a hundred visions and revisions

Hello, goodbye

2010-01-07T21:01:00.002-05:00

I know this blog has been pretty much abandoned for quite a while now, so there's probably not even anyone still reading it, but I wanted to post an update to mention that I've moved house to a new blog at Wordpress, where I've already got a blog for Normal Public Library teen services set up. I'm also switching gears a bit on what I'll be posting. My life is generally pretty boring, and anyone that I care about who needs to know what I'm up to can find me pretty easily on Facebook nowadays, so with this new blog, I'll mostly be discussing young adult library services and literature, as well as the occasional off-topic oddity that catches my interest. You're welcome to come and visit me at my new digs, where hopefully I'll also be a bit better at updating regularly than I have here. Thanks for reading and commenting here, and see you soon at Wordpress!

I'm an auntie!

2008-12-31T23:51:00.010-05:00

Adalyn Joy Vail

Born December 31 at 8:41 pm
7 lbs. 4 oz., 20.5 in.

With Mommy and Daddy

Snuggling with Grandpa

Opening up her eyes for Grandma

If you try really hard, I bet you can get that whole fist in there, Adalyn!

I think she looks kind of like Yoda in this picture.

Adalyn tells the birthing process exactly what she thinks of it.

A conversation at work

2008-11-02T22:26:00.002-05:00

This happened a few days ago when it got really cold here. It was a slow night, so those of us working at the desk had some interesting conversations. Around 7:00, Maurice comes in saying that it's snowing outside. I run out to check and, sure enough, snow is coming down in little flurries. But Jon doesn't get outside to check until a while later, by which time it's stopped snowing. For the rest of the night, he insists that Maurice was making it all up.

Jon: I don't believe you about anything anymore. You were lying about the snow. I think you got snow confused with stars.
Maurice: You just couldn't see the snow, because you didn't believe enough.
Me: It was falling all around you and you were blind to it. Open your mind to the snow!
Evan: Yeah, it's like Polar Express or something.
Lauren: What??
Evan: Uh, yeah, I don't know where I was going with that.
Jon: I still don't believe you guys.
Me: Every time you say you don't believe in snow, a snowflake dies.
Evan: Quick, clap your hands! Put on your gloves and clap your hands!
Me: I do believe in snowflakes! I do! I do!

Hello again...

2008-10-17T22:16:00.004-04:00

I realize I've more or less abandoned this blog recently, for which I apologize. It's not intentional, I've just gotten busy with work and things. I kept planning on doing an update, but then I'd get caught up in something else and forget about it. Anyway, I'm not going to post much tonight either, because I'm tired and tomorrow it's my Saturday to work. I am planning to update soon with a lot more about how things are going at work, etc. I've also got some plans to do something a bit different with this blog than I have in the past, which I'll hopefully detail soon. For now, here's some Random Playlist Friday tunes:

Bag of Hammers - Thao
Baby in Two - Pernice Brothers
I Feel Like Going Home - Yo La Tengo
You Drift Away - The Postmarks
Something To Look Forward To - Spoon
Where Does the Time Go? - The Innocence Mission
Helpless Fool for Love - Annie
In the Morning of the Magicians - The Flaming Lips
My Impure Hair - Blonde Redhead
Back of a Car - Big Star
Living in Paradise - Elvis Costello
I Hear You Say So – The Innocence Mission
Will You Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles
Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens (The kids here in Illinois get this day off school!)
Sea Song - Doves
All Neon Like - Bjork
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux - Destroyer
Don't You Want Me - The Human League (Ha!)
Chartsengrafs - Grandaddy
Any Day Now - Elbow

(I'm sort of amazed that no Belle and Sebastian showed up on this one. I have so much B&S on iTunes that I think they've shown up at least once on every other random playlist I've made.)

The Daily Show hits it out of the park...

2008-09-05T01:27:00.001-04:00

Um, hi...

2008-08-25T23:44:00.003-04:00

Wow. *dusts off blog*

It's been way too long since I've updated this thing. I've been busy but happy lately. I've started my new job as a young adult librarian at the Normal Public Library, and it couldn't be going better. I love my coworkers, and the teens are great. I promised Alida and the others at ACPL that there's no way that the teens anywhere else could beat them in awesomeness...well, I'm sorry, Alida, but these guys do come pretty close! I miss everybody at ACPL still, of course, but I'm starting to feel really settled in here, and I'm excited about future possibilities with this job. I'm the sole young adult librarian here, so I'm in charge of everything in the department, as well as helping out with general adult reference duties. There's a lot of stuff to learn, and sometimes I feel so inexperienced when confronted with all of these new duties, but I'm also glad to have this opportunity. Luckily all of my coworkers have been great about helping me learn the ropes. There's just a lot I'll have to learn as I go along. I'll post again soon with more details about the job, but when I realized how long it had been since I'd updated my blog, I wanted to make sure to at least post a brief message to prove I'm still alive.

New apartment

2008-07-22T17:53:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, with the help of my parents and grandparents, I moved all of my worldly goods here to Bloomington-Normal. Mom stayed over an extra day to help me get things sorted, and now I'm starting to feel somewhat settled in. I thought I'd share a few pictures of my new apartment. Don't be fooled by how put together everything looks - my closet is crammed full of boxes yet to be unpacked.

The living room:

The kitchen:

The bedroom:

Moving, etc.

2008-07-17T13:28:00.004-04:00

A lot of crazy stuff has been happening, so this post is going to be a jumble of sorts. First and most importantly, I'm moving tomorrow - and I still have about a million things to do before then, of course. My parents and grandparents are helping, and between us we've got two minivans, a pickup truck, and my little car, which we're hoping to be able to cram all of my stuff into. I hope it all fits.

Yesterday was my last day at ACPL, and it was very bittersweet. I spent my time playing Euchre and Rock Band with the teens - best last day ever! But it was horrible to say goodbye to everyone there. I've loved working at ACPL, and am going to miss all of my coworkers and the teens there so much. I wish I could take them all with me.

I've spent the past several days working hard on finishing my new furniture. A few weeks ago, I went to an unfinished furniture shop in town and picked out a new desk, dresser, TV stand, and bookcase. I did all the staining myself - I got a beautiful dark espresso stain, and it looks great on the pieces. Now I'm scrambling to finish up the polyurethane coats so that they'll be dry in time to pack them in the vans. Maybe I'll post pictures of them in use in my new place once I've settled in. Oh, and I also bought a sofa and chair - no more ugly flowered hand-me-downs from my parents, hurrah. I'm so proud of all my new grown-up furniture!

My new favorite thing

2008-07-12T01:17:00.000-04:00

I can't stop watching it:

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

A Normal job

2008-07-01T16:39:00.005-04:00

So, I guess it's about time to mention that I've been offered the job in Normal I talked about in my last post. It happened so quickly that I'm still a little shocked. We've tentatively set my start date as August 4, and last Thursday and Friday my parents came with me to Bloomington-Normal to look around at the area and hopefully find me a place to live. I wanted to live close to work, but unfortunately the vast majority of the apartments around uptown Normal are either heavily student-oriented (Illinois State University is literally right next to the library), or they're Section 8 housing, i.e. rent-controlled, and for the first time in my life, I'll be making too much money to qualify. (!!!) So I ended up looking further south in Bloomington, where apartments were quite a bit more expensive but also nicer. There was one apartment complex I really liked, but they were completely full and had a waiting list, so it didn't look like there was a chance I could get a place there before I'd need to move. But it just so happened that as I was in the leasing office, one of their residents came in saying that he wanted to do a sublease for July and August, and I pretty much jumped up and down yelling "Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" So we talked it over and worked it out, and now I have an apartment. I'm going to try to head back this weekend to do some cleaning and hopefully move a few of my things in, and then in two or three weeks I'll move over there for good.

It feels like everything has really fallen into place perfectly for me to have this job. I hope I like the job and the Normal area. It's not terribly far from Chicago, and there's a train that goes straight there, so that'll be nice. And it's about four hours away from my family and friends here in Fort Wayne, which makes weekend trips very possible. I'll miss ACPL and the people there a lot, but overall I'm excited about this opportunity. Now I'm just incredibly nervous and worried about doing the job well. I hope I don't disappoint!

Upheaval...

2008-06-20T20:30:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a bit because things have gone sort of crazy for me. I've mentioned on here before that my job at ACPL is currently only part-time, and that I've been hoping for more hours for a while now. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was browsing through some library job sites and almost on a whim, decided to apply for a couple of young adult positions I found. Within a few days, I had been contacted for a phone interview by the people at the Normal Public Library in Illinois. A few days after that - this Tuesday - I went to Normal for an in-person interview. The job is a full-time young adult librarian position, and I would definitely be making quite a bit more money than I do now. The interview went well, I thought, and I liked the people at the library. It's definitely a much smaller place than ACPL, and I would be the only full-time YA librarian, with maybe a student worker to assist me. Bloomington-Normal seems like a nice area - the two cities combined have a population of around 120,000 people, it's about two hours from Chicago, and about four and a half hours from my family in Fort Wayne. I'm not sure what to hope for at this point - part of me still has a tiny hope that something full-time is going to open up at ACPL so I can stay in the area, but the rest of me realizes what a great opportunity this job could be. I probably won't find out whether or not they'll offer the job to me for a few more weeks, so meanwhile I'll be nervously waiting. Everyone wish me luck!

48-Hour Book Challenge wrapup

2008-06-09T02:08:00.006-04:00

Officially my reading time doesn't end until 7:00 tomorrow morning, but there is no way that I'm going to stay up reading that whole time, so I'm officially calling it quits. I'm actually right in the middle of The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope, but I need sleep. Maybe if I finish it tomorrow I'll go ahead and post a review, but for now I'll just count the pages I've read so far.

So, here's my stats:

Books read: 7 1/2
Pages read: 2401
Hours spent reading: About 20
Favorite book read: It's a very tough choice, because I loved several of the books, but I'd say it's a tossup between The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and The Dead and the Gone
Least favorite: Definitely Wake

Some thoughts: Yay, I did better than last year! Still nowhere near the levels of some of the super readers, but as much as I love reading, I found that I couldn't just sit still hour after hour. I had to take breaks for bike rides and the Internet and a little bit of tube-gazing. Plus I took quite a bit of time writing up my reviews that I guess I could've spent reading. But oh well - I wasn't really doing this to set record numbers of pages read or anything, just as a fun way to spend a free weekend and get a lot of books read. So overall, great experience, and I'll definitely have to do this next year.

The Princess and the Hound - Mette Ivie Harrison

2008-06-09T01:55:00.003-04:00

Prince George of the kingdom of Kendel has always known he was different from others. As a small boy, he followed his mother to the stables and the forest and learned how to speak with the animals there. As he grows older, he comes to learn that he must never share this secret with anyone, as animal magic is banned in the kingdom and punishable by death. But when he becomes betrothed to the neighboring kingdom's Princess Beatrice, who has a strange and inseparable relationship with a mysterious wild hound, both of their secrets threaten to come out into the open.

I'm really not sure how I felt about this one. I think it could have been much more tightly plotted, and sometimes I couldn't figure out exactly what the author was trying to do or where she wanted the story to go. Everything was told in a kind of distant, fairy-tale style, which sometimes works for me but here didn't, because it made it hard to get attached to either George or the princess. All of this is making it sound like I really hate the book, but I don't, just feel kind of meh about it.

My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park - Steve Kluger

2008-06-08T22:04:00.001-04:00

Three Boston high school students - T.C. Keller, Augie Hwong, and Alejandra Perez - all decide to write about ninth-grade for an English assignment on their "most excellent year." T.C. and Augie have been best friends and "brothers" since they were little, while Alejandra is a newcomer on the scene. Over the course of the year, T.C., a Red Sox fanatic, finds himself "adopted" by a six-year-old deaf boy, dramatically-inclined Augie discovers a secret about himself that seems to surprise only him, and Alejandra, afraid of not meeting the expectations that her ambassador parents have for her own diplomatic career, learns to embrace her unique talents. Meanwhile, of course, all three find themselves falling in love.

My feelings are kind of torn about this one. The story is told not only through T.C., Augie, and Alejandra's school essays, but through IM messages, emails, and even notes between their parents and teachers, which made for a fun structure. And there's no doubt that the book is full of hilarious moments. But sometimes the funny felt a little forced. All of the characters are so clever and amusing and witty that sometimes I wanted to scream that real people aren't like this! (At least not where I'm from - maybe Boston is a whole 'nother world) And some of the subplots are so unbelievable and tied up so neatly that it jolted me out of the story. Still, there were quite a few times while reading that I literally laughed out loud, and that's fairly unusual for me. So I guess maybe I'll give it one thumb up instead of two.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart

2008-06-08T19:47:00.001-04:00

Frankie Landau-Banks, used to fading into the background at her expensive private boarding school, is more than a little surprised as she starts her sophomore year to finally be receiving attention from her crush, senior and big-man-on-campus Matthew. But despite the exhilaration of being sucked into Matthew's group of friends, sometimes she still feels like an outsider - and never more than when Matthew disappears off to the meetings of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound, a male-only secret society and Good Old Boy training ground that has existed at the school for decades. Frustrated at being left out and underestimated, Frankie decides to take matters into her own hands, setting off a wild and rebellious prank war that will rock the school to its foundations.

