a blackberry into the bathtub, and a book doesn’t require a power cord nor does it take up a lot of space. However, if Google Print had been around when I was in college, and they had textbooks (current textbooks) online that I could use—without having to spend a ridiculous amount on actual books—that would have saved me a lot of money. And for that, Google Print would be worth its weight in gold.

I do see the flip side—publishers getting stiffed. But I don’t think making all of these books available online would stop the presses—a sizeable number of people would still purchase books, and then there’s the millions of people who don’t have a computer of their own.

The opponent on NPR last night got outrageously cranky and kept going back to Mein Kampf and other censored books, asking how Google would block those from said countries. Obviously Google already blocks censored content from its sites in China and other countries that require it to do so, so why this particular guy went this route is beyond me. Honestly, I think it was beyond the guy from Google, because he kept saying, “We already do that. That’s not a problem for us. We already have to redirect users who want content that’s not allowed in their country.”

One thing that struck me was a statement by the opponent that Mein Kampf was illegal in France and Germany—and neither the Google guy nor the NPR guy corrected him. So I went looking.

Apparently Mein Kampf cannot be printed or sold in Germany (it is banned under a law that prohibits the dissemination of Nazi propaganda), but it can be owned. In 1999, Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles stopped shipping the book there. Read more here.(On Amazon.de, you can purchase it used, but Amazon won’t ship it—a brilliant way for them to not ship it, but still facilitate in the sale.)

I couldn’t, however, prove that it was illegal to sell in France—at Amazon.fr it simply says that it is “unavailable at this time.”

Anyone know?

It’s remarkable to me that, from 5,000 miles away, the Man can still keep me up past four in the morning.

How, you ask?

Books people, through books. Two boxes full of remarkable little morsels of brilliance—and one in particular, Lucifer’s Hammer. Quite honestly, it’s the most disturbing, and genuinely distressing, book I’ve read in ages—and it was published in ’85. Earth has been basically obliterated by a comet, and a few small pockets of people remain—it only goes into real detail regarding a stronghold in California. It’s a captivating read.

And even though I know I have to be up for work in less than four hours, my head is filled with wondering what would really happened if a comet hit us…

And why on Earth the tenant above me is up and making breakfast at 4:30AM. Sheesh, he’s loud.

Y’know how the delivery people tell you that it will be sometime between blah and blah? In our case, between 8 and 6. And even though you know they won’t be there at 8, you have to be there anyway, just in case?

That sucks. Particularly when you get to work that damn early, and the first message on the machine says, “Hi, we will be delivering in your area between 11 and 2.”

Bum monkeys people, bum monkeys.

It’s pouring rain today. The sky is gray and cloudy, the sun is gone and the coworker keeps yelling… she does not like the rain.

I came home from last week’s excursion with six boxes of books… ahhh. (Yes people, that is love.) Unfortunately, I can’t seem to stop myself from reading—I have gratification issues. I was up until two this morning reading George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones—it’s fantastic. (The man has excellent taste.) Typically I don’t read fantasy or science fiction, but I adore Tolkien, so Martin’s a good fit for me.

And it doesn’t hurt that the first four books of this series are already out in print—no waiting. 😉

Tidbits:
This absolutely would have happened at my school… Hartford police fines high school students for cursing… if they had caught us. 😉

Fascinating, in a grotesque way… Doctors in France have performed the world’s first partial face transplant.

Firefox 1.5 is out.

I’ve found the cheapest hotel in Midtown Manhattan… the Pickwick Arms Hotel—with Wi-Fi, iPod docking stations and an $89-a-night bill. Insane. (The coworker and I will be there in December—she has to go to a conference and I’m going to shop.) 🙂 🙂

Truly one of the most harrowing conversations you can ever have with your parents? Explain that you’re dating this guy you met online… and that you’ve driven several hundred miles to spend a week with him… bearing in mind that it was your sister who “shared” some information that led them to question me. And I don’t fancy lying.

Yeah. That was loads of fun.

I haven’t blogged in a few days… I’ve been remarkably busy. And I had no Internet access. So wen, here’s the public apology you deserve, seeing as how I harassed you for not blogging on your little excursion.. 😉

Thanksgiving went really well, I’ve come home with several boxes of books and plans to move back West. (At some point.)

🙂

Just a quick note to say hi and Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the holiday… we are. 😉

Oh, and just because it bugged us this morning… the number one piece of news this morning? On CNN Headline News? That Jessica and Nick broke up. Yeah. On CNN.

Because that’s just the most important thing ever.

I learned an important lesson today… always call ahead to make sure that the ONLY coffee shop in town is still open… and didn’t close six months before I arrived.

It was truly a disheartening lesson to learn this morning. 🙁

Other than that, I’m still here (I almost wasn’t this morning). And it’s going well.

🙂

I just realized that if I didn’t post today, it would be the first day I hadn’t posted in a really long time.

But I’m really tired, lol, and I can’t think of anything interesting to share.

So let’s see.

We went to the main office today and it went well. There was Mexican food—yum.

I got another early morning phone call from Sawyer today—3:33AM. He wanted to know if I was coming home for Thanksgiving, lol.

I’m on the phone with my coworker. She’s a little crazy.

I’m going on a road trip of sorts tomorrow.

I’m a little stressed out.