Friday, December 30, 2005

Social life? Who needs a social life?

One of my many to-do items for this holiday break (I have a wonderful 10 days with no work, ahhhhhhh....) was to go shopping for various things. This included comfy pjs, some new shirts, some house stuff (why do I go through so many paper towels?), toiletries, heavily discounted holiday decorations for next year, etc., etc. I actually don't enjoy shopping all that much, so in order to soothe myself (and because I hadn't gotten a single physical XMas gift yet), I decided to buy myself something fun.

Oh, dear lord, why, oh why, did I choose to get The Sims (yes, I realize that I am dreadfully behind the times, but I did pick it up for only 19.99)?

Guess what I've been doing for the past two days?

Last night I baked macaroons, using the leftover eggwhites from my Holiday Cooking Extravaganza (more on that later, if I can tear myself away from my little virtual people) and told myself that I could only play God while the cookies were baking. Well, at least I didn't burn any of the cookies, but the kitchen is still a mess. And if my friend Marina hadn't come over, I doubt that I would've even cleared a path in the living room to walk through. And it only took 16 hours for the clean laundry to finally make it back into the bedroom, although I still need to hang it up.

I've still got to polish up my Grad School essays, work on a ton of SCA-related stuff, and maybe clean the cat boxes (I'm sure the furry little buggers would appreciate it), put together an outfit for tomorrow's New Year's Eve party, pay some bills, clean the backyard (although it just started raining/snowing like a mofo, so I think that'll have to wait), and clean my office. And probably lots of other things that I have hopefully written down so that I don't totally forget them.

Well, maybe I'll just play a little bit first....

Monday, December 12, 2005

It's clobberin' time!!!

Best warning found on a children's toy yet?

POTENTIAL FOR BLUNT IMPACT INJURIES

Hee! That explains soooo much!

Friday, December 02, 2005

Vnimanie! Zlaya belki! (Attention! Beware of squirrel!)

Damn. Looks like even the dogs have it rough in Russia these days. Apparently, a group of squirrels got tired of being barked at and decided to retaliate. A snort-worthy quote:

A pine cone shortage may have led the squirrels to seek other food sources, although scientists are sceptical.
Darn crafters, stealing the pine cones for their own nefarious purposes.

Hmm. As cold as it is getting here, I'd better be sure to toss the tree-rats more treats than usual.

Heh. I love news from Russia!

Via BoingBoing

Smut for smut

Hee! Heeheee heee heeee snort! This group recently gave porn in exchange for religious literature. That's certainly one way to build up your Organization's reference collection, which is one of the reasons they held the swap. Too awesome. Let's see, I think I still have lots of Gideons laying around somewhere....

Via BoingBoing

Monday, November 21, 2005

Mold-a-rama!

Brandy has a post up (it's the Nov 12 entry) about her experiences with the Mold-A-Rama machine at the Field Museum in Chicago. Man, I've never tried one of those machines! I never even saw one until I was an adult. Maybe they were outlawed in Nebraska or something, although we did have those squash-a-penny machines everywhere. They even have their own museum!

As an adult, I've always walked by and inhaled the enjoyable hot-plastic aroma wafting from the Mold machines, though. Now I'm jealous and will have to find one and atually try it out.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Parents (and siblings, for that matter) versus the computer

Here's an awesome article for those of us who get the inevitable "what's wrong with my computer?" question from our parents (or other technology-leery loved-ones) whenever we visit over the holidays. I'm sure I'll be referring back to this list in just a few days...

Best lines from the article:

To help your parents grok the transition from the blue E to the orange fox, rename Firefox’s desktop shortcut to something more obvious, like “Internet - Mozilla Firefox.

It should go without saying that any software whose title contains the words “bargain,” “tracker,” “snoop” or “monitor” should get removed immediately, and their authors basted for long painful hours over a very hot fire.

So true. I wonder what I'll find on the 'rents computer this year.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

And people wonder why I don't enjoy sports more

Some nut cut off his own...um, nuts after his favorite rugby team won. Yes, won. I hate to think of what he would've done if they had lost. Sheesh.

Best line from the story:

After picking his testicles from the toilet bowl, he went to the social club.

For your non-denominational viewing pleasure




This dvd player may explain why we're having such a hard time finding multi-region players for our viewing booths! We've been looking for the wrong kind! Hee!

Via Gizmodo, via Boing-boing

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Manga manga manga

My hair hasn't totally recovered from Halloween yet.

