Doxxed (kinda)

Here's the (abridged) version of an email I sent yesterday to my close family and friends. Brackets [] indicate stuff I removed to remain anonymous on search engines and Blogger. Curly brackets {} indicate clarifications and additional information. I've also used some of my usual obfuscation here as a way to block Google searches.

Just a quick note to clarify what I posted on Facebook earlier today about going dark for awhile.

If you G00gle "#dg@r c0^nty w@tchd0gs" and "0rl@nd P@rk" {not my community} and go to the 'lead' story for today {i.e. Wednesday} you'll get some sense of why I've decided to hunker down. It's a long story, but essentially I made some comments on Facebook in a librarian group {over the weekend, at home} about the bullying behavior of M#g@n F0x (not the actress); she is somehow associated with the #dg@r c0^nty person/people. A little digging will show that she has made the lives of the employees of 0rl@nd P@rk L!br@ry hell for quite some time. If you have a strong stomach, you can find her on Facebook on a page called F@ns of M#g@n F0x. Make of it what you will.

I'm sending this to family and a few close friends but blind CC. I think I deleted any work emails from the addresses--I don't want ANY of this to bleed into a weird place for any of you. If people with whom you live want to read this but didn't get the email, it's because I don't have a "home" address for them.

This morning, my boss (the library director), the mayor of [the city in which I work], and the HR director for the City all received an email from the author of the #dg@r c0^nty BS alerting them to that "article." So, yeah, I've brought the wrath of Sauron (??) down on the whole building. There's another weird coincidence that could blow the lid off, but I'm hoping that doesn't occur. They have also [asked for] my workplace for my timesheets.

{That was yesterday's request. Monday they asked for all our credit card statements and receipts. Earlier in the month, they apparently spam-requested every library in the state for our internet porn policies and some other policy information. By the way, I'm so paranoid that the [] brackets in the previous paragraph refer to a certain act [hint] that ensures that we all have the freedom of [hint] asking for information [hint] from the government. It's meant to be a good checkup for people to investigate details of what various officials are up to, but it has been badly mishandled and abused in recent years by people like this crowd. The initials of the law are in the italicized words above.}

I'll just end with a request that if you get any weird email or other contact from anyone related to this, let me know. My Facebook page was (already) pretty locked down, but I don't know if they were able to nose around at all. Most of the info in that article is from LinkedIn, while [sic] I've now closed down as well. Generally, though, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep the whole thing under your hat in public forums or with friends. Yes, I'm paranoid!

Wow, this turned into a lengthy email! Sorry. Drama is so much fun. Don't use Facebook at work--thank goodness I did all the commenting about the situation over the weekend at home!

I am heartened to know that my boss and the City are behind me in support of my freedom of speech. I hope it doesn't come to needing that support in any way beside my morale, but I did call an attorney friend yesterday to alert her.

Right now I'm in full-DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS mode. I'm angry at myself for allowing myself to be "caught" by this. I'm not convulsively visiting any of the sites in question, although I do have a blogspot site pinned called M#g@n F0x is a Cyb#rbully (feel free to visit that if you'd like to know how to report her Facebook page...or not, as you wish). She and her minions have been over there spouting their shit so if you want a short primer on their tactics that might be the place to start.

FWIW, and to be clear, I am not a fan of p0rn0graphy on the internet, but I do abhor censorship. Filters have been shown not to work well, which is why libraries generally don't use them on public computers. I have asked patrons to please stop viewing inappropriate sites in plain sight of other patrons, which really is the issue here. If you want more (and more...and more) information on filtering or the 0rl@nd P@rk Publ!c L!ibrary, there is tons on the ALA site besides the link above, and at this link.

So now I'm off to grand-jury duty. Tomorrow I'm going to the hospital where Katharine is to be induced for the birth of her third child. They have found a 'mass' near his kidney or adrenal gland, so he will go directly to NICU for evaluation. I won't be at work officially again until next Monday, by which time hopefully this will have all blown over.

In today's paper

...is a wonderful story about one of our favorite patrons extolling libraries and our "mad skills" with computer literacy. It's quite nice although very scattershot in terms of what it covers. I'd give it a low D if I were grading it in journalism class. Still, we librarians come off looking damned fine!


There is also this headline: ['Tucky] man arrested after threatening relative with knife, "'Tucky' being what we call the town(-ish place) where I live. As per the norm, it's the OTHER side of the lake from where I live, but it pisses me off how regular headlines like this appear. Per capita, I'm pretty sure we have more of this sort of crime than anywhere else in our county. Freakin' $#&^%s....

The Long View

Last year, actually about 13 months ago, our new director started. He had been the director at a library about 40 minutes north of us and in another state, and prior to that had worked in a couple of academic libraries I'm connected to (one is at a college where one nephew matriculated, the other was my work-study job while I was in grad school). His former library is also about a half hour from where Sparky is going to college, so he's familiar with the school. It's been a fun year of sharing stories.

It suddenly dawned on me--a literal flash of light occurred--that his previous library was in the same library consortium as the one where PsychoBoss worked after she left our shared workplace 20 years ago. I have kept tabs on her electronically through the years and about 5 years ago--maybe less?--she retired. Nothing untoward about all this, except when I mentioned that I had worked for the former director at [Library Nearby His] he said something to the effect, "Oh, I don't think I met her; she was...er, uh..." Retired? "...yeah, gone, before I started up there. Scuttlebutt says she had some...uhm, creative financial methods."

O M G

And still she managed to skate, for 20 years, leaving a trail of fiduciary irresponsibility in her wake with no punishment. Astounding!

(I just tracked her down on LinkedIn and found that she's working as a deployment counselor for the Air National Guard. Or something. I hope she doesn't have any contact with money. Then again, the military is a giant sinkhole of fiduciary irresponsibility so maybe she's met her match.)

My main feeling in all of this is how idiotically trusting people are sometimes, followed directly by sweet relief that she is far in my rear-view mirror. However, now that I've searched her on LinkedIn, she knows where I am. Still, I have carefully kept my mouth shut and never, ever used her name online. Today was the first time I've said it out loud in a VERY long time. It was weird saying it. Let's hope it doesn't conjure her back into my life.

