Testing July 10, 2008
Okay, so I’m just trying this out to see if it works. If this were an actual post, there would be actual content. And be 100% sarcasam free!
Why coffee at 9:30pm is a bad thing June 11, 2008
All afternoon, I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies. Not just any chocolate chip cookies - the ones I get at the coffee shop where I get my Wednesday lattes [1]. By the time I’d closed up the department and everything was shut down, I decided that, what the hell, I was going for it. However, not only did I come out with two lovely chocolate chip cookies, I also came out with a coffee - and not a decaf.
Now, here it is almost 11pm, and I’m just slightly wired. Which is the story of my week - stress and running on caffeine. I had an awesome [2] work-related stress dream the other night where I finished doing up the work schedule for the next few weeks and then someone asked if I’d remembered to add the new employee in my department to it. “Of course,” I replied, knowing that I’d spent so much time making sure that everything was in order. “No, not her - the other [woman with same name].” At which point I realized that not only was I not in my library, I didn’t know half the people waiting to look at the schedule, meaning that the schedule I’d been slaving over was completely wrong.
Sunday night I dreamed that I was smoking two cigarettes at once. Just so you know, I don’t smoke, nor have I ever been a smoker [3]. I think it’s a sign I need to chill out.
[1] On Wednesday, I go into work in the afternoon and stay late, so I usually pick up a latte on my way in. It’s become a ritual, and something to which I look forward.
[2] And by “awesome” I mean “nightmare.”
[3] I have smoked cigars on a couple of occasions. That can be chalked up to two things: grad school and the awesome cigar bar in Halifax.
I’m not internationally known, but I’m known throughout the microphone February 10, 2008
Last week, it was my distinct pleasure to spend it in Toronto surrounded by friends, colleagues, and other fellow librarians. There were lots of interesting sessions, and tons of things to do when you weren’t in session. My week went something like this:
Tuesday:
Up at 4:30am to catch the bus to TO. Normally, I’d take the train, but the train doesn’t get there until 7pm, IF it runs on time. Getting up at an ungodly hour to take the bus means I get into the city by early afternoon, leaving me enough time to do some sightseeing and shopping. Which I did - I walked up Spadina to Queen West, and hit Americo Yarns. Then I wandered into Kensington Market, went to Lettuce Knit for yarn and help [1]. I also found a cool artist’s market, and bought a print for in my living room [3]. Caught the subway back to the hotel, ditched my purchases, and set off to Jorge’s. I finally got to meet Mrs. Jorge and Olivia, both of whom are adorable. Quite possibly the funniest line of the evening was when Jorge described Olivia’s reaction to the vacuum cleaner: “She went all Leonidas on it.”
Wednesday:
An all-day pre-conference session. More people than had signed up were there, so we were pretty packed in. There were a few people I knew from other meetings, Facebook (Hi Joanna!), or through other friends (Hey Debra!) Met some new friends for drinks and dessert, and then hit the opening reception to find Karen and Steve [4]. Also ran into a couple of librarians from up this way (Hi Leslie, Shelly and Rebecca!) and Jennifer, who was making the big move to Montreal and wouldn’t be convening my session [5].
Thursday:
First official day of the conference! We [6] started it by heading out to our traditional conference breakfast spot for our traditional conference breakfast, which consists of waffles/crepes with fruit and chocolate and/or whipped cream. Delightful! Then onto the first session of the day, which was about getting and using user feedback. Then onto the session I was convening on open source software in the developing world, and a stint in the AskOn booth after that [7]. Finally, I met up with a bunch of other librarians to go see a taping of The Hour. I could spend a great deal of time talking about how cool it was; instead, I’ll give you these pics:
The rest are in a set on my Flickr page.
Friday:
Seriously, it’s kind of a blur, it was that busy. However, I do remember the most important part of the day - going out for dinner! The same group of usual suspects went to the Mexican restaurant Karen, Steve and I found last year. We were worried that it wouldn’t be as good as we remembered, but that fear was completely unfounded - not only was the food as spectacular as we remembered, this year they had a mariachi band! Afterwards we hit the Indigo flagship store, then headed home.
Saturday:
Checkout! Fortunately, I do it early enough to avoid the crush. Then off to a session, and then to my presentation. There’s not much to tell about it, at least not much that wouldn’t bore most people to tears at this point [8]. Except to say that it went well, and I didn’t make any egregious mistakes. Walked down to meet my mom and sister for lunch, and then headed back home with them - hell, I’d come that far, I might as well take a day or two to visit the folks. Had a great supper, and polished off many bottles of wine with my sister and cousin while playing Settlers of Catan, at least until I started falling asleep at the table and my b-i-l took over for me.
