Back in Dry Country

I just had the most intense week of metadata and imaging immersion.  I had a great time, and I have a long list of ideas and strategies to apply to work.  It’s probably been the single most important week to my professional development so far.  I know it’s easy to feel overly enthusiastic after certain [...]

My Secret Fascination with Insects

I mentioned aphids a few months back, but I didn’t mention how the ladybug larva/aphid confusion began.  When I was about six or seven, someone gave me a “bug box” and an accompanying “bug book,” with which I could identify the various bugs I caught in the box.  We had a big yard, and my [...]

The Apprentice: Library Style

Ooooh… My friend Lacey linked me to a little jewel today. It’s a Google Book called An Apprentice Course for Small Libraries, which was originally published in 1917 by the faculty of the library school at the University of Wisconsin. It provides a sample test to be given before hiring a library [...]

The Water Dilemma

Tonight it was hot. Jenny was on our $23 pleather couch, relatively miserable. “I want water, but I just want it to be here. I don’t want to move.”
I looked up from my feed reader and gave a non-committal, “yeah…” I know she’s talking about high-end sparkling water — we do [...]

Against the Mundane

My friend named his blog “Anything but Mundane” because he was tired of talking to people about the weather and other banal issues.  I dedicate this find (from passiveaggressivenotes.com) to him:

I caved…

…And my mom is good to me:

This whole only-full-time-work thing is pretty fantastic.  I might actually read these after I finish Stuart: A Life Backwards.

Herb Garden Update

I have aphids! Boo…
I think they started out on the cilantro, which needs water every day and is now over two feet tall, and then moved on to the mint. I might throw these two plants away so they don’t get to my beloved basil… Or move the basil and try some different [...]

Heresy!

Now that I’m a real librarian, I feel like I should be able to post with some authority on the Dewey Decimal System! I know you’ve all been expecting it, and even though I’m a Library of Congress Classification System loyalist and know relatively little about the DDC, I’ll give it a shot. [...]

New Books (and Some I Left at the Store)

Or: Paying Tithe to the Bookstore
I went a little crazy today….

Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Justin A. Frank, MD. Actually I started this several weeks ago, but had to return it to the library to avoid further fines. Add $3 of fines to the total cost — [...]

Finland is my Favorite Country

I’ve only visited Helsinki, so maybe it’s like judging a book by its cover or having a crush on someone you’ve only talked to briefly, but I really and truly loved Finland. For some right and some wrong reasons.
The reasons: the pride the Finnish people take in being multilingual; its closeness to Russia, Sweden, [...]