Jewish Christmas

I flew back to Philadelphia on Sunday, and Carl and Micaela were really sweet to pick me up from the airport. We dropped my bags (plural - I had to buy new luggage to hold all my stuff. Typical.) at my place and then headed directly into Chinatown for dinner.

Here are Carl and Micaela enjoying their first ever Jewish Christmas at Lee How Fook, entirely surrounded by a restaurant full of Jews celebrating Christmas the way we know best-dinner at one of the only places open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Winter in Edmonton

I've been away for a while - actually I'm still away. I flew up to Edmonton for my mom's surprise birthday party last week and have been here ever since. I couldn't talk about it because mom actually reads my blog (at least, she'd better), and it would ruin the surprise that my sister and dad and I had been keeping secret for three months. Well, no need to worry about that - dad spilled all the beans the day before the party (just because mom ended up in Emergency on Saturday, humph). So the party wasn't a huge surprise, but it was fun. Happy birthday, mom!

I've been crazy busy running around the city meeting up with friends this week. I did go to West Edmonton Mall today for the sole purpose of watching all the frantic Christmas shoppers and laughing at them, but I was disappointed that the mall was relatively empty. I guess people were well prepared for gift-giving this year. Darn.

And the wonderful thing is that it has been freakishly warm in Edmonton this week. It's been above freezing for the whole week and I did not need to break out the long underwear once. Nor did I have to do up my coat to go outside for most of the week.

I fly home bright and early tomorrow morning and land in time to go to Chinatown with Carl and Micaela for Jewish Christmas (dinner at Lee How Fook). What are the odds that the Tim Hortons in the airport will be open at 6 am tomorrow morning so I can get a box of Timbits to bring home with me?

Roomba pet!

You know how I have a Roomba? And how all my friends think it's really cool and tease me about it being my pet substitute? Well, now I can get even closer to anthropomorphism with Roombud, which sells cute little costumes for the Roomba



And, I just found out that there is also a Scooba, which is a floor-washing robot to go along with my vacuuming robot.

Dance like you've never danced before!

I really don't like dancing. I'm very self-conscious about the fact that I look pretty stupid on the dance floor. Give me choreography and I can fake it pretty well, but club dancing is right out.

But now I can learn how to dance properly. This might all the difference. Well, not really, but it's hilarious to watch. Check it out.

Luna Bar Maggot update

As I wrote last week, I found a live maggot in my daily Luna Bar last week. I sat down and emailed what happened to the Luna Bar people:

I took a Luna bar to work today for breakfast (as I do every day). Today, however, I had a bit of a shock. I opened the bar and started eating it. I looked down at the bar after about two bites, and notices a crumb (I thought) moving. Turns out it was a small maggot or something- quite alive and happily living in the bar. It looked like the bar was sealed before I opened it, so I have no idea where it came from. Needless to say it was a pretty unpleasant experience.

I received a response from one of their customer service guys today:

Hi Dena,

Thanks for taking the time to contact us about your unpleasant experience with finding bugs in your Lemon Zest Luna Bar. I am so sorry that this happened to you and apologize for your discomfort. There is a simple explanation for what has occurred with your Luna Bar. What you discovered is an Indian Meal Moth. I assure you that while Indian Meal Moths are definitely unappetizing, they are not harmful to ingest, and do not become parasites.

These moths are pantry pests that are attracted to grains, dried fruits, chocolate, nuts, cardboard, birdseed and other preservative-free foods. The moths seek out food sources when they are ready to lay their eggs and the larvae are so tiny they can enter sealed packaging though microscopic pores and weaknesses. This can occur at any point in the distribution chain.

We do not know where the infestation occurred, but we are confident that the Indian Meal Moths you encountered did not originate in our warehouse or bakery. Our warehouse and bakery are kept scrupulously clean, and both are equipped with pheromone traps, which are checked on a daily basis. Additionally, after the Luna Bars are baked, each bar is sealed in a Mylar wrapper.

Unfortunately, as you found, the moth larvae can occasionally find their way through the packaging. Of the millions of Luna Bars we’ve sold in the past year, moths affect a very small percentage. While this doesn’t make finding them in your bar any less unsettling, I wanted to assure you that it is not a common experience.

I hope that this information will help to ease your concern. I would like to send you a box of fresh-from-the-bakery Lemon Zest Luna Bars as our sincere apology for this incident.

If you have any other problems or questions in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me at jhantman@clifbar.com or at (800) 884-5254, ext. 105. Thank you for your understanding; we appreciate your business.

Take care,
Jeff - Consumer Service
www.clifbar.com

Book of the Day

I started a new book yesterday: Irma: Memoirs of a Vampire Gone Dry, by Laine Jacob.



I'm quite enjoying it so far. I thought it would be chick-litty, but it's really more "literary" than I expected.

First Snow!

December 4, and we had our first snowfall of the winter!



Just snowy enough to realize that winter is here and to melt all over the place and make it wet and slippy to walk on. It still doesn't get below freezing in the daytime yet, but it's a beginning.

Survivor Philadelphia

It's the disgusting food challenge!

I usually have a Luna Bar for breakfast every morning. This morning I took a slightly squished LemonZest bar. Here come the disgusting part. I started eating it this morning and then looked down at the bar. There was a little live maggot on the bar! Ew! Ew!

Needless to say the bar went into the trash, and I had potato chips for breakfast instead.

Thanksgiving

In honour of it being the day after Thanksgiving, here is a look at one of the projects that the Children's Librarian at one of the branches did with her kids:




Apple Turkey!

Materialism rocks!

I have now found my favourite shoe store. I was at Franklin Mills on Sunday and bought the cutest boots in the world (at least for now).