Blog Challenge

Guess what: I'm behind again. I do have a good excuse for missing yesterday, though: I was at work for 12 hours (8 for work, 1 for a meal break, 3 staffing the Scholastic Book Fair we host every year for a large local Christmas charity. So I got home last night at 9:30 and helped Beast take apart the TV area in the living room so I could take our Wii and accoutrements to work with me today. I was in bed by 10 or so, didn't sleep great, and was awake at 5:30 for Bible Study, then directly to work at 8.

So yesterday at some point I was suppose to Put [My Nonexistent] iPod on Shuffle and Write 10 Songs That Pop Up. Since I don't have an iPod, and I haven't used my MP3 player in several years, I'm just going to shuffle my Spotify Stars:

1. Ackee 1-2-3 -- The English Beat. I adore this song! It was played pretty much every time I had a radio show in college. I own the album and hadn't listened to it in a decade, at least not until I dug it up on Spotify.
2. Only You -- The Platters. Nothing like a little dreamboat teenaged slow-dance music....
3. So High -- John Legend. ...unless it's a sexy mature slow-jam.
4. Family -- TobyMac. From his latest album. I haven't heard this a million times, but the first time I heard it, it went right onto the starred list.
5. Ben (Akon Mix) -- Michael Jackson [and Akon]. This song makes me tear up, but this mix is less syrupy.
6. 928 Horn Jam -- Trombone Shorty. If you love trombones the way I love trombones, you'll love this song. Or, really, almost anything by Shorty.
7. White Rabbit -- Patti Smith. Yup, this is "that song" but not the Grace Slick version. Patti Smith has (had anyway) a really wonderful voice.
8. Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) -- Shakira. Yeah, just a silly, sing-along song...
9. Club Can't Handle Me -- Flo Rida feat. David Guetta. ...or two, though this is more of a brainless dance-along song.
10. Fuck You -- Cee Lo. Well, they did ask for ten, which I interpreted as the first ten that came up. ;-)

Today I was supposed to Bullet [My] Whole Day. I'll try to do it from memory.

• I guess technically that waking up at 2 means that's part of today, right. Dreaming about badly needing to pee means waking up on the run to the bathroom. Then Beast is (oddly) a little snorey. And I just can't get settled, so I come downstairs and work on a kakuro, till I get a little more sleepy.
• The alarm goes off at 5:30--ugh! One snooze...
• ...and I hit the snooze again and then slug my pillow in an attempt to push myself out of bed. After a couple of minutes, I turn off the alarm, and plod to the bathroom.
• Shower, hair, clothes, earrings, meds, find the other flip-flop
• Downstairs: look for phone, look for work keys, remember they're in the car, grab Wii bag.
• Plug phone into car charger, make sure I have my wallet, turn on the CD player for more Cry, the Beloved Country, pull out of the driveway at 6:20
• Hit the restaurant, get settled, order breakfast, and spend an hour untangling Luke 7:36-50 while eating and drinking two glasses of diet Coke
• Pay, head back to the car, drive to work, arriving at about 8:05
• Prep two book orders, and one media order and send those in. Listen to a coworker rabbit on and try to ignore her or at least not get riled.
• Firefight various things, including random emails.
• Find out that our local self-appointed Community News Dude has reported the Book Fair to the Fire Marshall for blocking the exit of the library. Because why say something to us when he was here Monday when the book fair was set up? He's a tiny little dick with a Jesus complex.
• Realize my throat is killing me, and my back/shoulders are sore as hell.
• Whinge via IM with Beast about above.
• Catalog all the demand stuff that magically appears on my desk, and a few other things.
• Stand around while our IT guy upgrades my Adobe license
• Take two Tylenol.
• Do an hour penance, er, yeah, in the children's room.
• Lunch with Beast at 6 Balls.
• Back to work, feeling less crappy.
• Kill off some order records that Baker&Taylor has cancelled.
• Put away the review journals I was using yesterday.
• Find out if we are keeping the second large-type copy of a Nora Roberts book (cheaper to keep than return at this point).
• Start watching the weather radar.
• Go through the July Bookletters titles to see what we own. Separate the ones we don't have and order them {SHIT--I just realized I only ordered part of them...dammit!!} after confirming with the woman who usually does those orders that she's ok with me doing it. Which is why I screwed up: I've never done one of them, and I was too excited to do it right. :-\
• Crawl into the online weather radar and start panicking about the drive home from work. Also commence worrying that Sparky may also have scary weather--this is one BIG-FUCKING-STORM--and text him.
• I'm sure there were some other random things I did over the course of the day at work, but in the end I left at 5:40 to beat the weather home.
• Once I arrive, I join Beast in the basement, till we both start dozing off to the dulcet tones of The Weather Channel and the weather has cleared.
• Upstairs. Facebook. Dinner. TV.
• Round Two of the storm whizzes through in 10 minutes, with hurricane-level winds and horizontal rain, and some hail before leaving us in its wake.
• I'm going to bed soon, even though it is currently 8:15. I'm way zonked.

A hurricane in a pear tree.
Five minutes earlier, there was no wind, no rain, and bright skies.
Five minutes later, there was a nice breeze, no rain, and brightening skies.

Upcoming stuff

Today and tomorrow promise to be landmark days for the LGBT community, regardless of what side of the debate people are on.

Poetry month is coming in less than a week. I'm stocked up with poems, but need to get them over here ready to post. This week is spring break, and that means lots of missing people at work, and Sparky at home, so I'm not confident I'll git 'er done, but I'm sure I can get it all worked out. Sure. Three worship services this week, one funeral that I may attend (or not, depending on work), and generally trying to get Sparky to clear out some of his childhood junk playthings...all done while trying to beat back the sinus infection/cold I have.

I'm also signed up for a graded course on RDA that starts April 1; the date is telling. However, aside from the humor and my personal (negative) feelings about RDA, this will be my first graded class in almost 25 years. Here's hoping I remember how to 'do' coursework, tests, and can functionally jet through this online class with flying colors and a passing--not "pissing"--grade.

Maybe I'll publish a poem after every assignment completed. ;-)

As for today and tomorrow, I'm really hoping the SCOTUS justices do the right thing. It seems so cut-and-dried to me, but so do a lot of other things they've ruled (badly) on. Off to work I go now.

