Yesterday...

Yesterday I picked up a table from the curb. I carried it home. It's the spitting image of a pink table I had in Pittsburgh, except it's blonde. 

Yesterday I found a profile on Match that I liked. I couldn't think of anything interesting to say, so I asked him what he meant by "no pen pals." He didn't like me back. 

Yesterday I made a flamingo at work. It was creative and made the quiet morning hours go more quickly. I sewed it using pink and yellow felt, and gave it hot pink legs and a sticker eye. 

Yesterday I finally decided to add weeding to my list. This is when you go through old books and decide what needs to go. We have a computer program that tells us what books are "dead" (aka haven't circulated in 3 or more years) and it makes lists. I decide which books to keep. For instance, we are not weeding Gary Paulsen. You want to have all the books, because once you read one, you have to read the rest. But our audience is particular in Anacostia. Dork Diaries rule. 

        Note: We send our good books to Better World books. Our books that are in bad condition go in the         trash. No one needs a bad book. 

Yesterday I looked up Better World Books and purchased the Silver Palate Basics cookbook again. 

Yesterday I skipped my sales meeting again. I have decided to not work my business this quarter, to give myself some time to get used to living alone and taking care of my apartment. To spend more time writing and reading. I had quiche at Barnes and Noble and bought my coffee for the next month. I went to Target and finally got more groceries. I stuck to my very small list. I took my own bag. It's a Giant Eagle bag that has drawings of Pittsburgh on it. I bought about seven years ago, but it hasn't been used much. I'm determined to recycle, reduce, and reuse. 

Yesterday I talked with my health coach about abs work. Weeding made me use my abs when I took the box of weeded books from the ground to the cart. I need to strengthen my abs so that I don't injure myself every time I lift something heavy. Librarianship is much less physical than bookselling and I have let myself go, though not on purpose. 

Today? I need to buy stamps (they are going up by 4 cents!) and meet with my therapist. It's almost 8:30, I better get going. See you tomorrow! 

"You are never too old to dream a new dream..."

(C.S. Lewis)

Well, this morning one of the tweets that I followed through to a link was Amy's rules of blogging: "remember that everything you post is public. hell, it's global."

So keeping that in mind, I'm not going to talk about the newest development, yet. (I'll just keep you in suspense...) But seriously, if you know me, and I haven't emailed you, (sorry!) email me and I'll tell you.

So I'm changing the subject. A Facebook conversation this morning made me think of libraries and childhood memories. My friend remembered that the bookmobile she went to was exciting because she could climb the steps and she picked out the thickest book.

My first memory (besides the fuzzy preschool memories of going to see the Seven Chinese Brothers as a movie) of a library was the discovery (in 2nd grade) that my last name didn't fit on those cards where you had to write your name. That was the day I learned my last name had eleven letters. My other memories were of the school library at American School of Tegucigalpa, where I had free reign of the library. It was an older collection, so they had ALL of Marguerite D'Angeli's books, and I think I was the only person on the card for Julie (Andrews) Edward's Mandy. I could only take out two books at a time, so voracious reader that I was, I was at the library almost every day to get more.

Well, I also remember that the library was flooded the year I was in first grade, as the Rhine river rose that Spring. But I didn't read until 2nd grade, so the library was just the place we went to watch "Free to Be You and Me." I can't remember why the two libraries were different, as they were both for the American School of Bonn, but maybe the flooding had something to do with it.

I'm wearing my pink heels as I sit here, not yet dressed for the day. As a children's librarian, I generally wear "nice" flip flops or sneakers all summer, and nylons? Are you joking? So I really only have one nice pair of summer shoes, and they are heels. I've worn them one time in public, at Terzo's christening, which was two? years ago? I don't generally wear heels, because have you met me? I'm tall enough, at 5'9". (This could all be preparation for the wedding I'm going to in August, you know...)

And no, the comment box is NOT for guessing what the H-E-double-hockey sticks I'm talking about. Email me.

What childhood memories do you have of libraries? Did you go to a building or a bookmobile? Was your first library a school library or a public library?

Were all the librarians ladies? The first male librarian I met was in 6th grade. He was married to one of the 6th grade teachers. I don't think I met another male librarian until...I don't remember. I was never one to ask questions as a child, I was a poke and find out myself, so I don't really remember librarians, just the libraries.

Tawk amongst yourselves. I've gotta go procure some nylons.

(Untitled)

I hate anything untitled. It's like, you made something, but you couldn't come up with a name? Or when people send emails with no subject line. I generally write "subject lines are their own art" just to put something up there. But I'm a writer. Writers do crazy stuff like that. Artists get upset about titles and crap. (Or they get super crazy happy--like, can you believe I came up with a title High Fidelity, which is about music, duh, but you know, also about fidelity, in the relationship sense?) I wonder if Nick Hornby has a blog...

I've gotten all introverted on yins, and I'm actually journalling. Yes, I am pouring out my deepest secrets to me, instead of the Internet at large. It's a bizarre turn of events, I know, but it feels good.

