The Annenberg/CPB Project funds a lot of educational TV, usually shown on PBS. You can watch dozens of their shows at their site. Art of the Western World and The Western Tradition are classics.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 9:32 AM on April 15, 2008

Seconding loiseau - learn an instrument. It'll take up as much time as she wants to throw at it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 8:48 PM on April 13, 2008

These are all film/video related and therefore possibly outside your area of interest, but:

There were extensive issues with clearances and licensing that repeatedly delayed VH1's Badfinger documentary, detailed by writer Dan Matovina. The documentary almost didn't happen, and I remember being particularly dismayed to learn this considering it was a documentary and therefore I would think a fair use case would be relatively strong. (Sure, it's commercial, but it's also... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 8:36 PM on April 13, 2008 marked best answer

When I used to run a small record label, I set up a contract and made sure to have all my artists sign it, because I wanted it to be very clear to everyone what we had agreed to. I wouldn't immediately assume these folks are going to rip you off, but I personally would want very clear written agreements about what you're giving up and what you're getting, and what they're paying you/taking from whatever deals they land you.

It's great that they've been so helpful so far,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 1:49 PM on April 13, 2008

The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin.

I knew this thread was going to fill up with LeGuin recs. A lot of her work will provide what you're looking for.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 1:37 PM on April 13, 2008

The companion book to a great 1995 PBS series is Rock and Roll - An Unruly History, by Robert Palmer (not that Robert Palmer, the other Robert Palmer). It's a shame the PBS series itself doesn't seem to be available - I thought it was terrific. But the book should give you some good background.

Also check out the MIT OpenCourseWare materials for Music Since 1960, which covers rock along with jazz and other forms.

Finally, whenever I want to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 9:25 PM on April 9, 2008

Oh, man - I just discovered that the dean of rock criticism, Robert Christgau, has an extensive archive of his writings on his web site.

It's more about what's good and why than about history, but totally worth reading in your quest to know more about rock. (And there's coverage of everything from Chuck Berry to Magnetic Fields.)

There are a ton of his amazing capsule reviews, but take a look at the longer stuff, like Any Old Way You Choose It (a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 6:19 PM on April 10, 2008

If you're in the city, go to Land's End. Ocean Beach often has a lot of people, but the further you go along the little trail north, the fewer people you'll see - and there are some lovely views of the ocean.

You should be able to find a lot of possibilities at Bay Area Hiker. She specifically omits places that feel too full of hustle and bustle, and most hikes mention whether they're heavily used or not.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 5:30 PM on April 10, 2008

Since your question is about how to deal with the frustration, here's my suggestion:

Make up explanations that make you feel better.

I find I sometimes assume the worst, or assume a negative reason, for something that's happening to me. If I can explain it to myself in a more positive light, it helps me not take it personally.

So, when you ask, "am I being overly sensitive when I feel that everything I do is being... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 6:31 PM on April 9, 2008 marked best answer

One small data point for you: a cease and desist from a lawyer, even one representing a client known to be extremely litigious, does not automatically result in a lawsuit. When I got a cease and desist [self-link, but relevant] over a purported trademark issue, I wrote back (nb, not what optovox recommends) and pointed out that my non-commercial site could not be infringing Scientology's trademark. The lawyer wrote me once more, but that communication seemed more intended to take up my time and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:27 AM on April 9, 2008

(In case it matters or I was unclear, which I think I might have been: optovox's advice - that you shouldn't reply at all - may be excellent advice. My little aside in my post was simply pointing out that when I did reply to the C&D I got, six years ago, that action was contrary to the possibly excellent advice optovox gave you. YMMV. IAStillNAL.)

(Also, nthing the advice to contact the EFF and Lawyers for the Arts, and checking out the California Anti-SLAPP project... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 4:34 PM on April 9, 2008

Riffing a bit on what others have said - can you find a really good job elsewhere? If you have background and skills in radio, are there other stations in your area where you can get reasonable pay and appreciation for your existing skills, whether full-time or part-time?

