Monday, October 22, 2007

Love At First Read

11:07 p.m. / 23:07

I found this library blog today, and I just love it!

A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette

You just might enjoy it even if you don't work in a library.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Road Work, Vaccinations & Cocktail Umbrellas

12:25 a.m. / 00:25

I need to go to bed, but before I do, some random stuff:

Where I live, before they do major, annoying, long-term road construction they put up nice metal signs, just like any other street sign, saying they will be doing road construction, and isn't this great because the roads will be better and they're creating jobs by doing it! Do they try this trick where you live?

There was an article in the newspaper today talking (not for the first time) about parents opting to not have their children vaccinated before they start kindergarten. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and that aside from abuse and / or neglect, people can pretty much raise their children however they want to, but I just cannot help thinking it's really a bit crazy to refuse to have your child vaccinated. Do they not understand that vaccinations are why most kids today only know about polio because they learn in school (I hope) that that is why President Franklin Roosevelt was in a wheel chair? And polio is just one of many such nasties from the past we don't really want to revisit.

Tonight I decorated a cake (made with a chocolate cake mix, mixed with a can of pumpkin and liberal amounts of chocolate chips and Irish cream thrown in) with green icing, florescent plastic dinosaurs and cocktail umbrellas. Maybe I'll post a picture some day.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Blog Action Day! (Better Late Than Never!)

10:40 p.m. / 22:40

So, here I am with less than two hours of Blog Action Day remaining, wondering what my contribution to environmental awareness will be tonight. I had completely forgotten about this bloggy event until I was reading other blogs today.

I did have a pro-environment idea earlier today. I was imagining a fund for grants to be given to college students (under-grad or grad) who have to commute long distance from home to school to pay for, or help pay for, fuel-efficient cars. I knew several people when I was in college who drove from an hour or more away every day, or at least several times a week. I also had a co-worker who drove to a university three hours away once a week for her grad school classes. There might have to be rules about the number of miles traveled, and investigation into the reasons for commuting the long distance, rather than just moving closer.

There are numerous books on the state of the environment and of course right now one of the best known is Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Just this month republican Newt Gingrich published A Contract With the Earth, so Earth lovin' is not just a democrat activity anymore. To be fair, I haven't read very much of either one of these. If it opposing viewpoints you want, there are quite a few books out there now to tell you why us treehuggers are wrong. My own environmental reading is embarrassingly limited to Carl Hiaasen novels like Hoot and Sick Puppy.

I recently heard that being a vegetarian and driving a Hummer is better for the environment than eating meat and driving a hybrid. This may or may not be true. If there's anyone who can point me in the direction of information that supports this statement, please do share. For that matter, if you can point me to information that explains why this is total bullshit, then please do share.

In closing to this mess of a post, I'd just like to say pay attention and think about your actions. There is no such thing as doing too little, just as long as you're doing what you can do.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

In The Toilet

2:00 p.m. / 14:00

There is a paper clip in the employee bathroom toilet. I found it last Saturday, and since my options were to either fish it out or try to flush it, I flushed it. It's still there today. So strange. Of course, no one is volunteering to get it out, so I guess it'll just stay there. So, apparently if you wish, you can store paper clips in your toilet bowl.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Just Another Reason My Boss Rocks

10:00 p.m. / 22:00

One of the only hard parts of my job change is that I had a really nice boss, even though I was kind of tired of my job and making very little money. I was lucky, though, in that I was promoted to a readers' advisor position at the same branch where I already worked, so I already knew my new boss, the branch manager, quite well since she was already kind of my boss and she's really nice too. (Plus, I still see my old boss every day.)

Anyway, this is about my new boss, and what she did for all of us who work at the branch. At our branch, people are always bringing in food to share-- for birthdays, holidays or just because. I brought in food when I got my first bigger paycheck after being promoted. Today, my boss brought in nuts, heart-healthy muffins and fruit. There was a note that said "Help Yourself!" and went on to explain that:

Her note was actually funnier than my description of it. We all thought it was great. When is Boss' Day?