My take: Feminism, yay! I think my favorite thing about this book is the way it will hopefully get girls (and boys too, of course) thinking about their own identities, their place in society, and what they're willing to do to either fit in or stand out in a crowd. I loved the way this book tackled the subtle but still very real ways in which male privilege is encouraged even in a supposedly equal society. I loved the way it dealt with a fun, intelligent girl who wants to be accepted as an equal and as "one of the guys," and her slow realization that in the minds of these guys, her gender will always exclude her from the group - unless she's in the official position of girlfriend, and even then she's relegated to the fringes. I loved the way Frankie took what she was learning about societal rebellion and culture-jamming in her classes and applied it to her own problems at Alabaster. The only thing I didn't overwhelmingly love was the ending, which was a bit of a downer and almost seemed to negate the whole go-against-the-flow message of the rest of the book. Sure, I expected there to be consequences for Frankie's actions, but I think I would have liked a more upbeat ending. The reader is left with no doubt that Frankie will keep fighting and that she's going to end up doing some incredible things with her life, but it still feels like a setback. Anyway, overall, loved it, would recommend it to a lot of teen girls I know.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson

2008-06-08T17:03:00.001-04:00

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just woken up from a year-long coma after a car accident. At least, that's what her parents tell her, but she can't remember anything at all from the accident or from her life before it. And she has a lot of questions. What happened to her in the past year? Why have her parents moved all the way across the country to a remote house in California? And why does her grandmother look at her like she's a stranger?

Whew - I picked this up on the recommendation of a library coworker, and she didn't steer me wrong. But I'm not sure how far to go with the spoilers on this one. Suffice it to say that this is set in a near-future world where a lot of new things are now medically possible, and the ethics of how far people will go to save a human life are coming into question. Right off the bat you can tell that something more is wrong than just amnesia after a long coma, but only slowly do we understand what's really happened, as Jenna pieces the clues together. Some of the medical technology seems a little far-fetched to me, even for that wonderful nebulous setting known as "the future." And the ending came a bit too quickly and left a lot of the ethical questions that were raised unresolved. Still, it was a page-turner and a thought-provoking read, I did like Jenna a lot as a character, and I thought the issues of identity that the book brought up were well-done.

Dairy Queen - Catherine Murdock

2008-06-08T14:01:00.001-04:00

It's the summer before her junior year, and hardworking, athletic D.J. Schwenk is pretty much singlehandedly running her parents' rural Wisconsin dairy farm after her dad is injured. Meanwhile, her two older brothers, former high school football stars, aren't talking with anyone else in the family, her dad mopes around the house, her little brother won't speak at all, and her mom is spending long hours at work to avoid all of the issues at home. On top of everything, a good family friend who happens to be the football coach at a rival high school asks D.J. to help train lazy rich kid Brian over the summer. Her family has always lived and breathed football, and D.J. is used to playing with her older brothers, so she doesn't feel like she can say no. To her surprise, as she and Brian train together and begin to talk about themselves and their lives, she finds herself falling for him. Even more surprising, she loves playing the game so much that she begins to entertain a crazy idea of playing on her own high school's football team, but she's got a long, uphill battle ahead if she's going to make that happen, one that might jeopardize her burgeoning relationship with Brian.

GREAT book. I know absolutely nothing about football or dairy farms, so I can't say how accurate that part of the story was, but it all rang completely true for me. Besides, although there's definitely plenty of football, that's just a means to tell the story, not the story itself. The real meat of the book follows D.J.'s thoughts as she tries to come to terms with her own position in the world, as the kid sister of two brothers who cast long shadows, and as the glue that's holding her struggling family together. I loved D.J.'s voice - matter-of-fact, keenly observant, and above all, hilarious. I didn't want to leave her behind when the book ended. Luckily, it looks like there's a sequel, which I can't wait to read.

The Dead and the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer

2008-06-08T13:39:00.001-04:00

I read Life As We Knew It last year for the Book Challenge, so it seems fitting that I read its sequel this year. This one is set in New York City, where seventeen-year-old Alex Morales lives with his parents and two younger sisters. Unlike Miranda and her family and classmates in the first book, Alex is barely aware of the predicted meteor hit and doesn't even realize what has happened until a day later. Things go from bad to worse almost immediately, however, with thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers dead, rioting in the streets, and social services completely obliterated. When Alex's parents disappear, he is forced to struggle by himself to keep his sisters alive, as food dwindles, sickness spreads, and the worst winter he can remember sets in.

I loved this book, almost as much as Life As We Knew It. Maybe "loved" isn't quite the right word, as both books make me want to either hide under the bed or run out to the grocery and stock up on canned goods, but that's because they do such an excellent job of evoking the panic and despair of facing such a disaster. There are a lot of similarities between the two books, except that in Alex's story, the disasters are much more immediate (Although for some reason, Pfeffer chooses not to tell Alex's story in diary format, as she did for Miranda, and that adds a bit of distance). In Life As We Knew It, what was especially striking to me was the sense of smothering isolation as Miranda and her family holed themselves up in their house in the country. We heard about all of the disasters happening, but saw them only as they indirectly affected her family. Being set in NYC, Alex's story of course feels much less isolated, and truly life-threatening situations set in much more quickly. On top of that, Alex's family doesn't have the money or the ability to stockpile food that Miranda's did, and so his world and what he must do to survive is pretty different from Miranda's. The images of people being trampled in food riots and of searching dead bodies on the streets for valuables were especially haunting. Another difference between the two stories is the devout Catholic faith of Alex and his family, which holds strong throughout the book despite a lot of understandable questioning and anger at God. I don't remember religion playing a part at all in Miranda's story, and its inclusion here offers another vision of how people might respond to such difficult times.

Overall, a great book. I hear that Pfeffer is writing a third one set several years after the disaster, which apparently will feature at least some of the characters from the first two books. I can't wait to find out how the world will have changed and what has happened to the two families we've followed so far.

Wake - Lisa McMann

2008-06-08T13:24:00.000-04:00

Ever since she was eight years old, Janie has been an unwilling observer of other people's dreams. Anytime anyone near her falls asleep and starts to dream, she is forced to enter their dream as well. This has made high school difficult from time to time as her fellow students fall asleep in class, and sleepovers are next to impossible, but somehow Janie's been able to muddle along for nearly ten years. Until one day she finds herself in one of her classmate's nightmares, one so horrifying that Janie finally decides that something has to be done.

I picked this one up because the premise sounded so intriguing, but ultimately I thought it was pretty disappointing. The third-person present tense narration really got on my nerves after a while, and the story was told so choppily that I found it hard to really get involved. Not to mention the ridiculous twist towards the end (Spoiler: Her formerly-goth-loser-but-now-suddenly-hot classmate with crazy nightmares turns out to be an undercover cop pretending to be a dealer in order to bust a huge drug operation run by another classmate's father. Um, what?), and the fact that her dreams and why they happen is never really explained, beyond us being told that Janie reads a few dream books from the local library that supposedly solve everything - talk about unsatisfying. Apparently there's a sequel, and maybe it explains more about this implausible premise, but I don't think I'll be reading it.

48-hour Book Challenge

2008-06-07T15:21:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I've updated, I know, but I'll probably have quite a few posts during the next couple of days, because I'm doing this again this year. Luckily, I have an entirely free weekend with the house to myself this time, so hopefully I'll get a lot of reading done. I started this morning at a little after ten, with Wake by Lisa McMann. I'll be updating frequently with reviews for all of the books I'm reading this time around.

Old timey music

2008-05-10T00:23:00.003-04:00

This week while I was packing up my apartment, I pulled out several albums I hadn't listened to in a long time - Wilco's Summerteeth, Radiohead's The Bends, and the Verve's Urban Hymns. It had been years since I'd listened to any of these, at least all the way through, and yet I found that I still knew the songs just as well as if I listened to them every day. It's odd how music can stick to you that way, or how a song or album can remind you so vividly of a particular time and place. All of these are CDs I bought back around the end of high school and beginning of college, and listening to them brought back those years and all I was experiencing at the time so clearly. It turned out to be great music to pack to - as I'm embarking on a completely new stage of life, it was nice to look back on old times.

Exciting news!

2008-05-04T19:26:00.003-04:00

So I hadn't posted about this yet because I wanted to make sure to give Amy and Rich plenty of time to tell everyone they wanted before I started blabbing about it all over the interwebz, but...

My little sister is pregnant! They just found out about a week and a half ago, and she's not very far along yet - she thinks six or seven weeks, maybe. This was a bit of a surprise for them, since they weren't planning to start trying quite yet, but needless to say, we're all incredibly excited about it. Mom and Dad are completely on board with the idea of being grandparents, and I know Rich's parents have been longing for grandkids for a while now. And the best part is that they'll be moving back to Indiana, so we'll all be able to get our fill of baby Vail. I can't wait to be an aunt!

My brain is fried.

2008-04-29T22:31:00.002-04:00

Over the past week, I have created and delivered a presentation in class, written two papers, put together an annotated bibliography of 25 articles and books, developed three sample youth services programs, written a take-home essay final, taken a practical final exam, and read countless numbers of pages. I am mentally exhausted. Of course, I have only myself and my horrifying procrastination habits to blame for this. On the plus side, I just put the finishing touches on my last paper, which means I am DONE with library school! I just have to see my independent study adviser tomorrow morning to hand in the final assignments, and I'm home free. By this weekend I will be requiring everyone to call me a library master. I will blind you all with library science!

This library goes to eleven

2008-04-28T12:00:00.002-04:00

Last night I had the pleasure of introducing a student to the Wells Library. She was a junior and hadn't stepped foot in it beyond running to the computer lab to print something off. She needed a book, and when I told her she could find it on the eleventh floor in the East Tower, the look on her face was priceless - "You have ELEVEN floors here?" The best part was when I told her that you can't even take the elevators to the eleventh floor - they only go to ten, so you've got to get off and take the stairs. Incidentally, all of the library science materials are up on that floor. It's sort of our secret lair.

One of those days...

2008-04-18T15:38:00.002-04:00

So, you know when you think a cute guy is checking you out, but it turns out you just spilled something all down the front of your shirt?

Yeah, that's not a great feeling.

Also today: Got a flat tire and lost a filling. Wheee!

Random Playlist Friday

2008-04-11T23:44:00.001-04:00

The Court of King Arthur – Gruff Rhys
Changes – David Bowie
Walk On By – Dionne Warwick
Wrapped Up in Books – Belle and Sebastian
Popular Mechanics for Lovers – Beulah
Take the Skinheads Bowling – Camper Van Beethoven
Kamera – Wilco
Bright as Yellow – Innocence Mission
That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore – The Smiths
The Party’s Crashing Us – Of Montreal
G.P.T. – Martha Wainwright
Grace Under Pressure - Elbow
Hold On, Hold On – Neko Case
Lip Service – Elvis Costello
Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Oh Comely – Neutral Milk Hotel
Things I Will Keep – Guided By Voices
The Equaliser – Clinic
Black Flowers – Yo La Tengo
Looter’s Follies - Destroyer

Not feeling particularly god-like at the moment...

2008-03-31T13:22:00.002-04:00

Today, as a class instructor was bringing me over to help one of his students with a reference question, he said to them, "The librarians that work here are GODS!" Um, talk about pressure.

Also, I'm not sure what's worse - that one of our teen regulars at ACPL guessed my age at 29, or that he's not far off. I'm not old enough to be this old!

Politics, etc.

2008-03-18T15:44:00.005-04:00

Obviously it's been a while since I've posted. I don't know what it is about this time of year that seems to make me forget all about my blog. Anyway, things are going well. I really like my job at ACPL, and classes are moving along as smoothly as can be expected when I spend half of my week in Fort Wayne and half in Bloomington. Oh, and I'm thinking about applying for a part-time position in the circulation department at ACPL. It doesn't pay nearly as high as a librarian position would, of course, but the hours would work well with what I'm already working there, and it looks like there probably won't be any full-time librarian positions opening up at ACPL in the immediate future anyway. I emailed the HR director there about it, so we'll just have to see what happens.

