Enjoying My Time

I had a wonderful weekend. The only things that set it back were that The Boy had two basketball games this weekend, so staying in BFD and my mentee is still missing. The Boy and I are going shopping next Sunday and hopfully to my Dad's choir concert to make up a little time.

On Saturday I took the bus down to the Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center. I stood in line for 15 minutes with a few hundred other people, then went inside. Everything was very professional looking and very cool--but one of the side effects of not mass producing and getting your supplies in super bulk numbers, it was pretty expensive. I could see buying myself one or two things, or if I saw the perfect gift for someone, I might have spent the money, but I kept my self control and walked back out after seeing all the booths. There were a lot of super cute things in there and maybe someday I will have the extra cash to spend on them.

After that I went to the Metropolitan Market and got some of the very yummy eggnog from Twin Brooks that I have been raving about to anyone who will listen. I think I have converted a few people, too. There were several product reps by the front door giving out samples or coupons and one of them was the Hempler's Ham people. Pause now for some back story:

I had a Hempler's Ham on order for my family dinner Saturday night from Amazon Fresh. It was a preorder--which should mean that they would definitely have one for me, right? Or they would let me know ahead of time they didn't...? Nope, just no ham with the order and when I checked my email--they send out a confirmation some time that morning--it just said "the following items were not included with your delivery, you will not be charged for those items". Awesome! So now I have to go shopping to find something else, which I did, but it wasn't local and natural like the Hempler's would have been. When I emailed my complaint, all Amazon replied with was "we are sorry for the inconvenience". Nothing about trying to not let it happen again or anything. I am going to wait a while before I order again. The physical store doesn't let you down that way. They either have it or they don't.

So I told the Hempler's rep that story and she gave me a free ham! It wasn't big enough to serve to 8 people, but Dr. T, The Boy and I will definitely enjoy it at a later date.

The family dinner was fun. We had snacks, people played Wii, we ate dinner, then played Apples to Apples. The eggnog was loved by all, especially me. Did I mention that I don't usually go in for eggnog? I don't. But this stuff is the bomb! I haven't had homemade yet, but I am guessing this is on par.

Sunday I strategized with Interactive Reader for a webinar we will be on in January. It is for First Tuesdays through the Washington State Library. We will be talking about Reader's Advisory (recommending books) with a few example book talks, resources and tips. We have a dry run coming up this Wednesday Morning. Then we did a little window shopping down Market St.

Two of my friends and coworkers came over later to learn to make bread. I instructed them through the loaves and they seemed to turn out well. I will get full reports on Wednesday when I see them next. We also made some AWESOME ice cream sundays vanilla and chocolate peanutbutter ice cream, crumbled zugats, little peanutbutter cups, bananas, hot fudge sauce and whipped cream. It was wonderful and decadent. We also played some Mario Kart.

It was really nice to have such a fun and relaxing weekend after the Union meeting on Friday. I think it really sapped a lot of our energy. I don't even want to think about it right now, so I might share on a later date, although it would likely be more interesting just to give you an outcome.

Odds and Ends

A while back I mentioned an old friend that I hadn't talk to for a long time. As I said there, I do a little online stalking now and then, and while I hadn't found much on her, I did find her daughter on MySpace. I didn't contact her because that would be creepy. Evidently the daughter also likes to find people online and she helped her mom find me. We have been emailing on Facebook this week and finally got to talk tonight. It amazes me how even though we haven't talked for 6 or 7 years, we were able to talk to each other no problem. I am not even good at phone talking with other people I know really well and see all the time. We are going to try to get together next week some time. I am pretty excited about it.

I have been to two of the DHS varsity football games now. They won both games and I was pretty impressed with the playing for a small town team. Dr. T was impressed too, which is hard to do with all the playing he does and has done. The Boy only played for a few minutes in the first game and not at all in the second, but he is definitely part of the team and he is proud of it. His first game for JV is on Tuesday, but I have to work late. I will likely make the game two weeks from tomorrow.

I finished up my last day of detox today. I feel accomplished even though I didn't go for as long as I initially planned. I think I was being a little silly with that. But there are aspects of this that I will continue. And I will cut back on the caffeine and not take my coffee for granted for a while. I didn't miss the alcohol at all, which was a surprise, but then I didn't go out either.

