Archive

Listed are the posts for April 2007.

Going backwards, technologically

I’ve been working full-time online since New Year’s Day 2000. I made do with dial-up internet until just a couple of years ago, when I was able to get cable. Now that I’m moving to Costa Rica, I’ll be back to dial-up, which is going to be really difficult. I’m trying to download all of [...]


Free MP3s

Do you have a favorite site for downloading music? I’ve tried iTunes and I just can’t stand having it installed on my computer. Someone recommended LimeWire to me, but I don’t really get it. I’ve had some luck just Googling the name/artist of songs I want, but I still have a list of several dozen [...]


Adventures in air travel

So we were supposed to leave for Phoenix today (Monday) at the crack of dawn. I got an email yesterday morning telling me that I could check in online, so I went to American Airlines. We had chosen seats when we made the reservations two months ago, but these had disappeared, and when I tried [...]


Ex Libris, by Anne Fadiman

Book lovers rejoice! I was lucky enough to be given a copy of the book Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader recently, and I could not be more thrilled. This collection of essays on topics related to books, reading, and writing is delightful, and two of them – “Inse(r)t a Carrot Caret” and “The [...]


Today in Francophone History

I finally finished a huge, far too time-consuming project: a sort of calendar of the history of French-speaking countries, with holidays and celebrations, famous people’s birthdays and deaths, and other events and milestones in the world of francophonie. I’d had the project in mind for a long time, and I knew it would take a [...]


My Spanish Learning

From one of my faithful blog readers: I would like you to share with us how you started learning Spanish (I have read your Spanish vs French page), how much time it took you to master the language, why you chose Spanish and not Italian, etc.
I’d been studying French in high school for two years [...]


Happy Feet

Just watched Happy Feet – adorable. I was glad that I happened to watch March of the Penguins a few weeks earlier, as I understood the mating/feeding rituals. I was also surprised but pleased by the strong ecological and humanitarian messages of the movie. Best line: Robert Williams’ Spanish-accented “Let me tell something to you!”