Sunday:
A big family outing to celebrate my dad’s birthday and retirement. The neph was adorable, and flirted with all the waitresses. Then home for more Settlers of Catan, and sitting around watching some football game. Are they still playing at this time of year?
Monday:
Home again, this time by train. Again, slept most of the way.
So, there you have it - my week down in the T-dot. It was fun, and I’m already looking forward to next year.
[1] I started knitting a sock on the bus when I wasn’t sleeping [2]. At some point, a whole lot of stitches fell off the needle and started unraveling. The kind and friendly woman there picked them back up and put them on the needle for me.
[2] Which was most of the time.
[3] Once I get a frame for it.
[4] Or as I started calling them, The Nickel City Posse.
[5] Yeah - I was also presenting at the conference. More on that later.
[6] By “we”, I mean Karen, Steve, Joanne (from TBay) and her sister Cathy who’s also a librarian.
[7] I’m one of the friendly AskOn operators, by the way.
[8] Maybe some other day.
Smarty pants December 12, 2007
Thanks to everyone who sent me encouraging messages yesterday after I posted my Facebook status as “stupid stupid stupid!” I did send a few people a brief explanation, but here’s the long story:
Whenever anyone on our public computers sent something to the printer, it printed immediately. Then there were discussions/arguments about what the person had to pay for, and sometimes the exchanges were heated. Or, someone would print something and never pick it up, so at the end of the day we were stuck with a stack of paper no one wanted.
The company who made the reservation software we have on the public computers also makes a piece of software which will hold print jobs until the person comes to pick them up, thus cutting down on arguments and wasted paper.
So, yesterday, the rep was coming to install it on our computers. We’ve been corresponding for weeks about network setups, system requirements, blah blah blah. Monday night she sent me a confirmation email, making sure that the computer I wanted the control software installed on was able to print to the printer the public computers use.
Which is when it hit me: the circ computers don’t use that printer. In fact, they can’t see it at all because the public computers are on a completely different network, so they wouldn’t be able to control the print jobs. In the three months we’ve been corresponding about setting this up, I somehow managed to forget this minor, but key, detail.
In the end, our IT folk came up with a workable solution, and basically saved my ass. I’m still reeling from how foolish it was to overlook that last bit, and how much stress it put on me and the IT folk. There’s no excuse for this, and the only defense I can offer is that I’m currently overseeing three other major projects, all of which are coming to a head this month, not to mention all the day to day details, like scheduling and vacations and overtime.
Fortunately, today I was back to my usual self. Not quite brilliant, but far from the idiot I felt I was Monday night.
You need to see this April 25, 2007
Rather than write a lengthy treatise about what I’ve been up to (short story: busy at work, busy at home) I have pictures to share with you that hopefully capture some of what I’ve been doing lately.
The weather has been spectacular lately, which has given me a chance to play in my garden. Last week, I got to play the game every new homeowner gets to play in the spring - Weed or Plant?
Weed, I think. I can’t remember what was there in the fall.
Easy! Plant - irises! And they’ve doubled in size since I took the picture.
The tulips in the back are finally starting to bloom.
These are going to be sunflowers, once they start growing.
On Saturday night, I looked out my back door and saw this.
I thought, How the hell did Bing get past me when I went outside? Turning to go get a can of cat food to lure him back in, I tripped over the real Bing. Since then, I’ve learned this guy’s name is Chicklet, and he belongs to the house around the corner.
The hat is a hatband away from being finished.
The yarn is splity and twisty, and I wouldn’t use it again. For anyone thinking of making this hat, I’d suggest you go with something comparable instead of the recommended yarn. Also, I’m thinking of adapting it to make a baby hat. (To my sister: calm down, not for you!)
And, I got new glasses!
I love them! (Please don’t ask me what that expression on my face is. It’s not quite a smile, not quite a wince of pain. It may actually be both.)
The only thing missing is a picture of the heap o’ papers on my desk at work. It’s almost the end of the month, with all its associated administrivia (statistics, board reports, timesheets, etc.) I’m also working on a presentation I’m doing at a conference next month on all the fantastic technology projects we’re doing at the library. In all honesty, some of them are pretty cool and I should share them with you someday.
