Titles Added in September

September=986 (Almost exactly half of that total is kids' materials. Aaack: skinny books.)

August = 589
July = 501
June = 571 (I just realized I somehow doubled the count for that month...good thing I save these!)
May = 635
April = 845

For the collectors...

From the comments here: if you have half as many books as I do this may be of use. It nearly makes me salivate to think of doing this with the books I own. The problem is I have absolutely no organized filing system on shelves. I set things down on the nearest flat surface--just ask The Beast!--and eventually Someone (even me on rare occasions) puts them on a bookshelf, of which we have...not enough in the new house. But the thought of having a complete list of everything we own...that's almost reason enough to get this software and unpack the boxes and turn off Civilization III.
_________________________

I know it looks like all I've done today is surf.

But I have actually cataloged over 40 new books and fixed up about 25 Problem Children, not to mention running off forms and answering questions like "When does v. 60 of the Magic Tree House series come out?" (since v. 32ish was just released this month, I estimate late 2006/early 2007. No, I don't know the title.)

This day is absolutely CREEPING past. Isn't it 5:00 yet?? Sparky is going home with a friend from school--the short version--so I don't have to leave at 4:00 today to race home and beat the school bus. So it would be nice to get a big pile of stuff pushed through, but time is out of joint for me today. Must be the T-shirt....

Isn't this depressing?

What the WSJ won't print in their paper. (If you click, turn your speakers down immediately!)

The actual letter is here, thanks to Boing Boing.

Thursday

Mood: Good--amped up
Clothes: Black jeans, black souvenir T, black shoes/black earrings/belt with silver accents
Hair: 40s--black barrette
Listening to: Aerosmith CD: Get a Grip ("Eat the Rich" right now)

Sensing a theme today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Driving to work today I realized that we live above the clouds. There was a fog bank hanging down below the tall trees way at the end of our street, cutting them in two and making them look like two layers of trees instead of a single line. As I wound down the hill, I passed the fogbank in open areas, and a mist in the playground. The morning was nearly monochrome: grey everything. Once I reached the "old" part of the village, there was not a patch of sky to be seen above and no groundfog at all. It almost makes going to work fun, seeing how the drive changes every day.

So now I'm at work, time to DO SOME (except I can't because Wonderful Tech has a completely full cart with no place to put more stuff I do today). So I'll be working on the Problem Children today: no barcode, no record in the database, call # on book doesn't match database etc.

Overheard last night

Older Woman: Hi.
40ish Man: Hello.
[some general chitchat for about a minute at most]
Woman: So, when are you going on a diet?
Man: [extended pause] Excuse me, I don't think I heard you right.
Woman: [not missing a beat] I asked when you were going on a diet.

I didn't hear his answer. About fifteen minutes later, she is talking to the wife of the man:
Woman: Your husband has put on some weight. When is he going to go on a diet?
Wife: [gapes for a minute] Uh, well, since we almost never eat at home, I never cook, {continues on in the vein of beating herself up, in full defensive position, for a minute or so...}

Other women jump in and redirect the conversation.

Even my tactless, clueless family isn't this bad. Which is just about the only positive spin I can think of to put on the whole thing. I have to give points to the guy for doing exactly what Miss Manners would have said to do: "Excuse me; I must have heard you wrong." Too bad his wife didn't do the same thing...

Some people are absolutely amazing.

UPDATE
Further information : Original woman is in no way related to this man. Hmmm. I thought it was the younger generation that was supposed to be so rude...

Changing directions a bit

Mood: Good
Hair: Clean, blown-out (not a clue, really--I must buy a mirror for my cube...)

Via one of my favorite sites comes news that the grammarians of the world have figured out how to stop arguing about new uses for old words and/or new words and/or most of the rest of the stuff they argue about. A grand idea: we just use Original English!

[Hint: if you didn't understand all the stuff about "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" this summer, and if you wouldn't know Beowulf from the Bay City Rollers, don't bother clicking.]
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
I still loathe Schedule Nazi: her note to me today, on a scrap paper I'd left lying about on my desk, says "[Miss ____] sick--see J" which is just clear as sludge, wouldn't you say? Whatever! My responses to her today are remarkably bovine, although I have yet to moo.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
So back to the weorcbordtop searowundor to continue cataloging those Modern English bocs...

Pokin' my head 'round the corner

Question: if someone is scheduled to work a specific area till 1:15, does she have a right to be pissed when she's not relieved till 2:20? Is it wrong for said person to "have a cow" about it? Especially when the someone needs to leave at 3:15 and has a deadlined project that must be finished before she leaves.

OK, I hate the Scheduling Bitch right now. I need some loud, poundy music. grrrrRRRR....

A good day to drive

Mood: Good
Hair: Pulled back on top, with short braid (uninspired, but oh well)

Listened to Annie & Dave’s greatest hits CD on my way to work — “Would I Lie to You?” Cranked up, reliving my 20s. sigh

Updated my book blog when I got to work. Amazingly, I’m down to four library books checked out, plus one I borrowed from my kid to read. Of course, two of the four I’m returning today are wa-a-a-a-ay overdue. I think I’ll enjoy the lack of books on my shelves for awhile.

