Scenes From My Vacation...

Text message from Aces to Duesie as I bounced around her branch library:

"Kerry@library=Harley@dog park"

*****

Duesie, upon seeing me for the first time since June:

"Your teeth are really white. They make you look younger. Usually around your age, a woman's teeth start to get dingy and that really dates her."

*****

Number of freakouts I had: 3
Number of freakouts people noticed: 0
Number of arguments I witnessed: 4
Number of arguments I was involved in: 0
Number of times the arguments were actually about what people were arguing about and not something else entirely: 1
Board games played: 2
Games won by me: 0
Number of grocery stores we tried to go to on Christmas Day, only to figure out finally that grocery stores are not open on Christmas Day: 3
Items for Christmas dinner we purchased at Walgreen's: Coke, box of assorted dark chocolates, box stuffing. However, the stuffing was later found to have MSG, so my sister couldn't eat it and was never made.
I did miss the family's annual run to the liquor store for space from each other. Instead we played Oxford Dilemma and ate very plain turkey without side dishes. Then we went to Aces' boyfriend's family gathering.

This Is Brought To You By The Letter "E", For "Envy"

So I don't want anything for my birthday gift-wise, but you know what I do want? Some internet sycophants. Any blather I post here ought to be seconded in the comments with you all posting "I totally agree! Wow Kerry, you're so smart! Amazingly clever!"

Sorry, I've just been reading some librarian blogs and getting cranky. Some of it is left over from Last Tuesday From Hell, but some is fresh.

Speaking of birthdays, the cake will be vanilla and coconut (no lemon filling! I don't like it) from Great Scott's Bakery in Rocky River. I am working 12-5 on my birthday, so it has moved to the evening. I bought a 10" cake, but the owner assures me it freezes.

Otherwise I will be traipsing around town on New Year's Eve doing a reverse version of caroling in which I gift others with slices of cake.

Elegance--Kathleen Tessaro

This is another book that I really like although it has got some issues in characterization and construction. Aside from the a standard chick lit plot, it's actually a book about cognitive behavioral therapy through wardrobe upgrades. So of course I love it, because my family's second motto? "If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you do better." (Accordingly, it's been hard for me to live in the Midwest.)

Louise Canova is a hot mess. A failed actress, she now works in the box office of an independent theater in London. She's married, but her husband doesn't want to have a meaningful conversation with her. Her mother-in-law is the bitchy Mona, a former model. And she's just been mistaken as pregnant at a fashion photographer's retrospective which prominently features dear Mona. At the end of her rope, Louise clings to an old copy of the book Elegance by Madame Genevieve Dariaux, a book written in the late 1950's that promises to help women develop their own style and sense of chic. And as Louise follows Mme. Dariaux's advice and starts to finally care for herself, old patterns are disrupted and her life changes in hard ways.

The characters aren't well-developed, and the villains are especially cartoonish. It often seems like Tessaro has a checklist of Lifetime movie issues into cram into Louise's psyche and explain how she wound up in her terrible situation. But there's some hilarious writing once Louise starts hanging around the British upper classes, and yes--it ends with Louise happy. So despite the flaws it's a satisfying read.

In Honor Of Various Economic Indicators...

Like the Starbucks Eggnog Latte, but despair of the cost (and if you feel vaguely guilty about the fat content too, you'll like this. I try not to be a "good food"/"bad food" agonizer, but really--some things do make me pause, and not just to revel in the deliciousness)? Brew up 4 cups coffee. Pour 2 cups into your mug, and add 1 cup lowfat eggnog. If you think it needs a little something something, stir in a little bourbon, brandy or sugar. More eggnog too if you need some. Maybe scrape a little nutmeg on top.

See! Is like an eggnog latte, but you don't leave the house! Which is good, because after a day of snow and blowing, you can't!

Fuck! I gotta go shovel.

It's Not A Job. It's A Mindset.

Some cool librarian related links for your amusement:

Card Catalog Quilt--This is a beautiful project, and what an excellent idea. Feed Dog did a nice job. (SuperC makes wonderful quilts, by the way--beautiful colors and patterns, nontraditional but coming together nicely--just like her.)

The Laughing Librarian Holiday Gift List--Please don't give me anything on this list. Well, okay--I kinda like USB Kitty. But that's it. The rest are too geeky even for me.

Check out the Library History Buff webpage. Wow, just wow. LibrarIana. And this 1947 video on library work.

Big Changes Ahead!

So yeah, I am getting the hell out of Dodge. Meaning I am leaving Cleveland in February and going to live in my sister Duesie's spare room in Phoenix. When I have a job and sell the house, I'll move out of her spare room and get myself an apartment. Aces has already informed me I can live in her complex; I just can't expect her to come over and eat dinner.

You know what's been the overwhelming response to this plan? "Lucky you! I wish I could leave too!" and "Why stay if you don't have family here?"

Why leave? Aside from the usual reasons like the lack of jobs, the overwhelming gray, the cold, and the fact that I'm lonely and I am so not a Clevelander, there's tons of things that irritate me about this place.

1) Dennis Kucinich--The little fucker just annoys me, from his Department of Peace to his perpetual runs for President and the attitude that he's so admirable because of his pluck. Just shut up and get something done!

2) Why will drivers in this town not put on their lights? I was driving down Detroit yesterday in the cold dark gray with rain and people did not have their headlights on. What the hell? Do you think it impedes your gas milage?

3) I don't think that there's virtue in being depressed and lethargic and acting trapped.

4)The indirect communication style: Everyone around here does this "I'm not going to tell you what I want or what I mean, you have to read my mind!" thing. It's paired with the "I'm not going assert my power and boss you" mindset and the "I take no responsibility" defense. I am continually tricked into playing this game.

It's funny because I was thinking about how few people I've met out here that I've really liked, and how they all have in common is that they're from somewhere else. Ms. F is from Michigan. Genevieve came from North Carolina. The Romance Heroine is from Kentucky. Abril mostly grew up in Florida. The exception is Miss G., who is a native, but then I realized she spend the ages of 18-30 outside the state. She laughed when I told her of my theory and confirmed it's true--the indirect communication method got trained out of her through years of dealing with outsiders. And SuperC, but family members with ADD have given her some communication skills.

5) People out here call it "yelling" if you have a heated opinion or a point they disagree with. You can be all calm and logical, but they call it "yelling" to guilt trip you into shutting up. Honey, I'm from New Jersey. When I yell, it is loud. It also features a verbal style that would make Al Swerengin blush.

Yeah, so time to blow this pop stand. I have got to believe good things are ahead.

Michigan Library News

Update on the Michigan library whose collection was destroyed by mold and eaten by squirrels.

Oh, this followup is hilarious. This is a "Law & Order" episode waiting to be written. Imagine the plot--sane and beloved library administrator is murdered and the batshit woman whose life is bound up in the library is the main suspect. Add some regular library creeps, maybe some embezzlement, terrorists and/or porn, and oh the awesome! And library creeps! And cat sweaters. Gotta have lots of cat sweaters.

Note To Librarians

Dear Fellow Librarians,

I know by nature we are very nice people. Even me, although I come off as a big ol' crank on the internets. But please--can we stop doing the homework of people who post questions to our professional listservs? I'm not talking about someone in the field who has a professional problem that they want perspective on. I'm talking about these examples on Publib this week:

"Dear Webmaster-- i am new at this and don't know how this is done, but i would like assistance-- i need a lit review on the perfume program. Thank you," (name deleted to protect the idiotic)

AND

"For my master's program in Library and Information Science, an interesting ethical scenario was posed, and we are to tell how we would respond and why.

If you have a moment (and it really is only a moment!), go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/ to answer ten questions about the scenario.

Responses are appreciated by Saturday, Dec. 15."

Oh for heaven's sake! When we bend over to do our fellow professionals' work for them, we are not doing them or our profession any favors!

Bucking The Sarge--Christopher Paul Curtis

I really wish The Don were alive so I could give him this book and get his opinion. The Don spent some time repoing cars in nasty parts of Newark in the 1960's, and was really conservative and he didn't have a lot of sympathy for people but he also had a grayscale view of the world. It would have been fascinating to see what he thought of this book.

Luther T. Farrell is a good guy. It's strange that he's such a decent guy since his mother is a criminal mastermind who works just inside the law. Carol Ferrell, aka "The Sarge", is a master at insurance fraud, criminal neglect, slumlording, and moneylending among other things. She rules impoverished Flint, MI, through an empire of legal and illegal activity and a wide coterie of minions and people too indebted to say no to her. Luther's her minion too--she got him an illegal driver's license and he's been working afternoons and nights running one of her care facilities. He is doing this in return for the money The Sarge is depositing into his college account, money that will get him out of Flint and let him achieve his dream of becoming a philosopher (see, he's too idealistic for words!) A series of events lead Luther to question his part in the Sarge's activities and realize what he's in danger of becoming.

Curtis is a great writer with an expert hand at balancing tragedy and high comedy--Luther and Sparky's adventures in injury with intent to sue, for example coupled with Luther's growing guilt over the eviction of one of his classmates. The Sarge is an awesome creation, a true Fagin or Moriarity. When there's talk of her killing someone for the insurance money, you know it is true and that she could coldbloodedly arrange it. But Curtis also lets you see that The Sarge is human--she does care for Luther in her feral fashion, even if she's chosen criminal activity as the quickest and most expedient way of reaching her goals. The scene where The Sarge tells Luther about how she came to abandon her ideals is chilling, but cements her portrayal as a real person with a tinge of sympathy.

Kudos and awards galore got to Curtis as one of the bright lights of both children's and African American fiction, and Bucking The Sarge shows why they're deserved.

Flashback

Recession on the horizon? Check!
Totally fucked up war in the Middle East? Check!
A Bush in the White House, and a Clinton running to replace him? Check!
Housing prices sinking? Check!
Doc Martens are back?Check!
I bought a green sweater* with rolled sleeves in an attempt to look cooler than I am? Check!
Murder rate is up? Check!
I have a crush on this guy who doesn't return the sentiment? Check!
Indie movies all the rage? Check! Except we're calling it "mumblecore" these days.
DIY all the rage? Yup! Now it's crafts, podcasts and blogging, but 15 years ago it was Internet startups and zines, baby.
All we need is grunge and the one piece bodysuit to make a reappearance, and we are all set!