But I do miss you, and so here I am.

So I've been on this Nick Hornby binge and I'm 3/4 (or more) through his first, High Fidelity and I just had to share this brilliant line with you.

"So now what? It feels as though I've come to the end of the line. I don't mean that in the American rock'n'roll suicide sense; I mean it in the English Thomas and the Tank Engine sense. I've run out of puff, and come to a gentle halt in the middle of nowhere." (225)

In some universe, I would love to be friends with Nick. I'd call him that, too, just like I call Jen Weiner Jen, even though her books are clearly by JENNIFER.

Funny thing about having friends with people named Susan. Being one, and having gone by Susie most of my life, I generally only was friends with Susans. (I currently am friends with two and work with one.) (So then you have to use last names.) But after 35 years of life, I've now managed to grab a few Sues into my life as well. And so then you have the awkward experience of calling one of the Susans Sue or one of the Sues Susan. This doesn't happen if you name your children something like James. I mean, it's Jimmy, or James. Well, I guess it's also Jamie, so there you go. Robert can be Rob or Bobby or Bob. (Rob is the main character in High Fidelity.)

It's unbelievably eleven in the morning and I have gotten so into Nick Hornby that I almost said eleven in the f**ing morning, cause that's how his characters talk, just as if they walked off the set of Good Will Hunting. I'm sitting here in my nightshirt, still unshowered. I did eat something about an hour ago. Yes, I'm back in that place where I'm scared to eat for wondering if it will stay in me long enough to properly digest. And I haven't dusted in eons and so my allergies were doing a beautiful showing of it this morning.

And I really should be off getting my oil changed, since if I wait til Saturday, that's when EVERYONE is getting their oil changed. But I think that's what I'm doing. I never have Saturdays off, so I never end up doing anything, because no one expects me to be off. I'll have to do something...because most of the day I should be packing, but I have all of Sunday to do that, too, even though my Puritan sense of Sunday says "Packing? on a Sunday? For shame!" Actually, I think NH Sally is free--and I was supposed to stop by to see her last night after work, but yesterday was a day I hardly got through without Gatorade at my side most of the time, so after work I just packed it in and went home.

Well, I think I could finish High Fidelity before it's time to go to work, so that's my goal for the day. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it really is.

Tomorrow is the Stuffed Animal Sleepover. Wish me luck.

All of a sudden I want to know what kind of tree it is that is outside my window.

I have been wanting to find this poem for some time: The River Merchant's Wife, translated by Ezra Pound:

If you are coming down through the narrows of the river,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you, As far as Cho-fu-Sa. From the Chinese of Li Po.

"I just want to be alone" (Greta Garbo) (with one more quote)

So I have one week until vackay with the family. I hope to do a lot of things BY MYSELF, as in ALONE.

Nothing personal, I just had a week of jampacked-ness. It was a lovely week. I spent it with my friends, and they are all lovely people. But I did more in the past seven days than I did some months this past spring...

Sunday I had coffee at Tazza with a friend. Then I rested for a bit, went into work, and then came home and slept. Monday, I went for a walk at 7:30 with a friend. Then I went to therapy. Then I came home, showered, and went to Sandcastle, with a friend.

Tuesday, I worked. Max called me at work to say he'd gotten home (he went away for the weekend) and when I got home from work (it's so strange that "home" is the same address for us, BUT SEPARATE APARTMENTS) we went for a walk, and then hung out for a bit.

Wednesday, I had lunch with Marian the Librarian, ran some errands after work, and went to Bible Study at Kelly's. Thursday, I ran some errands, had lunch with Babelbabe and Katy (Babs and I had never met Katy before: she is very nice.) Then I went to work. Marian and I had dinner together. Then I came home, Max and I had Italian Ices, and hung out for a bit, because today he went dahn Sauth to visit family and then take a road trip through Canada and back to da Burgh. So he'll be gone for two weeks, so we'll be getting back to da Burgh about the same time.

I think I'll get a manicure after work tomorrow. I haven't had one for a long time.

For some reason, the line from the movie Home Alone just came to me "When I grow up and get married, I'm going to live alone!"

And of course, the line from Jerry Maguire, where Renee Zellweger says, "And I can see this is a time when you need to be alone, to think about stuff. Alone, alone, alone." And Tom Cruise says, "Would you like to go out to dinner?" And RZ says "I know of a great place!"

Tonight it was just lovely to drive to Taco Bell (I have got to start cooking again), listening to A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (which I am still loving), and then coming home to finish watching Metropolitan. How I love that movie, let me count the ways...cha cha cha.

So I read some of your blogs tonight, but commenting just seems too sociable. So if you're looking for me, I'll be in a cave, reading or something.

I guess I need to figure out which books I'm taking on vackay...

Oh, and Friday is the Second Annual Stuffed Animal Sleepover!! It feels great to not be stressed about it.