Every time I look in the mirror, I get startled. It isn't a bad color, but it has a definite pink tinge to it. When I dyed it, it was supposed to end up red on top and plum on the bottom. I think it melded together into a very unnatural shade of red, which has faded to a coppery pink. My coworkers say that it looks good on me.

But I still think I look like an anime character.

Bitch, pay me my money!

I think I billed students a total of 5000 dollars today. It felt good.

Bring back our movies, you wankers!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Stop. The. Cuteness!

The sweetness is overwhelming! I'm definitely a cat person, but if I was presented with a puggle, I might have to reconsider. Who's a cute wittle puppy? You are!

Monday, October 31, 2005

Halloween 2005


Halloween 2005
Originally uploaded by yanajenn.

This picture was taken right after LaVonda's (aka Foxy Brown) right boob popped, spilling water everywhere and drenching her completely. It was very amusing, especially to the students working the desk who saw the whole thing. All of a sudden LaVonda yelped and we all turned to look and saw water just pouring down her front. She'd been trying to "adjust" herself before we took the photo. Heh.

I'm the one in the middle, if you couldn't figure that out. And for some reason, I look shorter than Rebecca (who is dressed as Professor McGonagall over on the left), so I think I must've been slouching a bit.

And no, I have no idea what/who I'm supposed to be, although my students said I looked quite evil. Basically, I just wanted to dye my hair a funky color. And wear makeup. And wear my off-shoulder shirt. So there.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

World Library Series

About 40 minutes ago, I didn't even know that the World Series was even going on, but I just had to kick 40 baseball fans out of the library.

They had all arranged themselves around a computer monitor in a horseshoe of chairs and were watching the game, sans sound, and trying, unsuccessfully, to keep quiet. I wouldn't even have gone downstairs (which is where the quiet study area is), except that I was trying to find the person who had actually had an entire meal delivered to the library. We don't allow food in the library, in case that needed to be said, which it apparently did.

So I traipsed down the stairs, wandered past the huge group of people (looking over at them with a confused look on my face, I'm sure), and walked up and down the rows trying to find the person with the sandwich. No go. I then went back to the group and told them that they needed to find another place to watch whatever it was that they were watching, especially since I could hear them on the other side of the level.

Honestly, I didn't care that they were watching the game at the library. I even made sure to tell them that there were better places to watch it than in the quiet study area of the Library. We have two levels; the lower is the study area. The upper is also set up for studying, but you can also socialize, talk on your cell, and otherwise irritate those around you.

They asked if they could stay until the next run was over and I let them. It was incredibly amusing to watch them all keep tightly quiet and try not to make any noise. Lots of grimacing and waving of arms while watching the screen. Then their connection timed out. Hee!

They frantically (and quietly) tried to get it going again and eventually gave up and left. The janitors had just come downstairs, so I explained what was going on. Some helpful patrons and I put the chairs back. I went back to my normal duties (upstairs) and let the student workers know what was going on. Then one of the janitors waved at me to get my attention.

Turns out that a sizeable collection of the viewers (the noisiest ones, naturally), had run upstairs, across the library, and down again via the back stairs and had set up their viewing station again!

This time I called security, but the phone wasn't working well, so I set off to kick some butt.

Once again a large group had gathered, while people around them were still hunched over their books actually studying (surprise, surprise). I marched over to them and simply said "out." Complaining, whining, and stony looks followed. Then I turned off the game. I probably gained lots of bad karma in that move. I stuck around for a few more minutes to make sure that we didn't get a repeat occurrence of the sneaky back-stairs trick.

Back upstairs, where the noisy-contingent had gathered around a monitor. Again. But now I didn't care because we were in the nearly-anything-goes-except-for-food area of the library. Yay!

And to show what I nice person I actually am, I even had one of the students explain to me what the hell was going on with the game (I don't follow any sports) and how much time there looked to be left. I was going to set them up in our viewing room where they could watch the game on a huge screen with the added bonus of sound, but they had dicked around too much already playing avoid-the-person-in-charge and the game finally came to an end about 7 minutes later. Oh well.

---------------------------------------------------------
The library is really quiet now and the only remaining students have fallen asleep at their tables or are sucking down caffeine in a valiant effort to stay awake. I'm still here until the library closes at 3am, but I think that most of the excitement is done for the evening. At least tonight I didn't have any trouble staying awake, unlike yesterday.

So...what's on the game schedule for tomorrow night? :-)

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Bounty


Bounty
Originally uploaded by yanajenn.



