Homework

 

Well I set up my posterous account here http://kelownalibrary.posterous.com and have cross-posted to my blogger account at http://okanaganinfogoddess.blogspot.com. I wasn't able to do it to my Facebook page. And what was interesting was that I sent in a photo with my Blackberry to posterous - and it went to Blogger as well. But then I went in and edited the post, and changed the title, and those changes have not turned up on Blogger.  Interesting!

 

Fern

 

 

Hallowe'en

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

automatic uploading

So I haven't updated my Blogger blog for a really long time. Now people will be really confused! Sorry people, it's all for the greater good... really.

Did you think I'd disappeared forever?

Blogging is certainly not what it used to be! Blame it on Facebook I guess. Also I have not been in the mood the last 6 months, and am not now either... but what the heck.

Christmas, and Holly's birthday, are just around the corner and I have done nothing. No shopping, the house is disgusting, no decorations up or anything. My office at work is decorated though, and we have a gorgeous 12 foot Christmas tree in the library.

Holly and I are going to the coast after Christmas for 3 nights and I'm hoping for a very good time. After that I'll be staying close to home for awhile as it'll be really busy at work.

Anyway no need to go on. Hoping 2010 is a good year of change for me, and wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

5 more sleeps

Well not much longer now till holiday time. Tomorrow's my last day of work (and about time too!). There's an 'event' at the library next Friday and although initially I was very disappointed that I wouldn't be there, now I'm thinking it's a good thing! It's really management's event, being held at our branch. The question is - who's in charge? Well not me...

Took the dog for a haircut yesterday - holy cow without all those curls there's a little dog in there! A little ball-obsessed dog. Man she just lives to fetch... and to watch gerbil-TV. Here we thought we provided gerbil-TV for the cats; no, Ginny is pathetically eager to play with those little things. Last week Greg took one of the gerbils out and brought it over to me on the couch. He sat down with the gerbil in his hands and Ginny came bounding up, started licking the poor thing in the face. It was really quite hilarious, but I'm sure the gerbil is scarred for life.

My dear friend Richard has unexpectedly come to town so we're meeting for breakfast on Saturday before Holly and I go off to get our hair cut. And I guess this weekend I really will have to decide what to pack! I've been putting it off, just can't get my head around it somehow. Never mind, I work best under pressure anyway.

Doggie Time

Well look at that - we've got a dog (who by the way just met Vespers up close & personal - now we know what she sounds like when she's in pain!)

Zenny is a 3-year old cockapoo that I saw advertised on Castanet on the weekend. On a whim I emailed her owner and the next thing you know - we've got a dog! In the Teleglow family tradition, we get a new pet just shortly before leaving the country and letting Greg deal with it. We've only had her a few hours; can't say much about her except that she LOVES to chase & fetch balls! We'll see how it goes...

Three weeks today we leave on our trip! The itinerary has changed a tiny bit since I last posted. Now it's 4 nights in London, 4 nights in Cardiff, 2 nights in Bath, 3 nights in Shrewsbury and from then on it's the same. Bizarrely my old friend Lynda is going to be in the UK on a cycling trip at the same time so we may rendezvous in London. Holly and I are both really excited about going and I have a feeling the next 3 weeks will fly by.

Travel Plans

Well I haven't exactly been on here lately have I? No news is good news, what can I say?

I've actually been spending all my free time planning Holly's & my summer trip. We are going to Great Britain for 23 days, leaving June 23rd and coming back July 15. So far the itinerary is:

4 nights in London (staying at the same B&B as last time - we love the owner)
4 nights in Cardiff (searching for Doctor Who & Torchwood cast & film locations)
1 night in Bath
1 night in Stratford-upon-Avon (doing the Shakespeare thing)
3 nights in Shrewsbury (seems handy to go back into northern Wales & generally looks cool)
1 night back in London
Overnight train to Inverness ('cause we really want to go on a sleeper train)
1 night in Inverness
1 night at Carbisdale Castle, in Culrain (a very cool youth hostel pictured above)
1 night back in Inverness
3 nights in Dumbarton (close to Glasgow& Loch Ness)
Home again!

I think I have out every British guidebook the library owns, plus a couple which I've bought myself. Last night Holly and I watched the Complete Works of William Shakespeare by the Abridged Shakespeare Company (library video) which was hilarious & has prepared us for Stratford...

Has spring sprung?

It's a beautiful day here today. Holly and I went for a long walk this afternoon; we were going to go to the new pool but since she was there yesterday with school we decided to walk down to Sarsons Beach instead. Unfortunately the washrooms were not open for the season yet which was a bad surprise for us, so we turned around and walked down to the Laughing Moon instead to use their facilities. We still were in beach mode so went to the beach access at the foot of Collett. Sat there and dozed on the bench for awhile. There was no one else there and it was just lovely. Too bad I didn't have my camera... So now we're just vegging over our computers.