The garden is almost done. There are still some tomatoes growing and I have a few things at the house. I planted more potatoes in the planter, have some fennel growing, and some p-plants I started a bit later. I need to think about some winter plants that will return nutrients to the soil. The soil is so much better than when I got the plot--more like regular dirt and less clayey and rocky.

Looking Up Old Friends

When I get bored or curious, I do a little online investigation of old friends. Some of these turn up some interesting stories, others don't go anywhere at all. My friend from high school, whom I feel I have talked about before (but maybe not, I can't find her anywhere) has almost no online presence. Just an address and phone number in the online white pages--the same one she had when I last saw her 8 years or so ago.

I just did a search on another friend, actually an old flame, just to see what he was up to. He was a really good guy, although I don't think we were right for each other. I didn't get to find that out for sure, due to some weird circumstances--I will tell this story at a later date, look for the Persian. I looked him up today and was happy to find that he has opened a rug shop in Bellingham. It sounds like a really nice place, sort of a social hang out as well as a business place. Of course, the problem with the internet is things could have happened since the place was mentioned, but there is a blog entry with pictures of him (how else could I have known for sure it was him???) in May 2009. It makes me happy to know he is doing well. I think he might be married as well. Don't ask me how I do my voodoo. I just do.

*****

Remember that I planted a pumpkin in my garden? I have been really confused, because my pumpkins just keep getting bigger and greener. I ate a few of them like zucchini when they were small, because there were so many. Well, it turns out that because of cross-pollination, they are zucchini. No wondrous orange globes for me this year. Time for zucchini bread.

Too much time has passed

Facebook has taken over my online life--or more accurately a game called Mafia Wars. I am just getting over the hump of this addiction, where you can admit you have a problem and start pulling away. Plus the game just isn't as fun as it was a few days ago. Still fun, but not quite as fun. So I am here, making an effort to be away from the other tab open on my browser--I didn't say I was cured. I won't tell you about the game itself, because then you will either think that I am weak for being addicted to such a silly game or you will go play it yourself, get addicted and blame me....

So much has happened in non-online life the last couple of weeks. I rode my bike about 90 miles last month, and hope to continue that. The Boy, Dr. T and I went to Spokane over labor day, spent time with family and did wedding errands--I am sure you saw my shoes. The weather was gorgeous and the only thing I can complain about is not having enough time with my niece. She is so darling, but she doesn't really remember me and gets shy. I was hoping to get reaquainted with her over that weekend, but it turned out to be a little too busy. Sister M and her fiance were there, though and it was wonderful to see them and Papa P, my step dad for most of my childhood.

This weekend, well, I worked Saturday. But it was a good day. I like being at my small branch in the summer. It is really sunny in there, my co-workers rock and there are lots of goodies close by. Molly Moon's Ice Cream, Bella Cosa Foods and now Archie McPhee as of yesterday. I went to Bella Cosa and bought yummy cheese and salumi salami for my bbq/game night the next day. On Sunday I got the whole house sparkley then had family and friends over for a bbq, then later had more friends over for games. It turned out to be another beautiful day and all of my best friends made it--except Sister M, who living in Nevada is given a pass ;) Oh yeah, and it was my birthday.

In libraryland I have been setting up school visits for summer reading and book talks: my older teen list and my tween list; and scheduling Danger: Books! presentations for the fall. Soon, the Summer Reading Program will take over my life. This is the fan badge for the teen program, although they all look pretty much the same:

Get yours here.

Chocolate and Roller Skates

Yesterday I went to The Theo Chocolate Factory for a tour and had a wonderful time--I recommend it for all of my friends and family that like chocolate, whether you live in Seattle or just come for a visit. Actually, even if you don't like chocolate--just abstain from the many lovely samples given out--it is still an amazing tour.


I went with the University District Youth Center, where I volunteer. Usually my day is Monday, but I start work at noon every other Friday so thought I would tag along on this. I had wandered by the Theo store during my ramble in April and thought that I should take their tour at some point and there was my opportunity! And I got to hang out with some lovely, down on their luck, teens. It is deeply satisfying to help this group, so if you have some time between Monday and Thursday 12:45-4, to help out, call Brynn at 206.526.2992. /plug.

