Reboot

This blog is being rebooted here with a new title: Sapphire and Faded Jeans.

I'm not leaving this in place for long, but for those who want to travel to a new locale (with a similar view, I suppose), that's where I'll be.

Edited to clarify new URL: 11/2/09

Consideration

I'm thinking of moving my blog, closing this one down or at least marking it as 'done'...something.

What brought this on? I received news today that V.--our most elderly staff member up until a few months ago when she retired (at 96) due to ill health--is doing something similar to what my mom did last month. She has stopped taking her meds, refuses more medical testing, and just wants to be done.

With this news, and the events surrounding my mom's death, along with ill-health of good friends and other family, changes in Beast's job, Sparky's Adventures in Adolescence and other assorted worries, I am in a bit of a tailspin. All I want to do is sleep, do crosswords, play games online, and watch TV. Reading is a challenge--first time for that--and writing is both mentally and physically difficult. It comes as a bit of a surprise to me that my brain can cramp with the weight of stress.

I think I've reached saturation. I need an extended break from...well, everything. And since I can't actually take a break of that sort in my day-to-day life, I've gotta let something go, and hold out for something new and fun around the corner when I no longer feel like I'm on the verge of falling into the abyss pell-mell. It's even possible that any new blog I start might be a little more transparent. Then again, it may not. We'll see.

Metaphor

About 45 minutes, I wrote a blogpost (on the memes blog). No big deal.

Except I just clicked back over to the Blogger tab and realized that I'd finished it but never published it. It was just sitting here in the window looking blank.

Welcome to my world, even worse than normal lately.

Redesign, coming soon

...cuz I'm BORED with this template! I've been using it in more-or-less the same format for five full years now. So I'm working on a new one.

Stay tuned.

[Better this than doing any of the millions of chores I ought to be doing around the house, right?]

Memories

Remember when I used to post here everyday, sometimes even more than once a day?

Yeah, me too. Maybe it'll happen again, but not until I get "my own" computer. Sharing sucks.

In the meantime: WiiYoga is funny as hell.

What the...??

Yeah, I'm still alive, though feeling terribly frazzled. I'm ODing on Facebook, specifically BubbleTown, have signed up for Twitter (email me if you want to know my 'name' there), and well...living.

Sparky's birthday was earlier this month. He's now officially 16. No license yet: not enough hours of driving experience, and not enough months on the permit. It'll be another month or two before he'll go do the licensing.

Beast has had a rocky couple of weeks. His company is (basically) doing a massive reorg, 2/3 of his work-group is being laid off, and his job is changing a great deal. He now has a company car (delivered today)...you know what that means, right? He and the other employees are still hanging fire a little because of some corporate stuff that is thoroughly beyond anyone's control at this point. Aside from the economy, I mean.

My laptop is still dead. Looks like I may lose a chunk of my data. That's a big pain. (duh) sigh...

The kicker is that I can't seem to stop myself from eating everything in sight, especially the stuff that's bad for me. We do have the WiiFit here now, but haven't had a chance to set it up or start using it. Yes, life is that stupid: we have a video game that is sitting in its box gathering dust.

I'm thinking about Poetry Month already, several weeks early. I'm thinking about what to plant in a small garden this spring, and have charted planting dates. I'm thinking about other ways to save some money 'just in case.' Mostly, though, I seem to be thinking about sleep. Winter is like that, no?

Multitasking

Mood: ok
Hair: clean and purdy
Eyes: a little dry, but ok
Listening to: electronics

I love technology! Right now, I'm waiting for a translation of a friend's blog. She writes in a language I know nothing about. While she's doing that, she's IMing me directly from my blog.

I'm also IMing with Beast directly from my blog. Same blog. [unfortunately, there are some unpleasant things going on at work for him today--just the beginning of the sorts of things we know will be going on for the next several months, or longer]

And I'm on Facebook with a friend/colleague, chatting about salad and being a good person and tact, both in private messages and on her wall.

Plus, I'm watching CSI:NY on Spike TV.

All of this is going on while I shiver and occasionally snuffle. But the cold is slowly leaving my system. Must be all the diet DP I've been drinking.

Thought bubbles

Mood: meh
Hair: meh
Eyes: ok
Listening to: some show on car safety that Beast just started watching

Got up this morning with plugged-up sinuses. Spent 90 minutes updating my book blog for the entire month, and then transferring the list to the sidebar here.

Now I can play.

