THE House in Holly

This was my Grandpa & Grandma's house - actually it was my GreatGrandpa & Grandma's house! After my Grandma died at age 94 it was sold.

Surfing the Internet before Christmas I discovered that it's for sale again and the dreaming began!!

I added the link to my del.ici.ous bookmarks and routinely check - as of today it's still for sale!

SIGH!

PS - it looked a lot better when my Grandma had it!!

PPS - do you think "working from home" would work - it's only Michigan after all - and they have high speed access!!

Phases of the Moon

I need to go to a friend's blog and check the phases of the moon (or I suppose I could go get the gadget myself!) because we're starting to have problems we haven't had for a while! I'm attempting to try to justify the activities by moon phases!

Actually I think it's more realistic to say - teenage boys hanging together without supervison and with a computer adds up to a problem every time!! In any event, we're going to have to be stern and "offer some correction"!!

Some days I feel like we're the "Teen Whisperers" - and, to borrow from Caesar Millan's "No touch, no talk, no eye contact" - ours is: no touch, all talk, constant eye contact!! They will just have to learn that we can't and won't accept their behavior in the library - and we're in charge of the building - they're not.

Wish us luck! It has the potential to be a long few days! Luckily we have a policy and procedure to follow!!

Holly Dreaming . . .

This is a place I'd love to live - it's different than I remember - from visits as a child - but it's still small and quaint yet close to bigger cities and "stuff".


Of course right now it's covered in snow!

Just another day at Oceanfront

Today was a good day for me - tired and all!! I got lots cleaned up - shredded, recycled, filed and generally cleaned. I also got an evaluation written (YEA!!) and have plans for some others that need to be written.

But along with all the good things that happened, we had the rescue squad twice (for the same person) today!! One of our homeless customers had a seizure outside the building (the first time) and we called the rescue squad. However, when they got to the library, the customer was awake and refused treatment. Unfortunately he had 3 other seizures during the day and after the last one we again called for help! This time he was taken out on a stretcher.

On another note: we discovered that some ingenious folks have discovered a way to circumvent the software we use to log people onto the Internet. We require a library card and PIN to log into one of our computers. These busy people found a way around that (and our session timers!). Luckily for us, some of them were willing to tell us how they did it!

A call was made to our IT department - and we're waiting for the fix to close this new loophole!!

SIGH!

Says it all . . . . .

These 50 hour weeks are REALLY hard on old people like me!!

Cats & the "Fire Box"

The cats are both fascinated with the fireplace - and love it when it's turned on (obviously it's a gas fireplace - done because it's so much easier than real wood!!). They'll vie for the ottoman in front it - or as we call it - the cat hair couch (because of all the cat hair that can be deposited in one week!!) - and spend hours gazing into the fire!

Of course, I like the fireplace too and love to sit with my feet up on the ottoman - BUT - that's definitely frowned upon by the furry bundles who've claimed it for their (separate) own! It usually works out - I have one small corner of the ottoman - the cat currently claiming it has the rest!

I've thought of getting another ottoman or stool for the kitties - but I'm sure that they'd ignore it and keep the one we already have! I'd be the one with the stool!! So I guess we'll have to continue sharing the one we have!

Good TIme Had By All!

It was really good to get together with a few friends last night and "dish dish dish"! It's been a while since we've gotten together and life is trying to get in our way but we managed a get-together last night and it was FUN! (I'm sure the very young waiter was convinced we were absolutely ready for the funny farm - but as mentioned, he's young!!)

Thank you Delilah, Carter & Maggie Mae for the excellent time - and great talk!! Fingers crossed that all stays sane for our next meeting!!

PS - Maggie - OF COURSE you could handle anything - I mean geesh - a walk in the park!!

A Friend's Name

To the Rescue . . . . .

It was our Little Green Machine to the rescue today as a customer's LARGE bottle of liquid laundry detergent spilled! Luckily it was in a spot normally covered by the legs of a table so it will be able to dry, luckily it smells REALLY nice and luckily I was able to stop the customer from trying to pick up the gooey stuff with paper towels!

Unfortunately, the liquid laundry detergent is extremely thick and didn't get into the machine but stayed in the non-detachable hose!! (Note to Bissel - please make the hoses detachable!!). SO, after getting all the detergent out of the carpet, I took Little Green to the lounge - ran water into the sink and repeatedly sucked up water and emptied suds from the intake container!

