Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

All the words

Like every other holiday, the Fourth of July holiday weekend has a few family traditions. They changed and evolved somewhat through the years and more recently have included watching Independence Day and the PBS special A Capitol Fourth. My mom was a big fan of the National Symphony Orchestra and the fireworks.

The year A Capitol Fourth featured, Barry Manilow! He just finished his set and I am not sure if it's a good thing I still know all the words to his songs.




Now I just need to find Independence Day on TV.

Happy July 4th

It's Pittsburgh fireworks from the 250 Celebration in October 2008, lovely enough to make me a bit home sick this beautiful Independence Day weekend.

Thanks to Lifehacker for the fireworks link (it's photo #6) and the original photo posted on Flickr by acharness.

Three Year Anniversary

I missed it again, yesterday was my blog anniversary. I started this venture on April 17, 2006 without any goal or purpose. I simply wanted to play with new technology. After attending an ALA session on writing, I used the format as a way to write every day with hope that it would make me more comfortable when the time came to try and make the challenge of publishing articles in my field a reality. It helped! I have had several articles published in peer reviewed journals and even two chapters in a book.

More blogging? I started a collaborative library blog with friends and we work together on discussing library related topics at our leisure. I have two work blogs for my resource center and also started a library news blog to go with the new library web site. Continued opportunity to teach technology as an adjunct incorporates blogs into one course as an announcement board and another class where students are writing their own reflection blogs. All in all, blogging and reading blogs has become a very commonplace part of my daily professional development and pleasure reading.

The most commented upon post? Without a doubt the post that garners the most comments has been Who's Who? Who am I, What? - discussing my naiveté, trials, and tribulations with the publisher.

With a new computer and better internet connection pending, as well as the end of an academic school year that included a new library web site during the fall and back to back presentations along side teaching two classes , I hope to get back to discussing children's books in the near future. There are CARTS of books in technical services just waiting.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

It hasn't really been a blog holiday, it just seems like one. Computer issues (my 10-year old dinosaur with win 98 and dial-up), life, and work (teaching 2 classes, preparing 2 presentations, and general craziness) have interfered with time to read let alone post reviews. The end of the term looms, a new computer is being built ... and ... it's time for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Beware the Penguins

I won't get to see the Pens vs. Flyers tonight, but predict I will become a Columbus Blue Jacket fan as they plan the Redwings in the first round.

Merry Christmas!

It's time for a blog holiday. I will be traveling over the next few weeks to visit with family and friends.

Be sure to read a good book or two taking time to sit curled up in your easy chair with a cup of hot chocolate between the hustle and bustle of the season.

Memories To Treasure

May the days until Christmas be full of sweet pleasure, And your holidays create joyful memories to treasure. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - Joanna Fuchs, Christmas Poems

Wishing everyone a blessed and safe holiday season with family and friends; Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Blog Holiday: Summer is kaput

It's here, my last week of vacation before the start of the fall term. I am headed to the 'burgh tomorrow for a birthday party, back-to-school shopping, and a bit of genealogy research. The Kennywood photo is from a sunny day in June, but appropriate as the summer went by just as quickly as the Phantom's Revenge.

Redding up

If you ever had any doubts I am from Pittsburgh, the title of this post should clarify things greatly as it is a bit of Pittsburghese. I rarely use the term "red up" without remembering a college room mate asking me why I wanted to paint the room red. Sure I use gum bands with regularity, but I refuse to say younz. Trust me.

Today was clean my office and resource center day of piles before vacation. Upon return, I have one week before the students arrive. During that week I need to interview, hire and train a graduate assistant, hire and train at least four student workers, prepare the resource center, and create work schedules for GA's and students. To make those tasks less daunting, today I finished my "before school" technology related to-do list ... and got rid of those piles.

Now I know that the university web master will update the library template so the links are external as opposed to internal. I will then be able to apply said template to library web pages that may live on other servers; the catalog and library faculty web pages, including my course pages, reside in different locations. Everything will look pretty together when the page goes live later this term.

I emailed furiously throughout the late afternoon contacting authors submitting articles for a special issue of a journal I am editing, setting up interviews with graduate assistants, verifying student workers who had applied early for job openings still wanted to work and had federal work study hours, updated the web committee team members, and assured another course facilitator she could look at my stuff to update her information. Everything in my in-box was answered and anyone on my list was checked.

I'll not mention the amount of inter-library gossip I indulged in during the late afternoon. Best to leave some things alone.

With one last glance inside the resource center to assure myself the roll-top laminator was unplugged, I gleefully locked the doors and left the library.