**********

one more quote, for good measure:

"Jeff's life in the tenth grade year became suddenly crowded, with people he liked, with things he wanted to do. Sometimes he caught himself protesting to himself: life is too rich...Life is so rich, Jeff said to himself, gratefully." (from A Solitary Blue, by Cynthia Voigt)

Type C?

Bellezza is a blogger that I met because I posted about my favorite book about friendship, A Bargain for Frances. I had a few extra copies that I had gotten at the Fox Books Bargain Bin and so I (after many months, so imperfect am I!) sent her one. She sent me the audio version of Jacob have I loved. Blog love--it's the best!

So I borrow from her for today's post.

So this post is based on her post on perfection (Impossibly Perfect):

An earlier commenter answered with this,

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
-2 Corinthians 11:30 (I have linked the Message translation. The verse is ACTUALLY 2 Cor 12:9, but Grace's mistake got me to searching around in Biblegateway.com and actually pulling out my own tattered Bible.)

and then I chimed in.

I love that verse. It (and your post) reminds me of a verse from a song "our weaknesses become his opportunities."

I want to do it (whatever "it" is) perfect too. Few people know that about me because I give off the "Type B" aura--but my one boss has seen it in me, and I am forever grateful.

(Type B'ers are often Type A's that have seen so much imperfection in themselves that they've pretended that they've given up trying.) Maybe we should try to be Christ's Type, since HE is the Alpha and the Omega.

Working these things out alongside you,

Sarah Louise

It has taken me until this, my 35th year, to realize what my "thorn" is. (No, it's not bipolar disorder, more on THAT below.) I HAVE asked for both of these to be taken away, but...(see above.)

So a few more: "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight." (Isaiah 45:2)

And my favorite favorite song:

Okay, in searching for it, I found this. Which is a good detour on the way to where I'm trying to go.

[from my post about the PA Library Association Conference last fall] Yesterday it was very interesting riding the bus back to the hotel (the Rachel Simon talk was at Heinz Field--y'know, where the Stillers play!!). You could tell which women (we're librarians--we're 95% women) understood Rachel's message and which women hadn't had a situation where they were faced with a disability in someone they loved.

Bipolar isn't labeled a disability, it's a disorder. And I pretty much function like anyone else. I have an exuberent loud laugh, I enjoy life, and sometimes I get deep into the pit of the muck of my life. On the surface, I'm fine. And yet, those that know me, know that my life is hard. Harder because I have to take meds four times a day. Harder because I need to see my therapist every week. Harder because I have to deal with these inner mood swings. Harder because when I see someone who is hurting, I want to help them so badly because I know what it's like.

Rachel (Simon, author of Riding the bus with my sister) talked about "curism" and how a lot of folks in the disabled world hated Christopher Reeves before his death because he was so hooked on getting a cure. (They didn't so much hate him after he died.) But how his relentless search for a cure--well, some of us know that we are better people for the broken places. We are more sensitive to others with disabilities or disorders. We understand the human condition just a little differently than someone who doesn't have a disability or disorder. If someone could cure me of bipolar disorder, I'm not sure I'd take that cure. I have developed a social network because I am one of those lucky people that need people. When I hit my hard roads when the future is bleak, I have to look at my life and see where the patchwork has unravelled. I don't know that I would work that hard at my life if I didn't have the mood swings to manage. Rachel shared a wonderful phrase that I'll share with you: she is a woman who happens to have...as if it was one of a myriad of qualities. Which it is. I am a woman who happens to love pink. I am a woman who happens to love country music. I am a woman who happens to love the city of Pittsburgh. I am also a woman who happens to have bipolar disorder.

Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms

(Rascal Flatts, God Bless the Broken Road) [end of post on PALA]

I've been thinking about broken roads.

Pittsburgh sidewalks are a bit like that. Broken, they trip you up. Okay, I don't know where I'm going with that. For another time....

More lyrics n'at

Loving a Person by Sara Groves

Loving a person just the way they are,
it's no small thing
It takes some time to see things through
Sometimes things change,
sometimes we're waiting
We need grace either way

Hold on to me I'll hold on to you
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through
There's a lot of pain in reaching out and trying
It's a vulnerable place to be
Love and pride can't occupy the same spaces baby
Only one makes you free

Hold on to me I'll hold on to you
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through
If we go looking for offense
We're going to find it
If we go looking for real love
We're going to find it

(Sara Groves, "Loving a Person")

Hmmm--very very true.

Last night I lucked out. Max (Mr. FF) had a biking thing, so I scheduled a hair trim. And decided to get a pedicure. I got out of work early (thank you, boss-lady!) so I had time to go to Border's before my hair appt. I had a $5 gift certificate ($1 for each year I've been at the Library) and so I browsed the bargain bins and got Jean Chatzky's Ten Commandments of Financial Happiness. I had it out of the library for AGES. Then I got a postcard of a close-up of a Edit Piaf record of Non, Je ne Regrette Rien. I paid 61 cents for both!! Then my hair trim came to $10 plus tip because I didn't realize I'd gotten up to how ever many cuts you need before you get $10 off! So when I found myself (lost) at MacIntyre Square instead of Ross Park Mall (I was very very tired yesterday) I decided to splurge and have dinner at the Olive Garden before my pedicure.