Took a little while but eventually the hose was clear, the intake container didn't have suds and the lounge smelled REALLY good too!!

And they say there's no fun in libraries!!

ARG!

I'm looking forward to our "meeting" tomorrow - been a long time - lots to catch up on!

See ya!!

The End of History Was Written . . .

And no one told me it was over and done - SIGH

This is why I get my news from the Daily Show!!

And people wonder why my expectations are so low!

Reading Makes a Comeback??!!

At least according to the Onion!! A 27 year old passes up TV, the Internet and sleeping to actually READ an entire book!!

What is the world coming to??!!!

(from)

Book Review

I'm not sure where I read about this book - either a blog or one of the library journals that get routed around the building! In any event, I put it on hold and promptly forgot about it!!

It came in the other day and I've thoroughly enjoyed it! While it has many amusing parts, it's not just a funny book about working in a library - there are thoughtful and thought provoking sections too.

"Pages occupy the bottom rung of the library hierarchy. . . . A library will continue to function nicely without every other position, but without the pages it would grind to a stop within a quiet afternoon." (p.17)

Although written by a librarian from California (with some specific situations), this book could easily fit into Virginia Beach! Put it on hold and enjoy it too!

PS - FYI I started 22 years ago as a Page!!

Cleo Update

After the vet's use of the "d" word - Cleo got busy and has stayed commited to losing weight! As of today she's lost 2 pounds (and for a cat that's a lot!). She's now a swelte 15 lbs 8 oz!

Obviously she's more active - evidenced by her chasing Quincy all over the house. While they can be in the same room and use the same litter box, there are some things they just can't manage - like sharing the sofa at the same time or going upstairs at the same time.

I suppose some things take longer than others - and it's only been about 3 months!

Was There Any Question?!

Test Results

Your personality type is ISTJ.

Introverted (I) 96%	Extraverted (E) 4%
Sensing (S) 82%	Intuitive (N) 18%
Thinking (T) 65%	Feeling (F) 35%
Judging (J) 77%	Perceiving (P) 23%
http://www.kisa.ca/personality/

3 Day Weekend

One day of interviewing behind me - two more to go - with a HOLIDAY prior to the next day!! This is the last official holiday for Virginia Beach until Memorial Day and I intend to enjoy every minute of it!

There's something decadant about a Monday off - even tho I don't normally go into work until 12 - having the day off is just soooo good! I don't have any plans for this weekend - the usual - laundry etc. but nothing out of the ordinary. But maybe that's just exactly what I need!

I hope everyone enjoys the day - I can't believe that we're this far through January 2008 already! Time really is flying!!

Best Laid Plans . . .

I was tired - it's been a long, trying week and I have a full day on Friday. So . . . I headed off to bed early Thursday and settled in for a nice, long sleep.

But it was not to be - I was almost asleep - in that quiet area where you're really not totally asleep but you're not awake either - and the phone rang! Scared me!!

It was someone wanting to schedule an interview (I'd left messages for this person much earlier in the day)!! It was also 9:45 p.m.! SIGH

Interview scheduled, I tried to get back to that quiet place, but, as you can see by the time on this post, it just wasn't to be. It's now Friday - EARLY Friday - and I'm hoping to get to sleep soon. Going to be a long day . . .

Writer's Strike

Ok - "30 Things" is over and I'm ready to settle in on a cold night and watch some quality TV - I mean (on various days) there's Criminal Minds, L&O (still!) and CSI - not to mention NCIS!! But new shows are few and far between -because of the writer's strike. Bummer!

I HATE reality shows - sorry but American Idol makes me cringe, I want everyone voted off every island on the first day and I don't care who's racing anywhere! So you can see I really want the writers to come back so I can be sure my shows will be there! (There's a summer show I'm hoping will be on again too - PLEASE settle the strike!!)

But I'm VERY glad that Jon Stewart is back on the Daily Show - MY FAVORITE place to get news!! (And luckily it's repeated the next day at 8 because most days staying up to watch at 11 isn't going to happen!!)

Come on TV execs - and writers - "can't we all just get along"!!!!! Please???? SIGH

A New Day!

Thanks to my friends for their kind comments! Not to fear - I will weather the storm! It's actually quite minor but it certainly seemed major at the time! But then all life is relative isn't it?!

Today things are much better - a good night's sleep and a glass of wine help a great deal along with support from many people!

I'm looking forward to our meeting next week! It's ALWAYS a good time! I'm very glad everyone can be there!

