Jobs That Make My Head Hurt From Banging It On My Desk

Why do you need to advertise in Arizona for people to work in NYC selling Christmas trees?

Oh god, they're making porn in the East Valley. If I were a performer, I'd want the office staff to be friendly and efficient, not slutty.

He may call it "personal assistant", but seriously--he wants to sleep with you.

Just Me?

So am I the only person on the planet who went to see Juno and was dismayed at how Juno treated Bleeker and felt really sorry for him?

In general, it was a very well-written and acted film--it does deserve the Oscar nods. J.K. Simmons is great in his small part as Juno's dad, and Alison Janney as her stepmom is awesome. They haven't really been mentioned in the accolades.

Virtual World Librarianship?

I don't know quite what to think about this. On the one hand, I do think the skills this workshop looks to engender are transferable and will only be more in demand in the future. A big push in public librarianship is the link to children/teens and gaming skills and how we can serve and reach that demographic.

But geez louise, everything I hear about Second Life is just freakin' creepy. And emotionally dangerous--kind of like the end of the relationship with the ex and the eyebrow raise I got from Dr. Marti on the subject of all that LARPing. I mean, my First Life is somewhat unfulfilling, but I know that. I'm just not quite at the fix-it stage yet. I know that ignoring reality to concentrate on fantasy is dangerous--doesn't stop me from doing it, but I realize that finding a date, learning Spanish, finishing the degree, fixing the house, etc. would make me happier. Online's not real life.

Note to self: Check out Kit Reed's @expectations again.

Oh wait, there's another reason Second Life irks me --because to play games you have to know rules, and I'm just a no-rules, minor criminal activity sort of girl. God bless my white, intellectual, matronly self. I couldn't even play SimFarm because there was no organic option.

See the following press release:

Avatars! Linden Dollars! Librarianship!

Librarianship? What ARE they talking about?

To discover how avatars, Linden dollars, and librarianship relate to
one another, come join us in a continuing education course on
librarianship in the virtual world of Second Life. Second Life is a 3-D virtual
world entirely built and owned by its residents, including real life
librarians on Info Island.

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Alliance Library System of
Illinois have partnered to offer a six week online (in Second Life) course
to introduce you to libraries and information services in a virtual
world. The course starts May 25 and is open to all library and information
professionals.

Week One: Introduction to Libraries in Virtual Worlds
Week Two: Second Life 101
Week Three: Collections, Resources, and Exhibits in Virtual Environment
Week Four: Reference and Information Services in Virtual Worlds
Week Five: Managing and Working in a Virtual Library or Department
Week Six: Skills Needed by 21st Century Librarians in Virtual Worlds

For Those of Us Who Still Put Pen To Paper

So the Post Office is raising rates again, and in order to soften the blow they're introducing the Liberty Stamp. For 41 cents now, you get a stamp that will always be honored as first class postage.

Now I get the marketing and how this might be a good idea, and as someone who still mails letters and bills frequently I'd be the target demographic to buy up a bunch of them. Say over the next 50 years I'll go through 10,000 stamps. I could buy them up now for $4100.00. Except that's a hunk of change to invest, plus at what point will it be most advantageous for me to use my stockpiled postage? There has to be a cutoff point for most everyone to stop using the USPS because it will be too expensive, and then everything will move to electronic correspondence.

Prediction? Liberty Stamp is a big flop, like the neverending attempts to get Americans to use dollar coins.