Comixtravaganza Time Again

As a last hurrah to hurry me on my way to my new branch, We will be having the 3rd Annual Comixtravaganza at the University Branch Library. Doors open at 2, with the workshop with Matthew Southworth starting at 2:30.  The draw-a-thon starts at 4 sharp, so don't be late!

All Good Things Must End

Ok, so I have been gone for a while. I have been busy with non internet-y things, like family, vacation and holidays. But really, I love the internet and nothing can keep me away for long. The truth is I have been thinking. Thinking about this blog and that someone has been reporting my doings to others. Now, I don't do a lot that is report-worthy, but I would really rather not even worry about it.

So my thought is to start another blog somewhere else in blog land. If you are interested in continuing to follow me, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I will give you the new address when I get around to starting it. Probably in the next week or so.

It should be interesting, as we are having a re-org at SPL and I will be moving to a new branch. This new branch is very busy with lots of interesting things going on. A lot of other people will be moving too and things will be hopping for a little while. I will talk about those exciting issues, daily library life and about volunteering/mentoring stuff. Less about family and personal life--which I am sure bored everyone to tears anyway. It is hard to completely leave it out, so I won't try, but less with the life updates and more with the library and teen stuff.

Ok, I am off to cook a duck. TTYS

Stay-cation!

In the space of a day Mentee has been brought in and run away again. She is a lost child, adrift in a world of drugs and prostitution. Her son is going to be recommended for a permanent home, which sounds like adoption, but I think there might be more hoops to jump through for that. I think my brother and his wife would be the perfect choice for the beautiful boy--they have already adopted one child and I think another would be a blessing for them. He isn't mine to give away though and I am sure that the red tape is boundless.

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I am officially on vacation! For two weeks! And I am getting paid for the entire thing! Can I use any more exclamation points??? Probably! My plans are to go window shopping downtown, get my hair did up pritty, see friends and relatives and probably do some marathon canning and baking. I got some craigslist skis today for cheapo and will get to use them on Monday, skiing with some of my Dad Family.

Today was my last day at work before vacation. I had a lot of stange experiences with patrons. I had to tell the same person 10 different rules they were breaking, one at a time. Then there were comments from the peanut gallery when I had to ask a man to keep his large frame backpack with him and when I asked another man to respect others when using his cell phone. Other patrons came out and said "yeah" and "you better shut up" when I was talking to these two--I told them I had it under control. Later, a patron I know well came up and told me that someone else at the computers had said I was "mean" after I asked another woman to keep her belongings with her. Well, I tried to be polite. Can't make everyone happy I guess.

On the other hand, I had a pretty darn good yearly review and a teen I know from the Interagency School came in and brought me the CD she made of her own music! Sorry, more exclamation marks. I got excited there for a moment because I hadn't seen her for a while and I was sure she had forgotten who I was. Turns out I lost her to another branch. But she came in today and brought me this CD and when I got home and listened to it I was blown away. It was so good. We had a great conversation and I recommended a book to her that we had just gotten on promoting your band. It was probably the most teen librarian moment I have had in forever--a great way to end the work day and to start vacation.

Busy December

No new information in libraryland, so I have directed my attention towards getting ready for my two week vacation. I am not going anywhere, besides going to Spokane for a couple of days. Family is coming to visit me though, and I will get to spend some good quality time with the ones that live here already. I am REALLY looking forward to it.

I finally rode my bike again yesterday, after a week off. I didn't feel prepared for the extra cold weather, even though it was mostly sunny. Yesterday was pretty rainy, so it was a good day to get back on the bike ;) I was a little tired during, but it went well. I am impressed that I am still riding in December, although the weather isn't much different right now than it was in September; 47 and raining.

Most presents have been bought. I actually have some wrapping paper that I like. Cards are made and ready to be filled out--ok, those might be a little late getting to people.

Mentee is still MIA, which is sad. She ran off the day before she was supposed to visit her son. We all felt that she sounded sincere when we talked to her, that she was ready to settle in and do better.

I worked at the University District Service Provider Alliance holiday dinner for youth on Monday. I got to see a few of the kids I know from UDYC. This year I helped in the general store, where kids that didn't have a Secret Santa got to spend fake money on stuff like warm coats, sleeping bags, toiletries, gift cards, and a few highly sought after electronics. Last year I was a table captain--someone who made sure that the rules of conduct were followed, but also just hung out and spent time with the youth at the table. This year was definitely less interactive, but I still had a good time. Costumes were required, so I went as an elf--striped sleeves and socks, green knee pants, red circles on my cheeks. I should have taken a picture, but I seem to be photo-deficient lately. No excuse, really.

Chaos in Libraryland

I hinted at the changes that might be coming for my job and while I still don't know exactly what they will be, they definitely will be.

Right now they are working on a re-organization of managers and what, for the sake of space, I will call assistant managers, although there are several job classes in actuality. After they figure out where all those people will go, they will move the rest of us around. I highly doubt my branches will be my branches any more. It makes me sad to think about. I love my coworkers and my buildings and (most of) my patrons. My schedule will also be different, but I am not terribly worried about that, since we will be open fewer hours and I don't forsee a lot of hardship there.

Since we still don't know any specifics, many of us are anxious, even though we know it will turn out ok in the end. Rumors and speculation are flying all over, which isn't conducive to doing your job. My mental state is all over the place. We likely won't find out our fates until around January 2nd--that is just before the 30 day limit admin has to notify us of changes.

On the upside, Comixtravaganza is happening this year. There will be some things happening at Central and South Park--I will link to them later on, the calendar isn't updated yet. We are having the draw-a-thon at the University Library on January 23rd, starting at 2pm. Matthew Southworth is going to hold a drawing workshop before hand (here is a review of Stumptown by him and Greg Rucka). Zanadu Comics is helping sponsor (Thank You Perry!), so the awesome Sean is coming to hand out door prizes, help judge and hand out the winning prizes. I am excited that I get to have this last hurrah before the changes hit.

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.

Flight, Family and Fuzziness

And of course she ran away again on Sunday. At least I got a chance to talk to her though and really tell her that I am here for her, whether or not she is following the rules. We'll see if she comes around.

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I had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Spokane. We had a great family dinner on Thursday, then on Friday went to the Rocket Bakery on Cedar and 1st and had an awesome lunch with Dr. T's brothers and sister in law and two nefews. We also went to the Whitestone tasting room and enjoyed tasting Mr. M's own wine blend, Pieces of Earth.

I had been feeling weird since Wednesday though and when I went to work on Saturday I was pretty much a wreck. I was dizzy and couldn't concentrate. By Sunday I was a lump and didn't do more than watch tv all day. The only change I could think of was the antibiotics I have been taking for a tenacious case of acne, but I didn't think that could be the culprit. Finally I looked at the label to check and low and behold it can cause "dizziness, blurred vision". So I stopped taking it Sunday and called the doctor on Monday morning. I picked up some new, less lumpishness causing antibiotics yesterday.