Tonight Dr. T and I are going to a Jet City Rollergirls bout to see DiBrarian roll. It will be my first time and I really have no idea what to expect beyond tough girls on roller skates. Should be fun!

Making Friends

I could not get to sleep last night, so please forgive me if I am out of sorts.

I talked to my mentee last night. She had her first interaction with life as a single parent yesterday and she was totally upset. She is really still a kid, and it is hard work taking care of a baby when all you want to do is hang out with your friends. It is obvious that she loves the child, but I think she is seeing the other side of having a child attached to you with all it's needs and wants for the next 18 years. I reminded her that she still has choices, but that she should get some sleep and think on it all a bit.

***
I have an awesome friend that I haven't seen much in the last 4 years. She has been in medical school and sometimes she has a tough time dealing with the stress of school, kids and life, so she withdraws from anything she doesn't have to do. That includes me most of the time. You might think that is harsh, but we've talked about it--talked about it before hand, actually. I miss my friend and there have been a few rough patches when it would have been nice to have someone to talk to and she wasn't available. I got used to it though, and I think it made me a stronger person, to learn another's boundaries and how to work through things on my own (that took a bit of work too, and I ran at the mouth to a couple of people that I shouldn't have at one point or another). We do still spend time together, but it is only about 4-6 times a year. Enough back story, to the point.

Last week, when I was sitting at Canal Street Coffee after my long bike ride, I looked around and found her in everything. I saw several women who looked like her, lithe and athletic, with long golden brown hair and big sunglasses. I felt her in the sunshine and the coolness of the shade. I heard her laughter as I watched other friends chatting over their lattes. The whole thing reminded me of when we were undergrads together, sitting in her front lawn watching the kids play ball or just sitting and talking. Of our bike rides to Magnuson and our swim practices at Meadowbrook. Our easy coexistance. That was before we were roommates, before our boyfriends, before our kids turned into teenagers.

I sent her a text that day, telling her that I miss her. I didn't hear back that day, but about a week later I got the sweetest voice mail that told me she is feeling the same. She is almost done with medical school and is working for a year before she starts her residency. I am looking forward to sitting on the lawn again, watching our teens have water fights and become friends like us, chatting about nothing and everything.

Rambling all over town

This weekend I was down with a sore throat and sinus troubles, which I now think were allergies. I have tried various remedies for allergies over the years, but the side effects of the drugs is often worse than the allergies themselves. To me, anyway. So we stayed home the whole weekend, although The Boy and I did make it out for a walk on Sunday afternoon in the pretty pretty sun. We walked to the Bluff park in the Sunset Hill area of Ballard. We wandered and did one of my favorite things: look at the prices of local houses on the market. WhoooWee! $800,000 if you're lucky! One had the price reduced, but it had been over a million, so there you go.

Today I took The Boy back to BFD, then worked in the garden a bit. I had a cappucino made at home and drank it out in the yard--which is one of the nice things about living in a basement apartment; there is a yard. Around noon, I tootled on my bike around Greenlake to the U-District and went to volunteer. I was really sad to hear that one of our kids had been in a shooting over the weekend and was in the hospital. Everyone was pretty shook up and drop in was almost empty most of the time. I like the kid quite a bit--he always has something interesting to say and he seems like a good guy.

After drop in, I rode to Fremont along the Burke-Gilman Trail. That ride is so much more pleasant than being on the road. I got there about 4:30 and had some time to kill, so I sat at Canal Street Coffee and read. It was absolutely beautiful out and there were a lot of people sitting out at the porch tables in the sun or shade. Since I was still a little hot from my ride, I chose the shade. It was bliss, even when some strange guy came up and dissed my book of short stories by Stephen King (he hadn't read them) and told me that SK steals all his stuff from some guy named Theodore Sturgeon. I just looked at him straight on and said "Thanks for the tip." and went back to my book. I haven't read any SK for years, and when I did, it was mostly in middle and high school. I don't pretend that he is the end all/be all of writing, but these stories were good, if a little horror movie-esk, and I wasn't going to let some ...guy... tell me what to like. If he was trying to wow me with his mental powress, he really struck out.

For the next stage of my all day odessy, I locked my bike up and walked around Fremont, stopping at the library and checking my email, wandering up to the Troll then back around the streets until I made it to Blue C Sushi just in time to meet a friend for dinner. We spent more time than we had intended gabbing and eating happy hour food--happy hour was over at 7, and we had finished eating by then, but we sat in the bar for another hour and 45 minutes.