Earlier we'd all gone to the SPCA - I'd seen on Castanet earlier this week that there was a border collie there who liked cats so I just had to go. Sadly when we got there he had already been adopted and was just waiting to go home with his new family. Apparently he'd been there for over a week but I'd never seen it online. So I gave Mike, the kennel guy, my name & phone number. He said he'd call me next time they get a border collie. Even though I keep saying I don't really want a dog, part of me obviously does! It's weird at the SPCA now; they have this new rule that you can't just go in there and visit with the animals. You have to fill in an adoption request and be wanting to see a specific animal. Apparently adoptions are up 24% but it's kind of sad for those of us who liked to hang out there.

Really busy at work these days, meetings practically every day and so much to be done in what seems to be a short month with BCLA & a couple of vacation days right in the middle.
Remembering Ruby today.

Everything old is new again

I was re-reading old posts & came across one that showed a picture I'd altered using a website that Kelli had found. I had to try it again - here's what the library will look like in 70 years?! I just think it's really cool.

I guess that's about as crafty as I'm getting these days. There's no scrapping mojo happening in my house. When I get home from work I'm just way too tired to do more than sit in front of either the TV or the computer. I can't even read an entire book lately! Although I brought home a few for the weekend (I'm taking the next 2 days off.) Just some junk reading: Dean Koontz, Linda Howard, plus the new Miriam Toews. They're Quick Reads so I only get them for a week.

Looking forward to Lost tonight. I've started reading the Zap2it Lost blog and quite enjoy it. You know how it is with Lost, you often need some explanation! The guy who writes this blog does a fantastic job of summarizing the episodes.

No news is good news?

I guess I haven't had much to say lately. No complaints, no whining. Although yesterday when I came home from work I actually had to have a glass (or two) of wine after my day working the Children's Desk. Lucky me, the first day of spring break...

Just reinforces why I did not become a Children's Librarian. I like good kids well enough but misbehaving ones are a different story. There were a couple of kids there, maybe 9 and 5. Their mother was apparently in the building, upstairs at a meeting. So they were having a grand old time, playfighting, dragging our newly cleaned & repaired bug cushions around the department by their eyestalks & antennae, playing hide & go seek, etc. No books were involved or damaged. By the 3rd or 4th time I went to talk to them I was getting pretty impatient. Trying not to be the grumpy old librarian but it wasn't easy. I finally said if I had to talk to them one more time we'd be looking for their mom and making them leave. "Good for you!" said one old grandpa who was walking by.

On the other hand the day went by really quickly!

Mark across from his apartment building
Sunset from his window

Outside Rosa Mexicano where we had dinner my last night.

At the library
I just thought it was funny that this statue outside the library was holding a tiny sandwich in his hand
Just taken for the reflection
National Debt Clock

We took the subway during the day and taxis at night. I still haven't really figured out the subway system and was glad I didn't have to try it by myself this time. Saturday we went to the Tenement Museum which was very interesting but no photography was allowed. Saturday night (Valentines Day) we went to Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Jazz Club. I know, weird name, but it was fantastic. Unfortunately I wiped out when I got out of our taxi (a couple of cosmo's and high heels: deadly combination!) so camouflaged my bloody knee under the tablecloth at the club.
Sunday we did Bloomingdale's and the library before heading off to an evening of flamenco followed by a fabulous Spanish dinner (awesome paella & margaritas).

New York

Four beautiful days in New York! It was so nice to not have any snow for one and to see the sun each & every day for two! Day 1 was a walk through Central Park en route to the Museum of the City of New York. That evening we went to see Phantom of the Opera. I thought I was going to fall asleep during the first half but perked right up after intermission.

Noooooooooo

You have to picture me with an Edvard Munch 'Scream' face right now... I am so pissed off to have developed a sore throat this afternoon. Holly is sick; she came home at lunchtime and I can hear her blowing her nose as we speak. I've been soooo lucky; I have not been sick for well over a year and now I'm coming down with a cold just 3 days before leaving for New York. Not fair (whine, bitch & complain)...

So I think I'll go take some more Vitamin C & zinc and go to bed (what and miss Heroes?! - maybe I'll wake up in time)

Jet Setter

I've just come home from a couple of days in Victoria - where there is no snow, but there are pansies, blossoming cherry trees and rhododendrons!! I couldn't believe it. So sad to come back to our 6 inches of snow which still remains in the backyard.

I was at a BCLA Leadership conference, just a one day thing, but it was really good. The speakers were Ken Roberts & Daphne Woods from the Hamilton Public Library. It was a very entertaining presentation, lots of food for thought. Plus I got to meet some interesting people & catch up a bit with a couple of friends from library school. And the food was fantastic!

