Road Trip

The Boy, Dr. T and I are running away in my little gray car to Nevada to see Sister M. The trip will start on Monday and include a stop in Portland to have lunch with a friend, then maybe an over night stop somewhere in Southern Oregon or Northern California. It really depends on how we are feeling though. We might push straight through and save our money for other fun things. Then staying in Carson City for the rest of the week. I imagine there will be some wedding shopping going on, since Sister M is getting married this summer. I am also hoping to plan a hike while she and her fiance are working, if the weather holds. Heading back this way on Saturday, but that might really be when we need a hotel room, so we may not return until Sunday night.

I am bringing my computer, but may not be in the blogging mood. If you don't hear from me in that time, just know that I will be back on Monday with lots of pics. Toodles!

Economy and Green Things

Article and video with Susan Hildreth, the new City Librarian talking about the upcoming budget cuts and the increase in usage of the library in the last year. Also, today she sent an email to staff saying that she and the library board and directors will be giving back the 4.5% cost of living raise they received. You will remember that the Mayor and other city executives will be doing the same.

It brings a tear to my eye to think of the higher ups being selfless this way. Too bad AIG contractors couldn't do the same. We still haven't heard what the proposed budget cuts are, but I am sure these proclaimations of self sacrifice by administration is somewhat to soften the blow. Better a 4.5% pay cut than losing one's job, for sure.

I started planting indoors for my garden. With the weather so unpredictable, I want to make sure the last frost is done before I move planting outdoors. So far I am starting tomatoes, green beans, collard greens and pumpkins with plans for corn, lettuce and herbs. We are doing an herb garden at the house this year and I will plant the veggies at the p-patch. The strawberries over there are still doing well and the irises are coming back nicely. They were so beautiful last year.

Bella Vs. Harry

The Great Debate took place on Saturday at the Central Library in Seattle. The two teams faced off over a very heated topic, which book series is better, Harry Potter or Twilight? I knew the answer before the whole thing went off, but it looks like it was a lively debate. Check out the wonderfully put together video that The Seattle Times did:

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I was so happy to see on the front of the Seattle Times this morning that The Crocodile has reopened. Looking at their website, I see I am a bit behind because they have a pretty full line up, and the Ting Ting's show on April 12th is already sold out.

I was so disappointed when the Crocodile closed a little over a year ago. I have fond memories of shows. Over the years I saw Mudhoney, Murder City Devils, Peter Buck of REM, the Divorce, Vendetta Red and many others at the Croc, as well as occasionally attended the monthly diy sale. I like the mix of diner, music venue and bar. I loved that they often had all ages shows that I could take my son to, but that they were still good shows with true fans.

It looks like from the article that the place has gone from shabby to "swank" but I am willing to let that go ;)

Zach Davidson of Siren Sister and Vendetta Red

Good times...

It's a Hairy Situation

The Zine Librarian (un)conference was awesome. I met a lot of people and learned a lot. The zine reading that accompanied was wonderful. I was blown away by the writing, especially a guy from Tumwater, who writes Funwater Awesome. I recommend it to everyone ;) Even got Dr. T to read one of the zines I bought that night. I also got a bunch of free zines for my collection at the library and a few special zines from my new friends for myself. One friend gave me a rad zine that talks about having a partner with diabetes and blindness and the challenges of having a child, called Worry Stone. It is really well written with lots of facts and heart wringing tales.

Things have been "meh" the last few days. So I cut my hair. Yes, my own hair. By myself. It didn't turn out too bad--I actually like it quite a bit, although it could probably use some cleaning up by someone who knows what they are doing.


Not the best picture in the world, and it has been a long day, but there you go.

I just put 50 million books on cd on hold for our ROAD TRIP next week. We leave a week from Monday to see my sis in Nevada and plan to make a couple of stops along the way to see friends. Reminds me that I need to call Yoga Mary back, but I don't think she would appreciate a call at 12:15am, even if it is a Friday night...

Now That's Impressive

We have had a little bit of pressure here at work lately since the mayor mandated a 3% budget reduction for all city departments receiving money from the general fund (including the library). We have all been wondering where the cuts will ultimately come from and the speculations have run wild.

Today the mayor announced salary freezes for senior city executives and a 7 day furlow in the few city departments where salary freezes will not be put into affect. This includes the mayor, and gives back a 4.5% cost of living increase that went into effect in January. He's got my vote. ;)

In other news, I got an e-mail today from KCLS that I could re-apply to their hiring pool and increase my "score." I am almost thinking about doing it for the interviewing experience.

Sigh...

...no one came to my program today. And it was going to be sooooo cool. I guess no one else thought so. The Seattle Times even ran a cute little blurb on it in their entertainment section. And there I was, stewing in the heat of 9 laptops, all alone...

One person did turn up, but he isn't a teen and I think he knows I am on to him, so he never came down. Well, you can't have one person doing a scavenger hunt anyway. That just doesn't work.

Tonight is an iSchool get together. Should be fun times, although I always feel a little awkward at these things. I am fairly certain there will be a person or two I would rather not see, and that there is a person or two who would rather not see me. But there are at least two peeps that I will adore seeing, even though I already see them on a regularish basis, so not all is lost. I am bringing my book as armor though.

Zine Librarian unConference this weekend is going to rock. I know people are coming to that. Not only is it going to be a ton of fun, I will have a bit more event planning on my resume. Always a good thing. And I get to learn more about zines. I am also looking forward to it being over so I can spend more time w/ Dr. T and The Boy. Time suckage! (in the best possible way...)

I haven't done my EMP post yet, mostly because I haven't found the time to upload the photos and video I took. It was a fun show, but would have been more fun if I hadn't felt chained to my table. More on that later.

Acronyms and Spinning the System

Finally got caught up on sleep today. It should have been yesterday, but I went to WASHYARG (Washington Young Adult Readers Advisory Group) in the wee hours yesterday morning. I was a little disappointed at the pickings this time. Many of the reviews were on books that hit our library shelves 6 months ago and the new book options were unknowns. Where was Wintergirls, or Highway to Hell or any other new ones. The only good books I saw were ones I read months ago; Kisses and Lies and Wild Magic (both of which I enjoyed immensely). I am reading the ARC (advanced reader's copy) of Wintergirls by LH Anderson now. It is disturbing--I will say why later on my goodreads).

Tonight I am representing the library at Sound Off at the EMP. I am tabling (another piece of library jargon that means standing behind a table, talking to people and showing off flyers for our programs and services) and am going to totally enjoy the teen bands playing. I am really glad I am not tired going into this. I am taking my camera and will hopefully get some good shots, and also will take notes to create a blog post for Push To Talk. I tried to dress casually cool for this, but I think I got a FAIL on that. I always wait too long to get dressed and end up having to live with what I throw on. Teens don't like it when you try to be like them; that makes you a poser, to use an 80's term. Hopefully it will be dark.