Sandy & Alton :)

I have a date with Alton Brown the Food Network star.  On Saturday, October 16, 7:30 pm he will talk about and sign his new book Good Eats 2: The Middle Years.

Ok, humor me, it’s a Saturday night and I’ll be at a talk he’s doing at Central Market’s Special Event Center.  At least that is my plan.  I just have to luck out and get one of the tickets. 

Alton will be in town for the Texas Book Festival, check it out.  Should be a fun day, all held in downtown Austin.  Join me?

Fini

This is one of my favorite pictures that Melissa took of herself.  Not sure how she did it, but apparently propped a camera up.

A few of my favorite quotes.......

‘the characteristic that most differentiates librarians from all the other occupational groups I worked with is a very weird and shockingly offbeat sense of humor. Librarians are very funny in some dark, devious and totally unexpected ways’ — Will Manley

When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. – Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones (who know he had it in him or that he had a secret longing to be a librarian)

Your lack of planning is not my emergency.

"I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group.  They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them. You know, they've had their budgets cut. They're paid nothing. Books are falling apart. The libraries are just like the ass end of everything, right?"

— Michael Francis Moore

I am woman, give me POWER TOOLS!

Today I bought a circular skillsaw.  WHY?  The simple little garden bed for beyond my back porch needed only a miter saw, right?  Well the cheapy one wasn't worth it so I was going for the 50 buck model.  The girl (yes girl) at Lowe's showed me the skillsaw was less than the miter and much easier.  She also told me about the Lowe's Ladys Builders group she's putting together for monthly classes and skill training.  SIGN ME UP!  I'm scaring myself by becoming competent in a number of things involving power tools.  Being single and owning a home does that to you.  Yes, that is MY WORKBENCH in MY GARAGE.  (insert Tim Taylor's argh argh argh).

I STILL want to run away and join the circus....

I fell in love with Cirque du Soleil back in 1988 or so when some of the execs stayed at the hotel I worked in and I coordinated their stay.  They rewarded me with tickets to the show in San Jose.  I have to say that I almost did not go....my thinking being 'French Canadian circus, no animals, what's the draw?'   LUCKILY I conned my friend Dona to leave husband for the afternoon and come with me.  Done.  Hooked. Addicted.  Part way through the show Dona looked at me and said "what are we tripping on?'

The most incredible complete sensory experience I've ever had, the music is very distinct, loud and all the way into your bones.  Every single minuscule move is choreographed to a degree you wouldn't believe until you saw it.  Equipment appears on stage by costumed, choreography, not by stagehands running it on.  So much is happening at once that you have to just let go and lose yourself in the event.....for me it is all consuming, an experience like no other I've ever had.

I've seen a number of their shows, spending obscene amounts of money on tickets and merchandise.  I've read as much as I can find.  I've dreamt of joining them if I could only find my special talent.  When the girls were little, their dad and I would say things like "hey, now THAT is a family talent that will get us all into Cirque."  

The other day I was getting ready for work when I heard on my local radio station that Cirque was coming to the Cedar Park Center.  As soon as payday hits.....cha-CHING!  Purchase those tickets.  Think we're planning on Sunday March 13 at 1 pm.  See you there?

This made my day......

Last semester I had a Master's class that started as a real struggle.  I didn't think some of the grading was fair and the inconsistencies on the part of the professor played into that.  In spite of challenging the first project grade, my partner and I couldn't get anything changed.  We ended up with a B in the class but if we could have gotten some consideration, would have walked with an A.  Fine.  Move on.

Today I got the following email from that instructor....

I am teaching LS 1234 Youth Programs again this semester. I would like to provide students with an example of a completed program proposal which includes all of the elements required of this assignment.

Would you be willing to allow me to share the program proposal that you developed for LS 1234 Youth Programs this summer, and if so, can I credit you for developing it (or would you prefer to remain anonymous)? If I do have permission, I will use the original proposal that you submitted.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

I can NOT express how wonderful this made me feel.  Those example  papers I've received in classes are like the unattainable, everything you strive for to be.  To be asked for permission to be one?  Absolutely blows my mind and has me on the edge of crying out of pure joy, especially after how the semester ran. 