Except, my head hurts. And I have to pull myself together and go to Sparky's band concert today. I hope he's right that it's only four songs, though at least it won't be bleacher seats for us. High school bands play in auditoriums, not "all-purpose rooms."

Beast looked at 'my' laptop yesterday and he thinks he can fix it; it may 'only' be a Windows update that didn't quite take. He'll have to work on it further sometime this weekend, if there is time. Today he's taking his dad to the doctor and then we have this band concert. Tomorrow is church and the visitation for our neighbor, which is in a suburb about an hour from us. I didn't realize it was an hour away--hmmmm. Maybe we will send some flowers instead....

It was -5 out this morning when Beast got up, just 0 when I first looked after I got up an hour or so later, and 4 now. But the sun is shining and there doesn't appear to be a lot of wind. I am grateful for small favors. Just went out to wave goodbye to Beast and it's not bad in spite of bare feet. I'm stupid, yes. Sick + bare feet + outside in cold weather = not too smart.

I'm wondering when I'll be able to take down the "Cost of the War" widget on my sidebar. It's been there for almost as long as I've been blogging. Which, by the way, is about 5 years. And my template is boring the shit outta me today. sigh

I'm also boring myself with this post, so I'm gonna go see what's happening on Facebook, and then think about getting properly dressed in something besides sweats and fleecey hoodies.

---

Urban Word:

pedexterity: v. [sic-actually a noun] Describing someone with the ability to use their feet to pick things up. Also, pedextrous [adj.]

There is actually NOTHING weird about pedexterity, in spite of the ooky face I get from Beast when I pick things up with my toes.

First and Last Lines

Tradition rules all--I've done this meme before, and it makes way more sense here than on the memes site.

So, the first and last sentences posted for each month of 2008, excluding anything I copied from elsewhere:

January

I'm swiping this idea from Liz.

My eyes are killing me, however. Whinge.

February

Is it just me, or is this totally a Guys Only game?

I just want to sleep, and stop with the stiff shoulders. So, bye.

March

This is labelled "Kipuu Lighthouse" on the calendar but it seems to actually be the lighthouse on Kilauea Point on the island of Kaua'i. [totally forgot about posting this every month! oops]

OK, then home you go.

April

It's April. That means it's Poetry Month.

You had to know I'd be bringing the Bill.

May

My neck/shoulder started kicking back in day-before-yesterday.

OK, and now I'm going to bed. Happy sleeps, y'all!

June

I'm not sure what I need to talk about except to say that the last 30 or so hours have been interesting, challenging, fun and tiring.

And now my brain is empty.

July

So, yeah. I was in Anaheim, across the street from Disneyland, for the last 4-plus days.

Head up, shoulders back, forge on.

August

On her way at 3:00 this morning.

I am, in some specific cases, talking to myself if anyone at all.

September

I keep eating badly.

Today, I'll round out the day working on one or two of the projects that have been hanging fire for months/weeks/days.

October

In case that last line about homework doesn't give it away...this week is psycho.

Started handing out candy, and started a list of costumes

November

Regardless of your personal political leanings, can we all just agree that America lived up to its promise on one level (at least) last night?


So, no one here is in a very good mood, and I can't actually wait for the end of winter in spite of the fact that it just started today for all intents. And purposes.

December

One per person. I swiped this idea from Allison, and decided to do it here instead of the memes blog...

Not to mention PICKY!

Reading Geek

This is the annual post that proves I am a geek about numbers as well as books. Top half of the post is books I read this year; bottom half is stats.

January (6F, 2NF)

• Labyrinth, by Bill Pronzini
• Probable Cause, by Theresa Schwegel
• Lost, by Michael Robotham (on CD)
• Lincoln's Dreams, by Connie Willis
• Where There's A Will, by Aaron Elkins
• American Band, by Kristen Laine
• Free for All, by Don Borchert
• The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella(on CD)

February (9F, 2NF)

• The Amorous Nightingale, by Edward Marston
• Prose Bowl, by Bill Pronzini and Barry M. Malzberg
• Baby Doctor, by Perri Klass
• Masques, by Bill Pronzini
• T is for Trespass, by Sue Grafton
• The Devil's Apprentice, by Edward Marston
• Into the Forest, by Jean Hegland
• Light Raid, by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice
• The Elephants of Norwich, by Edward Marston
• Fire Watch, by Connie Willis
• Rings, Swords, and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature, by Michael Drout (on CD)