This weekend Carrie, Irene and I went to the Great Pumpkin Patch (no, not that one) and got slightly sunburnt and gathered in quite the haul of autumnal goodness. I've posted a lot of pictures to my Flickr account, just look for the tag "harvest." There are even a few pictures of goats (and llamas!) for Shea and Wendy.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Now I can have three tits if I want

I've written here about knitting before and breasts before, but this article combines them so perfectly!

From the article (if you can't figure it out from the context, the author is writing this post-mastectomy):

When I got home, I put on my new titty and bra and promptly broke into tears. The titty reminded me of raw liver, while the bra resembled the suspension system of my 1995 Volvo.

To cheer myself up, I rummaged through my stash looking for something luxurious to knit up. Then it hit me that I could knit myself a new titty; in fact, I had so much yarn I could knit myself a different titty for every day of the week, month, year!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Don't fuck with the librarian

Yet another reason why I want to become a librarian. Such a handy degree...

Basically, over the course of several months a Florida librarian received unsolicited faxes from a fax blaster. He tried several different ways of getting them to stop sending him faxes and eventually decided to take the matter to court. He used the skills that most librarians acquire, and won. The original post has (for now) been removed acording to the legal settlement between him and the fax blaster. There are lots of good comments over at MetaFilter, where I first saw the story. All the damages that he will be awarded will be donated to leukemia research (if I remember correctly).

The author's final points sum up the story nicely:

Moral of this story:
1) Don’t screw with the librarian
2) Libraries- take action on your unsolicited faxes- they are illegal.
3) Reference tools are your friends!

Heh.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Who will be eaten first?

Repent! For the day of the...eating...is upon us! Heeeheeeeheeheeeheehee!!! My friend C would have loved this. Too funny, especially for an ex-Baptist like myself.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

And swing, and poke, and swing, and poke

Shea was wondering why this item was located in the Sports and Recreation section at Amazon. Gee, where else would you put it? Maybe my years in the SCA have altered my thinking somehow......nah [grin].

Don't forget to read the review by "Maxwell" at the bottom of the page. Hee!

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Banned Books Week 2005

Well, Banned Books Week (Sept 24 to Oct 1) is almost over. I already did a meme about the top 110 banned books, but I'm going to start a new one, with the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000, from the American Library Association website. Ones in bold I've read entirely, ones in italics I think I've read, but it's been a long time, so I'm nt sure.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman

12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine

17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel

21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry

30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blum
e
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman

91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Damn. I do much better when it comes to Young Adult books. Yay me. Now go read a banned book!

Monday, September 26, 2005

Don't screw with Moth...uh, Father Nature!

Looks like Nature really has been fucking us over lately...

Hurricane "Rita"

Saturday, September 24, 2005

And a new lesson learned...

Turning on verification for comments is a good thing. In the past 5 minutes, I got 3 spam comments. Gee, the web spiders love my blog, at least. :-)

Lesson learned

Instead of yoga on Thursday (our instructor didn't show) I went grocery shopping. I hadn't been to my favorite ethnic food store in awhile, and I was craving cheese, so I stopped there first. After getting a fresh jar of ginger preserves (my favorite spread for my morning English muffin) I browsed the cheese case and decided that since we hadn't had cheese fondue Monday night at Chez Shea's (we did oil fondue with meat, which was very tasty), that I needed to make my own. So I got a pound of Gruyere. Cheap Gruyere. Gee-that's-a-good-price Gruyere.

Long story short, DO NOT try to make fondue with what turns out to be GRUYERE-FLAVORED PROCESSED CHEESE FOOD. Gak.

What the fuck am I going to do with 3/4 of a pound of gluey fake cheese? And what the hell is up with my store selling processed cheese along with the fancy stuff?!

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Banned books

I was bored today, so I did a meme. Gosh, aren't I hip?

Banned Books meme. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you've read part of.

#1 The Bible (yes, the whole thing. My mom wouldn't let me read a regular book during sermons, so...)
#2 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
#3 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
#4 The Koran
#5 Arabian Nights
#6 Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
#7 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
#8 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#9 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#10 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
#11 The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
#12 Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
#13 Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

#14 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
#15 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
#16 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
#17 Dracula by Bram Stoker

#18 Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
#19 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
#20 Essays by Michel de Montaigne
#21 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
#22 History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
#23 Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
#24 Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
#25 Ulysses by James Joyce
#26 Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
#27 Animal Farm by George Orwell
#28 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