OK let's just top that all off with a cherry.  The next email was from my current professor.  We've recently started a new semester and have been waiting for grades and feedback on the group participation and our book review blogs.  Being I'm working on an entirely new set of book reviews, I've been very tentative, not knowing if I was on the right track.  HUGE SIGH.  Full points for all and lots of praise. I can not emphasize the relief and the tears just waiting to spill (out of happiness).

Sandy is a Traitor.....

I'm working on my Master's degree in Library Science so that I can officially be called a Librarian.  Yes, that is the requirement.  Believe it or not, everyone working in a library is NOT a librarian.  So.....my current course is Children and Youth Literature.  In addition to our text, we have to read 18 books, some simple picture books, some young adult novels.  From our choice list my little bitty library had all but one.

Having moved into the city limits of Leander over the summer, I have a library other than mine, at my disposal and is just over 1 mile from my house.  Did I ever think I'd use it?  C'mon I'm in my library 8 hours a day, if there is something I don't have it can be purchased or requested through ILL.  UNTIL.....it came to a children's book that is needed SOON.

This morning I left my house to be at my local Leander Public Library at opening.  Wandered in, requested a library card, let them know who I was and that they didn't have to do their new to libraries spiel on me.  Pop into the children's room, grab THE book, self checkout and poof!  Out the door.  Why did I have to take a picture of the sign to commemorate that?  Not sure, just the oddity of it, something I didn't think I'd be doing for some reason.  It just had to be recorded, word and picture.  Never say never.

Technology Heaven

My library is part of the Central Texas Library System (CTLS) which is like an extension agency for libraries.  They are the most incredible resource a librarian could want and the most phenomenal people personally.  I just received the most recent newsletter on Monday, noticed a little blurb saying that the professional collection we can borrow from, now contains a couple iPads and Nooks.  Guess who jumped on those items?

Today's mail brought me tech heaven in the form of a brown box....which contained the gems in the picture.  For three weeks, they are mine to play with.  Information science....technology.  Who'da thunk I'd get involved?

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Sitting at my desk today, the window is just to my left offering me a glimpse of grey sky and wet.  The air has been much cooler here in Texas lately, something that I have enjoyed immensely.  Looking back toward the scene I'd been part of, I saw it with fresh eyes.  My desk is a very good reflection of what I enjoy most.  So.....rummage around and find my iPhone in this clutter, slip it out from beneath a book and *click* a photo, a little snapshot of my life.  The result is above.

Highlighters to emphasize things I find in my reading that I love and want to remember or refer back to.  Source of caffeine.  Lotions.....fragrant lotion.  Post it notes, again to refer back to things and make notes about what really hit me about something I read, or simply to be a bookmark, placing the edge exactly where I left off.  Electronics, specifically a computer with a headset (way to the left) for talking to friends all around the world......my iPhone which was actually in my hands but prior had been just under the front cover of the book.  Rolodex, representative of my friends and contacts, which are now mainly in my phone.....but also representing all those wondrous places on the internet that I frequent and all those passwords and variations of that you need to remember.  One number, multiple numbers, numbers and an uppercase letter, add a symbol.  Finally…BOOKS!  Ideas far and wide, accepted or controversial, opening doors and imagination.  No one can take what you put inside your head and books are one of my favorite methods of transport.  This one happens to be The Arrival by Shaun Tan.  You should go find it at your local library and enjoy.

A new beginning.....again

A while back I had a new beginning in life and created a blog, using wordpress, another new to me. I have had troubles doing what I want to in wordpress so I'm going to try to create what I want here. The bad? That my old blog postings aren't in this, but rather located HERE.  I think I'm going to slowly move things over tho, much easier to have ONE record of things than multiple.  Funny, tried wordpress, like lots about it but ran into the inability to add some things I wanted to.  Back to my standard.