What's Going On?!!

What I would have, if I only had time! The past few weeks have been particularly stressful at work and I'm just about ready to crack wide open! Time to do as my mother always advised - tie another knot in the rope and hang on!

Perhaps it's also time to seriously consider all my options - and really think about where I want to be in the next 5 years (if the silly rope holds for 5 years!). In the meantime I'll work on enjoying my non-work life even more - friends and family are ever so much more important than anything that happens at work!

The aftermath - what's next

Whew - the "30 Things" are over - but what will I do with my time! No more "things" - no more deadlines!

Wait - there's an election! Oh the torture, oh the pain!! Debates every other day (sorry I haven't seen any of them - too early for me). Controversy over whether tears welling in anyone's eyes are real or fake (sorry, don't care either way!) Was the bookshelf a cross that was deliberately staged (Don't know, don't care!) Anointing (REALLY??!!), overwhelming (I don't think so), come-back (from what - it just started!)

Oh well, thank goodness for cable (BBCAmerica, DiscoveryHome and HGTV) here I come! I just a hoping for candidates who can speak coherent sentences and make some sense - it may be a vain hope but there you are.

SIGH - oh for the days of "30 Things"!!

Final "30 Things" Post

This is the last post of my "30 Things" Learning 2.0 at the Beach which is not the same as saying it's the last post of the blog!! I've discovered that I enjoy blogging - I don't know that anyone actually enjoys the reading - but I find the writing cathartic - and that's a good thing!

I would certainly participate in training of this kind again. I've done online training before - webinars as well as online classes and I found this method of presenting this material effective for me. With any training however, the presentation needs to compliment the material and not fight with it! Therefore I would not necessarily want to see all or even most of our future training in this format.

At this time I'll end my "30 Things" with a Thank you to everyone for participating!

Last Week

This is the last week of Learning 2.0 training. We do have more time to actually complete all the assignments, but the new "things" are finished! It's been an interesting 12 weeks and I've learned a great deal. I can't say that I'm not glad that it's over though!

One very important thing that I learned about myself is that I don't have a lot of patience for creating and maintaining a lot of accounts. Many of the tools that were recommended required registration to use fully. I really prefer hands-on work so, to be able to evaluate the tool, another account was created. Luckily some of the ones that I truly enjoyed and will continue to use are owned by larger entities where I already had accounts!

Google = iGoogle, Google Reader, Blogger, YouTube

Yahoo = Flicker

Other accounts that I'll keep include my del.ici.ous account and my Meebo account. Some that I'll drop (as soon as possible!!) include Rolly-o and Library Thing. I can see the advantages of these sites – especially in library work. Creating specialized search engines with Rolly-o for genealogy, storytimes, and programming would be very beneficial. Library Thing could be very useful in reader's advisory. Personally, though, they are just two more accounts to maintain and they aren't accounts I think I would use very often.

Another thing I learned about myself is that I enjoy blogging! Who Knew?? Especially since I've never been one to keep a diary or journal of any kind! Maybe it's the ease of composing at a keyboard rather than struggling with pen and paper or maybe it's the fact that the typed page is neater and I admit to wanting my handwriting "right" all the time!! (yes I admit to a "control issue" problem!)

I'm looking forward to using some of the communication tools we've learned about. I think that wikis will become important tools for team work and for work within the individual agencies. A couple of teams I'm on have used wikis in basic ways over the past 6 months or so. On one, use has steadily increased and more team members are contributing! My agency already has a public blog where programming information is published along with library closings and other information of interest. I'm hoping to publicize this more and get more contributors!! We also have a wiki that I set up for this training specifically. I'm hoping to expand its use and the number of people who contribute. Lots to do this year - it should be fun!

Bundling

My Friend in the Digital Age and I are getting together and, hopefully, by this time next week I'll have blazing fast internet, stupendous telephone and outstanding digital movies! Fingers crossed and all that!!

Currently I have DSL and I've had my ISP for a LONG time (particularly in a digital age!)(at least 10 years!!), very basic telephone service with no bells or whistles and no long distance at all! I do have digital cable and I have a DVR (wheee!) so that won't change too much! Unlike their ads my bundled bill will be higher but not significantly and my "features" will be much more - I'll have long distance again (I really use my cell phone!) and caller ID and voice mail. Wow how 20th century of me!!