#29 Candide by Voltaire
#30 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (does it count if I've seen the movie umpteen times?)
#31 Analects by Confucius
#32 Dubliners by James Joyce
#33 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
#34 Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
#35 Red and the Black by Stendhal
#36 Das Kapital by Karl Marx
#37 Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire
#38 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#39 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
#40 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
#41 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
#42 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (AND I haven't seen the movie!)
#43 Jungle by Upton Sinclair
#44 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
#45 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
#46 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#47 Diary by Samuel Pepys
#48 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
#49 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
#50 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
#51 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
#52 Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
#53 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
#54 Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
#55 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
#56 Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
#57 Color Purple by Alice Walker
#58 Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
#59 Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
#60 Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
#61 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
#62 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#63 East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#64 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#65 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
#66 Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#67 Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
#68 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
#69 The Talmud
#70 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#71 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (awesome book!)
#72 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
#73 American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
#74 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
#75 Separate Peace by John Knowles
#76 Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
#77 Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#78 Popol Vuh
#79 Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
#80 Satyricon by Petronius
#81 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
#82 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
#83 Black Boy by Richard Wright
#84 Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
#85 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
#86 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
#87 Metaphysics by Aristotle
#88 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#89 Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
#90 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
#91 Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
#92 Sanctuary by William Faulkner
#93 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
#94 Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
#95 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (What the hell?! Why is this book here?!)
#96 Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
#97 General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
#98 Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
#99 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
#100 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
#101 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
#102 Emile Jean by Jacques Rousseau
#103 Nana by Emile Zola
#104 Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
#105 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
#106 Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#107 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
#108 Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
#109 Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
#110 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Wow. I've got a lot of reading to catch up on. And that's with a Liberal arts degree under my belt! I wasn't sure if I should mark anything that I had to read just an excerpt of for a class, but I figured that since I had at least remembered reading it, it should count.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Sewage

Best thing about the recent wet, rainy weather? The reek of horse manure has finally been completed rinsed away from the library driveway.

Yeah, I live in the Midwest.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Too effin' awesome!

Just discovered LibraryThing today. Too cool! I can catalog my entire personal library in a nice format without having to write-up a database to do so. LibraryThing pulls it's records from the Library of Congress catalog, so it should have just about every book in it. And I can manual add the ones that aren't in LoC (if I have any). It's web-based, so I can access it from anywhere and share it with people. As for other such programs, I've heard of Delicious Library, but I don't have a Mac, so that one's out.

Now I just need to either borrow a laptop, or slowly haul all my books into my computer room and enter them in. Yay! Another project, just what I needed. But this one has a clear economic value; I can use it for insurance purposes. Nice.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

One disgusted proto-librarian

Just had a prime example of patron-silliness:

So, this guy comes up to the desk and wants a book which is on reserve for his Speech Com 500 class. I ask for the call number, which is the way everything in this library is arranged. And most libraries. Go figure. He says that he could "just about" point to it from here and that it has a white cover. Well, why didn't he just say so? I'll just get it from our "white cover" area and just...no. I insist on a call number and direct him to the computers, telling him to click on "find reserves," choose his class, and get the call number for the book that he wants to check out.

He goes over to the computers, stares at them for a moment, then comes right back, saying that he can't figure out where to find the list. 'Cause he really tried hard and all that. I walk over with him to the computers, point to the "find reserves" button, and direct him to choose his class (he looks for his instructor instead, but that's a valid choice and I won't knock him for that), and click on "search." He then proceeds to wildly click on all the titles that are displayed, possibly because they all appear to have white covers. In his head, anyway. I gently guide him back to the listing and ask him if he sees the title of the book which he is looking for.

We find it (ah, togetherness) and he notes with a bit of glee that the call number is really close to the one he gave me initially. Well, yes, except for the multiple-character string following the first bit. I politely say that it is true, but that we need the entire call number to find the item. We walk back to the desk and I retrieve the book for him, as he reminds me that it's the one with the white cover. Yes, mister-arranges-his-books-by-color, I remember. And yes, the book is white, although it would more accurately be described as being cream-colored.

And the kicker? He's a GRAD STUDENT. Apparently one of those special grad students that has never needed to find anything in the library catalog before. Or on a shelf. Bah.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Eeeee!!!!!!!

I think we could all use a dose of Kittens. In. Sinks!.

It is so sweet I think I got a cavity from viewing it. Ah...my day is so much better now.

Monday, August 15, 2005

I swear I just saw some of my relatives....

This is one of the best. Movies. Ever!

BestMovieEver

(warning, big file)

Hee! Brings back the heady summer Nebraska days of my youth. Or at least the ones people seem to think I experienced (I grew up in a city, but it was still Nebraska...). Anyone wanna Coors?

Friday, August 05, 2005

Fugly dog

Whoa. I don't think that even Shea an Kathleen would have adopted this dog. Yikes!