As others have said, a better job may help you figure out your other priorities. If you can go work for a competitor, even for a year or two, it could make a big difference in your paycheck, your stress... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 4:25 PM on April 8, 2008

Weird, I can't find a way to make it work, either.

A work-around:

View another folder, then view your current folder again. With the mouse, just click another folder, then click your original folder again. From the keyboard, shift-tab to get to the folder-list pane, arrow key down (to go to the next folder), then arrow-key up to return to your original folder. The folder is now re-sorted.

You might also submit this as a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 2:59 PM on April 8, 2008 marked best answer

I'd like to chime in and acknowledge your courage in examining your beliefs.

I also second the recommendations to read, especially books by authors who have gone through similar periods of questioning.

My suggestions:

* take your time. You're reconsidering information you've relied on for decades. You don't have to find a definitive answer today. I understand that you're afraid of making a mistake. If you believe in God... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 2:46 PM on April 8, 2008

I strongly recommend printing out your slogans on plain paper, scaled up to fit your sign. They're much, much more readable from a distance. (Check out my signs for example. [self link; scroll down] )

I was able to do this incredibly easily on my Mac using Appleworks. It should be pretty simple using whatever layout program you have handy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 5:16 PM on April 7, 2008

Darn, hit Post too quickly -

After printing them out on plain printer paper, attach them to your sign using clear plastic tape. Staples are okay, but tend to come out before long. If you plan to picket a lot, you can put together a nice plastic pouch that goes over your posterboard and is big enough for your printed slogans.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 5:17 PM on April 7, 2008

Thanks for the great info! I favorited Arthur Dent and Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America for the cite and analogy.

Thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 2:09 PM on April 5, 2008

While you're considering your options (and waiting to see which schools you get into), you might want to check out Should You Really Be A Lawyer?.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:34 AM on April 2, 2008

I'm not sure how narrow of a definition you're using for "essay," but if you're looking for great non-fiction writing, pick up as much John McPhee as you can. You might start with The John McPhee Reader or The Second John McPhee Reader, or Giving Good Weight, or Pieces of the Frame. I've seen enthusiastic recommendations for "The Search for Marvin Gardens," which you'll find in the first Reader.

(In fact, a Google Books search for john mcphee essay... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 7:33 PM on March 30, 2008

Two suggestions:

See whether there are any deals for you to get the software for yourself. A lot of expensive software is available as free trial download versions, and often there are amazing deals for students. See if you can get your hands on a copy to play with and learn in your spare time.

Also, since you want to start programming, learn how to script some of the high-end CAD software. If I recall correctly, a lot of that software has Python... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 7:33 PM on March 30, 2008

I've worked at places where they wouldn't give you a 10% raise no matter what you did - they had hard and fast rules about raise percentages, and there was no getting around them, even for superstars. I mention this only as a data point - some places have the flexibility to give more money to amazing employees, and some places don't ... and I've seen some places that considered 3% generous, the best they offered to the best employees.

When budgets are an issue and I'm... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 2:44 PM on March 27, 2008

I wonder if it would be possible to find a local bookseller or two whom you trust and who appreciates your charity and ask them to come in once a week and just eyeball your books for an hour, pulling out the ones that should fetch more than your flat price? It would probably work best as a volunteer effort, but you might consider letting the dealer take a book or two as a token thank-you. The dealer gets the chance to find a gem, you get the benefit of the dealer's knowledge, and you don't have... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 3:56 PM on March 26, 2008

I was going to point you to the Author Name Pronunciation Guide, where you can hear authors pronounce their own names, often with a little background - but not a single one of your authors is listed there. Still a cool site, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 12:49 PM on March 26, 2008

I've been reading a lot of Gillian Bradshaw lately; her novels about ancient Greece and Rome have brought those places alive for me, and kept me thinking about the characters and cultures even after I'd finished. I'd recommend starting with The Sand Reckoner.