Stuff and Things

I'm sitting here with one of the guinea pigs--Pinto, if you're keeping score--who was staring at the computer screen until I clicked on "New Post." Then he did a neat little somersault and is now facing my armpit with his

Pinto's eye

butt toward the computer, sniffing the air and debating making a run for it. I decided after he bit Beast's ear two weeks ago and tried to bite his stomach last week that the little Bean needs more socialization. I also just noticed he has eyebrow: three very long hairs over each eye. He also knows I'm talking about him: he just turned around to look at the computer. Since I haven't posted that picture yet, he turned around again. And back: now he knows I'm about to do it.

I'm feeling the need of a little silliness of this sort anyway because this week at work was seemingly nonstop insanity. We had:

• A creepy, staring-at-me guy while I was staffing the Reference Desk, to point of turning around as he walked toward the door. No, there was no food on my face--I checked multiple times.
• A knock-down, kick-down fistfight in the front parking lot, captured in lo-fidelity on our security camera a mere 5 minutes after a city cop had done a walk-through. One of the guys is one of our regulars who has had some issues in the past; never with us, but he seems to attract trouble. He was NOT the kickee, however.
• General crazy-busy periods followed by too-short calms seem to be the rule of the week.
• The realization that when I'm the only librarian in the building a) I'm in charge here, and b) I'm all alone in the back of the library at Reference with a lot of strange people.
• Magic: The Gathering. Really? People still play that? That started almost 25 years ago! And, STFU with your nerdiness, yo. You guys are even annoying the homeless people!
• The prototypical mom arriving at closing time for resources for her kid's paper, due tomorrow.  This did happen a lot more pre-Internet, but it never ceases to be amazing. Also, we have virtually nothing on Mount Kilimanjaro!
• Someone calling to ask if she should take the medication she just realized is moldy and whether it could've caused the rash she's has for a week. Seriously? Why not ask your doctor? She has an appointment today, but she wanted affirmation after both her pharmacy and the FDA (!! yes truly) were not nice to her.
• Cold temperatures outside leading to cold temperatures in the children's department, and a ceiling tile falling (overnight, thank God) to the floor; I ended up wearing fingerless gloves every time I was in there this week...which was a lot.

[OW! Dammit, Pinto, my finger is not edible, nor is my engagement ring!!]

• Someone calling to complain about an employee to the director.
• Horrific smell, probably a light ballast, for an hour in the children's room.
• ...and two older teens--male and female--in one of the public restrooms together alone for about a half an hour. Again, the security camera watched them canoodling just out of sight for a bit before they head down the hall to the restroom at 3:56; a patron came and got a staff member who 'interrupted' them at 4:30.

As to that last one, we don't know they were having sex, but based on the patron's comments and common sense, what else would they be in their together mak [Pinto on the keyboard: vgbjkbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbn         ] er, making the sorts of noises they were making? Mind you, this bathroom is probably 15 feet from the locale of the [Pinto again: mkkkuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuujkyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyhhhhhhhhhhhh,l.009]O] [and then he shut down the browser; thank God Blogger saves regularly now] previous incident of library inappropriateness.

Pinto is going back home now. He just bit the knuckle on my pinkie.

So, yeah, weird week. Also, Miss W has started to whine about the new director. Technically, I've been a little nonplussed by the lack of one-on-one communication to date as well, so it's good to have some confirmation of my feelings. Still, it's better than having someone show up every-goddamn-day by my desk asking how I'm doing. Especially since I haven't been doing much cataloging of late--no one ordered books in December and I've essentially been caught up since about mid-January. Lots of cleanup going on.

Outside of work, meh, not much going on. It's cold, as I mentioned above; I gave up memes for Lent; my former Fat Pants are too small; I spend too much time online overall, and not enough time reading; Beast is traveling a lot again.

New stuff: I love Spotify! And I've faded out bigtime on Goodreads, probably due to my lack of reading. And the Oscars are tomorrow night, after an afternoon of (yup) work.

Time to go to the grocery store. Or not.

My day, or An attempt to stay awake at work

9:10 No blowers = silence in the workroom. I can hear just how loud I type now
9:15 I warn Miss M that I may not make it all day--I'm well past tired today, for no particularly good reason
9:35 Book I'm cataloging right now: I'd listen to my parents if they'd just shut up : what to say and not say when parenting teens
9:45 Why did we get three copies of Betty Bunny...? No clue: we only ordered one. Clearly the picker-machine expected a fatter book
10:15 One shelf of books cataloged
10:30 Rick Riordan books are in J but audiobooks are in YA ... because the former children's librarian moved the books but never got around to the audiobooks
10:50 One new nonfiction order added to the catalog and our On Order list. In the process of downloading the files, I end up knocking someone else off B&T three times. :-P
12:45 Done with lunch (Taco Bell, yum!), wondering what to do for 10 minutes before I go for my two-hour stint in the children's room
12:55 Book Clubber brings me a bunch of weird-record books to clean up. Oddly, two of them were fine when I checked what she said was wrong, but her one note is awesome: "alien language hijacked record :)" -- the title read How 246    0 {226 Tía Lola Saved the Summer
1:00 As a result of those notes from B.C., I start my time in the children's room by repairing and updating all the Erin Hunter series books. There are 10 "legal" series by that author, some of which are series-within-series
2:00 Finally done! Had several reference questions during the course of things, but still...this was (is?) a mess, and I didn't even get into the manga series!
2:09 The sun comes out! For about 11 minutes...
2:40 There are two brothers and a mom who just left who have been very entertaining to watch. The little guy is ADORABLE, and the older boy is a sweetie. Mom looks tired ;-)
3:25 Right, ok, I'm so freakin' tired I'm going home for a nap

Work Email

[my highlighting]

----- Original Message -----
From: [The Prankster]
To: [the entire staff]
Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2012 12:48:39 PM
Subject: reading lists [...]

Hi everyone,

[Miss W] and I have decided to make up some reading lists [for kids]

D. is working on a historical fiction list for me right now that should be ready pretty soon. What other types of books do we often get asked for? I can think of the following:

Realistic Fiction
Mystery
Science Fiction [...]

------------------

From: [Maniac]
To: [The Prankster]
Cc: [the entire staff]
Sent: Friday, November 2, 2012 9:34:27 AM
Subject: Re: reading lists for grade schoolers

Same in Spanish. And please add Historical fiction to the list.