Time to start actual work. Busy day today

(Did I mention that my niece bought her wedding dress on Sunday? Woo hoo! When I get the dress number, I'll post a link to the site. It's really pretty: Thank God I don't have to bite my lip and say nice things about a dress I hate.)

Recent Searches that caused people to hit this blog

• What Made Sting Write "Russians" (Don't know, but I like the singer and the song, if anyone cares)
• i wanna spend the rest of my life with (Great. Go away now please)
• Sweet Dreams are made of this/these (Multiple, multiple times: c'mon people, look at the URL--does it SAY lyrics??)
• "sweet dreams are made up things who in the mind to disagree" and "sweet dreams are made of these who ever mind to disagree" (Wow—even I don’t hash lyrics that badly)
• for the rest of my life [in a ?Swedish search engine] (No comment, just thought the Swedish connection was interesting)
• Maslovian (Huh-and I thought I made that word up!)
• he@dsh0ps in Denver (I haven't lived in Colorado for 20+ years--outta the loop, sorry. As if I was ever IN the loop)
• Thom McAnn [coupla times] (Another shoe-obsessed person!)
• “dogs and trash barrels” (This brought up the entry about the storm in August—not sure what you’d actually be searching for with this strategy…)
• mood of song, "Sweet dreams are made of this” (Heh—hits on "Mood" from the beginning of every post--I sense a music theory assignment)
• polychrome@gmail.com (Because Sparky misspelled "polychrome" in the spelling bee last winter and I have a gmail address; I wonder whose email this is....)
• sensual mas**sge (Because I can’t spell, and neither can Yahoo users…and I'm not sure what I was talking about in that context anyway...) [edited by siteowner 12/04]
• Do Me Do My Roots (Hey, it’s a book title, I can’t help it!)
• “librarian” (Somehow they picked my blog--sorry no pics here....)
• short pixie hairstyle (Hee hee hee hee--my mother's revenge)
• "Help Make Blogs More Visible!" (Again, of all the sites available--about 400 at my count--why pick mine?)
• "Thursday Next" fanart ("Art," yeah that’s all about me! Not. But, oddly enough I'm reading one of the books in the series right now...)
• A*s*h*l*e*y F*a*u*l*k*n*e*r [twice within a day of that post] (Which is why her name now has asterisks in it on my blog)
• Pregnancy Migraine Chiropracter (And of all the possible medical sites, you come to me? Really, folks…)
• brooklyn tabernacle choir how great thou art soundtrack (Except, that’s a hymn, not a soundtrack. I really need to find that tape wherever I left it in my house; thanks for the reminder)
• shawn cassidy poster (Heh, serves me right for bringing up my pre-adolescence)
• gmailbox (Nope, not here. Try www.gmail.com)
• a*l*a n*y*lons [twice in a day] (What is the DEAL, dude??) - [edited by siteowner 12/04]
• spanish biscuit advertisement videos (Erk?)
• dreams meanings of uncooked meat (Because I mentioned "Meat Loaf" the singer in one post, and uncooked food in another. This person scares me)
• arenare family tree (Typo alert: “…slightly disconcerting if you arenare really in a hurry...” I should fix it. But I probably will forget to do it)
• Sweet Dreams Cabins (Nope, still not here. They still sound lovely though)
• braid extensions beader (Could you be in a wrong-er place? Nope, you couldn't be: I only braid my hair)

And my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE, from yesterday:

• amy butterfinger sex goddess

Saturday in the...cube?

Mood: OK
Hair: Twist and clip

Up to shop at Kohl's at 7 a.m. today because it's their 70% sale. Sparky has new jeans!

He was down to something like 4 pair of pants (trousers for non-Americans...) that fit. Last night was try-on-and-toss night in his room. Get this: he got rid of about 18 T-shirts....he still has about 15 left. So he has about 5 new pairs of jeans, 3 new (long-sleeved) shirts, and 2 new pairs of shorts.

Plus I got a pair of jeans and a $4 shirt. And a pair of earrings. Shoes and earrings--I can't control myself around them, especially earrings. I probably have 70 pair. I'm the Imelda of earrings. And I wear them all (mind you, it takes some time since I've only got one hole in each ear).

And The Beast got a chain for the cross he bought at St. Paul's in July.

So everyone is happy about that. I was home by 8, so I could change clothes and leave again. Off to earn the money to pay the $180 Visa bill from this morning.

So here I am at work. With a good crew today: Librarians F and N, my favorite tech (who is doing circ today for the most part), my favorite page, the preggo circ tech, and the tech we call Speedy. No headphones today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did I mention I'm doing a "How To Blog" class? Uhm, can anyone out there suggest any other sites besides Blogger that would be easy to teach: they can't cost money (I'm a librarian after all, and a cheapskate--see above), they can't be insanely complicated or non-intuitive, and they can't be too HTML-y (since I'm not that good at it, really, I know you're all shocked).