March (4F, 3NF)

• Hard Row, by Margaret Maron (on CD)
• The Skull Beneath the Skin, by P.D. James
• Dead Men Do Tell Tales, by William R. Maples and Michael Browning
• The Hidden Life of Art, by Clare Gibson
• Not Quite What I Was Planning (ed. Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith)
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer (on CD)
• The Best New British Mysteries (ed. by Maxim Jakubowki)

April (5F, 3NF)

• Dead Time, by Stephen White
• The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (on CD)
• Banishing Verona, by Margot Livesey
• Killer Year (ed. Lee Child)
• Phaic Tan, by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, and Rob Sitch
• The Coldest Blood, by Jim Kelly
• Blue Pills, by Frederik Peeters
• Her Story, by Barbara J. MacHaffie

May (6F, 4NF)

• Just One Look, by Harlan Coben (on CD)
• In the Frame, by Helen Mirren
• Motorcycle Jackets, by Rin Tanaka
• Dakota, by Martha Grimes
• Ridiculous/Hilarious/Terrible/Cool, by Elisha Cooper
• John, by Niall Williams
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by David Selznick
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Country, by William Anderson
• The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart
• This Just In, by Bob Schieffer (on CD)

June (2F, 2NF)

• The Lives They Left Behind, by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny
• Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (on CD)
• Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Air Mail, by Terry Ravenscroft

July (3F, 3NF)

• Tweak, by Nic Sheff
• Sisters on the Case (ed. Sara Paretsky)
• Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Careless in Red, by Elizabeth George
• Grace (Eventually), by Anne Lamott (on CD)
• Maps and Legends, by Michael Chabon

August (5F, 1NF)

• New Orleans Beat, by Julie Smith
• Ruby's Imagine, by Kim Antieau
• The Judas Judge, by Michael McGarrity
• The Common Bond, by Donigan Merritt
• Up Till Now, by William Shatner
• Dying to Tell, by Robert Goddard (on CD)

September (7F)

• Simple Justice, by John M. Wilson
• Blanche on the Lam, by Barbara Neely
• Death in Bloodhound Red, by Virginia Lanier
• Codex 632, by José Rodrigues dos Santos (on CD)
• Bucket Nut, by Liza Cody
• On a Day Like This, by Peter Stamm
• The House of Power, by Patrick Carman

October (7F, 3NF)

• Everything is Miscellaneous, by David Weinberger
• Wolf, No Wolf, by Peter Bowen
• The Laughter of Dead Kings, by Elizabeth Peters
• Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (on CD)
• Winter and Night, by S.J. Rozan
• The Dollmaker's Daughters, by Abigail Padgett
• Demolition Angel, by Robert Crais (on CD)
• Damage Control, by J.A. Jance
• Traffic : Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), by Tom Vanderbilt
• Hoodwink, by Bill Pronzini

November (6F, 1NF)

• A Cold Day in Paradise, by Steve Hamilton
• Blind Bloodhound Justice, by Virgnia Lanier
• The Watermelon King, by Daniel Wallace
• The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon (on CD)
• Reflecting the Sky, by S. J. Rozan
• Strangers in Death, by J.D. Robb
• Please Don't Remain Calm, by Michael Kinsley

December (5F, 4NF)

• Glut, by Alex Wright
• Gone, by Lisa Gardner (on CD)
• Breath and Bones, by Susann Cokal
• A Mouthful of Air, by Anthony Burgess
• By Jove! by Michael Macrone
• Unnatural Selection, by Aaron Elkins
• Scattershot, by Bill Pronzini
• The Fine Art of Murder (ed. Ed Gorman, Martin H. Greenberg, and Larry Segriff, with Jon L. Breen)
• Somewhere in the City, by Marcia Muller

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As in the past, I've compiled a list of titles to remember from this year:

Most Memorable {these not necessarily Literary, but they stuck in my head}

• The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella(on CD)
• Banishing Verona, by Margot Livesey
• Ridiculous/Hilarious/Terrible/Cool, by Elisha Cooper
• Ruby's Imagine, by Kim Antieau
• Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (on CD)

Best

• American Band, by Kristen Laine
• Into the Forest, by Jean Hegland
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer (on CD)
• Blue Pills, by Frederik Peeters
• Dakota, by Martha Grimes
• John, by Niall Williams
• Ruby's Imagine, by Kim Antieau
• The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon (on CD)