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Tuesday At Last

7:10 a.m. / 07:10

The first thing I'm going to do when I get settled in at my desk today is delete every e-mail related to yesterday's event; it's finally over. I don't know if it was a success, exactly, because it seems to be the nature of mandatory staff events that the majority of people don't appreciate it no matter what, but it wasn't a failure either. Lunch seemed to go smoothly, although I had to leave before it was really over to take the guest speaker to the airport to fly home to Chicago. I managed to not crash the minivan, which is good, of course. I found the garage a little awkward and I did technically back into something trying to get out, but I didn't damage anything. I think the worst of it was getting weird looks from other staff members who were in the alley smoking when I pulled out. The speaker was very nice and I think I managed to not say anything completely ridiculous to her on the way to the airport. I do wish I had been more gracious about her compliments regarding my city, though, instead of explaining that she's right about what she saw, but it isn't really the way most of the city is.

Enough nonsense rambling; I have to go to work!

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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Work Woes Continued

8:45 p.m. / 20:45

In truth, my actual job is just fine. I finally finished with circulation and I'm beginning to settle into my job in reference. I like it so far.

It is the extracurricular parts of my job that are getting me down. This whole committee thing... the reason it's been getting me down is that I feel that since I am more or less the most young / inexperienced / lowest-ranking or whatever member of the committee, I have great potential as a scapegoat, should anything go wrong. So, it's really freaking me out that the caterer didn't bother to respond to my e-mail with the lunch order. It's also freaking me out that I will have to be alone with the guest speaker long enough to drive her to the airport. I'll be in a van I've never driven. What if I get nervous and drive badly? At least it'll be after she's spoken, of course, so maybe that will make it easier to talk to her.

Tonight I am attempting to write a blog post for a work-related blog. (I can't give you the address; I think you'll understand.) It isn't going well. Most of the other contributors aren't exactly writing award-winning pieces, but I also feel like I have to write something decent if my name is going to be on it for all of my co-workers (at least those paying attention) to see. I'm trying to think of it like writing for school; I wrote much better book reviews back when they were being graded. Tonight's post, if I succeed, will be my first contribution, even though I signed up for a user ID a month ago at least. I'm attempting to share the joys that are 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and 84 Charing Cross Road starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. And having said that, I should get back to work.

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Saturday, October 06, 2007

NaBloPoMo Approaches

7:06 a.m. / 07:06

I have to say that I am not getting along well with the new National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) site. I'm pretty sure this actually has more to do with my ancient computer than it does with me, so maybe I need to try and hit the site at work when possible and hurry up with the computer shopping. None the less, I encourage every freak who hasn't signed up yet to do so. All you have to do is blog every day in November... yeah, that's why I used the word "freak" rather than "person".

As for the work stuff I posted yesterday, I'm still stressed and frustrated, but much less so than I was then. Ooo... speaking of work, I need to get moving. Should I take my shower with Pumpkin Pie Paradise shower gel or Sonic Death Monkey shower gel?

Friday, October 05, 2007

Longing For Tuesday

1:58 p.m. / 13:58

This. Is. Ridiculous. It's only Friday and I'm all stressed out about Monday. I have to work tomorrow, so my weekend consists of Sunday, on which I must try to go to bed early in order to be someplace by 7:15 a.m. at the latest. Okay, okay... I'm on the planning committee for a staff event taking place on Monday. I'm pretty sure it won't be a disaster, but I'm not sure there won't be problems. No one is answering my e-mail with all of my last minute questions. I'm assuming that since the caterer has not e-mailed me, everything is alright with the food, but I wish that he would e-mail and say everything is alright with the food. Also, I have to drive the guest speaker back to the airport, and and I don't know what time, so I can't write it in on my copy of the agenda. As soon as I'm done with my lunch break, I have to call someone downtown and try to find out about getting the van keys on Monday in order to do this to-the-airport driving. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

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