The Clarks/Bostonian Outlet sells Clarks (and it's sub-brands) at about 50% less than list price. They're still expensive, but oh so worth it. Clarks are the most comfortable shoes I've worn. I bought a couple of sandals at the Clarks store in Scotland, and they were the first sandals that I have bought that I have not had to break in. From now on, I'm buying Clarks (or Merrells) Cute AND Comfy! A great way to follow my father's rule: Always wear comfortable shoes.

Unintentionally funny book cover of the day

Um, is it about a handyman who can't reach the ceiling? Possibly his shirt is stuck up there.

No! It's about some pro wrestler. Check out the leather pants - not the most practical attire for a handyman. Wouldn't want to spill paint on those puppies (or cows, whatever).

Actually, I'd probably want to read the book more if it was about a handyman.

Oooh, Shiny!

A group of us went for drinks and barbeque the other night, which is not the important part of the story. Liz and I were offered rides home, and we were walking through the parking garage to the car when Ernestine noticed a really classy car. We looked closer and realized it was a Rolls Royce. I have never seen a Rolls in person, so it was really cool. It was a Silver Spur, and it looked like the passanger door was actually monogrammed (I know some car afficianado will now tell me that that's some standard Rolls thing, but I was impressed). Talk about conspicuous consumption.

New addition to my reading list

I just picked up the new book by Lynne Truss. She's the author of Eats, shoots, and leaves - which is supposed to be a really good an funny book on grammar (which I haven't read, but Lucie would probably encourage me to do so). Her new one is called Talk to the hand: the utter bloody rudeness of the world today, or six good reasons to stay home and bolt the door.



UPDATE

I finished the book last night (Monday) and spent the rest of the evening being hyper-polite to everyone. Cute book, easy and fast to read. I like her writing style. She is very self-deprecating and funny.

Cool stuff being made

My dad loves going on tours of factories. He's been to paper factories, cement factories, a strip mine, a shellfish factory, a hydroponic tomato factory, and tons of others. In honour of my dad, and all the other mechano-geeks out there, here's a great website that has videos of things being made.

Want to see an aluminium can being made?

How about Campbell's Potato Soup?

Sit back and enjoy the show!

Strike, Day 7

No more strike! Just as I was beginning to enjoy my walk into work, SEPTA and the unions settled and I can go back to being a lazy bus rider. Yay, I guess.

The end of a season

You know it is fall when the fruit carts pack up for the season. My fruit girls near the library left last month, and I believe that today was the last day for the fruit salad and smoothie guy down on JFK Boulevard. In honour of this sad occasion, I trekked down to the cart to get my last strawberry/banana/pineapple smoothie of the year.


Goodbye, beloved smoothies and fruit salad. I will try to eat healthily during the cold and bitter winter months, but I can't guarantee anything.

Strike, Day 3,4, and 5

As promised, I have been walking too and from work for the past few days. It's actually a really nice walk in - Rachel and I meet up at Broad St and walk up together, so I have a very chatty walking buddy. It takes about 45 minutes, I get in at the same time as the shuttle from hell, and it's a much nicer experience. On the way home I walk with Micaela, and occasionally (ok, once) her boyfriend picks us up halfway home bearing Godiva chocolate. Yum.

Yesterday I ended going up to a branch in North Philly to help weed, and on the way back a drive that usually takes 20-25 minutes took about an hour due to the massive amount of traffic. Because so many people are driving instead of taking the bus, the whole city gets completely backed up. Walking is easily faster than driving in Center City.

And it's going up to 23 this weekend! I must plan outdoorsy things to do.

Strike, Day 2

My well intentioned plans to walk to work every morning fell by the wayside today when I decided to take the library shuttle in to work. Of course, you're now picturing a van or a bus or something, right? Well, the library shuttle is neither of those things. It is one of the library delivery trucks. When it pulled up to the corner I was waiting on, the driver hopped out and went 'round back to open the door. By door, I mean the sliding door on the back of delivery trucks. Because it's a delivery truck. There was a wooden plank bench along each side of the interior. We all sat along the sides, laughing about how bad it was. Then the truck started moving. This thing had no shocks - it was like taking a very fast wooden wagon ride over cobblestones, and with every sudden stop and start, we were thrown about the back as there was nothing to hold on to. At least there was some light because the roof was translucent. It felt like a prisoner transport. It's really nice that the library is providing shuttle service, but I think I'm done with it.

I believe that tomorrow I will walk to work. I'm pretty sure it will take about the same amount of time, and be much more comfortable.

These boots were made for walking

SEPTA has gone on strike as of 12:01 this morning, so now I will be walking the 45 minutes to and from work for the forseeable future. It's not that bad, as I typically walk home anyways, but I am a lazy girl and like taking the bus in the mornings. I'm sure all this extra walking will be good for me, as long as the weather doesn't get crappy. This week it's gotten nice again, so that's good. I, at least, have the option of walking, which is so much better than poeple who are now stranded without bus or subway service.

The last strike here was in 1998 and lasted 40 days. Hopefully this won't last as long.

Important invention honoured

My friend Liz can sleep through anything. That's a good thing, when it means that she can sleep through sirens and loud drunk people outside her window. It's not such a good thing when it means that she sleeps through her alarm clock.

A few months ago I found Clocky, an alarm clock that hides from you so you have to get out of bed to find it and silence it. This would be perfect for Liz!



This month the creator of Clocky, Gauri Nanda, won an Ig Nobel Award in Economics.

From the Ig Nobel website:

ECONOMICS: Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Gauri Nanda

Four Blanket Night, Part 2

Well, there was no heat after work on Thursday, even though the landlord had been by to bleed the radiators. My upstairs neighbor was freezing too. I called again yesterday morning, and we finally discovered that it wasn't a bleeding problem, but the fact that the pilot light on the hot water heaters in the basement had blown out sometime over the summer. Easily fixed, so now it is toasty warm! Yay!