I don't know about anyone else, but this election season is exhausting me. Part of the reason, I'm sure, is because I've paid far more attention to things this election cycle than I ever have in the past. And I've spent a good part of that time knowing only one thing for certain - that I wouldn't be voting for McCain this fall. As far as I'm concerned, McCain has shown over and over again that he's more than willing to just continue down the path Bush has been taking us on, and that is NOT what this country needs. I've been leaning back and forth between Clinton and Obama for quite a while now, unable to make up my mind. I'm sure many of my conservative friends and family members would disagree with me (you all know I love you anyway! ;), but I honestly think either could potentially make a good president - at the very least, they'd likely be ten times better than the one we've got now! In recent days, I had been starting to lean towards Clinton, actually, although both definitely had moments of enraging me - the last thing I want is for things to descend into mean-spirited personal attacks, and it was looking like it was going to go that way. Both were saying things about the other candidate that really rubbed me the wrong way, Obama especially, I have to say, although Clinton's certainly done her fair share. Enough with the racist and sexist dogwhistles, everyone! Racism is a problem in this country. So is sexism, definitely. But I think it does everyone a disservice if we, the media, or the candidates try to make this election season about who's had to put up with more crap, blacks or women. So while I started this season with hope, that was definitely starting to fade a little bit as both candidates became more tarnished. But now Obama's gone and made one of the best speeches I have heard in a long while. Of course, we all know that being a great speaker (or having great speechwriters) does not necessarily a good president make, but I have to admit I would FAR rather listen to Obama speak over George W. Bush anytime - it's gotten so I can barely stand to watch Bush's speeches anymore. Anyway, I'm definitely weighing a lot more in my considerations than just speechmaking, obviously, but do you know how long it's been since a speech made by a political figure brought tears to my eyes? Now I'm getting a little bit more excited again, especially about the possibility that my primary vote might actually count for something this year. Anyway, see for yourself - here's Obama's speech on race, religion, and America's future, given today in Philadelphia:

If you can't watch the video or don't have the time, you can also read the text of his speech in full here.

My job - let me show you it

2008-02-16T00:28:00.002-05:00

You might have noticed that I haven't updated my blog in a couple of weeks, mostly because life has gotten substantially busier and more interesting for me of late. Last week, I started my new job in the young adult department at the Allen County Public Library, and I can tell it's going to be a good fit for me. Of course, I already had experience there from my internship this summer, but this time I'm working as a REAL librarian, for which I'm being paid REAL money - definitely an improvement! I even get my own email account and phone extension - wow! My coworkers in the department are all great and have been very welcoming and willing to answer any dumb questions I have as I start to settle in. The teens there are pretty much made of awesome, and it's been fun to catch up with a lot of the regulars I remembered from this summer. They seem happy to see me back, too - one kid told me the other day that I'm a "pretty okay librarian", which I think was a huge compliment coming from him (By the way, if you want to get a taste of what our teens are like, check out the YA department's blog - it usually features some, ah, interesting discussions in the comments).

There are only a couple of downsides to the new job - one, of course, is the long drive back and forth between Bloomington and Fort Wayne every week, but that's only going to last for the next couple of months until I finish up grad school for good. The other is that it's only a 15-hour a week position, and there's no guarantee that there are ever going to be any more hours available. I'm keeping an eye out for other positions within the ACPL system, because I really like the library and it'd be nice to live close to my parents, but I also need to be making a lot more money than I'd make if my hours stay the same as they are. So I'm hoping that something will come up that will enable me to stick around - even if it means going back to Mitchell Books or taking another part-time retail type job - definitely less than ideal, but we'll just have to see.

Pretty, pretty knitting

2008-02-04T23:49:00.001-05:00

I've been trying out a couple of new stitch patterns lately, and they're turning out so well I feel like showing them off:

First off: this is a lace pattern called seafoam stitch. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden, which is gorgeous, with beautiful colorways, but a little rough to knit with.

This is herringbone stitch. The pattern I'm working from is called My So-Called Scarf. It was a little tricky to knit at first, but eventually I stumbled upon a shortcut that gives a result that looks the same and saves my poor hands. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay, and it's a much richer purple-blue than this photo shows.

Finally, this last one is a beret-type hat I just finished for myself a few days ago. The yarn is alpaca and so cozy and warm...too bad it's nearly 60 degrees outside here right now! I can't wait for it to get cold again so I can wear it.

I bet they're pretty smurfing furious

2008-02-03T19:01:00.000-05:00

Last week a group of nearly 400 Croatians attempted to break the world record for number of Smurfs gathered in one place, only to discover that what they thought was the current record (290 Smurfs, set in the U.S.) had already been beaten by 451 students at Warwick University in the U.K. last year. If only they'd properly done their research. Maybe, say, checked with a librarian?

Bret's Angry Dance

2008-02-02T14:14:00.002-05:00

I feel like doing this right now:

Adventures in library school

2008-01-22T17:47:00.000-05:00

Wheee! I don't care what anyone says - citation analysis is just good clean fun. Also: Scopus totally pwns Web of Science.

I have a job!

2008-01-18T14:49:00.001-05:00

So the job interview yesterday went really well and I now have a job with the young adult department at Allen County Public Library. I'll be covering the reference desk and also helping to coordinate their Homework Help program - working to set things up with the adult tutors who come in, keeping stats, etc. It's only for 15 hours a week, but with a strong possibility of more hours eventually becoming available after I graduate. They want me to start right away, and luckily the hours they need me and the hours that I'm available worked out well enough that I'm planning to spend Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in Fort Wayne working at ACPL, and the rest of the week in Bloomington finishing up my last semester of library school. It'll be kind of awkward, but it's manageable, and it's only for the three months until I graduate. Then, once I officially have my MLA, my pay will go up by about a third - nice! Plus not having to pay big bucks in gas money, of course. I'm also under no obligation to stay if I find a full-time job elsewhere before they're able to offer me more hours, although ideally I'd love to stay within the ACPL system if it's at all possible. So overall, it looks like it's going to work out really well for all involved, and I'm excited!

Job interview and weekend fun

2008-01-15T22:02:00.000-05:00

So...I got a call from the Allen County Public Library yesterday asking me if I was available for an interview on Thursday morning for the position I applied for. For those who aren't up-to-date, this is the 15-hour-a-week position in the same young adult department that I interned in this summer. The job would be perfect if it were just full-time. Still, I applied, because it'd be a foot in the door and hopefully more hours would come along sooner rather than later. We'll see - that's some of what we're going to talk about in the interview. So I'm heading back to Fort Wayne tomorrow night. I've got Fridays off this semester, so I'm planning on just spending a long weekend with my parents before coming back down to Bloomington. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

This weekend I spent a bit more money than I was intending to do (not to mention, I royally screwed up my attempted diet). Friday, Kate, Terra, Jesse and I met for brunch at the Runcible Spoon, which is one of my favorite restaurants here in Bloomington - I love their breakfasts. I had a huge and decidedly not low-fat meal including eggs, homefries, and French toast. Then Friday night I went out for milkshakes with Annie and Elissa and finally got to see Sweeney Todd. I really enjoyed the movie - it's one of my favorite musicals anyway, and I can't think of a director better suited to the show than Burton. I was pleasantly surprised by Johnny Depp's singing ability - his voice isn't anywhere near as strong as the various stage Sweeneys, but I think he did it justice. And Alan Rickman! They tried their hardest to make him repulsive, but you just can't take the sex out of Alan Rickman. His and Depp's duet on Pretty Women was probably the high point for me. You could tell the whole theater was really involved in the story, too - in fact, when Anthony burst in on Sweeney about to kill the judge, someone down in the front row yelled "OH SHIT!" I'd definitely recommend Sweeney Todd to anyone who likes beautiful music, creepy atmosphere, and doesn't mind liberal amounts of ridiculously over-the-top blood and gore. Heh.

On Saturday Kate and Sarah and I went to see a completely different type of film - Atonement. It's a beautiful film - I thought the cinematography was gorgeous, and I liked the way that ambient sounds were used in the score. Also, James McAvoy is kind of Hot, at least in this movie. But dear lord was the ending depressing. I even teared up a little, and I'm not typically the type that cries at movies. I can't imagine it's not going to be getting Oscars. Otherwise, there aren't too many movies out right now that look that interesting to me. I still kind of want to see Juno, but it's been so hyped that I'm afraid it'll be disappointing. Besides, with all the money I spent this weekend, I should probably go low-key for a while. I guess I'll just snuggle up at home with my Flight of the Conchords DVD and my knitting.

I love Jon Stewart

2008-01-10T14:25:00.000-05:00

On Hillary's "tears".

Hillary Clinton is not my top candidate by any means - although I still think I'd prefer her to any of the ridiculous choices the Republicans are fielding this election - but the sexist slams the media and even the other candidates are throwing at her are just getting ridiculous.

Also, is Rudy "September 11" Giuliani just becoming a parody of himself now?

Another year

2008-01-03T13:24:00.000-05:00

Well, it's 2008, and I haven't updated in a while. Christmas break is almost over - I head back to Bloomington tomorrow for work, and start classes again on Monday. It's been a nice, mostly uneventful three weeks. Rich and Amy visited, which was great. We watched our traditional holiday movies, White Christmas, Elf, and of course, A Christmas Story. Lots and lots of food was eaten, and I'm deliberately not thinking about the weight I likely gained. I knitted three scarves for Christmas presents but neglected to take pictures of any of them before they were sent off to their new homes. Oh, and I finally broke down and bought an ipod using some Christmas gift cards, and am already wondering how I survived without one so long.

As far as the new year goes, I have made a couple of resolutions, first and foremost being to lose weight and get in shape. To that end, I have entirely given up drinking soda, at least for this month, and if I start up again in February my intake is going to be drastically reduced. I'm also going to cut way down on fast food runs and quickie frozen dinners. It's so easy to fall into that trap when you're a busy grad student, but it's been horrible for me and I vow to do better about actually cooking this year. We'll see how it goes!

Snow day!

2007-12-16T19:56:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm with the folks for Christmas now, and no sooner did I get home than a huge snowstorm rolled through. I think we got around 8-10 inches total. The snow's stopped now, but it's windy so it's blowing everywhere. I hate the feeling of being holed up inside on a day like this. It didn't bother me when we were kids because we got off of school and we could go out and play in it, but somehow now, even if I know I'm not going anywhere, I like having the option of getting in the car and heading out. Still, snow! I hope it sticks around until Christmas, or we get another dumping before then. Christmas doesn't seem right without snow. Amy and Rich have got to fly in this weekend, though, so I hope nothing causes their flights to be delayed.

My plans over Christmas break are to try and get started on the whole job hunt thing. I'm not sure how soon I should be applying for public library jobs, given that I'm not finished until May, but I'm ready to start the search. Wish me luck.

Reference desk questions

2007-12-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've updated here. The end of the semester is always crazy, both with my own assignments and with frantic students coming up to the reference desk where I work. But now that things have calmed down some, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite reference questions we've gotten in the last month or so:

Can I use the magic stapler?

I lost a flash drive around Friday and I need it back now.

Please help me find room 402 so I can take my final.

My books are due today…but could I return them tomorrow instead?

What's that one Indian dish with the vegetables?

I'm looking for articles exploring the benefits of polygamy.

We need to create an appendix for our paper but we're not sure what to put in it.

I need the history of buildings on campus built after 1983.

My W131 teacher said to come to the library and anyone could help me with my paper.

My IA is doing a poetry reading somewhere tonight. Could you tell me where he’s at?

How many supermarkets are in San Jose, California?

Can you help me find information on bottled water in Australia?

We need to find articles from the Wall Street Journal about the beverage industry in Croatia.

What romance books would you recommend?

How do you spell "fuchsia"?

Do you have any books on astral projection?

I need to find a person named Paul who is a sociology student who sits in with the classes I take. They said he'd be in this library somewhere.

I need a biography of an immigrant and I have no idea how to find one.

I need to find academic journals on dental anthropology.

Is there another video editing place in the library because a crying baby is making me angry.

Does watching pornography on university computers violate its internet policy?

What kind of floor is this? Is it linoleum?

Is there a way to find out about toothpaste brands in India?

Can you help us find a word that means “suddenly and temporarily popular”?

The elevator is squeaking—do you have a way to stop that?

I need information about the sixties—mainly on Timothy Leary and acid use.

I’m looking for articles about what makes Jerry Seinfeld successful.

Do you have compressed air?

I need articles about the Miss Queen International transvestite pageant.