I swear, I have deja vu every freaking day over our incipient return to the early 1990's. I can't explain the giddiness this evokes--I was a teen during the early 1990's and I wasn't particularly happy, seeing as I was continually reminded what an imperfect, disappointing failure I was, my dad lost his job, and we were broke. I'm not happy to see so many reminders of my adolescence coming back, but good god it's the freaking mood. It's a combination of widespread depression with possibility for the insane and plucky.

Oh, and considering I am nursing a crush on a guy I first had a crush on in 1994--really, just put me out of my misery. My current state of cheerful mania, flirtiness and determined grit is kind of like my first year and a half of college redux. And that was a good time for me. I have got to seize the day. Maybe this time I'll join a band.

*The Green Sweater story--So back in the 1990's I had an intellectual crush on Mr. Hill the English teacher because he was just so cool. And he had a dark green wool sweater from J. Crew with a rolled collar and sleeves that looked great on him because he was a) male and b) over 6 feet and c) slim. I bought a similar one but as I am female, short, and chunky it never really had the same look on me. But I wore it every winter because it was incredibly warm and comfy.

Green Sweater (see, over time it developed its own personality and became a proper noun) was finally given to Goodwill last year on the grounds that it was not attractive and hard to wear under a coat, and it was a constant reminder of the bad time when I broke my arm and it was the only thing I could wear over my cast. It had served me well and wore like iron. I hope it got scooped up cheap by someone who loves it. But today I was in Macy's and they had similar sweaters, only an acrylic/wool mix that was a lighter moss green with lavender and gold speckles mixed in. Impulse purchase totally sparked by Green Sweater, memories of prep school and the return of the 90's--it will probably be returned.

Kerry Reads The Paper!

Short thoughts on a variety of pieces that have appeared lately in the New York Times:

Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns: I do believe that within 15 years of the US getting some sort of easily accessible, mandated, government supported healthcare/health insurance that this will be the norm for educated and creative workers. We will all be contract workers, responsible for setting our own rates and negotiating our own time off. We can go back and band together in guilds to create some protections and advocacy. And that's why I think universal healthcare would be a boon to this country. It will also be kind of hellish, but that's where I see the future workplace going.

At Wikipedia, Illustrators May Be Paid: One of the things that gets me about Wikipedia, along with the reliability and information literacy issues, is the idea that people are giving their intellectual product away for free and not even getting a credit for it. MFA Jane and I have talked a bit about writing, how yes, it's work--pleasant, challenging work, but work nonetheless. It seems to me that if you insist that it's easy, that it’s no trouble, and you’re giving it away for free that you are devaluing your intellectual processes and content to a dangerous degree.

Brazilians Giving Up Their American Dream: I find this interesting because during the heyday of American immigration before the 1924 Immigration Act, fully a quarter of immigrants repatriated after coming to this country for a while. My great-grandmother took my grandmother and her son back to Slovakia after her husband died. Yeah, yeah, America's a wonderful country but is it so bad that you go someplace to make money and then return? More and more the attitude is we don't want any foreigners here anyway. Ironic, that. The woman who mentioned her young children asking in the future why she left totally cracks me up--her kids are citizens, they can come back! In 1929, my grandmother and her friend Mary Chandra left Slovakia and came to the US on $50 my grandmother's aunt sent her and the strength of Grandma's U.S. birth certificate. My grandma's eyes were so bad she wouldn't have been allowed in otherwise--between the 1924 crackdown on Eastern European immigrants and her health, she would have been considered unfit.

Your Hairdressers Know, But They're Not Talking: Ha! I'm always "Uh, you are not my friend..." when I'm in the salon chair. But I also jump around on haircutters and salons. I don't want a relationship! Fear of commitment!

Will You Marry Me? Say "Cheese!" Did you know that you're not supposed to congratulate women on getting engaged? I think it is because as women we are so special and sweet that any man would want to marry us and turn us into helpmeets and bed partners. It's all about access to sanctioned sex and heirs. Wow, I really should cut back on the historical romance. You are supposed to congratulate the man because he went out on a limb and asked an important question for which he could be turned down. So see, by being vulnerable, you get cred. I however, would hate to have my fellow do this. Private events should be private. Anyway, apropos de nada I should have known that a particular friend was affianced to an asshole when he not only asked her to marry him in public, but he did it in front of a fraternity alumni gathering. Way to prop up that shaky self esteem, dude!

Colleges Shaken By Soaring Cost of Birth Control: Oh, I have no sympathy for this. There's no basic human right to have sex. Chalk it up as evidence of decreasing personal responsibility--look, if you can't afford birth control, if you can't stand to do to the doctor and get poked and take responsibility for your health, and if you can't talk to you partner about what to do when precautions fail, you shouldn't be having sex. It's not the university's responsibility to provide you with birth control, nor is it the taxpayer's responsibility to underwrite it, however indirectly. Yes, I took advantage of the $5 Pill when I was in school, but I didn't consider it a right. If birth control cost more, I'd have paid the cost for reliable birth control because it was important to me not to get pregnant. And I did pay more and have to shop around when I got out of school and got a job.

Can I Shine Up My Medal And Pin It High, Or Is That Gauche?

So I've been paying on my student loans for grad school for a year now.

Yes, I know I only graduated in August, but you have 6 months grace period from when you drop below 6 credit hours (part-time status) and Spring 2006 was the last time I took 2 classes, so my 10 year repayment schedule kicked in last December.

I don't owe that much, and I don't expect a tickertape parade or anything, but I just wanted to recognize that fact. The fact that I'm a responsible person, unlike some whiners that I know.

My Head Explodes

A small Michigan village library has to dispose of its entire collection.

Let's get this straight, people: when your library doesn't have heat or plumbing, or a roof that doesn't leak, but does have an active population of squirrels and rodents eating and shitting on the books, you don't have a library. You have a stash of rotting paper.

I can't stand it when people fetishize books, and I love books. But I also realize that there's a line where books are simply unusable due to age and condition, and this library crossed that line a long time ago. Books are good, but they are not holy relics. They are replaceable. They are also temporary--the acidic nature of paper ensures that your books have a limited lifespan from the moment they arrive from the printer.

Just because it's print on a page doesn't mean it has value. Don't confuse knowledge with its package.

In Which I Go A Little Overboard, Again

I had a dinner party last night. I had over an old work friend and her 9 month old baby and my new friend from work with her 9 month old baby and her 3 year old. The husbands declined to join us.

The menu:
Homemade baked samosas with green tomato chutney
Salad & homemade vinegrarette
Wild rice stuffed acorn squash
Apricot stuffed pork tenderloin
Raspberry lime rickey sorbet (yeah, homemade)

There are a lot of leftovers. So much that I could easily have another party tonight and use it up. If you think I go all out--I'm a single woman with a decent amount of free time with no local family and a lot of cooking skills and a need for food novelty. I like doing this. And I didn't clean that much--there's still plenty of junk hidden around here.

In other news, my birthday is the 29th. I'm having a simple party featuring lots of cake. Would you like to come?

Yum, Yum, Christmas Tum!

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Stars are awesome. That is it.

Not too much chocolate (I know, you're saying how can there be too much chocolate?), crispy neutral cookie, and cute white sprinkles. Delicious.

Note To Self: This Is Not A Cat Hotel

Do not take in the possibly pregnant stray over by the Coin Wash and Subway. Coin Wash gave her a little box house and some food. They should take her in--it would be fun to pet a kitty while you do your wash and she'd like the warm and dry clothes. Yes, she's tame (she ate bits of my sandwich meat from my fingers), but no more cats! Don't you have enough trouble with Specs coming to the door to hit you up for food? And Honeybelle, the Mrs. Rochester of cats, confined to the attic for her own safety? Look at the claw marks on your hands for a reminder.

Similarly Cookie, aka Mysterious Tuxedo, is probaby someone's cat even if you caught her in the trap. She did not have fleas, was tame and she didn't smell bad the way Specs smells, kinda gamey.

NO! It is not your responsibility to save cats.

Note To Self

Hey, Self? You're not cooking this year, so it's easy to forget, but it's 3 days before Thanksgiving. Yeah, the Trader Joe's parking lot is going to be full and it will be a madhouse. Go home! Stay home! You have to get up at 4am on Thanksgiving to get to the airport anyway!

Shit.

The Sexiest Man Alive--Diana Holquist

Here's my entry for Beth's Smart Bitches Day.

So here's the deal--I don't usually read contemporary romance. Mostly because my romantic history is dull as dirt and from what I can gather of modern mating rituals, contrary to perception, I'm apparently a guy. So contemporary romance depresses and kind of annoys me as it doesn't reflect my life. It's a lot easier for me to get into historical romance with the angst and long skirts, and the propriety and the illicit sex than deal with the modern day. But I checked this book out because of Dear Author's review in which them mention there's a secondary character who is a librarian. A male librarian. This is rare, I tell you. So lured by the possibility of a positive portrayal of a librarian, by which I mean a character who isn't a virgin or nearly so, has a backbone, possibly clothes sense and isn't shirking from the larger world, I opened the book.

And for the approximately 3 pages he appears, Senior Reference Librarian of the NY Public Library, Mr. Josh Toby, pays off. He's tall, skinny and redheaded, but treats his delusional homeless patrons with kind but firmlpatience. And he gets into a physical fight for his true love in the end. Okay, the fight is with his true love, who he's had a thing for since high school, but aw!

I have a lot of problems with all other aspects of this book. Jasmine Burns is an aspiring costume designer who has a fear of men. Oookaaay. This fear dates to when she was 16 and was invited to make out under a tree with her handsome tutor, who invited his friends come by to observe and catcall.

Yeah, unbelievable much? Because my that logic, I should be institutionalized. Believe me, if you haven't developed a fear of men from spending your 7th grade year being sexually harassed and called "whore" by all the boys in your class, a few guys spying on you from a tree isn't going to do it.