Four blanket night

It's cold down here! For the third winter in a row my radiators need to be bled, and I still don't know how to do it. This means that I have no heat in the apartment, even though my thermostat is set to 75 (I have no idea what that is in Celsius, but it's nice and warm). I talked to my landlord on Sunday about it and he is supposed to come in today or tomorrow, but until then it's been downright chilly in my apartment.

I come home from work and put on my wooly robe and fuzzy slippers and wrap myself in an afghan (blanket, not nationality). I light candles and pretend that they are giving off heat. Last night I put yet another blanket on my bed, bringing the total up to four. I'm practically living in my flannel jammies. And it hasn't even dropped below freezing - my place was 14 degrees Celsius this morning.

Hopefully I will have blessed, blessed heat when I get home tonight.

Skinny equals happy

A few weeks back my friends adopted a new catchphrase. It came about because Karen caught her boyfriend Steve admiring his behind in the mirror, thrilled that he'd been losing weight. He delightedly proclaimed that "Skinny equals happy!"

And it has been a happy, happy week in skinny world. All the girls will get it
(and Steve). I've been a size 10 for years. As long as I can remember, I've been a 10. A couple of weeks ago I went shopping for jeans at the GAP because they were having a great sale. I think they are being all screwy with their sizing all of a sudden, because now I fit quite comfortable into a size 8. Not only that, but I went shopping today for some more jeans (because I'm bored of my clothes and am doing a wardrobe purge and replace), and I fit into a size 6! I know that I haven't lost that much weight, if any, so this must be some "let's make the women feel good about their weight and change all the sizes" thing, but hey, I just bought a jeans in size 6!! Hee!

And on that note, take a look at an open letter to the totally impractical size chart for women, which Judy blogged a few days ago and I'm shamelessly stealing.

This one is for the librarians

The reason I haven't posted in a few days is because on Tuesday we switched over from DRA to Sirsi, so the past three days have been a combination of staff training (as I am evidently the department expert on everything from Sirsi to making a printer work), damage control, soothing patrons, and catching up on a two month backlog of processing.
In fairness I can say that Sirsi does not suck as much as I was dreading. I don't understand, however, why I could not for the life of me find a copy of Bernard Corwell's "The Last Kingdom" on cd in Workflows, but it popped up no problem on the web catalog. I had to get the database control number from the web catalog, and then plug that back into Workflows to find it. And there are other irritants, but hey, we can check in and check out and put things on hold, so it's a start.

Nature, it's a wonderful thing - especially if you can eat it.

I went apple picking this morning. The last time I did this I was knee high to a grasshopper, so I don't remember anything about it (although there are pictures of me in a very fetching apple-picking outfit). This time a group of us drove out to Media (yes, it's a place) and picked a bushel of apples (four different kinds). We even had a little red cart to pull our boxes of apples along in.

Of course, none of us brought a real camera along, but my cell phone has a crappy-ass 640x480 camera.


Look, I'm communing with nature!

The orchard also has a pumpkin patch, and a store where I bought peach butter and strawberry-rhubarb butter and a huge bread stuffed with sausage and peppers and cheese and onions (lunch for the next to days). And there were fried mushrooms and apple-cider doughnuts and soft pretzels and caramel-chocolate covered apples.

And when we finished Micaela and I went to a mall and bought pretty new clothes.

It was a very good day.

Yup, it was good!

Saw Serenity last night - and yes, it was worth the anticipation. So good!

Fall!

Yes, today is the official first day of fall in my mind. I put on a sweater AND a jacket this morning before leaving the house. Yay!

Also, I'm going to Serenity tonight, so my joy is unbounded.

I'm looking for a book, it's got a red cover...

All librarians and bookstore clerks probably have had to deal with the person who comes in to find a book and all they can tell you is the cover colour. If it hasn't happened to you, I'm sure you've at least hear stories about it.



Last year, San Francisco's Adobe Bookshop was the place to be for these colour seekers. For one week it shelved all its stock according to colour. Check out the NPR interview on the project.

Shiny!

No, I don't mean the new movie Serenity (although if you got that, I'm sure I'll see you in line on Friday)

I mean Shiny Shiny: a girl's guide to gadgets. I like going there to see what's the prettiest of the new tech toys. Sometimes it takes a bit more that megapixels and gigabytes, it takes a nifty silver/copper finish or a mink iPod case. Sometimes I'm just shallow that way.

First there was Zork, now there's Hamlet

Once you've taken the Hamlet test, what else can you do but play the Hamlet text-based adventure game?

I remember playing text-based games like Zork (along with Lemonade Stand and Eliza) on my Apple IIe (yes, evidently I'm old now).

I always sucked at all computer games as I have a woeful lack of game logic. I've needed the cheat guides to get me through every adventure game I've ever tried. King's Quest, Starship Titanic, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest - if I've tried to play them, I've failed miserably at it unless I had step-by-step directions telling me to "go there and pick up this, dummy!" Even then, I wasn't so good. No wonder I've stopped playing.

**UPDATE**
It looks like the Hamlet game is gone for now - bandwidth exceeded. Hopefully it will come back soon so I can use such useful text-adventure commands such as "take skull" and "commit incest"

Interesting book

I was busy going through some new books yesterday, and I ran across this one:



Heavy words, lightly thrown: the reason behind the rhyme
The seamy and quirky stories behind favorite nursery rhymes
by Chris Roberts

It looks like fun - I shall be adding it to my "to be read" list

Is it too soon...?

Katrina: joke du jour

Q: What's George Bush's position on Roe v. Wade?
A: He really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.

From the fine folks at boingboing

Rex Libris

As I am ever on the quest to find cool librarian stuff, I must report that there is now an action adventure comic book called Rex Libris. Rex is a public librarian who travels across space and time to retrieve unreturned library books and unpaid fines.