I left there, feeling giddy from all that socializing and was happy to find that my bike was still where I left it. I fumbled around, trying to remember how the bike light worked--glad that I brought it, since by 9pm it was dark out--and finally got back on the trail to Ballard. I thought I would catch a bus once I reached there, but I just kept on truckin' all the way home. And then I took advantage of another cool thing about my house--the hot tub. I have only used it twice, but it is nice to know it is there.

There you go, I don't write anything much for a week, and then I give you a narration of my day. Maybe next time I will have a nice story for you. Maybe...

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...

Yay, Watchmen!

I had meetings like crazy on Thursday. In fact, I forgot that I had even been at work when I thought back on it. I went into work on Friday, opened my email and thought, why didn't I look at any of this yesterday? Was I off? No, because I hadn't had a day off since Monday... Total brain spasm.

I also got off early on Thursday and took The Boy and Dr. T to see Dark Knight at the AMC Cinerama. We went with friend elJope and a couple of his friends. It was a good movie, but I guess I am not geeky enough to get the applause after the bat car turned into a bat motorcycle. It was cool, don't get me wrong, but clap-worthy? Not so sure.

I loved the previews though. There is going to be a movie of the Watchmen coming out in 2009.



Continuing the fantasy theme in my movie madness, we watched Beowolf last night. I hate that kind of animation. It ruined the movie for me, although I made it all the way through.

The garden is producing a lot of lettuce right now and in a couple weeks I will have some yellow zuccini and cucumbers. The pumpkins have started to form and the pickling cucumbers have just started sprouting little tiny spiny fingers. All the tomatoes are flowering, so I will likely have a ton all at once in a few weeks. The golden cherry tomatoes have started fruiting though and could be ready in a day or two.

A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That

My computer class yesterday went well, with 5 attendees. I taught one teen how to build a basic webpage from scratch, with HTML and CSS. We had some trouble getting the computers to connect with the internet, but eventually it started working. Of course, everything worked perfectly over at my other branch on Tuesday, where no one came to the class... Next week's class is on blogging and likely to be less popular.

Amazon has been having some amazing (heh) deals lately. I barely missed the gold box deal on Buffy--the entire series for $89. I was so sad. But today I got all three seasons of Veronica Mars for $20 each and yesterday I got the entire series of Angel for $62. Somebody needs to take away my clicking privileges.

The gaming tournament on Thursday went great. We had about 5 participants, with a couple more kids showing up late. We got our two teen winners, but only one under 13 winner, but he was a champ. He had never played DDR before, but by the end was getting a ton of perfects. I had two older teen volunteers there and they were wonderful help, along with our Directed Fieldwork Student. I have a hard time delegating in these situations, but all three appointed themselves tasks and really followed through. I will need them even more at the finale.

The garden is looking great. I thinned the lettuces today, so we will be having a baby lettuce salad later on. I wish I had some tomatoes ready, but they will be soon.

I finally got a bike, despite being thwarted by Bike Nashbar. I even got something a little more sturdy and reliable than I would have. It is the Trek 3700 Three Series:

Now I need to start riding!

We tried to go see North Twin at the Sunset last night with my friend and her dentist husband. The music didn't start until 10 (which should have been a bad sign to this old fogey anyhow), so we all chatted at my place for an hour or so before. We watched the first band, which were ok, the second band totally ticked me off. I think they got a little too tipsy, took about 45 minutes to set up and do their sound check, so they didn't start until almost 11:30. This meant that North Twin wouldn't be going on until after midnight. I also didn't like the second band, so we left without seeing the headliner. Quite a disappointment. I finally got my old butt out of the house after 10 and I didn't even get to see the band I wanted to see. Guess I am just not as hard core as others.

Home Again, Home Again...

I am back and had a wonderful weekend. For the 4th, Dr. T and I went to a co-worker/friend's party. It was nice to hang out with librarians outside of Libraryland. We only talked about books once (I swear!). Later the teens of the house let off illegal fireworks and we got off lucky because during a break, the police came by and busted the neighbors. Then we watched the city's fireworks display over Gasworks from her front yard. There was only one tree in the way.