Least Memorable {books I remember NOTHING about, based on title alone}

• Probable Cause, by Theresa Schwegel
• Simple Justice, by John M. Wilson
• Not Quite What I Was Planning (ed. Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith)
• Wolf, No Wolf, by Peter Bowen

Yuck

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by David Selznick
• Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (on CD)
• Air Mail, by Terry Ravenscroft
• Tweak, by Nic Sheff

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Keeping in mind that, as usual, I did not cull the books I did not finish, here's the geeky number bit:

number of books read in 2008: 93
number of books read in 2007: 75
number of books read in 2006: 77
number of books read in 2005: 127
number of books read in 2004: 102
number of books read in 2003: 100
number of books read in 2002: 118
number of books read in 2001: 83
number of books read in 2000: 128
TOTAL over nine years : 903

average read per year, over nine years: 100.33
2008 average read per month: 7.75 (all nine years: 8.36)
2008 average read per week: 1.79 (all nine years: 1.93)

number read in worst month: 4--June

2007: 3--November
2006: 4--tied April, May, June and August
2005: 5--January and June
2004: 0--July

number read in best month: 11--February

2007: 9--March
2006: 11--January
2005: 21--February
2004: 12--June

number of fiction: 65

2007: 53
2006: 56
2005: 74
2004: 61

number of non-fiction: 28

2007: 22
2006: 21
2005: 53
2004: 41

number of books by female authors: 36 (2007: 24; 2006: 24)
number of books by male authors: 58 (2007: 40; 2006: 33)
[discrepancies in totals are due to individual books by multiple authors and edited books which are not counted]

Off the grid

I will probably not be posting here this weekend. We are headed to Ohio to check on Beast's parents, who are generally not doing well. Mom has thrown in the towel on the day-to-day household stuff: laundry, dishes, etc. She is also generally having trouble with fluid retention. Dad's bloodwork is all over the map.

[That's the VERY abbreviated version of everything.]

Head up, shoulders back, forge on.

Ranty

OK, I've just read yet another cranky librarian posting about last month's meeting in Anaheim.* I'm so tired of this. One thing that pisses me off more about it is that there is clearly NO financial UNDERSTANDING for why we (librarians) hold meetings in warm venues in summer and in cold weather venues in winter.

Here's a hint: CO$T! It's ALL about money. My guess--and it is a guess--is that it runs several thousands of dollars less to book Anaheim (or Miami) in summer and Chicago (or Minneapolis) in winter. The hotels are also cheaper, and they are more willing to do deals on prices just to fill the rooms and get something. So are tourist things, if that's your thing, and restaurants and airlines. This means--listen up--it costs less for us to attend than it would if we went someplace Neato and Coolio like St. Louis in January or Boston in June.

And why Anaheim instead of L.A.? Hello? Go read paragraph #2. It's cheaper.

Why do I know this? Because I know people who work in the for-profit world. As much as that annoys me sometimes--huh--they have to justify the money they spend, and I will tell you all that there are times when they look at government (i.e. that would be us, kiddies) and are appalled at how clueless and retarded we are. So, chalk one up to ALA for saving money. ALA gets kudos for being financially responsibile on this count at least from me.

I was in Anaheim last month, across the street from Disney. I hate Disney. I'm not ridiculous about it--for instance, I don't hate it the way I hate terrorists or liver-and-onions--because I didn't feel compelled to partake in ANYthing Disney while I was there. I didn't eat, shop, ride, or enjoy ANYthing related to Disney, except 5 minutes of fireworks one night, in spite of practically marinating in Disneyfied air.

Guess what: I don't go to conferences to a) drink, b) eat gourmet food, c) have spa treatment, d) tour the vicinity, e) bitch about my host (i.e that would be Anaheim, kiddies). I go to LEARN. I go to enjoy some networking, to get excited about my job, to find out what might be coming down the pike, to meet some interesting people that I otherwise would not (and I assure you, I am NOT talking about the people doing most of the talking, though I did speak to Tim Spalding in the LibraryThing booth and congratulate him for being an instigator), to see an old place in new light or a new place period, and to get the FUCK away from work for a change of scenery!