Her sister Amy got the family's gypsy gifts--she can occasionally tell people who their true love is. And in return for $2,000 to pay off her and Jasmine's other sister, Amy lets Jasmine know her true love is Josh Toby. But is it actor Josh Toby, who is kicking around his hometown of NYC incognito doing random acts of kindness and feeling bad that he's not real deep, he doesn't fit into his family's counterculture mold, and everyone just thinks he's just a hottie with no brains or soul or Librarian Josh Toby? Oh, noes! It's Hottie Josh of course!

So a book that I can't suspend disbelief to get into, annoying characters, a plot that likes to think it's full of outrageous fun but isn't really funny--I didn't make myself finish it, because I wanted to slap everyone.

A Halloween Tale

So on Wednesday I walked into the EC Main Branch and was chatting with Ms. G, who like me was having a heckuva day. Ms. F, our supervisor, walked up to and asked Ms. G, "Does she know? Did you tell her?"

Ms. F turns to me and asked "Guess what I have in my car?"

I say, "A puppy?" Because puppies frankly exceed the ridiculous factor, so when asked to guess something outlandish, always say "puppy."

She replied it was better than a puppy and took me out to her car. There in the window was A KITTY! She was one of those brown-black-cream-caramel longhaired swirly cats, like Calcutta and Bombay. Ms. F took her out of the car and put her in my arms and told me she was up that morning in the Caledonia Branch when this little kitty followed a patron in all, "Hi! I hear you have opening for Branch Manager? I can be Branch Manager! No? Okay, I can be Children's Librarian! Step down, but whatever!"

She purred and wiggled, and there is nothing that lifts the spirits higher than standing in a parking lot on a beautiful afternoon holding a kitty. She's about teenager age and size, hadn't been out long so she still smelled good, and had been spayed and was wearing a flea collar. Ms. F put her in the car because it is very doubtful that the administration would want a library cat in residence, and what with it being Halloween and on a busy road and she being so friendly and gentle that kitty was dead meat. Ms F was already in love with her--she had a cat called Tuesday and this kitty was just like her. She's now called Wednesday and is settling in nicely at Ms. F's house.

Fat Kid Rules The World--K.L. Going

This is a great book.

Troy Billings is miserable to the bone, and that's only partly because he weighs 296 pounds. He's getting up the nerve to commit suicide by subway train when Curt MacCrae draws him into conversation. Curt's a locally famous punk rocker, a guy a couple of years older who went to Troy's high school. He's also filthy, homeless, kind of a junkie, and wants Troy to buy him lunch. And after lunch, he proposes that he and Troy form a band, despite the fact that Troy barely played the drums in junior high and Curt is cooler than cool and a bit flakey. And then change occurs, mostly to Troy but also to Curt, spurred by friendship, music and a desire to connect with the larger world despite the different forms of their alienation.

What makes it great is Going's skill at capturing Troy's acute self-consciousness, her grasp of what music and creative pursuits mean and the difficulty of longing to connect with a world you're alienated from, and her skill at drawing secondary characters like Troy's dad. She's got great descriptive chops in paragraphs like the following:

"My neighborhood isn't exactly the posh area most people envision when they think of Manhattan, but Curt's street takes grime to a whole new level. It features metal security grates, stray cats in heat, loitering men, and empty vodka bottles, and there's at least three bars within sight at all times. There's not a single tree that isn't strangled by plastic bags or fried chicken bones. It's distorted and grotesque and I nod approvingly. Maybe this is where I fit..." (33)

I also really loved Troy's dad, the super fit ex-Marine who could so easily lapse into the stereotype of the driven, rigid father who is the source of all his kid's problems. Going nicely develops the father-son relationship and shows a guy who realizes that he can't solve his kid's problems for him, but is willing to push him into an unorthodox situation if it might help him at all. Oh, and give Curt a bath and some dinner.

A great book, Going's debut is an ALA Printz Honor Book for YA Lit. At less than 200 pages, it's a short but wonderful read.

I Know I've Gotten Weirder Mail...

But the form letter from State Representative Michael J. Skindell congratulating me on my recent graduation from Kent State just blew my mind. It seems awfully intrusive. Yet I am slightly miffed that he congratulates me on my college degree and not my graduate degree--hey, there's not too many of those in the state! So what favors should I hit him up for? He invites me to call him if he can ever be of assistance...

Paprika--It's A Miracle Spice

Sometimes you come across recipes that sound so bizarre that you have to make them.

This is a prime example. Turkey "Ghoulash" with Caraway Noodles. Anytime there's quotation marks inside a recipe title, you know you are in dangerous territory. But I thought "Hey, I've got a surplus of paprika, and chicken thighs easily sub for turkey. While I don't love pumpkin, I certainly don't mind it. And it's just so weird!"

Holy crap, it. is. awesome. You don't taste the pumpkin--it just blends into this smoky red mess surrounding the vegs and chicken. I was working with substandard noodles and no caraway seeds, but it didn't need it. Seriously delicious.

I've been talking up for a month and have promised shares to two coworkers who are intrigued enough to try leftovers. I am going to be able to leverage awesome favors with the delicious stuff.

Reasons To Leave Cleveland

I have a lot of good sensible reasons for forming my half-assed plan to leave Cleveland, but one of the things I am leaving to get away from is the question:

"Where is that at?"

Every time I heard that particular bit of garbled grammar, I feel the urge to kick the speaker. It's so engrained out here, that you can't fight it. Best to just run.

It's An Emergency. A Cookie Emergency! Haven't You Ever Had A Cookie Emergency?

One of the nice things about working on the other side of town is that there's a plethora of new-to-me restaurants and lunch options. Not in the EC, but the Euc's got some good stuff. Among them is an awesome bakery Temetra's Treats Bakery. It's located at 21950 Lakeshore Blvd--get off at E 222nd and drive up to the intersection. I first heard about it from one of my coworkers who brought in some of the cookies. Those were great, especially the chocolate (they really taste like cocoa!) and snickerdoodles. I've gone back and had the yummy brownies and a darling little cupcake. It's all real ingredients: butter, sugar, cocoa. Prices are very reasonable--a cupcake and a brownie were only $1.55! Call ahead, because she might not have much on the shelves but it is worth a special trip. The number is (216) 289-9510. I think I'll get my coconut cake for my birthday there ($22 for a 2 layer 10"--so cheap!)

Improve Your Vocabulary The Kerry Way

So I have a bunch of words I've been working into conversation lately because, hey--I enjoy being inscrutable, and I like being creative.

Sidework: That mindless stuff that you do on the side of whatever your main duties at the moment are--for instance, weeding is sidework for reference. Sometimes, no one wants help, so you discard books and stamp them cancelled for want of not being bored out of your mind. I took this from Peg Bracken's awesome ettiquette book, I Try to Behave Myself, where she advises having a stash of sidework on you at all times so you can distract yourself from the urge to run your mouth at annoying acquaintances. Or slap them.

Roundheels: A nicer way of saying slut. I used this in an email to MFA Jane recently. I was referring to myself.

Brickbat: This is a title to a rather bittersweet Billy Bragg song. I was curiousenough to look it up and it's a word meaning a cutting critical remark or dig. I love it. It's also "a fragment of brick used as a weapon."

Shanty vs. Lace Curtain: I honestly think the conflict and pull between being shanty and lace curtain Irish describes my life perfectly. I am "lace curtain" when I sneer at lingerie showers and money dances and when I take pride in my cashmere sweaters and Master's degree. I'm so shanty when I haven't washed the kitchen floor for a month.

But Sometimes, I Just Want Them To Remember The Library. Is That So Wrong?

Heard about the controversial Wyoming Libraries Mudflap Girl? Check her out and some of their other awesome marketing tools here. I bought the bumper stickers--not mudflap girl, but the "You Can Have My Book When You Pry It from My Cold Dead Fingers" and the others. Check out the radio spots too.

Genevieve sent me a link to this shirt which amuses me as both a librarian and a single girl.

I'm loving Uncontrolled Vocabulary, a library news and issues podcast. It's like eavesdropping on your smart and witty librarian friends as they take on all the issues of the day from hipsters to mudflap girls to policing the patrons.

More Links To Online Reading

I had a reference desk emergency a few weeks ago. We had a patron ask about O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief," and while we own several collections of O. Henry stories, none contain that work. Thanks to the beauty of free literature on the internet, I was able to print a copy for the patron and satisfy her request.

Read Print offers a short list of classic books and biographical information on the authors. Easy to navigate, no downloading, but the print and format are easy on the eyes.

Classic Short Stories is a website devoted to the short story. Lots of favorite classic authors. Online reading or printing only, and the format on the page is hard on my eyes. Thisis the site I got the O. Henry from.

The Literature Network offers over 6,000 classic works out of copyright from 260 authors and discussion forums. Online reading only, with its attendant issues--format is not as readable as Read Print, but not too bad.

There's More Than One Way To Be A Jane Austen Heroine

The EW Popwatch has alerted to me the existance of the Jane Austen Fanvids, including the one set to Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" and its spectacular earworm and eyewormness. Seriously, watch it , close your eyes and you still see the ballroom dance bounce.

I have been very lazy and adopting the look of a Regency heroine by pulling my hair back into a ponytail and then tucking it up. However, yesterday I made an appointment to get my hair cut and colored. Yes, big news there. Any suggestions other than trying to cover my gray as much as possible with a shade close to my natural dark walnut?

The Perfect Word

Okay, let's play "Spot Poor Word Choice":

From a description of an article in last week's New York Times "A journey into the Himalayas to the plantation of Darjeeling proves to be a teetotaler's version of a Napa Valley wine tour, but a lot less crowded."

You see it, right? Teetotaler. The meaning of teetotaler is a person who abstains, particularly from strong drink or alcohol. Since Prohibition, it's not a word that gets used much here in the US--it's a very British word. According to this, when spelled "teatotaller" it can indicate someone with a love of tea over all other beverages. Although it's taken from fucking Wikipedia, so grain of salt, darling. But when used as it is in the quotation above it's just flat out wrong. The article had nothing to do with the author's preference for tea over other beverages. It was a simple travelogue. The copywiter saw a pun and jumped on it without thinking through the word useage.

