Currently working on AteneoDC.com, website of the Ateneo Alumni Association in Washington. I’m fiddling with various content management systems, trying to find a portal with good community features, but simple enough for non-web-savvy users. Right now PHPWebSite is what’s been working. It’ll be difficult wrenching the tables out of its template and making it output some standards-compliant code, though.

Currently reading The Barbarian Conversion, by Peter Fletcher. Great detailed look into medieval history as read through the quirks of hagiographic literature. So far I’ve learned about topos and the origins of the name “Ludwig” in the name of the 5th Century Frankish king, Clovis — among other things.

Currently listening to Songs of the Sephardim — medieval music of the exiled Spanish Jews. The arrangements are minimal, mostly sung by a single alto, Alice Kosloski, accompanied by strings, winds, and percussion. The songs, though simple, are haunting, plaintive, and rhythmic all at once, richly evocative of Sephardic culture, while echoing the melodic counterpoints of the Renaissance.

Currently quite annoyed at my inline skates. The brake pad has fallen out, thanks to a loose screw that I can no longer find, so I’ll to have to head down to the hardware store with my skates and a screwdriver, and hope they have extra screws of the right size. Screw that.