So, Anaheim was hot, and there was a lot of concrete. So, I am out of shape. So, I am not thin. So, somehow--though I'm beginning to wonder if I imagined it--I hiked the distance to and from my cheap-ass motel (bar- and restaurant-free, mind you) and the conference site. I rode the shuttle bus precisely once, just to see how that worked. I walked 6-plus hours one day on concrete in exhibit halls and never once tried to steal anything that I "thought" was free but wasn't. I probably put three times more mileage on my feet in California than I do in the average month in 'real life.' And you know what? I could have gone several more days doing the same thing! It fucking was not that bad. Frankly, I felt crappier when I was on vacation in London four years ago walking (duh!) concrete streets and marble museum floors for a week.

The people who are bitching on their blogs about how AWFUL it was in Disn...er, Anaheim have a tone to their commentary that is very curious to me. It is the sound of cheerleaders talking down the Ugly Chick. It is the sound of Heather dismissing Martha Dumptruck. It is NOT the sound of a group of people I hope represent libraries or librarians now, nor do I hope these are the future leaders of the profession. I hope that librarians aren't a bunch of spoiled, whiny, and unbearably rude brats. I hope this because, while I was never Martha Dumptruck or the Ugly Chick in high school, one of the reasons I love the movie "Heathers" is because I enjoy watching a 100% pure bitch drink drain cleaner. It's very...cleansing.

Can we just get over ourselves and our liberal, white-bread, white-ass snobbery and gain some understanding of what the FUCK we were supposed to be there for?! And if you whiners can't figure out the last bit, at least stop griping about the carbon footprint of the conferences, the fact that California is notoriously based on driving instead of walking, the inanity of Disney, the perception that ALA is run by "Boomer Deadwood" and therefore toe-dally SUX!, and the lack of crunchy Trader-Joe-approved food. Use that energy to make your workplace better in a positive way.

I dunno. Maybe y'all just need to get laid. Or get stuffed. But please, for the love of Mike, shut up! It's enough to make this liberal-but-not-crunchy post-Boomer want to throw up a little on your self-righteousness. I remember being young and perfectly sure of the stupidity, hypocrisy, inanity, whatever-ity of The Oldies. Some of them annoy me still, now. But, what do you remember? Watching Ursula beat up on Ariel? Yeah. OK.

And what are you doing about it? Oh. Yeah. Working on that Second Life avatar that will change the world while simultaneously making a new LOLcat. Great. Let me know how all that works out for you. I'm sure you'll blog about it. Just remember: the people in Anaheim that you are talking trash about are PEOPLE who can READ your BLOG and be OFFENDED about how UNPLEASANT some LIBRARIANS are being about the place they LIVE. How would you feel if they were talking your hometown down that way?

And yes, believe it or not, I do get the irony. Because, you know what? Irony has been around...awhile.

---

Word Spy Word:

kindergarchy: n. Rule or domination by children; the belief that children's needs and preferences take precedence over those of their parents or other adults.

Do I really need to explain why I chose the word kindergarchy to end this post? OK, here's the thing: I'm not against people younger than me. I just don't want the good-hearted ones I know to be overrun by the Asshats with Attitude, a.k.a. Kindergarchs.

---

* No, I'm not about to link to any of them. If you haven't read any of them, and care to, go Google 'em all up.

Even-ing

Mood: OK
Hair: Not my crowning glory today, I'm afraid
Eyes: Really, officer, it's just allergies!
Listening to: The Chicagoland Speedway NASCAR race; would someone PLEASE take Kyle Busch OUT OF THE RACE?!?!?!

So I got our bathroom thoroughly cleaned today, as well as all the ceiling fan-blades in the house. Sparky & I went and ran some errands; he drove most of the way. I've spent several hours cleaning up Bloglines feeds and going through old posts on this blog. I probably deleted about 10 that had completely dead links and/or stupid stuff, and I rewrote several. Hey, it's my blog: I make the rules. ;-) I rediscovered a thing I used to do called "Snappy Comebacks" that I may resurrect once in awhile.

I'm really tired, but determined not to go to bed until later than usual so perhaps I'll sleep all night long finally. I stopped drinking caffeinated pop at about 5. Normally I can drink Dr. Pepper until I crawl into bed. My plan was to watch as much of SNL as I could stomach tonight, until the comedy just totally disappeared. However, then I discovered that Mariah Carey is on, so I will watch until she appears, and then go to bed and read or something.

Oh. And I loathe Kyle Busch. In case you didn't get that up above.

Also, Brett shouldn't come out of retirement. He's thinking with something other than his brain. Stop that, dude!