I am a muse

My friend Jen found a really cool comic strip generator online. Cool in the sense that I can see how other people could make some funny stuff, but I'm way too creatively stunted to make anything remotely enjoyable. Good thing Jen is here. She made a little strip inspired by my frustration in finding a good ringtone for my new cellphone.


And no, I did not end up with Vanilla Ice as my ringtone. I have the theme to Blackadder (although I did try the Dr Who ringtone first).

Whee!

Working in a library rocks - I just got a copy of Terry Pratchett's new book 4 days before it is due to be released. I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Personal library fun!

Do you have a whole collection of books that are all higgely-piggely? Do you long for some sense of order? Now you can catalogue your books online using the Library of Congress style.

Library Thing allows you to catalogue up to 200 books for free. If you have more books than that, you can buy a $10 lifetime membership and catalogue unlimited books. And your library will be viewable online (or not, if you don't want it to be).

I'm so doing this just for the sheer glee I feel organizing things. Yes, although I might seem like a laid-back, messy person, there is a small kernel of obsessive organization lurking deep in my psyche.

*UPDATE*
I've got a pretty good start on my library now (because I've been entering books like a madwoman all evening). I've put a link on the sidebar. Check it out!

Hurricane Katrina Volunteering

If you want to more than donate money to the Red Cross and you live too far away to get down and pitch in, you can help another way. Volunteers are needed to help compile missing person posts from a variety of sources in one database. Just head on over to the PeopleFinder wiki

We lend out books, movies, and music already. What's next?

For some people, it's not enough to be able to take out books and movies and music and such from the library. They want something more, dammit! Well, how about people?

A library in Holland is lending out people to library patrons. Need an alcoholic? A homeless person? How about a homosexual? Yes, all these and more are available at the library in Almelo!

Pet Peeve #234

I just finished reading a trilogy of romances by Kathy Love, and I finally put my finger on why I was a bit irritated by them. The story was great, I liked the humour, the plot, and the characters, but there was something a bit off about the dialogue. It's because the author did not use many contractions at all while writing the dialogue. Now, I don't know if this was the author or the editor who decided that her characters don't say "I'm" or I've" or "haven't", but it is weird to read dialogue that is completely lacking in those small idioms.

Online quiz fun!

Hey, take the The Ultimate Canadian Test and see if you can beat me! I scored 90 Canada speak and 87 Canadianess. And I got 30 out of 30 questions right! Yay me!

Stuff for sale

Those of you who know me know that I get bored with what I own pretty fast. Usually rearranging the furniture makes eveything better, but right now I really want to get some new stuff. In order to do so, I have to clear out some old stuff first.

First up: my really nice industrial looking steel baker's rack



If you want it, it's $50 bucks and you get to cart it out of my place.

Contact me for more details or if you're interested.





**UPDATE**
Sold to an extremely tall hippie guy with poor personal hygiene. Yay craigslist!

Where's the lego section?

Quickies:

I had a guy come in to the library today and ask me quite earnestly where our lego collection was. I began to point him towards where we keep our books on games and toys, then realized that he was looking for the legal section.
..........................
Someone in the library smells. really. bad. Like when you walk down a street and the aroma of stale (and fresh) urine reaches out from an alley or corner and knocks you back a step. It's like that.
..........................

Just because they are so cute...

hedgehog babies!

Just when you thought it was safe to return to the lab

Every once in a while you read something that makes you laugh so hard that you scare the people in the next office. I'm sure that Newton would agree...

Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Go to the Fringe!

If you're in Edmonton, go to the Fringe. And if you haven't already on the basis of my previous post, go to "No Entry" at the Cosmopolitan Music Society Venue.

You have 5 more performances to go:
Today - Tuesday, August 23: 4:30pm
Thursday, August 25: 1:45pm
Friday, August 26: 9:30pm
Saturday, August 27: noon
Sunday, August 28: 8:15pm

I hear they got a sold-out audience for their first show. Yay them!

Pledge-a-Picket

There is a Planned Parenthood Clinic near me, and every weekend there are picketers outside. I get completely disgusted when I walk by the building and see them and now I can twist it so they actually benefit Planned Parenthood!

Here's the text of a letter I recieved today:
_______________________________________________________
Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania

Familiar with the picketers outside our Locust Street health center?
Wish you could raise your voice against theirs?
By joining our Pledge-A-Picket campaign, you can!

Every time protesters gather outside of our Locust Street health center, our patients face verbal attacks from them. They see graphic signs meant to confuse and intimidate. They are sometimes blocked from entering the building and occasionally they are videotaped. They are offered anti-choice propaganda and free rides to the closest "crisis pregnancy center."
Staff and volunteers are also seen as targets. We are called murderers, are lectured to about committing sins, and are told we will pay the "ultimate price" for our actions.
You can stand with others in the community against these acts of intimidation and harassment.

Here's how it works: You decide on the amount you would like to pledge for each protester (minimum 10¢). When protesters show up on our sidewalks, Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania will count and record their number each day from October 1 through November 30, 2005. We will place a sign outside the health center that tracks pledges and makes protesters -fully aware that their actions are benefiting PPSP. At the end of the two-month campaign, we will send you an update on protest activities and a pledge reminder.

Example:
If you pledge 30¢ per protester, and PPSP has 100 protesters in October and 160 pro¬testers in November, your donation would be $78 for the entire two-month campaign.
Similar to sponsoring a runner in a charity marathon, your pledge total can be capped at a pre-set amount, if desired.

Please complete the enclosed form and mail it back to PPSP in the return envelope. Questions? Contact us at pledgeapicket@ppsp.org
______________________________________________________
I'm going to pledge, and if you want to do so as well, here's a link to the pledge site. They have an adobe version of the form that you can print out and mail in.

Planned Parenthood Pledge-a-Picket site

Send your pledges to:

Pledge a Picket
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania
1144 Locust St
Philadelphia, PA 19107-6734

What will I be when I grow up?