I was a little disappointed in the NYT when I saw this. I found it jarring.

Oh Noes!

That red bell pepper in the last CSA bag? Not a red bell pepper. Thank heavens I took a little bit of the membrane when I was cutting it up to put it in my pasta dish.

Hot, hot, hot! Funny face!

Notes To Self

Stop buying the Sunday paper!

Week 16--The Experiment Ends!

The last CSA bag held the following:

1 pint red grape tomatoes
1 pint yellow grape tomatoes
1 butternut squash
1 bunch kale
1 yellow squash
1 acorn squash
1 unidentified squash, orange and pumpkiny looking--maybe a sugar pumpkin?
1 eggplant
2 regular tomatoes
1 bag MacIntosh apples (my least favorite apple)

This week's eats are leftover and possibly lethal vegetarian chili, chai-spice brined pork tenderloin with delicata squash, turkey sandwich, toast, tea and whatever I figure out to do with the above. And leftovers.

Week 15--The Penultimate Bag

CSA deliveries end next week. I'm relieved.

This week's bag:
Buttercup squash
Garlic
Tomatoes
Golden Delicious apples
Eggplant
Red bell peppers
Delicata squash
Poblano pepper
Grape tomatoes

What to do, what to do....I made vegan chili today for the Castaway Cats Clambake. I don't know that it will feed 20(!) so I am going to freehand a batch with the leftover can purchases and use the poblano, one of the red peppers (the peppers and cucumbers have been very, very good), garlic, and whatnot.

I haven't put the food processor on the curb yet (it's falling apart) so I might make the eggplant thing again, as it was pretty good. However, I am working until 8pm every night until Friday, so I might not feel like eating or cooking. I have a recipe for the delicata that looks good. I'll be toting the apples around with me, and if there's any left at the end of the week, I'll make applesauce.

I was telling about my squash stockpile at the Euc this week and one of the librarians said, "wow, that is a LOT of squash." Yes, yes it is.

Enthusiasm--Polly Shulman

The Jane Austen fad is still going strong, with mixed progeny. This Austen inspired tale shines, and shouldn't be overlooked in the crush.

"There is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding herself tied by affection and habit to an Enthusiast. I speak from bitter experience."

So starts narrator Julie Lefkowitz's tale of friendship and romantic adventures. Julie has the quiet reserve and good sense, and her best friend Ashleigh is the Enthusiast. Ashleigh's latest craze is the works of Jane Austen. Julie actually introduced her to them, but Ashleigh is the one who seizes long skirts, formal speech, and a mastery of 18th century ballroom dance as the outlet for her energies. Her mania leads her and Julie to attempt to crash the local prep school's Founder's Day dance (where else will one have the chance to dance a quadrille?) where they make the acquaintance of roommates Parr and Ned. Ashleigh declares her affections for Parr, who is the Mysterious Stranger Julie has seen around town and developed a crush on, and tries to push Julie into the arms of Ned, who while very nice is not interested.

Shulman does a great job of mixing in Austen achetypes with teen romance, and really has the rituals of young love and intellectuals down. This is a book about yearning and the struggle to find yourself and your place in the world. These are good kids--no "Gossip Girl" style antics here. And as someone with Enthusiasms herself, I love bouncey, cheerful, unabashed and ridiculous Ashleigh. It's a delightful tale for someone looking for a teen romance that's not racy, and perhaps like Joan Bauer, Jane Austen, and some of the other YA books I've mentioned here.

I Has Diploma. I Can Has Job?

I came home from working this morning in Children's to find...MY DIPLOMA! "Oh, they can't take that away, they can't take that away from me..." I have already had my first academic failure dream earlier this month (unlike many librarians, I have had real academic failure in my life so I don't have random anxiety dreams about forgetting to go to class) --that my advisor called me up and said, "Hey, I know I passed you on this paper but I just read it and it's CRAP! You have to rewrite it!"

I'm strangely happy. I apparently get a raise to the librarian rate at my main part-time job. It was a good week in library science, mostly, so this just caps it. My mom thought I should go out for dinner, but I am unsure how to celebrate.

CSA, Week 14--Same Old, Same Old

Pecans
Popcorn
Sweet corn--I need to make corn fritters, and I can't figure out what else to do. Once upon a time I made an excellent corn stew, but I have no clue where that recipe is.
Tomatoes
Green Bell Pepper--SuperC let me have hers, because she and her husband do not like them. They are HUGE.
Sweet Dumpling Squash--A sweeter variety of acorn squash, with a lovely yellow and green speckly skin.
Pie pumpkin--It is lovely, and I had composed a poem about it, but I forgot it. Silly Kerry.

Blitzkreig Book Reviews: The Children Are Manipulative Little Shits Edition

A quick round up of some cool books I've turned up in the course of the weeding project. I've got two presentations to set up based on the books I've encountered--one for good books for book report and another titled "I Read This When I Was Young!" with selections from all the staff.

Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren by Barbara Park--I don't get the parents who are up in arms about Junie's boisterous nature and poor grammar. It's all good fun, people. Even little kids deserve some escapism in their reading. However, check out the smoothest piece of friendship manipulation since Frances got her tea set back from Thelma as Junie convinces Lucille that mutual crush Warren could not possibly be interested in a clod like her. Miss M. and I both like Junie as we were bouncy, goofy girls when we were young.

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E.L. Koingsburg--Apparently, when you're the new kid in town it's the best time to be all mysterious and find someone to bend to your will. Elizabeth is a good girl who encounters Jennifer, new girl who claims witchcraft powers. She's certainly mysterious and spooky, and she offers to train Elizabeth, thereby setting up a fun series of challenges as she leads the credulous Elizabeth through hell. Elizabeth is slow on the uptake, but when she finally figures shit out and calls Jennifer on her bullshit, it is great. And then makes her be her friend.

The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald--I loved this series as a kid, and I was laughing out loud rereading this at the Diner on Clifton. I got involved in a huge discussion with an old lady about it. J.D. is the youngest boy in a Catholic family in Mormon dominated Utah. His older brother Tom, aka The Great Brain, is the sort of kid we call pure Irish in my family--always got the angles covered, living a bit outside the rules, looking to make a buck. He's the craftiest kid in town but doesn't do too bad by others as he embarks on his schemes, which range from selling chances to check out the first indoor toilet in town, giving the crippled kid his self-esteem back and the ability to do all his chores, and saving kids lost in a cave. Tom's hero status is always tarnished by his venial nature and his willingness to exploit the easily duped J.D. Ha! I love a bad boy!

Neighbor Update

My neighbors have been crafting large paper mache sculptures for their Burning Man of The East festival that they are holding at some campground in the area.

Tonight I pull into the drive to be greeted by the what I swear is a 7 foot penis illuminated by the light from the garage and the sweet, sweet smell of spray paint.

Kill me now. I can't make this up.

CSA, Week 13--It's Starting To Peter Out

Spaghetti Squash--I am fundamentally disturbed by foods whose main purpose or use seems to be as a substitute for other foods. Hence my sigh when I recognized this squash. Pasta is pasta and squash is squash and it's not the same thing, understand?
Watermelon--The most tiny wee watermelon yet! 1 pound of tasty goodness!
Tomatoes--I'm making tomato, onion and cucumber salad. Classic.
Grape tomatoes--I might have pasta one night this week. Usually I don't eat pasta, due to the Italian foods rule, but I'm kind of in the mood.
Yellow zucchini
Red and green bell peppers
Garlic
Fresh oregano!--Finally, not basil!
Basil
Eggplant--At the moment, I am roasting the eggplant, half the red pepper, and the garlic. I'm going to smush it together with the oregano and some lemon and tomato paste and hope it will be something dip-like and tasty.
Delicata squash--I have 3 in the house at the moment.

I'm going over to SuperC's tonight to hang out with her and another librarian. We were going to cook, but it would be mean to ravage her kitchen so late.

CSA, Week 12

This week's bag:

Peaches--SuperC confirmed that these were a bit watery. I think I am going to freehand Roasted Peach Pecan Sorbet, based on the Roasted Apricot Sorbet that was awesome, but oh so labor intensive.
Sweet Corn--My corn chowder was a hit at the office.
Purple Cauliflower
Cubbannelle Pepper
Acorn Squash
Yellow Watermelon--Wee baby watermelon! So cute! So sweet!
Tomatoes--I have no idea what to do with all these tomatoes.
Cucumber
Yellow Zucchini

I'm pulling out Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything for ideas. I am fres out.

Blitzkreig Book Reviews: The Please Don't Yell At Me Edition

One thing that fascinates me about the children's collection is how many books we have on emotions and dealing with them. And sensitive family issues. We did not have these when I was little.

Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry by Bebe Moore Campbell, illustrated by E.B. Lewis--Oh, this book is sad and upsetting. When you have to hide from Mommy and call Grandma because while you went school Mommy cycled through her mania and is now screaming and picking fights with the neighbors, and you have to stay out of her way and take care of yourself, it is not good or healthy no matter how Bebe Moore Campbell tries to put a positive spin on it. It's just wrong, but no one will save you.

Why Are You So Sad? by Beth Andrews, illustrated by Nicole Wong--This is a nonfiction coping book about what to do and how to handle it when your parent is depressed. It goes through all the symptoms, worse case scenarios and offers solid tips and strategies for coping. An excellent resource for parents and children in only 32 pages.

A Notable Day

It's a notable day for two reasons:

First, a cashmere sweater emerged from its summer hiding place to be worn this morning. Have we ever seen them so early in the season before? Take that, global warming! It was the pale pink, which is at the point of needing to be replaced for professional wear and the current one demoted to the status of house sweater.

Second, I was hit on at the reference desk tonight at 2nd job, by someone that I am going to call and have coffee with.

Ahem. Details upon request.

