It's a Little Bit Funny...

My favorite quote from the financial idiocy going on:

Stocks climb on news that rich people are fine with socialism when the money is going to them.

From Fark, of course.

More September Project

This is blog that I lurk on from Singapore Public Library.  The teen volunteers created a cool interactive game that used books in their system to give hints where to go next in the library.  The teens then blogged about the experience.  I find myself amazed that it is all in English--lucky us.

I knew that my online friend David Silver was heavily involved in the September Project, but what I didn't realize was that he was one of the co-founders when he lived here in Seattle.  I have always found him inspirational because of the scope of his classes and his interest in the community, but now he has given me a new faith in what an individual can do to influence the world.  Not everyone knows what the September Project is, but this is one of those things that I hope continues to spread until everyone does.  I will do my part to help.

I am going to try to make it to this:

Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer: 'The True Patriot'

Who gets to call themselves a patriot? In this presidential election year, the true meaning of patriotism will be widely contested. Join authors Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu for a lively civic discussion of what it means to love America and be a patriotic citizen.

6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Capitol Hill Branch

I have always been interested in people's different definitions of patriotism.  Why is wanting an end to the war in Iraq unpatriotic?  Why is wanting our soldiers to come home bad?  I saw a bumper sticker on Monday morning that said "If you don't revere and respect this [picture of US flag] then you can leave."  Then it had the various miles from somewhere to Mexico, Canada, Cuba, etc.  I am sure there are folks out there that do not love our country for one reason or another, but it seems that most people just want our country to be the best it can be and that our opinions differ on how that would manifest.

Ooh, look at the pretty lights. Why is there a rock on my head? Who put that there?

That is how I feel today.  I should not be behind the wheel of a car or the keyboard of a computer, most likely.  Too bad I don't have any good tea or saltines at home.  I should really stock pile those for sick days.  I feel high and miserable.  I had weird dreams last night that left me feeling bad this morning.  And I can't really remember them, so feeling bad for no reason that I can remember.

I tend to avoid medicine when I am sick, aside from the usual (insert over the counter pain killer).  Anything stronger seems to send me into orbit--evidenced here, since I took the green capsules last night when I couldn't get to sleep and it is now 7pm the next day and I am still out of it.  Some of that is just sickness, but I wonder if I would feel this weird if I hadn't taken the stupid things.

So, I have stalked the Internet today, slept, eaten a weird variety of foods trying not to set my stomach to rebel without having to go to the store, slept, drank tea, slept, read Kelly Link (if you haven't, I recommend her--also, perfect when feeling mildly hallucinogenic), slept, watched the first 2 episodes of the Sarah Connor Chronicles.  Not in that order.  Oh, and talked to my boyfriend which probably sounded a little like this rambling post.  Luckily, he thinks I am funny.

Work tomorrow?  Maybe.  I hope so.  Get me out of here!  Snore.

Just in Time for Banned Books Week...

Article

As a parent, I just love it when other parents want to make decisions about what my child can read (/sarcasm). As a librarian I think it is appalling that these people want to take away the rights of others to make themselves feel better.

The issue here is: A small group wants the rest of the world to make a concession because they find some materials in the library offensive and don't want their kids to have any chance of exposure. Well, my response is: if you don't want your kids to read it, then you need to talk to your kids, pass on your morals and values, watch what they are reading--even (oh, the work!) read it yourself! Talk about it! 

 I talk to mine, even though he would rather I didn't (embarrasses the heck out of him), about drugs, sex, his diabetes and school.  Not necessarily in that order.  I hope that rather than driving him away, it makes him comfortable talking to me about things.  I suppose time will tell.

I am writing from bed.  I was a little sick over the weekend, although also mildly in denial about the whole thing.  We stayed home on Sunday and I felt ok this morning, but then spent 3 hours volunteering in a small, stuffy, hot house and by the time I was done, I had a full on headache.  And a sore throat.