Olive Garden: can I put fresh cheese in your wine? (I'm serious, they wanted to put fresh cheese on my APRICOT chicken!) No, thanks but no thanks. Also, I got a free three sips of their featured chardonnay. Why is it called white wine if it's pink??

Pedicure: I had no idea those big chairs were MASSAGE chairs. Oh. MY.

Then I went home and slept from 8pm to 10pm, took my bedtime meds, (I set an alarm) and slept through to 7 am!! Woo hoo!!

Currently reading: Piano Girl: Lessons in life, music, and the perfect Blue Hawaiian. It's very good. And I had no idea the writer, a woman who paid her way through college playing lounge piano, was from Pittsburgh...

What's the story with no comments? I know yins are either all at BlogHer or reading HP #7, but toss a girl a bone!! Paula is excused, her son is visiting for a bit. (Although we did have a nice blogversation about book classification a few posts ago...)

I have gotten a lot done today: entered Welcome Back Kotter, Picket Fences (the TV shows), 300 (the movie), checked SCADS of Dewey #s, oversaw some stuff, deleted all my old OCLC files, sent a few emails about questionable catalog records...can I go home now?? Well, since I came in at 8:30, I can leave at 4:30, so I have about 40 minutes to go...oh, and I helped a very arrogant eight year old find some Dragon books.

Books and folksonomy n'at (updated)

Folksonomy: a way to tag things, usually used by Internet based social networks.

So, I've had three four invites for "friends" on Shelfari. Yes, I joined. But I JUST upgraded to a lifetime subscription at Library Thing, so I think Shelfari will sort of be like my MySpace page--a place where I can go to see what my friends are up to, but not something I participate in, per se. Because I really like LT.

And already I'm not crazy about it, b/c it won't let me add Gilead the book and Gilead the audio. But enough about Shelfari.

LIBRARY THING ROCKS!!


And that is where my energy saps out. I have been living the life of a woman who has been awakened at 6 a.m. (no alarm, no dog) (and while I realize all you moms are out there saying, "AND your point is?" My point: I have no husband, no children. Sleep is my one reward.) I want a nap by 9 a.m., which is generally when I need to be somewhere besides my bed. (Also, I'm in my PMS week, when I require more sleep but somehow can't get it. Gotta love those hormones!!)

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

Saturday morning update: Shelfari does allow you to import LT files. I'll think about it. Shelfari is free b/c they get their $$ when you buy books through Amazon off their site. I'm not enamored. I'll keep yins posted.

Oh, and I slept, but forgot my bedtime meds. Oh joy. Today at work will be fun -- not! I have the option to work 10-6, since I told my boss I was going to the HP party. But I didn't, (I opted for sleep) and it's 7:15 a.m.--I think I'd rather go to work at the normal time and get off at 5. Not that I have plans for the evening, UNLESS NH Sally has finished HP 7 by then and lends me her copy. Which is most likely what will happen. And since I haven't read anything but emails or the Bible or blogs in a LONG time, I'm ready for a nice juicy tome. So. very. ready.

NH Sally did something very un-like her--but I won't tell you what until she reveals to the person it's for. But I am extremely proud of her going outside the box. (And it's SO MUCH FUN what she did.)

***********

Oh, and Hot Dog Day was a success. We couldn't have asked for better weather if we had picked it off a menu--a blue sky, it was not too hot...and I manned (womanned) the desk most of the morning so that everyone else could do the set up, but exactly when Bea came to relieve me, NH Sally was out there with her beautiful three children. I can't believe how tall her daughter is--she's more than half legs. And seeing my patrons grow up--Alli is now 12--she was 7 when I started at the library, and she's in the same class as Sally's oldest boy. Gosh, they would make the CUTEST couple. Not that I'm into matchmaking or anything, but THEY TOTALLY WOULD.

Okay, off to my morning walk, to get some of the jangles out of this body. I have no breakfast food in the house, but I NEVER go to Whole Foods on the weekend so I'll have to regroup on that one. (My general daily breakfast is Whole Foods brand organic blueberry waffles.)

Is July over yet???

The charmed life, or Sarah Louise goes bonkers...

So have I told you lately that I love you?

You, my place of employ? My boss did not bat an eyelash when I emailed her today to say that although it wasn't on the work calendar, I would be working on renovating a house during the day tomorrow.