Thanks
[Maniac]


Head-desk

Recent News

occluded by me:

The B0ard 0f Trustees 0f the [C!ty] Publ!c L!brary seeks an energet!c and v!s!0nary leader t0 serve as L!brary D!rect0r. Th!s mun!c!pal l!brary serves res!dents wh0 l!ve w!th!n the b0undar!es 0f [C!ty] C0mmun!ty Un!t Sch00l D!str!ct #.... L0cated ab0ut 55 m!les n0rthwest 0f [a sprawl!ng metr0p0l!s !n the U.S.], [C!ty] !s h0me t0 appr0x!mately 24,8OO pe0ple. An0ther 12,6OO pe0ple l!ve w!th!n the b0undar!es 0f [the] Sch00l D!str!ct ... and are able t0 use the l!brary thr0ugh a un!que c0ntractual arrangement w!th the Rural ... D!str!ct.

The L!brary D!rect0r w!ll be expected t0:
• Pr0v!de super!0r leadersh!p, adm!n!strat!ve, and 0rgan!zat!0nal sk!lls
• Manage the staff and the l!brary !n a h!ghly pr0fess!0nal manner
• Enthus!ast!cally part!c!pate !n l0cal c0mmun!ty events; act as an ambassad0r 0n behalf 0f the l!brary

Th!s 0pp0rtun!ty requ!res an !nd!v!dual w!th:
• Dem0nstrated pass!0n f0r publ!c l!brary serv!ce
• Excellent c0mmun!cat!0n, f!scal, plann!ng, and 0rgan!zat!0nal sk!lls
• Ab!l!ty t0 w0rk c0llab0rat!vely w!th 0ther mun!c!pal b0d!es and c0mmun!ty gr0ups
• W!ll!ngness t0 adv0cate f0r the l!brary and flex!b!l!ty t0 adapt t0 change

Add!t!0nal Qual!f!cat!0ns and Requ!rements:
• Must have a Master 0f L!brary Sc!ence degree fr0m an ALA accred!ted sch00l
• H!gh-level manager!al exper!ence w!th f!nanc!al (budget) resp0ns!b!l!t!es
• Fam!l!ar!ty w!th !ll!n0!s L!brary Statutes
• Understand!ng 0f current and emerg!ng l!brary techn0l0gy and trends

Salary m!dp0!nt !s appr0x!mately $88.7K and !s neg0t!able based 0n exper!ence. Excellent benef!ts. L!brary d!str!ct res!dency !s n0t requ!red.

We have 7 solid candidates; interviewing starts next week.... We can't possibly do worse than we did last time. [I hope]

Anyone interested in being my boss?

The B0ard 0f Trustees 0f the [City] Publ!c L!brary seeks an energet!c and v!s!0nary leader t0 serve as L!brary D!rect0r. Th!s mun!c!pal l!brary serves res!dents wh0 l!ve w!th!n the b0undar!es 0f [City] C0mmun!ty Un!t Sch00l D!str!ct #.... L0cated ab0ut 55 m!les n0rthwest 0f [a sprawl!ng metr0p0l!s !n the U.S.], [City] !s h0me t0 appr0x!mately 24,8oo pe0ple. An0ther 12,6oo pe0ple l!ve w!th!n the b0undar!es 0f [the] Sch00l D!str!ct ... and are able t0 use the l!brary thr0ugh a un!que c0ntractual arrangement w!th the Rural ... D!str!ct.

The L!brary D!rect0r w!ll be expected t0:

• Pr0v!de super!0r leadersh!p, adm!n!strat!ve, and 0rgan!zat!0nal sk!lls
• Manage the staff and the l!brary !n a h!ghly pr0fess!0nal manner
• Enthus!ast!cally part!c!pate !n l0cal c0mmun!ty events; act as an ambassad0r 0n behalf 0f the l!brary

Th!s 0pp0rtun!ty requ!res an !nd!v!dual w!th:

• Dem0nstrated pass!0n f0r publ!c l!brary serv!ce
• Excellent c0mmun!cat!0n, f!scal, plann!ng, and 0rgan!zat!0nal sk!lls
• Ab!l!ty t0 w0rk c0llab0rat!vely w!th 0ther mun!c!pal b0d!es and c0mmun!ty gr0ups
• W!ll!ngness t0 adv0cate f0r the l!brary and flex!b!l!ty t0 adapt t0 change

Add!t!0nal Qual!f!cat!0ns and Requ!rements:

• Must have a Master 0f L!brary Sc!ence degree fr0m an ALA accred!ted sch00l
• H!gh-level manager!al exper!ence w!th f!nanc!al (budget) resp0ns!b!l!t!es
• Fam!l!ar!ty w!th !ll!n0!s L!brary Statutes
• Understand!ng 0f current and emerg!ng l!brary techn0l0gy and trends

Salary m!dp0!nt !s appr0x!mately $88.7K and !s neg0t!able based 0n exper!ence. Excellent benef!ts. L!brary d!str!ct res!dency !s n0t requ!red.

Whadda week

I need a vent. This week...

• We lost power for about 5 hours on Tuesday morning at home. No biggie, except the power came on just before I had to go to work. We live "in the country" so we have a well...with an electric pump. So, no shower. I worked till 9. Yuck. I could not WAIT to get home and shower. At 9:30 p.m. Yurrgh.


• Last Friday, my boss gave her notice. This is, frankly, WONDERFUL news! However, it does leave us open to jumping from the frying pan into the fire, i.e., things could get worse in whoever takes the job next. Still, it's hard not to be ecstatic about her departure.


• I sliced open my left index finger on a jammed staple earlier this week. Right on the bendy part. Somehow, it's managing to heal up fairly well so far. However, it's never a good thing when you cut yourself, bleed like mad, but don't feel ANY PAIN for five full minutes.


• We had a Reference staff meeting this week. During lunch hour. So, yeah, I got a popsicle and cookies for lunch that day. One of the things we were to go over was a list of things to Know to Work the Reference Desk which includes things like "switching back and forth between Firefox/Explorer," "Word/Excel/Publisher and how to look up tasks you don't know" and "Flash drives: saving files." Why are these things on the list, you ask? Because...ONE of the staff doesn't know how to do this. Yes. Truly. {head-desk}


• One of my coworkers has had plans to fly to visit her son for months, departing today. The airline she was booked on has hubs in the airports at both ends of her trip. She printed her boarding passes yesterday morning. Five minutes after she did that, she got a call from the airline telling her the flight was cancelled. Wait. What? Why? "Mechanical difficulties." Wait. What? How do you know you're going to have a mechanical problem a day in advance? And...both airports are hubs--are you seriously telling me you don't have any extra planes at EITHER hub??