CSA, Weeks 10-11

I spent a lot of the weekend transforming produce. I would say it kept pretty well despite my sojourn at hiking camp (which was fun and very healthy.)

Week 10
Cabbage (I did not get this! It was on the list, but not in my bags! I love cabbage--I think it is my top vegetable.)
green pepper (used in green tomato chutney)
sweet banana pepper
yellow summer squash (a yellow and green crookneck, which sounds like a dragon breed. "Honey! Lasso the Bicolored Crookneck! Quick! Before it spits at you!" I've been reading too much Temeraire.)
3 green tomatoes (chutney)
3 red tomatoes (used in salad, BLT, and a notably Fronchy-style tomato and brie sandwich. 1 spoiled after 10 days on the counter before I could eat it. I feel cheated.)
yellow beans
basil
orange honeydew (Tasteless. I had it yesterday breakfast. I needed a BLT to cut the blandness.)

Week 11
Wee baby watermelon! (Again, delicious! I am eating it right now whole drinking Assam tea.)
2 colored bell peppers
white peppers
Delicata winter squash (They gave us a recipe that involves baking it with orange and sugar that I am going to try)
1 pt red and yellow grape tomatoes
1 pt Juliet tomatoes (little smaller than a roma)
cucumber (used in salsa)
beets (I made a dilled cucumber salsa to go with these.)
broccoli

As I have started my 2nd part-time job in a far suburb and will be even more on the go this week, I doubt my ability to keep up with the eating but I am going to try. Things are getting squalid around here--I need to find my pink tormaline ring, and until I do I can't throw anything away.

Thomas' Best

A month or so ago my mom sent me some cookbooks, among them this pamphlet from 1988 of recipes using Thomas' English Muffins.

It's an effective marketing tool. I about rushed out to buy myself some English muffins after taking a look, and truly it's an unique item--half bread, half bun. A flexible gustatory instument. And lots of these recipes look pretty good, in a stuff on a muff sort of way. Vanilla yogurt, some granola and sliced stawberries--it's an "Earthly Delight." Lot of hamburger variations on a muffin. The Shrimp Louis Muffin is elegant party fare.

It's when the recipe calls for you to pervert the simple muffin in such a fashion as to turn it into a "souffle" that it becomes ridiculous. And the height of absurdity is the "Thomas' Baked Alaska," which calls for a raisin(!) muffin topped with ice cream, meringue, and baked at high heat. It's the raisin muffin that gets me. Thomas' doesn't make anything else that could substitute for a piece of cake?

It strikes me that a "This Is What I Can Do With An English Muffin" would be an excellent idea for a party. The company's already done the contest.

CSA, Week 9--The Good Stuff Pours In!

A wee baby watermelon! That was what was in my CSA share. Just right for me.

I also got basil (blah), corn, beets (a different, lighter, more fuschia type), a zucchini, a pepper, broccoli, cucumber, yellow beans, and tomatoes. i made BLTs today and will make corn chowder tomorrow.

Julie Powell's love of the baked cucumbers? Yeah, I don't get it. They tasted okay, just not worth having again. Very odd idea, I must say.

Breaking Rank--Kristin D. Randle

This book really tries to be The Outsiders, but fails. It's got an intriguing kernel of an idea though.

In an unnamed, dreary, anywhere city there's a group of boys labeled The Clan. They wear all black, they don't participate in school, are all tracked into special ed classes. They skulk around in groups on the outskirts of middle class society, being poor, looking intimidating, sticking to themselves, and ignored.

One of the high school teachers decides to break up The Clan by targeting one Thomas Fairbairn, aka Baby, sending him to the honors track and pairing him with Casey, a combination tutor/guide to the system. It's an awakening for both of them--The Clan turns out to be an organized group started by Baby's older brother and two friends, devoted to Waldenesque ideals of self-education and apprenticeship and Baby has an active mind hidden behind his exterior. Casey's intrigued by him, and Baby's fascinated by her loving middle class family and values. However, this situation threatens and unnverves various other people leading to the classic YA exploration of self vs. group, nonconformity, and that agonizing rite of passage called figuring out who you are and what you want independent of everyone else.

Randle's ham-handed with her deus ex machina points, like the teacher's ability to arrange college plans for Baby and a too easy ending. On the whole, it hampers her narrative and character development, but I love the idea of a boy cult devoted to self education, intellectualism and high ideals.

Book connections: I was very much reminded of the original Hopeless Savages graphic novel, to which I had this same intrigued but disturbed reaction due to its theme of the pressures of family conformity in the guise of nonconformity. And I was also reminded of my current favorite song, Billy Bragg's "To Have And Have Not" with its theme of self-reliance and confidence in the face of low expectations and economic odds. It gives me succor as I think about my job hunt. it also reminds me how much I just flat out like teenage boys.

Come To A Clambake! Save Some Cats!

Heads up! Rainbow Connection is hosting a clambake October 13th to benefit the kitties. I adopted my boys from them, and they have found homes for Gimlet & her kittens, Calcutta and Bombay, and will help Marbles and Specs. They're no-kill, no-declaw, and do a lot to help cats find loving homes, keep the feral population down, and support cat ownerships.

Think about coming to the clambake. You're helping a good cause, and you can meet me and eat my vegan chili and drink my donated wine. It's a tax-deductible donation too.

Here At the Scenic-Vu Motel--Thelma Hatch Wyss

Here's a dirty secret about libraries--they throw away books. Even though I am immune to the sight of books in a dumpster due to the Great Law Firm Purge of '01, the idea of public libraries weeding out and tossing good books, books that I read and loved, makes me cry.

So sometimes I try to give them a little more life by taking out books I've read before and liked. This YA novel from 1988 is a good read but slight. It's the diary of Jake Callahan, who along with 6 other high schoolers is boarded at the Scenic-Vu Motel in Pine Flats, ID. They all come from a hippie family settlement up the mountain 90 minutes away, and the school board will not pay to run bus service up there for a handful of high school students, preferring to pay to board them in town.

Jake's a senior, which mean's he's the defacto leader of the bunch, keeps them on the honor roll and out of trouble with two rules-- "Work Hard" and "Have Fun." His journal details his attempts to come to grips with his unusual family, deal with the burden of being the grownup for the other 6 kids, and attempts to get a social life and some fun out of his last year of school. They all bond with the motel's owner, Mrs. Metz.

Wyss has an engaging voice, but the plot and characters are slim. Not an emotionally gripping tale, but when I was a kid way back when it was an enjoyable read.

Book News

Okay, so I was reading Publisher's Weekly at the Ref Desk last month and saw that the American Girls series has a new character--Julie, a girl growing up in 1976 San Franscisco. I about died and felt so very old that the 1970's are now historical, even thought I was a toddler in 1976. Miss G., who's a bit older than me, was charmed and wants the whole set. She has the Little Miss G(s) to think of.

Logically, I know I'm in my thirties, but I so do not want to believe it.

The JT Leroy scandal ends and we should all feel so very sorry for its fucked up perpetrator. Um, no. It was fraud--it's one thing to have an alias and a writing persona, but it crosses the line when the character of the author and the spectacle she creates and uses to sell the books eclipses the quality of the writing.

Slate's take on the Alvarez book is much like mine, but a little harsher.

And no one reads. The few of us who do read, read a lot, in order to make up for the rest of you. Isn't there a WPA-like program for that, subsidizing us great readers so we can benefit the rest of you?

Librarian Links Roundup

Shelf Check is a hilarious look at the library world.

Numbers 26, 27, 37, 38 and 47 are especially funny, but I howled through the whole thing. It's the dog days of summer--the library world goes nuts.

Library Career Romances is a bit of historical pop culture ripe for feminist analysis. My favorite is The Loveliest Librarian, as I have also found beauty to be an asset in library work. Face it, the patrons will stalk you even if you are plain--you might as well dress up and enjoy yourself.

Bookhunter is an amusing graphic novel set in 1973 about the theft of a rare book. A little long, but well grounded in that early 1970's cinema style--it reminds me of Bullitt.

You Know You Want This Job

Archivist Internship

Jerry Bruckheimer Inc. has an unpaid internship in its Santa Monica office for a library archive student. The ideal candidate has strong organization and communication skills. Must be a proactive self-starter with proven time management skills and the ability to multi-task. Must have a working knowledge of PC and networking technologies.

This is a great opportunity to obtain hands on practical experience in the archival profession while working for one of the most reputable entertainment companies in the industry.

Assist Archivist with the following responsibilities:

-Researching and procuring periodicals pertaining to Jerry Bruckheimer
and all Jerry Bruckheimer business entities, including Film and Television
-Scanning and cataloguing articles into searchable database
-Preserving and storing originals
-Recalling and printing articles for staff members

Qualifications:

Education:

Must currently be enrolled in an accredited college or university with the ability to receive academic credit . Students that are enrolled in a Masters of Library Sciences program are highly preferred

Associate or 4 year degree a plus, preferably with an emphasis in archiving or library science.

Skills/Competencies Required/Desired:

-Competent and demonstrated ability to work with various
industry-standard publishing software applications such as Photoshop, Acrobat, and MS office
-Demonstrated exceptional organizational skills
-Good written and verbal communication skills
-Patience and strong interpersonal and customer service skills
-An understanding and appreciation for the importance of protecting the company's image and legacy

Please send a cover letter and resume to: jbinterns@yahoo.com with "Archival Internship" in the Subject line.

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER!

Another A+ Week In Library Science!

The good overwhelmed the bad this week:

1) I explained to our 14 year old Children's Room page what a card catalog was. She thought it must have been a real pain to use. I laughed gently, because we have Sirsi.

2) I had a teaching moment when a patron asked about my scar. It evolved into why you should always wear a seatbelt, and pulling out the encyclopedia to show the humerus and explain what happened. A really good conversation!

3) I was working Children's alone one night this week, and had an awesome night. First I set a boy up with the USA puzzle and got to give Miss Kerry's Persistence Pep Talk when he gave up on it. Then an adult patron who heard it said I had a nice way of talking to the kids and asked about my schedule so she could bring her kids back.