We haven't actually scheduled this class. When it gets closer to actually occurring, I may be asking for volunteers of whose blogs I can show people (or non-volunteers: "PLEASE DON'T show mine!") as good examples. I promise not to cop to knowing anyone in blogland! :-)

Must. Work. Now.

Lazy lovely fall Friday

Mood: Good
Hair: New (well, sorta)

It is a sorta lazy day today:

6:20: I wake up, late because I have NOTHING TO DO TODAY! So I just do basically nothing for almost three hours. Wheee

9:15: I'm off to the 'brary to use a public PC for 'net because this here site (at home) was in use by The Beast. I needed to sign Sparky up for the People to People trip. Yes, he's going (assuming they'll have him!), and I'm sure you will soon be sick of hearing about it. While there, I also attempt to use X-Diary, which sucks, as I have volunteered to do a library class on blogs and feel I need some clue of something other than Blogger. Also, my niece calls in a bit of a dither to ask (beg) me to call bridal shops for her while she went to her job interviews. In my head: "Why does one need appointments to try on dresses?" I'm such a boy sometimes.

10:15: I head to the ATM and then to the hairdresser. Of course, am behind someone who counts her money, bill by bill, before pulling away from the thing, thereby blocking me and the rest of the line forming behind me. I also stop for a liter of Dr. Pepper. When I arrive at HQ, S says to me, in horror: "Are you going to drink ALL of THAT?" Confused, I say, "Well, not here, but yeah over the course of the day." "ALL of it??" She's incredulous. She has four kids under 7--how can she not know about Dr. Pepper (or Mountain Dew). But she does a fab job on my hair, the only complaint is my discovery upon departing that I appear to have road rash around my hairline. So instead of going for allergy shots, I go home to wash my face.

12:00: I wash my face. I start dinner in the crockpot (Swedish-y goulash). I read the paper (which means I read the two advice columns, one comic strip, the singles column--because it was a variation on this--and an article on "Trading Spouses" and "Wife Swap" that raises my feminist hackles), eat a slice of cold pizza, and retrieve my DP from the freezer where it has "recolded" itself. I'm off to the grocery store to buy foot spray (for the boys), bath salt and seriously-dry-skin-ick lotion (for me), spinach (for the pigs), and a birthday card (for someone at church...long story: short version--her ex is a prick). Home.

2:15: Call almost-nephew-in-law to pass along wedding dress appointments (see above) and chat about weddings in general. He's even more of a boy that I am ("9 months is enough time to make a baby, it should be enough to plan a wedding too."). Hang up. Stop laughing. Call Sparky's friend J's house to see if they can get together this weekend; leave message. Call dentist; they don't work on Friday afternoons. Log on to 'net for something serious and eventually end up checking all my Bloglines subscriptions (see left column) and voila! Here I be.

And the reason I started this entry:
I find it really amusing is that this blog has been read by people in the following countries--

• United States ("only" 84% of the hits--shocking! I figured for sure it would be closer to 95%)
• United Kingdom (all right, not a complete surprise---are they all Annie?)
• Canada (hmmm)
• Italy (buon giornio!)
• Philippines (uh-oh, N's parents....!)
• Argentina, Switzerland, Singapore (all with four hits each)
• Korea (3 hits)
• France, Egypt, Norway, Denmark, China, Malaysia, Brazil, Germany, The Netherlands, Uruguay (2 hits each)
• ...and with one hit each: Costa Rica, Greece (woohoo), Pakistan, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Chile, Austria, Croatia (Hrvatska) (huh??), Hong Kong S.A.R., Ukraine, Israel, The Bahamas, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, and Belgium

The most worrisome of all the hits: three from "Unknown." Would that be Mars? Hell? Uh-oh.

Time to stir the crockpot and throw some polyurethane on the newly-stained doors.

Ciao/Salaam/Adios/Au revior/So long/Shalom.

O'er the day

11:30 Colin Hay “I Just Don’t Think”
Painful lyrics—not what I’d expected from the Men at Work dude. Oh, well, twenty years later, I should hope not. Possibly not what I should be listening to at work—weeping with books on late Victorian archictecture is bad form. On the other hand, my back is to the room-at-large—I can blame the sniffles on allergies today.

12:00 noon forwarded from a coworker Yes, librarians get annoyed. It’s true. Funny, there’s no cataloging issues here… heh heh heh THANK GOD.

12:10 Kiss My Filing Indicators, but only if you’re a cataloger.

[12:25 Librarian D just called in sick—won’t be in tonight. NO, I can’t work tonight!]

This makes me sad: I love the occasional Twinkie: full-blown petroleum-flavored sugars and preservatives. Yum—it’s the taste of forbidden treats of my childhood. Much like Dr. Pepper.

[12:45 Librarian N just called in—won’t be in today. So, yes, I will be working Reference 2-3 today but, NO, I can’t stay after 3:30 because I have a chiropractor appt. The Scheduler is going nuts!]

12:50 "Here You Come Again" You know I just have to say that some days everything seems to be addressing the same issue...

