This wonderful piece of original art was created by ME, in response to a strange search via which somebody visited my blog. They were looking for a "one eyed baby with horn" so I didn't want to disappoint them should they ever return.
This blog is a complete sentence, correct spelling, and proper use of upper and lower case letters blog. My aim is for you to leave here with a pain-free reading experience!
I don't have to step foot into the library until September 2nd!!!!!!
Okay. You may sense that I am excited about this.
Just a bit.
I love my job - I really do. But this summer has been absolutely nutso! I am so looking forward to the time off so I can regroup and get ready for the fall. School starts, and we shift gears.
I'll be really busy when I get back - not like life will be calm or normal or anything. Ha. September could be really crazy if Michael's music adventures come through, and then October is going to be complete MADNESS! I'll be starting my weekly teen program in September, and seeing as it is Teen Read Month (we like to expand on just the week) in October there will be tons going on!
We will be making Gocks, and having a great discussion of the merits of favorite monster books - vampires? werewolves? zombies? and even showing a movie - Night of the LIving Dead I think. The theme for Teen Read is "Books With Bite" - which leaves all sorts of fun openings. I'm really excited.
Not to mention we'll be seeing Mission of Burma on the 1st, and the zombie walk is on the 4th...
Oh dear. I feel like it's already October!!!
But we have so much to do in the next two weeks.
Monday we leave on our actual vacation - just to a BBQ with some of my college friends. I'm really excited to see them! There are people coming in from Berkeley and Pennsylvania! Woohoo!
Then Tuesday it's off to Boise to visit the brother and his clan. I'm really looking forward to seeing him. It will be good!
And of course, we will be visiting Yellowstone. Today I aquired six nights camping at Grant Village (near the lake). I was pretty surprised to get reservations so close to our trip. But hey - we'll take 'em!!!!
Only one more day of work - tomorrow. Wrap things up, then off we go for two weeks! Wahoo!
Of course, we aren't going anywhere as exotic as Borneo or Java, but it will be good nonetheless. This summer has been so nutty at the library - I'm really looking forward to the break!!!!
Nothing like the smell of sulpher in Yellowstone...
It will be really great to visit with my brother on his home territory. I haven't been to Boise for almost fifteen years! Yikes. I suppose it will be different than I remember. But I do remember it as being a nice place. Might be kind of hot though...
Michael and I just spent a few
minutes watching for meteors... I saw a couple, and he saw a
REALLY GOOD one while I was trying to focus the binoculars - which, by
the way, are totally unsuited for meteor
watching!!!
;-)
I have to get up
tooooooo early tomorrow, but the majority of my day will be spent as a
passenger in a van touring some of the other libraries in our
system. A cake day. Good thing, because today was
hectic! I had a focus group, and the teens I had there were a
squirrelly bunch that has been hanging out in the library all
summer. They are barely teens, just going into 6th
grade this year. But, in the eyes or our library
services, that makes them "teens." I'm glad I corralled them
in for a bit, even though they weren't that into what we were
doing. I did get a bit of decent information from them, and
more importantly I've started building relationships with
them. If I can help them find some sort of focus and
direction over the next couple of years, then I'll be happy.
Right now, all they want to do is play Runescape. They are
COMPLETELY obsessed with computers. However, I think that as soon as
they start middle school life will be just a bit different for
them... heh. They aren't so bad one on one, but
when they get together in a group they just feed on each other and get
a little goofy.
Skwerls! The
whole lot of them. But I love working with them, and wouldn't
have it any other way!!!
In the morning we went to the local car show, held just a hop skip and a jump from where we live. The weather wasn't the best, but it didn't rain while we there. We had a nice time walking around and looking at all the very cool cars - several of which Michael or I wouldn't mind having... ha ha!
I took a lot of nice pictures, and messed around with a few in photoshop. I've been having fun experimenting with a few of the simple changes I can make to photos - it can have quite an effect!!!!
That truck was actually pink! Very pink, in fact. But I decided I wanted it to be purple. Heh. At one point I had it bright green, and the grass was vibrant blue. But I decided I wanted to be a bit more subtle. I've really been enjoying messing around with the photos, even just very simple changes like these. Michael has CS on his computer, so one of these days I'll venture over there and see what I can do...
The second part of our day we headed off to the Stillaguamish Festival of the River. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for photos - I'm not going to stay up all night uploading them! The car show photos are still going now...
Anyhow, the festival was fun, as usual. More crowded this year - in fact, when we arrived there was a big lineup of cars out on the road to get in! Wha? Part of the trouble was a single lane bridge that was causing a backup, but there was also just A LOT of people there! I think with the price of gas these days, people are looking for more things to do close to home - and this festival is FREE. That's right, I said FREE. Shocking. There was quite a music lineup too, but we were really there just to see The English Beat who, for some odd reason, play this festival every summer. It was rather odd - they were supposed to be on at 4:00, but started their sound check at about 3:20 and then just began their set. Hmmmm...
Turns out one of the other bands was late, so they got pushed up in the schedule. So, who was it that messed everything up?
The Knack.