I know when I was little I dreamed of being a ballerina, an astronaut, an actress, and a bus driver (really - I would have loved to be a bus driver. Don't ask). Hmmm, I wonder what my choices were in the good old days of the sixties...

Check out these great images from What Shall I Be? The Exciting Game of Career Girls.

Shout out!

My erstwhile friend in Edmonton managed to get a Dena mention in way before I even made it back to the sunny South. And then I was lazy and neglected to post anything about my trip, Heritage Days, or Stan's amazing ability to give an endless head rub. But I'm the first to put a link to his blog on my site, so there.

And if you want to see Stan in person, he and a bunch of my friends are involved in a great show called No Entry at the Edmonton Fringe this month.

I was invited to a rehearsal of the show by the playwright and director Dave Owen. Unfortunately I didn't see the last scene due to the fact that it got late and we all wanted pizza anad beer, but I did get to read the end (thanks, Linda). This is one funny play!

It's at the Cosmopolitan Music Society, tix are $10, and the showtimes are:

Sunday, August 21: 4:30pm
Tuesday, August 23: 4:30pm
Thursday, August 25: 1:45pm
Friday, August 26: 9:30pm
Saturday, August 27: noon
Sunday, August 28: 8:15pm

Argh!

Right, I'm going to bitch now.

I haven't had hot water in the apartment for two days. Good thing it's an oven outside and the thought of a hot shower is repulsive.

I stayed up really late (or disgustingly early, depending on your point of view) last night expecting to be able to sleep in today. I woke up in a puddle of sweat because the power had gone off sometime during the wee hours and I had no more air conditioning. And it's like 35 degrees (celsius) in my home. I had no power until the afternoon. So I've been tired and cranky and hot for most of the day.

To end on a lighter note, though, the power's back, my hot water heater is working again (until it breaks down again, probably tomorrow) and I found a cartoon that made me smile:

After a long silence

It's been over a week and I've been lazy...I mean really really busy. So it's been a while since I've gotten on the computer. Plus, with the godawful heat in Phiily, I've been leaving my home computer turned off most of the time. If you're waiting for me to send you pictures, hang tight - I will be doing so soon(probably over the weekend, but I can't say for sure, I might again be lazy...I mean really really busy).

In the meanwhile, enjoy this series of photos that was emailed to me by a colleague:

Around the World in Seven Pictures

Only in China


Only in Hawaii


Only in India


Only in Mexico


Only in Texas


Only in Thailand


And finally...


Only in America

Reference Desk Fun

Today a patron came up to the desk with a memoir of a girl during the holocaust and asked if the book was short stories or a novel. I looked at the book and told her it was a memoir, neither a short stories nor a novel.
She said - but there are short sections in the book.
I said - Yes, it looks like it there are short essays or vignettes about her life during the holocaust in this book
- But are they short stories?
- No, short stories are fiction and this is non-fiction
- Short stories are sometimes non-fiction
- Actually, short stories are by definition fiction
- I don't agree with you, are these short stories?
- No, it is a memoir, which is written in chapter length vignettes
- Short stories can be non-fiction, you're wrong
- No, short stories are fiction. Essays and such can be non-fiction
- I don't agree, you're wrong (sneer)
- Okay, well at the library we do not classify short stories as non-fiction. If it is a short story, we put it in the short story fiction section.
- You're wrong, short stories can be either fiction or non-fiction

What can you do? I gave her a shrug and a smile and sent her on her way with her book.

30 minutes later the patron came back asking where she could get a definition of a short story. I pull up definitions for her, read them all out, and she says, "so the word fiction is in all the definitions?"
- Yes, it is.
- Oh.

iPod - the next generation

Wow, after the breathtaking step backwards that was the iPod Shuffle, what will they think of next?

How about the iPod Flea?

The secret life of librarians

Harry Potter, ad infinitum

Well, the new Harry Potter book was released this weekend. I haven't read it yet (my copy is on hold at the library) but supposedly someone dies in it.

In honour of this, Guardian Unlimited randomly picked Dumbledore as the victim du jour and ran a contest to write Dumbledore's death scene in the style of various authors.

The contest is closed now, but the winner and a selection of the best entries are available online. Check them out and get your Harry Potter fix!

In sickness and in health...

According to the doctor, I do not have T.B.!

The joys of Philly - crazy evangelicals, people spitting on the sidewalk, and exposure to tuberculosis.

Remind me again why I live here?

Oh yeah, because of people like this:

Meet my fruit girls - Tracy and Cindy - who run my local fruit salad truck. They are my saving grace from spring to fall, pretty much my sole means of getting my daily fruit intake. If you haven't seen what they serve, take a look at my earlier post here

I love my Tivo...

...and so does Opus.

How much of a Hamlet are you?

Check out this quiz and find out how much of a Hamlet you are (or are you a Fortinbras?)

After that, if you haven't already discovered the joys of Jasper Fforde's books, head off to a library and pick up "The Eyre Affair" and get hooked on a great series for the summer!

Contagious

You know how seeing someone else yawn will make you yawn as well?

Let's see if it works via the internet!

Check out Emilie's Don't Yawn Game

Brief Encounters

Dialogue on the way to work this morning on the bus between me and a guy in a white suit, candycane striped red and white shirt, and a polkadot bowtie, who was sitting behind me:

Him: What time is it?
Me: 9:35
Him: Is it too late?
Me: Too late for what?
Him: Too late to depend on god?
Me: ... [crickets chirping]

And then I slowly turned away and wished I had a book to read or music to listen to. Thankfully he got off soon afterwards.

Sigh.

Happy Canada Day

It's that time of year again, when I bring my mini Canadian flag to work and wave it about the office. Thanks to Liz who called me at 7:49 this morning to remind me of the holiday!