You, Sally North Hills? Who fed me leftover spaghetti and smoozed the evening away--I did go in to work for about an hour which is all my pea brain could stand. I still have no clue how I'm administering the quiz component of the book quiz* on Saturday, but I have enough questions--about 30 per team if no other teams show up. (I now have four teams.) Sally fed me two plates of venison spaghetti, veggies (of course--cuz she's a mama) and we even picked raspberries in her backyard. Plus, she lent me long jeans for the work site since I don't have a pair that fits right now (I've been wearing my J. Jill capri jeans since before Montana--I seriously need to do some laundry.) And I helped her unload and load the dishwasher and lounged on her bed while she folded laundry...I feel SO relaxed right now, I could go to bed.

Which I should, as I'll be at a work site tomorrow at 7:30 (yes, a.m.).

Oh, and did I mention that one of the weddings that I thought I wasn't invited to, the bride merely forgot to mail my invitation and was actually wondering WHY I hadn't responded yet--oops! So on top of everything else, I have a wedding on Saturday. So this week is jam-packed!! (But with nice things. And I will go to the reception for this wedding, as I have eschewed them all summer.) (Which it feels nice to feel that a wedding reception won't be a soul carving experience--I suppose it still could-might, but I'm feeling okay about things right now, and if I can hold onto that until Saturday...)

The invitation thing reminds me of the time on "Friends" when Joey convinced Monica to invite his parents to her wedding and had her call them up to personally invite them. "Tell them it got lost at the post office--they hate the post office. Oh, and the Irish." So, Monica gets on and says, "It must have gotten lost in the mail--U.S. Post office, they should call it the U.S. Lost office! What are they, Irish?"

Well, it's ten, I am going to get ready and hit the hay.

___________
*Officially the Mother-Child Smackdown.

In which Sarah Louise eschews thoughts of her vacation in favor of talking about books...

Yes, I promise more vackay pics to come. But as I am at work, manning (womanning) the Summer Reading desk, I thought it more apropos to write about books.

Kids books I am loving:

Ramona and her mother (Beverly Cleary). I somehow read most of B. Cleary but never Ramona! This year my intent was to do Ramona's World for the Mother Daughter book club, since it starts at the beginning of fourth grade (and the MD club is for fourth and fifth grade girls) but somehow I transposed the titles and so all the publicity went out saying Ramona Forever, where Ramona is in third grade and a flower girl in a wedding. Ramona is soon becoming one of my favorite literary heroines.

I just finished Ramona and her Mother, where Ramona wants to be her "mother's girl." It's one of the books for the Mother Child Smackdown, which seemed like a good idea--a quiz show format highlighting 8 books, but now it's like those 8 books are all I'm allowed to read until I come up with enough questions...

The chapter books:
Sarah Plain and Tall by Patty MacLachlan
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers (the audio is FANTASTIC)
Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay (I'm actually getting tired of this wonderful book. It truly is wonderful.)
Ramona and her mother (see above)
The School Story by Andrew Clements (LOVE LOVE this book. Clements is a master. Haven't read Frindle yet, it's next on my list.)

The picture books:
A Chair for my mother by Vera B. Williams
My mama had a dancing heart by Libba M. Gray
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey.

I have decided to not do "quiz" questions for My mama had a dancing heart as it would ruin the book, kind of like when I had to do vocabulary words for A Wrinkle in Time in 7th grade. I couldn't read AWIT for seven years after that soul carving experience.

So far I have three teams signed up. I need to get prizes together n'at. It's a good challenge but I won't really know if it's worth it until after all is said and done, next Saturday (which happens to also be Bastille Day.)

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

In other news, we (the rents and moi) went to see the movie Paris J'te Aime--WOW! It seemed a little longer than two hours, it was hard to keep track of how many vignettes we'd seen, but they were all wonderful (well, Elijah Wood as vampire was my least favorite). I especially loved the last one, in which the American mail carrier fell in love with Paris. It reminded me of Carrie's love affair with New York City and how New York is the fifth character in "Sex and the City."

MTC,

Sarah Louise

Interesting dedications or other stuff in books...

"To Sherlyl Hardin a valuable resource (and friend) for me
and a guiding light for her students.
This second grade teacher rules!"

(In Paula dangizer's Second grade rules, Amber Brown)

"This is a work of fiction. All names and characters are either invented or used fictiously. The owls, however, are quite real."

(In Carl Hiaasen's Hoot.)

"To
Pythagoras and the Beatles,
whose 'All is number' and 'All you need is love'
so aptly define the poles about which my world revolves"

(In Peter Strom Rudman's How mathematics happened, the first 50,000 years)

Of these, I've only read Hoot, which I'm reading again for the ??th time. I like Mr. Hiaasen and hope he continues writing for young folks b/c I can't take the sex, violence etc. found in his books for adults (fans, any recommendations?).

Oh how I wish to be OUTSIDE!!

Ride, Paul, ride!!

With tax day in the US being yesterday, today snuck up on me. It was only after I posted a comment on Nutmeg's blog (SHE'S BACK-woo hoo!) and saw the date of my post that I realized what today is.

If you do too, recite it along with me:

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year... (read the rest here)

My grandmother, a true poetry lover (and teacher) drilled this into my mother (not so much a poetry lover, but also a teacher) and she drilled it into me. I wonder if my other sibs (there's a ten year difference between us, so we had different childhoods) absorbed this poem.