Library instruction

2007-11-28T23:32:00.000-05:00

In my last post, among other things I whined about all of the high school library instruction sessions I had to do this week. Admittedly, they're time-consuming in a week where I already had too much going on, but in reality, now that I'm not in such a grumpy mood, I have to mention how much I've enjoyed doing library instruction this semester. My high school students this week have been especially great - they've listened, they actually act interested in what I'm teaching them, and I feel like some sort of Library God imparting my wisdom to bright young learners. Well okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I do like the feeling of introducing so many new research tools to students whose first thought is to try Google or Wikipedia. It probably shouldn't be surprising to me that so many people don't have a clue how to get started on library research. I thought I knew what I was doing during my undergrad years, and I hated to ask for help, but I know so much more now than I did then, and I at least had spent a good amount of time in the library and was familiar with the basics, unlike some of these students. And now I get to teach them everything I've learned!

One thing I've noticed is that as my confidence in my teaching ability has increased this semester, I've gotten much more hands-on in my approach. At first, I pretty much just stood up at the front and talked at them, but lately I've really been working hard to get some interaction and activities into my lesson plans. For example, this week with all of my high school classes, I've started with a group brainstorming session, and had the students practice setting up searches by writing out their research topic in a sentence, pulling out what they think are the important keywords, and coming up with multiple synonyms they could also use. Then I had them string various keywords together using Boolean operators, what fun! I've been really lucky so far in that my classes have all been pretty willing to participate - there's nothing worse than having every attempt at getting your students involved fall flat while they just sit and stare at you.

At any rate, I'm pretty sure I wowed today's classes with my awesome super powers, like the ability to type really fast, and fix a computer by hitting it, and, of course, my impressive Middlemarch reading skills (they're working on a paper on Middlemarch, although I got the impression that none of them had actually read the book yet. When I told them I had to read it in a week AND write a paper on it, I could tell they thought I was the coolest ever. Or maybe that's the lamest ever, it's hard to tell the difference sometimes). This Friday I'm teaching a group of students who have to do various papers on environmental topics, and then I think that's it for the year. I'll definitely be doing this again next semester, though - it's been a great experience.

Grumble, grumble, grumble...

2007-11-16T00:36:00.001-05:00

I am a grump right now, and I feel like whining.

Okay, first of all, all of my appliances seem to have decided to die at once. My CD player refuses to play my CDs, the microwave only works if I stand there and hold the door closed the whole time, and my TV has started its loud buzzing thing again. I can understand with the TV and CD player - they're both fairly old, as electronic-type things go, but the microwave's only two years old. So frustrating! I know that compared to how the vast majority of the world lives, these things are all luxuries - but as a grad student who doesn't particularly want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, my microwave at least sure seems like a necessity.

Also, I've lost my student ID card. It was in my coat pocket and I think it either fell out during the walk to campus, or somewhere in the library. I've checked everywhere, and it hasn't turned up. My ID card is what I use to be able to ride the bus without paying, so for the past few days I've had to spend 75 cents each way on that. Plus I can't check out any books right now and um, hello? Library student! I haven't gotten a chance this week to go and get a new one made, so I guess I'll have to do that first thing Monday.

Also also, Carrie had asked me to take on several pretty involved high school instruction sessions, which I gladly agreed to do - until I realized that all four are during the week after Thanksgiving, when I've also got a couple of my end-of-semester projects due. Plus my regular class and work schedule. So it looks like that'll be a fun week!

Finally (and this is going to sound ridiculous, I know): I've been feeling kind of old lately. I know, it's crazy for a 26-year-old to be whining about feeling old, but...where have my 20s been going? I just don't feel grown-up enough for so many years to have passed by already. I don't know - I guess it's just that, if you'd asked my 16-year-old self (or my 22-year-old self, for that matter) what 26-year-old me would be like, I think I would have pictured myself as a lot more mature and accomplished and all that. What exactly have I done so far, in 26 years? Have I really done anything worthwhile? Are the next ten years of my life just going to be more of the same old, same old? I'm deathly afraid of just stagnating, settling in, not striving for anything more than what I've got now. I think I have tendencies that way. I like to be comfortable, and I fear big changes so much - but keeping things the same just ends up making me feel miserable, like I'm wasting my life. I guess I thought that adulthood was going to be different somehow, that it would phenomenally change me, but instead I just feel like an old, very slightly wiser version of 16-year-old me.

You remind me of the babe

2007-11-07T22:57:00.001-05:00

Apparently it's David Bowie Day for me, or something. All through my ref desk shift today I had the Magic Dance song from Labyrinth stuck in my head. Then I came home and it switched over to Flight of the Conchords' Bowie's in Space. Apparently my brain can't resist the power of the Bowie (or Bowie impersonators).

Some of my friends and I have started a new game. It's called Count How Many Girls On Campus Are Wearing Uggs. Today while waiting for the bus I counted thirteen - five of whom were wearing Uggs with leggings. I thought the whole Uggs thing was supposed to be out of style already...please?

No real news yet on the job front. I did hear back from the HR department, and they've received my application but aren't at the stage to start interviewing candidates yet. So...keep on keeping your fingers crossed!

New Template (again)

2007-11-02T00:24:00.001-04:00

I found this template and liked it better than the default blogger one I was using. What do you guys think?

Happy All Souls Day!

2007-11-01T22:01:00.000-04:00

Whoops - I haven't updated in a while!

The semester's really heating up for me at this point. I'm taking a couple of classes that are really heavy on theory this semester, and both involve a LOT of reading and several papers each, so I've spent a lot of time holed up writing. They're both interesting classes for the most part, but my third class, public library management, is by far my favorite, partly because of the instructor - I had him last year for reader's advisory and really enjoyed him - and partly because it's much more practical and I feel like I'm really learning things I'll be putting into practice on the job.

Speaking of jobs, I've applied for that position with ACPL that I mentioned here. It may not amount to anything, since I don't actually graduate until May, but several people convinced me that I should go for it anyway, so I did. Everybody keep your fingers crossed for me!

It's finally getting chilly. I complained enough about the heat (when it's 90 degrees on your birthday in October, things are a bit ridiculous), but now I find I'm not ready for it to be cold outside yet, either! I keep forgetting my jacket - I'll wear it to class or work, hang it over the back of my chair, and then take off without it. I haven't gotten it into my head yet that we're heading into winter.

Job opportunity update

2007-10-11T13:32:00.000-04:00

I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and at least write a letter of inquiry to ACPL about the job I posted here the other day. Sure, I'm not really available until May, and they'll likely want to fill the job before them (They may even be planning to hire from within the system, they seem to do that a lot) - but it at least can't hurt for them to know that I'm interested in working there, if more positions become available later. I'm also hoping to volunteer at the library over Christmas break. Anything I can do to keep my name fresh in their memory, right? So wish me luck! Oh, and thanks for the encouragement, Joel and Joel.

In other news - remember that horrible, disgusting cold I had? No sooner did I finally get rid of it than I caught another one. Ugh.

Great job opportunities - too early

2007-10-09T14:45:00.000-04:00

So I did my internship this summer at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, working in the young adult department, and I really enjoyed it. I'm interested in YA librarianship as a career, plus Fort Wayne is where my parents live and where I lived before I moved to Bloomington, so I'd kind of like it if there's a possibility of getting a job with ACPL when I graduate in May. I was looking around their website just now and saw a job opportunity posted that drives me crazy, because it's exactly along the lines of what I would apply for - but it's probably at least six months too early for me. Check it out:

NEW HAVEN BRANCH ASSISTANT MANAGER
Full-time assistant manager at the New Haven Branch. The schedule for New Haven Branch assistant manager will include day, evening and weekend hours. The range minimum for assistant manager is $35,547 and up depending on experience. There is a relocation allowance. If you are interested in applying for New Haven Branch assistant manager, you must have an ALA-accredited master of library science degree, along with training and/or experience with young adults. Some experience with children is a plus. Excellent interpersonal communication skills are necessary for working with people of all ages and backgrounds. Applicants should have a genuine liking and understanding of teens as well as the general public and a strong general knowledge of a variety of subjects, including popular fiction. A thorough understanding of internet search techniques and the Windows environment is needed. Bilingual ability in Spanish or an Asian language is desirable but not required. Responsibilities of the New Haven Branch assistant manager include providing reference and readers’ advisory assistance to patrons of all ages, working particularly with young adults through outreach activities and development of the YA collection, planning and presenting programs for both adults and teens, supervising the branch’s strong volunteer program, supervising the branch in the absence of the manager and serving on various system-wide committees, as well as other duties as required.

Other than the fact that I unfortunately don't have bilingual ability in Spanish or an Asian language, this job sounds like it would be a great one for me to apply for. The pay is a lot higher than I might expect to get straight out of grad school in other systems, plus it doesn't look like they're requiring tons of experience. But there's not really much point in me applying now when I'm not really available until May. So frustrating!

Random Playlist Friday: The "I Need New Music" Edition

2007-10-05T23:53:00.000-04:00

Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl – Broken Social Scene

It’s Lulu – The Boo Radleys

Lovefool – The Cardigans

Winter Spring Summer Fall – The Postmarks

We Could Walk Together – The Clientele

No Surprises – Radiohead

You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me – Dusty Springfield

Alone Again Or – Love

I’m Waking Up to Us – Belle and Sebastian

You Or Your Memory – Mountain Goats

I Wish I Was the Moon – Neko Case

Fox in the Snow – Belle and Sebastian

All My Little Words – Magnetic Fields

Mushaboom - Feist

Plasticities – Andrew Bird

When The Day Is Short – Martha Wainwright

Nocturne No.2 in E flat, Op.9 No.2 – Chopin

So Easy – Royksopp

Bizarre Love Triangle – New Order

The Engine Driver – The Decemberists

Is very nice movie-film

2007-09-18T14:13:00.000-04:00

There's a poster up on the bulletin board in the Wells library right now advertising a Kazakh movie night. Wonder if they'll be showing Borat?

This cold blows.

2007-09-14T23:50:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, my sister was here from Kansas, and on Sunday she and my parents came down to Bloomington to hang out with me and go to her friend's baby shower. We had a great time, and I always love getting to see my sister, especially since we live so far apart now. However, she seems to have brought a nasty cold with her (a gift from her husband), because since yesterday I've felt just miserable, and apparently Mom and Dad have caught it, too. I've been having trouble sleeping lately anyway, and last night I tossed and turned until I finally got a couple of hours of sleep right as the sun was coming up. Going to class today was terrible - it's my favorite class, public library management, but I just couldn't concentrate at all.

Afterwards I went to Target to get some heavy-duty drugs, and seeing as how I haven't been able to sleep, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and get a bottle of NyQuil Cold & Flu. When I went to pay for it, the cashier asked to see my ID - I hadn't even thought about that. Turns out this stuff is 10% alcohol! Now I'm thinking maybe I'll just drink the whole bottle and have myself a little party. Anyway, here's hoping I sleep tonight.

Is this called sucking up?

2007-09-03T19:48:00.000-04:00

I just cited my professor in a paper I'm writing for her. That's a first for me - kind of a weird feeling.

Get out your measuring cups, and we'll play a new game

2007-09-02T20:18:00.000-04:00

Here's a call I had while working at the reference desk tonight:

"Hi, can you tell me how many ounces are in a quart? We're cooking something and we need to know right now!"

God loves a terrier!

2007-08-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

Tonight I went over to Kate's house for a barbecue, with her roommate Kirsten, Kirsten's boyfriend Jeff, who manned the grill, and fellow SLIS student Terra and her fiance Jesse. Terra and Jesse brought along their new puppy, an awesome little Scottish terrier named Dexter. He was SO excited to see all of the new people, and we had a blast playing with him. I can't imagine trying to take care of a dog with so much HAIR, though. At one point he got into a bush with little burrs, and you can imagine how much fun it was to try to get all of the stickers out of his fur. His little mustache is adorable, though.

Classes start tomorrow! This semester I'm taking three courses: Public Library Management, Computerization and Society, and Representation and Organization of Knowledge and Information. For that last class, we're required to read this article before we first meet: "When essence becomes function: post-structuralist implications for an ecological theory of organisational classification systems." That'll be fun bedtime reading.

I'm also going to be keeping up my job at the reference desk in the Information Commons. In addition, I've signed up to be a library instruction assistant, which means that when instructors bring their classes to the library for a session on research skills, I'll be one of the ones who will teach the classes. I'm pretty nervous about this job - I am NOT a natural teacher. But library instruction is something that will probably come up in any future job I have, so I think it's important for me to get some practice in and develop a skill that I'm not so good at right now. But oh, I'm so freaked out about teaching undergrads!

I really, really hate Move In Day

2007-08-22T22:12:00.000-04:00

It's after 10 pm. I just walked about a quarter-mile down to the laundry facilities to change my loads over. I am now absolutely dripping with sweat. That's no exaggeration - the sweat is literally running in rivulets all over my body. I think I'm going to move to Nunavut.