Crackbook April 10, 2007
One of the unexpected outcomes of the ball hockey tournament a few weeks back was the discussion which ranged around the topic of Facebook. Several people had accounts, and they were talking about who had them, who they’d found online, how they knew where so-and-so was because it was posted on their account, etc. My sisters and I didn’t have accounts, but we were intrigued. By the following Monday, all three of us had account, and were experiencing firsthand the joys and agonies of Facebook.
For the uninitiated (*ahem* Julie *ahem*), Facebook is a social networking site, where you post a profile, and look for people to be your friend (or who want to be your friend). You can join networks based on your geographic location, employer, alma mater(s), etc., as well as special interest groups. In a way, it’s a little like My Space for the 20+ crowd - it’s cleaner, more professional, and there are fewer annoyances on the page.
I’ve been playing with it for a few weeks, and I think I can fairly highlight the pros and cons so far.
CONS:
It is a huge time suck. The first day? I spent the better part of six hours I didn’t have giggling and checking obsessively to see if anyone wanted to friend me or respond to my friend request. Since then, I’ve dialed it down a few notches, but I still spend more time than necessary checking my email for updates.
I don’t think of myself as being a vain person, but holy geez, I can’t believe how much time and effort I put into trying to get a good profile pic. There are seventeen pictures of myself which will never see the light of day - I tried various angles, sources and types of light, flash or no flash, hair up, hair down, and so forth. Never have I spent so much time in the pursuit of something so meaningless. The picture I have up right now? I really am smiling, but because of the lighting and the angle my head is tilted at, it looks like I’m glaring at the camera. Or at least giving you my “your fines will not magically disappear because you called me a bad name” look. [1]
PROS:
At first, the friending went slowly. Then, I got a hit from a friend in high school, and then another one who I hadn’t seen in years. Then hits from a couple of cousins I haven’t seen or talked to in ages, and then a few more. Then more friends from high school, a few friends from undergrad, a couple from library school, and then a bunch of people I know through blogging or librarian-type places showed up. Some of those people I haven’t seen in ages, and their stories and adventures from between then and now are facinating. I’m now caught up on what everyone’s been up to since we last saw each other, and other new and surprising things. And that’s awesome.
My verdict? Worth the time suck.
[1] Sadly, if you work in a public library long enough, you will have to cultivate a look that says just that. Especially if you’re the manager and a whole lot younger than the rest of your staff.
Your teachers lied when they said this wasn’t a popularity contest March 15, 2007
1. Go to the CBC website and search for “M a n s b r i d g e heat v i s i o n” (leaving out the extra spaces). Because the kind folks at This Hour Has 22 Minutes want that to be the number 1 search for the week. And because they (and I) told you to.
2. Also at the CBC - it was recently brought to my attention that North Bay was in the top ten cities to be Hockeyville Canada, and then we made it into the top five. Go us? (I’d be more excited, but like I said, I just found this out and haven’t been able to whip myself into a froth of civic frenzy.) This amuses me because Noelville is also in the top five, and it’s less than an hour from here.
3. Band Madness is so much fun. It’s a full-on, battle-to-the-death, ladder contest between a series of bands [1]. Some of the matchups confound me (who the hell are the Aphex Twins?) Some of the matchups tear me apart (Leonard Cohen or the Dropkick Murphys? I can’t decide!) Some of results amuse me (The Clash are kicking Little Feat’s ass). There’s still some time to vote in this round - it’s still in the first round, and they’re being done in pools.
I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve voted for one of these three things on more than one computer - mostly my work computer and my laptop at home. But also a few of the circulation computers.
[1] Or, as we use to call them in fencing, repechages. But we were all snooty and French like that.
Not only do I play one on television, I am one in real life March 4, 2007
As y’all are aware, I am a librarian. I am also a very lazy person, which is why I don’t really spend all that much time writing about what’s going on in Libraryland - if you were truly interested in it, there are a hundred other people out there doing it better than I am. However, I’m also very opinionated, although I choose not to spew forth my many and varied opinions here (or at least, all that often). Something happened recently that made me want to climb onto my soapbox and voice my opinion.
A group of librarians have publicly stated that they will not add a book, titled The Higher Power of Lucky, to their collections because it contains the word “scrotum.” (here’s the response from the author, who also happens to be a librarian.)
