Lions and tigers and nerds, OH MY!!

I like audiobooks. And I like free audiobooks. Especially if I don’t have time to go to the library and check out the good ones. Librivox.org is the best place that I’ve found for free audiobooks, if you don’t mind the whole “published over 100 years ago” thing. The only books that are available are those in the public domain. (I.e., found at Project Gutenburg. You can download books for FREE to your palm-y type thing and read them anywhere.)

ANYWAY.

I’m listening to the Wizard of Oz series right now. Have you ever read the Wizard of Oz books?

The first one is incredibly violent! At one point, the Witch of the West sends a flock of crows after Dorothy, the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow and the Lion. The Scarecrow catches the crows and kills them one by one by wringing their neck. Funny, I don’t remember that one from the movie.

It’s actually a pretty simplistic book. L. Frank Baum starts it out with a preface that books for children are too full of morals these days and that he is going to write a books that is just for fun with no moral lessons. And he pretty much succeeds. Unfortunately, at the same time, he succeeds in making a book that is so boring that I can barely stand listening to it.

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Project 365 – No. 56 (October 16, 2008)

Remember the picture of my office at work? I thought that I would follow it up with a picture of the home office. I don’t spend nearly as much time as I used to in there but that hasn’t stopped me from spreading out and using all available surfaces for filing.

Project 365 – No. 57 (October 17, 2008)

This is a picture of the top of the CV that we use in the research lab. I needed a picture of where the rubber band went. I decided to use it for the 365 photo too. Lame, nerdy photo, I know.

Project 365 – No. 58 (October 18, 2008)

Demon horses from hell!! Not really, but it makes for good press. I went to the draft horse show with my friends and this was my favorite photo. Stay tuned tomorrow for more pictures!

Project 365 – No. 59 (October 19, 2008)

The Quality Dairy is getting into the election season with political cookies. You can “vote” for your favorite candidate by buying their cookie! And biting their heads off I guess.

I’m just wondering why the George Bush cookies are still out in the front. Didn’t he run four years ago?

Nice dress. Was it a gift?

I like hanging out in bookstores. I get so many great ideas of books that I want to read. But I’m way to cheap to actually buy the books. That’s what the library is for. We support local libraries with property taxes and I fully intend to get my money’s worth.

But when I get to the library, I usually stand at the stacks, thinking “What was the name of that book again?” I would try to write down the titles, but it was usually on the back of a receipt or other scrap of paper in my purse. The only time I ever clean out my purse, it seems, is right after I go to the bookstore and I get rid of all of the titles.

So I started taking pictures of the books with my cell phone camera. I don’t use the camera for anything else because I don’t know how to get the pictures off the phone. Now, it is a library of books that I want to read!

One of the books that I recorded recently was “Seducing the Boys Club” by Nina DiSesa. Nina DiSesa is the Chairman of one of the larger advertising agencies in the US. The byline on the books says “uncensored tactics from a woman at the top”. I thought it would be a good book, maybe to learn some of the habits and tips of a successful woman at the top.

I think what I’ve learned is that advertising is very different from academics, even though they both start with “a”.

In one of my favorite parts of the book, she is trying to make the argument that women are more intuitive than men and can read a room better. In a presentation meeting, if you realize the clients are happy, she suggests that you should break the ice by saying something like:

I can see by that scowl on your face that something is wrong here. Do you want to talk about it? Or should we just leave now so you can start drinking heavily?

I’m thinking about using that one in my tenure meeting. (I really might try it out on my chair the next time that we are in a meeting just for a laugh. But he has a sense of humor. I hope.)

Another idea she has is that women need to try to relate to men as women, not as another man. She thinks that flirting with a client that you are presenting to is a good idea. When meeting a male client, she suggests that you should break the ice with veiled compliments so you can get a read on them. For example:

Nice tie. Did you pick it out? No, wait. It was a gift, right?

The new president and dean of faculty at Albion College are both women. I think to start the next meeting I have with either of them, I’ll say something like “Nice, dress. Was it a gift?”

Then I’ll start looking for a new job.

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I’m working on a post, with PHOTOS and everything.