---

Word Spy:

microboredom: n. Boredom caused by having nothing to do over a short period of time.

I think right now I'm experiencing a bit of microboredom in anticipation of work tomorrow.

Things Racing Through My Mind

• Last fall (winter?) Beast started painting the kitchen. I finally made a decision on whether I wanted the space above the cupboards enclosed (yes) and we decided on a design for the trim around the top of the cabinets on the soffits. (ooh) As of last weekend, it's all done: the soffits are in, the walls are all painted, the plate rail has been built and stained and installed (all by Beast), and the platters and plates I've collected over time are in place. It's lovely



• At the same time Beast was doing all this work, I had a sudden spurt of Homemaker-itis, so we now have a curtain in the kitchen window and also cafe curtains in the dining room. The shades in the windows aren't opaque, and I got tired of being on shadowy display as I ate (not that we eat at the table anymore, because I Am a Bad Mom--we use TV tables!)



• Today I need to dry mop the house. It's rather desperate, this need: allergies have booted up and I'm not having fun. I think I need to dust the fan blades everywhere too. And nightstands, and dressers, and tables...sigh. I really don't like dusting. Thank God for Swiffer, though, because at least dry-mopping is easier now!



• Last night I went through my Bloglines feeds and deleted several. I'm down to 122 of them. OK, some of you can stop sneering at me now. You know who you are. Of that 122, I can think of at least 15 that are updated no more than four times a year, 20 are friends' blogs and/or comment feeds (or my own), 18 are work-related (one is a consolidating site which 'reads' about 30 other blogs, though...), and 12 are purely for fun (cartoons, etc.). Local news accounts for 5, and since I don't read the paper, they are sort of important to me (otherwise, I wouldn't know things like the fact that there is some lunatic out here in Podunk who wants to start a library...in a building that he owns...and which was condemned two years ago!) Almost 40 of the feeds are meme sites. Gulp.



• I'm still cleaning up old blogposts from the Dark Ages--I'm all the way up to September 2004.



• I hate that I have to register to buy my allergy meds right now. Normally, I can just buy the Claritin from the shelf, but if I need Claritin-D, I have to ask at the pharmacy counter, produce ID, and register for my 10 pills at a time. Why? Because it has pseudoephedrine (i.e. Sudafed) in it, and can therefore be used to produce meth. I clearly fit the profile of your average tweaker, too. {eyeroll} Really, I'm just grumpy; I do see the purpose in all this; it is annoying, however.



• Beast's work situation changed this week. Actually, it didn't really change, but there was a noisy announcement of impending upheaval, which of course means everyone's spending time worrying about that rather than focusing on the job at hand. The good news? Beast spend the last two days taking apart equipment in the lab and cleaning it. Because his title is...Sales Guru and Product Manager. Yeah. That makes sense. Some guy making WELL over $20/hour taking apart the machinery. He does know what he's doing, but shouldn't someone from Maintenance be doing this? Oh, wait: there is no Maintenance; just us chickens. Hence, Beast doing a wonderful Mike Rowe impression.



• Am I procrastinating? Yup.
  
  I guess I really should close this down and get some chores done.

It's Saturday!

---

Urban Word:

daddy badge: Vomit or snot from a baby found around the upper chest or shoulders of their father which shows the world that they are a parent.

I'm so pleased to live in a world where we had to invent a word for this concept. I'm pretty sure my dad rarely--if ever--had a daddy badge.

Wordle yourself

...here.

Mine looks like this:

Confluence

It's weird how life works.

In the past couple of months I have discovered two bloggy friends live in the same town as one another. They are 100% unrelated in every other way, don't know they live within miles of each other, have completely different careers, and are generally about 180-degrees in every way.

Also in the past couple of months I have found out the Secret Identities of two of my favorite library bloggers. It's quite weird to be in on the secrets (one of these people doesn't actually know I know, either, thus doubling or tripling the secrety-ness)--and no I'm not telling who is who on penalty of Extreme Blog Dishonor!

I could go on about the stuff I hear in youth group that I have to keep quiet--nothing dramatic, nothing scary, just teenage drama mostly. There are a lot of things that fall into the "what happens in youth group stays in youth group" rule, and then there are just the things those kids say/email to me that I know are for my ears/eyes only.

I just find it freaky that the universe has rather suddenly decided to entrust me with a whole passel of stuff right now. Apparently I am now, officially, a good Secret Keeper. The irony is astounding.