Of course, because I never really memorized it, and the eighteenth of April part is the most important part to me, I always mangle the first stanza and start off with "It was the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five..." and then I get lost...

In some states (Massachusetts?) today is celebrated as Liberty day or something. And the reason why tax day was not Monday (April 16) was that Lincoln emancipated the slaves in DC (our nation's capitol) before the rest of the slaves were emancipated, so it's a holiday there.

The Pens lost last night. To stay in the playoffs, they need to win the next three games. I figure, Mario just needs to announce something big the day of each game and they'll rally. (Every time there's been a big announcement, the Pens have won, and big.) No, I'm not linking this paragraph, I highly doubt I have too many readers that care about Penguins hockey, and if you care that much, YOU do the searching. I gotta get ready for work!

So yesterday was National Library Worker's Day and we went on a field trip. To other libraries, of course. I took pictures, and I'll post them later this week. My car and my sense of direction having a clear allergic reaction to the South Hills, instead of staying South East and going more East, I went North. Instead of ending up in the South Hills, I ended up in Oakmont. (Like eight pages off the map, if you're looking at a map book of Pittsburgh.) I thought going through Plum was an odd way to get to Upper Saint Clair...

Today is the Big Visit. People from other libraries are coming to visit us. As we are the sole library in the consortium with OCLC privileges, I'm giving a demonstration of how that works. I'll be using a 7 cassette audio version of Confessions of a Shopaholic to demonstrate how records merged badly when we joined the consortium--our item record merged onto a record that has 8 audio cassettes. (I'm sure many of you read this last paragraph as whawhawhawhawha, you know, like the adults in Charlie Brown TV specials.)

Anyways, I missed my chiro appt on Monday, so I'm going today. Which means I better run if I'm to get a shower.

Remember to give each other lots of hugs. As the news filters through, it turns out that two of the injured students were from this area and the sole PA fatality was too.

Here's a link to those who died Moday, courtesy the New York Times website.

I'm outta here!

(Although I have much much more to tell you...)

publish or perish?

There's an interesting phenom I've noticed of late. Folks are either ditching their blogs entirely or ditching them for a season. There's guilt about this, from the readers and the writers...I haven't blogged enough, I've blogged too much, I can't keep on keeping on. Even I took almost a week off.

While at first I had real issues with this (I'm addicted to reading y'alls blogs), I think I've come at least ALMOST full circle. And these are a few of my thoughts:

Posts are like letters. And Lord knows we don't write enough of those. They should be a delight to the writer and the reader.

(and yes, if you read me via Bloglines, I did just pull a post I wrote this morning.)

I'm feeling a little too vulnerable right now. Which is okay. I think part of our collective problem is that we are too quick to brush off--How are you? I'm fine.

Well, I'm not fine, and neither are a bunch of folks in Blacksburg, VA, though their problems and mine are not the same at all, they share one component: they are human problems. Problems with this broken, shattered, falling apart world.

So, as it is after all National Poetry Month, I leave you with these:

Gerard Manley Hopkins: Spring and Fall: to a young child; God's Grandeur; Carrion Comfort.

Elizabeth Bishop: One Art.

Oh, and Happy National Library Week.

It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there. (William Carlos Williams)

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." (Cicero) [UPDATED]

Katya>Babelbabe>Another Nutter>Sarah Louise (and many stops before and in between...)

updates in RED...

It was inevitable that I would do this meme...I've been reading voraciously since I learned in second grade. I worked for Barnes & Noble for 7 years, I've been a librarian for four. My first "job job" out of college was for a small press. Do I like books? Have you met me???

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? It depends on the book. If I love the book and want to treasure it forever, I will hunt down the hardcover. Otherwise, I prefer Trade Paper to Mass Market, but I'm not overly picky.

Amazon or brick and mortar? Wherever there are books, I'll buy them.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Both, see above, even though my former B&N co-workers think I'm a traitor for going to Borders. I like going to Borders b/c there's one on the way home from work and b/c as a former B&N employee, I get so darn homesick when I go to B&N stores. I also have this annoying habit of merchandizing & straightening books whenever I visit a B&N.

Bookmark or dog-ear? Bookmark, but that's stretching it. More like napkin, knife, whatever's available. I dog-eared as a child, when most of my books were paperbacks from the Scholastic catalog.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? Random. Although I try to keep types of books together (all my biographies, all my children's books...)

Keep, throw away, or sell? Generally keep or take to Goodwill. Although if I am disgusted by a book, I will throw it in the paper recycling.

Keep dust jacket or toss it? Keep it.

Read with dust jacket or remove it? It depends.