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Chez Shea is on!!!!

I received this email from my friend Shea today:

And the Lord did appeareth to Shea, and spoke unto him, saying, "My daughters have been wandering in the desert without food, and they are full of sorrow". But Shea's heart was full of jet lag, and he said "What do you want me to do about it?" And God did smote Shea about the head and shoulders, thereby curing his dandruff. And then God did smote Shea again, and he cried out, and said "Ow, stop hitting me, I'll make dinner." And the Lord did stop hitting Shea, and Chez Shea was scheduled for 7:00 on Sunday August 7th.
It's good to have friends that like to cook.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Things I did last week

A simple list, because I'm too lazy (or perhaps even too busy) to write a complete entry.

  • Went to the Champaign County Fair, for the first time ever (I've lived here a total of 6+ years)
  • Ate a corn dog (an original Pronto Pup!) and shared a funnel cake
  • Rode a really fun ride, which we finally figured out was called the Terminator, not the Terwilleger, or whatever.
  • Threw up. Twice. A true red-neck experience, according to my companions, who were great about it.
  • Ate a snow cone to settle my stomach and replenish all the water I had lost from being sick and sweaty.
  • Hid out from the heat the next day at Shea and Kathleen's house (they were in Scotland, the bastards) and left my poor kitties to fend for themselves by hiding in the closets and other cool places.
  • Ate very, very little, since I was still queasy from the Fair experience. I'm guessing that not only was I sick from stomach-churning rides (three of them), I probably had a touch of heat-exhaustion as well.
  • Did lots and lots of laundry, since I had access to a free washer and dryer. Have I ever talked about how weird it is to have to hoard quarters to do laundry in your own house?
  • Tried to figure out their Tivo and failed. Miserably. I ended up watching a program on sharks that I Could. Not. Escape. From. But at least I didn't erase any of their programs. I hope.

I think that's most things. Glad I got that off my chest. :-)

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Damn it, I just bought a new bag!

I love these new items from CafePress. I may just get a t-shirt. Or perhaps the "I consent" underwear. Heh. Who knows? I've been carrying a "I do not consent" card in my wallet since 1999, but maybe I need to start being a bit more blatant, especially if they start implementing bag-searches on the Chicago El.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Fourth of July


SheaGrill
Originally uploaded by yanajenn.

Pics from Shea and Kathleen's annual 4th party are now up on my Flickr account. Just look for the photos tagged "fourthofjuly"

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Very young librarian


Me and my sis
Originally uploaded by yanajenn.

My earliest attempt at Reader's Advisory, with my little sister.

It is strange to look back and realize that I was already eading towards a career. Too bad it took me until my mid-twenties to figure it out for myself!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Just in time for Pennsic. Which I can't make it to this year. Sigh.

Anyone need to build a yurt? Maybe I'll build one for Shea and Kathleens' annual 4th of July Barbecue. More space in case of rain.

Ye olde hedgehoge

The Aberdeen Bestiary is now available online, in its entirety. Wow!
Brandy will be amused that Numo has a so-far unused abilty to transport fruit and that he "creaks like a cart" in order to fool people into thinking he's a, well, a wheel, I guess. Hmm. Most of us think he sounds like a coffee percolator.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Hummer Nest

Here's a photo essay of a hummingbird's nest over a month's time as eggs are laid, babies are hatched and leave the nest. A bit cutesy, but very neat glimpse of something that most people will never see.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Eh. Why the hell not?

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

Like the link says...

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Geeks unite!

We're having some construction done in the back of the library this summer. They're joining two rooms into one big room for computer instruction, so we're putting up with a lot of noise and dust currently, and our windows don't open, so it can get a bit stuffy, even with air conditioning.

Today there is a lot of sawing and drilling going on. Just five minutes ago, I heard a squeakysqueakysqueakysqueakysqueaky noise from the back, and snorted to myself because of what it reminded me of. My coworker Melanie turned around in her chair:

"Do you know what that sounded like?"

"Oh my god, I'll bet it was the same thing I was thinking of..."

"Yes! The trojan-rabbit scene from Monty Python!"

I swear, it sounded exactly the same. Great minds think alike.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

My new sign



I think this has to be my favorite Natalie Dee cartoon ever. It now resides on my own desk at work.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Stop. The. Cuteness!