Here’s what I think about this:
Firstly, the librarian’s and parent’s reaction is immature and childish, and more suited to fourth-graders than adults. In the context in which it is used (the character sees a snake bite a dog’s scrotum), the word is appropriate - it’s the proper word for the part of the anatomy being referenced. Would they have preferred the author used a different term for it? Are they too horrified that children might learn the anatomically correct name for it instead of calling it something cutesy and euphemistic, like “the thingy”? By stating that the appearance of this word will cause some kind of mental harm, are we not sending the message that there are parts of our bodies that are shameful and should never be talked about if we tell children, “You can’t read that because it contains a bad word”?
Secondly, since when is it our job as librarians to censor what people read? We’re supposed to make the books, the movies, the music, the artwork, the information, etc. available to all, and let the individual patron make up their minds. If I don’t like what an author or an artist has to say, then okay - I won’t read/view their work, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to prevent you from reading/viewing it and letting you come to your own conclusions. If a parent doesn’t want their child to read or watch something, then it is up to the parent to explain to the child why. Don’t tell us to remove something from our collection because you can’t be bothered to have a conversation with your child about your beliefs and values, or about how they feel about something they’ve read/watched/heard.
There are a number of reasons a library might not have a controversial work available - underfunding, it’s been stolen/gone missing, it’s difficult to obtain, it’s out of print/out of circulation, and so on. However, to stand up and say, “I’m not going to add this to my collection because it has a dirty word in it!” is shameful and a black mark on our profession.
And then there’s the whole backlash effect - any time someone says “let’s ban this book because it contains passages about witchcraft/the occult/sex/drug use/etc!”, a lot of people sit up, take notice, and say, “hey, I hadn’t planned on reading that, but now I’m intrigued!” Calls to ban books aren’t at all effective, because it only makes them more popular. Which brings me to this…
This past week was Freedom to Read week. A friend and former co-worker of mine has organized a banned book reading challenge to celebrate the freedom to read whatever you want without anyone telling you why you shouldn’t be able to. Sign up, indicate how many banned books you’re going to read between now and the end of June, and then report back when you’ve finished reading them.
I love you - I really do! February 17, 2007
Sometime last week when I upgraded WordPress, I lost some stuff which I haven’t been able to recover [1]. Such as the original About page, my NaNo excerpts, and my Blogroll page. That last one is the one I’m most disappointed about, because I don’t have a backup of it [2] anywhere else.
I’ll do what I can to get it up and running again tonight.
[1] Jody did what he could to help, but alas, it was not meant to be.
[2] Not that I had backups of any of the other pages, but I’m not as sad about loosing them.
Seasonally appropriate February 4, 2007
It’s hard to imagine that just two days ago, I was wandering from the MTCC to another building nearby without a jacket, mittens, or scarf without being cold. Now that I’m home in North Bay, and the weather has finally started being seasonally appropriate, I can’t imagine not wearing a hat, scarf, handwarmers and mittens just to walk to my car. Tonight it’s -22 and dropping - so cold that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.
The other seasonally appropriate occurance was the considerable snowfall we had between my leaving Tuesday and my arriving home last night, which was somewhere in the neighbourhood of two or more feet. I had to dig my poor little car out of a considerable snowbank when I got back to the train/bus station. And this was on top of the snow we already had.
So! The conference! I’m sure you’re waiting with baited breath to hear how it went, since I was not so much writing about it while I was there. I’d have to say that this was one of the better OLA conferences I’ve been to in recent years. I went to many excellent sessions, and only walked out of one which was largely irrelevant to my interestes (in addition to being not at all what I hoped it would be.) If I were to list all the people I met and want to extend greetings to, I’d be here until tomorrow - suffice to say, if we talked, I’d just like to say “HI!” and I look forward to emailing/speaking/meeting with you over the next little while.
The biggest problem with these conferences is that I always come away with a million ideas which I’d like to implement (A wiki for the employee manual? Sure! A blog for my department to publicize our recent aquisitions? Very necessary! Genealogy podcasting? Why aren’t we already doing that!) However, I feel like Cinderella - I can work on a plan for these things, but only when I’ve finished the library stats for this month, and the January vacation/overtime logs for the department, and writing the scripts for the virtual library project, and the other hundered or so things that crop up on a daily basis.
I love my job, and the administrivia is just part of the job. I just need to manage my time better. And be more organized.
* * *
The night before I left, I downloaded some iTunes-y goodness to listen to while on the train. Regina Spektor’s “Begin to Hope” got heavy airplay - most noteably, “Fidelity,” “Samson,” and “20 Years of Snow.” And I’m sort of embarrased to admit how many times in a row I listed to Mika’s “Grace Kelly” - it’s just that perky and infectious and fun.