Here you come again
Just when I’m about to make it work without you
You waltz right in the door
Just like you done before
And wrap my heart ’round your little finger
Here you come again
Just when I’m about to make it work without you...

Time to turn off the music: "I Will Always Love You" just began. I love that song, NOT the Whitney version!!

I need to get to the Ref Desk.

I don't generally like country music, but

...I do like this CD...course, I'm only about 3 songs in at this point--I may end up hating it. ;-) Doubtful, though.

Go Steve Earle.

Actually the list of what CDs I've got here is kind of fascinating:

Metamorphosis--Rolling Stones
The Greatest and 42 Greatest Hits--Kenny Rogers
Halcyon Days--Bruce Hornsby
Sanctuary--Crosby & Nash
Live and Well--Dolly Parton
Garden State soundtrack
Reggae Gold 2004
Where You Want to Go--Taking Back Sunday
Future Soundtrack for America (from MoveOn.org)

I'm too lazy to link to 'em all, and I doubt I'll ever listen to all of them, but I've already put aside four others besides "Revolution" to listen to later.

Some days I love my job.

It's not too early to Christmas shop...

Mood: Good; strangely tired (Benedryl at bedtime? Not sure)
Hair: Blown out, needs trim and color: TOMORROW

So in my gyrations across the 'net this morning I came across a site where most readers can shop and piss off the Republicans among us. I can always use a new canvas bag, a baby bib (they're never too young to inculcate rebellion), or a T.

Now, to make up for yesterday....

Life is funny

Mood: Hmm, that's actually a hard question today...confused and baffled but ok, I think
Hair: 40s

This is a day of extremes, with a hefty dose of reality check thrown in just to keep me awake. I've gotten nothing done. But I have been presented with lots of eye-openers. One of which is I shouldn't be allowed to work at the circ desk anymore: I'm useless and in the way and don't have a clue about anything more complicated than checking books in or out. Although I don't think I messed up the voter registration...

Last week, in the midst of complaining about a coworker (the usual C.T.) to another coworker (Miss __[insert city name here])--always a bad policy and why can't I keep my fucking mouth shut??--it was revealed that C.T. had been on the verge of moving out to live with "a guy she met on the Internet" (you'll have to insert the shocked tone and spiteful sneer here, although I'm not sure you'll get the full drama of the event itself. Maybe think Jane Austen or Edith Wharton...) about 8 years ago.

But wait, there's more: the supervisor pulled C.T. in and read her out and told her she couldn't go: it was Christmas, the kids were home from college, and she really shouldn't do this to her husband, etc. etc. Her vacation days were unceremoniously yanked, and well, she still tells Miss ___ stuff. Cuz people are dumb.

My point(s)? Not really sure, just that my brother and his wife met online, my newly-engaged niece and her fiance met online, people need to fucking relax about the Internet...and I need to shut the fuck up (have I mentioned that?) around BOTH Miss ___ and C.T. and much of the rest of the staff here: everything I say can and will be used to incriminate me and everyone else in the world. This place, for all its good points, is frequently like a dysfunctional family invented by passive-aggressives.

So my mantra this week is SHUT UP and POSITIVE ATTITUDE (which is another entirely different story).

I'm mulling this over today for multiple reasons. It's quiet-ish today: C.T. is off on Wednesdays, thank God, and Miss __ is on vacation with two other coworkers. I'm still getting nothing done, work-wise. But it's quiet. Imagine that, in a library. In spite of 4 story-hours, it's still quiet. Trust me, that's pretty amazing around here.

Because those three people are on vac, I'm covering a lot of hours of desk time. Someday I'll rant on this whole thing with this Gang of Three and their vac planning at work, but not today. It's too quiet to complain! I'm grateful for that at least.

I started today with Bible Study (lectionary) at 6:30, and I'm going to church for dinner and another round of Bible Study (Gospel of John) afterwards. This morning was all about the Samaritan woman with 5 husbands, currently living with a man who is not her husband (HINT: giant, messed-up, disaster area, radioactive-sinner in every possible way) at the well. Tonight is John, chapter one. My main question, written in caps in my study guide last night as consciousness faded: "WHY IS THIS SO COMPLICATED??"

Hah. Maybe THAT should be my mantra.

And in the middle it's been quite weird. Just...weird. (see above, Mood)

Today is a half-day of school. Why, on a Wednesday? Who knows. I totally forgot to make any work arrangements or even to discuss it with The Beast. BUT he has graciously volunteered to leave work at noonish to be home with Sparky after school. I'm, again, grateful that The Beast is (as I have been saying often lately) A Good Boy.

Oy. Ain't it disgusting?

Should I attempt to get a couple hours' work done? Naah, I'm currently in the children's room (great: no school, PLUS a story hour!), and the next hour I'm at circ again. God help us all.