I've been away for the past little while, attending the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. What a nice city (and I discovered Marshall's)

Highlights:

- being bumped off the flight to Chicago and getting a free roundtrip ticket for anywhere in the US and Canada - which somewhat alleviates the torture of being trapped on a plane sitting on the tarmac with no air-conditioning for two and a half hours on the trip back

- speaking to a very full, very big room about Generation X management styles, in the process freaking myself out because I do fit pretty much every stereotype of the group

- Seeing an omnimax film at the Museum of Science and Industry that was, I think, supposed to be about the human body and how it works and ended up being a very long pro-life commercial. I really don't need to see a Stepford wife lying on a couch caressing here barely-there bulge with a wistful smile on her face in full IMAX glory. The images of the inside of a person's stomach were cool, though.

- getting a Jane Austen bobblehead doll, an unabridged Laurell Hamilton novel on mp3 (and chatting with her husband), various other exhibit freebies, and so many free books that I had to ship them back to myself

- Wandering through the Field Museum and sneaking into exhibits that were closed (in our defense, we were not the only ones doing it), then topping the evening off with make-your-own ice cream sundaes

-watching Karen go crazy over the pressed penny machines - it's good she has a cheap obsession

- Riding the ferris wheel at Navy Pier and taking the river cruise architectural tour

Last but not least: 4 girls, 1 tiny hotel room, 1 even tinier bathroom, NO BLOODSHED!!

Chicago!

Conference time - I'm in Chicago with very little sleep and I keep forgetting to eat, there's so much stuff to do. I'm just about to go off and collect some more free stuff from exhibitors and then sit at a recruitment table and tell people how much they want to work for my library system. Then off to two party/receptions tonight.

Having a blast, wish you were here :)

Hiding in plain site

Sometimes the world can just get to you. It's nice to be able to lock yourself in your room and not come out for a while. Now you don't have to have a room to go to, you can bring your room with you. When you need a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, just disappear completely in your own little box.

Geeky fan moment

Bruce Campbell was at the library tonight. I was working, so I didn't get a chance to actually hear him talk, but I did snap a really crappy shot of him signing books on my way back from the washroom. There were about 400 people waiting for an autograph, so I couldn't get too close. Bruce is the splotch in dark blue posing with some other fans for someone else with a camera.

Shopping!

This has been a shopping weekend. First off I went to Franklin Mills with Liz and Sally on Saturday. We'd been joking that it was good thing that the stores were open 'til 9:30, but we never expected to stay that long. Well, I got home a bit before 11 pm. What a great mall. I believe that it is my favourite mall in the States so far. Lots of store, many of them outlets so they are really cheap. Plus they have a nice H&M, which is great - the one in Center City seems to specialize exclusively in urban slutwear. The suburban ones have a lot of great career-type clothes. There was much shopping, along with a long overdue Orange Julius break. Liz has been craving Orange Julius for a month or so.

I have also decided that the fact that I work late on Mondays is a very dangerous thing. I walk to work through some prime shopping territory and I can't help but window shop, which invariably leads to actual shopping. Today I walked in to work with a cute pink halter top and an amazingly marked down linen dress. I also did some shopping for my sister, who puts in Bath and Body Works requests whenever I'm about to fly home.

Variations on a theme

So, earlier this week I posted a great avocado tzatziki recipe. I got a call from my friend Liz tonight. She didn't have all the ingredients for it, so made some modifications. I made her version for dinner, and it's very yummy as well.

What she did:

double recipe
Instead of all lemon juice, use 1/2 lemon juice, 1/2 lime juice
cut all spices except salt and garlic (I still didn't put any salt in)
add 1 tsp curry powder (we both used madras curry powder)
She also used yoghurt instead of sour cream, like I did.

It's very good - I actually made 1/2 of her recipe as I only had one avocado left. The original recipe says it serves 8. Ha! It serves 3 at the most the way I eat it.

Okay, enough about food. Tomorrow I'm going to Franklin Mills, evidently the mecca of outlet shopping in Philadelphia. Everyone I talk to seems aghast that I've been in the city so long and haven't made it up there yet. Apparently it's like coming to Philly and not eating a cheesesteak.

Recipe sharing time

You know, I try not to be that person who sees a deal in the grocery store and buys whatever it is even though they have no idea what to do with it, but a week or so ago I was in Trader Joe's and found 4 avocados for really cheap. I usually never eat avocados at home. The only recipe I know that uses them is guacamole. But oh, how I craved those avocados. So of course I bought them, and they have been sitting in my fridge since then waiting for me to figure out what to do with them.

Well, yesterday I found a recipe for avocado tzatziki on allrecipes.com. I love tzatziki - the cucumber, the garlic (oh, the garlic) - yum! So I decided to try it and it was wonderful. Sally (who very kindly gave me fresh mint when I couldn't find it at three different grocery stores) came over and really liked it too.

Here it is (I used fat-free yoghurt instead of sour cream and didn't add any salt):

AVOCADO TZATZIKI

INGREDIENTS:

1 large avocado, peeled and pitted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemons, juiced
1/4 cup sour cream (optional)
1/2 cup chopped seeded cucumber
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, combine the avocado, garlic, lemon juice, sour cream and cucumber. Mash with a fork until smooth. If your avocado is not quite ripe enough, you may wish to use a food processor. Season with red pepper flakes, cilantro, mint, salt and pepper, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

The best t-shirt in the world!

I'm a devoted reader. Have been all my life. But until now I just couldn't find the right piece of apparel to announce to the world exactly how reading has informed my development and made me the woman I am today.

Now that all changes.

Introducing my new t-shirt: succinct, pithy, captures the essence of who I am, and most important - damn cute!



I'm so wearing this to work tomorrow!

I don't even like Star Wars that much, but...

How funny is this?


(no Jen, it's not an olive)

Science for your kitchen

Here's a handy guide for you, a periodic table of condiments.

Helpful and funny!