On Saturday I watched The Golden Compass and was sad when it was over... I need to find out if they will be making the others. I can see why it didn't do as well as it could have. Dr. T was confused by parts and I had to explain it to him. I liked it quite well though and felt they had all the important bits in there. There is a page for The Subtle Knife on IMDB, but no information aside from the year 2009, which seems a bit optimistic.

Sunday we had a going away party for our beloved Children's librarian. She isn't going far, and I am sure I will still see her, but I will miss having her at the branch. We went to Tutta Bella and had wonderful pizza, salad and tiramisu. Yummm!

The rest of the weekend was spent playing Legend of Zelda, which my sister was so nice to get for me when they had it for cheap in the Amazon Gold Box.

Today I have my first computer class. I hope some kids show up...

Etiquette

You know how there is that one person who emails you all the weird email jokes, or spiritual messages, or political rants/funny stuff? I have one of those. First it was semi-racist anti immigrant emails. I put an end to that. I emailed him back to let him know we didn't see eye to eye on that, and he answered that he totally understood and stopped sending them. I didn't get any emails from him for a while, but they slowly began to trickle in until it is up to one or two a day. At first they were just silly, funny or inspirational, but now they are political. He evidently doesn't like Obama, and sends every piddling inflammatory thing my way. And everyone else's way from the look of the email list. I should just tell him that I am not interested, but I have gotten to the point where whenever I see his name (in all caps...) I just delete the email. I hope he never sends me an actual message, because I won't get it. I wonder if I could just label him junk mail--I am sorely behind in learning how to sort my email box into useful categories.

The conference is done. I learned a lot, got very little sleep and still have a day and a half here. Shoot, I really want to go home. I tried to change my ticket, but no luck (unless I want to spend a couple extra hundred). Guess I will just have to suffer it out by the pool. And I am having lunch with a co-worker.

I did have a great time networking and seeing my cohort. Libraryland is still as cliquey as it was when I was in school, or maybe everybody is just so awkward that they don't know how to communicate. There was someone here that I used to work with, whom I thought I was on pretty good terms with, but had taken a job in another system, so I don't see her any more. However, every time I saw her (only twice), I would wave and she would look right at me and keep going. Like I was an animal at the zoo and I couldn't possibly be communicating with her. And an animal that she wasn't particularly interested in either. Luckily, this doesn't bother me as much as you might think. Since I posted about it, it must hurt, right? Well, not really. I have enough friends and coworkers that do seem to like me that I can shrug it off. But I still wonder, "what the hell?".

A couple of updates:

The bike that I ordered won't be coming. It got back ordered, then canceled. I still need to call them to express my displeasure. Deep displeasure.

My p-patch is still alive, even with the lovely 90+ weather Seattle has gotten while I was gone. My surrogate waterer's have done a lovely job keeping things hydrated and even given me little updates. Yay, surrogates!

Vacation and Anaheim

Not really the same thing...

The Boy and I had a great time on our vacation. We got Disneyland out of the way on our first full day. Wow was that ridiculously expensive, and I can't say that I recommend the food. Let me say right here that sometimes the internet is not our friend. When looking up info on Disneyland, I ran across an about.com site that had "tips" and claimed that you couldn't bring food into the park. So I didn't, but you can. Instead, we had hockey pucks for dinner. Oh well. The rides were great, especially Space Mountain, although I think The Boy liked Splash Mountain better.

We spent the rest of the time in Seal Beach. Our routine (yes! a routine on holiday, how sad) we got up, ate a bit, went to the library after it opened to use the internet briefly (obviously not to update the blog...), then we would walk around and end up back at my friends place to eat lunch. After that, we would hit the beach. I got a boogie board when I was grocery shopping and we had a great time with it. I caught one good wave that took me all the way in to shore.



Now I am in Anaheim. The Boy got off easily and even flew with the friend we were staying with. I know he made it back to his dad's house because he was online with a friend last night, who was im'ing me pretending to be The Boy. Funny. (not)

Anaheim is hot and weird. A city made of strip malls. I went to a session yesterday about the Young Adult Library Services Association...YALSA. I have been a member for over a year, but I supposed it was time I learned more about what they do. Then I went to the associations happy hour and met some nice people. I also had lunch with my boss earlier in the day, and met him at the happy hour, which helped in meeting the nice people. I am off to visit the exhibits this morning. I hope to see a lot of cool stuff and find a book to read, because I am at the tail end of book number 3 since I got here. Cosmic Banditos, recommended by the friend I was staying with. Pretty interesting.