Bor-ring

Mood: Bored
Hair: Blown out

I'm currently doing a Placeware course (phone and online) on the new ILL resource for the state. I'm doing it with another technically literate librarian; we are both busily trying everything they show us, but have been stopped in our tracks because we don't have the Admin password. Foiled again. So I've been reading "my" blogs--the ones I try to get to every day. Now I'm blogging myself. Yawn

I found out that I'm supposed to be ironing my jeans. Huh. NOT gonna happen, to quote a famous non-sage. I hate ironed jeans: the look, the feel, the whole general concept. Ick. This is my Western-ness coming out I think. No worries if you are an ironer; just don't expect me to be doing it! :-)

Time for our official break. Wheee...what am I gonna do during the second half of this!?

UPDATE:
WE JUST REACHED THE ILL PART of this demo. It's 11:25. We started at 9:15. Librarian H and I are now unabashedly rolling our eyes and whacking our heads, exclaiming "Shoot me now!" frequently. Thank God for mute buttons on phones...we're currently stuck on why sometimes OCLC says an institution owns an item and is a lender, but when the ILL request goes through it says that library isn't a lender.

Lightweight, fluffy....yep, comin' up

Mood: Good (I get to leave early today since I was here for 10 hours yesterday!)
Hair: Braid (out)

Interesting books that have crossed my desk today:
The Beader's Guide to Color (for those beaders out there)
Prodigal Sons and Material Girls : How Not to Be Your Child's ATM (for me & the Beast--'nuff said)
Uninteresting books that have crossed my desk today: about fifty (say it with me) SKINNY BOOKS.

& & & & & & & & & & & & &

Cold pizza for lunch is excellent.

& & & & & & & & & & & & &

Maine: The Beast's family has vacationed there regularly for over 40 years. The camps where they stayed most of the time are up for sale...well, two of the original five + lodge + extra buildings. The big chunk of land with all the buildings was split up and sold off about eight years ago, so this is a second sale. Wouldn't it be great to have two tiny cabins each about eight feet from Moosehead Lake? [It really looks like this too!]

Sounds fab (it's a great place if you like quiet silence). The price: $389,000. As Bill the Cat would say: Ack.

We, regretfully, will be passing up that "opportunity."

& & & & & & & & & & & & &

This just in: Dewey puts "cheerleading" in 791.64. No big thrill there. Except when you look in the schedules, that places it between "Pageants" (Religious and Historical/Patriotic are separate numbers) and "Animal Performances" including cockfighting.

ROFLMAO!!

& & & & & & & & & & & & &

Apropos of nothing else in this post: Hi, JT!

More politics

This was meant to be a response to J's comments from yesterday but it got too long.

I lay the blame for American apathy, a good chunk of it, at the feet of Nixon and his Watergate chums. Before that, I really think people thought that most politicians were generally decent. And they certainly weren't. It's very discouraging, though to hear the numbers of voters at the end of every election. I think voting should be required before you get a driver's license or something...

I can't get Germany in the 30s out of my head lately. I wish everyone would read and understand that Martin Niemöller wasn't just talking about Germany:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Hello. I have a son. I don't want him to be drafted in six (SIX!) years to fight in Iraq because of the current administration's idiotic policies from 2003/04. Vietnam lasted over ten years, so this scenario is not an impossibility.

Of course, Nixon is not entirely to blame. The Baby-Boomers, which I am either at the tail end of or just out of depending on the statistical info used, have a lot to answer for: possibly the most self-centered generation up to that point in history. And many BBers have perpetuated that ME-ness in their children and grandchildren so that now we have three generations of people who can't/won't/refuse to face responsibility of any kind. And guess who is running the country.

On the other hand, history was full of stupid people, people whose entire focus was off-kilter, and they managed to beget the American Constitution, the fight against slavery, women's suffrage, the destruction of Hitler...

People, after all, are people. I just wish they weren't so bloody human (i.e. fallible) all the time!

*****************

ENOUGH. I'll have something light and fluffy to blog later this afternoon. I promise. ;-)

Good stuff

Mood: Great!
Hair: Braid (in)
Listening to: Bodeans "Closer to Free"

That seems to be the theme for the day: closer to free. For me, and for others.

Had a wonderful long talk with two old friends last night. (Not that they're OLD, mind you...in fact, I'm technically older than they are...) Nice to not have history with people that extends back over twenty years and across three continents.

This morning I went to early Bible Study, confronted a "weird" passage from Luke, crawled though it and out the other side together with a good (small, though) group of people. Feels good.

Anyway. It's hard to be pissed off listening to this song. Even though the one time I met Sam and Bob (? maybe it was Kurt?) they were terribly cranky... I love this album.

Determined to finish the 18 puzzles on my cart today. That will free up a considerable amount of physical space (and psychological breathing room as well--I hate cataloging puzzles, even more than skinny books).

The phone lady is on the line (my extensions are all wrong as of our Big Move last week, or whenever it was).

Edited: Low-tech solution...all fixed. Wooo-hoooo!

Fun times

Mood: OK
Hair: pony (new elastics, though)

So I've spent the day adding seventy-two books (all skinny kids' books, grr) to the collection and I deserve a reward. Especially since several of them were in the Chelsea House wrestling series...ick-y.

Plus I had two hours of Ref Desk work today. So I'm due, I'm definitely due.

Here's the reward: Googlism for Ouray. Kind of a fun toy.