On Thursday I leave for New York and just discovered that my flight from here is at 6:00 a.m. - what the heck was I thinking?!? I didn't even know the airport was open at that time. I have to phone the airporter bus to reserve a pick-up (I hope it's not too much before 5!) Last time I travelled in the winter - when I went to Puerto Vallarta last January - the bus came at some ungodly hour and got stuck in our driveway. I hope that doesn't happen again.

Mark and I have an action packed few days planned: Friday night we're going to see Phantom; Saturday (Valentines Day) to hear jazz at Lincoln Center; and Sunday we're going to a Flamenco performance. Plus there are associated dinners before or after all the above. When I said to him not to let me shop (since the dollar is so low) he agreed I would be limited to Lindt chocolate and shoes. I'll try to control myself.

I'm also going to try to pack light - even to be able to just have carry-on luggage would be awesome. The weather seems pretty variable but I guess I'll just assume it'll be pretty much like here.

So - only 3 days of work this week. And only 3 next week as well. After that February is pretty much over. And then it'll be spring... at least that's my hope!

Yes we can

What was I thinking? We should have set the TV up in the library and had the live coverage available for people to watch Barack Obama's inauguration today... oh well never mind. I watched, as did many others, before I went to work today.

And also today I finished reading his first book, Dreams From My Father, which was amazingly good. I could not put it down. Imagine - a president who can actually do more than string a few words together, who writes as eloquently as he speaks. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how he thinks of the world. (And I think it would be even better to listen to on audio; he reads it himself!)

Photos can be a bad thing

Last week I brought home several envelopes & boxes of photos that were in the children's librarian's office. These photos were taken by her predecessor who must have spent untold amounts of library money on developing 2 copies of every picture of every child who ever came to a storytime in our library. What the heck for?! (One copy went to the child I assume; the other sat in its envelope for years.) I brought home a grocery bag full of pictures (and that was only a small portion of what was there) and came away with about a 5" pile of pictures that were worth keeping (because they were of staff!). And many of those were duplicates as well. All the rest of them are going in the garbage.

I know, it goes against a scrapbooker's grain to do that, but what else are we going to do with them? It floors me to think of what a waste that was. And of course it ties in with the digital camera requested for that department from our Friends, which I bought last summer, and which has never been used because the shutterbug had already left - and the library already had a camera anyway!

Aaaghh!

Speaking of cameras, my broken one was going to cost $175 to replace the lens so that won't be happening. I'm now shopping for a reasonably priced camera with a good zoom (6x +) for when I go to NYC in three weeks.

Oh and also on the photography topic - in a couple of days some people from our union are coming to town to interview 3 of us (on video) to make some promotional videos, ads, etc. Unfortunately they're not bringing a makeup team...

SAD or happy?

I've been feeling lately like perhaps I suffer a bit from SAD - you know, seasonal affective disorder. Read in the paper the other day that this coming Monday, the day after tomorrow is the worst day (depression-wise) of the winter for those who suffer from depression. So I'm looking forward to Tuesday!

The only time I actually feel happy is when I'm at work - and isn't that weird? I just get far too frustrated at home. At work I have power; at home I have none, or so it feels anyway.

I guess my main problem at the moment is that I spent the afternoon at Costco where it was insanely busy and I should have eaten first, instead of getting a hot dog when I was finished. Oh but that does remind me of one good thing! I lost 2 pounds this week, would like to lose 6 more before I go to New York so I can eat & drink with abandon...

Happy New Year!

Holly and I threw on some clothes over our pyjamas yesterday and ventured outside for awhile. I borrowed Greg's camera and she took her new camcorder. We were lucky not to get either one wet while we threw snow at each other!

I've spent the last 3 days making the Basic Grey Calendar with the kit I bought at Michael's a month or two ago - what a pain in the butt that was! I mean it's a nice looking calendar and pretty much a no-brainer but the stickers that came with it were horrible! The chipboard ones were falling off pretty much as fast as I stuck them on, and the paper ones weren't properly cut so they wouldn't come off the backing. However I prevailed and it's done. Nothing has fallen off it since last night!

I went down to the library today to see if everything was under control. The new carpet in the lab looks great, and they painted my office plus the other areas they were supposed to do. And all the old lab furniture is gone; the new stuff comes Monday morning. However it seems the City guys also took away a piece of furniture by mistake - the little credenza behind the Reference Desk is gone. It holds the printer, phone book & some handy Ref material. I've emailed the City asking them to look for it and bring it back...

So now there's only the weekend left and then it's back to work. Can't say I'm sorry but then I'm just weird that way.