Interviewing - from My Side of the Table

Interviewing is one of the most difficult things in the whole world (in my humble opinion)! I'm a very introverted person and don't have a great deal of self-esteem (I'm working on it!!) so putting myself on display AND bragging on myself is very difficult!

HOWEVER, what many people don't realize, until they have to do it, actually asking the questions is hard too!! I've just spent two days asking the same questions and listening to talented people give me answers! I'm always impressed with the calibur of people we have applying (and working) in Virginia Beach!

My hat is off to all the applicants who gritted their teeth, conquered their fears and put themselves on display - thank you for coming, listening and answering the questions!

Thanks too, to my teammates - it was wonderful working with y'all again - lunch yesterday was good - today a tad rushed!! All in all a good experience! And I can safely say that I'm glad I wasn't the one having to answer the questions!!

Worthy????

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

I'll take money orders, cashier's checks, CASH!!

another fun thing from generatorblog.blogspot.com!

My Co-Worker's Blogs

One of the great pleasures of this Learning 2.0 training has been the reading of my co-worker's blogs.

The talent and creativity of the staff has never been in doubt but now there are real "digital" expressions that actually come to me every day! I'm very impressed with the care everyone is taking in doing this training - and the thought they are providing in their blog posts.

I've enjoyed the many posts that I've read - I've laughed, been moved by expressive language and learned a great deal! I've explored new tools based on their experiences and recommendations and I've re-evaluated my opinions of some that I've reviewed!

I'm hopeful that many of the bloggers will continue after the 30 Things are over - I'll miss all those who don't!!

(The picture above is actually a link to the blog of participants - click and enjoy as much as I have.)

One of My Favorites

If only I could.

Rollyo - No Thanks

I tried Rollyo a few months ago when I first read about it in another blog. It sounded interesting but, after registering and creating my own and playing with it for a while I can honestly say that it isn't for me!

I can definitely see the attraction and the use of the tool - but, I don't need it - at least not right now. This is another example of an account that was, in my opinion, unnecessary for me to maintain. Unfortunately deleting the account means an email to them requesting deletion - apparently making it more difficult than a "delete account" button ensures a larger number of users! Once we're finished with our 30 Things I'll be emailing Rollyo to "delete me"!

In the meantime - if you want to use My Search, feel free!

Library Thing

I tried Library Thing some time ago because, at one time, I had a file box with over 600 cards - the books that were in the house at the time - fiction, non-fiction, work, military, children's. We started the project primarily because we were moving all the time and keeping track of all the books was a problem. In addition, we had to separate the military "professional" books from the others. I looked at Library Thing as an electronic answer to this situation - but time had moved on! I deleted that account after a few days of playing with it.

My situation has changed - in many ways - and now I simply have books. I enjoy seeing my books but I don't need or want a catalog of them. In fact, I'm in the process of recycling many of my books so the updating the of the catalog would take too much of my time! I can see the benefit of this site for those who are inclined to organize and share their books and reading. (Maybe that's another reason it's not for me - I don't share well!!)

I created a new account for this lesson. I've added some titles and will post my link ( also see the side panel) - however, I will be deleting my account sometime later this year! It's simply one more account to maintain and I have enough that I intend to continue using!

Coming to an End

Our Library 2.0 is almost finished! We have one more week of "Things" and then a week where we write our thoughts about the training. It's been an interesting experience - lots of good things and some not-so-good things. I'm very hopeful that we will be asked to provide feedback on our experiences - beyond the philosophical posting that we're asked to do.

Throughout the 12 weeks I've been jotting down thoughts, ideas and concerns about the training and the experiences I've had (and seen with co-workers). I think this method of training certainly has merit and I would love to see additional trainings done in a similar way but there were speedbumps along the way that must be addressed! They must be addressed even if we don't use this method again, because (I'm assuming) we're going to have this particular training available for new hires! (I know, I know, in the not-so-distant future, our new hires will already have this knowledge without 3 months of slogging through blogging!!)

Enough philosophy at the moment - I could go on (and on and on) but maybe that's the subject of another post or just a memo to the "powers that be"!!

A New Year

Big changes are coming at the Library - we have a new Public Services Manager who starts mid-month. We have a new Service Development Manager (and we're thrilled!). We have a new Staff Development Coordinator - and, of course, we're all working hard on Library 2.0 and our 30 Things! Whew - lots of changes!!

Resolutions for 2008

I would add "Cherish your family".

I'll be able to keep these resolutions!