Reward part two: I know one reader will be interested in this show at the School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. I just got an invite for a symposium about it next month. Wish I could go...

OK, back to worrying about friends' lives...er, make that cataloging.

Because the bad news is that I still have about twelve linear feet of books to catalog.

Not proselytizing, just organizing (hah!)

Mood: GOOD!
Hair: Barette in back, messy (it's 5:45 p.m., whaddaya want?)

So I've just updated the weekly calendar, merging my portable "PDA" (heh--I'm back to paper for the time being since my Cleo no longer functions) with the PDA software on the computer and the daily doin's board on the fridge.

Here's a slice of a very Presbyterian week: (all these are evening events except where noted)

Monday -- update worship attendance in the morning; Evangelism Committee meeting
Tuesday -- New Building prayer subcommittee meeting
Wednesday -- 6:30 a.m. Bible Study; midweek evening meal, followed by my choice of three classes (prayer, Bible Study, or current events); or I could do choir...
Thursday -- Prayer Chain revitalization meeting
Friday -- Mini-retreat (2 hours)
Saturday -- Mini-retreat (4 hours)
Sunday -- Sunday School and the new worship schedule start in the morning; highway cleanup near the new building directly after lunch; Sparky's first youth group meeting mid-afternoon (I don't have to attend that)

We Presbys love our meetings. ;-)

Now, I'm NOT saying I'll be at each and every one of these things. However, I must be at Monday's and Tuesday's meetings, and if I go to Monday's, I have to update the attendance stuff first so it's accurate. I want to do Wednesday night's stuff, and I've paid for the materials for Friday/Saturday.

So that leaves Thursday night where I haven't fully committed myself. I think I'll stay home (by the way, it's a 30-minute round-trip drive to church from my house). The Beast just walked in, read over my shoulder and harrumphed. I'm thinking we need a cot-room in the new building, for me to sleep over!

On top of all this, I've also suggested Sparky ask his home-schooled pal to go to youth group next week, after spending the night Saturday here. This is NOT the picky eater friend: he's not invited to youth group since he now lives about 45 minutes west of us in another town/school district. Thank God for small favors.

What would I do with more than one kid?

Oh, by the way, swim team starts up again in about three weeks.

And Sparky has been invited to go on an student ambassador program to Europe next year for two weeks at a cost of $4500. He is going to have to do a service project for that, as well as some fund-raisers, assuming we decide in the first place to let him go.

All of this: youth group, fund-raising, service project, swim team, PLUS homework, and my additional schoolwork that I make him do because I'm a mean Mom...

My God, he's not even a teenager yet!! And he's UNDERscheduled compared to a lot of kids. What are we doing??

(The good news is that right now he's outside playing in the sunshine and being a kid. He got all his chores this afternoon done right after lunch.)

Work

Mood: OK but fading fast
Hair: Blown-out

It's my Saturday to work. Had a meeting this morning (more on that at a later date), so I'm late. My work-Saturdays are usually me, at my desk all day, cataloging. Today for some reason, I'm on a service desk (circ or Ref.) ALL afternoon.

So it looks like I'll be staying till 7 or so to get some cataloging done. Crap.

On a good note, I now (finally) have XP on my PC. THANK YOU, SLEEK, wherever you are!!!!!

Cinderella City a.k.a. Sin City

I was thinking back on those mad weekly shopping trips with my mom. I talked about it here, but I haven’t been able to get them out of my head.

Sad to say that others don’t seem to be able to get the place out of their heads either. I found all kinds of stuff about this shopping mecca including a song of tribute: but, dude, it was Taco BuenO! Just by the fountain. I know because my boyfriend took me there on a date. And then informed me he was allergic to dairy, leading me to think--I remember this clearly--"Why are we eating here, then? Land of sour cream, shredded cheese, oh yeah and mounds of grease."

(The picture on that last link is rather sad--taken through the fence with only the shell of the Blue Room still extant.)

The Blue Room was in the center, between the short legs of the W.

Underneath the Gold Mall, I believe, was CinderAlley. Sin City was built at the end of the 60s; I think CinderAlley was added a couple of years later...anyway, picture the early 70s. Counter-culture meets consumerism in a collision of he@dsh0ps, beads, bongs, video games, magic shops, and Sears. I wasn't allowed to go into CinderAlley even with Mom. Thank God we lived just five blocks away, close enough to walk once I reached my teens!

Stores I remember: Joslins (love that store--I think I'd still shop there if they were around here), the Singer sewing machine shop and the fabric store (the latter was a bridge over the parking lot entrance, so I'd watch the cars while Mom picked out hideous fabric to make hideous clothes that I'd refuse to wear), Penney's, Orange Julius (nope, not allowed), Thom McAn, Kinney's (but only if Thom McAn didn't have what Imelda, er, Mom wanted), Woolworths, Perry's Pizza (the best salad dressing ever!), Denver Dry Goods (till they cut up Mom's card in front of us), The Village Inn(Mat Maids' breakfasts), Lerner's (not allowed: "cheap" according to Mom).