This is scary funny

Some guy decided to see if people actually check the signatures on the back of credit cards. Suprisingly (or not) many don't. What's really crazy about his whole project is how far from a signiture he was able to write on the receipt and still get away with it.

Check it out

Much better than writing your name on your food!

Ben and Jerry's has come out with a nifty new device called the Pint-Lock that with keep marauding midnight snackers (or dads with the munchies) out of your precious ice cream.

Foucault in haiku

In university I had a class in postmodern theory, and I came to the conclusion that many of these authors use really big words for no other reason than to a) show off how smart they are and how clever they are to have figured out how to use a thesaurus and b) make sure only other really smart people like themselves can understand their work. Of course, I tend to use a word other than smart to describe such people.

One of the new books that just came in to the library is Haiku U, a collection of 100 great books in haiku form. I was reading it and ran across a haiku of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish, one of the texts we looked at in this class.

Here, in 17 syllables, courtesy of David M. Bader, is Foucault's Discipline and Punish:

Carceral discourse,

polyvalently deployed.

Hot air gently blows.

I knew this show was familiar...

More Lost goodness. Today Chris Rywelt uncovers the true meaning of Lost.

Someone is channeling me...

This was published today at Overdue Media.

"Lost" in a nutshell

I started watching Lost this season and really enjoyed it for the first little bit, then somewhere around the middle of the season I got bored with it. I didn't stop watching, but I wasn't as enthusiastic about it as I once was. I just finished watching the three episodes leading up to the finale (which is sitting on my Tivo, but I haven't seen it yet, so don't say anything!).

Anyway,I was going to rant a bit about the show, but Chris Rywelt at Teevee.org did it so well that I'm going to just point you in his direction.

Check out Lost on Lost.

Romance Novel Covers Redux

Way back in February I posted about a site that played around with romance covers. The site has now updated with a whole new batch of hilarious reader submitted takes on the traditional cover clinch.

Poetry appreciaton

I'm in the middle of weeding the Teen collection at the library, and I ran across a little book of poetry called "God Went To Beauty School."



God goes to beauty school, orders a couch from Pottery Barn, gets a dog, watches a movie, writes a fan letter - it's deceptively simple poetry. Even though it's from a mainly Christian perspective it really made me think (and smile).

It takes about ten minutes to read, so if you need a quick read, check out your library to see if they have it.

Chicago crime - mapped!

A bunch of us are off to Chcaco next month for a conference, and now we will know exactly what's going on crime-wise in the city. Some helpful people at chicagocrime.org have linked crime reports to Google Maps, so now we can see exactly what is happening where - always good to know what areas to avoid.

My new favourite snack food

Shara sent me an article about the chili mango, a beautiful, tasty, sweet and hot mango on a stick (if it's on a stick, I am predisposed to adoring it). A guy in the Italian Market sells them for a piddly $1.50 each, and I had my first one last Friday. I'm hooked!

More uses for a robot vacuum cleaner

I have a Roomba and use it for light cleaning. Some people use it for more exciting things, like child herding.

Amazing Race Goodness! (Jen, don't read this 'til you've caught up!)

Yay Joyce and Uchenna!



My nail polish is gone from the anxiety of the last half hour of the race.

The Amazing Race is the one reality show I'm not ashamed to say I love.

Mother's Day article I can relate to.

Posted on Sun, May. 08, 2005 in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Assumptions might be wrong about those without children
By Tanya Barrientos
Inquirer Staff Writer

Most Sundays I eat breakfast out. But not today.

This morning I am housebound, like Martha Stewart, because cafes are not kind to the childless on Mother's Day.

I can't tell you how many times I've stood before a sweetly smiling hostess who is just about to hand me a long-stemmed rose, a fluffy orchid, or a free mimosa until she realizes that I am nobody's mom.

Then her smile sags. The rose recedes. The free drink? Forget about it.

On this particular Sunday you have to have parented to buy a poached egg.

People make all sorts of assumptions when you are married without children.

They think something has gone terribly wrong.

They think you are sad.

They think you hate children.

Once, a friend showed me a picture of an adorable baby in a magazine and I joined her in cooing, "He's so cuuuute."

She eyed me incredulously.

"You're just saying that, right?" she asked. "You don't really mean it."

So, for the record, let me state that I am physically fine. I am as happy as a middle-aged woman can be. And, as long as they're not vomiting, bleeding, or having a five-alarm meltdown, I like kids.

I just don't want any.

It's something I've known since I was 8, the same way some people know they'll grow up to be a doctor, or an actress, or a concert pianist.

As a girl I was never charmed by baby dolls, or baby-sitting, or baby clothes. I liked puppies.

As a grown-up, I was a birth coach for a friend, and during the delivery another woman in the room burst into tears the instant the little girl was born.

"Doesn't it make you want one?" she sobbed.

I looked at my friend lying on the hospital bed completely spent. I saw how her lifelong responsibilities had suddenly doubled. I smiled at the tiny person nestled in her arms and honestly answered: "No."

People used to tell me I would change my mind. Even the man I married.

He was reluctant to propose because he was certain he didn't want kids, and he was just as certain I would have a change of heart. We took the plunge, and I waited for the flip. Through my 20s, and 30s. But my biological clock was stuck on snooze.

Don't get me wrong. I admire mothers.

I marvel at the insane hours they keep. I respect their instinctual sense of sacrifice. My own mother is one of the most remarkable women I know.

I have simply never figured out a way to live the sort of life I want while directing the lives of others.

"Well," a young woman told me recently, "I guess it's good that you realized you're selfish."

Ouch.

Of course, she could be right. I don't care for the word selfish, but I'd like to think I'm self-aware.

These days, when people ask, I simply say I never had children. That allows them to make whatever assumptions they want. And I can handle that.

But not before breakfast.

The movie I'm really anticipating...

...is Serenity, the big-screen version of Joss Whedon's Firefly.