Nice Weekend w/ Bro + Other Random Stuff

My brother Skeejers came to town this weekend. On Saturday we sang Karaoke at Venus in the International District with my Dad's brood--I like mixing family--even The Boy sang! I am hoping to get some pics of that soon. Yesterday we visited the Mac's, then went to my Dad's choir concert and out to Stellar Pizza in Georgetown. Today I showed him a few of my favorite haunts. We went to King's Hardware for dinner tonight, hit Cupcake Royal and wandered around Ballard before I had to take him to the airport. I had the cupcake on their homepage--peppermint vanilla, yum!

I have been working in my p-patch. Pictures in my next post.

There are enough posts about Byersebooks that I will let you search it yourself. It seems to be a front for some criminals that make money by skimming accounts, then making bigger charges later if the first ones aren't noticed. I just got my confirmation from the bank that the charge was fraudulent and they are refunding my money. Yay.

I am switching to a credit union. I am tired of WAMU, they really bug me. Whoohoo! It doesn't have anything to do with this fraud thing. It is mostly because I tried one night to make a transfer so that a charge would be covered, but the site wasn't working. I got an overdraft and I let them know what happened and they said...too bad. I don't mind paying them when I get them on my own, but I hate paying $34 when I tried to have it covered. The credit union only charges $24. Really this was just the nail in the coffin. That Whoohoo campaign makes me sick.

I am losing my children's librarian. She is going to greener pastures and I am going to miss working with her. :'(

Long Weekend

I had a great weekend. Family and friends came over on Saturday to hang out. We sang on the Wii with the American Idol Karaoke Revolution game. It rocked. And of course enjoyed the 75 degree weather. Diva brought a picture of our sons in diapers for us all to gawk at and the boys liked it and had fun with us. I thought they would be embarrassed :)

Sunday, The Boy and I accompanied Dr. T down to Kent to meet some of his friends (for those of you wondering who Dr. T is, well, I think I called him The Man before, but I have decided that I hate that name, so now my boyfriend is Dr. T). The friends were a very nice couple that had moved up recently from San Francisco. Dr. T knew the husband from childhood in Spokane. He is a pastor and he and his wife have 2 children. Those of you that know me well, know that I am not religious. Perhaps even anti religious. I was a little worried about how I would come off in this situation, and also how they would judge me. Well, they didn't and I did just fine. In fact, I would say we got along well. They were very nice and The Boy and I really enjoyed the visit. The Boy was really polite and engaging, too (all weekend!). Sometimes he is not, but I see this as a sign of his usually teen-angsty attitude improving.

On Monday I did my usual volunteer gig, then met my dad and sister in bell town. My sis is publishing in the SCC school paper. It was very cool to see. Then dad and I hit Serious Pie for dinner. The food was pretty good, but the waitress was a little scratchy. I don't have anything I can pinpoint to complain about, but it was kind of disappointing. Then we went to see Marjane Satrapi at the Moore. She is the author of the comic series Persepolis and has a lot to say about the state of the world. She was remarkably well spoken, especially since English is her 3rd or 4th language and even she says she is far from fluent. I had already heard much of her prepared speech from a dvd that I got from the library, but the question and answer portion made me tear up with emotion (which is not surprising for me, since cheesy commercials about caring can get me misty).

Gaming! (no, not a Wii post...)

I forgot to tell you! My open gaming day went great. We played DDR, Karaoke Revolution and several Wii games. I brought along Mario Galaxy which, even though it is only a one player game, the kids loved. One would play and the others would cheer him on. Yes him, it was all smelly teen boys ;) Seven teens showed up, although we had a core group of 5.

I had my friend SJ, a fellow librarian, come keep me sane and she and I played DDR, much to the amusement to the boys. I sang on the Karaoke and it was a blast, although the song selection leaves something to be desired. The boys liked that game a lot too and would often croon in some unknown language along with the song since it didn't score on annunciation.