Oh. My. Gods. I have been sitting here at the computer for the past fifteen minutes repeatedly flipping back to this kitten, which has to be the most absolutely CUTE kitten in the world. I just want to stuff him into my mouth, he is so sweet. It hurts so bad that I cannot personally meet this feline. And his name is perfect! It is the same as the sound I made when the photo finished downloading! Okay, must go back to working on my budget. But what a nice break it was.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Doctorates don't denote diddly

Sigh. Today we switched from our homegrown database to a module that actually lets us pull data from the same catalog that everyone else uses. You'd think that everyone would be happy that there will be less errors, less confusion over availablilty, and less time before items are able to be circulated freely. But no, instead we are getting complaints from professors that now have to search the online catalog for their items. This is the same online catalog that they expect their own students to be able to use, and the instructors are complaining that it's too hard to use. Whiners.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

A little Socialist Realism to educate the mass[-transport system]-es


marc_marshal
Originally uploaded by yanajenn.
Hee! I love it, even though it is kind of sad. I can just picture the artist trying their damndest (and succeeding) to sneak something under the eyes of their employers.

Soviet America

A few things I've learned in yoga class

  • Get there early, because the mats at the bottom of the bin smell like feet
  • Corpse-pose is a bit too realistic when done on a smelly mat (gag)
  • Wear a fairly snug top, because either
    • Your head will disappear down the neck of your t-shirt, turning a cat-pose into a turtle
    • Your too-big-for-you-now spaghetti-strap tank will let your boobs fall out at the most inopportune moment


Tuesday, June 07, 2005

I love library patrons (sometimes)

Hee! I just had a guy come up to the desk, asking where he could find a book. Why so funny? He had written the call number on a leaf, since he had no paper handy.

Sometimes I regret returning my camera-phone to the dealer.

Monday, June 06, 2005

WELCOMETOCOLDSTONE!!!

This post totally sums up the experience Brandy and I had Memorial Day weekend in Chicago when we visited a Cold Stone Creamery store, except that I laughed each time the people shouted out their little sushi-bar-like "welcome" jingle (or whatever it's called). But it was definitely too loud in there to stay long. And all the patrons got shouted at, regardless of skin color.

I ended up getting a lemon sorbet mixed with coconut and pineapple. Then I was sad because I didn't choose ice cream instead. And then I was glad because Brandy had ordered too much Candy Land to finish all by herself and I ended up with her leftovers. Fewer calories for me and I got two cold treats! Thanks for being too full, Brandy! And Cake Batter ice cream is delicious [shudder of joy]!

Friday, May 20, 2005

Ow. Ow ow OW ow ow.

Well, I found out last night that Salsa dance is really good exercise, especially for your hip extensors. I'm sore, but in a nice way, kinda like what you experience after good sex.

Plus, I got to dance with at least 20 different men last night. Which I don't normally experience, even in conjunction with good s...uh, never mind.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

This is how much I want to be a librarian

It is 2:12am. I'm at the library, trying to catch up on my Reference class assignments (note the plural) that are due in less than 2 days. I'm also taking pity on a poor beleagured Undergrad that is trying to find an article that she only knows the title of. That's right, I'm conducting a reference interview at 2 in the morning and I'm not even getting paid to do so.

Need you question my dedication?

No, but maybe my sanity.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Well, damn

Looks like Madison has it's very own Craigslist now. Just look what happens when I leave them alone for a few years.

Of course, being Madison, the first post I viewed was someone wanting a vegan female penpal & may be [sic] marriage, as they put it. Hee! I miss Madison.

Friday, April 29, 2005

View from a library desk

I've put up an annotated photo of my desk and what I can see (or not see, in this case) from it. If you mouse-over the photo once you get to the Flickr site, you can see the notes I made about it. Welcome to my life.

Psst!

PostSecret: See a secret...share a secret.

"You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a regret, hope, ,experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before."

I have GOT to try this out. Good, cheap therapy. I think one of Kathleen's card parties in in order.

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Yes!!!

Whee! I got my wish!

Voodoo Knife Holder Now For Sale


I know what I'm putting on my XMas list.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Today's thoughts

This morning reminded me so much of what I miss about camping. Last night it rained really hard and was cool out, but I left the windows open. I awoke to that perfect chill temperature that means you've slept really well and are waking up easily because of it. I took a shower and enjoyed watching the steam come off myself and the tub while the fresh breeze blew on me from the open bathroom window. The temperature contrast between the warmth from my coffee and the cool air was just right, and the grass was a perfect shade of drenched-green from being mowed the day before.

Everything even smelled like camping. Yum.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Yet another thing to attempt in a cramped seat

Airlinemeals.net: The world's first and leading site about nothing but airline food.