• We discovered that about 30% of our science fiction collection has mysteriously been deleted from the catalog. It's still on the shelf, but every time someone tries to check it out, it doesn't show up in the computer. So, we need to re-add it all. What a pain. Like, seriously, a huge time-suck.


• When I told the director about this, she literally could not figure out what I was talking about. "But, how is that possible? How would stuff get deleted? That can't happen." Uh, yeah, I delete stuff every month, stuff that we've weeded, things that have fallen apart that we can't fix, etc.


• According to public meeting laws, we are required to post library board meetings publicly (i.e., in the papers) no less than 48 hours prior to a meeting. The notice the DIRECTOR sent out at the beginning of the week contained the following information: .... [meeting will be held] on Thursday, July 25, 2008, at [the address for the (newish) parking lot across the street from the library]. To be clear, take a look at the day and date of this entry. So, she literally hit the trifecta of incorrect information which means if someone wanted to cause trouble, we could get nailed for breaking the law.


• OK, I know this is a lot of ragging on The Boss, but...she actually asked us to leave her notes, individually, on what qualities we want the Board to look for in the next director. I suggested we do a Google Doc so that the suggestions could be compiled in one place. Nope, gotta be slips of paper in a folder. She's such a dipshit: my answer is ANYONE WHO IS NOTHING LIKE YOU!


• And today, the kicker: our children's librarian is leaving. In a week. She is the second one we've lost in just over a year. In fact, in the past 16 months we've now lost four professional staff members, two of whom are really excellent children's librarians. Another librarian informed me this afternoon that she is actively looking for another job.

I feel like I've been kicked, hard, in the solar plexus. I spent the afternoon alternating between trying not to cry and trying not to throw up.

ALA Midwinter Leftovers

Remember way back in January when just about all I talked about (on here) was ALA? Well, I haven't had a chance--or time, or energy, or whatever--to unpack all the books I snagged. Now, since that conference, last month was "the" big annual conference where apparently a ton of people's panties got in an uproar about Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs). Or maybe it was just one or two panties in an uproar; I don't know. I do know that I attended the opening day of exhibits at Midwinter and haven't often witnessed anything more piggish in my life than librarians grabbing and snatching every book in sight. Yes, I took a few, too, but I tried to stay away from stuff I really didn't care about (i.e. picture books) and I also tried to hang by the smaller publishing houses since I was a little afraid to be in the Random House aisle with the crazy-snatching-librarians.

In the end, I had a large, full bag every single day I left the exhibits, and I'm finally pulling the books out to see what I actually ended up with. It makes me laugh that these are supposedly "Advanced" but I'll be reading them well after their actual publication dates (in most cases). And, to be fair, some are truly the final copy of the book, not ARCs at all. It's a little confusing, to be honest.

Anyway, here's the haul:

"Former secret police agent Leo Demidov is thrown into a foreign conflict and is forced to question and confront everything he ever thought he knew about his country, his family, and himself."

I 'read' Child 44 on CD about 6 months after it came out, picking it up blindly because a) "ooh, Russia!", b) "ooh, Soviet history!", and c) "ooh, crime novel!" Turned out to be a very memorable book that somehow reminded me a bit of the movie version of Dr. Zhivago, something with which it has little in common. When his second book (The Secret Speech) came out, I snatched it up and raced through it; unfortunately, all I remember is that it was really good, but not as good as the first. I really am excited to read this one though, and may go back and reread the others, too.

"A satire set in Texas during America's war in Iraq that explores the gaping national disconnect between the war at home and the war abroad. Follows the surviving members of the heroic Bravo Squad through one exhausting stop in their media-intensive "Victory Tour" at Texas Stadium, football mecca of the Dallas Cowboys, their fans, promoters, and cheerleaders."

Yes, ok, I picked this up because it's about football. I'll probably hold off till September or October to read this so I'm in the right frame of mind for spectacle and irony. My ARC has a completely different cover. I can't find a photo that matches my cover, which has confetti splattered over the top & bottom frame and a pair of army boot in the lower right of the page, all on a white background. I think I like the green one better.

"In the near future, the conjoined Armstrong twins, under the guise of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, plot to create their own version of utopia using nanobots, while a guerilla group known as BZRK develops a DNA-based biot that can stop bots, but at risk of the host's brain."

Gotta grab me some dystopian YA. Honestly, I've never really heard of this author, but I was struck by the cover (I know, I know), and that while flipping through the book, it actually looked fairly 'smart.' We'll see.

"A woman seeking a reprieve from a going-nowhere relationship finds solace in flying to exotic places around the world from Alaska to Bhutan."

Not too hard to figure out why I'd pick up a book on getting away from reality at the point things were at in January with my reality! OK, truthfully? I'd've grabbed a book about travel anyway. Besides, the author lives in Creede, Colorado, and her other book is on my to-read list: Cowboys Are My Weakness.

"When Emily Covington's past as a drug addict catches up to her, she is framed for a murder she did not commit, and must identify the killer to clear her name and protect her family."

I've only just noticed the subtitle here: "an Intervention novel." This...confuses me a bit. Then again, I snagged this one because I haven't read anything by her, and she's a fairly popular mainstream Christian author, and Zondervan's booth wasn't exactly mobbed. I'm interested to see what a Christian intervention looks like, if it is any different than a non-Christian one.

"Jai Pausch shares her own story for the first time: is a powerful story of grief, healing, and newfound independence. With advice artfully woven into an intimate, beautifully written narrative, Jai's story will inspire not only the legions of readers who made The Last Lecture a bestseller, but also those who are embarking on a journey of loss and renewal themselves."

I loved her husband's lecture before it was published as a book. He was quite inspirational. It will be interesting to see if she is his equal.

My ARC copy is nothing like this cover: kludgy "crown archetype" background with just the boilerplate information superimposed over it. Also makes of point of being an "uncorrected proof."