Funny story.  I was trying to catch some z's this afternoon when suddenly there was bass pumping through my room like I was in the bathroom at a club.  I tossed and turned and finally had to go ask the Landlords to turn the music down.  They didn't know I was even home (all the lights off and it was only about 5pm, no wonder) but looked mildly appalled that they had woken me.  I am sure I looked like hell, too.  Later I got up to eat something and they had left me fresh, home made chicken and rice soup on the table with a nice note apologizing for waking me up.  It so totally hit the spot.  (save me, I am flashing on middle school...totally...I must have a fever).  It was just what I needed right then.  My plan was to heat up some progresso chowder hiding in the back of the cupboards.  Now I have a warm, full belly and am ready to hit the hay again.  Hopefully tomorrow this whole afternoon will be a dream fading in the distance.

I know what you did last weekend!

Jim's boat and the skidoo
Originally uploaded by Srcsmgrl

So this is what I did, along with camping (no sleep due to high winds at night), hanging with family, celebrating my step-dad's birthday and saving a woman from herself.

Pat turned a big 6-oh. To celebrate we all went to Sun Lakes outside of Ephrata and camped on a windswept plain, took the boat out on the lake and had a ton of fun. The Boy couldn't go--or actually could, but we found out too late :( Dr. T couldn't go 'cause he had to take some fancy schmancy test in Chicago. He actually got less sleep than I did.

On the day we spent on the lake, a woman and her daughter were jet skiing on new jet skis. They were making a name for themselves, driving pretty wildly. They were the talk of the jetty. Then the daughter lost control of her jetski and went barreling towards her mother, who jumped off her ride just in time to get run over by her daughter in the water. The lady starts screaming at the top of her lungs "I can't breath! I'm broken!" over and over. So we go pick her up in the boat and I hold her hands and try to get her to focus because she was freaking out--panic attack and the whole nine. I told her to look at me and breath. As soon as she had an audience at the dock though that was all out the window and she was yelling again. She didn't want to get out of the boat, but finally the paramedics pried her loose and we got on our way. I heard from her sister later that she was ok. That was our excitement for the weekend.

That, and the 40 mile an hour winds that made it sound like someone was banging on the side of my tent all night. Nobody got much sleep. Funny how it would only last from about 10pm till maybe 5am.

Oh, and the skidoo was a blast!

What the heck does a TSL do anyway?

Somebody got me thinking about what I do as a teen services librarian yesterday. There are my librarian duties, my branch duties and my teen services duties and when you put all 3 together, it makes up my job. Have I mentioned how much I love my job? And doing it here in Seattle and more specifically at The Seattle Public Library? Gushy and weird, I know. Stop pointing! Not nice...

Anyhow. Librarian stuff:

• Reference--help patrons find the answers to questions. This can be anything from "what is the capitol of Arkansas?" to "what was the name of the train line that ran between Brussels and Paris during WWII?"
• Customer service--help patrons find the bathroom, look up their account, help them find the dewey numbers on the shelves, teach them to find items in the catalog, computer help
• Readers advisory--help patrons find their next book using a variety of methods (authors or books they have liked, etc.)

Facility stuff:

• Building inside: roam the building to help people, make sure that there are no books or garbage on the floor, make sure that patrons are behaving
• Building outside: check around the building for garbage, sleepers, other situations that might need dealing with
• Booking the meeting room: as it sounds

Teen Services stuff:

• Collection Maintenance: Ordering, shifting and weeding books and materials in the YA section
• Planning programs for young adults: such big stuff as Comixtravaganza Draw-a-thon contest, gaming tournaments, writing workshop series' and more normal: gaming, zine workshops, Danger: Books! performances, bookgroups, UDYC visits, etc.
• Helping other branches or central with programs: All Ages, Reading Marathon, etc
• Outreach: class visits, tabling at schools, teaching database, catalog searching, etc.

There's more, but I have to run away now. L8r.