This is really cool. I had fun scrolling through Aeroflot's offerings. They even have a collection of historical food, menu covers (usually with text contents), crew meals, and lounge food Having experienced Northwest's WorldClub in the past, I now miss it whenever I fly. Although, I don't miss it as much when I see what the other lounges offer!

There are no safewords in the Lake of Fire

Oh, this just conjures up sooooo many bad images! As Shea would say, "dark place number 534!"

Christian Femdom malesub D/s

"It is our goal to Glorify Jesus Christ by all that we do and help other folks who are struggling with Femdom issues."

Monday, April 11, 2005

Aaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

Gah!

Nightmares. Nothing but nightmares from now on.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Hee!

You try holding in laughter while doing your taxes at the library (yes, I finished working, I'm just using my handy dandy high speed internet here, thank you)! Snort!

The Silly Sleeping Pose Olympics: Cats doing what they do best. Sleeping.

I'll have to enter my two furballs. Where'd I put that camera?

Apparently, I am a bit hungry

For the amusement of your stomach:

Chikalicious Dessert Bar: Now, I've been to a dessert bar in Chicago that was very fun and tasty, but this sounds even better, and less expensive. You can get a prix fixe consisting of an amuse bouche, choice of dessert (a cheese plate is among the offerings for those of us who actually prefer savory items), and petit fours for $12 bucks. A true bargain.

Hey, Amihan! Just want ice cream? (She made us visit every ice cream place twice while we were in Toronto) Chinatown Ice Cream Factory: They've got mango ice cream and mango sorbet. And lychee. Enough said.

Grilled Cheese New York The buttons on their webpage don't work, but essentially, you pick a bread, pick one of five cheeses, add toppings, and optional grilled veggies. Yuuummmm....

Now, I need an excuse to go to New York...
(via http://www.ljcfyi.com/)

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Note to male IMers

This post on Craigslist pretty much sums up my feelings about all the crotch-shot pictures I get whenever I'm on IM for very long:

To the guy who sent me the picture of his penis

I love # 2: "Mr. Winkleson would look much better if that paunchy gut wasn't hanging over him like a meat skirt."

Heh.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Edible Nitzche, anyone?

Now you can eat your god even if you aren't Christian!
CHOCOLATE DEITIES

These are great! They even have a Sheela na Gig! Too cool. And too bad I didn't know about these before Valentine's Day.

via Metafilter

Friday, February 25, 2005

Stupid butter tricks

Knowing my prediliction for getting food on myself (usually courtesy of what I call the "boob shelf") and since I had a date this afternoon, I decided to eat breakfast wearing a t-shirt instead of the nice shirt I had picked out to wear on said date. Somehow, I managed to butter the side of my hand, and then proceeded to smack my palm against my dark brown jeans. Nope, didn't get anything on the t-shirt.

That's it. I'm eating in the nude from now on. Lukewarm foods only, please.

New wish list item

I am soooo adding this to my Amazon wishlist!

Voodoo knife holder




Bwah ha ha ha ha hahahaaa!!!!

Too bad they don't seem to have an American distributor. Yet.
(via BoingBoing)

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Perfect Pancakes!

And this post solely exists to prove to Kathleen and Shea that I can make really good pancakes. See, it is your stove that is cursed, not me, and I have proof! Ta da!


Monday, February 21, 2005

Randomness

Lemon soup and mango smoothies!!! 4Evah!

Ahem. Excuse me.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Uh oh

This is today's NOAA satellite image of my area. Urbana is just to the right of the green blob. Umm....help?


Friday, February 18, 2005

Just now recovering

So, a few weeks ago I was on this Japanese food kick. I made a new dish every night; leftovers for lunch. I was setting out the makings for tonkatsu (pork cutlet) one night and realized I didn't have any cabbage for the pork to lie on, like it's supposed to. Had pickles, rice, some spinach in peanut sauce, genmai cha (yummy). Needed something else. Aha, I have lots of carrots! I'll just grate some of those up...oh my god. My eyes! What happened to my eyes?!

This is the unplanned (no, really) result:




I managed to grab the camera before I lost all my sight.

Braided Blog

Braided Blog

Oooo, it's so meta. I just blogged about my own blog.

Tits! Breasts! Boobies! Jugs!

I am so tired of my breasts (well, not my breasts, specifically) being considered as indecent. More than 50% of the world has them (100% if you count men), so what's the fucking big deal? Check out this article:

Muralist's vision has jail staring him in face

This guy got 30 days in jail, two years' probation, and a $500 fine for violating a city sign ordinance. He painted a mural on the side of his art studio that was an adaptation of Michaelangelo's "Creation," which included the word "love" and included a topless Eve. He has been ordered to "tastefully" cover Eve's breasts and to paint over the word "love" (which violated some ordinance about words being on signs) before he reports to jail. Oh, and apparently breasts are considered "genitalia" in this town. What the hell?