Oh, did I mention yet that I really, really hate move-in day? It was impossible to get anywhere on campus today - my usual ten-minute bus ride home took about forty. Plus all the new students swarming about means we get the same questions over and over again at the reference desk.

Ugh, I sound like such a grump. Must be the heat.

Fun with Reference!

2007-08-19T14:12:00.000-04:00

A question we got at the reference desk the other night:

"I need help finding all the information you can about Kenyan companies who manufacture the equipment used for making fruit juice."

Um...? I have to say, I'm really curious now about what kind of project this guy was working on. I'd never had reason to consider Kenyan fruit-juice-making machine manufacturers before. So thanks, random student, for proving that there IS something new under the sun. At least for me.

I've lost my Indian drum.

2007-08-12T18:29:00.000-04:00

It's time for an utterly pointless Kids in the Hall sketch! Enjoy:

So let me tell you about my day...

2007-08-09T18:20:00.000-04:00

I'm at work right now, at the undergraduate reference desk. I'm stuck here until ten o'clock and it is sloooow. Which is actually kind of nice, considering what the rest of the day has been like. Before I came on here at work, I had my internship presentation earlier this afternoon. Around one o'clock, I decided I'd head on over to the library, grab something to eat, and spend a little more time preparing. Since I knew I'd be here until ten, and parking in the Jordan garage is free in the evenings right now, I decided I'd drive to campus and walk to the library. Well, that was my first mistake. It is HOT out there, folks - right now the heat index is hovering around 110. Not a good day to take a hike.

So, I arrive at the library, absolutely dripping with sweat, and on my way in, I manage to step in a huge wad of bubblegum someone thoughtfully left on the sidewalk. I'm wearing one of my favorite pair of shoes, which happen to be suede, and they're covered in sticky bubblegum - it really made a mess of my shoe. On top of that, I'm hot, sweaty, and miserable. I run to the bathroom, where I fail spectacularly at cleaning up my bubblegum shoe. I give up on that and run back outside to scuff my shoes in the dirt for a while, thinking to at least take the stickiness off. That works, but when I get back inside and run down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat, I discover that they've decided to close early today, so I'm reduced to getting a drink and a bag of pretzels from the vending machines. Mmmm.

Anyway, so after all that, my internship presentation ended up going well. It was interesting to hear about what everyone else has been doing this summer, too, although at that point I was so tired and hot and sticky that it was sometimes hard to stay awake and on task. One of the guys presenting, Khaled, was delivering a valuable and informative talk about his experience tracking journal citations for math faculty at various universities. However, his accent made the word "faculty" come out sounding like, well, "fuckity", and unfortunately, he seemed to use the word about five times a minute. Also unfortunately, I am apparently immature and small-minded enough that this amused and distracted me. I'll just chalk it up to my aforementioned tiredness and hotness.

So now my internship is officially over. Two and a half more weeks of filling in for people at the ref desk, and then the fall semester and my regular employment will officially start. I'm ready for it - it's been pretty boring lately, waiting for people to get back into town. I'll miss all the time at the pool, though.

Harry Potter and the Extravagant Etc Etc

2007-08-04T22:18:00.000-04:00

More pictures:

Some of our most creative costumes.

Popping "crystal balls" for fortunes.

The House-Elf Clothing Drive, sponsored by S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare).

Costumed party-goers wait outside for the doors to open.

Checking the book out at midnight!

Harry Potter and the Extravagantly Excessive Party Redux

2007-08-04T22:06:00.001-04:00

Yep, still talking about it! The library has put all of its pictures from the night of the HP party up on Flickr, and I thought I'd share a few here:

Ebonee, Kirsten and I working at Ollivander's wand shop.

The wand chooses the wizard!

I demonstrate the superior magical capabilities of an Ollivander's wand.

All of our Harry Potter characters posing before the night begins.

The great hall, transformed into Diagon Alley.

Harry Potter and the Extravagantly Excessive Party

2007-07-27T00:14:00.000-04:00

So I haven't blogged in a while - I've been busy finishing up my internship and getting ready to head back to Bloomington. But I thought I'd go ahead and post my final internship journal entry, covering Allen County Public Library's big Potter Party last Friday. I wrote this entry this past Saturday afternoon, right after the party:

It’s OVER! I feel exhausted, relieved…and kind of depressed, too, kind of like that post-Christmas letdown feeling. It’s sad to know that it’s all over – but what an event it was! Last night, the library was completely transformed into Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, and absolutely swarming with witches, wizards, trolls, house-elves, owls, and various other magical creatures. It was impossible to get an exact count of the number of people who came, but from what I heard, we’re estimating that several thousand walked through our doors last night, and I definitely believe it – that place was hopping.

I showed up about three hours before the party started to help with last-minute setting up. Our wand shop was set up at the General Reference desk, and we had fun transforming it. We had cardboard sheets made to look like stone castle walls that we put up around the computers and other modern equipment, covered the whole desk in floaty, sparkly purple fabric, and displayed our wands everywhere. It looked pretty nice when we were all done, especially with the lights dimmed.

We were located right next to Honeyduke’s Sweet Shoppe and the “Restricted Section” – a maze that was set up in the Reader’s Services stacks. Across from us was the fortune-telling tent and the “Room of Requirement” – a general resting area for people who got worn out from partying. There was also a “Wizarding Wear” shop with Harry Potter t-shirts to buy, a “Hattery” with various kooky-looking witch and wizard hats on display, along with its main attraction, the Sorting Hat. Next to the hattery, we had a local independent bookstore on hand to sell copies of the book at “Flourish and Blott’s Booksellers”. We also had several craft stations, where you could make a Weasley clock, design owl post letters, and paint Harry Potter-related stained glass, a Wizarding Duel room where people could test their Harry Potter trivia knowledge, a couple of photo ops with the Hogwarts Head Table (and Dumbledore) and the flying Ford Anglia, and a Potions class. Upstairs, we had the Astronomy Tower, with Science Central setting up their SkyLab dome. And finally, outside we had a performance by the “wizarding” band Ballroom Roustabouts, Quaffle practice hoops, and an Acromantula web for kids to climb on. Whew! It was incredible, the amount of time, effort, and organization (also money) that went into this one night.

From the moment the doors were opened, we were swarmed at Ollivander’s Wands. It was a lot of fun working there, though, because we got to act all mystical and choose wands for each patron. We’d made the wands to match each House color from the books, and while some people had very definite ideas or wanted a wand to match the House they’d been “Sorted” into by our Sorting Hat, we could play with it some. I took particular delight in insisting that the most ornery-looking kids were “obviously Slytherins”! Speaking of which, my coworker Kirsten and I took a break to go get Sorted ourselves, and yep – we both ended up in Slytherin. Muahahaha!

At one point we were so busy that our line was starting to get tangled with the line for the Restricted Section maze, so I got sent out to keep things straight and sort of be a crier attracting people to our shop. It was fun milling with the crowd and exclaiming over everyone’s costumes, but I almost completely lost my voice within an hour. I’m still pretty hoarse today. We did have some great costumes. First there were the library staff members who were playing various witches and wizards from the book. We had Dumbledore, McGonagall, Gilderoy Lockhart, Hagrid, Snape, Mad-Eye Moody, Moaning Myrtle, and, of course, Harry Potter. Their costumes were all incredible, and they did a great job of staying in character while posing for pictures and signing autographs – our Snape was so good that he was actually upsetting a few younger children and had to be told to tone it down a bit.

Other great costumes I spotted: Several good Luna Lovegoods and Professor Trelawneys, a hideously perfect Professor Umbridge, several babies dressed as owls and house-elves, lots of Rons and Harrys and Hermiones, and one very creative girl who dressed as the Fat Lady portrait from Gryffindor’s entrance.

Towards the end of the evening we did a “crystal ball drop” from the second floor into the Great Hall, which consisted of thousands of little silver balloons, each with a fortune inside. The noise was incredible, as everyone ran around stomping balloons to get their fortunes. Shortly after that we held our drawing to see who was going to be able to check out one of our 250 copies of the book. After that, it was just a matter of counting down the time until midnight. I had already reserved a copy for myself over at the booksellers, so I was able to watch the frenzy as everyone rushed to get their own copies. I noticed several people who started reading almost immediately – and not a few who turned straight to the back of the book to find out the end. Cheaters!

After midnight, when everyone got their books, the party died down pretty quickly. I stuck around for another hour or so to help get the clean-up started, but Mari sent me home a little earlier than some, since I’m not actually getting paid for any of this! Believe it or not, I didn’t start reading the book myself last night – I was exhausted, so I went straight to bed. I haven’t started it yet, in fact. I think as soon as I finish this journal entry I’m going to get going on it. I’ll try to do one more journal entry a bit later, to sum up my feelings about the internship as a whole. For now – I’ve got reading to do!

The Sorted Books Project

2007-07-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Check this out - so fun. The idea is to go through book collections, both public and private, pull out books, and arrange them so the titles can be read in order. There are some great ones:

(Found through Bookshelves of Doom)

Ouch.

2007-07-09T23:54:00.000-04:00

From xkcd:

Just looking at stick figures damaging a book like that makes me shudder. And don't even get me started on the nasty things people do to paperbacks.

Dramatic Prairie Dog

2007-06-22T14:02:00.001-04:00

From Cute Overload.

Book-A-Minute

2007-06-16T22:25:00.000-04:00

I love these. If only I'd discovered them before I decided to be an English major - it would have saved me so much time!

My favorites:

The Collected Works of Jane Austen
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
Dante's Inferno
Ethan Frome

A narcissistic post

2007-06-16T14:54:00.000-04:00

So far in the last two months I have:

- Finished my first year of grad school - halfway to my MLS degree!
- Worked at an internship that I love and is hopefully a huge step towards a great job I'll love in the future
- Lost 15 pounds
- Got a really cute new haircut
- Got new soft contact lenses.

The conclusion, my friends? I am MADE OF AWESOME. Now I just need to lose 25 more pounds and I'm pretty sure I'll be the sexiest librarian ever.

Random Playlist Friday

2007-06-15T20:30:00.001-04:00

Rhapsody in Blue – Gershwin

A Little Bit More – Jamie Lidell

Hard Time Killing Floor Blues – Chris Thomas King

The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine – Spoon

If You Find Yourself Caught in Love – Belle and Sebastian

Be Gone – British Sea Power

Piano Sonata no. 14 in C-Sharp Minor (Moonlight Sonata) – Beethoven

Falling and Laughing – Orange Juice

Your Cover’s Blown – Belle and Sebastian

Skin Is, My – Andrew Bird

Rated-R Movie – Fine China

Norwegian Wood – The Beatles

Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken – Camera Obscura

Cybele’s Reverie – Stereolab

Off the Record – My Morning Jacket

We Could Walk Together - The Clientele

How to Disappear Completely – Radiohead

Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House – Yo La Tengo

Marian the Librarian – from The Music Man

On the Radio - Regina Spektor

A burning bush!

2007-06-12T20:43:00.000-04:00

Today at the library one of the teens came running up to us at the desk yelling, "There's something on fire outside!" Of course we all immediately ran for the windows, where we saw several bushes next to the English Lutheran church's parking lot up in flames, with lots of smoke billowing out over downtown. At first it didn't seem like anyone else had even noticed, so Jennifer got on the phone and tried calling the library's security and the office for the church to get ahold of people. Finally a few security guys from the library ran out with fire extinguishers, but they couldn't get it out, and eventually the fire truck had to come out. Whew! We were all worried that the fire was going to jump from the bushes to a nearby tree, or that the car parked right next to the fire would be damaged. Luckily things were under control pretty quickly after the fire department arrived, although the bushes looked pretty sad. It looks like it was probably caused by a cigarette that someone threw out without making sure it wasn't still burning. I'm glad it turned out to be a relatively minor thing and easily handled, but it was still by far the most exciting thing that happened in our day!

More book challenge thoughts

2007-06-11T14:01:00.000-04:00

I've been going through Mother Reader's list of all of the Book Challenge participants this year, taking notes on what I should read next - people have read lots of good stuff, it looks like. The most frustrating thing is all of the people who have read and reviewed advance copies of books that aren't out until later this summer or fall - some of them sound really intriguing and I kept writing them down only to discover I can't read them yet! I miss the days when I was working at Mitchell Books and could carry home armloads of ARCs to look over.

Le marathon, c'est fini.

2007-06-11T00:27:00.001-04:00

Well, officially I'm not done until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, but I'm tired and I've got a headache from hell, so I seriously doubt I'll be getting any more reading in before then. I've finished two more books since my last post, but I'm too tired and yucky feeling right now to do full reviews, so I'll just say a few words about each:

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale -

I really liked this one. I've always loved fairy tale retellings, ever since I read Robin McKinley's Beauty years ago, and this was a good one. Hale really creates a detailed and believable world, the characters are fun, and there's a nice little romance as well. It looks like there are two sequels following some of the minor characters from this book, so I'll have to check those out as well.

Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson -

I don't know if it was just that this was the last book of the marathon I read and I was starting to wind down, or what, but I had some trouble getting into this one initially. Maybe because it's the only historical fiction of the bunch and so I had to switch gears a bit. One thing that I appreciated was that in the end, our plucky heroine trying to hold down a Montana claim all by herself does NOT succeed - pretty unusual in children's fiction, maybe, but very realistic, considering the odds against her. So, yeah. My impressions of the book as a whole are kind of foggy right now, I think, but I did end up liking it pretty well, although sometimes it felt a bit too messagey.

So that's that, then! Time to wrap things up. Here are the totals for my weekend reading experience:

Books read: 6
Pages read: 1856
Time spent reading: About 20 hours or so

I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked, since other events came up, but overall it was a fun experience and I'm glad I did it. Right now, though, I just want to get rid of this headache and go to bed and sleep for twelve hours.

Peeps - Scott Westerfeld

2007-06-10T21:15:00.001-04:00

Yikes, a vampire book! Vampires are usually not at all my thing, but I’ve heard good things about Westerfeld from teens and YA librarians, so I decided to give this one a try. It’s the story of Cal, a Texas transplant to New York who happens to be a parasite-positive, or peep – basically, he’s a vampire without any negative symptoms and all the enhancements – better vision, super strength, et cetera. Turns out that the vampire parasite is a sexually transmitted disease, it’s spreading throughout New York, and it’s Cal’s job to track down other peeps before they cause utter destruction and mayhem. Every other chapter is a break from the story into a gory description of various nightmarish parasites – I could see some teens really getting into these chapters, and others wanting to just skip them to get back to the story. I can’t decide if they were too much of a distraction or if they worked for me (Also, I’m afraid I’ll have nightmares about some of the nasties Westerfeld describes). I’m also not quite sure about the bizarre twist the plot takes towards the end. I was just settling in to buying the existence of peeps and the underground Night Watch, and then I was all, “Wait, what? Giant worms? So confused…” Anyway, overall it gets a thumbs up from me.

Boy Proof - Cecil Castellucci

2007-06-10T21:09:00.001-04:00

Victoria, who insists on being called Egg after the heroine in her favorite sci-fi movie, is going to high school in Hollywood, living with her mostly out-of-work actor mother, and spending her free time working in her dad’s special effects shop. She’s definitely a loner and does her best to make herself “boy proof” and distant from other students. And then, of course, there’s a boy, one who manages to intrigue Egg even after she decides to take an instant dislike to him. Egg was a fun, prickly character – I alternately wanted to hang out with her and to slap her. It does seem as if too much is crammed into too short of a book, and the ending feels really abrupt and rushed. Overall, though, I liked this one quite a bit and it’s definitely got me interested to read more of Castellucci.

An Abundance of Katherines - John Green

2007-06-09T23:46:00.001-04:00

Yes! I finally got around to reading this one! I’ve had it on my list ever since I read and loved Looking for Alaska earlier this year, and of course I’ve been an avid Brotherhood 2.0 viewer for a while now, but I just hadn’t managed to tackle this one yet. Part of the reason behind that, I think, was that the description just didn’t grab me the way Looking for Alaska did, or some of the other books in my to-be-read stack. But now I can definitely say I wish I hadn’t waited so long – I might like this one even better than Alaska.

The book in a nutshell: self-described “washed-up child prodigy” Colin Singleton has only ever dated Katherines, and has just been dumped by Katherine the 19^th. In an attempt to get Colin out of the dumps, his best friend Hassan decides it’s time for a road trip. Somehow they end up in Gutshot, Tennessee, where they meet a girl named Lindsey and her mom, who owns a tampon string factory and soon hires Hassan and Colin. Oh, and Colin’s trying to come up with a mathematical theorem to determine who will be the dumpee and dumper in every relationship. And then there’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s grave, a crazy hunting trip, and lots and lots of anagrams (not to be confused with pangrams). Crazy fun!

I think maybe part of the reason I liked this one so much is that Colin is SO the type that I would’ve gone for in high school. I love the hot geeky boys! I can’t count out Hassan, though. At first it seemed like he was just there to fulfill the funny fat kid sidekick role, but luckily Green didn’t fall into that trap, and he ends up being a really interesting, likeable character in his own right. I’d actually kind of like to see a sequel focusing on Hassan and his adventures.

Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer

2007-06-09T23:07:00.001-04:00

Whew. After I finished this book, I had to just sit and stare at the wall for a while. This was definitely a page-turner and a nail-biter! It’s written as the diary of a girl named Miranda, who leads a completely normal teenage life, complete with all of the usual worries about homework and prom dates, until a meteor hits the moon with a far greater impact than expected, knocking its orbit askew and completely wreaking havoc on life on earth. First there are the disastrous tides caused by the moon’s near proximity, then there are the massive volcano eruptions, which send so much ash into the air that the sun is completely blocked and temperatures plummet.

So yeah, lots of disaster here – but it all pretty much happens off-screen. What we see is a much more intimate portrait of how Miranda and her family deal with all of these end-of-the-world catastrophes as they become increasingly isolated from the world outside their home. I was iffy on this book at first, because I thought the initial plot catalyst was so far-fetched, but in the end I loved it. It’s incredibly tense in a quiet, smothering kind of way, if that makes sense. I love Miranda’s voice – she and her family face problems that would have been unthinkable just months earlier, and she shows a lot of strength and growth, but she’s still just such a TEENAGER that I couldn’t help but love her. The depiction of her family and her relationships with them was wonderful, too. It looks like Pfeffer’s doing a sequel of sorts to this one, too – I’ll definitely have to seek that one out.

Book Challenge Begins

2007-06-09T18:05:00.000-04:00

I've officially started the 48-Hour Book Challenge as of this morning, although unfortunately I haven't had a lot of reading time yet since I've been hanging out with an out-of-town friend. I'm about halfway through Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and hopefully I can really settle down to reading now. Review coming soon!

48-Hour Book Challenge

2007-06-08T21:22:00.001-04:00

Oh yeah, and I'm getting ready to do this. The plan was to start tomorrow morning, but my friend Joel is coming to visit and we're going to be hanging out in Fort Wayne until he leaves tomorrow afternoon, so I don't think I'm going to get in quite as much reading as I'd planned. But such is life. Hopefully I'll still manage to blog a couple of reviews at least.

*Edit: I think I've decided to start around seven or eight a.m. tomorrow morning. I can get in a couple of hours of reading while I wait for Joel to wake up, and then get back to it later in the evening. So I'll lose a huge chunk of reading time, but I never expected to actually be able to just sit and read for 48 hours straight. Anyway, I don't get to see Joel too often and we're doing library and book-related things so it'll be a grand old time.

(Did I just say "grand old time?" I think maybe I did.)

Random Playlist Friday

2007-06-08T21:17:00.001-04:00

Float On – Modest Mouse

Star Bodies – New Pornographers

Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) – The Arcade Fire

Run! Christian, Run! – Super Furry Animals

Since K Got Over Me – The Clientele

The Pipettes – Pull Shapes

Wake Up Boo! – The Boo Radleys

Sleep the Clock Around – Belle and Sebastian

Juxtapozed with U – Super Furry Animals

Kinderszenen, Op. 15, Träumerei - Schumann

Looters’ Follies – Destroyer

Little Triggers – Elvis Costello

Crazy – Gnarls Barkley

Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois – Sufjan Stevens

Season of the Shark – Yo La Tengo

With Catlike Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal – from Pirates of Penzance

Absent Friends – Divine Comedy

Know Which Way the Wind Blows – Postmarks

Born to a Family – The Go-Betweens

Clair de Lune – Debussy

Zombie Librarians!

2007-06-08T01:24:00.000-04:00

This is why I love the Allen County Public Library. All those zombies in the video? Yeah, I work with them.

It's slave labor, I tell you!

2007-06-06T23:06:00.000-04:00

Sooo...

The Allen County Public Library Harry Potter Book Seven Release Party draws near! One of the YA department's responsibilities is to make wands to give to the kids, and of course the bulk of that job falls on the interns. Let's check the count so far:

250 wands made.

2750 to go.

Two paper cuts and ten very raw fingers.

Ahh, the glamorous life of an intern.

Random Playlist Friday

2007-06-01T22:33:00.000-04:00

Metal Guru – T.Rex

Étude Op. 10, No. 3 in E Major – Chopin

Fall of the Star High School Running Back – Mountain Goats

Do What You Wanna Do – Acid House Kings

Escarpment Blues – Sarah Harmer

How Lester Lost His Wife – Of Montreal

Venus and Serena – Super Furry Animals

We Are the Sleepyheads – Belle and Sebastian

Bogoroditsye Dyevo – Rachmaninoff

So Happy Together – The Turtles

Fox in the Snow – Belle and Sebastian

Do It Clean – Echo and the Bunnymen

Spinning – The Innocence Mission

Scythian Empires – Andrew Bird

The Jessica Numbers – New Pornographers

Wouldn’t It Be Nice – Beach Boys

O Maria – Beck

Impromptu In E-Flat Major, Op. 90, No. 2 – Schubert

Runnin’ Out of Fools – Neko Case

Sex – The Pipettes

Overheard at the library

2007-05-31T22:10:00.001-04:00

From a teen guy: "Yeah, with all of the alien encounters I’ve had, I’ve got to take birth control. Because you never know, man."

First days on the job

2007-05-29T21:57:00.001-04:00

Whoops, I haven't posted here in a while! I have been journaling, though - part of the requirement for my internship is to keep up a journal of my thoughts and experiences for each week. Since I haven't updated any on my internship on here yet, I thought I'd go ahead and put up my first two journal entries. So without further ado, here they are.

Wednesday, May 23:

Today is the second day of my internship in the young adult department of the Allen County Public Library, and my first chance to sit down and do some journaling about my experiences so far. Yesterday I worked 9-6, and when I came in the morning it was completely dead in the YA department. Which makes sense, considering that school is still in session for another week or two here in Fort Wayne. We did have a few homeschoolers come in and use the computers in the late morning and early afternoon, but otherwise it was VERY quiet! Right around four o’clock, though, things really picked up, and this place was hopping until I left at six – the kids mostly seemed to gravitate towards the computer area. I got to meet a few of our regulars, who hung around and introduced themselves to me.

Yesterday a couple of the librarians here went to various schools in the area to present on the library’s summer reading program. Today several groups of kids are coming here to the library, to get the summer reading program talk and take a short tour. The first group has already been here – a large bunch of sixth-graders. I sat in while the summer reading program was talked up (sixth-graders are VERY squirmy, but actually pretty good listeners, if this group is anything to go by), and then tagged along with one group while they took the tour. The kids were especially impressed by our teen “living room”, with a flat screen TV, lots of couches, and every video game console you could want. They also really liked the Access Fort Wayne studios, where the local access TV shows are filmed for cable, and the 200-plus seat theater down on one of the lower levels, where they hold a lot of special community events, including some of the local civic theater's shows.

So far I’ve just been observing, talking with the YA librarians, and soaking everything in, but it is just my second day here. I think it’s going to be a good summer – I’m really looking forward to getting more involved with summer programming and other events.

Tuesday, May 29:

Well, it’s the start of the second week of my internship, and I’m starting to settle in some. Last Thursday I worked 12-9 pm, so I got to experience an evening here with the teens for the first time. At one point several guys got out Dance Dance Revolution and I kept an eye on them while they played. I’d never seen people play DDR before, although I’d heard a lot about it, so it was kind of fun to watch. It’s hard to get the kids to keep their voices down while they play, though, and unfortunately the computers are right next to the teen living room where they play video games. I think it’ll be different in the summer when there aren’t students in here working on their homework.

On Thursday I also had a fun opportunity to return to my news writing roots – at least in a sense. Mari told me that the YA department had been asked to write a couple of articles for the library’s “Daily Prophet” – a mock newspaper we’re going to be putting out to help get the word out about our upcoming Harry Potter party. So Mari asked me if I’d be interested in writing the articles – one on Professor Sinistra’s “astronomy class” (Science Central and their Skylab) and an advertisement for Ollivander’s wands (the YA department will be making over 4,000 magic wands for the event). Here’s what I came up with – everyone seemed to like them and think that they’ll work okay:

Ollivander’s: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC

Mr. Ollivander welcomes you to come in and see why witches and wizards from all over the wizarding world have come to Ollivanders for their wands for millennia. Our high-quality wands are beautifully handcrafted from the finest materials available. In addition, each wand is rigorously tested to ensure maximum magical capacity. You can’t go wrong with an Ollivander’s wand!

