http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/ en-us 2009-05-12T20:33:36-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/180147.html Long time without writing. I've been gone from the U of M nearly 2 years now, and defended my diss almost a year ago. B may or may not get around to defending his thesis this summer. It would be... otto0114 2009-05-12T20:33:36-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/161613.html We spent the day getting rid of the traces of Christmas past: tree; decorations; leftover cookies; stray stocking stuffers that never got put away. I ironed all the linens from Christmas Eve. They've been sitting in a big pile -... otto0114 2009-01-11T19:55:00-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/161223.html Sick again with the second cold of the season - but that's a good enough excuse to eat junk food and loll around the house reading and computing. I am reading an overly technical history of Silicon Valley for which... otto0114 2009-01-05T20:28:27-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/160928.html One of the blogs or fora I recently read suggested Discussion as a way of teaching by S. Brookfield and S. Preskill, as an excellent resource. Leading discussions with my crickets is hard - I could use some help. I... otto0114 2008-12-31T16:01:13-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/160927.html I intend to spend some time reading books about various world regions over the winter break (since I am teaching World Regional Geography, TWO sections, this spring). Tops on my list to find is stuff by 2008 Nobelist J-M G.... otto0114 2008-12-31T15:51:43-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/159915.html Just a place to park some information. I have lots to say about lots of things, but this isn't really the forum for any of that. I just got an email from a friend (hi, Jeff!) waxing enthusiastic about how... otto0114 2008-12-15T17:17:35-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/150776.html I tend to collect little scraps of paper with clever remarks - and then once in a while I collect them up and try to figure out how to organize and store them so I can find them again. John... otto0114 2008-10-25T12:51:08-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/145041.html (this is a duplicate of my entry at my other blog, "Preliminary Reflections.") I successfully defended my dissertation this morning! Whew! - it was actually enjoyable: a delightful intellectual conversation with some really well-informed and thoughtful committee members. Revisions are... otto0114 2008-09-26T16:07:36-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/139139.html ...ithat's just glazing compound under my fingertips. As the nights grow cool (so different than the Twin Cities), I am focusing on energy saving measures. Our natural gas bill has gone up from $150/month back in the 1990s to almost... otto0114 2008-08-20T19:32:24-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/139007.html The negative campaigning, for starters. Only losers insinuate falsehoods about the other guy in order to discredit him. What if McCain stood up for his opponent when others made Rovian attacks? I"d respect that, and I'd think much more of... otto0114 2008-08-19T20:23:42-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/137550.html When faced with area rugs with pet hair, you can just use a piece of packing tape to pull up the hairs. Take a foot-long strip, smooth it down on the first area, then lift and re-place on the next... otto0114 2008-08-03T20:03:46-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/137332.html What started off as a mild, low-key, sort-some-tools-and-hardware project in the garage this morning turned into a knock-down, full-scale, rip-some-lumber cleanup this afternoon with B's participation. Good news: cut up a lot of leftover tenant crapola for the trash, brought... otto0114 2008-07-30T20:12:52-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/136795.html hmm, well, ok. What is new? B has been home since Thursday. We have finally cleared out all of the "sumac" bed behind the house. I have a new, err, appreciation (not really the right word - maybe grudging respect)... otto0114 2008-07-23T19:03:30-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/136182.html Mountain Lakes NJ was a planned community designed by engineer Lewis Van Duyne and built by developer Melvin Hapgood. See http://www.mtnlakes.org/History/. The community is referenced in an article about an otherwise ostentatious home in Montclair NJ designed by architect and... Research leads otto0114 2008-07-17T09:26:02-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/otto0114/otto0114/136151.html I helped B engineer his temporary escape from the hospital today, in order to make it to another important (and very hard-to-get) doctor's appointment (at a much more prestigious medical institution). The medical staff at the first hospital was, um,... otto0114 2008-07-16T17:46:23-06:00