I also went to WASHYARG (Washington Young Adult Reader Advisory Group) on Friday. I carpooled with two other teen services librarians so we compared notes on good and bad reads in YA during the drive. I enjoyed the reviews, but I always find myself wishing they would hurry up. We will see if I can follow my own advice when I go to the next one and give my own.

I have been scurrying around all day trying to get things done. I don't know how I ever had spare time before! Every second off the desk is prized like water for a thirsty woman.

Baby has Landed

The little one has joined us, with her wonderful smelling baby skin and cute little fingers. Sorry about the pic on the last one. I might get around to fixing it, but it is just a picture of the candle I lit.

I realize that my blog has become all about babies and Wii (don't they sound like they should go together? No?) My boss was saying today that he has to feign interest in babies. He says they all look alike, sound alike and poop alike. I suppose in a way that is true, but there is just something about babies that makes me love them. I think it is because they are still so unformed. There is no evil in babies. No jadedness or dark secrets. They just are, empty vessels waiting to be filled. They won't get f'd up till much later. As we all do to some degree or another.

I have no new Wii news at the moment, except that I hope to purchase Super Smash Bro's and maybe Karaoke Revolution in the next week or so. I promise that my Wii posting will slow down now. Babies however, are still growing, so I will be posting more on that.

Random Matter: I redid all my displays at the small library today. Someone checked out the two cornerstone books before I got the rest out there, but at least they gave me a good idea to go on. I have one display of books that talk about drug use--fiction--and another that has a supernatural cast. I asked teens to fill out a paper saying what mattered to them (drugs, std's, whatever) and put the slip in a box so it is all anonymous. I doubt I will get any...

Sweet Babies!

Friend Miranda is having her baby!

She asked that when she went into labor that we light a candle for her and the baby. I lit mine around 10pm.

Wii is not dead yet, and Friends!

More great Wii news: Mario Kart for Wii will be released May 1st! I am going to try to get this one for work, because it works so well for tournament gaming, but I also want it for home.



It was beautiful today in Ballard up until about an hour ago. I went out running and the sun was out, there were people walking on almost every block. I ran by Tent City 3 which has taken up residence in the church parking lot on 25th and 85th, but aside from some tent tops and a maybe resident at the bus stop nearby, you can't even tell they are there.

Now me and The Boy are going to play some basketball at the park. See, Wii does not chain you to the TV!

Oh, and went to a dinner party last night SJ's house. The food was lovely and it was really easy to interact with her friends. Hmmm, now I have to come up with a misnomer for my boyfriend...how about My Man? Sort of goes with The Boy. Anyhow, My Man and I had a great time, and The Boy did too until he realized he could have been home playing Wii, at which point he affected boredom almost to death. Needless to say, I haven't gotten to play the Wii much this weekend.

And now that I am completely broke, I am getting to see my friends. Monday my red headed Miranda look alike friend is taking me to dessert to celebrate the new job (we have both been busy) and on first Thursday, my black haired diva friend is going to SAM with me. (these friends will now be known as Miranda and Diva, if I should reference them in the future.)

The Newest Online Dating Scene

All day training today, then reports and furniture moving. It was fun to work with my branches together, it was a real bonding experience.

I spent Super Bowl Sunday with a friend who has a son The Boy's age. So we watched the Super Bowl. I thought the ads were pretty lame this year, and the game was really boring until the 4th quarter. I am glad NY won though. I always root for the underdog. That's just how I roll.

Anyhow, on to the interesting part. My friend told me that her younger son, let's call him Sparky, likes to pick up chicks on Club Penguin. He is only 8 years old, but he tells the girls on there that he is 5. His strategy is to invite them to a party at his igloo, but when the little girl penguin gets to Sparky's pad, she finds no other guests, just a big PARTY! banner. When Sparky gets the girl alone, he tells her he luvs her. Quite the technique, eh?

This just cracked me up. Talk about beginner's online dating! Sparky's mom keeps trying to talk him into taking the girls out on dates before cornering them alone and professing his luv, but Sparky is convinced that he will totally get a girl this way. He really wants a girlfriend on Club Penguin, it is his current life's goal. Is this a parent's worst nightmare or what? "Mom, I met a boy named Sparky online. He took me to his igloo and said he luved me!" If I didn't die laughing, I would certainly die of shock.