So visit Ollivander’s today – and always remember: The wizard doesn’t choose the wand – the wand chooses the wizard!

July 20 “Phenomenal night for stargazing,” says Professor Sinistra

This July 20, stargazing Hogwarts students can expect a night of rare astronomical beauty, according to Hogwarts professor Aurora Sinistra.

Late that Friday evening, Professor Sinistra will invite students up to Hogwart’s Astronomy Tower to observe the night sky. “Bring your star charts along,” said Sinistra. “There will be many important celestial bodies beautifully visible in the sky on this night.”

Rarely has such an opportunity for observing the night sky’s constellations at their best come along, said Sinistra. “It’s going to be astounding!” she said excitedly. “Virgo, Pegasus, Sagittarius, Cassiopeia – so many constellations will be in perfect formation that night!” Sinistra said that students who join her class that evening can expect to learn a great deal about the movement of the planets and the history of many of the most famous constellations.

“This is a brilliant opportunity for my students,” she said. “I hope that all will come and enjoy this spectacular event!

I’ve also been given several projects to work on when it’s quiet here at the desk. I already finished one this morning, actually – going through the Spring 2007 Horn Book Guide and checking to see which if any of the top-rated books we were missing. I’m also going to be working on our Books for Teens reader’s advisory wiki. This is for librarians at the desk, and it’s sorted into various categories – Harry Potter readalikes, supernatural fiction, adult books that teens enjoy – etc. Katie has some ideas for reorganizing it and she wants me to help with getting everything in shape.

(later)

This afternoon I ended up tagging along with Peggy as she went to talk about the summer reading program with a group of fifth-graders at a local elementary school. These are the youngest kids we work with here, but they're eligible for the program since they'll be starting sixth grade at middle school in the fall. Fifth-graders are still at the stage where it's okay to get really excited about things. Their favorite phrase today was "Ooooh, that's tight!" It was nice to see them getting so into Peggy's presentation, but I know that in a couple of years that'll probably change and no one will want to betray any interest in what the librarians have to say. It always seems like the junior high and early high school years are the absolute hardest, as far as getting the kids' attention and interesting them in things. Later on a lot of them snap out of it and start admitting again that they think these things are actually kind of cool. Heh.

When I got back to the library, Mari gave me a tour of the lower levels - all the places in the library that aren't open to the general public. There's probably as much if not more square footage down below the areas that everyone always sees - and all of it crammed with overflows, books getting checked in and out, being transferred, etc. etc. Rows upon rows of shelves - I have no doubt that if I wander back down there again by myself, I'll get lost.

Back home again in Indiana

2007-05-19T23:54:00.001-04:00

Whew! I'm back in the Hoosier state after visiting my sister and her husband in Wichita for several days. They just bought a new house and my parents and I drove out to help them with some projects. Mom and Amy and I painted several rooms while Dad and Rich dug up bushes, moved rocks, and did other manly outdoor-type things. I don't envy them that - it was hot while we were there! Rich and Amy's little house looks really nice now, and I know they've got a few landscaping projects and some minor home repair they're still planning to do. I still can't believe my younger sister is married, has moved halfway across the country and bought a house, and is even starting to talk babies. And me? I seem bent on dragging my college lifestyle out as long as possible. Being back in grad school has been wonderful but it doesn't exactly make me feel all that grown-up and responsible, seeing as how I still revel in wearing jeans and t-shirts to class and sleeping in until noon. Yikes. I had this whole plan about how I was going to dress so professionally and everything in grad school. Yeah, that went out the window about the second day or so, I think.

I'll be starting my internship at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne this upcoming week, and I'm getting really excited about it. I'll be working in the young adult department, and so far the people I've met there seem wonderful and I think they'll be great to work with. It's great experience, too, since ACPL's got a large YA department and is now in a brand-new building. Which means I probably shouldn't get my hopes up that this is the kind of atmosphere I can expect in my first job post graduation, but it'll be fun for this summer. Unfortunately, it pays diddly squat - in fact, since I'm getting credit for it, I'm paying IU for the opportunity to work there. On a positive note, however, it looks like I'll be able to do my old job at Mitchell Books for a few hours a week to make a little bit of money. It looks like it's going to be a busy but fun summer.

Ants

2007-05-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

I have discovered this year that while living in a first-floor apartment means not having to lug my stuff up and down the stairs and getting a larger "backyard" area, it also means having Serious Bug Problems. Spiders, pill-bugs, crickets, you name it - the only insects I haven't had problems with are cockroaches. But worst of all are the ants. Late this winter I had tiny little sugar ants swarming my kitchen - I sprayed, bought traps, yelled at them, and tried reverse psychology, but nothing worked. Finally I called the landlords and they brought out the big guns, which seemed to finally take care of the ant problem, so I made the mistake of relaxing.

BUT NOW the ants have returned for revenge. Last night I was sitting at my computer desk in my bedroom when I noticed several ants crawling out from under my laptop. Which really freaked me out at first because I thought they'd gotten IN my laptop and were living there, but when I calmed down I noticed that there was a trail of ants climbing up my desk from over by the trash can...and that said trash can was positively crawling with ants. There was also a trail along the carpet from the wall to the trashcan - with ants crawling all over my stack of library books. It was like a horror movie, seriously. Turns out I probably shouldn't have thrown a soda can away in that trash can, because that seems to be what was attracting the ants.

So I emptied out the trash, stuck it in the bathtub and drowned the ants still inside, and went along the carpet with a wad of Kleenex smushing the rest of the invaders. Then I went and got my bug spray and sprayed all along the outside wall, and THEN I decided that I couldn't relax until I'd vacuumed every last inch of carpet in my bedroom. Oh, did I mention this was all happening around two a.m.? Ugh, ugh, ugh. I haven't seen any ants yet today, but I had horrible nightmares all last night in which there were ants in my bed crawling all over me. I hate ants.

48 straight hours of reading? Where do I sign up?

2007-05-03T16:25:00.000-04:00

So I think I'm going to do this. Basically, you read as much as you can for 48 hours straight (over a weekend) and post reviews of everything you read on your blog. Sounds fun! I have a feeling my actual job might interfere slightly, but I'm pretty good at sneaking in some reading no matter what I should be doing, so I'm looking forward to this. I'd probably spend most of the weekend reading anyway!

Ah, end of year reference...

2007-04-29T17:36:00.000-04:00

Clueless Student 1: *rushing up to me* What's the word for, like, when the government doesn't let you say something?
Me: Uh...you mean censorship?

Clueless Student 2: So, what's the deal with this library? Where are all the books and how do you find one?
Me: *facepalm*

(To be fair, it is somewhat confusing to try and find books in our library if you're just walking in and looking around. Our reference books are all on the first floor, but mostly it's computers and media centers. All of the circulating books are on the floors above. Still, this was a graduate student, who apparently hadn't entered the library before. Which is pretty pitiful, in my book.

More fun with CSS

2007-04-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

Check out my dad's new website, courtesy of yours truly! It's not finished yet - I've still got to add some pictures and put some finishing touches on it. It's due next week as my final project for Information Architecture for the Web, and I presented on it today in class. It seemed to go really well, and my professor and the other students liked it a lot. I'm certainly no expert web designer now, but I'm still really thrilled with what I've learned in this class.

CSS is destroying me...

2007-04-09T19:40:00.000-04:00

UGH. After seven hours of alternately staring at a computer screen and pulling my hair out in frustration, I've finally completed my first CSS markup assignment for my web design course. Here it is, if anyone's interested. And check out that code! (If anyone is wondering why it took me seven hours to get through this, just take a look at that.) Oh, and the silly "return to top" icons and Ghost World picture are there because we had to include a certain amount of images in the page. So I just threw them up there. This isn't necessarily the design I would do if I didn't have to meet all the requirements for my assignment - I think it's awkward in a couple of places because of that - but I'm still pretty proud of it. Now, on to my term project!

Muckysnogger booty call!

2007-04-07T17:02:00.000-04:00

The other day I picked up a copy of Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn at a used bookstore here in Bloomington. It's a strange little novel about a fictional tiny island country that worships the creator of the classic typing test pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." They've erected a monument to this guy with the phrase written on it, but when the letters start falling off one by one, the island leaders take it as a sign and, as each letter falls off, they ban the people from using each letter in writing and conversation. Anyway, reading this got me curious about other pangrams, so during a boring reference desk shift I wandered over to the Wikipedia entry on pangrams and wasted a good hour or so. Among my discoveries was this incredible Finnish pangram, "Törkylempijä vongahdus," which Wikipedia helpfully translates as "Muckysnogger booty-call." Now, I have no idea what a muckysnogger booty-call is, exactly, but the fact that it exists and is a perfect pangram in the Finnish language just makes me unreasonably happy, and I intend to proudly use this beautiful phrase at every possible chance I get.

Other great pangrams in other languages and their translations, as mentioned on Wikipedia:

Bulgarian: За миг бях в чужд плюшен скърцащ фотьойл: "For a moment, I was in someone else's plush squeaking armchair."

Lojban: o'i mu xagji sofybakni cu zvati le purdi: "Watch out! Five hungry Soviet cows are in the garden!"

Dutch: Sexy qua lijf, doch bang voor 't zwempak: "Sexy of body, though scared of the swimsuit."

Korean: 키스의 고유조건은 입술끼리 만나야 하고 특별한 기술은 필요치 않다: "The essential condition for kiss is that lips meet and there is no special technique required."

Want a good time waster?

2007-03-27T18:44:00.000-04:00

Go here and fight against other people for refrigerator magnet letters and have very slow conversations!

How to obtain drugs? Ask your librarian.

2007-03-06T12:39:00.000-05:00

Today while working at the reference desk I had a Chinese student come up and ask for information on drug trafficking and American teenagers - specifically how teens obtain marijuana. He wasn't a very clear English speaker, and my coworker David, who overheard parts of the conversation, thought that he was asking me where he could get some pot for himself. This led another coworker to mention the time someone asked him how to find information on freebasing cocaine. All this to say: apparently librarians are your go-to people when it comes to getting your hands on drugs.

A day at the reference desk

2007-03-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

Just to give you an idea of the kinds of questions we get here at the reference desk in Wells Library at IU, here's some sample questions from today:

"I looked up a book earlier and you guys had it, but now I forget the title."

"I need to find stuff about sex trafficking in Romania"

"Is there a fax machine nearby?"

"I need to borrow a pair of scissors. Oh, and tape if you've got it. And do you have a stapler?"

"We need to find information on public opinion of Patrick Henry during the Revolutionary war period. Especially about the press' reaction to his speeches."

"I need to find circulation statistics and business information for the top three men's magazines, but I don't know which ones they are."

"Do you have headphones?"

"I'm looking for information on bulimia. You know, like how bulimia got started."

"I'd like to find letters to the editor about the Challenger explosion and Reagan's reaction to it."

"I'm looking for an advertisement of a product or service around the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks. I have to photocopy the ad and give it to my teacher."

"Where can I watch a DVD?"

"I'm a law student and I spend all of my time in the Law Lib. How do I find a book here? This place is huge!"

"Are there group study rooms anywhere?"

"What's the shuttle bus schedule?"

"Where do I print at?"

"I need to find information on IU's Slavic Singing Group and slavic music traditions."

"I need information on Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), and the black power movement."

"Do you guys have a scanner?"

"I need to find out stuff about Oprah Winfrey, especially about her work in Africa and being a feminist."

"I have to look up information on heart disease in Finland during the early 20th century."

"Is there free parking at the metered lot?"

Overheard at the library...

2007-03-01T10:04:00.001-05:00

From a guy on his cellphone:

"Yeah, man, I'm at the library. This place is awesome, chicks everywhere!"

Back from the dead

2007-02-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

Holy crap, I haven't posted in half of forever!

So far this semester has really gotten away with me. I can't believe it's already half over. I LOVE my classes this semester, though. Let me tell my faithful readers (all three of them) all about them!

First, I've got Information Architecture for the Web, which is a fancy way to say that it's a class teaching basic XHTML and CSS for web design, as well as a bit of PHP and Javascript. It's been a lot of fun, although it's frustrating to want to be able to implement a lot of techniques that I'm just not capable of yet. Our final project involves creating a site from scratch for a client of our choice. I'm designing a new site for my dad's insurance company, Cates and Associates. On the whole, this class involves a lot of work and a lot of coding that has to be written just right. I think it's definitely worth it, though, and hopefully I'm learning skills that will be useful to a future employer somewhere down the line!

