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.

No More Pictures

I made this layout on Christmas night to give to my mother-in-law for Christmas. Fortunately I took a picture of it because the next day at her place (with most of the people in the photo there) my camera died. The lens would not retract and it just kept turning itself off, albeit with the lens open & extended... so there are no pictures of this Christmas, except for a couple I took at home of the cats and the ones I took of the little book I made of the pictures Camille took last Christmas....

Boo hoo. But since I haven't left the house since Boxing Day I have not taken the camera in to be looked at or done anything else. And now I uploaded the rest of the pics on my memory card to my laptop using Picasa and now my Picasa is all screwed up, with pictures showing up in various folders that aren't really there. Oh a random European picture showing in the library of the October 2008 folder for example. Click on it and it turns into a different picture. Grrrrr

Simply having a wonderful Christmas Day

OK it's not that wonderful, but it's been a pleasant day. Holly and I got up at a decent hour - 9:00 maybe, had some hot chocolate, and waited to see how long it'd be before Greg got up. Of course when we went to bed last night around 11:00, he was just getting up from a very late nap to wrap his presents (purchased between 3:30 and 5:00).

Anyway he got up around 10:30 and made a fire & I made him some tea. Then we opened our gifts. I was quite amazed that he even did go shopping and made some very good choices too - I got some RAM for my laptop, a mouse (to treat the solitaire-induced carpal tunnel I've given myself), and some lovely pearl earrings. Holly gave me a ring she made in metal art, an ornament & a wooden carving of a bird. The most fun gift of the day was the laser pointer I gave Greg (who's been talking about the cats being bored). Well they weren't bored with that! Oh Vespers was too cool to be fooled by it but Timmy was hilarious chasing it all around the house.

So some croissants, cheese & scrambled eggs for breakfast and then we lazed around all day. I just woke up from a nap, Greg's out blowing snow and Holly's having a shower.

We have our Christmas dinner tomorrow at Greg's mom's so nothing special for supper today. I finally finished the little chipboard coaster book I made for the nephew & niece and I still have to print a photo or two for my MIL.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

...because it's so damn cold! Otherwise it doesn't look anything like Christmas at my house. This picture is from last year - our tree is not up yet. I was hoping maybe tonight, we'll see.

I did receive 2 Christmas presents in the mail today which was nice. I only sent mine out today (would have been earlier but I had a large brain fart at the post office & mis-addressed the presents, using unreturnable Expresspost envelopes. Two of my friends will be receiving no-occasion parcels at some point this year...)

Greg and I braved the roads and went to Costco today. I had taken the day off not even realizing it was going to be a snow day. On the way home we were driving behind somebody going 30 kmh along Benvoulin so we stopped in at the SPCA. Big mistake. Saw a lovely little dog in there, she was just a sweetie. But I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER DOG! Just give my head a shake & forget about it... I'm such a softie.

Two parties this weekend which is quite remarkable, both with neighbours so no driving involved. I'm looking forward to them although one of them involves people I haven't seen for so long I've forgotten half their names. I'm sure I can fake my way through it...

So I have not finished Christmas shopping, only sent out a very few cards (and they weren't handmade) and don't plan on baking. Holly's birthday is on Tuesday and she hasn't decided what she wants to do. Sometimes I feel bad that we don't 'do' holidays very well.

Oh and I've booked a trip to NYC for mid-February - perhaps my last chance while Mark still has his job at Goldman Sachs... Looking forward to that very much. I'll just have to try not to shop much, with the dollar being as low as it is.

Working llike they did in the old days

Well our library HQ moved to their new building over the weekend and we are all suffering as a result. First of all, we haven't had a van in a week (this is the truck which moves books etc between branches). So no requested items arriving, no new magazines or newspapers that come through HQ.

Then the computer system went down (this was planned) on Sunday and was scheduled to be back up today. However apparently when they went to connect everything, yesterday I guess it was, they blew both the power and the air conditioning to the server room. It was 33 degrees in there this morning. So now the return of the computer system is looking doubtfully at Thursday.

So... we can check things out, but that's it. No checking in. The back check in area is starting to look like a walled city from which there's no escape. Nothing to put away since nothing coming in. No requesting of items, no checking the catalogue, no (gasp!) Internet access.

And yet people are still coming in - which frankly amazes me. It's good to see that people do still come in just to read! And if they bring a laptop they can still access the wireless across the road.

We should have some very tidy shelves by the time this is over, and my office should also be in really good shape. We can get into Word so I've tidied up my files, both physical and electronic. I've been typing memos instead of emailing, and phoning instead of emailing (but not to HQ 'cause their phone system isn't 100%).

And to those people who are looking for specific books, well they're getting answers like

• we have that but there's a waiting list; if you leave your name & barcode we'll request it for you later
• that title doesn't sound familiar but if you leave your name & barcode we'll look it up for you later
• if we had anything on that topic it might be shelved in the ....... area (after looking at the good old hardcopy of Dewey)

Where's a good old-fashioned card catalogue when you need it??

December 1st?!

Holy cow where is the time going? Not that I'm stressed out about Christmas - more looking forward to the time off. Our last open day is December 23rd and then I'm off till January 5th. Plus I have a lot of vacation time left so I might extend those holidays. Although let's face it, what will I do with myself if I'm not at work?

Perhaps I will scrapbook... Last weekend I went with Audrey up to Sunnybrae for a weekend with the Crazy Croppers which was lots of fun. The food (and there was tons of it) was excellent, the company was great, and I actually got some things done!! Not that I brought lots with me, it was really about the right amount. I tried to finish one project which had been hiding in the closet so long I forgot it existed. Plus I did one two-page layout and did most of a little chipboard album for a Christmas present.