"A visionary scientist creates a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that predicts movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions. But after an intruder breaks into his home, he has to try to discover who is trying to destroy him."

Hmm, realizing I may have overdone the number of books about the future. On the other hand, I think it's just about time I read a Robert Harris book--I have wanted to read Fatherland since it first came out. Maybe I'll do a two-fer; maybe I'll learn something about economics in this one.

"Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. 'Glaciers' follows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriorating urban architecture and the imminent loss of the glaciers she knew as a young girl in Alaska.

This is a very tiny book, just 174 pages with lots of white space. And it looks interesting. Would it be VERY bad if I admitted that when I saw the cover I actually grabbed for a friend who does a lot of costuming for plays, and works at the library as well?

"After two young women are found dead, both drowned in their own blood, Inspector Harry Hole is compelled to return to Norway to see his dying father and to investigate the brutal crime, which may be the work of a serial killer."

Another author I've been meaning to read for eons. No time like the present, eh?

This one is really my vision of ARCs: orange tagboard cover (inside of which is the cover to the left), black print that's essentially a mash-up of the title page, verso and recto, and very tight print on all the pages. Not pretty, just functional.

"In 1974, fourteen-year-old Bonnie, eight other Amelia Earhart Cadets aged nine to seventeen, and their irresponsible young leader are stranded on a forbidden island off the coast of Thailand on the brink of a deadly storm and must fight to survive."

So, could be Lord of the Flies for girls. In any case, it's definitely all-girl adventure fiction for YAs. Looks good. Kinda excited about this one; probably a very fast read.

"Seventeen-year-old Kendra, living in the shadow of her brother's obsessive-compulsive disorder, takes a life-changing road trip with him."

I'm sure traveling with with someone with OCD would be interesting, possibly even life-changing. Actually, this makes it sound kind of boring. The description on the back includes the information that Kendra is caught up in a cheating scandal which could pose problems for her "perfect" reputation. She actually sounds just as OCD as her brother, in my eyes.

"Recruited on a clandestine mission to thwart the transfer of nuclear warheads into rogue hands, covert operative turned A-list movie star Ty Hunter uses all his skills as a spy, soldier, and actor to match wits with an enigmatic billionaire."

Hmmm, why on earth did I take this one? Not my kind of book in general, but I do like the cover. Maybe it will be better than it sounds.

"LinkedIn cofounder and chairman Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha show how to manage your career as if it were a start-up business: a living, breathing, growing start-up of you. Start-ups--and the entrepreneurs who run them--are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage. These are the very same skills professionals need to get ahead today. This book will teach you the best practices of Silicon Valley start-ups, and how to apply these entrepreneurial strategies to your career."

I have absolutely no clue why I took this one either. Should be a quick read, though.

"At the age of 19, fluent-French-speaking Briton Marian Sutro is recruited for service in the Special Operations Executive during World War II, only to find that another secret organization wants her to infiltrate Paris to persuade a research physicist to join the Allied war effort."

Now this sounds like something I'd read! Based on history, espionage, smart women, some vague romance-y stuff that is not the main point of the story.... Can't wait!

"A young reporter on assignment is attacked and bitten by an unknown beast in rural Northern California and begins a terrifying but seductive transformation into a being with a dual nature, both man and wolf."

I haven't read an Anne Rice book yet. I should. I'm pretty tired of vampires, so a wolf book seems like a better plan. Another one I'm kind of excited about. And I do love that cover!

My ARC copy is encased in a plain white cover similar to the Jo Nesbø book, with a mock-up of the final cover just inside the jacket. Nice.

Quandary

In my GReader feeds there is one category in which I have filed two blogs, and the comments from one of those blogs.

Stop, just a minute! I have to preface this whole post by saying that I'm really really far behind in my RSS feed-reading: there are nearly 300 400-omg total unread posts there, mostly library-related (221) or potential memes-to-do-when-I-have-time (182). So I'm behind. OK.

However, in this one folder, there are just 3 feeds. Since June 29, there have been 53 posts accrue in that folder. One blog has not posted in that time, or if it has, I've read those posts (all, maybe, two of them). The other two--blog + comments--account for the rest. I'm having great difficulty gearing up to read because the main blog posts are a series based on a speech. I read part one when it was posted. [Yes, apparently there are 8 or 9 posts which total one speech--thank God I didn't have to sit through the whole thing, eh?] The other 40-something links are comments to the above posts.

I don't want to read this speech. I should, so I know what's going on in my field as a whole, but on the other hand based on the "intro" I'm not sure I should. I want to strangle the person who wrote it--a not unfamiliar feeling, to be fair--and I'm close to 100% positive that every comment will be "OH U SO WUNNAFUL!! Y DINT WE TINK UV DAT?!!!!" I'm not sure I can deal with the posts themselves, and reading the comments will depress me because it means that there are a large number of Shovers and Makers in libraries who are completely ridiculously STOOPUD! Not to mention, easily swayed by pretty words and narcissism.

On the other other hand, none of that should surprise me at this point. There are a lot of really stupid people doing management in libraries. I will probably end up reading the posts, getting pissed off, and NOT reading the comments. Unless I read 'em all, but only while drinking a bottle of Everclear (should probably make sure someone's around to keep me from posting drunk).

EDIT, 7/15: Having considered the situation from multiple angles since posting this, I've decided to "mark as read" the whole kit-and-caboodle of those 53 (now 56) posts/comments, and unsubscribe from the blog itself. Will keep receiving the comments for now, at least this week. Life's too short and complicated to worry about other people's stoopud.

Saturday

I got a stellar massage this morning, after over two months since my last one.

Then I came home and picked up Beast before we headed to Sparky's college to bring home a load of his stuff. including the (way-too-freakin-big) TV and his bike. What I hadn't thought about until we started loading the car is ... uhm ... who's getting this shit outta the car at home?!

Yeah, I'm a stellar planner.

I called our neighbor when we got home, but they're at a soccer thing till...sometime. They'll stop by when they're headed home and it will take less than 3 minutes for J and me to get the TV and one giant (heavy) box out onto the floor in the garage.

Meanwhile, we watched the Derby. Now we're watching what happened with NASCAR while the horses ran. Holy cats: major wreck into a wall, so trying not the check the site to see what happened with everyone.