And Farrells Ice Cream!! Where J0hn F^nk loosened the lids of the salt & pepper shakers as we left once. [Guess how old we were.] They had great ice cream and did this horribly noisy and totally embarrassing birthday thing with a calliope, bells, whistles, trumpets, and a sparkler in a giant bowl of ice cream. They had candy jars at the pay station too. Yum.

The library was right across the street from Joslin's. We'd shop, then go to the 'brary (passing the Cherrelyn horsecar and the statue of Prometheus), where I could check out as many books as I wanted. I loved that place.

Then we'd either hit King Soopers, or go home, occasionally coming back down to Wyatt's Cafeteria for dinner (adjacent to both the library and King's).

"Those were the days, my friend. We thought they'd never end. We'd sing and dance forever and a day. We'd live the life we choose. We'd fight and never lose, for we were young and sure to have our way." --Gene Raskin

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And now my Snapfish order is done (finally!) and vac. photos are on the way to my house sometime next week, so I need to switch laundry, start dinner and generally be little miss housewife (odd, I can't even TYPE that word!).

Hello from the stacks. Of books. On my desk.

Mood: mmmmfph
Hair: in my face mostly

I've gone through 210 barcodes, putting them into books, today alone. Will someone please shoot whoever keeps ordering books? Or at least break their fingers so they can't use a keyboard...

My head hurts. A mere 80 books pushed through today. It is a bit like giving birth, too.

OK. Not really. ;-) I'd never come back if it were.

Classic response

Mood: Aside from my coworkers and my headache--fine
Hair: Blown out (currently pulled up: flash!)

Why I don't love my job: We discovered last night that our clipping file on local history re Underground Railroad has disappeared (misfiled or missing, either way it's gone). This is why we keep the originals locked up. Wonderful Librarian pulled the original file and gave them to me this morning to see about getting copies made. I put a note on them--"ASAP! :-)"--and left them on the appropriate person's desk. It's her job to do this stuff on those rare occasions when it comes up. Yes, I'm pulling rank as Head of Tech Services. No one likes this job: it's boring and ... well, just boring.

When she got here, I pointed it out to C.T. Her response: "Why can't they find someone else to do this?"


Why I do love my job: Cubes. New ink-smell. Never-ending supply of materials to catalog. Blogging is allowed. Everyday is different. Headphones on bad days in the workroom are ok. I can wear jeans and a Russell Stover "Colorado" T-shirt to work.

I HATE SKINNY BOOKS!

Mood: headachy
Hair: braid (out)

So, things piled up last week while we waited for our new offices to be installed. I didn't get much cataloging done. And the books kept rolling in from every side (bonus points to anyone who knows what I'm paraphrasing).

Now that I have a PC and a place to work, I'm trying to find the bottom of the pile. Over the past two days I have cataloged 34 kids' fiction books, 90 kids' nf books, 3 kids' music CDs, and 5 books for the adult section. Do the math.

My cart is still full. By full, I mean out of about 175 linear inches of space in the cart, I have about 15" empty.

How can that be?

BECAUSE, with the exception of three of the non-kid books, THEY ARE ALL SKINNY BOOKS! THEY ARE ALL LESS THAN 1/2" THICK.

What's waiting on my cart?

MORE SKINNY BOOKS.

Damn.

Recent Searches

(I've occluded some stuff, to keep more weirdos from finding me. At least with these searches.)

1. "M!tch H@wn, Colorado" (guy I knew at church when I was in high school)

2. "what does the @m!tyv!lle h0rr0r house look like today" [I dunno--I sorta think this should become my theme... I'd also like to know the answer to this query...]

3. "K0pp's custard daily schedule" [awrigghht--but I don't post that here...try this site instead]

4. "reasons to spend the rest of your life with someone" [like I should be the one to tell you this??]

5. "never love another boy for the rest of my life" [this was from the post about the song "Beautiful Boy".... somehow]

6. "Sweet Dreams Farm" [Sounds like a great

Love and marriage...

Mood: Tired (deja vu)
Hair: Ponytail. Fuck it.

Niece #2 is getting married!!

She called last night to tell us it's official.

Woooooo-haaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!
And I like this guy!

Who says meeting someone on the net doesn't work?? Match.com strikes again.

Two weddings in two years....this could get tiresome. Not.

Quotes and Pseudonymous blogging and Prayer, oh my

Mood: OK, a bit tired
Hair: Let's just not go there for awhile

Nothin' to say but I have discovered a new (to me) site this week. And I like the first one listed for today:

"Life is a sexually transmitted disease." -- Anon.

One of the other quotes today is "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." (Emile Coue) This is one of those weird synergies: I've been listening to my Best of John Lennon CD this week, especially the songs from his Double Fantasy album. For many reasons--not just the obvious--I love the song "Beautiful Boy." And the Coue quote is part of the lyrics, paraphrased.

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Awhile back, there was a posting on another blog I read about anonymous/pseudonymous blogging. I had mentioned it and I want to get back to it.