Yes, that's right, The Knack, of My Sharona fame. We avoided them, but still could hear them from a distance. I imagined in my mind that they look hideous, and didn't even want to go near enough to find out. Michael and I left not too long after they started playing. It was also beginning to rain, and we were just tired. Nolan and his dad stayed longer, and Nolan tells me the Gin Blossoms show wasn't too bad. But really, I wasn't interested in any of the music besides The English Beat. They put on a decent show, despite the shedule troubles.
I'm glad we went.
I'm even more glad I have another day off tomorrow!
Though we have a lot of things to do here around the house, and it's time to start thinking about what we need to take on vacation next week! I'm getting very excited about our trip.
Started out with a nice long SLEEPING IN! Haven't done that in a long time. This summer has just absolutely whupped me! I'm not complaining though.
*ring*
Oh hey - the phone. It was mom and dad. They were passing through the area, and stopped by to see the house and have dinner. A delightful chicken and red wine sauce with mushrooms and roasted potatoes, all cooked by Michael. He's VERY GOOD.
Yum...
So it turned out to be not such a quiet day, but nice to visit with mom and dad.
Tomorrow is going to be busy - a car show here in town, and then a trip off island to the Stilliguamish River Festival to see The English Beat! Hoorah! A fun day indeed...
Sunday will be a "take care of business around the house" day. We have a lot to do before we head off on vacation next week! Yikes! Is it that soon already?
Hmmm. Yes. It is very soon. Much needed!
Well - that's all. Time to go wind down for the evening...
Holy cow- vacation in a week and a half! I am so ready to be OUT OF HERE for a while. But am I ready for vacation? Ha ha ha... That won't happen until the morning we leave!
The next few days are going to be insanely busy - wrapping things up at work (and a completely wacky schedule to boot), and trying to figure out what we need to take with us. Not to mention Michael and I are going to Portland this weekend - or at least we think we are! Won't know for sure until we know. Ha.
In the meantime, I wanted to RANT about a book I'm reading. As you know, part of my job as a teen librarian is to read teen books - not a problem at all. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy it. There are some really great books being written for teens these days. But some books are a bit predictable at times, and others just aren't that good.
Others could be good, but just end up, well - annoying.
I'm talking about the Twilight series, which is hugely popular right now, primarily with teen girls (though boys are starting to read them because they've discovered they have a better chance with the ladies if they are in the know). I read the first book a while back, and am now reading the second. On one hand, they aren't that bad - as long as you don't have too high of an expectation. The storyline has potential. Vampires, werewolves... good stuff.
BUT SPARE ME THE SAPPY "WOE IS ME" CRAP!
Sheesh. The second book could already be about a hundred pages shorter, and I'm not even halfway through.
Am I the only person that wants to slap Bella? I understand she's in love with a vampire and all, and he left the scene, but please? Months of zombie-hood? And she didn't even apologize to her friends for being such a dip?
Why should I like her?
Fans of the books tend to side with either Edward, the vampire, or Jacob the werewolf as Bella's love interest.
I'm team Jacob all the way - but I'm hoping he'll just eat everyone and be done with it.
For the last couple three weeks there has been a very dodgy workman coming to the house next door.
The people that own the house don't actually live there full time. We've seen the grown daughters there on the weekend (in scary swimsuits no less), and one weekend the actual owners were there. Seemed like nice enough people, and it's really quite a nice house.
But then this guy starts showing up every day. From what we can gather, he's been hired to paint the outside of the house. Funny thing is, from day to day he just seems to move ladders around (there are three of them out there). He's left little piles of tools and equipment here and there - they sit for days before anything happens with them. Not much seems to be happening with the painting progress either - although today we actually saw him painting a shutter on the end of the house!!!!
We figure he's just drinking beer and watching television all day.
It's just weird.
Weird.
Should have been a three day job.
I hope he's not charging by the hour.
This song has nothing to do with the dodgy workman, but it is good. VERY!
There are moments of the most supremely amazing light...
The library has been an absolute madhouse the last couple of weeks - but things are calming down a bit. It just seemed like the noise and activity level were spiraling a bit out of control. I think we've got a handle on it though. It turned out that there was a passel of kids (yes, I said passel) that were coming to the library and using library cards other than their own to access the internet. Big NO-NO. It took a few days to document and track who was doing what, but once we had it figured out we started nailing them. I'm such a meanie - I gave two official warnings (meaning they were written up). I don't like confrontation, but there are just some things that cannot be let go.
So Saturday and today I gave out the official warnings. Several of the kids are behaving better with just an informal warning too. And the great thing is, since they only hung around for about two hours today, the library stayed much quieter.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh...
I was amazed how stressful it had gotten there last week. Every one of us on the staff was about to snap.
It does get a little frustrating, all these kids that come to the library every day with no adult supervision. They range in age from about 7-13, and they really aren't bad kids. They just don't have anybody there keeping them in line.
Of course, that's assuming that having a parent there makes a difference - it doesn't always. And it's not just the kids that are noisy - plenty of adults talk loud, or have loud ringing cell phones. We're pretty lax about what we allow, but whatever happened to a little bit of personal responsibility?!!!! And is it so awful to have a certain expectation of behavior?
I don't think so. After all, it's the library, not a living room.
Whatever happened to reading a book? There's a lot of good ones out there!!!!
PHOTOGRAPHY
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTOGRAPHY 
MYSTERIES OF EARTH AND SPACE