And the drama continued today at work, apparently. No one had called the boss about Crazy Cat Woman's medical update, so by 2 when Techie Librarian realized that and made the call, she got lambasted. No good deed goes unpunished.

My eyes are goofed up again, both itchy and sore as well as not seeing properly. Beast's back seems better than yesterday (not saying much there). I'm so tired. Tomorrow is laundry and general cleaning once we get home from church. At least I don't have to face work on Monday....

Erk

Aside from poetry, I haven't been around much. There are several reasons, but the Big Two are Work and Beast's (lack of) Health. I'm slowly getting my head around working 40 hours a week and being a Responsible Adult, but next week is going to be pretty horrible: I'm involved in putting a coworker on official probation, and I'm fairly certain she won't be able to maintain the baseline work changes required. There will be angst, and not just from her. Another coworker essentially has begged me to do whatever I can to keep the other woman from losing her job. Well, that's just fine but she has to carry her part of the load. And she's not. Hasn't, really, ever. Sigh.

Beast's back has been fubar since last August when he was hospitalized, and I have quite literally lost count of how many times we've been to the ER since then. The ambulance has picked him up three (four??) times in the last two months or so. Long story short, he is scheduled for a laminectomy on Monday. Tomorrow is pre-op testing day for him (I work), Saturday we drive up for load #1 from Sparky's dorm room, Sunday is...Sunday (i.e. busy in the morning, not-so in the afternoon). This is slightly faster than we had expected, but OMG-Thank-God for that!

The difficulty is that I need to go pick up Sparky and the rest of his stuff from school at some point--Wednesday or Thursday--and bring him home for the summer. And work. And bring Beast home from the hospital. And...yeah, see? Life, she is destroying next week completely. I really do hope this surgery goes smoothly for Beast, resolves the majority of the pain issues, and that Sparky can find a summer job.

ALA Midwinter Conference

I just returned from Dallas where this year's Midwinter conference was held. It's also where my brother lives, near his son and new daughter-in-law.

Memory-bits:

• Felt completely out of my depth at at least one point in every session I attended
• Also felt completely welcomed at a couple of sessions where I actually was totally out of my depth
• Librarians are wacky people, but really easy to identify...at hotels, restaurants, and airports...it was a sort of sport after the first 24 hours
• Tex-Mex made by Greek-Americans is pretty good
• Steak: also really good, if you're willing to pay for it
• If you can, go to Texas de Brasile...unless you happen to be a vegetarian
• I made the Dallas paper. This makes me laugh, but at least they didn't ferociously misquote me
• I didn't see/meet anyone famous
• I did see a ghost, and yes it was spooky as hell!
• Got to see Ian Fairclough speak; I think I'm a very weird groupie
• I sat by two French guys flying to Dallas and a middle-Eastern (I think, maybe) guy on the way home; I must be the Deals Well With Furr'ners person
• Spent a LOT of time in the exhiibits
• Picked up about 7 new carrier bags, along with the freebie they dole out at registration to everyone
• Filled four (five?) bags full of books and other freebies; Beast is driving them home for me :-)
• I got sicker most every day, and bailed on two OCLC breakfasts...
• Having no voice makes talking to exhibitors all day difficult
• I stayed in three hotels in five days. That was weird, but kind of fun
• One of the hotels was quite a ways from the conference site, so Beast drove me back and forth; there was, however, a conference at that hotel, of gift shop owners....
• ...gift shop owners' conferences seem to be full of snooty 20-somethings, but I snagged an abandoned carrier bag that is absolutely amazing...I will take a picture once Beast gets it home
• The convention center...? Not in a great part of town, though they're working on it
• Dallas drivers are insane
• We landed a full half an hour early today. How often does that happen in January?!

I'm so tired I can't stop yawning. I think I'm going to skip Bible Study in the morning. Good night.

My schedule for the next few days. Precious little sleep on this list. Yes, I know I'm double-, triple- and at one point sextuple-booked. Wish me luck!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20
9:00am - 12:00pm    2012 ALA Midwinter Unconference Dallas Convention Center D165

10:30am - 12:00pm    OCLC Enhance Sharing Session registered Dallas Convention Center A306

11:00am - 12:00pm    Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group Dallas Convention Center A304
LUNCH
1:30pm - 3:00pm    Bibliographic Control: A Meeting Between Educators and Practitioners Dallas Convention Center C146

2:00pm - 5:00pm    IUG Meeting received invite Omni Dallas Hotel Cedars Room

2:30pm - 4:00pm    Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Program Training Dallas Convention Center A306

5:30pm - 7:30pm    Exhibits Opening Reception. Exhibit Hall

7:30pm - 9:30pm    Backstage Library Works Reception ([Beast] invited too)  Omni Dallas Hotel West End Ballroom (5th floor)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21
7:00am - 10:00am    OCLC Dewey Update Breakfast and ALCTS Public Libraries Technical Services Interest Group Meeting registered -- received invite to PLTSIG which should start about 8:30 Omni Dallas Hotel Greenville Avenue

8:00am - 10:00am    Copy Cataloging Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D227

10:30am - 12:00pm    Cataloging Norms Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D223

10:30am - 12:00pm    Interlibrary Loan Discussion Group Omni Dallas Hotel Trinity 3

10:30am - 12:00pm    Library of Congress Update Forum Dallas Convention Center D171

10:30am - 12:00pm    Role of the Professional Librarian in Technical Services received invite Dallas Convention Center D174
LUNCH
1:00pm - 1:25pm Midwest Tape Booth #1239 Exhibit Hall

1:30pm - 3:30pm    Catalog Management Interest Group  Dallas Convention Center D227

1:30pm - 3:30pm    Collection Development Issues for the Practitioner Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D222

1:30pm - 3:30pm    Hot Topics Discussion Forum (RUSA MARS) Dallas Convention Center D223

3:30pm - 5:30pm    Do I Own these E-books or Not?: The Adventures of Jo Budler, Kansas State Librarian Dallas Convention Center C146

4:00pm - 5:30pm    Catalog Form and Function Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D227

4:00pm - 5:30pm    Faceted Subject Access Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D222

4:00pm - 5:30pm    Hot Topics Discussion Group (RUSA STARS) Omni Dallas Hotel Trinity 3

4:00pm - 5:30pm    Progressive Librarians Guild Meeting received invite Dallas Convention Center D170