The main reason I blog sans name is so that I can say what's on my mind about the people around me, 95% of whom do not even know what a blog is, much less that I do one. It's a place for me to vent, to say what I'm thinking right now about events without having to self-censor (much). It's really a matter of pure selfishness and paranoia. I've Googled my site. Along with the Netstat searches and an email from a high school friend (whose name I mentioned, stupidly, in full) this has proven that anyone could find themselves if I constantly used real names in my blog. And the people I work with DO know how to Google. Having worked for Psycho-Boss in a previous job, and living with The Beast, I have learned that much as I want to assume people will understand that I was kidding, it was a joke, and besides that entry was 3 months ago, if I say So-and-So is a jerk, they will think I mean it perpetually. Well, and frankly, if I read that somewhere, I'd be hurt, too.

Everything I say on my blog is true at the moment I write it, at least in the sense that it's real to me. Things change; I find out more information, get a better attitude, stop caring, whatever....my reaction changes. But short of going back and editing every former entry, I can't change what's been written. Some might then consider not saying "mean things." Believe me, I don't say half of the mean things I think! If I say them (type them) though, they seem to go away. It's a girly thing, I've read, this need to vent, to say what's bothering me and be at least temporarily emptied of the bad feelings. So much for psychology...I just know that when I don't vent, it clogs up my insides and I end up being even MORE cranky. Which, believe it or not, is possible, even on the worst of days! It's not pretty, believe me.

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And now I'm off to Starbucks--yeah, woo-hoo, I don't drink coffee--to meet with some church members about starting a prayer group for the new building. I'm going with full armor, as the woman leading it has achieved the dubious nickname (in my head) of Holier-Than-Thou. Sigh.... Takes all kinds, doesn't it?

Random stuff via random links

Sayings that will put life into perspective.

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Glad to know it's not just me!

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Are you sure this isn't on the South Side of Chicago? No wait, that Ikea isn't built yet...

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Why I'm not watching the RNC...because I can read about it instead. Kinda.

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What I should be doing is cleaning. But my shelves are very dusty and moving the dust around makes my eyes hurt (more than just because of the glasses), and I don't wanna do anymore. Yeesshhh.

Thursday

Mood: Tired
Hair: Big barrette in back, but clean

It's moving day at work. I'm still at home.

I fell down the short flight of stairs this morning at 6. No broken bones, but major rug burn on my left leg and what will soon be a really delightful 5" bruise up the ankle and another one on my "haunch" which no one but The Beast will see anyway. Ouch. What a klutz. The carpet is too slippery....

I'm tired (oh, I guess I said that already). I don't seem to be getting adjusted to my new glasses very fast this time; I think the change in Rx was just enough to be disconcerting but not enough to be major.

Must get to work. Sigh.

I'm off. No kidding, eh?

Mood: OK, a bit tired
Hair: Braided as promised, though starting to be Shaggy Braid

I'm leaving today at 2:30, in spite of Insane Schedule Woman putting me down--without checking in with me--for Ref. Desk from 3-4. Can't do it, sorry: doctor's appt. Well, actually, allergy shot and picking up my new glasses. Would like to be home before Sparky gets off the bus at 4:00, because we then have to turn around and head back to his school to pick up Market Day.

Been wondering all day how his "You are guaranteed to flunk this test" test in Science went. He said he thought he'd be the first student she ever had actually pass it (her high score so far is 30% correct). It's a pretest to determine what she needs to cover for each class. Good idea, and she really did present it as a fun, don't worry about it thing. And a challenge, obviously.

I need to pack my stuff up and get going.

(Vac. journal nearly done--maybe by Friday??)

Wednesday is Hump Day

Mood: Good
Hair: Wet right now. I'll probably braid it.

Yesterday was a very weird day.

Cataloging meeting: LONG and tedious, but I'm no longer chair. Instead, we have Ponytail Ass, with new vice-chair (OK, Chair Elect) of .... {drum roll}
....our Amy. Heh. Somehow she didn't look too excited to be nominated or elected. I did hear her mumble something about looking for another job before next fall. Hmmm, wonder why.

Lunch: As usual on Meeting Day, best part of the day. This time it was because of the company. Sleek events were discussed, but we never seem to have enough time to get to everything. Cute waiter, who offered to let me slap him. Too bad he's half my age (and I reiterate: I hate hot flashes, which occur at very inopportune moments!).

Intro to the System session: I managed to find about 90 CDs from the class action lawsuit selection to bring home and catalog. The boss chose another 50 or so. The actual intro stuff was dull as dishwater. Truly lethal, in the root sense of that word.

Sweet Eyes was there, so I had several internal chuckles over that. Too bad Amy didn't attend.

It was hinted by my boss that I should probably consider volunteering for some (one?) of the new system committees that are being formed. Oh, goody.

Today: C.T. won't be at work, so I can focus on cataloging and clearing off my cart in preparation for tomorrow's exodus to the Storytime room. All our "personal" items and anything portable (my ref. shelf) has to be moved in there, along with the extra workroom carts and everything I don't get cataloged today. What a mess.

Must Get Sparky on the School Bus and Go to Work.