I'm pissed. Actually, I'm almost livid. Aren't you? You should be.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Snort!

Once again, I had to explain to some patrons, that, no, they can't take the movies home to watch (that's why we call it a "reserve" collection and we have all those booths to watch movies in). One of them made a smart-aleck remark along the lines of "what, do you keep all the magazines back there too?"

"Nope, just Playboy," I answered.

It's fun to watch their little eyeballs bug out.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Library Meeting Fun

New slogans I came up with today:

1. No topless drinks (all beverages must be in spill-proof containers)
2. Small portions only (as a guideline for Fair-Use of copyrighted materials)
3. Call numbers are your friends (what to tell patrons that think we magically find items)

I think we need to put #1 on a t-shirt (I can see the graphic now...)

Hmm, maybe you needed to be there.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Awww....

It is stuff like this that reminds me of why I want to be a librarian.

Libraries, the Princeton campus's unknown repository of sexiness


"One of the freshmen in my Dante seminar just came to me, agog. I find that agogness is in increasingly short supply these days, but this man was certifiably agog — and with good reason. He had just had his first encounter with, as he put it, "a real librarian." She — for this real librarian, perhaps unlike the ersatz ones he had been dealing with all this time, happened to be female — she had, rather like Beatrice herself, shown him a new heaven and a new earth."

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Natto!

Oh god, I hurt so bad from laughing right now, and not being able to make a sound since I'm still at the library, "working" (hey, I leave in two minutes, give me a break). This "review" of natto is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. And I can't believe that my friend Shea wants to actually try this stuff someday. When his wife isn't at home. And when I can be on-call to take him to the hospital, if need be.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Today's stupid momentary thought

Just now at work, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something brightly colored coming towards me.

"Ack! A clown!," I thought to myself (I have a bit of a phobia). Turns out it was just some woman in a big coat with a really long, bright orange scarf.

Idiot.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Thought of the day

Good thing about working on campus:

All the pretty boys that I get to see on a daily basis.

Bad thing about working on campus:

All the pretty so-much-too-young-for me-it might-as-well-be-illegal boys I get to see on a daily basis.

Sigh.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Oooo, my stomach hurts

I think I now understand more of what may go through vegetarians' heads on a regular basis. I had a "what the fuck is that?!" experience while flipping through channels this morning. I hit upon a Graham Kerr episode and paused for a brief moment. Suddenly, the camera focused on the frying pan in front of him. He was poking at what appeared to me to be a prop from out of an Aliens movie or something. Raw, flayed flesh was splayed in the skillet, as the tongs prodded the sides of this poor creature. My stomach roiled as I tried to figure out what the hell the show was featuring on its ingredients list; Alien-facehugger? Freshly peeled human tongue?

It turned out to be a chicken leg with the thigh meat still attached, but the thigh part was open to the camera, looking like a grotesque mouth or sucker or something like female genitalia (yes, we are all beautiful "down-there", but what is between our thighs just doesn't look right slapped in a skillet). Whatever it was, it didn't look like food. Or at least, it didn't look appetizing. Bleah. Vegetarians unite, I guess.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Must. Have. Now!

Squeee! Keychain plants!

Although since I keep my keys in my jeans pocket most of the time, I'd have to get used to letting them get some sun once in awhile. And watering them, likely. And being careful that the lid on the cactus didn't come off.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

The Rocky Horror whaaaa????

Today's source of the burning sensation in my nose from spewing out my yummy eggnog latte is brought to you by:

The Rocky Horror Muppet Show!

The visuals in my head are very entertaining.

MISS PIGGY (pulls Scooter nose to nose with her, vocce morte)
Brad, I am cold and I am wet and I am just plain scared.

SCOOTER (collapsing)
So am I.

(Music starts: "59th Street Bridge [Feelin' Groovy]." The door opens, and a very sheepish Kermit -- in black cape and fishnets -- steps right through it. Miss Piggy drops Scooter like a sack of potatoes; Annie Sue, careful to avoid Miss Piggy's gaze, moves to help Scooter up by the middle of the first verse.)


[Lyrics to Sweet Transvestite follow, sung to the tune of 59th St Bridge song (Feelin' groovy), because Animal has eaten all of the sheet music]. And it scans!