Next day I'm working with Miss M and we had a group of older boys in, all of whom were interested in an afternoon of walking the line between boy and rowdy. At one point, just when I was about to interject again, Miss M comes up with "Calm down. If I have to talk to you again, there's going to be consequences. I'm not all nice like Miss Kerry."

Which made me feel bad, but not for long because she turned and said sotto voice, "Actually, you do well with them. You're firm but nice."

Which is good to know--firm but nice is my goal. And I love it that we can do good cop/bad cop on the kids. Excellent working relationship.

4)Other library job is going to start soon. So they say. Plus I'm being encouraged to apply for the position I'm not sure I want or could do. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

You Know What Makes Me Want To Slit My Wrists?

Online job applications.

I just finished one and it took forever. There was no option to save it and come back later. Hell, I tell you. Hell.

What My Life Is Like Right Now

A catch-up post:

If I sound a little down and/or overwhelmed right now, to be frank, I am and I know it.

Mencken is still missing. I contacted Rainbow Connection and they loaned me a trap. In the two weeks I've been setting it out, I've caught 1 raccoon, 1 possum, and 3 cats. None of the cats was Mencken. One was the quite clearly feral Brown Kitty, and I let him go. One was a very sweet tuxedo girl, declawed and spayed, who has a healing bite on her ass. She's a love muffin, and I can't decide if her name is Garland or Marbles. She's in the Tuscan Nightmare room. The other is the gray cat Jackass Neighbor told me about a few months ago that Isadora and I have caught sight of before and Isadora thinks is pregnant. She's in the bathroom until Monday. No, I am not keeping them. And Isadora doesn't blame me for his escape and says accidents happen and that she's only ever really lost 1 kitty. But still, I miss him and I am sorry and my heart hurts.

One of my managers at work is driving me nuts. I also just got her voice out of my head. Ay yi yi. Thankfully, I don't have to work until Tuesday. We have an enormous weeding project that I am not looking forward to participating in.

Freecycle people keep flaking on me.

I have to break in my hiking boots, find a cat sitter, find some clothes, and prepare to go to hiking/weight loss camp with my mom.

I am obsessing over a guy I knew in college who I last spoke to 10 years ago. I know why I am obsessing over him to the point of Google-stalking--he represents a road not taken and even if that road was clearly marked "Teenage Alcoholic--Danger Ahead" and needed not to be taken by me, it distracts me from the fact that I need to be looking ahead now and making some plans.

On the plus side, I do have a car now (thank you, Mom!), one of my dad's station wagons. So at least I am not at the mercy of Cleveland RTA and its notions of "on time" and customer service. We're not talking Nordstom's level of service here. And my mom and I had a lovely visit last weekend, and I had a great time with family I never see, talking story and all that. For all intents and purposes, I have graduated, even if I didn't walk and won't believe it until a diploma shows up. And other standard blessings apply.

I need to move forward, and I need to keep rolling. Time is running out.

Carlotta's Kittens And The Club of Mysteries--Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I am so glad I pulled this off the shelves down in Children's. It's a wonderful book. I've been mostly disappointed in our offerings--and face it, everyone just wants the crack cocaine of internet games, WWE, Disney Channel, Bratz, et al. But still, it's hard to push books on them when what we've got are dull series books for easy readers. If Cam Jansen were my kid, I'd beat the photographic memory right out of her--she's so annoying.

This is a wonderful chapter book, featuring excellent characterization and an easy to follow storyline, and elegant prose. It's a good bedtime read aloud book.

The Club of Mysteries is a group of cats lead by the old, battered tom Texas Jake and composed of brothers Marco (the smart one) and Polo (the dumb one), Boots, and Elvis. And the beautiful calico Carlotta, who has gone off to have kittens. The boy cats are awaiting her return, because they all want to play daddy to Carlotta's kittens and win her favor. But the club realizes they have a very serious task at hand helping to raise these little kittens and keep them safe from all the dangers of the neighborhood.

(Okay, let's remember we're reading a children's book about anthropomorphized animals, and forget what activities lead to kittens and what Carlotta did. There's no neck biting and mounting in this book! The Club of Mysteries is composed of perfect gentleman bachelor kitties.)

Naylor's strengths are her characterization--she really gets the cat viewpoint of the world down--and gentle humor. I much enjoyed this soothing read.

Once Upon A Quinceanera--Julia Alvarez

So how did I come to buy this hardcover and read it? Blame my family. I went to NJ last weekend, and by coincidence the Texas contingent was in town for a wedding, and Sunday morning found us over at the Windsor Diner talking about weddings and other insanity, and this book was mentioned. Probably by me. No, certainly by me. And one thing lead to another, and I was in a bookstore that afternoon and it was purchased. You can get people to buy and read all sorts of books if only you get the idea on front of them. Oh, and deprive them of the computer too.

Anyway, so Julia Alvarez spent a year researching the modern day insanity of the quinceanera, the "traditional" ceremony in which a Hispanic girl celebrates her 15th birthday and sort of symbolically becomes an adult and/or marriageable. Here's the thing--the quinceanera or "quince" is on the cusp of hitting the mainstream/crossing over to Middle America as a ritual for various reasons stemming from the rise of the Hispanic culture, the lack of such formal rituals in the US, television mega party coverage and shopping culture.

Alvarez makes a lot of good socio-cultural points in this book and she does a good job of outlining and linking concepts like consumption, cultural mores surrounding money, tradition, class, immigration and assimilation, telegraphed messages of sexuality and melding of different cultures. The problem is that she crosses this sociological study with a memoir about her coming to America in late childhood and how she tried to find her way into adulthood. But then, it's a pretty slight book-she's got maybe 175 pages tops about quinces, and she needed to pad it out. It's all pretty interesting though, but I prefer the bits on the quinces and wish she'd pressed her subjects harder and dug up more detail. Because as she describes it, the whole quince thing is just fuzzy--even the people paying thousands of dollars for the celebration and the girls going through it can't really pinpoint what it all means, either individually or to the larger group. Alvarez has a lively style--her fiction writing chops show through--and it's a quick, interesting read.

So this book next goes to my mom, my Aunt Mary Jane, and then hopefully down to Texas to my other aunt and cousin. Anyone else want to read it? I paid full price for it and I feel everyone should get a chance at it. And by the way Genevieve, you will be happy to know that I pulled out the personal library kit you gave me a while back to record this book's journey.

CSA--Week 8, Midterm Grades

This week's bag had:
garlic
beets
Pontiac Red potatoes
okra
pecans
white stuffing pepper
cubannelle pepper
poblano pepper
yellow beans

Judgements on past veg:

I joined the CSA for a bunch of reasons 1) I'm very lazy about grocery shopping, and the idea that there'd always be fresh farm veg appealed to me, 2) I know all about my crappy dietary practices, thank you, 3) I felt like supporting a family farm, and there's no farm stands here in Cleveland, 4) I know I have limited tastes and need to branch out a bit in what I eat, and it's better to do that with veg than meat based dishes and 5) I need to lose weight.

However, midway through the season, I have to say I don't think this is playing out well.

Part of it is me. I really need people to eat with and cook for. I am a pack animal. Dusie is right--we should pool our money and flummox some real estate agents and build a family compound of the non-polygamist variety. I can have the house on the corner and tend her turkeys and make dinner for everyone, and encourage my sisters to have babies so I can be Aunt Kerry. Or live in the same single girl apartment complex as Aces and make dinner with her. Problem is I don't have enough friends out her to have over to dinner every week to test myself. Add to this the fact that I work varied shifts, extra hours when I can get them, and don't even bother to eat dinner if I come home at 8:30pm, and don't have a/c--cooking may not happen here.

But the CSA also bears some blame. I'd like it if they told us what it looks like we'd be getting in the next few weeks, even if it's an approximation. I'd also like more variety--I don't need any more okra or popcorn or pecans, thank you! Or zucchini! Basil is overrated!

Some things have been awesome, some not. Worth detailing:

The lettuces have been great--really sturdy and delicious.

The peaches--Eh. Kinda watery. Not a lot of flavor at all. I like a really good peach, even with the fuzz, but these are just lackluster.

Cucumbers--all good.

Beets--yeah, I do like beets. I had forgotten that.

Okra--I know from descriptions that I don't like okra. Yes, I can say that without trying it--all my food aversions are based on texture, not taste. When people give you this look and say "It's slimy but less so if you fry it," I know I'm in trouble. So when in doubt, pickle some shit .

Green tomatoes are welcome for chutney.

I like potatoes (I'm Irish, you know) but it's the middle of summer! It's too hot to roast anything! Or boil! No, I'm not going to make soup!

Too many green beans. I never thought I'd say that, although they've all been good.

Basil--Why not rosemary? Or tarragon?

Genital wart squashes. That says it all.

Other things have gone bad before I've figured out how to use them or remembered their existance.

Annoyances, Part 1

You know, I realize that complaining of the aroma of pot smoke in Lakewood is like complaining New York is crowded, Seattle is rainy, and it's humid south of the Mason-Dixon, but really--dear neighbors, the stink tonight is driving me nuts. Guess you're lucky that no one seems to be that interested in your house, huh? Because after 6 years of living next door to you, I think it's soaked into the carpet like the stink of your cats.

Oh, and don't let your guests park on my side of the drive. And when they do and the lot of you are sitting out on the porch, and a space in front of your house opens up on the street, you need to tell them to move their car before I get home because I will not be amused. I am not friendly. I fully realize that you all are of the "here's an opening, let me slither into it" school, and there's nothing that gives me more pleasure than laying the slap down on you.

I deal with the lack of home training in the EC all day (got called "big bitch" today and got the officer to throw some kids out upstairs AND down). I've got my librarian voice. Don't make me bring it on home.

CSA, Week 7--It's Getting Scary!

This week's haul:

Broccoli. Sigh
1 large, rather attractively striped, zucchini. Its hide would make a lovely dress.
6 small Rock Haven peaches
Lettuce
1 pickling cucumber
3 green tomatoes
1 lb green beans
1 green pepper
1 cubannelle pepper. This wins the "what the hell am I going to do with that?" award for the week.