4:00pm - 5:30pm    Standards Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D226

4:00pm - 6:00pm    MARC Formats Interest Group Dallas Convention Center C149

5:30pm - 9:00pm    Meetup w [my brother & his family for dinner]

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22
7:00am - 8:00am    OCLC Update Breakfast Roundtable topic: Cataloging & Collection Development Omni Dallas Hotel Dallas EFG

8:00am - 10:00am    Public Libraries Technology Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D222

8:00am - 12:00pm    CONSER / BIBCO / SACO-at-Large Dallas Convention Center C141

10:00am - 11:00am    Auditorium Speaker - John Green Dallas Convention Center Theater

10:30am - 12:00pm    Automated Acquisitions / In Process Control Systems Interest Group Omni Dallas Hotel Cedars Room

10:30am - 12:00pm    Cataloging and Classification Research Interest Group Dallas Convention Center A306

10:30am - 12:00pm    Collection Development Planning & Assessment Committee Meeting (RUSA CODES) Dallas Convention Center A112

10:30am - 12:00pm    National Libraries RDA Forum Dallas Convention Center D227

10:30am - 12:00pm    Technical Services Discussion Group Sheraton Dallas Hotel Trinity 4

12:30pm - 1:00pm    ALA Masters Series: World Book Night Dallas Convention Center A2
LUNCH
1:30pm - 3:30pm    Best Fiction for Young Adults Teen Session (YALSA) Dallas Convention Center C147/154

1:30pm - 3:30pm    RDA Update Forum Dallas Convention Center C146

1:30pm - 5:30pm    Authority Control Interest Group Dallas Convention Center A201/202

4:00pm - 5:30pm    ALCTS Creative Ideas in Technical Services Interest Group received invite Dallas Convention Center D220

4:00pm - 5:30pm    Discussion Forum: Answering the Young Adult Reference Question – Making Connections that Matter (RUSA RSS / YALSA) Dallas Convention Center A304

4:00pm - 5:30pm    PCC Participants' Meeting and Open Program Dallas Convention Center C155

5:00pm - 6:30pm    Midwinter Book and Media Awards Reception Fairmont Dallas Hotel Oak Room

MONDAY, JANUARY 23
7:30am - 9:00am    ALA Youth Media Awards Dallas Convention Center Theater

8:00am - 10:00am    Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D171

8:00am - 10:00am    OCLC Creating Cataloging Efficiencies that Make a Difference received invite Dallas Convention Center D162/164

10:30am - 12:00pm    Forum (ALCTS): Author Steve Berry keynotes Preservation Week 2012 Kick Off Dallas Convention Center A201/202
LUNCH
1:30pm - 3:30pm    Collection Management in Public Libraries Interest Group Dallas Convention Center D172

1:30pm - 3:30pm    Continuing Resources Cataloging Forum Dallas Convention Center D168

2:00pm - 3:00pm    Exhibits Closing & Wrap Up Rev Up Celebration with Lisa Loeb Dallas Convention Center Theater

Seeing the future

I have a colleague (shudder) in the library field whose social network stuff is ... uhm ... interesting to read, or at least pop into periodically. She bears watching. I recently set up HootSuite to stream any mention of her tweets or mentions of her tweets in a separate column. The column title is "DangerWillRobinson!" I added her (ahem) inamorato to this list: tweets by and about him as well.

This week, said boy has suddenly hit a little blurp of fame on a geek library site, blah blah blah. About two dozen people tweeted huzzahs in his direction. Said girl ... did not. Now, it's perfectly possible that she has learned the value of private communication (not fucking likely, but let's give a girl a break), although one could--and I would--argue that publicly congratulating someone you "love" is not something you should ever hold back on. But based on what she DID tweet today it certainly doesn't seem like this leopard's spots have changed a bit.

Having watched other relationships she's been in implode (rather explosively), this is how it starts. The spotlight shifts to someone else, and she gets peeved. Payback ensues. Etc., etc. ... fireworks.

I wonder if she is even aware of this cycle. I KNOW he doesn't have a clue. Idiot. Please God, don't let Sparky get mixed up with anyone like her; hopefully I've 'trained' him better!

The weird things that are exciting to me

A typos generator.


Because there's just never an end to the fun. Here are some of the dozens of ways we can mis-type |vFiction:

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|Fviction
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|cFiction
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|vFidtion
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|vFicrion
|vFic5ion
|vFic6ion
|vFicyion
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|vFicti9n
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|vFilction
|vFkiction
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|vFicdtion
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I cut about half of the original mistakes when I posted them. And this list doesn't even show the ones where the F isn't capitalized properly! I'm kind of afraid to see how many of these are in our catalog.  {{shudder}}

Randomosity

• VERY cool Lighthouse library. It's decided: I want to live in a lighthouse, if I get a crate like this periodically.


• Of course, nowadays, this site would work just as well if I were stranded alone with internet access (and no books) for months at a time.


• I love this interchange (from here) primarily because I've had very similar ones at work:

Customer: “I need to make a copy of this key because the police need to use this one in an investigation.”
Me: “Ma’am, this key is broken clean in half. I don’t think I can copy this.”
Customer: “Well you see, the police are investigating into the helicopters and I need another key.”
Me: “The helicopters?”
Customer: “Yes, yes. They break into my car.” *picking up a flashlight from the checkout counter* “Oh! I wonder if this flashlight is helicopter proof.”
Me: “Uh…I don’t know to be honest.”
Customer: “Well. The helicopters always make things stop working suddenly.”
(She clicks the flashlight on and off until suddenly it no longer turns on.)
Customer: “Ah, there. Not helicopter proof. They’re in my veins, you know.”



• This is a pretty good song. Thanks to Amy for pointing me to the person who found it.


• One of my favorite library websites is this one. I've had a couple of these conversations over the years, which is why I frequently say (mostly only in my head), "PEOPLE ARE STUPID."


• Fonts are important. The hat says so. Mostly, I just wanted to mention the hat again since I've been reading his blog for almost 6 years now.


• And you wonder why librarians are crazy? Well, perhaps you have not been wondering that, but now you know why you should.


• It's always great when friends talk turkey to one another in public, especially when one of them is an idiot.

That's all I got right now. Everything in my real life is so chaotic that this is the best I can do in terms of blogging.