If only I had checked out a book.

Happy July 4th!

Have a hot dog.
Go see the fireworks.
Put your American flag outside.
Spend time with family and friends.
Thank you to those serving now for our freedom.

Enjoy the Independence Day holiday!

Not an oxymoron

I am out of state visiting family, going to movies (Kung Fu Panda and Ironman), watching decent Pittsburgh Pirate baseball (the lack of oxymoron in question), helping with yardwork, getting work done on my car (just a muffler, I hope), and against all my vacation rules I am checking my work email for updates concerning ALA Annual (recieved my Libraries Build Communities instructions today).

Next up, hoping my flight departure time for Thursday morning has not changed ... again.

Memorial Day

Freedom

Ring the Bells of Freedom,
and liberty tolls for we.
Quench the Ring of Freedom,
and oppression tolls for thee.


©2002 Roger W Hancock
http://www.poetpatriot.com/

More about Memorial Day:

• Memorial Day: Department of Veteran Affairs
• Memorial Day Exhibit: The History Channel
• Library of Congress: Today in History, May 30
• Library of Congress: Veterans History Project
• U.S. Memorial Day History
• Memorial Day History
  
  

Blog Holiday

Tomorrow I leave for a week's vacation out of state to celebrate birthdays, visit with friends and family, and watch some playoff hockey. Vacation for me also means a vacation from technology, so it's a blog holiday as well. With the exception of a Memorial Day post I have scheduled for Monday, the next post here will not be until June.

Happy unofficial beginning of the summer vacation/travel season.

Just think, a month from now I'll be packing for the ALA Conference in Anaheim (and paying an extra $15 for my checked bag ... puh-lease).

A Happy New Year complete with snow and hockey

Winter weather warnings, advisories, and suggestions of snow accumulation upwards of six inches possibly enhancing my holiday return trip resulted in a quick exit from the home front late this morning. Driving through rain, snow, fog, and mist was a joyous way to begin the New Year, but I was able to arrive here in time to see most of Hockey's Winter classic played this afternoon featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, New York. Both teams wore “retro” team jerseys, the Pen’s donned baby blue ones I had never actually seen worn in a game before today (I’m a Lemieux era fan). The game itself was vastly entertaining; especially ending in a shoot-out. I, for one, was just happy to see the Pen’s play hockey!

• Crosby has outdoor experience
• Pens win winter classic in a shootout
• A reader’s guide to the Winter Classic
• Sidney’s star shines bright in Buffalo
• Penguins beat Sabres 2-1
• 2007 Winter Classic Photo Journal

I have one day of vacation remaining that will allow me to unpack at my leisure and relax tomorrow ... and shovel snow if necessary. If the forecasted snow is not realized, I will be highly irritated (okay, pissed) at missing prime shopping opportunities (with coupons), a nice lunch of requisite sauerkraut and kielbasa (pork for New Years), and an undoubtedly wonderful nap. Happy New Year!

Tags: NHL Winter Classic, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Bells

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1864)

I Heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Blog Holiday: Thanksgiving

As mentioned in the previous post, tomorrow is the start of my Thanksgiving holiday break. Time to travel over the river and through the woods to see family and friends, cook and eat a traditional Thanksgiving feast, and begin the holiday shopping season. I have already begun to choose my shopping and cooking wardrobe for these events and it will include comfortable walking shoes, washable fabrics, and at least one outfit with an elastic waistband.

I have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving season. This upcoming week marks a somewhat ominous anniversary for my family; the day after Thanksgiving last year my mother was hospitalized, the beginning of an eight month ordeal and journey of faith. After several life-saving procedures and surgeries, stays in six different hospitals, and months physical and occupational therapy, she is back home eager to partake of the upcoming holiday season. I have orders to make the chocolate pie everyone raved about last year; she wants her share! Don't get me started on the holiday fudge she missed ...

So on a lighter note,here are the results of yet one more blogthings quiz:

You Are 87% Thankful

You're an incredibly thankful person, and everyone around you feels very appreciated. You inspire people to be more optimistic, forgiving, and grateful.

How Thankful Are You?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blog Holiday, last of the summer

A sure sign that the start of a new academic school year is pending; my final week of summer vacation begins tomorrow. I will be taking a blog holiday and visiting friends and family in Pennsylvania next week. Gossip, dinners, and birthday parties are high on the proverbial "to do" list. There has also been whispering about outlet mall shopping. I will get to see a pre-season Steeler football game (or two) and even watch and complain about a Pirate's baseball game. I know for sure the week will end with a six year old's birthday party complete with games, presents, and birthday cake. The pint sized fashion diva is getting clothes from me, she will be thrilled.