The Romance Heroine did make it over for dinner this week. We broke out the grill and had pork tenderloin, grilled corn, zucchini fritters, and blueberry gelato and cookies. We are both in bad sorts with lots of troubles. The food, while very good, did not fix anything.

What's up next: I'll report back on the Julie/Julia Project's baked cucumbers, make a batch of green tomato chutney, more zucchini fritters, and heaven knows what else.

CSA, Week 6

This is the week in which I have too much food. I did get my veggies last week, and SuperC picked up my share for this week. I now have way too much vegetable matter in my house. Complicating matters is the fact that I am still commuting by bus and train, so that sucks up a lot of time and isn't necessarily conducive to grocery shopping.

Also I think I want to grill since it's only in the 70s today, but it's raining and I have no matches. Also it might lure Mencken and the other neighborhood kitties.

What I've got (the last 2+ week's pickups):

1 pt blueberries (I don't understand why people like commercially grown blueberries, but I can get behind farm berries. I just don't know what to do with them.)

4 wart squashes

3 pickling cucumbers, which I just added to the brine I already used for the other pickles.

4 regular cukes (Wait! Inspiration has struck! Ever since reading Julie Powell's blog, I have wanted to try the Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe for baked cucumbers that Powell swears is awesome. Is this the week?)

6 corn (2 of which I am having for lunch with chicken and bbq sauce)

1 head garlic

more popcorn (I'll say this--every time I see the popcorn I remember how much weight I lost at Weight Watchers and that the Core Plan isn't that bad.)

2 bunches of basil, starting to turn

1 head of bok choy. (I'm a little afraid of the bok choy)

1 lb string beans

lots of red, white and Yukon Gold potatoes

3 zucchini

kale

2 very pretty green peppers

lettuce!

okra (i am both dismayed and afraid of the o-k-r-a)

broccoli (Let's not mention the broccoli.)

There's other stuff too, bought at the ( hushed voice) grocery store.

Off to consult Cooking Light and make a shoppng list! Thank heavens the Romance Heroine might be coming over for dinner this week.

I Hate To Break It To You...

but we don't need to worry about terrorists blowing shit up. The Minnesota bridge collapse just illustrates a problem we've been ignoring for years.

Not a surprise.

Mencken Is Missing!

He ran out on Saturday night and I haven't seen him since. I am making a flyer to paper the neighborhood and also have been looking for him and shaking a Pounces can. I put Cain in a carrier on the porch and my dirty laundry outside, in hopes of luring him to my house with familiar scent. He hasn't shown up, but neither has a pervert stolen my dirty underpants.

Prayers to Sts. Anthony and Francis have been said. Any hopes, advice and good wishes are welcome.

The Use it Up Challenge, Or CSA Week 5

I did not pick up my vegetables this week, as I got a last minute chance to work an extra shift at work that ran until 8pm. My coworker and her husband are my secondary pickup peeps, but were unable to get there, and I didn't think to call my pal SuperC who is in the same CSA. Ah well. Dan supposedly has my bag, and I sent an email via the LEAF website, but I haven't heard back.

There's too much around here to cook and eat. I've introduced the Use It Up Challenge. New food items may be purchased if only they help me use up what I've already got. Yes, I realize this just continues the cycle. Hush.

Roto Chicken--Turned into chicken salad, which used from the stash: raisins, pecans, curry powder and mayo. Put the carcass in the freezer for soup, because I am constitutionally unable to throw away a carcass that can be turned into soup.

Apricots--Apricot-Cherry Chutney. Used: dried Bing cherries (the dried tart ones are better for eating), bourbon, cider vinegar, sugar, fresh apricots, cake spice, a star anise and a half a vanilla bean. And half an apple from the chicken salad recipe. I totally freehanded this recipe, and it seems okay--I forgot to add garlic, and went heavy on the vinegar.

Brown Sugar Icebox Cookies--Used: CSA pecans, homemade vanilla extract (oh, what else was I going to do with that extra vodka? Note to self--check the amount of vanilla extract you have on hand first!), brown sugar.

What hasn't been used up? The snow peas, kale, a cucumber--sadly, they fell to the fridge rot.

News of the Neighborhood

I was absolutely gobsmacked to see a "For Sale" sign on my neighbor's lawn yesterday when I walked home from work.

Yes, those neighbors. The performance arting, geodome building, dead baby garden planting, talking all night about nothing on the porch, party throwing neighbors.

On the one hand, I'm tempted to clean up my yard to help them sell. On the other hand, I'm tempted to throw a pig roast every weekend in order to disrupt any open houses.

I did however hatch out a plot of a romantic comedy novel that I should pen based on this development. Should I? I don't want to say any more, but I sketched the whole thing out last night while cooking and I think I could do a good job--think P.G. Wodehouse and Jane Austen tackling the woes of a declining Midwestern real estate market.

I Read Of The Book Electronic

Okay, so ever since I discovered that my Cleveland Public Library card allows me access to e-books and other electronic media, I have been very happy. It's good for finding something to read when the library is closed, or if you are perhaps a little embarassed by your reading tastes, and has lots of newer materials available.

Looking for ways to read using your computer? I've compiled some resources.

Daily Lit serves those pinched for time and looking to catch up on the classics by sending excerpts of classic literature and nonfiction via email or RSS. You pick how often you receive the sections, and read at your own pace. Fairly small selection, but it is searchable.

Full Books has a variety of out of copyright material, ranging from reference to classic to schlock. Online reading only, no searching, and it's all arranged alphabetically by title. But it has P.G. Wodehouse. You'll find some gems within.

World Wide School is set up for those who want to broaden their education and offers a variety of older children's materials, classic texts, and fiction. Again, online reading only, but it has a searchable index.

Munsey's is the place if you've got a love for old genre fiction. Tons of pulp and classic materials. You can download to a mobile reader or Adobe Acrobat or read online in HTML. Searchable by keywords, some books are tagged.

Baen Free Library offers the first books of several science fiction series for reading, along with discussion of whether this is good for writers and publishers or not.

And of course, Project Gutenberg the original e-publisher of free copyright material.

ENJOY!

Blitzkreig Book Review, Part 2

Clubbing--Andi Watson & Josh Howard: And Minx Books is now 1::2 in the decent to crap ratio. Somebody have a word with the editor of that line, please. This book starts out with the interesting premise of Goth club girl Charlotte "Lottie" Brook getting caught with a fake id and being sent to spend 3 months with her grandparents working at their golf club in the Lake District, where she finds a little romance and a murder mystery to investigate. And then it suddenly turns into a ripoff of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. Yes, really. I'm done with this line.

However, note to Genevieve--there is one very funny bit, a "country Goth" vs "city Goth" pissing match.

Girl Most Likely To--Poonam Sharma: This is a book that sent me on a weeklong rampage of asking the question "Do you think I'm retarded?" Because this book insults the reader by feeding her a drippy heroine, a plot that rampages through everything but the kitchen sink with the search for true love, gay friends finding love, straight friends getting a clue, thinking your one night stand taped your sex to sell on the internet, insider trading, a yoga retreat, meddling Indian parents, and a deus ex machina arrival of a career change from banking to writing. Hi, I'm the author and I'm going to distract you from the lameness and unrealistic plot of my tale and paper thin characters you care nothing about by throwing EVERYTHING at you. Then I can cross "wrote a novel" off my life to do list.

Honey, it's okay to be an underachiever if you do it well.

How Nancy Drew Saved My Life--Lauren Baratz-Logsted: Another book that insults the reader's intelligence, this time by giving us paper thin characters and a plot stolen directly from Jane Eyre. And no wink-nudge-nudge to let us know the author is doing something deft with that stolen plot. Nope, it's a lame naive heroine with a habit of sleeping with her employer, which is tragically trite when you're the nanny and a former child actress with AWOL parents and minimal education. Well, that explains her stupidity at least. And why she doesn't realize she's playing Jane Eyre.

And that title? Total bait and switch. Nancy Drew, her awesomeness and the real life lessons you can pick up from her books barely figure into the story. It's a case of a catchy title duping you into picking up the book, only to find there are barely words to describe its awfulness. Non-scatalogical words at least.

I realize not everything can be great, but there's no shame in being just good. This is just crap. I got the feeling Baratz-Logsted owed the publisher a book and just churned this puppy out to meet the deadline. If I had paid money for it, I do not know what I would have done. Thank you, CPL!

More Cooking Chat

Those salad greens I got from the CSA 2 Thursdays ago? Still good. I am finishing them up tonight.

Depending on if I am still hungry after that, I will have more roto chicky and steamed broccoli with lime dressing (recipe from 9/05 Everyday Food--1tbs lime juice combined w/ 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, covering 1 1/2 lbs broc (my ass that is enough dressing for that much broccoli) w/coarse salt). I also have cherries for dessert. Speaking of cherries, I was talking with Genevieve and she mentioned that she would be grilling plums and apricots for her Saturday dessert, and so I bought some apricots myself today. Is there a more beautiful fruit? My favorite thing to do is apricot cherry pie or cobbler or whatnot. But I may also make some chutney. And I will grill them, I think--with vanilla or coffee ice cream?

Those little cukes from 2 CSA ago--made into quick pickles. Turned out well. Have to finish them.

The 2 huge zucchini--I am going to brave hot oil and make zuke fritters tomorrow.

This weekend, I made pork tenderloin with Coffee Bourbon Barbeque Sauce. I can attest that if you accidently put 1/2 cup cider vinegar in the pot instead of 2 tablespoons, you can increase the brown sugar to 3/4 cup and it will turn out fine. Thank you for the hint, Genevieve! It is so thin that it would make an excellent marinade along with a sauce, I think.

The good thing about having no working car is that it does force you to use up and be a bit creative in your cooking, since there's no running out to get stuff--a walk to the grocery for me is about 20 minutes each way. Later I will inventory the fridge, I promise.

The Introvert Advantage: How To Thrive In An Extrovert World--Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D

Here's the deal: I am an introvert. Hell, I even come from a family of introverts. Together, we are completely happy sitting around and not talking. We don't need to be entertained. Family get togethers are often punctuated by at least one person vanishing for 15 minutes or so into another room for a little timeout.