Short story or novel? Novels. Although Cynthia Rylant's A Couple of Kooks is a s. s. collection and it's in my top ten of favorite children's books.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. I never had a desire to read Lemony Snicket. Actually, I never had a desire to read HP either, but as a new children's librarian, I was feeling guilty for not having read even one, so I took the first one out as an audio book and well, the rest is history.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? It depends on how tired I am.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Both. A Wrinkle in Time starts with "it was a..." and Homecoming (Tillerman bk. 1) ends with it. Dicey's Song (Tillerman bk. 2 starts with "and they lived happily ever after."

Buy or Borrow? Both. I have about 62 items on my library card at the moment. It's an occupational hazard.

New or used? Both.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? All of the above. I get recommends from fellow bloggers, from online newsletters...my browsing has died down quite a bit, but it still is a great way to find books. I tend to browse our library's "New Nonfiction" with lots of success.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? If it's a cliffhanger, I must have the sequel nearby. (the Caroline B. Cooney "Janie" books fit into this category. And I don't need a tidy "a-la-Jane Austen or Nancy Drew" ending...the modern novel is much more leave it to your imagination what exactly happens after you close the book.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Anytime is reading time!

Stand-alone or series? Both. I've gotten quite attached to Meg Cabot's newest series with Heather something, former pop-star turned amateur sleuth. I also like series where the same story is told by different people (The Tillerman books by Cynthia Voigt.)

Favorite series? Trixie Belden.

Favorite children's book? Favorite YA book? That's like asking me which of my children I love the most!! Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. Jacob have I loved by Katherine Paterson.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Touched by Scott Campbell. I got it at Goodwill years ago.

Favorite books read last year? finishing up the Jennifer Weiner oevre. AND GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson. How could I have forgotten that???

Favorite books of all time? Thursday's Child and Skating Shoes by Noel Streatfield, Little Women, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, Walking on Water, A Small Rain, and Two Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle, the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voigt, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, A Kindness by Cynthia Rylant, Julius Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes, Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray, A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit, Good to Great by Jim Collins, About a Boy by Nick Hornby, Persuasion by Jane Austen, The Bible (my two favorite translations are the Jerusalem and The Message)...we could be here for years. I'm sure I've forgotten many. (Such as Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson...)

Least favorite book you finished last year? I don't finish books I don't like. Most recently, I threw IN THE TRASH Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George.

What are you reading right now? In Her Shoes (third time), listening to Good to Great on audio.

What are you reading next? As the whim catches me, but potentially 1628 Country Shortcuts (it's like Hints from Heloise).

[And for Newlywifed, because she asked:] Favorite Mother Goose collections: The Original Mother Goose and Animal Crackers illustrated by Jane Dyer. As a librarian, I love the Annotated Mother Goose and hope someday to get one of the Opie's collections.

Books I have started and have not picked up for at least a week: Vanity Fair by W.M. Thackeray (I loved the movie, but my sister's copy has footnotes and notes from the "original manuscript" and the English is from like the 1800s, yo!); Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne.

A few words from our sponsors...

Our main writer, Sarah Louise, is off in the realms of Library Land, singing to children and catalouging DVDs.

So here's something she got in an email this week:

Gates vs. GM

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........ twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

It makes me think of Henry Ford: "You can paint it any color, so long as it's black."

Just call me "Sneezy."

Okay, it's no fun taking your temperature and having to sneeze while the thermometer is still in your mouth. Or waking up to discover that your comforter is soaking because it spent the night on top of your vaporizor. I do not have a fever but I feel wretched. My throat feels like I swallowed razors. The nurse at the Eckerd Take Care place wouldn't even give me a strep test.

I spent the past half hour over at 50 books where I must have left seven comments.

This is a blog thing that Katy just did. I didn't find it as fun, since, well, read the card.


If you see new immune systems for sale, get one for me and I'll pay you back: this is my second cold in February and at least my third cold for 2007.

Harper Collins...messing experimenting with books

The new paperbacks of the Little House series are out. The covers are photographs of people dressed up to be old fashioned and the Garth Williams illustrations that used to people the books are GONE!

This is worse than when they decided The Magicians Nephew was Book One of the Narnia series!! At least then they kept Pauline Bayne's illustrations!!

Ursula Nordstrom is rolling in her grave, I know it.

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

Update: found this wonderful blog (KEWL) and a Harper's editor who has been overseeing the repackaging came in and said, It's only one edition, we're still keeping the editions (paper and hardcover) that have the Garth illustrations. PHEW!!

I happen to be doing Freaky Friday for Mother/Daughter on Saturday and had forgotten how "bad" it was (the mom smokes, there are curse words...) It fits the UN (Ursula Nordstrom) "good books for bad children" oevre. Btw, did you know Mary Rodgers was the daughter of Richard Rodgers (as in R and Hammerstein????) She was very instrumental in putting together Free to be you and me, which shaped my view of the world back in the seventies... (when I was a child.)

Oh, and if you click on the "Nordstrom" part of the U.N. link (above) you'll read one interesting tidbit...UN never went to college!! And this woman shaped how we see Children's Literature today, capital C, capital L.

Autodidacts of the world, rejoice!