---

Urban Word:

Frisbeetarianism: dThe philosophy that when you die, your soul goes up on a roof and gets stuck. (George Carlin)

I think I may have spent some time living the Frisbeetarian life this winter, and was that roof ever bleak!

I love you, George, wherever you are.

Stuff I've been reading

Mood: tahred, but pleasantly so (after a near psychotic break this afternoon--I l-o-a-t-h-e my family-of-origin right now!)
Hair: barrette up in back at this point, but it's been looking particularly good this week
Eyes: tahred
Listening to: NASCAR truck race (no shit: there is a driver named Scott Speed!)

OK, the Vatican is weird. I really have to say that I've never really understood the concept of Decrees on High, but damn. This one is the weirdest I remember in a long while. Who knew there was an official Vatican astronomer? [I've now deleted the beginning of what was about to become a lengthy rant on how better to spend the Vatican City State Budget.]

Since I'm already on a God in Space kick, Beliefnet's blog has compiled a list of the most spiritual sf characters. Personally, I'd move Morpheus up higher, but that's only because I haven't seen many of the others. I remember watching the third Matrix movie on TV a couple of years ago for the first time and having a blinding flash of what the story/ies was/were ABOUT. [Hint: not slowed-down kung-fu.]

Speaker of sf (which of course is now called Speculative Fiction so that we can include Fantasy with it...huh), some enterprising Harry Potter reader (or just someone with a great deal of extra time recently) has discovered a way to build a magic wand that will allow you to ride on the London Underground in spectacularly wizard-like fashion.

OK, since I've now gone completely into Gonzo Land, we women have no idea how complex the men's room is. When I forwarded this to Beast, his reply was a serious discussion urinal etiquette. I was stunned to find out that this is NOT a joke.

Lest we think that civilization is crashing around us, keep in mind that no matter how odious we "grown-ups" find text-talk ("lol", "u" instead of "you", etc.), the Romans started it.

While we're sharing blame, if you've got neighbors from hell, here's a place to complain about them in public. [You can also rave about any good ones.] In all seriousness, registered sex offenders are already posted, and so are foreclosures. But the joy is in the commentary: from the rather unfortunate-in-its-irony named Pleasant Grove, NJ: "Jerk Off." I like this one from Alvin, TX, too: "12 year old MENANCE running wild." It's possible that there are extra points given for poor spelling.

OK, back to the house: here's a bookshelf that doubles as a message center. The trick is training people to check there for messages.

OK, and now I'm going to bed. Happy sleeps, y'all!

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Urban Word:

attachment disorder : When a person forgets to attach a document to an e-mail after explicitly stating that it is present.

Yesterday was the ultimate stupid technology day; I developed everything from premature window closure syndrome to attachment disorder.

Housekeeping

I'm cleaning my blog up. If you read my posts in a feed that updates you when I make changes to entries, you're going to see a lot of updates. Just so you know. ;-)

Urban Word:

WDT: Acronym for "who does that?" -- spoken incredulously.

I'm wading my old posts in an attempt to clean 'em up. I know, I know: WDT??

Update(s)

We had a meeting yesterday morning that was designed to pump us up into organizing and cleaning the 'shared-use' areas of the library, as well as our own personal spaces. It was very effective, and the workroom--where my cube is--looks as nice as it has in a long time, as does a huge part of the Reference Desk area (there are still 6 drawers to empty and clean, but this was good progress). We threw out papers and manuals from as long as 10 years ago!

In the midst of this, I was talking to our newest librarian. She graduated with her Master's in December, although she has worked with us for about 18 months (?). Prior to December, she was 'officially' a circulation clerk. I guess. Whatever.

Anyway, I've never really known what to nickname her in the list of coworkers. As of yesterday's convo, she will be known as ILL Tyrant. Her request. She didn't want to be a Nazi. So, I'm off to update my coworker list. And yes, she reads this blog, one of two people at work who do so.

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Also, if you use Blogger, you can try out some beta stuff they're working on by typing in http://draft.blogger.com--post pages are coming (where you can post-date items and they publish automatically at whatever time/date you've set)!! So excited.

mmmf?

Mood: Fuzzy
Hair: Flat
Eyes: Half-Closed
Listening to: Bill Maher

My feet hurt. I've had about 3 or 4 oz. of wine. I'm going to fall asleep while typing. There is nothing coherent floating around my brain.

Hence I'm blogging. huh

Goodnight.