Also, The Bear Comes Home, about a bear who plays jazz in New York City. Really.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 5:20 PM on March 24, 2008 marked best answer

I've lived in San Francisco for 20 years. While there are a few spots that make me a little wary, I've found that most parts of the city feel perfectly safe to me.

The advice you've gotten sounds good. The section of Market you mention can be a little worrisome, as is the same section of Mission (one block south). I'm not actually sure where the "Northern Addition" is; the Western Addition has some housing projects, and there has been some police activity this... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 7:33 PM on March 23, 2008

And just to clarify about the Tenderloin a bit - the Wikipedia article points out that a lot of city highlights are technically inside the Tenderloin (as they define it boundaries): City Hall, the main public library, a number of excellent theatres, and more. Stepping foot in the Tenderloin (especially during the day) is not an immediate recipe for disaster. The closer you are to the northeast, north, and west boundaries (Union Square, Post, and Van Ness), the safer things are and the more... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 11:06 PM on March 23, 2008

Scientology modified some photos they then released to the press, apparently attempting to show more people at an event than were actually there. It was covered in the Washington Post; details are on Arnie Lerma's site (Lerma identified and documented the alterations).
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 6:49 PM on March 21, 2008

Drupal lets you run multiple sites from one Drupal install. I'm pretty sure you can also set up multiple installs that share logins. Drupal has project-related modules (plug-ins) like Tasklist and Project. You can use the Content Construction Kit (CCK) to add custom fields.

Drupal uses PHP.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 7:26 PM on March 20, 2008

I loved the Chicago settings of The Time Traveler's Wife. (In fact, I loved the book generally. But one thing I really liked about it was the Chicago settings.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 4:57 PM on March 20, 2008

This may well be too old for him, but I bet it'd be wonderful as a read-aloud book: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. There are a couple of sequels if he likes it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 8:55 PM on March 18, 2008

Not precisely what you describe, but Sue Hubbell's A Country Year and A Book of Bees are wonderfully written, and I love her observations of nature.

She wasn't exactly roughing it (but lived by herself in a cabin in the Ozarks, doing her own repairs, felling trees, tending hives, and definitely gaining wisdom from the life and the seasons) and living alone wasn't her choice (her marriage fell apart, but she certainly seemed to love her solitary life once she fell into... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 7:22 PM on March 16, 2008

Seconding Drupal.

The Drupal handbook has lots of tutorials that tell you just what's involved in setting up a new site.

Doing the kind of straightforward site you describe is easy with the built-in tools. If you decide you want to add bells and whistles later, Drupal has hundreds of modules (plug-ins).
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 7:12 PM on March 16, 2008

"Fooling Yourself" by Styx.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 1:59 PM on March 16, 2008

Can you compile any info on how many of your employees are leaving specifically to go work somewhere with better pay, like the poor guy who was crying in your office? Does your company do exit interviews and compile info about why folks leave? (If not, could you type up a one-pager asking exiting employees for basic info?)

If you're training x number of people a year who then go work for your competitor, you're basically paying your competitor's training costs. Your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 11:09 PM on March 13, 2008

Just to be contrary, I do recommend Drupal for this, since you say you like poking around in the guts of things and part of your reason for doing this is to learn a CMS. I agree with the others that it's more than you need for creating the blog you describe, but if you want to develop some CMS skillz while you're blogging, Drupal's about as flexible and tweakable as it gets.

(Also, I just love Drupal and will recommend it at the drop of a hat.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:53 PM on March 13, 2008

Find some books or journals that analyze Russian poems. Read the poem before you read other people's analyses. Write down your own impressions. Then, write down your own analysis. (There are some prompt questions at the NIU Basic Guide to Textual Analysis. Look for possible allusions and symbols, and write them down, even if you aren't sure whether they're allusions or not. Look for some of the typical poetic techniques - alliteration, structure - and write down your opinion about whether they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 3:26 PM on March 13, 2008

Seconding Point Lobos. When I visited Monterey, I almost passed up Point Lobos. It's got some really lovely, varied terrain.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:09 PM on March 12, 2008

Seconding Judith.