I may be an introvert, knowing and proud, but even I picked up some insight from this book. Laney does a great job of explaining how the intovert experiences the world, how intoversion is different from shyness and social awkwardness, and giving good detailed strategies on working with your temperment and navigating relationships with extroverts. It's a thorough, excellent book for anyone with an introvert in their life. And it's a great book for introverts because she has some good strategies for managing your energy and breaking out of the ruts we often find ourselves in.

What did I pick up from this book? The fact that introverts gets just as overwhelmed by information as they do people contact, and we can wind up paralyzed by TOO MUCH! Which is a problem because we are people who want to know everything and think on it before committing to a plan. I recognized the problem; I just never connected it to being an introvert. And it's not lazy to be someone who needs a lot of downtime to process things. It reminded me of my favorite Andy Warhol quote about the machinery always working, even when you sleep. And my inability to multitask--sign of the introvert.

Maybe I Need To Stop Reading So Much...

Slap me silly, sugar. I'm getting inspiration from the funny pages again.

Today's Mary Worth quote, from the otherwise lame Dr. Drew on his date with the (we can only hope!) nymphomaniac Dawn, "I heard it's best 'not to look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness!'"

On the one hand, it's so true. On the other hand, it's Mary Worth. It just goes to show that wisdom crops up in weird places.

Gee, Thanks a Lot!

Dear Plain Dealer,

You know, covering the parties and excitement and whatnot over the publication of the last Harry Potter book is news. It's a cultural phenomena.

However "obituaries" for the characters who die in the Arts section is not news. It's trying to hitch yourselves onto something extremely popular and being jackasses, not adding content or observation in any form. If you want to review the book and discuss the plot, review the book. Don't do half-measures bullshit.

And don't tell me I should just avert my eyes. Ever hear of the concept of "attractive nuisance?"

Your paper was only worth buying on Sundays for the comics and the circulars, I may even quit doing that now.

GRROOROROROOOWWWWRRRR,

Kerry

Golden Fancy--Jennifer Blake

Sometimes, I read books that are just plain bad. What effect that has on me depends on why the book is bad. Some books are carelessly written, and I tend to feel insulted by those. Some books I just don't get. Some books are just weird. Some books are just past their time.

This is a book that's past its time. It was written back in the late 1970's, when there was a big trend towards rape/forced seduction in the romance genre. I counted four attempted rapes and one actual rape, and the hero and heroine's TRUE! LOVE! 4 EVA! starts with the rape.

It's not really worth reading, except for one thing:

Crazy. Evil. Mormons.

Oh, yeah. Crazy Evil Mormons elevate a book from a complete waste of time to a slightly interesting waste of time.

They beat flat the previous Best Evil Religious in a Romance Novel, the Obnoxious Jackass Quakers from Flowers from the Storm. The Quakers only had smugness and guiltmongering to use against that book's heroine. The Evil Mormon has blood atonement. And stalking.

Right, so plotwise we have the lovely, yet mostly personality-free, Serena Walsh who was on a wagon train with her parents to start a new life in a mining town. They die, and the Mormons force her to continue on with them, when she attracts the attention of Elder Greer, who wants her as his fourth wife. Serena fights him off on Rape Attempt #1, and gets tossed of the wagon train, where she then gets picked up by Wade Dunbar, a man with a past and various business interests in the mining boom town of Cripple Creek. He's the one who rapes her, but then makes her his mistress.

Serena does many stupid things throughout the book, and so does Wade. They are supposed to have a deep love, yet they never have a conversation. Wade also leaves her multiple times to the machinations of his nutty female business partner Pearlie, who hates Serena because Pearlie's in love with Wade, and his nutty male business partner, who's "in love" and obsessed with Serena.And tries to buy her from Wade. Oh, and the Crazy Evil Mormon is still stalking her. The men in this book are such catches.

Now, I don't know how one can be so out of it one manages to give birth and not recall it (but hey, there might have been laudanum involved). I also don't see how a marriage performed when a woman is too sick to consciously consent and recall the ceremony can be legal even in 1891, but hey. In the end the h/h wind up together with their kid, really rich, and no one's been convicted of murder. All's happy.

And I just shake my head and am glad for feminism.

Attack of the Broccoli, or CSA--Week 4

This week's CSA haul:

Broccoli--Broccoli is a vegetable I'm not super fond of. That is because I don't like the texture of florets. Just ew--they are squeaky and sort of bristle-like and big in you mouth. I do like broccoli stalks. They gave us what I would call spears, so I think it would be okay.
String beans
Small cuke
HUGE zucchini
Pecans--The suggested recipe is for a broc and pecan salad, but the idea does not make me leap with excitement.
Pattypan squash
Little red and white potatoes--perfect for potato salad, or broasting with a hunk of meat.

Any suggestions? I need ideas of things to make. I should post the contents of my fridge and run a contest.

Terrible, Terrible Day

Reasons?

The Emmy nominations lists sucks. No love for Friday Night Lights, which sould have swept the acting and writing categories. No love even in the best guest actor categories for Derek Phillips and Liz Mykiel. Travesty.

Spoilers for Harry Potter witten on a big sign in front of Phoenix Coffee on Detroit. Wow. You're just being jackasses for the sake of being jackasses, no?

Got hit on in a very creepy fashion on the street.

Missed my original bus because Starbucks forgot my drink. This is actually not too bad, because I at least got the (hushed voice of awe, with glee) cinnamon sugar donut! and a free drink coupon for my trouble. And I didn't have to ask for it, but I was going to because of the missed bus factor.

And I have apparently been putting life and limb in jeopardy in the mind of my coworkers by taking the train to the Windamere station and walking the half a block to the library. So my bosses set me up with a ride tonight, which is nice, but still.

Hot and humid. I've been trying to ignore the siren song of Indian food, but I may not succeed.

I have something due for work tomorrow. What do kids like anyway? Sigh.

And Cain just puked.

Joy.

These are so incredibly first world problems.

I'm calling for Indian food. CSA be damned.

Clues That I'm A Grownup

My latest clue that I'm really a grownup and that I'm getting old is that when I realized that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was coming out this summer and I didn't care. I'm not buying a copy--matter of fact, I sold all my HPs several months ago. I'm number 981 on the Clevnet reserve list, and I'll be spoiled by the reviews, and I'll get around to reading it eventually, but eh. Just not interested.

Lakewood Public Library is showing the movies in order this week at 5:30pm, starting Tuesday night. I may hie my ass down there to catch the excitement. Harry and the Potters is coming to town too next week--free show at CPL Nottingham Branch. Whoo hoo! I may go to that, but I need to guage the chances of running into people I don't want to see.

No Dewey? Why The Hell Did I Put Myself Through Cataloging Then?

Because that was a semester of hell, I tell you.

When I was in NJ for Grandma's funeral, this library in Gilbert, AZ came up , and Dusie and Aces volunteered to go check it out for me. Such good sisters, willing to investigate library innovation for a good cause and Dunkin' Donuts latte monies. They were both appalled at the no Dewey/no identifying number--and keep in mind, my sisters, although college educated, are not big readers and do not have strong library habits. They also said that people in Gilbert are really stupid. We're really interested to see how this works out. My feeling is that while people say they're there to browse, that behavior applies to fiction. Nonfiction's a whole other bag, and I don't see the Barnes And Noble shelving model applying well to anyone who needs to do research, which even public library patrons need to do sometimes.

CSA, Weeks 2-3

The CSA share is a great investment. Life is a little chaotic, so I haven't updated you on the goodness.

This week:
Garlic
Basil (I don't care for pesto, and not much for basil in general, so if anyone has ideas for alternate uses I'd appreciate it)
2 HUGE zucchini
6 ears sweet corn
6 or so pickling cucumbers (Kay from the farm said you can eat them in salad, but I might try a quick pickle method on them)
Snow Peas
Big bag of lettuce--I bought some more beets, so I am making more beet salad. Yum yum.)

The Romance Heroine came over for dinner last night and we had spicy chicken thighs with yogurt sauce ( Cooking Light recipe, couscous, and zucchini-corn-onion-red pepper saute. And we had the Lime Rum Shrub, which turned out awsome. You can drink it straight or mix it with ginger ale and add maraschino cherries and a little lime. Then, somewhat tipsy, we went to DQ. And then we played The Sassy Experience, which is somewhat lame.

Last week's CSA haul:
Garlic
1 big onion
2 cups popcorn
Zucchini
Cucumber
Kale
Shelling peas

And a pattypan squash, which I hate to say, but it is true--looks like a genital wart.

Off to cook some dinner!

On Being A Hip Shusher

I think I hate the hip librarian stereotype more than I hate the dowdy librarian stereotype. Personally, I feel I'm halfway between the two, so I hope I transcend the stereotype.

In rebuttal, I offer these words from Caroline Graham from her address "The Common Novel In Libraries," published in the 1894 Proceedings of the American Library Association:

“If it be a problem with librarians why so many people in the world desire commonplace books, I suspect the answer is found in the fact that so many persons are merely commonplace people. This would be an appalling fact, if not for the fact that outside their own line of work librarians are often quite gloriously commonplace themselves, without feeling grieved about it. “ (p. 15)

Yeah, hmm. I think we should all remember that. The problem with being "hip" is that inadvertently or with intent, you tend to make other people feel bad about themselves. I've got no problem with individuality and a tart tongue, but I think it's important for the profession to realize that one of the most valuable tools we have is a ready smile and an honest interest in and ability to listen to others.

On a more personal note, I have handed in my final research paper. I am pretty sure that I will be all officially a Master of Library and Information Science as of next month. If anyone wants to read said paper, it's dull librarian shit on the "quality vs. demand" issue, but I put in some quality Kerry Snark.

Occupational Hazards

Dear Children,

Please do not puke on the floor of the library. Miss Kerry herself is a reflex puker with a tender stomach, and we wouldn't want ankle to ankle vomit soaking the carpet, would we?

Thank you,

The Management