Oh, and go visit my darling friend Caro. She just had a birthday, has joined the post-beta Blogger world and changed her moniker from Carolyn to Caro because I had been using it to address her. Little old me!! It boggles the mind!

Footnote: I think I may need to start contributing to Wikipedia--they are such an invaluable source (of most of my links in this post).

Oh, and in case you were keeping track at home: it was either 9 or 6 when I woke up and now it is 13-15 (degrees Fahrenheit).

TGIF, everyone. I may (yeah right) take the weekend off. Hey, it could happen! I just found some parts of the main portion of my "story," the one I'll be using in my application for the MFA.

Chuß! Tschüß (it's pronounced chuss and it's ciao for the German speaking population.)

Weather update...

So it took me ten more minutes travel time to get here. Total, more, because I had to stop in Oakland to drop something up and at Northway Mall to pick something up.

The library is closing at 5 and I have not one but two offers for a place to stay tonight!!

My goal today: to finish the Superman DVDs.

TTFN!

Oh, show and tell (Thursday) is a Valentine. Old or new.

Real book titles and bizarre Dewey Decimal Numbers...

Knitting with balls : a hands-on guide to knitting for the modern man. Cover description reads: "Witty, modern approach to men's knitting, whether you are a seasoned knitter or a new recuit. It's the perfect guide for the female yarn addict in search of a cool gift for her guy, or for members of the growing band of male knitters."

646.3087 Clothing for gifted persons

659.136 Advertising by electric signs

*********

In the meantime, I'm on the sofa. Twister is in the VCR. And I finally got my copy of Ankeny Briefcase!!

mtc (more to come, borrowed from kim and/or bec)

What we are all doing, People of the Year, 2006: A note of gratitude

I just put a thank you note on Paula'a photo blog. Because the beauty she captures enriches me. I don't know if people are thankful for this blog, but I know I am very thankful for other people's blogs. Some, because it connects me to a person I already know. Some, because it connects me to new ideas, or new books (or music). Some, because it helps me get to know a person I someday hope to meet. Most (all) because at one time or other, they've posted something that gave me a wonderful laugh. Most (all) because they make me think about life.

Before blogs, I never knew that graham crackers didn't exist in Australia. I didn't think about other people's insomnia (most blogs have a time stamp). I am learning a lot about having kids and husbands just by reading most blogs and realizing that I'm not the only one who thinks she's perfect but isn't. I am daily introduced to obscure studies and minutia, and I am grateful for it all.

In the moments when I can't face checking another Dewey Decimal number or figuring out if it matters if a publication date is different in the record and in our copy, in moments when the voices of two year olds twenty feet away pierce my (ha!) inner calm, I come to you, dear friends, for a moment of peace, laughter, or thoughts. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So here's to us, People of the year, 2006! May we continue to egg each other on in this Web 2.0 life. I hope to see you on the flip side.

(I thought about linking this up, since according to Jessamyn it's just a journal not a weblog if you don't have links, but then I thought I'd rather be mysterious.) (Well, I gave it two links, Jess!!) (I guess I should link Paula, too...)

Signed,

Your friend in blogging,

Sarah Louise

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin...

...but by the content of their character. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Happy Martin Luther King Day! This is an excerpt from "The Drum Major Instinct," so turn up your speakers.

And here's the "I have a dream" address.

If yins want to go to a knock out amazing King Day event, the Open Door and the Union Project (click on the UP link for directions) are hosting their second annual King Day event. It's free and it's from 7-9 pm tonight and features step dancing, choirs, and audio of seldom heard audio of MLK speeches. Go early for some soul food. Go early in general--last year it was standing room only...

I'm going to be an introvert and watch the GG's, but I highly recommend the King event!!

Oh, look, here's the blurb from the OD:

Martin Luther King Jr. Event Jan 15th, 6:30pm@ the Union Project
The Open Door and the Union Project welcome the Pittsburgh community for an evening of motivational entertainment on January 15th at 7pm, held to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision of connecting communities, cultures and individuals. The evening will include a community dinner beginning at 6:30pm, step performances, local gospel choirs, readings of Dr. King's selected works and a featured speaker, Rev. B. De Neice Welch.

***********

In other news, I'm at work today. Yes, I know, I never work on Mondays, but my boss is on her way to Seattle for the midwinter American Library Association meeting, so she needed someone to come in. Plus, it being a holiday n'at, two other folks that work in our department on Monday are off.

The biggest thing to happen today: Eragon, the beta fish that is the mascot of the Administration Department lost his home. His bowl (a tall vase) was leaking and when Terry went to pick it up, it exploded. Dear Eragon was on the floor, gasping for dear life. There was a lot of vacuuming, to clean up the water and gravel...but the good news is that Eragon has a new home, and by the time I returned from lunch, he was swimming around again. Hallelujah!

Everyone and their uncle is here at the library, since we are one of the only libraries open today. No trash pick up, and no mail...and flags are still at half staff for the memory of former President Gerald Ford.