Two weeks from Monday, August 27th, is the first day of classes for the Fall 2007 semester. While a part of me is thrilled, new students always add an extra pop to the day, this year another part of me is just not ready. I would like another week to tie up all the loose ends; finish adjusting the juvenile shelves, create quick handouts for using MS Office 2007, shelf read the curriculum and materials kits collection, and maybe move into the office I have been promised. But it is hard not to get caught up in the excitement generated by students happy to be back. I have already had three students email me about their work schedules!

A chance encounter this afternoon revealed all of the computers on my floor of the library, actually all but the three lonely Dells, have been "upgraded" to MS Office 2007. I was blissfully unaware of the transformation until a student came stumbling into the resource center needing help putting page numbers on her Word document. In her words, "It's not there anymore!" A quick glance at the computer screen revealed Word 2007. Sitting across the aisle from her was a student who had been on the main floor earlier in the day. He was unhappy with the upgrade and wanted to finish his work on Word 2003 using an as-yet-to-be-upgraded Dell (I didn't have the heart to tell him they would be changed next week).

I returned the last of my un-cataloged book stash to technical services, left a lovely file folder of orders for the acquisitions librarian, turned in my vacation form, and gleefully headed out the door at 5:00 pm. I did grab my laptop, after all I have an article submission deadline of September 5th, but chances of me actually taking the laptop out of the case are pretty slim.

Happy blogging, I'll be back next week.

Happy July 4th!

To the Founding Fathers

Your light still lingers in our distant morning,
A star that we perceive across the void.
We chart our passage by your words, still burning
Long after your bright core has been destroyed.
No longer do we speak of "natural" rights,
Nor can we think that Reason guides our will.
We've been through far too many gruesome nights
To hope we have reduced our lust to kill.
Yet hope remains the engine of our fire,
Hope that someday all of us will be
Happy in the least that we require:
Well-fed, well-housed, safe, secure, and free.
This dream we still pursue. Though darkness come,
Your wisdom, hope, and courage through us run.

The Holiday Spot
Poems for Independence Day

ALA bound

I have finished my pre-conference necessities shopping, strategically placed several outfits on my bed in preparation for packing this evening, and last night was able to make plans to meet a friend at the convention center tomorrow evening (yikes! tomorrow already) so we can go to the LOC, visit the main reading room, it's open from 5-7 pm specifically for ALA attendees, and "do" dinner. After looking at the preliminary program guide on Tuesday, I have to reiterate what I posted on another blog; one of the main reasons I like going to ALA as opposed to academic librarian specific conferences is that ALA has program opportunities for everyone.

At ALA annual, I get to feed my inner-geek-librarian at technology sessions, my inner-child-librarian with children and YA literature sessions, and my inner- teacher-education- liaison librarian with academic sessions on education librarianship and EBSS committee meetings. Case in point, here are several sessions I am interesting in attending:

• LOC: Main reading room open Friday evening 5 - 7 pm
• Can Blogs be Trusted?
• Picture Books for Older Readers - OR - Alex Award Winners 2007
• Stories for a Saturday Evening
• Trend Setters in Teen Literature
• Book Cart Drill Team - OR - Blogs and Related Technology
• ALSC Poetry Blast

Add to the list my aforementioned EBSS meetings, poster sessions, and visiting the exhibit hall and I will have little time to peruse DC in tourist fashion. It's been years since I have visited the area and I would love to see the new memorials. It is a given I will change my mind once, twice or three times when I get the actual program and begin the decision making process. But that is part of the whole, one of the best sessions I attended last summer I went to because the session I really wanted was cancelled ... worked for me.

Here's hoping my posters and I make the plane on time tomorrow morning. I am grateful the airline changed my departure time from 7:30 am to 8:45 am. Be sure to say "hi" if you get to either of my poster sessions! And, unless I get an uncontrollable urge to blog from one of the computer stations at ALA, this will be the last post until July 2nd.

Tags: ALA, ALA Annual, ALA Washington, DC

Blog Holiday

Beginning tomorrow I'll be traveling to see family and taking a blog holiday. Vacation from work means vacation from my computer; and while I will probably make time for some much needed tweaking on those poster sessions, the Internet is something else altogether. Here's wishing safe travels and cheap gasoline for the beginning of the summer season.

Take time to remember and say a little prayer of thanks on Memorial Day.