I loved the series (maybe even more than Buffy). For a taste of what's to come, check out the trailer

My problem with the new Star Wars movies in a nutshell

I am defeated

Yes, my reign as the queen of trivial pursuit has been ended. Last night Jen and I played the millennial edition of the game, and I was soundly beaten. I started out well, with two pies to her none, but inexorably she caught up and surpassed me, gaining the elusive green pie early in the game. Her superior gameboard geography strategy (and, I have to say, a relatively easy multiple choice final question) won the day for her. It was a well-matched and fairly played game, and I applaud her win. Congratulations Jen!

Subtle (or not) ad humour

This is a real (I think) ad for Manix, a KY Jelly equivalent.




If you haven't already fallen on the floor laughing, just look at the picture for a bit. It helps to know what KY Jelly is for...

How many times can I make fun of the pope? Let me count the ways...

Courtesy of Sally:

Eggs Benedict!

More hilarity

Okay, don't be drinking pop while you watch this, or you might have an unpleasant experience when you laugh so hard it comes out your nose.

Here is The Best Commercial Ever

p.s. For those of you enamored with the smooth stylings of Max Raabe (I know I am), check out Blue and We Are the Champions.

Get your Britney fix - German style!

Okay, so I have a weakness for early Britney Spears. But truly, you have never really experienced the sheer wackiness that is "Oops, I Did it Again" until you have heard done as a German Cabaret song.



Here is Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester covering that classic of American pop:

Oops, I Did it Again

Turn up your speakers and enjoy!

Another pope joke (c'mon, I can't resist)

Sally emailed this to me. I don't know where it come from, but it made me giggle:

Hans Groepje was raised in a Catholic school in The Hague, migrated to the US and, as a young man, aspired to become a priest, but was drafted into the Army during WWII and spent two years co-piloting B17s until his aircraft was shot down in 1943 and he lost his left arm. He was awarded the Silver Star.

Captain Groepje spent the rest of the war as a chaplain, giving spiritual aid to soldiers, both Allied and enemy. After the war, he became a priest, serving as a missionary in Africa, piloting his own plane (in spite of his handicap) to villages across the continent while establishing over 200 schools and churches.

In 1987, Father Groepje was elevated to Bishop while serving in Zimbabwe. Shortly afterward, an explosion in a silver mine caused a cave-in. He personally went down into the mine to administer last rites to those too severely injured to move. Another shaft collapsed, and he was buried for three days, suffering multiple injuries, including the loss of his right eye.

The high silver content in the mines air gave him purpura, a life-long condition characterized by purplish skin blotches.

He was elevated to Cardinal by Pope John Paul in 1992.

Although Cardinal Groepje has devoted his life to the service of God as a scholar, mentor, and holy man, church leaders agree: he will never ascend to the Papacy because of his unfortunate handicaps--


No one wants a one-eyed, one-armed, flying purple Papal leader.

Sin-binging

From The Onion:

Papal Election Brings End To Worldwide Unsupervised-Catholic Sin Binge
VATICAN CITY—In the interim between Pope John Paul II's death and the election of his replacement, unsupervised Catholics seized the opportunity to sin without fear of reprisal, sources confirmed Tuesday...

Captain Passive-Aggressive and his Tractor of Vengeance

...or, as it is more commonly known, Kitchen Stories



Here is a slightly surreal Swedish film about Norwegian time and motion experts who are studying the kitchen habits of single Swedish men. Recipe for hilarity, eh? But wait, it gets better! We have a caravan of campers, imported Norwegian delicacies, pepper, a horse, a lifeguard chair, spyholes, and let's not forget Captain Passive-Aggressive and his tractor of VENGEANCE!

Not a movie I thought I would enjoy, but Liz and I went to see it last year and we are still talking about it and dissolving into fits of giggles whenever cetrain scenes are mentioned. Maybe you have to be in the right mood.

Anyways, go see it. Or rent it. Or buy it. I heartily endorse it, and so does Liz. Plus, the director's name is Bent Hamer - hee!

Be afraid, be very afraid...

...of Canada!

Life imitating art, or is it the other way around?

Yet another comic that speaks to me:

More bad bad things

In the spirit of the bad baby name site I just posted, let's look at what traditionally comes before procreation:

Welcome to the wonderful world of Ugly Wedding Dresses.

Need a laugh?

My friend Jen and I discovered Baby's named a bad,bad thing a while ago. I was on my computer at home reading it, she was on her computer, and we were on the phone with each other. At one point I was laughing so hard I forgot to breathe and started squeaking. Yes, this site is that funny!

More things on my fridge

I've scanned a few more things that I have pinned up on my fridge. It doesn't seem like too much when I look at it as a whole, but individually I have quite alot of stuff stuck up there. Maybe after this project is done, I shall start weeding stuff off my fridge.



This is a pad of paper with a magnet on the back. I use it to write my grocery list on. Since my list for this week is already in my pocket, you get to see a fresh page (and I get to hide the fact I buy alot of crap). I found this pad at a great store called "Paper on Pine"



These are a couple of magnets I found at a place called Blendo, again on Pine St. They're from an artist called Anne Taintor, and she has a whole bunch of stuff, most of which you can buy online.



Here is a postcard from my favourite dessert place. The lady who made the most amazing chocolate brioche bread pudding moved away (boo!), but they still have excellent desserts, and lovely tea and coffee.



This is a postcard from a French restaurant called the Blue Angel, which used to be right around the corner from where I worked. Sadly it is no more, and the space is now an Italian restaurant called Angelina. But I still have the cute poscard!



Another IKEA postcard. Ah, the powers of chocolate!



And here we have the Queen. This card has been causing double takes for years. Hee!
You too can hang out with the Queen.



Finally (for now) Greyhound's schedule for buses to New York. Just in case I feel like popping up there for a day.