Next, I'm taking a reader's advisory course, which is focused on the work of facilitating readers in a public library. Basically, we're discussing and reading from all the various genres and subgenres of fiction, as well as some nonfiction, putting together mock book club sessions and readalike suggestions, doing reviews, making signage and bookmarks - all kinds of fun stuff. What other graduate level course requires you to read a romance novel as an assignment? It's not all fun and games, though, because we do a lot of somewhat heavier reading on the differences between genres and how they're treated in a library setting, as well as writing up reviews and recommendations and practicing our skills as readers' advisors. But still, another class that is overall lots of fun.

And finally, my last class: children's and young adult literature. This is basically reader's advisory for the younger crowd. Again, lots of work, but it's fun work, so I don't mind it. Over the course of the semester, we have to keep a reading log of at least forty picture books and at least thirty children's and young adult novels that we've read and reviewed. We're also doing projects on the history and development of children's lit, children's illustrators, various awards, giving booktalks, folktales and fairytales, and how librarians deal with censorship and book challenges in the context of children's and YA lit. The teacher is an adjunct who's worked for years as a children's librarian, and she's very passionate about what she does - thus, a lot of fun to learn from. I look forward to this class every week, even though it requires a lot of reading and projects.

So that's what I'm doing this semester. After my first semester in grad school, which concentrated on a lot of the required core subjects (and thus was a lot more boring), I declared this my fun semester, and so it has been, so far. The children's lit class especially has made me consider the possibility of being a children's or YA librarian. Oh! I've got exciting news on that front, by the way. I've gotten an internship for this summer! I'll be working in the brand new, incredible main library building of the Allen County Public Library system in Fort Wayne. And I'll be in the young adult department. It's a great opportunity to work in a large, well-respected library system, plus I'll get to really get my hands dirty with programming and events and all kinds of stuff aimed at teenagers. Hopefully it'll help me decide that I either love YA librarianship, or I never want to be around snotty teens again. I think it's going to be a lot of fun, plus my parents live in Fort Wayne so I've got a place to stay for free. I'm trying to decide right now whether I should sublet my apartment, or whether it's worth it for just two months. I may want to come back down here to Bloomington on weekends, anyway, since most of my friends will be here taking classes. Anyway, that's my big news right now, and I'm really excited about it - I didn't want to end up just doing my internship at the library here (even though it's a really great library), since that's what everyone seems to end up doing.

Well, I think that's about it for my big update. Oh yeah, and I finally got rid of that faulty template, too. It never did show up right for me in Firefox, even though I kept tweaking it. So now I'm back to one of the basic blogger templates. Maybe I'll pick up enough stuff from my web design class to build my own template, who knows.

Back in Bloomington

2007-01-06T19:26:00.000-05:00

Well, the holidays are all over and I'm back in Bloomington now. Bleh. I love living by myself and it was nice to come back to my apartment, but after spending three weeks away with family and friends, it's been kind of lonely and boring for me to be back here. Classes and work start on Monday, though, so I'll soon be really busy again. And I'm looking forward to getting together with all of my library friends down here. So all in all, it's good to be back. I just want things to get started again now that I'm here.

Aunt Teresa's scarf finished!

2006-12-29T21:07:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures:

It is finished!

2006-12-15T00:25:00.000-05:00

Eeee, I haven't posted in over a week, shame on me. In my defense though, I've been really busy with lots of end-of-the-semester stuff to do. However, that's all over and done with, and I am FINISHED with my first semester of grad school! I am one-fourth of the way to my master's degree in library science, go me. AND I got my pathfinder done, which I am supremely proud of. A pathfinder, for those who aren't aware, is basically an online research guide, and we were required to do one as our final project in my reference class. I did mine on eighteenth-century women novelists, which is a topic I'm sure everyone is equally as fascinated with as I am. At any rate, here is my beautiful website, which I'm sure my readers (all four of them) will want to add to their favorites immediately for quick consultation in the future.

A knitting post

2006-12-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

It's Christmastime, which means it's gift-knitting season again. This year I'm planning six projects. We'll see whether or not I get them all done!

I'm the most excited, I think, about the scarf that I'm making for my aunt Teresa. This is the scarf I'm making - it's my first large-scale attempt at cabling! So far I've gotten through four of the pattern repeats, and I'm wondering why I was so afraid of cable knitting. It turns out it's really, almost unbelievably easy. It looks a LOT more complicated than it is, which is nice, because you can enjoy people's amazed compliments on your knitting ability without having to put the effort in. Anyway, for most of my projects I'm using up yarn that I already had, but for this one I went out and bought a gorgeous yarn - Patons SWS. It's 70% wool, 30% soy silk, feels really nice and soft to knit with, and comes in really nice colorways. I'm doing mine in Natural Plum. I wish I could post a picture of the scarf in progress, but apparently my digital camera is broken, so no such luck. Just believe me when I say that the scarf is beautiful and I am a knitting goddess.

For my mom and my sister, I'm knitting two wavy rib scarves in really nice soft alpaca that I picked up on major discount at the yarn shop in Fort Wayne. I'm really starting to be spoiled by natural fiber yarn. I wish it weren't all so expensive! As it is, all my knits that I do in really nice, more costly yarn end up being gifts. Someday I'll knit myself something that's not acrylic. Anyway, I liked this pattern a lot, and I think Mom and Amy will appreciate it. For Amy, I'm also making a simple hat, because she'd mentioned a while ago that she didn't have a hat she liked.

For my brand-new cousin Grant, I'm hoping to get a pair of baby booties and a hat done. This is probably the project that I'll have to let slide if I run out of time. I doubt a one-month-old baby is going to care too much about hand-knit booties. I really want to get to this, though. Hopefully once all my projects for the semester are all wrapped up next week, I'll have lots more time to sit around and knit. In the time I've managed to set aside so far, it's been really nice, just relaxing, knitting, and listening to music. When I realized a couple of weeks ago that I didn't own any Christmas music, I decided to splurge and buy the new Sufjan Stevens Christmas box set. It's turned out to be perfect knitting music. Ah, Sufjan.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Oh yeah, and I've got to finish my take-home final for Collection Development, write the last section of my paper for Management, and get my pathfinder website up and running for my reference class. So, you know, I've been knitting instead. Good use of time, I think!

Lazy Saturday, wake up in the late afternoon...

2006-12-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Going back to school has wreaked complete havoc on my sleeping habits. Not that they were that good before, but now I find myself regularly staying up to three or four am and then sleeping in way too late. I've got to start changing that. Seriously, it's so depressing to wake up on a winter Saturday at noon and realize you've only got a few more hours of daylight left.

In other news, we got NO snow yesterday. The hell is up with that? I'm not going to like Bloomington if it means a wimpy winter. I like my seasons to be SEASONS - thus, a winter with real snow and lots of it, not just slightly colder temperatures. When I graduate, I'm moving to Edmonton.

Also: I think I'm going to try to go to church tomorrow. I don't know where yet. I've been so ambivalent about church lately. I just haven't worked out my feelings towards Christianity and where exactly I fit within it. On the one hand, I love the feelings of connection and fellowship that come from a really good experience with the body of Christ, on the other hand, there are just so many BAD experiences to be had out there that it scares and depresses me. So on the whole I've been lazy about the whole thing and found it easier to just sleep in on Sunday mornings. But I've got to stop that. I've been craving spiritual meat lately. The only question is whether it exists to be found in the churches around here. I'm sure it does, but sometimes it's hard to convince myself that it's worth putting in the effort to find it.

Adventures in reference service

2006-11-29T21:44:00.000-05:00

Ah, end of the semester. A time when panicky students suddenly realize they're actually going to have to go into the library, which is then filled with swarming undergraduates who don't know where they are, what they're doing, or where anything is, and expect you as a reference assistant to basically do their research for them. At this point, reference interviews are so often an exercise in frustration: No, they haven't started anything yet. No, they have no idea where to begin their search. Oh, and did they mention that their paper is due tomorrow?

An example of a reference interaction I had with a student through instant messaging the other night:

Clueless Student: Hi, I need help finding sources for my paper.
Kristi: Great! What's your topic, and what class is it for?
CS: It's for P441.
K: I'm sorry, I don't know what that class is, specifically. Could you tell me a little about it, and about what your paper is supposed to be on?
CS: It's on women in Saudi Arabia.
K: What aspect of that topic are you wanting to research?
CS: I don't know, I guess like women's rights and family relations.
K: Okay, so you're looking for articles that might discuss gender issues and the family in Saudi Arabia.
CS: Yeah, and we're supposed to discuss power distance. Like with Hofstede and everything.
K: I'm sorry, I'm not sure you mean by that, could you explain for me so I can help you in your search?
CS: (Student struggles incoherently to explain and finally sends me to a link. Apparently it has something to do with international business and power distance is one of the criteria used to measure a country)
K: All right, great - have you started any searching on your own for this?
CS: Yes.
K: ...
K: Okay, could you tell me a little bit about what you've tried already?
CS: Well, I went to this one search my teacher suggested, I forget what it's called, and I tried women and power distance and Saudi Arabia and I didn't get any results!
K: You might want to try different search terms then. Let's start out in Academic Search Premier (at which point I proceed to explain how to get to this database and how to do a basic search)
K: Now, it's important to remember that you're probably not going to find articles that match your subject exactly when you've got a fairly narrow topic. You might need to broaden your search and be willing to wade through a lot of information that might turn out to be useful.
CS: No, my professor told us we had to be specific. We can't write a generic paper.
K: Well, your paper doesn't have to be generic - you take what you learn from various articles and apply it to your specific topic. Like, for example, this looks like a great article (on family relations in the Arab world).
CS: No, that won't work. It's not about Saudi Arabia.
K: Well, keep it in mind, it might still be worth a look. How about this one? It discusses women and Islam in Saudi Arabia.
CS: No, that won't work, it doesn't talk about power distance.
(this continues ad nauseum, with the student dismissing every potential article I find)
K: I think you may be limiting yourself too much here. You're really not going to find articles that address every aspect of your topic all in one place. You need to be willing to read articles that look like they have potential for your project.
CS: But my instructor says we have to be specific!
(Again, I attempt to explain how research works, but the student isn't buying.)
K: Well, we're not having much luck with articles. How about we search the catalog for some books that might work for you?
CS: Oh, no, this paper is due in two days and I really don't have time to read any more books.
K: It's not likely you'll have to read the whole book, but you might want to browse a few - you might find a chapter or two that will work for you.
CS: I don't think so. I need short things.
(The conversation continues, with the student and I both getting more and more frustrated. Eventually I advise the student to come into the library for face-to-face help. I have spent an hour with this one student.)

Anyway, that's just one example of some of the crazy reference stuff going on lately. Don't get me wrong - I love helping students, but some of these kids just have no idea what they're doing, and don't even seem to be willing to learn. They just want you to hand them the information they need on a platter, and they don't want to have to read and distill information from a wide variety of sources. They want exactly what their topic calls for, and they want it all in one place. So frustrating.

Time to brag

2006-11-20T01:31:00.000-05:00

New template, yay! And I used my brand-new mad html skillz to fiddle with it a bit. I love knowing how to do this kind of thing, even if I am still just a lowly beginner.

Also: IT'S SNOWING! I wish I had Christmas albums I could play. I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit, and that usually doesn't happen this early for me.

Salon's sexiest man alive...

2006-11-19T01:00:00.000-05:00

From Salon.com: "Wonder is sexy. Knowledge is sexy. And embodying both as much as any man in the world today is a man in a tweed jacket riding his bike around the Oxford University campuses, the damp English breeze sweeping a curtain of silver hair from the delicate bones of his face. Yes, those cheekbones, those piercing eyes, that pursed bow of a mouth -- but that brain, oh that brain, oh, god, that brain -- is what makes...

"Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and the most famous atheist in the world, the sexiest man around. Dawkins is the professor I never had an affair with, whose very sentence structure threatens to weaken my concentration on the content of his words. Call me deluded: I ache for his atheism; I reel from his reasoning. He is my James Bond, a well-attired, fearless seeker of truth in the face of nihilism.
I dream of his perfectly-accented voice -- Oxbridge softened by a childhood spent in, sigh, East Africa -- whispering to me from his latest book, "The God Delusion," a defense of endless curiosity in the face of omnipresent theism. "If the demise of god will leave a gap, different people will fill it in different ways. My way includes a good dose of science, the honest and systematic endeavor to find out the truth about the real world." Take me with you, Richard: You put the "sex" in sexagenarian. Let us clinch in a godless embrace, crying out to what we know does not exist, searching, searching evermore."

...

Oh hells yeah. Dawkins, take me now! You can snidely deride me in that oh-so-sexy accent for my foolish belief in God, and then when that gets old you can read to me from The Ancestor's Tale. Choanoflagellates get me so hot.