Reading her suggestion and thinking about your question, I noticed how much expectation you seem to be putting on yourself. You should make films. You should live in London. You should be willing to accept risk. You should challenge yourself.

I think each of those things can be good (although trying to tackle all of them at once - or even expecting yourself to be up for tackling all of them at once - would stymie most people).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 1:26 PM on March 12, 2008

And once you've opted out, if you want to do more, check out the Arbitration Fairness Act (Google search, to give you your choice of info sources). I wrote to my Congresscritters asking them to support it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:47 PM on March 11, 2008

"Stay With Me" by the Faces
"All the Way to Memphis" by Mott the Hoople

For the more obscure Billy Joel, "Allentown" and "Laura" (and also "A Room of Our Own", although that's a bit more of an electric piano sound) from the excellent Nylon Curtain.

If you're up for a little jazz, you really owe it to yourself to check out Nat King Cole (maybe "What Can I Say After I'm Sorry"?)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 5:48 PM on March 5, 2008

Seconding Leon's networking suggestion - try LinkedIn. I've known a few people who've gotten gigs through people they knew on LinkedIn.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 5:45 PM on March 1, 2008

Are you including children's books? In the Zilpha Keatley Snyder Green-Sky trilogy, people eat a berry that makes them dreamy and lethargic, and seems connected to the loss of the telepathic and telekinetic powers they've cultivated.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:50 AM on February 28, 2008

Seconding nebulawindphone - how would you respond if a friend of yours put everyone else first, to her or his own detriment?

Also - does the rule about putting everyone else first apply only to you, or is it supposed to apply to everybody?

If it applies only to you, what do you think about the notion that you are uniquely less deserving of happiness, and of having your own needs met, than everyone else?

If it applies to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 9:30 AM on February 22, 2008

Jules Verne seems reasonably easy, and there's a lot of his stuff at Project Gutenberg (in both French and English, if you want to do your own dual-language setup). Not a major philosopher, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 9:54 AM on February 20, 2008

Also, Proust.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 9:56 AM on February 20, 2008

I don't have any personal experience with Prosper, but it might be worth looking into - they include debt consolidation loans as one of their products. (From their About page: "Prosper is an online community where people come together for person-to-person lending and borrowing money. Borrowing money through Prosper is fast and easy, and because other people can compete for your loan, the rates may be lower than you'd expect!")... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 10:16 PM on February 19, 2008

I know exactly what you mean about Mozart (and reading about Benjamin Franklin in France was a trip - Marie Antoinette, Voltaire, John Adams ... fascinating stuff. All those people in one place at one time? Amazing.)

One thing I've tried is just picking a few (three, five, seven) major items from any subject to give myself a framework. World history? Um: Roman Empire, Renaissance, Revolution (American and French) til now. US history? Hm: Revolution, Civil War, World War... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 9:58 PM on February 19, 2008 marked best answer

What about a list of ways to say "Thank you" in as many languages as you can fit?
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 1:28 PM on February 15, 2008 marked best answer

If it were me, I'd check out the local library (Los Angeles Public Library lists more than 100 results for a search on "Dreamweaver" for various interests, learning styles, and levels of experience) and download the trial version of Dreamweaver.

I also find it really helpful to have a specific project to work on when I'm learning something. Do you have friends in a band who could use a website, or an interest of your own you'd like to create a site for?... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 6:32 PM on February 13, 2008

You might also check out Drupal. I had a client who switched from Joomla to Drupal and can't say enough good things about Drupal.

(Note: My only exposure to Joomla was helping maintain the site before the switch, so I am not a Joomla expert. I don't want to give the impression that Joomla's no good; it's clearly a powerful CMS with a lot of fans. In voting for the 2006 CMS Award, Joomla and Drupal tied - Joomla won by the tiebreaker vote. I'm sure there's been a lot of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kristi at 3:26 PM on February 13, 2008 marked best answer