Or maybe I'll read the holidays away. I put the rest of the Harry Dresden Files series on hold (kind of Harry Potter becomes a hard-boiled detective), and I have several other things on my list as well. I also took out a couple of DVD's and of course there's no limit now on how often I can get my 2 movies from Zip.ca. I had zipped Quantum Leap because I had such fond memories of it but now I know it was better in the 80's!

And there's always a possibility that I could go to the Coast for a few days but I was there so many times this year I don't have a burning desire to do that. Kelly and I discussed going to Vegas in January but we'll see.

Today I'm home. It's 11:30 and I'm still in bed, feeling quite wiped after a weekend of nowhere near enough sleep and a sore throat that comes & goes on a daily basis. I could easily go back to sleep but will try to save that for this afternoon...

p.s. don't panic - the new photo is from December 28/07. We've only had a tiny bit of snow so far this winter!

Porkbellys

Well the concert last night was a great success! I thought we had a good turnout for something which was so lightly promoted, plus we had competition from the Rockets and Franklin the turtle. The traffic getting into the library parkade was unreal!

The performance started out with Paul Quarrington reading a short story which was very good and had quite a poignant ending. Then he did a couple of songs which were partially spoken, partially sung and then the rest of the band joined him. Stuart, Marty, Chas, Rebecca and Paul were all such nice people too! I thoroughly enjoyed them. The sound was excellent, you could hear them very well throughout the whole library but we had no complaints. I talked to a few people today who were there and they all raved about it. Check out their website for more info!

During the afternoon a fellow came into my office who had seen the sign for the Porkbellys. He said he had a band too and wondered if we'd be interested - a swing band. So who knows, maybe we'll start being a library known for having musical evenings every now & then!

Sshhhhhhh! This is a library!

Tomorrow night (Wednesday the 19th) the library is going to be somewhat noisier than usual. Canadian author Paul Quarrington (he won the Governor General's Award for Fiction back in the 80s for Whale Music, and this year's CBC Canada Reads, plus the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, for King Leary) belongs to a band called Porkbelly Futures. Kind of bluesy, kind of country; I've been listening to their first CD in the car lately. Particularly fond of "Fictional World" (..."Michael Ondaatje has stolen my girl...")

They are playing at the Minstrel Cafe on Thursday night and phoned me a few weeks ago to see if we'd be interested in them doing something at the library. Of course I said yes so tomorrow night we're having a "Words and Music" evening: the Porkbellys plus readings from Paul. I'm not putting them in the somewhat squalid meeting room, but rather they'll be playing in the library proper, and I think it should be fantastic!

So anyone who's around, you should come on down! Show starts at 7:00. No shushing allowed.

Check out their website at http://www.porkbellys.com

This 'n That

This little pink fish was something that was in my bedroom when I was a baby. I think my Mom kept cotton balls or something in it. Anyway a few years ago its tail broke off and rather than glue it back together then, while it would still look decent, I left it until there was no nice way to do it. So I decided to just stick the tail back on, take a photo of it, and throw it away. gasp! That is just so not me. But you can't hang onto things forever and let's face it, fishy had been hiding in a cupboard for a very long time! This way I can scrap it - one day anyway...




























It was such a beautiful day today - after I got home from various errands, etc. I played out in the backyard with the kitties. Vespers (the orange one) and Timmy are soooo happy these days. Not only has Myla gone, but Mister Pants, the mean (but cute) cat who lived next door has been evicted with his owners. So they're a couple of happy cats, that's for sure.

My laptop has been so incredibly slow for a long time. Greg has tried to clean it up for me but nothing was helping. So a couple of days ago I switched to Firefox and that definitely has helped. Unfortunately all the fonts on all the sites are kind of odd looking - just not as substantial as they were in Explorer. I don't know how to fix it so I'll just have to get used to it instead.

Guess what?! I had finally taken Holly's and my passport renewals in to the government office on September 29th and today I received my new passport! Not quite 3 weeks - I think that's pretty darn good. Holly's has not come yet but I think it won't be long. And I'm the one who wants to go somewhere anyway. Since Mark doesn't seem to think he'll be employed at Goldman Sachs for much longer, or indeed possibly still in NYC, I thought I'd go for one last visit. I've just been searching for airfares and I'm not sure whether they'll go up or down in the next few weeks. Air Canada has a seat sale on right now. I compared that price with flying to Seattle and then from there but that route actually turns out to be more expensive. And of course the Canadian dollar is so low now it's not a good time to go to the U.S.

My plan was to go for American Thanksgiving but I've just realized we're having our decorating party at work on the 28th. Does it matter? I'll have to think about it. If I went the following week I could see the Christmas Tree light-up at Rockefeller Center instead.

We did not have a Thanksgiving dinner ourselves last week. Instead Barb will be cooking the turkey on the 26th when more people are able to come over. What did happen that weekend was that my old friend Naveen was in town. He and I used to work together, oh 25-28 years ago! And he went to high school with my friend Kelly so we always had kind of a double connection. Thanks to Facebook, we were able to concoct a plan to meet for coffee last Sunday morning at the Grand and do a lot of talking in one hour. It was a great visit; he's an easy guy to talk to still.

Work is still going really well although with the colder weather coming on I've had to wake up a few people. It's meeting season now and I've got a few of those in the next 2 weeks. All fun though. I'm still in shock at how much I'm enjoying it!

OK that's enough blathering - time to find some dinner...